Page images
PDF
EPUB

substance. If ye will but unite in unanimous a praises, then am I persuaded that God will giv Spirit to fill this house-to fill every heart in t temple. How glorious this will be:

(1.) For the children of God. Are there you who have come to Christ, and nothing mor weary, heavy laden, you have found rest. through his blood-even the forgiveness of sin not stop there. Do not rest in mere forgiven the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter ness is but a means to an end. You are justifi that you may be sanctified. Remember, with you will never see the Lord; and without this Spirit, you never will be holy.

the

Are there not some of you groaning under a and death, and crying, with the apostle: "Ob man, who shall deliver me from the body of this you not feel the plague of your own heart? do power of your old nature? How many i lean upon themselves-trust in their resolution as it were, by force, to put down their sins; bu remedy. Oh! cry for the flood-tide of God's he may fill every chamber of your heart-that new you in the spirit of your mind.

Are there not many who are cold, worldly those who were long ago converted, but have back, under the power of the world-either its business, its mirth or its money-and they ha worldly habits, deep ruts of sin? Ah! see wha He that created man in his own image at first, you over again. You need an almighty indw forter. Oh! it is he only who can melt your ic make it flow out in love to God—who can fill the fulness of God.

Are there not some who read the Bible, but g it? You feel that it does not sink into your he not remain with you through the week. It is l cast in the wayside, easily plucked away. Oh such an outpoured Spirit you require to hide t your heart. When you write with a dry pen,

ink in it, no impression is made upon the paper. Now, ministers are the pens, and the Spirit of God is the ink. Pray that the pen may be filled with that living ink, that the Word may remain in your hearts, known and read of all men that you may be sanctified through the truth.

(2.) For the unconverted. So it was in the day of Pentecost-the Spirit came first on the small company of disciples, and then on the three thousand. You have seen the hills attracting the clouds, and so drawing down the shower into the valleys-so do God's children, having their heads within the veil, obtain the Spirit of God in fulness, and dispense it to all around. You have seen some tall tree or spire catching the lightning, and conveying it down into the ground-so does the fire of God's Spirit come first upon the trees of righteousness, and from them descends to the dead souls around them.

A word to dead souls. Keep near to God's children at such a time as this. Do not separate from them-—do not mock at them; you may yet receive the grace of God through

them. Dear believers, for the sake of the dead souls around you-for the sake of this great town, full of wickedness— for the sake of our land, filled with formality and hypocrisy -oh! unite in prayer, and unite in praise, and prove the Lord, if he will not pour out a blessing. Not for your own sakes only, but for the sake of those perishing around you, let us wrestle and pray for a fuller time of the Spirit's working than has ever been seen in Scotland yet.

If

2. The priests could not stand to minister. Before the cloud came down, no doubt the priests were all busily engaged burning incense, and offering sacrifices; but when the cloud came down, they could only wonder and adore. So it ever will be when the Lord gives much of his Spirit; he will make it evident that it is not the work of man. he were to give only a little, then ministers would begin to think they had some hand in it; but when he fills the house, then he makes it plain that man has nothing to do with it. David Brainard said, that when God awakened his whole congregation of Indians, he stood by amazed, and felt that he was as nothing-that God alone was working. Oh! it is this, dear friends, that we desire and pray for that the Lord, the Spirit, would himself descend, and with his almighty power tear away the veil from your hearts, convince you of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment—that Jesus himself would take his sceptre, and

[blocks in formation]

"And they spake unto all the company of the children o The land which we passed through to search it is an land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring u and give it us, a land that floweth with milk and h xiv. 7, 8.

WHEN the children of Israel arrived at the b promised land, Moses, at the command of God men to spy out the good land. They searched days from the one end to the other, and then ret ing a bunch of grapes, borne between two, on the fruitful Valley of Eshcol. But ten of the an evil report of the land. The land, they said but the inhabitants were giants, and the cities heaven; and the conclusion they came to was not able to go up against the people, for they than we."-Verse 31.

Joshua and Caleb alone tried to still the pe did not deny that the men were tall, and th were walled; but they pointed to the pillar-clo all objections: "The Lord is with us," and we the people as easily as we eat bread. "The la passed through to search it is an exceeding go Doctrine. If God delight in a soul, he will the good land.

I. Show who they are that God delights in. 1. God has no delight in a natural soul shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall sta art not a God that delighteth in wickedness;

evil dwell with thee." "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." "Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God." Eli's sons hearkened not unto the voice of their father; for the Lord would slay them. It is God's very nature to loathe and turn away from that which is sinful. A person with a fine ear for music cannot delight in a jarring discord. It is impossible in his very nature. So it is impossible in God to delight in a naked sinner. A person covered with sin is quite contrary to God's nature; and therefore, when naked sinners and God meet in the judgment, God will have no mercy, neither will his eye spare. He will say: "Bind them hand and foot, and

cast them into outer darkness."

Oh! you that are covered over with sin, think of this. You that are uncovered in the sight of God, prepare to meet your God. How will you come into the presence of one who abhors sin, when he puts your most secret sins in the light of his countenance-when he brings to light all the hidden works of darkness-when you shall give account of every idle word? Ah! where will you appear?

2. He delights in one sprinkled with the blood of Christ. When a hell-deserving sinner is enlightened in the knowledge of Christ-when he believes the record that God hath given concerning his Son, and joyfully consents that the Lord Jesus be his surety, then the blood of Christ is, as it were, sprinkled over that soul. When Aaron and his sons were set apart for the priesthood, the blood of the ram was put upon the tip of their right ear, and the thumb of their right hand, and the great toe of their right foot, to signify that they were dipped in blood from head to foot; so when God looks upon a soul in Christ, he sees it dipped in the blood of the Saviour. He looks upon that soul as having suffered all that Christ suffered; therefore he delights in that soul. His sense of justice is pleased. God has an infinite sense of justice. His eyes behold the things that are equal; now when he sees the blood of his Son sprinkled upon any soul, he sees that justice has had its full satisfaction in that soul-that that man's sins have been more fully punished than if he had borne them himself eternally.

His sense of mercy is pleased. He delighteth in mercy. Even when justice was crying out, "Thou shalt surely slay the wicked," his mercy was yearning over sinners, and he provided a ransom. And now when the sinner has laid hold on the ransom, mercy is poured down in forgiveness.

H

God delighteth in mercy; he delights to forgive the soul. It is sweet to notice how Jesus loves to forgive sins. In the woman that washed his feet, how he seems to dwell on it! "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven." And again he said unto her: "Thy sins are forgiven thee;" and again, a third time: "Go in peace." And so God loves to forgive: "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.'

[ocr errors]

Invite trembling sinners to come to Jesus. Some of you are trembling under a sense of being exposed to God's wrath. Which of his commandments have you not broken? Your case is, indeed, a dismal one-your fears are most just and reasonable; and if you saw your condition fully, they would be ten thousand times greater. Yet here is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. If only you are willing to come to the Lord Jesus, you do not need to remain another moment out of God's favour. You see how completely safe you would be, if you would take this blood. A just and merciful God would rejoice over you to forgive you. It is all in vain that you try your own righteousness -it will never make God delight in you; for it is filthy rags in his sight. But the blood of atonement-the blood of the Lamb-speaketh peace.

3. God delights in the sanctified. You remember, in the Book of Revelation, how often Jesus says, "I know thy works." He says it with delight in the case of Smyrna: "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty; but thou art rich." When God brings a soul into Christ, he makes him a new creature; then God loves the new creature. Just as when God made the world, he saw all that he had made, and smiled, for all was very good; so, when God makes a new creation in the heart, God delights in it. He says it is all very good.

Obj. My graces are all imperfect. They do not please me-how can they please God? I cannot do the things that I would.

Ans. All true; yet God loves his own workmanship in the soul. His Spirit prays in you-lives in you-walks in you. God loves the work of his own Spirit. Just as you love flowers of your own planting-as you love a spot that you have laid out much on; so God loves his children, not for anything of their own, but for what he has done for them, and in them. They are dear-bought-he has bought them with his own blood. He waters them every moment,

« PreviousContinue »