The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

flag from her hand, and says — “No; I called, and they refused; I stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; let them die, let them die,” — and that terrible word from the lip of Mercy’s self is harsher thunder than the very damnation of Justice. Oh, yes, the goodness of God demands that men should perish, if they will sin.

      24. And again, the justice of God demands it. God is infinitely just, and his justice demands that men should be punished, unless they turn to him with full purpose of heart. Need I pass through all the attributes of God to prove it? I do not think I need to. We must all of us believe that the God who is slow to anger and great in power is also sure not to acquit the wicked. And now just a home thrust or two with you. What is your state this morning? My friend, man, woman, what is your state? Can you look up to heaven, and say, “Though I have sinned greatly, I believe Christ was punished in my place,”

      My faith looks back to see,

      The burden he did bear,

      When hanging on the cursed tree,

      And knows her guilt was there?

      Can you by humble faith look to Jesus, and say, “My substitute, my refuge, my shield; you are my rock, my trust; in you I do confide?” Then beloved, to you I have nothing to say, except this, — Never be afraid when you see God’s power; for now that you are forgiven and accepted, now that by faith you have fled to Christ for refuge, the power of God need no more terrify you, than the shield and sword of the warrior need terrify his wife or his child. “No,” says the woman, “is he strong? He is strong for me. Is his arm brawny, and are all his sinews fast and strong? Then they are fast and strong for me. While he lives, and wears a shield, he will stretch it over my head; and while his good sword can cleave foes, it will cleave my foes too, and ransom me.” Be of good cheer; do not fear his power.

      25. But have you never fled to Christ for refuge? Do you not believe in the Redeemer? Have you never confided your soul to his hands? Then, my friends, hear me; in God’s name, hear me just a moment. My friend, I would not stand in your position for an hour, for all the stars twice spelled in gold! For what is your position? You have sinned, and God will not acquit you; he will punish you. He is letting you live; you are reprieved. Poor is the life of one that is reprieved without a pardon! Your reprieve will soon run out; your hourglass is emptying every day. I see on some of you death has put his cold hand, and frozen your hair to whiteness. You need your staff, it is the only barrier between you and the grave now; and you are, all of you, old and young, standing on a narrow neck of land, between two boundless seas — that neck of land, that isthmus of life, narrowing every moment, and you, and you, and you, are yet unpardoned. There is a city to be sacked, and you are in it — soldiers are at the gates; the command is given that every man in the city is to be slaughtered except he who can give the password. “Sleep on, sleep on; the attack is not today; sleep on, sleep on.” “But it is tomorrow, Sir.” “Indeed, sleep on, sleep on; it is not until tomorrow sleep on, procrastinate, procrastinate.” “Listen! I hear a rumbling at the gates; the battering ram is at them; the gates are tottering.” “Sleep on, sleep on; the soldiers are not yet at your doors; sleep on, sleep on; ask for no mercy yet; sleep on, sleep on!” “Indeed, but I hear the shrill clarion sound; they are in the streets. Listen to the shrieks of men and women! They are slaughtering them; they fall they fall, they fall!” “Sleep on; they are not yet at your door.” “But listen, they are at the gate; with heavy tramp I hear the soldiers marching up the stairs!” “No, sleep on, sleep on; they are not yet in your room.” “Why, they are there; they have burst open the door that separated you from them, and there they stand!” “No, sleep on, sleep on; the sword is not yet at your throat; sleep on, sleep on!” It is at your throat; you startled with horror. Sleep on, sleep on! But you are gone! “Demon, why did you tell me to slumber! It would have been wise in me to have escaped the city when first the gates were shaken. Why did I not ask for the password before the troops came? Why, by all that is wise, why did I not rush into the streets, and cry the password when the soldiers were there? Why did I stay until the knife was at my throat? Indeed, demon that you are, be cursed; but I am cursed with you for ever!” You know the application; it is a parable you can all expound; you do not need for me to tell you that death is after you, that justice must devour you, that Christ crucified is the only password that can save you; and yet you have not learned it — that with some of you death is nearing, nearing, nearing, and that with all of you he is close at hand! I need not expound how Satan is the demon, how in hell you shall curse him and curse yourselves because you procrastinated — how, that seeing God was slow to anger you were slow to repentance — how, because he was great, in power, and kept back his anger, therefore you kept back your steps from seeking him; and here you are what you are!

      26. Spirit of God, bless these words to some souls that they may be saved! May some sinners be brought to the Saviour’s feet, and cry for mercy! We ask it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

      {a} La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on the novel La dame aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, published in 1848. The title “La Traviata” means literally The Woman Who Strayed, or perhaps more figuratively, The Fallen One. See Explorer “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_traviata”

      Prayer — The Forerunner Of Mercy

      No. 138-3:249. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, June 28, 1857, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

       Thus says the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. {Ezekiel 36:37}

      1. In reading the chapter we have seen the great and exceeding precious promises which God had made to the favoured nation of Israel. God in this verse declares, that though the promise was made, and though he would fulfil it, yet he would not fulfil it until his people asked him to do so. He would give them a spirit of prayer, by which they should cry earnestly for the blessing, and then when they should have cried aloud to the living God, he would be pleased to answer them from heaven, his dwelling place. The word used here to express the idea of prayer is a suggestive one. “I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel.” Prayer, then, is an enquiry. No man can pray properly, unless he views prayer in that light. First, I enquire what the promise is. I turn to my Bible, and I seek to find the promise by which the thing which I desire to seek is certified to me as being a thing which God is willing to give. Having enquired as far as that, I take that promise, and on my bended knees I enquire of God whether he will fulfil his own promise. I take to him his own word of covenant, and I say to him, “Oh Lord, will you not fulfil it, and will you not fulfil it now?” So that there, again, prayer is enquiry. After prayer I look out for the answer; I expect to be heard; and if I am not answered I pray again, and my repeated prayers are only fresh enquiries. I expect the blessing to arrive; I go and enquire whether there are any tidings of its coming. I ask; and thus I say, “Will you answer me, oh Lord? Will you keep your promise? Or will you shut up your ear, because I misunderstand my own wants and do not understand your promise.” Brethren, we must use enquiry in prayer, and regard prayer as being, first, an enquiry for the promise, and then on the strength of that promise an enquiry for the fulfilment. We expect something to come as a present from a friend: we first have the note, by which we are informed it is in transit. We enquire as to what the present is by the reading of the note; and then, if it arrive not, we call at the accustomed place where the parcel ought to have been left, and we ask or enquire for such and such a thing. We have enquired about the promise, and then we go and enquire again, until we get an answer that the promised gift has arrived and is ours. So with prayer. We get the promise by enquiry, and we get the fulfilment of it by again enquiring from God.

      2. Now, this morning I shall try, as God shall help me, first to speak of prayer as the prelude of blessing: next I shall try to show why prayer is thus constituted by God the forerunner of his mercies ; and then I shall close by an exhortation, as earnest as I can make it, exhorting you to pray, if you wish to obtain blessings.

      3.