1151. The Entreaty of the Holy Spirit

A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, March 1, 1874, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. *1/8/2012

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” [Heb 3:7]

For other sermons on this text:
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1. The particular circumstances in which we are now placed as a congregation demand of me that my discourses should be principally directed to the unconverted, that the awakened may be decided, that those may be aroused who as yet remain unmoved, and that a desire to seek the Lord may spread all around us. We may leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness for a little while just now, and go after those who have gone astray. It is our duty usually to feed the children, but for awhile we may leave that to other agencies, and hand out food to those who are perishing with hunger. These seasons of revival do not last for ever, they come and they go; and, therefore, they must be improved while they are with us. The farmer tells us that he must make hay while the sun shines, and we also must attend in the season to the labour which it suggests, and that duty seems to me to look in the direction of the undecided. While God is speaking so mightily, we should plead with men to hear his voice. Clearly, it is our wisdom to say “Amen” to what the Lord is saying; for since his word cannot return to him void, ours will be sure to be fruitful when it tallies with the Lord’s. Therefore the subject of my sermon this morning shall be that of our hymn writer: — 

   “Hear God while he speaks,” then hear him today;
   And pray while he hears, unceasingly pray.
   Believe in his promise, rely on his word,
   And while he commands you, obey your great Lord.

I have taken this text with the earnest hope that God may bless it, and I look to the Lord’s people to baptise the text in floods of anxious tears for the unsaved.

2. I. The first point which it presents for serious consideration is this — THE SPECIAL VOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. “As the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you will hear his voice.’ ”

3. The apostle is continually quoting from the Old Testament, but he does not often present his quotations in this particular way. In the very next chapter, when he is speaking of the same passage, he uses the expression, “Saying in David” — mentioning the human author of the psalm; but in this case, to give full emphasis to the truth, he quotes the divine author alone — “As the Holy Spirit says.” These words, it is true, are applicable to every passage of sacred Scripture, for we may say of all the inspired books — “As the Holy Spirit says”; but it is designedly used here so that the passage may have the greater weight with us. The Holy Spirit, in fact, not only speaks this way in the ninety-fifth psalm, but it is his unvarying utterance. The Holy Spirit says, or still continues to say, “Hear his voice today.” He has a certain doctrine upon one occasion, and a still deeper truth at another time, according as there was need, or as his people were prepared for it; but this particular utterance is for all time and for every day of grace. The Holy Spirit by Paul, as previously by David, says “Today”; yes that is the burden which he still lays upon his ministering servants, in every place they entreat and persuade men, saying, “Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

4. How does the Holy Spirit speak like this? He says this first, in the Scriptures. Every command of Scripture calls for immediate obedience. The law of God is not given to us to be laid up on the shelf to be obeyed at some future period of life, and the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is not so intended for the eleventh hour as to be lightly trifled with during the first ten. Wherever the Holy Spirit exhorts, he speaks in the present tense, and tells us to repent now, or to believe now, or to seek the Lord now. I urge you to always remember whenever you read the Bible, that it is the Spirit of the living God who admonishes you there to immediate obedience. The calls of the inspired word are not those of Moses, or David, or Paul, or Peter, but the solemn utterances of the Holy Spirit speaking through them. With what dignity does this truth invest Holy Scripture, and with what solemnity does it surround our reading of it! In quibbling over Scripture, trifling with it, disputing its doctrines, or neglecting its admonitions, we grieve the Spirit of God; and this is very dangerous ground to trespass on, for although he is longsuffering and compassionate, still remember it is concerning the sin against the Holy Spirit that it is said, “It shall never be forgiven.” Not every sin against the Holy Spirit is unpardonable; may God be thanked for that; but still there is a sin against the Holy Spirit which shall never be forgiven: therefore we tread, I say, on very delicate ground when we vex him, as we do if at any time in reading his word we consider his teachings to be light matters. Beware, I say, you men of England, who have your Bibles in your houses, among whom the word of the Lord is common as whole wheat bread, beware how you treat it; for in rejecting it you do not reject just the voice of apostles and prophets, but the voice of the Holy Spirit himself. The Holy Spirit says, “Today”; he tells his people to hurry, and not to delay, to keep the commands of God, and he tells sinners to seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near. Oh, may you hear his warning voice and live.

5. Further, while the Holy Spirit speaks in Scripture in this manner, he speaks in the same way in the hearts of his people, for he is a living and active agent, his work is not ended, he still speaks and writes, the pen is still in his hand, not to write with ink upon paper, but upon the fleshy tablets of prepared hearts. Now the Spirit of God has been in this church communicating with his people, and the tenor of the communication has been this — “Seek to win souls”; and I will warrant this assertion, that in no case has the Spirit said, “Seek the conversion of sinners at the end of the year: awaken to earnestness about their souls when you have become more mature in years and judgment”; but every man and woman here saved by grace, who has felt the Holy Spirit within him, has felt an impulse to seek the conversion of sinners at once. He has felt a longing that they should no longer remain in sin, that they should now be aroused, should immediately lay hold of eternal life, and find instantaneous peace in Christ. I appeal to my brethren if it is not so. Have you not felt, “It is high time to awaken out of sleep?” Have you not felt the force of the admonition, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might?” At other times we have been satisfied to feel that there was a good work going on secretly, that the soil was being prepared for future harvests, that somehow or other God’s word would not return to him void; but we are not so easily contented now. We feel as if we must during each service see the Lord at work, and we plead for immediate conversions. We are as eager for souls as misers are for money. I do not say that all of you feel this, but I say that all who have been fully influenced by the Holy Spirit during this period of gracious visitation, have been filled with agony for the immediate salvation of souls. Like a woman in travail they have longed eagerly to hear the cry of newborn souls. Their prayer has been, “Today, good Lord, answer our entreaties, and lead our fellow men to hear your voice so that they may be saved.” I appeal to the people of God whether the Holy Spirit when he stirs them up to soul winning does not say, “Today — today seek the salvation of men.”

6. The same is also true when the Holy Spirit speaks in the awakened. They are not yet numbered with the people of God, but they are under concern of soul, and I shall make my appeal to them also. You are now conscious that you have offended your God: you are alarmed to find yourselves in a condition of alienation from him; you want to be reconciled, and you pine for the assurance that you are really forgiven. Do you wish to wait for that assurance until six or seven years have passed away? Do you feel this morning that you could be perfectly satisfied to go out of this house in the state you are now in, and continue in it month by month? If such delay would satisfy you, the Spirit of God has not spoken with you in an effective manner. You have been only partially influenced, like unhappy Felix, and having said, “When I have a more convenient time I will send for you,” we shall hear no more about you. If the Spirit of God is upon you, you are crying “Help, Lord, help me now; save me now or I perish. Hurry to deliver me, do not delay, oh my God. Hasten on wings of love to pluck me from the pit of destruction which yawns beneath my feet.”

   Come, Lord, thy fainting servant cheer,
      Nor let thy chariot wheels delay;
   Appear, in my poor heart appear,
      My God, my Saviour, come away!

Everywhere a truly awakened sinner pleads in the present tense, and cries mightily for a present salvation, and it is certain that whenever the Holy Spirit strives with men, he urgently cries, “Today! today!”

7. Once more, the Holy Spirit speaks like this by his deeds as well as by his words. We have a common proverb that actions speak more loudly than words. Now the acts of the Holy Spirit in the leading of many in this place to the Saviour are so many practical invitations, encouragements, and commands to others. The gate of mercy stands open every day in the year, and its very openness is an invitation and a command to enter; but when I see my fellow men go streaming through, when I see hundreds finding Christ as we have seen them, do not all these as they enter the portal of grace, call to others to come also? Do they not say, “This way may be trodden by such as you are, for we are treading it; this way assuredly leads to peace, for we have found rest in it.” It is surely so. This way of speaking from the Holy Spirit has come very closely home to some of you, for you have seen your children enter the kingdom, and yet you are not saved yourselves. Some of you have seen your sisters saved, but you still remain unconverted. There is a husband over there whose wife has told him with sparkling eyes about the rest she has found in the Saviour, but he himself refuses to seek the Lord. There are parents here who have found Jesus, but their children are a heavy burden to them, for their hearts are unrenewed. Did I see my brother pass through the gate of salvation? May I not take that as an intimation from God’s Spirit that he is waiting to be gracious to me also? When I see others saved by faith, may I not be sure that faith will also save me? Since I perceive that there is grace in Christ for the sins of others exactly like myself, may I not hope that there is mercy also for me? I will venture to hope and dare to believe. Should that not be the resolve of each, and is that not the point to which the Holy Spirit would lead us? Is not the bringing of one sinner to himself intended to lure others?

8. “The Holy Spirit says, ‘Today.’ ” But why be so urgent, blessed Spirit, why be so urgent? It is because the Holy Spirit is in sympathy with God; in sympathy with the Father who longs to press the prodigal to his bosom; in sympathy with the Son who is watching to see all that is accomplished by the travail of his soul. The Holy Spirit is urgent because he is grieved with sin, and would not see it continued for an hour, and every moment that a sinner refuses to come to Christ is a moment spent in sin; yes, that refusal to come is in itself the most wanton and cruel of offences. The hardness of man’s heart against the gospel is the most grievous of all provocations; therefore the Holy Spirit longs to see man rid of it, so that he may yield himself to the omnipotent power of love. The Holy Spirit desires to see men attentive to the voice of God because he delights in what is right and good. It is a personal pleasure for him. He is glad to see his own work in the sinner carried on until salvation is secure. Besides, he waits to execute his favourite office of a Comforter, and he cannot comfort an ungodly soul, he cannot comfort those who harden their hearts. Comfort for unbelievers would be their destruction. Since he delights to be the Comforter, and has been sent out from the Father to act especially in that capacity, so that he may comfort the people of God, he watches with longing eyes for broken hearts and contrite spirits, so that he may apply the balm of Gilead and heal their wounds. Therefore “the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today.’ ” I leave this fact with you. The special voice of the text is not from man, but from the Holy Spirit himself. He who has ears to hear let him hear.

      Then while ’tis called today,
      Oh, hear the gospel sound;
   Come, sinner, haste, oh, haste away,
      While pardon may be found.

9. II. The text inculcates A SPECIAL DUTY.

10. The duty is that we should hear the voice of God. If you so read it, the text asks us to hear the voice of the Father saying, “Return to me, you backsliding children. Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins are as scarlet they shall be as wool”; or it may be the voice of Jesus Christ, for it is concerning him that the apostle is here speaking. It is Jesus who calls, “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” In fact, the voice to be heard is that of the Sacred Trinity, for with the Father and the Son, the Spirit also says, “Come.” We are asked to hear, and surely that is no hard duty. The grand evangelical precept is, “Incline your ear and come to me, hear and your soul shall live”; for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Hear, then, the Lord’s voice. “Well,” says one, “we do hear it; we read the Bible, and whatever is preached on Sunday we are willing enough to hear.” Ah, my dear hearers, but there is hearing and hearing. Many have ears to hear, but they do not hear in reality. The kind of hearing which is demanded from us is the hearing with reverence. The gospel is God’s word, not man’s, the voice of your Maker, your Lord; the voice of infallible Truth, of infinite Love, of sovereign authority, and therefore no common attention should be bestowed upon it. Listen to it devoutly, summoning all your powers to adoring attention. Angels veil their faces in Jehovah’s presence, and shall man trifle before him? When God speaks do not regard it as merely the voice of a king, to whose message it might be treason to turn a deaf ear, but as the voice of your God, towards whom it is blasphemy to be inattentive. Hear him earnestly, with anxiety to know the meaning of what he says, drinking in his doctrine, receiving with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul, bowing your understanding to it, longing to comprehend it, desirous to be influenced by it. “Hear his voice” — that is, hear it obediently, eager to do what he asks you to, as he enables you. Do not hear and forget, as one who looks in a mirror and sees his face, and afterwards forgets what kind of man he is. Retain the truth in your memories, and, better still, practise it in your lives. To hear in this case is, in fact, to yield yourselves to the will of God, to let yourselves be as the soft clay and his word as the hand which moulds you, or your tears as the molten metal, and the word as the mould into which you are poured.

11. Hear the Lord when he instructs you. Be willing to know the truth. How often are men’s ears plugged up with the wax of prejudice, so that they are hard of hearing. They have made up their minds concerning what the gospel ought to be, and will not hear what it is. They think themselves to be the judges of God’s word, instead of God’s word being their judge. Some men do not want to know too much, they might be uncomfortable in their sins if they did; and, therefore, they are not anxious to be instructed. When men are afraid of truth there is abundant reason to fear that the truth is against them. It is one of the worst signs of a fallen condition when a son of Adam hides away from the voice of his Creator. But, oh dear hearers, today hear his voice. Learn from Jesus, sit as scholars at his feet, for “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Hear him as scholars hear their teacher, for all the children of Zion are taught by the Lord.

12. But the Lord does more than instruct you, he commands, for let men say what they wish, the gospel to be preached to the ungodly is not merely warnings and teachings, it has its solemn, positive commands. Listen to this. “The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” Concerning faith, the Lord’s word does not come as a mere recommendation of its virtues, or as a promise to those who exercise it, but it speaks in this way, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; he who does not believe shall be damned”: the Lord puts the solemn sanction of a threatening of condemnation upon the command to show that it is not to be trifled with. “All power,” says Christ, “is given to me in heaven and in earth,” and therefore clothed with that authority and that power, he sends out his disciples, saying to them, “Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The word goes out with divine authority, saying, “Repent and believe the gospel.” This is as much God’s command as when he says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” and there is this much all the more of solemn obligation, that whereas the law was given by Moses, the gospel command was given by the Son of God himself. “He who despised Moses’ law died without mercy: of how much more severe punishment, do you suppose, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God!” Hear then the commands of Jesus, for be sure of this, that his gospel comes to you with the imperial authority of the Lord of all.

13. But the Lord does more than command, he graciously invites; with tenderness he invites sinners to come to his banquet of mercy, for all things are ready. As though he pleaded with men, and would gladly persuade where he might command, he cries, “Ho, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Many of the Lord’s invitations are remarkable for their extreme pathos, as though it were rather himself who would suffer than the sinner, if the sinner remained obstinate. He cries, “Turn, turn, why will you die, oh house of Israel?” Like a father pleading with a beloved but disobedient son who is ruining himself, God himself pleads, as if the tears stood in his eyes; yes, the Incarnate God in very deed wept over sinners, and cried, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not.” Will you not listen, then, when God instructs? Shall he give light and your eyes be closed? Will you not obey when God commands? Do you intend to be rebels against him? Will you turn your backs when God invites? Shall his love be slighted, and his bounty treated with scorn? May God grant that it may not be so. The good Spirit asks no more than is just and right when he cries, “Hear the voice of the Lord.”

14. But the Lord does more than invite, he adds his promises. He says, “Hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” He has told us that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Glorious promises are there in his word, exceedingly great and precious. Oh, do not, I beseech you, consider yourselves unworthy of them, for if so, your blood is on your own heads.

15. The Lord also threatens as well as entreats. He warns you, “If you do not turn, he will whet his sword: he has bent his bow and made it ready.” He declares that the despisers shall wonder and perish. He asks, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” He says, “The wicked shall be cast into hell with all the nations that forget God.” Though he has no pleasure in the death of him who dies, but would rather that he should turn to him and live, yet he will by no means clear the guilty, but every transgression and iniquity shall have its just punishment. If Christ is rejected, eternal wrath is certain. By that door you enter heaven, but if you pass it by, even he who at this hour stands with pierced hands to woo you will at the last great day come with an iron rod to break you. “Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” I leave those thoughts with you. May God grant that they may make impressions where his will intends they should.

16. III. There is in our text A SPECIAL TIME EMPHASISED. “The Holy Spirit says, ‘Today.’ ”

17. Today is the set time for hearing God’s voice. Today, that is while God speaks. Oh, if we were as we should be, the moment God said “Seek my face,” we should reply, “Lord, I will seek your face”; as soon as the invitations of mercy were heard there would be an echo in our souls to them, and we would say, “Behold we come to you so that we may be saved.” Observe how in creation God’s voice was obeyed instantly. The Lord said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” He said, “Let the waters abundantly produce the moving creatures,” and immediately it was so. There were no delays. God’s fiat was immediately executed. Oh, you whom God has made men, and endowed with reason, shall the inanimate earth be more obedient than you? Shall the waves of the sea teem with fish, and the earth be covered with grass as soon as Jehovah speaks, and will you sleep on when the heavenly voice cries, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you life?” Hear God today, for he speaks today.

18. The apostle says in the next chapter, “Today — after so long a time,” and I will dwell upon that word — “after so long a time.” I see that some of you have bald heads, or grey hairs lie thick upon them. If you are unconverted well may the Holy Spirit say, “Today, after so long a time, hear his voice.” Is it not long enough to have provoked your God these sixty years? Man, are not seventy years of sin enough? Perhaps you have almost fulfilled your fourscore years, and still you hold out against the overtures of divine mercy. Is not a graceless old age a standing provocation of the Lord? How long do you intend to provoke him? How long will it be before you believe him? You have had time enough to have found that sin is folly, and that its pleasures are vanity. Surely you have had enough time to see that if there is peace it is not to be found in the ways of sin. How long do you intend to linger on forbidden and dangerous ground? You may not have another day, oh aged man, in which to consider your ways! Oh aged woman, you may not have another year granted to you in which to provoke your God. “After so long a time,” with sacred pressure I would urge you — “Today, if you will hear his voice.” I hope it is not only me now pleading with you, but I trust the Holy Spirit also says in your conscience, “Today, attend to the voice of God.”

19. “Today,” that is, especially while the Holy Spirit is leading others to hear and to find mercy; today, while the showers are falling; today, receive the drops of grace; today, while there are prayers offered up for you; today, while the hearts of the godly are earnest about you; today, while the footstool of heaven’s throne is wet with the tears of those who love you; today, lest lethargy should seize the church again; today, lest the preaching of the word of God should come to be a matter of routine, and the preacher himself, discouraged, should lose all zeal for your soul; today, while everything is particularly propitious, hear the voice of God. While the wind blows, hoist the sail; while God is abroad on errands of love, go out to meet him. Today, while you are not yet utterly hardened, while there is still a conscience left within you; today, while you are still conscious of your danger in some degree, while still there is a lingering look towards your Father’s house, hear and live; lest, slighting your present tenderness, it should never come again, but you should be abandoned to the shocking indifference which is the prelude of eternal death. Today, young people, while you are still undefiled with the grosser vices; today, you young men who are new to this polluting city, before you have yet steeped yourselves in its streams of lust; today, while everything is helpful to you, hear the loving, tender, wooing voice of Jesus, and do not harden your hearts.

20. To me the text seems wonderfully gospel-like when it says “Today,” for what is it but another way of putting the doctrine of that blessed hymn,

   “Just as I am, without one plea?”

“Today” — that is, in the circumstances, sins and miseries in which you now are — hear the gospel and obey it. Today, since it finds you in that pew, hear God’s voice of mercy in that pew. Today, you who have never been concerned before, while God speaks, let it concern you. “Ah,” you say, “if I were living in another house.” You are called today, if you are living with the worst of sinners. “I will listen when I have enjoyed that sinful pleasure which I promised to myself next Wednesday.” Ah, if it is a sinful one, flee from it, or it may become a turning point in your history, and seal your soul’s ruin. “Today, if you will hear his voice.” “Ah, if I had attended a few more revival meetings, and felt in a better state, I would obey.” It is not so written, sinner; it is not so. I am not told to preach the gospel to those of you who are ready to receive it, and say, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, if he is already in a measure prepared to believe.” No, but to every creature here I have the same message to deliver. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, who is also God Almighty at the right hand of the Father, believe in him and you shall live; for his message to you is for today, and tolerates no delay. “But I must reform, I must amend, and then I will think about believing.” That is to put the effect before the cause. If you will hear his voice, the reforming and the amending shall come to you, but you must not begin with them as the first matter. The voice of God does not say that, but it says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Oh, hear that voice.

21. I must spend a moment in showing you why the Lord in mercy says “Today.” Do you not know that other people die? Why may you not die yourself? During these present services several have been taken from among us. I was surprised when I came home to find how many have died recently concerning whom I should have predicted a much longer life. Why may you not die speedily? “I am robust and healthy,” one says. If you ever hear of a sudden death, does it not generally happen to the robust? It seems as if the storm swept over the sickly, and they bowed before it like reeds, and so escaped its fury, while the vigorous in health, like powerful forest trees, resist the storm, and are torn up by it. How often does sudden death come just where we least expected it. “Today, if you will hear his voice.” I will ask a question of you which that holy man, Mr. Payson, asks of the awakened. He says, “How would you like to arrange that you would find Christ at the end of the year, and that your existence should depend upon the life of another person?” Select the strongest man you know, and suppose that everything in reference to your eternal welfare is to depend upon whether he lives to see the next year. With what anxiety would you hear of his illness, how concerned you would be about his health? Well, sinner, your salvation is risked by you upon your own life, is that any more secure? If you are procrastinating and putting off repentance, why should you be any more secure about your own life than you would be if all depended upon the life of another? Do not be such fools as to trifle yourselves into your graves, and trifle your souls into hell. You would not stake your fortune on the roll of the dice, as the mad gambler does, and yet you are staking your soul’s eternity upon what is quite as uncertain, for you do not know when you fall asleep tonight whether you shall awaken tomorrow in your bed or in hell. You do not know that the next breath you are expecting will ever come, and if it does not come you will be driven for ever from God’s presence. Oh, sirs, if you want to take foolish risks, risk your gold, or risk your reputations, but do not jeopardise your souls. The stakes are too high for anyone except those who are made mad by sin. Do not risk your souls, I do implore you, upon the chance of your living another day, but listen to the voice of God today.

22. IV. I have little time for my last point, but still I must have time for it even if I detain you beyond the accustomed time of departure. The last point is this, — THE SPECIAL DANGER which is indicated in the text. “Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” That is the special danger. And how is it incurred?

23. When people are under concern of soul their heart is in a measure softened, but they can readily harden it, first, by willingly relapsing into their former indifference, by shaking off all fear, and saying in wilful rebellion, “No, I will have none of it.” I once preached in a certain city, and I was the guest of a gentleman who treated me with great kindness, but I noticed on the third occasion of my preaching that he suddenly left the room. One of my friends followed him out of the place and said to him, “Why have you left the service?” “Well,” he said, “I believe I would have been converted altogether if I had stayed any longer, for I felt such an influence coming over me; but it would not pay; you know what I am, it would not pay.” Many people are like that. They are moved for a while according to the earnest word they hear, but it is all in vain; the dog returns to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. This is to harden your heart and provoke the Lord.

24. A common way of provoking God and hardening the heart is that indicated by the context. “Do not harden your heart, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness” — that is to say, by unbelief, by saying, “God cannot save me, he is not able to forgive me; the blood of Christ cannot cleanse me; I am too black a sinner for God’s mercy to deal with.” That is just an echo of what the Israelites said — “God cannot take us into Canaan; he cannot conquer the sons of Anak.” Although you may look upon unbelief as a slight sin, it is the sin of sins. May the Holy Spirit convict you of it, for “when the Spirit of truth is come he shall convict the world of sin,” and especially of this sin, “because they do not believe on Jesus.” “He who does not believe is condemned already,” Christ says, “because he has not believed on the Son of God”; as if all other sins were insignificant in power to condemn in comparison with this sin of unbelief. Oh, do not, therefore, doubt my Lord. Come, you blackest, filthiest sinner outside of hell, Jesus can cleanse you. Come, you granite hearted sinner, you whose affections are frozen like an iceberg, so that no one melting tear of penitence distils from your eye, Jesus’ love can soften your heart. Believe him, believe him, or else you harden your heart against him.

25. Some harden their hearts by asking for more signs. This also is according to the manner of the Israelites. “God has given us manna; can he give us water? He has given us water out of the rock, can he give us meat also? Can he furnish a table in the wilderness?” After all that God had done, they wanted him to work more miracles, or they would not believe. Let none of us harden our hearts in that way. God has already performed for men a miracle which transcends all others, and is indeed the compendium of all wonders; he has given his own Son out of his bosom to be a man, and to die for sinners. The sinner who is not contented with that display of the mercy of God will never be satisfied with any proof of it. Christ on the tree is the greatest of all miracles under the gospel dispensation; if you will not believe God who “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” then you never will believe. “Oh, but I want to feel; I want the influence that is abroad to come upon me in a strange manner; I want to dream at night, or to see visions by day.” Do you? You are hardening your heart; you are rejecting what God does give, and asking him to play the lackey to you, and to give you what your petulant pride demands. If you had these things you would not believe any the more. He who has Moses and the prophets and rejects them, would not believe even though one came to him from the dead. Christ on the cross is before you, do not reject him. For if you do, nothing else can convince you, and there you must remain, hardening your heart in unbelief.

26. Those also harden their hearts who presume upon the mercy of God, and say, “Well, we can turn when we please.” Ah, how different will you find it. “We have only to believe and be saved.” Yes, but you will find “only believing” to be a very different thing from what you imagine. Salvation is no child’s play, believe me. I have heard of one who woke up one morning and found himself famous, but you will not find salvation in that way. “He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.”

27. You harden your hearts if you plunge into worldly pleasures; if you allow loose companions to talk with you; if on this holy day you indulge in idle talk, or listen to unhallowed mirth. Many a tender conscience is hardened by the company which surrounds it. A young woman hears a powerful sermon, and God is blessing it to her, but she goes off tomorrow to spend the evening in a scene of gaiety: how can she expect that the word of God will be blessed to her? It is a deliberate quenching of the Spirit, and I do not wonder that God should swear in his wrath that those who do so shall not enter into his rest. Oh, do not do these things, lest you harden your hearts against God.

28. Now, I must conclude, but I must present the matter fully before you. I want every sinner here to know his position this morning. God commands all men everywhere to repent; Christ commands men to believe in him today. You have to do one of two things, you have no other choice, — either you must say that you do not intend to obey God’s command, or else you must yield to it. Like Pharaoh, you must say, “Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?” or else, like the prodigal son, you must resolve, “I will arise and go to my father.” There is no other choice. Do not attempt to make excuses for delay. God makes short work of sinners’ excuses. Those who were invited to the great supper said, “We are going to our farm and our merchandise; we are about to try our yokes of oxen, or we have married a wife,” but all the Lord said about it was, “none of the men who were invited shall taste of my supper.” There was the end of it. There was a man once who had a talent, and he buried it in a napkin, and said, “I knew that you were an austere man,” and so on. What notice did his master take of that speech? He merely said, “Out of your own mouth I will condemn you. You knew that I was an austere man, and therefore, for that very reason you ought to have been the more diligent in my service.” The Lord sees through your excuses, therefore do not insult him with them. I have you here this morning before me, and you shall say one thing or the other before the living God, and before Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. He asks you now to turn from your sin and seek his face, and believe in his dear Son; will you do it or not? Yes or no? And notice that “Yes” or “No” may be final. This morning the last appeal may have been made to you. God commands, and I charge you, if your heart intends rebellion say, if you dare, “I will not obey,” then you will know where you are, and you will understand your own position. If God is not God, fight it out with him. If you do not believe in him, if he really is not the Lord who made you and who can destroy you, or if you intend to be his enemy, take up the position, and be as honest even if you are as proud as Pharaoh, and say, “I will not obey him.” But, oh, I urge you do not rebel like this. God is gracious; will you be rebellious? God is love; will you therefore be hard hearted? Jesus by his every wound invites you to come to himself, and the Holy Spirit himself is here, and is saying in the text, “Today do not harden your hearts.” Yield yourselves now to his love.

         Who round you now
      The bands of a man would cast,
   The cords of his love who was given to you
      To his altar binding you fast.

At his altar may you be found safe in the day of his appearing. May God bless you.

29. I ask those of you who know how to pray to implore a blessing on this word, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

[Portions Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Nu 13:26-14:23 Ps 95]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 95” 95 @@ "(Song 2)"]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Gospel, Invitations — ‘Come Unto Me’ ” 497]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Gospel, Received by Faith — Just As I Am” 546]

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 95 (Song 1)
1 Sing to the Lord Jehovah’s name,
   And in his strength rejoice;
   When his salvation in our theme,
   Exalted be our voice.
2 With thanks approach his awful sight,
   And psalms of honour sing;
   The Lord’s a God of boundless might,
   The whole creation’s King.
3 Come, and with humble souls adore,
   Come kneel before his face;
   Oh may the creatures of his power
   Be children of his grace!
4 Now is the time; he bends his ear,
   And waits for your request;
   Come, lest he rouse his wrath and swear,
   “Ye shall not see my rest.”
                        Isaac Watts, 1719.

Psalm 95 (Song 2)
1 Come, sound his praise abroad,
      And hymns of glory sing;
   Jehovah is the sovereign God,
      The universal King.
2 He form’d the deeps unknown;
      He gave the seas their bound;
   The watery worlds are all his own,
      And all the solid ground.
3 Come, worship at his throne;
      Come, bow before the Lord:
   We are his works, and not our own;
      He form’d us by his word.
4 Today attend his voice,
      Nor dare provoke his rod;
   Come, like the people of his choice,
      And own your gracious God.
5 But if your ears refuse
      The language of his grace,
   And hearts grow hard, like stubborn Jews,
      That unbelieving race:
6 The Lord, in vengeance dress’d,
      Will lift his hand and swear,
   “You that despise my promised rest
      Shall have no portion there.”
                           Isaac Watts, 1719.

Psalm 95 (Song 3)
1 Oh come, loud anthems let us sing:
   Give thanks to our Almighty King;
   For we our voices high should raise,
   When our salvation’s Rock we praise.
2 Yea, let us stand before his face
   To thank him for his matchless grace;
   To him address, in joyful songs,
   The praise that to his name belongs.
3 For God, the Lord, enthroned in state,
   Is with unrivall’d glory great:
   The strength of earth is in his hand,
   He made the sea, and fix’d the land.
4 Oh, let us to his courts repair,
   And bow with adoration there;
   Down on our knees devoutly all
   Before the Lord our Maker fall.
                     Tate and Brady, 1696, a.

Gospel, Invitations
497 — “Come Unto Me” <8.7.4.>
1 Hark! the voice of Jesus calling,
      “Come, thou laden, come to Me;
   I have rest and peace to offer;
      Rest, poor labouring one, for thee;
         Take salvation,
      Take it now, and happy be.”
2 Yes, though high in heavenly glory,
      Still the Saviour calls to thee;
   Faith can hear his gracious accents — 
      “Come, thou laden, come to me;
         Take salvation,
      Take it now, and happy be.”
3 Soon that voice will cease its calling,
      Now it speaks, and speaks to thee;
   Sinner, heed the gracious message,
      To the blood for refuge flee;
         Take salvation,
      Take it now, and happy be.
4 Life is found alone in Jesus,
      Only there ‘tis offered thee — 
   Offer’d without price or money,
      ‘Tis the gift of God sent free;
         Take salvation,
      Take it now, and happy be.
                           Albert Midlane, 1865.

Gospel, Received by Faith
546 — Just As I Am <8.8.8.6., or L.M.>
1 Just as I am — without one plea
   But that thy blood was shed for me,
   And that thou bidd’st me come to thee,
      Oh Lamb of God, I come.
2 Just as I am — and waiting not
   To rid my soul of one dark blot,
   To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
      Oh Lamb of God, I come.
3 Just as I am — though toss’d about
   With many a conflict, many a doubt,
   Fightings within, and fears without,
      Oh Lamb of God, I come.
4 Just as I am — poor, wretched, blind,
   Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
   Yea, all I need, in thee to find,
      Oh Lamb of God, I come.
5 Just as I am — thou wilt receive,
   Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
   Because thy promise, I believe,
      Oh Lamb of God, I come.
6 Just as I am — thy love unknown
   Has broken every barrier down,
   Now, to be thine, yea, thine alone,
      Oh Lamb of God, I come.
7 Just as I am — of that free love
   The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove,
   Here for a season, then above,
      Oh Lamb of God, I come.
                     Charlotte Elliott, 1836.