1223. Solomon’s Plea

A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, May 2, 1875, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. *3/20/2012

For you separated them from among all the people of the earth, to be your inheritance. [1Ki 8:53]

1. Israel was a type of the church of God. The apostle, in the epistle to the Romans, clearly shows that Abraham was the father, not only of the circumcision, but of all those who walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham, and that the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham or his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For the covenanted inheritance was not to be given according to descent through the flesh, otherwise the inheritance would have fallen to Ishmael; but the particular blessings which God promised to Abraham are the inheritance of those who are born after the Spirit, according to the promise, even as Isaac was. Abraham himself believed, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness, and all those who possess faith are the true children of “the father of the faithful.” We may, therefore, without any violence apply what is said of ancient Israel to the present people of God. The promises which were made to the great patriarch had an eye to us, “as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations,’ ” and “the promise is sure to all the seed, not only those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.” [Ro 4:16,17] “The children of the promise are counted for the seed,” [Ro 9:8] and of them the children of the flesh, namely, the Jews, are only a type. We shall not err then in applying this prayer of Solomon to the people of God at the present time.

2. It is worthy to note concerning this prayer that it is as full and comprehensive as if it were meant to be the summary of all future prayers offered in the temple. One is struck, moreover, with the fact that the language is far from new, and is full of quotations from the Pentateuch, some of which are almost word for word, while the sense of the whole may be found in those memorable passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, in which the Lord threatened his people that if they were untrue to him he would visit them with heavy chastisements, and in which he also added that if they turned to him with sincere repentance, and confessed their iniquities, he would smile upon them again and deliver them. Solomon was certainly able to have found words of his own, for the royal preacher was wise, and sought out acceptable words; yet he preferred the words of the Holy Spirit to his own. In prayer there is a particular sweetness in being able to bring before God not only his own meaning but his own words. “Remember the word to your servant upon which you have caused me to hope.” No language has such a mystical charm and solemn power about it as that employed by the Holy Spirit. “How sweet are your words to my taste! yes sweeter than honey to my mouth!” When we spread the very words of the Lord before him our mind is conscious of great power in asking, and much assurance of receiving. The expressions by which the Spirit teaches us are very comely when we return them to him in supplication.

3. By the illumination of the Spirit of God much more is to be seen in Solomon’s prayer than may be apparent on the surface. The chief point to which I shall call your attention at this time will be its concluding plea, which he repeats in various forms, saying, “For they are your people, and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron”: and again in the words of the text, “For you separated them from among all the people of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by the hand of Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt.” The Lord’s choice of Israel, his past mercies towards the elect people, and his particular relationship to them above all other nations, — these were the pleas which the supplicant son of David laid before the covenant God.

4. We shall speak of three things this morning. The first is the fact, “You have separated them from among all people”; the second is the intent, “to be your inheritance”; and the third is the plea, which is suitably based on it. We shall try to work out the plea in reference to the various petitions of Solomon’s prayer, for they encompass most, if not all, of the trials of the godly.

5. I. First, here is THE FACT. “You separated them from among all the people of the earth.”

6. The historical books of Scripture show that this was emphatically true of Abraham and his descendants. Balaam spoke the truth when he said, “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be included among the nations.” Israel never prospered when it forgot its separateness, for the promise was, “Israel then shall dwell in safety alone.” When they followed the customs of their neighbours, they had bitter cause for lamentation, but all things went well when they remembered how the Lord had said, “You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy; and have severed you from other people so that you should be mine.” Israel’s safety and glory lay in being distinct from all other people; and the truth holds good concerning the church of God today, for we also are not of this world. In the human race there are many divisions: nationalities, peoples, and the like, but these are only like the marks of a plough upon the surface of a field, they do not divide the estate. There is a far deeper and more lasting division which God himself has made. All around us is the world’s wide wilderness, and over there is the place enclosed by grace which the Lord of all has set apart to be his garden. Before us lies the great and troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, but we see also the rock upon which he has built his church, which God has settled and made to stand firm by his eternal power. Gross darkness covers the earth, for the whole world lies in the wicked one; but in the land of Goshen there is light, for upon those who fear his name the Sun of Righteousness has arisen.

7. This separation of the world into two races was predicted when our first parents fell. At the gates of the Garden of Eden the voice of the Lord spoke concerning the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, between whom an enmity was to be placed. From that day until this, the serpent’s seed has continued in direct lineal descent, and blessed be God the seed of the woman has not failed from off the face of the earth, for God’s infinite grace has always raised up children in the family of grace. The two lines of Cain and Seth, of Ham and Shem, of Ishmael and Isaac, of Esau and Jacob, are very visible from the first hour of history until now.

8. There is a separation, then; let us speak of it. That separation began in the eternal purpose of God. Before the earth was created he had set apart to himself a people whom he looked upon in his foreknowledge, and viewed with infinite affection. “Moreover whom he foreknew he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Do not think that God’s children are born into his family without foreknowledge, for, when they are born again, they only receive “that eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before the world began.” Do not conceive that the newly converted ones are strangers to him; he has known them long before they knew themselves, and shed abroad upon them “that great love by which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.” We may say of the mystical body of Christ that in the Lord’s book all his members were written which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them. Long before he had made the world in which men should dwell, he had ordained a place for his people, and the arrangements of providence were made with an eye to them, for Moses says, “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.”

9. This first act of separation was followed up, or I might say accompanied, by a distinct act of grace, in which the chosen were given over to the Lord Jesus Christ. “They were yours,” says Jesus, “and you gave them to me.” He speaks about as many as his Father gave him: these were to be members of Christ’s body, they were to make up his bride, the Lamb’s wife, they were to be his brethren and he the firstborn, they were to be taken under a federal headship of which he should be the second Adam. “He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” Oh, what a blessing this is to be the chosen of God, and given to the Lord Jesus, to have one’s name written in the Lamb’s book of life, that book in which the Lamb’s name stands first, and is followed by the names of all whom he has redeemed with his precious blood. Oh, eternal and boundless bliss to know by assurance of faith that you belong to those who are set apart for God, and are one with Jesus.

10. So far the separation is hidden from us, but what is hidden in the purpose in due time develops itself in the event, for all the people of God are at the proper moment called out by effectual calling, and in this way they are separated from among the people of the world. They hear a voice which others do not hear; their eyes are opened to see what others do not perceive: drawn by cords which others do not feel, they yield to those bands of love which others resist. With full consent, their will being sweetly influenced, they follow as they are drawn. Like Abraham, they go out from the country of their birth to seek a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. The Most High has called them to come out and be sojourners with him, and they come. Do you not remember, brethren, when the sacred voice first sounded in your ears? It said, “You are in a far country, my child, you are poor and hungry, you are sick and faint, you are feeding swine, you are disgraced and dishonoured, come back to your Father’s house.” Well do I remember how that voice charmed me to consideration, to humiliation, to confession, and to resolve, until my heart cried out, “I will arise and go to my Father.” Did Jesus not say, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”; and did he not say to others, “You do not believe because you are not my sheep.” Here begins the separation which is visible and obvious. Grace works and calls the chosen out of Nature’s lost estate. At the call of the Almighty Spirit dead souls arise to divine life, and forsake the tombs among which they wandered; lepers find their flesh returning to its former health, and leave the leper house where they lived; and rebels, flinging down their weapons, sue for peace, and become loyal subjects of their gracious King. Do you know, beloved, what this means? It is what we call conversion. It is a wonderful phenomenon — who shall understand it? Do not let any man dare to ridicule it. There is a mock conversion which arises from a little feverish feeling, which turns cold when the fit is over, but this is no evidence that there are no true conversions. Real conversion by the Holy Spirit is as distinct and radical a change as though an old man were placed in a mill, and ground young again, — no, it is something more than that would be, for “old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” The regenerate are dead indeed to sin, but alive to God by Jesus Christ. A deed has been performed in them of the same power which was accomplished in Christ when he was raised from the dead, and this has most effectively put a difference between them and the rest of mankind.

11. Believers become separate from the hour of their conversion by possessing a new nature. Do not think I am too bold when I say that the distinction between the child of God and the carnal man is as great as the difference between a man and a beast; just as man possesses an intellectual life which is denied to the beast, so the regenerate are endowed with a third and loftier principle called the spirit, which lifts them into a higher sphere of existence. The most moral and most educated of unregenerate men are still dead concerning spiritual things, and they must remain so until the new life is implanted in them. Those who have been born again have received the living and incorruptible seed which abides for ever; they have, in the words of the apostle, been “made partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust.” This makes a wonderful distinction between them and the rest of mankind. A man is separate from an ox or a sheep by every instinct of his nature; there is no mistaking the one for the other. True, there are parts of manhood which have affinity with the animal, but still the possession of mind creates tastes, desires, emotions, joys, sorrows, cravings, and motives, which the animal cannot appreciate. The Christian man is endowed with a nature above that of other men, and is conscious of a life with which they cannot sympathise. Dear hearer, do you know anything of this deep, vital, radical, essential distinction from the world? You must know it, or you cannot belong to Christ, for he says concerning his disciples, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

12. The separateness of the believer comes out in his life. We shall do well to call to mind that the Jews were remarkably separated from the Gentiles by the ordinances and commandments which the Lord gave to them. If they sat down to eat they could not associate with the heathen, for they were discriminating in their food: the Lord had said to them, “You shall therefore put a difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and you shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.” If the Jew went out to fish, some of the fish were without scales and fins, and these were unclean to him, and the Jewish fisherman was thus distinct from the Gentile; or if he became a fowler, some of the birds which might be taken were unclean, and so the Israelite was revealed again. Not only in his food but in his clothing he was a marked man, for the Lord had commanded, “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them to make fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue: and it shall be to you for a fringe, so that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them.” It did not matter where he was, whether he ate, drank, slept, walked, rode, there was such a distinction about the man, that, with a little observation you could safely say, “That man is an Israelite.” It should even be like this with the Lord’s people. I do not mean that we are to use pious platitudes and phrases, or set up distinctive trademarks as certain of the sects are doing. Behold how broad they make their phylacteries! One kind can do nothing without the sign of the cross, and another cannot be happy unless they exhibit the orthodox formula — “The gospel of the grace of God will be preached here, God willing.” How readily does the most simple worship degenerate into a form and become as ritualistic without ritual as others with a superabundance of ceremonies. A broad brimmed hat and a collarless coat were once brave protests against wide spread folly, and may be well enough even now if worn in a right spirit; but still the distinction between saint and sinner can never lie in a beaver skin hat and broadcloth, nor can it be revealed by mere peculiarities of speech; it needs other and more important modes of manifestation. We do not believe the Lord would have us become unnatural, the grace of God has left us men, and intends us to be men, though it has quickened us with a higher life and actuated us with nobler motives. Not John the Baptist in the wilderness, but Jesus among men, is the example of our lives. We are to be in the world but not of it; obvious distinctions are to mark us. A worldling loves himself, the Christian loves his God; the worldling seeks gain for self, the Christian seeks glory for God; the worldling lives to bless himself, the Christian lives to bless his age. If the love of God is in a man, he will in motive and spirit differ as much from the ungodly as light from darkness, and in his life you will see the difference with the naked eye. The saints are a particular people, and this is their main peculiarity that they are zealous for good works.

13. Dear brethren, it is to be feared that many of us are not separated enough from the world. God intends the difference to be very marked; he would have the line between the church and the world drawn very clearly. I could wish to obliterate for ever the unhappy and artificial distinction which is constantly made between sacred and secular, for a world of mischief has come out of it. The truth is that a real Christian may be known by this, that to him everything secular is sacred, and the most common matters are holiness to the Lord. I do not believe in the religion which only lifts its head above water on Sunday, and confines itself to praying and preaching and carrying hymn books around: we must have a religion which gives a true yard when it is measuring its calicoes, a religion which weighs a true pound when it is dealing out shop goods, a religion which scorns to exaggerate and lie, and take advantage of a gullible public, a religion which is true, upright, chaste, kind, and unselfish. Give me a man who would not lie if the entire earth or heaven itself were to be won by it. We need among professed Christians a high morality; indeed, far more, we need unsullied holiness. Oh, Holy Spirit, work it in us all! As we have often said, holiness means wholeness of character as opposed to the cultivation of some few virtues and the neglect of others. Oh that we were like the Lord in this, that we loved only what is right, and abhorred what is evil; that we kept along the straight and narrow path, and could not be lured from it, not fearing the frown of man nor courting his smile, but resolved as God lives in us that we will live in our daily actions according to his will. This would make Christians to be a separated people indeed, and this is precisely what their God would have them to be.

14. There shall be a final separation eventually when the wheat shall be gathered into the garner, and the tares cast into the oven, when the great Shepherd shall come and place his sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left. Oh, in that day of final separation, may we be found among those of whom he has said, “They shall be mine in the day when I make up my jewels.”

15. II. Now, secondly and briefly, concerning THE INTENT. What has the Lord intended by separating his people from among men? The text tells us “to be your inheritance.”

16. God has selected people who are to be called “the Lord’s portion,” “the lot of his inheritance,” by which is meant that he would have a particular interest in them. All the world belongs to God — “The earth is the Lord’s and its fulness, the world and those who dwell in it,” yet out of the mass he has chosen his own beloved, of whom he says, “You only have I known of all the nations of the earth.” The Queen of England may traverse the whole of these islands and say, “All this is mine,” but yet there are places which are in a deeper sense her own inheritance: Windsor is the home of her ancestors, and Balmoral and Osborne are also hers, as Blair Athol and Ventnor are not. Jehovah claims all men as his — “ ‘All souls are mine’ says the Lord,” but he singles out some and says, “I know whom I have chosen.” “It has pleased the Lord to make you his people.” “Blessed are the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.”

17. A man when he takes anything to be his inheritance expects to have it used for his own purposes. “If he has inherited a farm he looks to receive its rents, or if he tills the ground himself he rightfully considers that the crops belong to him.” So, my brethren, if we are the Lord’s inheritance, all that we are capable of producing belongs to him, and he expects to have it. Every power, every faculty, every passion, every ability, yes even life itself belongs to him. All the clusters of our vine are his, and including each ear of our nature’s harvest. We are vessels to honour, reserved only for his use; servants whose sole and only business it is to wait upon our Lord. We dare not look upon ourselves as our own, or as belonging to others, for we are bought with a price, and therefore it is only reasonable that we serve the Lord in our bodies and our spirits, which are his.

18. A man will generally take up his abode in the place which he has selected to be especially his own. “For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: I will dwell here; for I have desired it.” “I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them,” says the Lord. Blessed is that man with whom Jehovah condescends to dwell. Will he in very deed dwell upon earth? He will, for he has said, “I will look to this man, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.”

19. In a man’s inheritance he takes his delight, and oh, we mention it with joyful awe, Jehovah takes delight in his people. “The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” It is said of him who is the incarnate wisdom, “My delights were with the sons of men.” He loves us so much that he rejoices over us, and when we know that his joy is fulfilled in us then our joy is full. Oh, brethren, see the honour which is placed upon you by being made the delight of the Lord.

20. When a man takes a portion to be his inheritance he intends to never give it up. A Jew never yielded his inheritance. Poor Naboth had a little vineyard, and Ahab must have it, and therefore he said — “I will give you its worth in money, or I will give you a better vineyard.” “No,” said Naboth, “the Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you,” and he died sooner than alienate his inheritance. Beloved, you are the inheritance of God, you are the Lord’s own portion; sooner than give you up the Only Begotten shed his heart’s blood; you are his, and he will not lose you. “Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?”

21. Now, before I go further, I want to ask, have we experienced our separated condition, and our being entirely the Lord’s? Certain regiments in the army consider it a great honour to be called the Queen’s Own. Oh, brethren, what an honour to be God’s own, to be Jesus Christ’s own. I would like to be the branded slave of Christ, like Paul who, when he looked upon the scars which commemorated his sufferings said, “Do not let any man trouble me, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,” as if these were the brands never to be erased which marked him for ever as belonging to the crucified Saviour. If you and I belong to Jesus let us never be false to him, let us never be ashamed of his service, nor negligent in it. Such an honour as we possess must not be trifled with. What manner of people ought we to be? Brother, are you living for God? May I press the question home upon you? You profess to have been born into his family, are you seeking to glorify God as the main object of your life? You may have other objects, but they must be very secondary to this. This must eat you up, it must be like fire in your bones. You must feel, “For me to live is Christ.” An old divine said, “I desire to eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life.” Let us be wholly consecrated, for the Lord’s portion must not be spoiled, the King’s private garden must not be trodden under by the stranger’s foot, his bride must not be for others. Brethren, you can only joyfully confess that you are the Lord’s, yes, you delight to have it so, and desire to make the Lord’s possession of you more and more obvious; go on to perfection. There is no happiness comparable to a complete submergence of self into the glory of God. This is the nearest approach to heaven this side of the grave. Oh to be reserved for the Lord, hedged all around, shut up and enclosed for Jesus, and for him alone.

22. III. Thirdly, the subject before us furnishes us with A PLEA. If you have known that you are separated to belong to the Lord, this is a plea; and the plea applies in prayer to all your trials. Since time would fail me, I shall not read all the words of Solomon.

23. I will ask you to notice that from the thirty-first verse he pleads for any who may have a case pending in court. It happens that righteous men are falsely accused, and Solomon asks that God would decide the case, and give out his sentence, and establish the right. Now, brothers and sisters, perhaps some of you are under the particularly severe trial of being misunderstood, misrepresented, and misjudged; you have not been guilty of what is laid at your door; you loathe from your very heart the evil which is attributed to you. Now, if you are the Lord’s own, you may go to him with this argument — your Saviour has put it into your mouth — “And shall God not avenge his own elect, who cry day and night to him?” Do not be very severely troubled when men speak evil against you falsely, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Your reputation may be dead and buried, but, if you have not killed it by your own conduct, it will have a resurrection; and when it rises again it will be much more fair and beautiful than it was before. “Light sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” Do not believe that the good man’s sun has set, for it is written, “Your righteousness shall come forth as the light, and your judgment as the noonday.” Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him, for he will do you justice in due time, for you are his own, and he will not forget you. This is good pleading I think; surely God will defend his own.

24. Then Solomon goes on to speak, in verse 33, of those who had suffered defeat, and there may be some present who have passed through this experience. “When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and shall turn to you, and pray and make supplication to you, then hear in heaven.” He speaks of “your people Israel,” so that it seems a man may be a true Israelite, and yet be defeated by the foe. Perhaps you have been struggling against an error, and the advocate of that error is more clever in the use of his weapons than you are, and has gained an apparent advantage over you. Do not fear, dear brother, if you are God’s servant, you shall have the victory yet. Perhaps some failing in your spirit while pleading for the truth has baffled you. Go to God and confess it, and then return to the war. God will help you. Perhaps you have been struggling against some besetting sin, and as yet you fear you have been overcome. Say to the dragon, “I shall still strike you, Rahab; were you not wounded at the Red Sea? Behold, the Lord will still enable me to cut you in pieces. Do not rejoice over me, oh my enemy, though I fall, yet I shall rise again.” Oh you people of God, who have been defeated by Satan in your attempts to teach the infidel, the scoffer, or the ritualist, go to the strong for strength, and cry to the Lord, “Am I not your own servant? Did I not do this for your cause? Did I not seek your honour?” and assuredly you shall have an answer of peace, and you shall still conquer.

25. Solomon then proceeded to speak of barrenness and the absence of the dew and the rain, a fearful calamity in Judea, for if the rain did not fall there could be no joyful weeks of harvest. At times, brethren, we also are without the heavenly rain: God’s Spirit is withheld, and our hearts become as dry as the desert sand. Do any of you suffer from spiritual drought this morning? Do you feel as if you had no sap left in you? Those of us who search our own hearts experience seasons when we can scarcely find a trace of grace, except that we do long after grace and certainly do rest in Jesus Christ if we rest anywhere. I believe that even those of God’s children who live nearest to him sometimes undergo spiritual drought, they cry to God for help, but help does not immediately come. At such times each one may come with the plea, “Save me, oh Lord, for I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid, you have released me from my bonds; I am yours, quicken me. You order the dew to fall on the grass and you give each blade of grass its own drop, and yet the grass cannot pray as you have taught my soul to do. Come, Lord, give me the dew for which you have made me cry with eagerness of desire. Oh, by the desire which you could not have created in order to tantalize me, I pray you hear me and let your Spirit come upon me.” This is good pleading. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” You ask from the Father, and he gives to you as his child. You may ask for particular gifts because you stand in a unique relationship.

26. Brother, do you belong to some declining church? Do you come up here today to be refreshed, and are you saying, “Our church is very dry and barren.” Go and plead with the Lord and say, “This is your church, Lord, and although the members have grown very slothful and seem to be indifferent about sinners, they are still your people, therefore look upon them, and revive them yet again. Will you not visit us again, for we are your people? Revive us, we pray you, and send upon us the showers in their season.”

27. Solomon further uses this plea in connection with chastisements, giving a long list of them. “If there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, caterpillars,” and the like. Beloved, you may be under some chastisement today on account of sin. “What son is there whom his father does not chastise?” Oh how some of us have had to learn the meaning of those words, but blessed be God we have not had to ponder over that other dreadful verse, “If you are without chastisement of which all are partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.” Do you not know what the smarting rod means? At such times when the rod falls again and again it is well to turn your eye upward and say, “Father, am I not your child? Are you sitting as a judge? Will you strike me with the blows of a cruel one, as though you hated me? My God, it cannot be for I am your own.

   Gently, gently lay thy rod
   On my sinful head oh God;
   Stay thy wrath, in mercy stay,
   Lest I sink beneath its sway.

I am yours, you know I am. Have compassion on the offspring of your own eternal love. Look down with favour on me whose name is sculptured on the heart of Jesus, the Well Beloved. Oh do not crush me, do not utterly destroy me. Truly, I deserve your utmost wrath, but by your ancient affection when you appeared of old to me and said, ‘Lo, I have loved you with an everlasting love,’ put up your rod, and restore to me the joy of your salvation.” I am telling you now what I know very well. How many times I have pleaded just like that with God, and sometimes I have even been bold enough to say to him when pain was sharp and the mind was weary, “I would not chastise my child like this, and oh, my Father, will you be a less tender father towards me than I am?” Being bold like this I have often obtained an answer of peace from his hands, and felt even physical pain relieved, while spiritual distress has been swept away. This is Solomon’s argument: — “Are they not your people? Have you not separated them? Do not be very angry with your inheritance!”

28. This is equally good pleading if we come to the next point, — which is warfare, for Solomon says, “If your people go out to battle against the enemy, wherever you shall send them.” Brethren, our life is warfare. There is a conflict within, and there is a warfare to be carried on without: at this very hour we hear the trumpet sounding for an earnest assault upon the iniquities of London, and if we wish to plead for a blessing, this may serve us: “Lord, are we not your people? Is not this your gospel? Is not Jesus Christ your Son? Is this not your cause? For if it is, then oh Lord go out with us: if we are mistaken, and the gospel is not your truth, and if we are not your servants, then we wish that our cause would sink, for we would not fight against you. If we are yours, oh remember us and now, even now, send prosperity for Jesus’ sake.” You may plead like this, and you shall be heard.

29. Again, Solomon prayed for any who through their sins were carried into captivity. Some here may be in that state. Brother, you were once a member of this church, but you have been excommunicated for your unseemly conduct. Sister, you once walked in the light of God’s countenance, but it is many a day since you have seen the gleaming of the Saviour’s face, for you have behaved strangely towards your best beloved. Well, now, notwithstanding all this your Lord says, “Return, you backsliding children.” It is a wonderful thing, that even if you have been a prodigal, and have spent your living with prostitutes, yet if you are his child you may call him “Father.” Did not the prodigal say, “Father, I have sinned?” There is good pleading in this fact, for you are not disowned even by your sin. If you are a child of God you are a child of God, and always must be, for it is not possible that the relationship of sonship should come to an end. Alas, our children may bring grave dishonour upon us, and we may cry over them, “Oh Absalom, my son, my son,” but even Absalom is still acknowledged as David’s son, and must be; and, therefore, oh backslider, you are still the Lord’s child. Come back, I urge you, and ask to be delivered from your captivity.

30. I have only one thing more to say. I hear a mourner cry, “This sermon is very consolatory for the people of God, but what about us? Some of us do not belong to the separated ones; are you going to send us away without a word?” Oh no. What did Solomon say in his prayer? His prayer was all for Israel, was it not? Well, yes; but I will read you a little piece of it. Just listen; see if it suits you. “Moreover concerning a stranger who is not from your people Israel, but comes out of a far country for your name’s sake; for they shall hear of your great name, and of your strong hand, and of your outstretched arm; when he shall come and pray towards this house; hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for: so that all people of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel.”

31. That is a prayer for strangers. Stranger, where are you? Stranger to yourself, stranger to Christ, and a stranger to his people, have you come here this morning among the people of God? What has brought you? Have you come from a far country? Are you far off from God by wicked works? Is there something in your heart which makes you long to draw near? Stranger, have you heard that Christ has been saving thousands recently, and do you want him to save you? Stranger, do you have a relative who has recently passed from death to life, and do you want to know that saving change yourself? Stranger, has your mother gone to heaven? Has some beloved child been borne away to sing like a seraph beyond the stars? and do these things tempt you to desire to know more about the great Redeemer? You are welcome. Oh, so welcome, not merely to this Tabernacle, but to Jesus and to his heart of love! Stranger, utter your heart’s desire; ask for great things from the Lord, for whatever you shall ask believingly, you shall receive. The Queen of Sheba was not sent away empty handed by Solomon, and you shall not be sent away hungry by Jesus Christ the Lord. Breathe your prayer now. Do you want pardon, ask for it now. Would you be saved, pray for salvation now, for the Lord will certainly hear you. Let this be the plea, the plea which Solomon gives us, — that God’s name may be known and glorified to the very ends of the earth; for if the Lord will only save you I warrant you you will never let him hear the last of it, for you will tell about his grace to everyone as long as you live. The Lord will bless you if you plead his grace in Christ Jesus. Say “Lord, there is no reason why I should be saved, except this, that if you will save me it will greatly glorify your mercy. Surely, if I ever get to heaven, the glorified ones will stand surprised, and hold up their hands, and say, ‘How did you get here?’ Lord, if you will only make me a changed man, the people of my parish will greatly marvel, and say, ‘What has God accomplished!’ therefore do it and be glorified by it.”

32. I have an impression upon me that there are people here this morning who are very unlikely ever to be converted, and I pray the Lord that these very men may begin to seek his face. If they do so they may plead like this — “Lord, because I judge myself to be the least likely to be saved, and because others judge me to be so, do be pleased to perform a wonder of grace this morning! Lord, it is nothing to put tame doves on your finger, and teach them to peck from your lips, this is what saints do; but Lord, if you will lure a wild bird like me, and tame me to your will, you will be renowned indeed. To lead a lamb by a string as you lead your gentle children, Lord, is not so hard a thing, but I am as a raging lion, or a hungry wolf; oh that your sovereign grace would transform me into a lamb, then your mercy will appear glorious indeed.” Plead like this, oh sinner, and at the same time look to Jesus Christ, and you shall find salvation, to the praise of the glory of his grace.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — 1Ki 8:22-53]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 47” 47]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “God the Father, Attributes of God — Condescension” 195]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 106” 106 @@ "(Part 2)"]

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 47
1 Oh for a shout of sacred joy,
   To God, the sovereign King:
   Let every land their tongues employ
   And hymns of triumph sing.
2 Jesus our God ascends on high,
   His heavenly guards around
   Attend him rising through the sky,
   With trumpet’s joyful sound.
3 While angels shout and praise their King,
   Let mortals learn their strains;
   Let all the earth his honours sing;
   O’er all the earth he reigns.
4 Rehearse his praise with awe profound,
   Let knowledge lead the song;
   Nor mock him with a solemn sound
   Upon a thoughtless tongue.
5 In Israel stood his ancient throne;
   He loved that chosen race;
   But now he calls the world his own,
   And heathens taste his grace.
6 The British islands are the Lord’s,
   There Abraham’s God is known;
   While powers and princes, shields and swords,
   Submit before his throne.
                        Isaac Watts, 1719.

God the Father, Attributes of God
195 — Condescension
1 My God, how wonderful thou art,
   Thy majesty how bright,
   How beautiful thy mercy seat,
   In depths of burning light!
2 Oh, how I fear thee, living God,
   With deepest, tenderest fears,
   And worship thee with trembling hope,
   And penitential tears.
3 Yet I may love thee too, oh Lord,
   Almighty as thou art,
   For thou hast stoop’d to ask of me
   The love of my poor heart.
4 No earthly father loves like thee,
   Or mother, half so mild,
   Bears and forbears, as thou hast done
   With my thy sinful child.
5 Father of Jesus, love’s reward,
   What raptures will it be,
   Prostrate before thy throne to lie,
   And ever gaze on thee!
            Frederick William Faber, 1852.

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 106 (Part 1)
1 Oh render thanks to God above,
   The fountain of eternal love;
   Whose mercy firm through ages past
   Has stood, and shall for ever last.
2 Who can his mighty deeds express,
   Not only vast but numberless?
   What mortal eloquence can raise
   His tribute of immortal praise.
3 Extend to me that favour, Lord,
   Thou to thy chosen dost afford:
   When thou return’st to set them free,
   Let thy salvation visit me.
4 Oh may I worthy prove to see
   Thy saints in full prosperity!
   That I the joyful choir may join,
   And count thy people’s triumph mine.
                     Tate and Brady, 1696.

Psalm 106 (Part 2)
1 God of eternal love,
      How fickle are our ways!
   And yet how oft did Israel prove
      Thy constancy of grace!
2 They saw thy wonders wrought,
      And then thy praise they sung;
   But soon Thy works of power forgot,
      And murmur’d with their tongue.
3 Now thy believe his Word,
      While rocks with rivers flow;
   Now with their lusts provoke the Lord,
      And he reduced them low.
4 Yet when thy mourn’d their faults,
      He hearken’d to their groans;
   Brought his own covenant to his thoughts,
      And call’d them still his sons.
5 Their names were in his book;
      He saved them from their foes:
   Oft he chastised, but ne’er forsook
      The people that he chose.
6 Let Israel bless the Lord,
      Who loved their ancient race;
   And Christians join the solemn word,
      AMEN, to all the praise.
                           Isaac Watts, 1719.