1826. The Horns Of The Altar

No. 1826-31:113. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, March 23, 1884, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

And he said, “No; but I will die here.” {1Ki 2:30}

1. We must tell you the story. Solomon was to be the king after David, but his older brother, Adonijah, was preferred by Joab, the captain of the host, and by Abiathar, the priest; and, therefore, they got together, and tried to usurp dying David, and set up Adonijah. They utterly failed in this; and when Solomon came to the throne Adonijah was afraid for his life, and fled to the horns of the altar at the tabernacle for shelter. Solomon permitted him to find sanctuary there, and forgave him his offence, and said that if he proved himself a worthy man he should live without further molestation. But very soon he began plotting again, and sought to undermine Solomon now that their venerable father was dead. Therefore it became necessary, especially according to Oriental ideas, for Solomon to strike a heavy blow; and he determined to begin with Joab — who was the instigator of all the mischief, who, though he had not supported Absalom in David’s time, was now supporting Adonijah. No sooner had the king determined upon this, than Joab, conscience-stricken, began to look out for himself and flee. We read: “Then news came to Joab: for Joab had supported Adonijah, though he did not support Absalom. And Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.” {1Ki 2:28} I suppose that he thought that, since Adonijah had done this successfully before, Joab might repeat it, and have some hope for his life. Of course, he had no right to enter into the holy place, and lay hold upon the horns of the altar; but being driven to desperation, he did not know what else to do. He was a man of hoary head, who had thirty or more years before committed two atrocious murders, and now they came home to him. He did not know where to flee except he fled to the horns of an altar, which he had very seldom approached before. As far as we can judge, he had shown little respect for religion during his lifetime. He was a rough man of war, and cared little enough about God, or the tabernacle, or the priests, or the altar; but when he was in danger, he fled to what he had avoided, and sought to make a refuge of what he had neglected. He was not the only man who had done the same. Perhaps there are some here who before long will be trying to escape from impending woe by similar means.

2. Now, I want you to notice that when Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and took hold of the horns of the altar, it was of no use to him. “And it was told King Solomon that Joab was fled to the tabernacle of the Lord; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, ‘Go, fall upon him.’ And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him, ‘Thus says the king, come out.’ And he said, ‘No; but I will die here.’ And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, ‘Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.’ And the king said to him, ‘Do as he has said, and fall upon him, and bury him; so that you may take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father. And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, my father David not knowing about it, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. Therefore their blood shall return upon the head of Joab.’ So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and killed him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.” {1Ki 2:29-34}

3. I have two lessons which I am anxious to teach at this time. The first is derived from the fact that Joab found no benefit of sanctuary even though he laid hold upon the horns of the altar of God’s house, from which I gather this lesson — that outward ordinances will avail nothing. Before the living God, who is greater and wiser than Solomon, it will be of no avail to any man to lay hold upon the horns of the altar. But, secondly, there is an altar — a spiritual altar — of which if a man only lays hold upon the horns, and says, “No; but I will die here,” he shall never die; but he shall be safe against the sword of justice for ever; for the Lord has appointed an altar in the person of his own dear Son, Jesus Christ, where there shall be shelter for the very vilest of sinners if they only come and lay hold on it.

4. I. To begin, then, first, OUTWARD ORDINANCES DO NOT AVAIL. The laying hold upon the literal horns of an altar, which can be handled, did not avail for Joab.

5. There are many — oh, how many still! — who are hoping to be saved, because they lay hold, as they think, upon the horns of the altar by sacraments. Men of unhallowed life, nevertheless, come to the sacramental table, looking for a blessing. Do they not know that they pollute it? Do they not know that they are committing a high sin, and a great misdemeanour against God, by coming among his people, where they have no right to be? And yet they think that by committing this atrocity they are securing safety for themselves. How common it is to find in this city, when an irreligious man is dying, that someone will say, “Oh, he is all right; for a clergymen has been there, and given him the sacrament.” I often marvel how men calling themselves the servants of God can dare to profane the ordinance of the Lord like this. Did he ever intend the blessed memorial of the Lord’s supper to be a kind of superstitions viaticum, something upon which ungodly men may depend in their last hour, as if it could put away sin? I do not half so much blame the poor ignorant and superstitious people who seek after the sacrament in their dying hours, as I do the men who ought to know better, but who pander to what is as downright a superstition as anything that ever came from the Church of Rome, or, for that matter, from the fetish worship of the most deluded African tribe. Do they conceive that grace comes to men by bits of bread and drops of wine? These things are meant to remind us of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as far as they do that, and quicken our thoughts of him, they are useful to us; but there is no wizardry or witchcraft linked with these two emblems, so that they convey a form of grace. If you do rely on such things, I can only say that this error is all part of the problem: it is a superstition which begins with, “In my baptism, by which I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an heir of the kingdom of heaven”; which statement is altogether false; and then it continues the delusion by prostituting an ordinance meant for the living child of God, and giving it to the ungodly, the ignorant, and the superstitious, as though it could make them fit for entering heaven. I charge you, as before the Lord, cleanse yourselves of this superstition. There is no salvation apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and you might as well trust in your sins as in sacraments. In fact, the sacraments become sins to men who trust in them, for these men sin against the ordinances of the Lord by putting them where they never ought to be, and making an Antichrist of them, so as to push Christ out of his place with their baptisms and their masses. If you die with the sacramental bread in your mouths, you will be lost unless your faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Your hands, which are superstitiously laid upon the altar’s horns, might as well be placed upon your weapons of rebellion. Outward emblems can do you no good whatever if you remain unspiritual. Without faith in Christ, even the ordinances of God become things to condemn you. If you eat and drink unworthily you eat and drink condemnation to yourselves, not discerning the Lord’s body; and, if this is true, how dare any unconverted, unbelieving man put his trust in the outward ordinance of which he has no right to partake?

6. There are others who put their trust in religious observances of various kinds. Their visible altar horn is something which they believe to be very proper and right, and which, indeed, may be so if wisely used, for the thing is good if used lawfully; but it will be their ruin if it is put out of its own place. For example, there are, doubtless, some who think that they are all right because they frequent sermons. They delight to be found hearing the gospel. Now, in this you do well, for, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”; but, if you suppose that the mere hearing of a sermon with the outward ear can save you, you suppose what is untrue, and you build the house of your hope upon the sand. “Oh, sir, I have sat to hear the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ these many years.” Yes, and these many years you have rejected it. The kingdom of God has come near to you, but I fear it will work your damnation through your unbelief; for it will be a savour of death to you. I fear that in the last great day it shall be seen that I have ministered to some of you to your harm. It will not be laid to my charge, but to yours, if I have been faithful in the declaration of the word. Oh, may God grant that no man or woman among you may ever put the slightest faith in the mere hearing of the word! Unless you receive it by faith you deceive your own souls; if you are hearers only, what good can come of it?

7. “Oh, but,” says another, “I attend prayer meetings.” I admit that it is not every hypocrite who will regularly come to prayer meetings, but there are some who do; and, although you are so fond of prayer meetings, yet, my dear friend, unless it can be said of you, “Behold, he prays,” you cannot be sure of safety. Your being found in the place where prayer is accustomed to be made may be no true sign of grace. “Indeed, but I do more than that, for I have prayers in my own house.” Yes, and very proper, too. I wish that all did the same; I am grieved that any should neglect the ordinance of family prayer. But yet, if you think that the reading of a form of prayer in your household, or even the use of extempore prayer, is a thing to be relied on for salvation, you greatly err. “He who believes in him has everlasting life”; but he who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ only offers unbelieving prayer to God; and what is that except a vain sacrifice which he cannot accept? Oh, do not rely on the habit of outward worship, or you will lean on a bulrush!

8. “But I regularly read a chapter,” one says. I am extremely glad you do, and may God bless that chapter to you! I wish that all were in the habit of reading right through the Bible regularly, and endeavouring to understand it; but, if you trust in your Bible-readings as a basis for salvation, you are resting upon a mere soap-bubble which will burst under your weight. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, producing in the soul a change of heart, a new birth to God, this is what is needed; and, apart from that, all the Bible reading you ever practise can do you no good whatever. “You must be born again. You must be born again”; and if there is no inward change, then all outward observance is vain. You may wash a corpse, you may clothe that corpse in the purest white shroud that was ever woven, but when all is done it does not live; and what are all the outward devotions of a carnal man except dead things which bring no life with them to men dead in sin?

9. Some are foolish enough to put their confidence in ministers. It would seem to me to be the maddest thing in all the world for anyone to have any confidence in me as for helping him in his salvation; and I trust that no one is such a fool. I cannot even save myself; what can I do for others? Do not come to me with “Give some of your oil to us,” for I do not have enough for myself, unless as I keep on begging for a supply. When I look at the priests in whom some trust, especially such as I have seen abroad, they may be very fine fellows, but I would not trust some of them with a half-crown, let alone my soul. The very look of most priests makes me wonder how they manage to secure power over people’s minds. They may know a great deal, but they do not look as if they were overdone with wit. I would as soon trust my soul in the hands of a gipsy with a red cloak as I would with the best ordained priest or bishop who ever lived. There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and he who sets up another is an enemy of souls. There is only one who can be trusted with our soul affairs, even the Lord Jesus Christ; and woe to us if we put our confidence in men! Ordained or unordained, shaven or unshorn, they cannot help us. Yet I know that people do trust in ministers most foolishly. I remember years ago at three o’clock in the morning being in a house now pulled down, which stood not far from the London Bridge railway station. A gentleman of considerable means had spent the Sunday at Brighton, had come home, and suddenly had been taken with cholera, and nothing would do for him, when he was in the pangs of death, but he must send for me. I went, not knowing what was required of me. But when I got there what could I do? There was a little consciousness left in the man, and I spoke to him about Jesus. I asked if he had a Bible. The people of the house searched high and low, but there was no such thing to be found. The mind was soon too beclouded for further comprehension, and as I came away I asked, “Has he ever gone to a place of worship?” No, never — never cared for such a thing; but as soon as he was ill, then, “Oh, send for Mr. Spurgeon!” He must come, and no one else: and there I stood, and what could I do? There died in the City of London, not long ago, a tradesman of much wealth; and when he came near to die, though I had never seen the man in my life before, he persistently asked for me. I could not go. My brother went to see him, and, after setting before him the way of salvation, he enquired, “What made you wish to see my brother?” “Well,” he said, “you know whenever I have a doctor I always like to get the best; and when I employ a lawyer I like a man who is high in the profession. Money is no object. I want the best possible help.” Ah me! I shuddered at being so regarded. The best help he could get! That best is nothing — less than nothing, and vanity. What can we do for you, dear hearts, if you will not have our Saviour? We can stand and weep over you, and break our hearts to think that you reject him; but what can we do? Oh, if we could let you into heaven, if we could renew your hearts, how joyfully we would perform the miracle; but we claim no such power, no such influence! Go to Christ, and lay hold upon the true altar horn; but do not be so foolish as to put confidence in us or in any other ministers.

10. “Ah, well,” one says, “I am free of that. I am a professor of religion, and have been a member of a church now for these twenty years.” You may be a member of a church for fifty years, but you will be damned at last unless you are a member of Christ. It does not matter though you are a church officer, a deacon, an elder, a pastor, a bishop, or even Archbishop of Canterbury, or an apostle, you will perish as surely as Judas, who betrayed his Master with a kiss, unless your heart is right with God. I implore you, put no confidence in your profession. Unless you have Christ in your heart, a profession is only a painted pageantry for a soul to go to hell in. Just as a corpse is drawn to the grave by horses adorned with nodding plumes, so you may find in an outward profession a pompous way of being lost. May God save us from that!

11. “No,” one says, “but I do not trust in a mere profession. I have great reliance upon orthodoxy. I will have sound doctrine.” That is right, friend, I would have all men value the truth. “My confidence is in my belief in sound doctrine.” That is not mine, friend, and I hope that it will not be yours for long, for many lost souls have firmly believed orthodox doctrine. In fact, I question whether anyone is more orthodox than the devil; for the demons believe and tremble. Satan is no sceptic; he has too much knowledge for that. Demons believe and tremble, and yet they are still demons. Put no confidence in the mere fact that you hold to an orthodox faith, for a dead orthodoxy soon corrupts. You must have faith in Christ, or else this altar horn of a correct creed, upon which you lay your hand, will bring you no salvation.

12. I will not enlarge upon this topic. Whatever you depend on apart from the blood and righteousness of Christ, away with it! Away with it! If you are even depending on your own repentance, and your own faith, away with them! If you are looking to your own prayers or alms, I can only cry again, — Away with them! Nothing but the blood of Jesus; nothing but the atoning sacrifice; but, if you come and lay your hand upon that, you shall be blessed.

13. II. That assurance is the second part of our discourse, on which I will speak briefly. COMING TO THE SPIRITUAL ALTAR, AND LAYING OUR HAND UPON IT, WILL SAVE US.

14. Now, notice first, the act itself. Joab came within the tabernacle. So, poor soul, come and hide yourself in Christ. Joab took hold of the horns, the projecting corners of the altar, and he would not let go. Come, trembling sinners, and take hold on Christ Jesus.

   My faith doth lay her hand
   On that dear head of thine;
   While like a penitent I stand,
   And there confess my sin.

Lean with your hand of faith upon your Lord, and say, “This Christ is mine. This offering for sin is mine. I accept it as the gift of God to me, unworthy though I am.”

15. When that is done, a fierce demand may be made on you. The enemy will probably cry, “Come out! Come out!” The self-righteous will say, “What right has such a sinner as you to trust Christ? Come out!” Be careful to say to them, “No, but I will die here.” Your sins and your guilty conscience will cry to you, “Come out! Come out! You must not lay hold on Christ. See what you have been, and what you are, and what you are likely to be.” Answer to these voices, “No, but I will die here. I will never give up my hold on Christ.” Satan will come, and he will howl out, “Come out! What right have you with the Lord Jesus Christ? You cannot think that he came to save such a lost one as you are.” Do not listen to him. As often as he howls at you, only say to yourself, “No, but I will die here.” I pray God that every sinner here may be brought to this desperate resolve, “If I perish, I will perish trusting in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. If I must die, I will die here.” For certain, we shall die anywhere else. If we trust in anyone except Jesus, we must perish. “Other foundation can no man lay than what is laid.” “Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.” “He who believes in him is not condemned: but he who does not believe,” — whatever else he trusts in, — “is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” Make, then, this desperate resolve — 

   If I must die, here will I die,
      Here at the cross I bide;
   To whom or whither should I fly?
      Where else can I confide?

Say to all those who call you away, “No, but I will die here”; for no one ever did perish trusting in Jesus. There has not been through all these centuries a single example of a soul being cast away that came all guilty and hell-deserving, and took Christ to be its salvation. If you perish, you will be the first who perished with his hand laid upon Christ. His love and power can never fail a sinner’s confidence. Therefore, may God the Holy Spirit lead you to resolve, “If I must die, I will die here.” Listen to me, soul, whoever you may be out of this crowd, man or woman, whatever your life may have been, even though it should have been that of a prostitute or a thief, a drunkard or a profligate, if you will now believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved; for, if not, then God himself will have missed his greatest intention. What did he give Jesus for except to save sinners? What did he lay sin upon Jesus for, except that he might take it off the sinner, and let him go free, and be pardoned? If, then, Christ fails, God’s grandest expedient has broken down. That method by which the Lord resolved to show what his almighty grace can do has proved to be a failure if a believing sinner is not saved. Do you think that such a thing can ever be? It is blasphemy to think that Jehovah can be defeated. He who believes in Christ shall be saved; indeed, he is saved.

16. If you are not saved believing in Christ, then Christ himself is dishonoured. Oh, let them once know, down in the dark abode of fallen spirits, that a man has trusted Christ and yet has not been saved, I tell you that they will make such exaltation over Christ as Philistia made over Samson when his eyes were put out. They would feel that they had defeated the Prince of Glory. They would trample on his blood, and ridicule his claim to be the Saviour of men. If any soul can truly say hereafter, “I went to Christ, and he refused me,” then Christ does not speak the truth when he says, “He who comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” Then he has changed his nature, reneged on his word, and perjured himself. But that also can never be. Therefore, dear heart, cling to Jesus, and still say, “If I die, I will die here.”

17. Moreover, if you can perish trusting in Christ you will discourage all the saints of God; for if Christ can break his promise to one, then why not to another? If one promise fails, why not all the promises? If the blood has lost its power, how can any of us ever hope to enter heaven? I say it will engender great discouragement in the hearts of all people if this is true; for what a wet blanket would be thrown over all your fellow sinners! If they are coming to Christ, they will turn back, and say, “What is the good of it? Here is one who came to Jesus, and he did not save him. He trusted in the precious blood, and yet his sin was laid to his charge.” If one fails, why not the rest? I must give up preaching the gospel when once I hear of a man trusting Jesus and not being saved; for I should be afraid to speak with boldness, as I now do.

18. If one poor soul that puts its trust in Christ should be cast away it would spoil heaven itself. What security is there for glorified spirits that their splendours shall endure except the promise of a faithful, covenant-keeping God? If, then, looking down from their celestial seats, they behold the great Father breaking his promise, and the Son of God unable to save those for whom he died, then they will say, “We will lay our harps aside, and put our palms branches away, for we, too, after all, may perish.” See, then, oh man, heaven and earth, indeed, God and his Christ, as for their credit and their glory, stand and fall with the salvation of every believing sinner. If I were in your place tonight, I think that I should bless God to have this matter put so plainly to me. I know that years ago, when I was under a sense of sin, if I had heard even such a poor sermon as this I should have jumped for joy at it, and would have ventured upon Christ at once. Come, poor soul; come at once. You have heard the gospel long enough; now obey it. You have heard about Christ long enough; now trust in him. You have been invited and entreated, and pleaded with; now yield to his grace. Yield to joy and peace by trusting in him who will give you both of these as soon as you have rested in him.

19. Look! sinner, look! A look outside of yourself to Jesus will save you. Look away from all your works, and prayers, and tears, and feelings, and church-goings, and chapel-goings, and sacraments, and ministers. Look only to Jesus. Look at once to him who on the bloody tree made expiation, and who invites you to look, and you shall live.

20. May God make this present hour to be the time of your new birth. I pray it, and so do his people. May the Lord listen to our intercessions, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

[Portions Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Ps 61; 62]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Gospel, Received by Faith — The Voice Of Jesus” 560}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Contrite Cries — Desiring To Submit” 589}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Gospel, Invitations — The Successful Resolve” 514}

Letter From Mr. Spurgeon

Dear Friends and Brethren, — Since I am expected to report myself weekly, and have only this corner left to do it in, the bulletin shall be brief. Weather unsettled; progress fair, but not rapid. I find myself too readily depressed with small matters, and I have a sense of unfitness for my future work. This shows that while rest has done much, there is more to be done. Three weeks have worked such marvels that I hope in due time to return in full vigour.

My heart is with the Special Services at the Tabernacle; for which I ask every reader to pray for daily.

                  C. H. Spurgeon
Mentone, February 21, 1885.

Gospel, Received by Faith
560 — The Voice Of Jesus
1 I heard the voice of Jesus say,
      “Come unto me and rest;
   Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
      Thy head upon my breast.”
   I came to Jesus as I was,
      Weary, and worn, and sad:
   I found in him a resting place,
      And he has made me glad.
2 I heard the voice of Jesus say,
      “Behold, I freely give
   The living water — thirsty one,
      Stoop down, and drink, and live.”
   I came to Jesus, and I drank
      Of that life giving stream;
   My thirst was quench’d, my soul revived,
      And now I live in him.
3 I heard the voice of Jesus say,
      “I am this dark world’s light:
   Look unto me, thy morn shall rise,
      And all thy day be bright.”
   I look’d to Jesus, and I found
      In him my star, my sun;
   And in that light of life I’ll walk
      Till travelling days are done.
                        Horatius Bonar, 1857.

The Christian, Contrite Cries
589 — Desiring To Submit
1 Oh that my load of sin were gone!
   Oh that I could at last submit
   At Jesus’ feet to lay it down,
   To lay my soul at Jesus’ feet!
2 When shall mine eyes behold the Lamb?
   The God of my salvation see?
   Weary, oh Lord, thou know’st I am;
   Yet still I cannot come to thee.
3 Rest for my soul I long to find;
   Saviour divine, if mine thou art,
   Give me thy meek and lowly mind,
   And stamp thine image on my heart.
4 Break off the yoke of inbred sin,
   And fully set my spirit free:
   I cannot rest till pure within,
   Till I am wholly lost in thee.
5 Come, Lord, the drooping sinner cheer,
   Nor let thy chariot wheels delay;
   Appear, in my poor heart appear!
   My God, my Saviour, come away!
                  Charles Wesley, 1742, a.

Gospel, Invitations
514 — The Successful Resolve
1 Come, humble sinner, in whose breast
      A thousand thoughts revolve,
   Come, with your guilt and fear oppress’d,
      And make this last resolve:
2 “I’ll go to Jesus, though my sin
      Hath like a mountain rose;
   I know his courts, I’ll enter in,
      Whatever may oppose.
3 “Prostrate I’ll lie before his throne,
      And there my guilt confess;
   I’ll tell him I’m a wretch undone,
      Without his sovereign grace.
4 “I’ll to the gracious King approach,
      Whose sceptre pardon gives;
   Perhaps he may command my touch,
      And then the suppliant lives.
5 “Perhaps he will admit my plea,
      Perhaps will hear my prayer;
   But if I perish, I will pray,
      And perish only there.
6 “I can but perish if I go;
      I am resolved to try;
   For if I stay away, I know
      I must for ever die.
7 “But if I die with mercy sought,
      When I the King have tried,
   This were to die (delightful thought!)
      As sinner never died.”
                        Edmund Jones, 1787.