2229. God’s Glorious And Everlasting Name

No. 2229-37:565. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, February 15, 1891, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, November 8, 1891.

To make an everlasting name for himself … . To make a glorious name for yourself. {Isa 63:12,14}

For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2229, “God’s Glorious and Everlasting Name” 2230}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2258, “Where is the Lord?” 2259}
   Exposition on Isa 63:1-64:12 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2258, “Where is the Lord?” 2259 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Isa 63 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2285, “Paul the Ready” 2286 @@ "Exposition"}
   {See Spurgeon_SermonTexts "Isa 63:14"}

1. Man’s chief end is to glorify and enjoy God. God’s greatest and highest object is to make for himself a glorious and an everlasting name. Since God is God it must be so; for he is full of love and kindness towards his creatures, and he cannot more fully bless his creatures than by making himself known to them. Everything that is good, true, holy, excellent, loving, is in God. He is not only the giver of “every good and every perfect gift,” but he is himself the sum and substance of all blessing; and it is for the highest good of all the creatures he has made, that they should know their God. “Man, know yourself,” is a frequent exhortation of the philosophers of earth; and self-knowledge is said to be the highest form of knowledge, but it is not. “Man, know your God,” is a far wiser precept; for knowledge of God as far excels all other knowledge as the heavens are higher than the earth. It is life eternal to know him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Know your God, then; for here your hope, your comfort, your holiness, your heaven will be found.

2. God may well desire to make a name for himself — that is to say, to make himself known — because he is worthy to be known. There is no name so well worthy of publication. There is no character like his. There is no one who can be compared to him. Even among the gods of the heathen, if they were gods, there is no one like our God; and, indeed, there is no one else. He can truly say, “I am Jehovah, and there is no one else besides me.” He ought to be known, and it is a worthy motive of his actions that he should make a great name for himself.

3. This knowledge of God is the heaven of the perfect. I believe they have no higher joy in the land of light than to know God. The blaze of their glory is the presence of Deity. The height of their heaven is that God is near them, and that they are near to him. Heaven would be no heaven if God were not there. It would be a circle without a centre, a sky without a sun. The holy song of the seraphim would be hushed; they would cease to veil their faces with their wings; and the hosannas of the redeemed would languish, if they could no longer raise the hymn, “The Lord God omnipotent reigns.” Without the presence of the Eternal, heaven would be shorn of the bliss for which we long, and emptied of the glory we have been led to anticipate. But to know God perfectly, and to behold him in righteousness, will be all that any heart can need.

   How wonderful, how beautiful,
      The sight of thee must be!
   Thy glorious wisdom, boundless power,
      And awful purity.

4. While the knowledge of God is the heaven of the perfect, it is the help of the growing. Men can only get holier and better as they know more about God. Here is the copy; study it well so that you may write according to it. Here is that character which you are to imitate, according to the exhortation, “Be therefore followers of God, as dear children.” Know God as he makes himself known by his works and ways, so that you may grow to be like him. Continue to know him until you shall be able to say that he is the gladness of your joy, and join with the Psalmist, and say, “I will go to the altar of God, to God my very great joy.”

5. The knowledge of God is also the great hope of sinners. Oh child of earth, if you knew him better, you would flee to him! If you understood how gracious he is, you would seek him. If you could have any idea of his holiness, you would loathe your self-righteousness. If you knew anything of his power, you would not venture to contend with him. If you knew anything of his grace, you would not hesitate to yield yourself to him. The more God reveals himself to you, and the more you know of God, the more you are in the way of hope and mercy. “Those who know your name will put their trust in you.” Hence, then, I do not attempt to defend my God, nor stand here to apologize for him, when I assert that the one great purpose of all that he does is to make a name for himself, since it is by the making of that name that men are blessed in the very highest degree, and helped to holiness and happiness. I would rather ask you to praise him who sits upon the throne, that he reveals himself there; for our good can only be achieved by the glory of God’s name.

   Who is a pardoning God like thee,
   Or who hath grace so rich and free?

6. In seeking to open up this subject, I shall say, first of all, that God’s intention in making a great name for himself has been accomplished; secondly, this intention is still being accomplished; and, thirdly, the intention is, in itself, extremely delightful.

7. I. First, GOD’S INTENTION HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED.

8. From everlasting he was God most glorious; he existed, but he had as yet no name. For one is revealed by his name, and until his power called into being the hosts of heaven, God was God alone, and there was no one to whom he could be known. Then the angels lifted high his praise in their songs, and bowed low before his throne. In creation his name was revealed and magnified: when the foundations of the earth were laid, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Man was made in the image of God for his glory, and all things existed for his praise. “He is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” But our subject is how God has made his name glorious among men. Let us consider it.

9. The text speaks of God as making a great and glorious name for himself, in redeeming Israel. When he poured his plagues on Egypt, and afflicted the fields of Zoan, proud Pharaoh would not yield. He thought himself able to contend against Jehovah; but the tyrant trembled. He sought the intercession of Moses, and, at last, he was glad to let Israel go. God triumphed over Pharaoh. When Pharaoh gathered up his spirit once more, his heart being hardened, and he pursued Israel to the Red Sea, God permitted him to follow his people into the midst of the waters, until the waves returned in all their might, and quickly swallowed him up. Then the children of Israel sang, “The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.” God’s name was glorious that day insomuch that they sang again, “Who is like you, oh Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” And not that day only, but as long as there is a man alive, the song of the Red Sea will be remembered, and our ears shall hear the refrain of Miriam’s song: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea.” All the nations of the earth heard of that event, especially the heathen nations of Palestine. God intended to drive them out to make room for his people, and a fear took hold upon them. They trembled as they heard what God did at the Red Sea. He had made an everlasting name for himself; for that one event goes ringing down the centuries. Throughout eternity the redeemed will continue to “sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” Then God brought his people through the wilderness, guiding them by his presence, and he led them into the promised land. The 1881 English Revised Version renders verse fourteen: — “As the cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused them to rest: so you led your people, to make yourself a glorious name.”

10. Now, just as God got a great name for himself at the Red Sea, so he has done much more by the great works of salvation in the gift of Jesus. Ah! here Egypt is eclipsed, and the destruction of Pharaoh is no more to be remembered. We were lost; sin had taken us captive, and God brought us out with a high hand and an outstretched arm. But for our redemption it was necessary that he should become man, that in a human form God should tabernacle on earth. Would he come to Bethlehem’s manger? Would he, the Infinite, come robed as an infant? Yes, he came, and made heaven wonder until the angels sang and sang again. They could not understand the marvellous condescension of the incarnation. Being here in the form as a man, it was necessary, if he would save us, that he must bear the wrath of God on our behalf. There must be a bloody sweat from that blessed body. There must be a scourging of those sacred shoulders. There must be a piercing of those dear hands and feet. There must be a rending open of that loving and holy heart. Shall it be done? Will the Son of God die like a felon on a gibbet? Will the Lord of glory give his back to the strikers, and his cheeks to those who pluck off the hair? Will he yield his face to shame and spitting? Will he, can he die? Death, you have slain your millions; will you also slay the Son of God? It must be so if we are to live. He must die, or we must die, or justice must die. Which shall it be? Jesus solves the problem; he condescends to die. As I see him bow his blessed head, and hear him utter his death-cry, “It is finished,” I say that the Most High has gotten for himself an everlasting name, a glorious name; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” All other depths are shallow; this is an abyss. All other heights of goodness can be climbed; but this never. Pile Ossa on Pelion, {a} Alp on Alp, the Matterhorn on Mont Blanc, and the Andes on the Himalayas; all are not great enough to be a symbol of his love. The incarnate Son of God condemned! The Son of God slain! The Son of God in the grave! and all this for us! Truly, he has made himself a glorious name. Saints on earth and saints above unite to sing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain”; and for ever and ever we shall know no better song.

11. Furthermore, I am sure you will agree with me, that he has made a glorious name for himself by taking so many of the saints already into heaven. His intention has been accomplished in the saints in glory. Some of our dearest ones are there, where no trouble can ever reach them again. Yes, they are now beyond gun-shot of the enemy. I am sure that they give him a glorious name. Oh, how they stand and wonder that they should ever have been brought there! How they lie adoring at his feet, marvelling that by such a stoop of his love, they should be lifted to such a height of glory! Listen, how their hearts ring out the never-ceasing music! You sleep, and your songs are suspended; but day without night they circle his throne rejoicing, and this is the strain of all their music; “Glory, glory, glory to the Triune Jehovah who has brought us to stand before the throne.”

   Father of Jesus, love’s reward,
      What rapture will it be,
   Prostrate before thy throne to lie,
      And gaze, and gaze on thee.

When you and I get to heaven, we will give God a glorious name, will we not? I have often told you about the old woman who said that if Christ saved her he would never hear the end of it. Nor shall he ever cease to receive the praises of us all, when he once gives us an opportunity of joining that happy choir. We will not wish to pause in the perpetual outpourings of our adoration and worship. “I heard a voice from heaven,” says John, “as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.” I do not wonder at that description of the songs of the redeemed; for when we all together shall praise his everlasting and glorious name, our united thanksgiving will be like the sound of oceans upon oceans piled, Atlantics upon Pacifics, Arctics upon these, Indian Oceans upon them all, and all together roaring with their fulness in the majesty of praise to the great Eternal. God has indeed made a name for himself. There is no name like the name of Jehovah-Jesus under heaven, or in heaven itself. At that name the angels pause; to speak its praise they fly. All the earth worships you, the Father everlasting. To you, oh God, we cry aloud with hearty voice of praise; and when we have paid our fullest homage, we feel that we have scarcely reached the lowest note of the anthem we long to sing. Faint is our song compared with what you deserve!

   Weak is the effort of my heart,
      And cold my warmest thought;
   But when I see thee as thou art,
      I’ll praise thee as I ought.

12. So much for the first point.

13. II. Now, secondly, GOD’S INTENTION IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED. In many ways the grand work is still going forward. God is carrying out his gracious plan. “My Father works so far, and I work,” Christ might still truly say, as he once said at Jerusalem. And the Holy Spirit, whom he has given, also labours towards the same end, so that the name of the Triune God may be exalted.

14. This purpose is being fulfilled, first, in sparing the provoking. There was one who said, “If there is a God, let him prove it by striking me dead.” God proved his Godhead by letting that sinner live. Had he been a man such as we are, he would have struck the blasphemer on the spot. But God will not be provoked. He is “longsuffering, and plentiful in mercy.” Oh, if some of us had been treated with a thousandth part of the contumely that men have poured on God, we should have struck out in strength of indignation, and we might have been excused; but God has borne it all! They have denied his existence. They have blasphemed his Word. They have resisted his Spirit. They have questioned the deity of his Son. What have they not done? And yet he has been patient to get a name for himself as the “God of patience,” and that name will stand for ever. Oh that this longsuffering of God might lead men to repentance!

15. Next, God gets a name for himself in turning the rebellious to himself. Oh, I delight to see this done! It is the minister’s joy. We know men who have been for years set in opposition to God, and we had almost thought it impossible that they should ever be turned; but, suddenly, Christ has revealed himself to them, and we hear that they are seeking after God. Such conversions surprise me very often, especially when people come or write to me out of families who have been famous for unbelief, or out of wealthy families where there is all kinds of gaiety and worldliness, or out of poor families, where there has been a disregard for God’s holy day. Such cases, in which the work is evidently God’s, seem to me like miracles of mercy. Last Wednesday, when seeing those who came to join the church, to one after another I said, “Do you have a godly father or mother?” and many of them answered, “No, sir.” Then I said, “Perhaps it was your brother or sister who influenced you for Christ”; to which several replied, “I am sorry to say none of my brothers or sisters are Christians.” In several cases I asked further, “Do you have, then, some friend who fears God?” and often the answer was, “I do not know one of my family who has been accustomed even to pay any outward reverence to religion.” Yet the grace of God has come into that home, and taken one of a family, to bring that one to Zion; and it has sometimes happened that the least likely has been the very one who has been called. I should not wonder that some young man, who came to this service to make fun of the whole thing, will find something better than fun before the service is over, and be among those who shall preach the gospel which he once despised. It has often happened, that when men have gone far in sin, they have been stopped by grace. There is a strange bit in Bunyan’s life, which tells us about the strange reason with which he comforted himself about the next generation. He said that the young men of his day were so wicked, that he hoped that God meant to make great saints of them. It was an extraordinary way of looking at evil, but there is a basis of truth in such a view. “Where sin abounded, grace much more abounded.” Is it not written of the very cast-offs and outcasts, the enemies to God, those in the isles afar off, who have not heard God’s fame, neither seen his glory, “ ‘I will also take from them for priests and for Levites,’ says the Lord?” God will take these, in the sovereignty of his grace, to conquer them, and make a name for himself. Then everyone will say, greatly wondering, “Has that notorious blasphemer really been converted? Has that carefree butterfly actually become serious? Does that careless, godless person at last begin to think of these things?” Ah, glory be to God, it is by these conversions that he gets a glorious name for himself!

16. Again, he gets a name for himself in forgiving the guilty. When the great sinner comes, or the person who, though he has not openly offended, is yet conscious of great inward sin — when these come, and in a moment are washed whiter than snow, and know that their sin is put away for ever, they cannot help crying, like a man in Scotland, of whom I heard, who, when he spoke the praises of Christ who had saved him from the wrath to come, said, in his joy, “Oh, he is a great Forgiver! Oh, he is a great Forgiver!” You remember how the prophet Micah writes of this great Forgiver: “Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Hallelujah! Every soul that gets the pardon of all its sin must magnify the Lord; and if you know to the full what that pardon is, it will make you give God a great name.

   Here’s pardon for transgressions past,
   It matters not how black their cast;
   And, oh my soul, with wonder view,
   For sins to come, here’s pardon too.

Who would not give God glory when he gives such mercy?

17. Further, God glorifies his name in purifying the unholy. It is a great honour to God when we see men and women, who were once very wild and self-willed, walking carefully and graciously. I do not know that I have ever praised God more than I did in the case of a brother of a very savage temper, who was indeed just like an incarnate devil at times. But after he was converted he became as quiet as a lamb, and just as gentle as he had formerly been ferocious. God got a great name through that change: and such things happen a great deal more frequently than some doubters imagine. The man who was so stingy that he would have pulled out the teeth of his motherless child to sell them if he could, after he is converted becomes so generous that he can keep no money in his pocket when there are any poor people in need. The grace of God makes such a difference, turning things upside down, and completely altering the character. Grace does renew the man, and God is greatly glorified by it. It is, in fact, the fulfilment of the ancient promise — “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree.” Instead of vice, and lust, and passion, and self-seeking, there comes up holiness, and love for God, and love for men, and every amiable virtue. Then God’s name is glorified. Dear Christian people, do try to glorify his name. May your life be such that whoever watches you shall be compelled to say, “Truly, God’s name is glorified in them!” Let all behold the clear shining of your light, until they “see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

18. God glorifies his name also in preserving the tempted. Oh, what stories each one might tell about himself! How God has kept us in the time of great temptation! I know that some of you here are fiercely tempted. God has brought you out from sin, but the devil pulls you back as far as he ever can. And your surroundings do not help you. Your companions would, if they could, drag you with them into perdition. Now, if the Lord keeps you, it will be greatly for his glory, and he will get a glorious name for himself. I have noticed that Christian men, who seem to live in the greatest danger, are not those who fall; but those who backslide are often those whose circumstances appear to be particularly favourable. Yet they wander and go astray. God will keep you, if you sustain yourself upon him, though your business leads you sometimes to the edge of a precipice. God will keep you, if you rely on his power, though your position in society surrounds you with dangers. Be of good hope, and continue to put your trust in him. In your case, he will make a name for himself, even now; and at the end what praise shall be his when you are brought safely home! Here comes into heaven the man who has been between the jaws of death! He has walked very straight between the lions; they sniffed at his heel, and they would have devoured him if they could. He went through the valley of the shadow of death, where the hobgoblins were on either side, where the fierce Apollyon met him, and he had to fight him foot to foot, yet God has brought him safely home. Hallelujah! Oh, what a name will God have in saving his people from all their temptations!

19. To change the subject just a little: I believe that God gets a great name for himself in using weak instruments. If you go to hear a great and learned man preach the gospel — some doctor of divinity, some famously eloquent man; if there are souls saved, you say, “Ah, well! he is a wonderful man, a clever man; it is to be expected that great blessing will come from such preaching”; but if, on the other hand, it is some person by whom God is pleased to speak, who makes no pretence of learning, but who uses common words, and yet many are led into the light by him, you say to yourself, “Well, I could speak better than that. What a wonder that God can do such a mighty work with such a poor instrument!” When God speaks by the feeble, when he uses the insignificant, then does he not get a glorious name for himself? I hear almost every day in the week of souls converted to God by sermons preached here, which go to the ends of the earth; and when I hear about them, I always wonder that God should have blessed those sermons to anyone. And any man whom God favours with his presence and help will marvel that God should use such a poor, dry stick. But he does, and he will; for “the base things of the world, and things which are despised, God has chosen, yes and things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are”; and all this to make a glorious name for himself.

20. Sometimes our God makes a glorious name for himself in doing great things for his people by sending very wonderful seasons of refreshing and reviving to his church. Some misunderstood me the other day to speak against revivals. I never did such a thing in my life. The more revivals we have of a true kind, the better. What I do speak against is the kind of thing which works people up into an excitement, and then lets them drop. I read only last night of a Methodist congregation, of which the writer says, “They are a wonderfully nice people. They have a revival about once in seven years, and then everyone seems to feel intensely, and you can preach with great power. But in between the times of those revivals, they are as hard as old nails.” Well now, I do not want that kind of thing. Spasms of any kind are not desirable things, least of all spasmodic religion. I want a revival that keeps on every day in the year, all the years in the century. That is the kind of revival that glorifies God; not a temporary ripple on the surface, but a great swell, that comes rolling up from the depths. May God send it! He can do such a work by his Spirit; and there are indications that he is going to permit us to see greater things than ever. All these many years, in this place, souls have been saved in one continued stream by the preaching of the gospel — scarcely ever more, and very seldom less; but oh, for a grand spring-tide, a mighty flood, that shall bring many to Christ and to the church! Then it shall be that God will get a glorious and an everlasting name for himself.

21. In this manner God is now accomplishing his gracious purpose, and will still, in days to come, get a most glorious name for himself. These are only the beginnings of his ways: their fulness will overwhelm us with their grandeur and majesty. Having begun to reveal his name and character, he will go on to do it: he will carve it deeply into the history of his redeemed. Blessed be his name for the seasons of revival we have already had, and are having; but our hearts look forward with high hope to even better times, when as Peter preached after Pentecost, “Times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ.” Then, indeed, the Lord will get a glorious name for himself. “The times of restitution of all things” will begin, and, as Habakkuk tells us, “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” God has not ceased his working. He will go on doing great things. It is his purpose to make for himself an everlasting name, as well as a glorious name. Everlasting and glorious! That can only mean everlasting glory for us. Beyond this we have the promise of some grace not yet revealed, for it is written concerning the man who overcomes, “I will write on him my new name.” Yes, God will still accomplish his purpose and fully reveal his glory.

22. III. So having tried to show you how God carries out the purpose of making a glorious name for himself, let me go on, in the third place, to say that GOD’S INTENTION IS VERY DELIGHTFUL. I will advance five reasons why we should rejoice in this fact.

23. For God to save and bless men, in order to get a glorious name for himself, is a very delightful thing, first, because it hides pride from men; and anything that does that, is glorifying to him. Remember these words: “ ‘Not for your sakes do I do this,’ says the Lord God, ‘be it known to you; be ashamed and be confounded for your own ways, oh house of Israel.’ ” God did not choose his people because of anything in them. Christ did not redeem his people because of anything in them. The Holy Spirit does not call a man because of anything in him. We are not justified because of our own merits; we are not accepted because of our own excellence. It is all of grace from first to last. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” There is no place where pride can come in. Salvation is “not by works, lest any man should boast.”

24. The second reason is, because it opens a great door for sinners. Now, listen to this. Perhaps there is one here who says, “I am so guilty; I am so unworthy; I am so vile, that God cannot save me on account of anything in me. I am everything that I ought not to be.” Stand by that, brother. Do not stop there. You have a hold of the truth this time. “Then why should he save me?” you ask; “it cannot be because of any use that he can make of me; for I am ignorant; I am obscure; I am weak-minded; God can never get much out of me: he cannot save me for the sake of that.” But look, sir, he can save you so that he may make a great name for himself; for if he pardons you, a great sinner, that will bring great praise for his mercy. If he changes you, who have been desperately set on mischief, that will bring great credit to his power. If he takes you who are so insignificant and obscure, that will clearly show the greatness of his condescension, and the wondrousness of his love. I am not sure, but I think that if God were to save any one of you, I should not wonder about it so much as I often wonder that he should have saved me. I sometimes ask myself whether I was converted because I was so headstrong and obstinate, so that God might show how he can overcome obstinacy, and how self-will can be made to sit at his feet. You remember what the Scottish woman said to Rowland Hill when she stood looking at his face. He said, “Well, good woman, you have looked at me for a long while. What are you looking at?” She said, “I was looking at the lines of your face.” “Well, and what do you make out of them?” he said. “I was thinking what an awful rascal you would have been if you had not been converted,” was her unexpected answer. Now, I think that we might say the same of a good many; and if it is God’s intention to get a glorious name for himself, I see hope for big rascals; I see hope for great sinners. If a doctor has come into a parish, and wants to get a reputation, and if he can cure those who have the finger-ache, those who have something the matter with a corn, he will not get much credit by that. But here is a man who has cancer; here is a woman ill in consumption. If he can cure these two, I warrant you that all the world will know about it before long. If he can manage these desperate cases, that all the other doctors have given up, then he will get a name for himself. Now, is there some cancerous sinner here, some soul in a dread consumption of evil? Please, come to Christ; for he wants to get a name for himself, and why should he not save you? Is there not reason to believe that he is likely to begin with the worst, so that he may get for himself glory out of such? Oh that you would pick the comfort out of this truth, for there is a vast amount of consolation lying hidden in it! Great sinners make great saints. God loves the love of his people; and those who have been saved from deep sin are often most fervent in their devotion. To procure such love for himself, and such honour for his name, God lays hold of the rebellious sinner, who afterwards sings —

   Love I much? I’ve more forgiven;
      I’m a miracle of grace.

25. Next, this grand truth that God does what he does for the glory of his own name, is delightful because it gives comfort to strugglers. You who are labouring after holiness, you who are striving after purity, in full obedience to the divine will, do you not see that if God will help you in your struggles and give you victory, it will be for the glory of his name? The weaker you are, the more glory for him if he makes you strong; and the more beaten you seem to be, the more nearly defeated, the more glory for God if he will come to your rescue, and help you through. Therefore expect that he will do it. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous man runs into it, and is safe.” Run into it, and for his name’s sake expect the Lord to keep you. At length he will deliver us from our enemies, and bring us into the place of peace, and “there the glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams; where no galley with oars shall go, neither shall any gallant ship pass by it. For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King: he will save us.” For the glory of his own name he will do this.

26. The confidence that God is working out his intentions is delightful, again, because it sustains us in trying times. I think that this ought to gladden you very much. You should be delighted that God seeks his own glory; for he will find it in helping you in the time of trouble. “Call upon me,” he says, “in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” It is not for God’s glory to leave one of his poor children to perish. It is not for God’s glory to leave the least lamb in all his flock to be eaten by the wolf. If the devil could get one who trusted Christ, what a triumph they would make in hell over that soul! “Here is one whom Christ could not save, or would not save,” they would mockingly shout. “Here is a soul who trusted in Christ, and yet is lost after all.” Oh, the gibes and jests which would then be uttered against the Saviour who is mighty to save! But this shall never be. It would make such a stain upon the honour, and fidelity, and immutability, and glory of God, that it cannot even be imagined; his glory will never be compromised in such a way as that.

   The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
   I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
   That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake,
   I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

27. And, once more, it is most delightful that God should seek his own glory; for you, and I, and all of us, who know anything about his grace, are seeking it too. It answers our chiefest prayer. We are the children of God, and his honour is dear to us. When we come to him and say, “Our Father who is in heaven,” our first desire is, “Hallowed be your name.” I speak to many who can add their “Amen” to this. If you could have your greatest, chiefest, highest wish, would you not say, “I wish that God may be glorified?” I met a dear brother minister last week, and he said to me, “My wife is sick and ill, and I have a world of troubles, but I do not feel them half so much as I do the burden of the present condition of the professing church. God is dishonoured in his own church, and that weighs me down.” I could respond and say, “That is my case, too.” The heaviest trouble for my soul is to see things as they now are in Christendom; and if I might have only one prayer, and pray it, it would be, “Oh God, glorify yourself in your own church, and in the salvation of men!” And do you not think that the desire of every true Christian is, “Let God be magnified?” Is this not the wish of heaven? What is heaven, but a perpetual magnifying of God? It will be the crown of all rejoicing to be able to —

   Crown him with many crowns,
   The Lamb upon his throne.

Therefore we rejoice, and think it delightful that God is aiming at the revelation of his own character, and is in all his works getting for himself a great, eternal, and glorious name. Come, you sinners, poor and wretched, come and glorify the bounty of God. Come, you who are at hell’s dark door, arise and glorify the greatness of the love of God in Christ Jesus. Whoever among you will believe in Christ shall have eternal life. Trust the living Christ, who is gone into the heavens to intercede for sinners. Trust him and you shall live, and God shall be glorified in your life. Come, saying —

   No preparation can I make,
   My best resolves I only break;
   Now save me for thine own name’s sake,
   And take me as I am.

He will do it. He will do it now. When he does it, he does it for ever. I pray the Holy Spirit to bless these words to the salvation of many, so that the Triune Jehovah may get for himself a glorious and everlasting name, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Isa 63]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Work of Grace as a Whole — ‘Grace Reigns’ ” 233}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Work of Grace as a Whole — Grace Completing Its Work” 245}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Contrite Cries — Pleading The Promise” 586}

Letter From Mr. Spurgeon

Beloved Friends, — I was supremely thankful to telegraph to London that I was not wearied by my journey of a thousand miles, but rather refreshed by it. I wrote that this was “almost miraculous,” and my dear brother observed that I might wisely leave out the “almost,” and so save twopence, which is the rate per word. Well, it does seem to me to be beyond all that I could have asked or even thought. Blessed be the healing Lord!

I am waiting and watching for news from home as remarkable in regard to a Tabernacle revival as this news from me about my restoration to health. I now look for great things in connection with Dr. Pierson’s labours, and those of all my friends at home. Good news has already reached me concerning the usefulness of the printed sermons; but I long for more. To spread my sermons, is to help on the cause in the most efficient manner. To pray for a blessing is to share in it. Why should we not see a renewal of faith, a re-enthronement of truth, a deep and wide-spread revival of religion at home, and a grand advance of missions abroad? According to your faith be it to you, you heirs of the heavenly kingdom!

                           Your fellow servant,
                           C. H. Spurgeon
Mentone, October 31, 1891.

{a} Ossa and Pelion: In Greek mythology, Mount Pelion (which took its name from the mythical king Peleus, father of Achilles) was the homeland of Chiron the Centaur, tutor of many ancient Greek heroes, such as Jason, Achilles, Theseus and Hercules. It was in Mount Pelion, near Chiron’s cave, that the marriage of Thetis and Peleus took place. The uninvited goddess Eris, to take revenge for having been kept outside the party, brought a golden apple with the inscription “To the Fairest.” The dispute that then arose between the goddesses Hera, Aphrodite and Athene resulted in events leading to the Trojan War. When the giants Otus and Ephialtes attempted to storm Olympus, they piled Mount Pelion upon Mount Ossa, which became a proverbial allusion for any huge but fruitless attempt. See Explorer "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelion"

Now ready. Price One Penny Each

Spurgeon’s Illustrated Almanac for 1892, containing Illustrated Articles by the Editor and other Writers, Texts of Scripture selected by Mrs. Spurgeon for Meditation for every Day in the Year, Metropolitan Tabernacle Directory, &c.

John Ploughman’s Sheet Almanac for 1892. containing Portraits of Pastor and Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, Pastors J. A. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, Thomas Spurgeon, Rev. John Spurgeon, and the late Rev. James Spurgeon (of Stambourne).

Suitable for Cottages, Homes, Workshops, Mission Halls, &c.

Passmore & Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings; and all Booksellers.

The Work of Grace as a Whole
233 — “Grace Reigns”
1 Grace! ‘tis a charming sound!
      Harmonious to the ear!
   Heaven with the echo shall resound,
      And all the earth shall hear.
2 Grace first contrived the way
      To save rebellious man;
   And all the steps that grace display
      Which drew the wondrous plan.
3 Grace first inscribed my name
      In God’s eternal book:
   ‘Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,
      Who all my sorrows took.
4 Grace led my roving feet
      To tread the heavenly road;
   And new supplies each hour I meet
      While pressing on to God.
5 Grace taught my soul to pray,
      And made my eyes o’erflow;
   ‘Twas grace that kept me to this day,
      And will not let me go.
6 Grace all the work shall crown,
      Through everlasting days;
   It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
      And well deserves the praise.
                  Philip Doddridge, 1755;
                  Augustus M. Toplady, 1776.

The Work of Grace as a Whole
245 — Grace Completing Its Work
1 To God the only wise,
   Our Saviour and our King.
   Let all the saints below the skies
   Their humble praises bring.
2 His tried almighty love,
   His counsel and his care,
   Preserve us safe from sin and death,
   And every hurtful snare.
3 He will present our souls
   Unblemish’d and complete
   Before the glory of his face,
   With joys divinely great.
4 Then all the chosen seed
   Shall meet around the throne,
   Shall bless the conduct of his grace,
   And make his wonders known.
5 To our Redeemer God
   Wisdom and power belong,
   Immortal crowns of majesty,
   And everlasting song.
                     Isaac Watts, 1709, a.

The Christian, Contrite Cries
586 — Pleading The Promise
1 Approach, my soul, the mercy-seat
      Where Jesus answers prayer;
   There humbly fall before his feet,
      For none can perish there.
2 Thy promise is my only plea,
      With this I venture nigh;
   Thou callest burden’d souls to thee,
      And such, oh Lord, am I.
3 Bow’d down beneath a load of sin,
      By Satan sorely press’d
   By war without, and fears within,
      I come to thee for rest.
4 Be thou my shield and hiding place!
      That, shelter’d near thy side,
   I may my fierce accuser face,
      And tell him thou hast died.
5 Oh wondrous love! to bleed and die,
      To bear the cross and shame,
   That guilty sinners, such as I,
      Might plead thy gracious name.
6 “Poor tempest tossed soul, be still,
      My promised grace receive”:
   ‘Tis Jesus speaks — I must, I will,
      I can, I do believe.
                           John Newton, 1779.