2349. All Comers To Christ Welcomed

No. 2349-40:85. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, November 17, 1889, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, February 25, 1894.

Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out. {Joh 6:37}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 599, “Certainty and Freeness of Divine Grace, The” 590}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1762, “High Doctrine and Broad Doctrine” 1763}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2349, “All Comers to Christ Welcomed” 2350}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2954, “Big Gates Wide Open, The” 2955}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3000, “No. 3000, or Come, and Welcome” 3001}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3230, “Last Message for the Year, The” 3231}
   Exposition on Joh 6:1-14 30-46 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3000, “No. 3000, or Come, and Welcome” 3001 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Joh 6:1-41 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3352, “Worldwide Welcome, A” 3354 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Joh 6:14-40 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2945, “Night, and Jesus Not There!” 2946 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Joh 6:22-59 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3192, “Soul’s Meat and Drink, The” 3193 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Joh 6:25-51 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2606, “Choice Teaching for the Chosen” 2607 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Ps 89:1-37 Joh 6:22-40 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2349, “All Comers to Christ Welcomed” 2350 @@ "Exposition"}

1. Christ will not die in vain. His Father gave him a certain number to be the reward of his soul’s travail, and he will have every one of them, as he said, “All whom the Father gives me shall come to me.” Almighty grace shall sweetly constrain them all to come. My father gave me recently some letters which I wrote to him when I began to preach. They are almost boyish epistles; but, in reading through them again, I noticed in one of them this expression, “How I long to see thousands of men saved; but my great comfort is that some will be saved, must be saved, shall be saved, for it is written, ‘All whom the Father gives me shall come to me.’ ”

2. The question for each of you to ask is, “Do I belong to that number?” I am going to preach with the view of helping you to find out whether you belong to that “all” whom the Father gave to Christ, the “all” who shall come to him. We can use the second part of the verse to help us to understand the first. “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out,” will explain our Saviour’s previous words, “All whom the Father gives me shall come to me.”

3. I shall have no time for any further preface; I must at once get to my subject, and try to put everything in a condensed form. Kindly give heed to the word, think about it, pray over it; and may God the Holy Spirit apply it to all your hearts!

4. I. First, notice in the text THE NECESSITY OF CHARACTER: “Whoever comes to me.” If you want to be saved, you must come to Christ. There is no other way of salvation under heaven but coming to Christ. Go wherever else you wish, you must be disappointed and lost; it is only by coming to him that you can by any possibility have eternal life.

5. What is it to come to Christ? Well, it implies leaving all other confidences. To come to anyone, is to leave everyone else. To come to Christ, is to leave everything else, to leave every other hope, every other trust. Are you trusting in your own works? Are you trusting in a priest? Are you trusting in the merits of the Virgin Mary, or the saints and angels in heaven? Are you trusting in anything but the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, leave it, and be finished with it. Come away from every other reliance, and trust in Christ crucified, for this is the only way of salvation, as Peter said to the rulers and elders of Israel, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.”

    To Jesus bleeding on the tree,
       Turn thou thine eye, thine heart,

and come to him at once, and your soul shall live for ever.

6. To come to Jesus means, in brief, trusting him. He is a Saviour; that is his business, come to him, and trust him to save you. If you could save yourself, you would not need a Saviour; and now that Christ has set up to be a Saviour, let him do the business. He will. Come, and lay all your needs at his feet, and trust him. Resolve that, if lost, you will be lost trusting only in Jesus; and that can never be. Tie up all your hopes into one bundle, and put that bundle on Christ. Let him be all your salvation, and all your desire, and so you shall be surely saved.

7. I have sometimes tried to explain to you what the life of faith is like; it is very much like a man walking on a tight rope. The believer is told that he shall not fall, he trusts in God that he shall not; but every now and then he says, “What a long way it is down there if I did fall!” I have often had this experience: I have gone up an invisible staircase; I could not see the next step, but when I put my foot down on it, I found that it was solid granite. I could not see the next step, and it seemed as if I should plunge into an abyss; yet I have gone on upward, steadily, one step at a time, never able to see farther into absolute darkness, as it seemed, and yet always with a light just where the light was needed. When I used to hold a candle for my father, in an evening when he was sawing wood out in the yard, he used to say, “Boy, hold the candle where I am sawing, do not look over there.” And I have often thought to myself, when I wanted to see something in the middle of next week, or next year, that the Lord seemed to say to me, “Hold your candle on the piece of work which you have to do today; and if you can see that, be satisfied, for that is all the light you need just now.” Suppose that you could see into next week, it would be a great mercy if you lost your sight for a while, for a far-seeing gaze into care and trouble is no gain. “Sufficient for the day is its evil,” just as sufficient to the day will be its good. But the Lord trains his people for the skies by testing their faith in the matter of his daily care of them. Often, a man’s reliance on God for the supply of his earthly needs proves that he has trusted the Lord for the weightier affairs relating to his soul’s salvation. Do not draw a line between the temporal and the spiritual, and say, “God will go just so far; but I must not take such and such a thing to him in prayer.” I remember hearing of a certain good man, of whom one said, “Why, he is a very curious man; he prayed about a key the other day!” Why not pray about a key? Why not pray about a pin? Sometimes, it may be as important to pray about a pin as to pray about a kingdom. Little things are often the linch-pins of great events. Take care that you bring everything to God in faith and prayer. “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

8. I have digressed from my subject for a minute, but let us now think again of this matter of coming to Christ. To come to Jesus, not only implies leaving all other confidences, and trusting Christ, it also means following him. If you trust him, you must obey him. If you leave your soul in his hands, you must take him to be your Master, and your Lord, as well as your Saviour. Christ has come to save you from sin, not in sin. He will therefore help you to leave your sin, whatever it is; he will give you the victory over it; he will make you holy. He will help you to do whatever you should do in the sight of God: he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him; but you must come to him if you would be saved by him.

9. To put together all I have said, you must abandon every other hope; you must take Jesus to be your sole confidence, and then you must be obedient to his command, and take him to be your Master, and Lord. Will you do that? If not, I have nothing to say to you except this, — he who does not believe in him will perish without hope. If you will not have God’s remedy for your soul’s malady, the only remedy that there is, there remains for you nothing but blackness and dismal darkness for ever and ever.

10. II. But, now, secondly, while there is this necessity of character, notice also THE UNIVERSALITY OF PERSONS: “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”

11. Granted that he comes to Christ, that is all that is needed. Does someone say, “Sir, I am a very obscure person. No one knows me; my name was never in the papers, and never will be; I am a nobody?” Well, if Mr. Nobody comes to Christ, he will not cast him out. Come along, you unknown person, you anonymous individual, you whom everyone but Christ forgets! If even you come to Jesus, he will not cast you out.

12. Another says, “I am so very odd.” Do not say much about that, for I am odd, too; but, dear friends, however odd we are, though we may be thought very eccentric, and some may even consider us a little touched in the head, yet, nevertheless, for all that, Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” Come along with you, Mr. Oddman! You shall not be lost for lack of brains, nor yet for having too many; though that is not a very common misfortune. If you will only come to Christ, though you have no talent, though you are very poor, and will never make much headway in the world, Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”

13. “Ah!” says a third friend, “I do not mind about being obscure, or being eccentric; but it is the greatness of my sin that keeps me back from Christ.” Let us read the text again: “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” If he had been guilty of seven murders, and all the whoredoms and adulteries that ever defiled mortal man, if impossible sins could be charged against him, yet if he came to Christ, notice that, if he came to Christ, the promise of Jesus would be fulfilled even in his case, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”

14. “But,” another says, “I am completely worn out, I am good-for-nothing. I have spent all my days and years in sin. I have come to the very end of the chapter, I am not worth anyone’s having.” Come along with you, you tail-end of life! Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.” You have to walk with two canes, do you? Never mind, come to Jesus. You are so feeble that you wonder that you are alive at your advanced age. My Lord will receive you if you are a hundred years of age; there have been many cases in which people have been brought to Christ even after that age. There are some very remarkable examples of that fact on record. Christ says, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” If he were as old as Methuselah, if he only came to Christ, he would not be cast out.

15. “Alas!” one says, “I am in a worse case than even that aged friend, for besides being old, I have resisted the Spirit of God. I have been troubled in my conscience for many years; but I have tried to cover it all up. I have stifled every godly thought.” Yes, yes; and it is a very sad thing, too; but for all that, if you come to Christ, if you can even make a dash for salvation, and come to Jesus, he cannot cast you out.

16. One friend perhaps says, “I am afraid that I have committed the unpardonable sin.” If you come to Christ, you have not, I know; for he who comes to him Jesus will in no wise cast out. He cannot, therefore, have committed the unpardonable sin. Come along with you, man, and if you are blacker than all the rest of the sinners in the world, so much the more glorious shall be the grace of God when it shall have proved its power by washing you whiter than snow in the precious blood of Jesus.

17. “Ah!” one says, “you do not know me, Sir.” No, dear friend, I do not; but, perhaps, one of these days I may have that pleasure. “It will not be any pleasure to you, Sir, for I am an apostate. I used to be a professor of religion; but I have given it all up, and I have gone back to the world, wilfully and wickedly doing all manner of evil things.” Ah! well, if you can only come to Christ, though there were seven apostasies piled one upon another, still his promise stands true, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” Whatever the past, or whatever the present, backslider, return to Christ, for he stands to his pledged word, and there are no exceptions mentioned in my text: “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”

18. “Well, Sir,” cries another, “I should like to come to Christ; but I do not feel fit to come.” Then, come all unfit, just as you are. Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” If I were awakened in the middle of the night by a cry of “Fire!” and I saw that someone was at the window with a ladder, I do not think that I should stay in bed, and say, “I do not have my black necktie on,” or “I do not have my best suit on.” I should not speak in that way at all. I would be out of the window as quickly as I ever could, and down the ladder. Why do you talk about your fitness, fitness, fitness? I have heard of a cavalier, who lost his life because he stopped to curl his hair when Cromwell’s soldiers were after him. Some of you may laugh at the man’s foolishness; but that is all that your talk about fitness is. What is all your fitness but the curling of your hair when you are in imminent danger of losing your soul? Your fitness is nothing to Christ. Remember what we sang at the beginning of the service: —

    Let not conscience make you linger,
       Nor of fitness fondly dream;
    All the fitness he requireth,
       Is to feel your need of him:
    This he gives you;
       ’Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.

Come to Christ just as you are, foul, vile, careless, godless, Christless. Come now, even now, for Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”

19. Is there not a glorious width about my text: “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” What “he” is this? It is “he who comes.” What “he who comes?” Any “he who comes” in all the world. If he comes to Christ, he shall not be cast out. A red man, or a black man, or a white man, or a yellow man, or a copper-coloured man, whatever he is, if he comes to Jesus, he shall in no wise be cast out.

20. When you intend to put a thing broadly, it is always best to state it, and leave it. Do not go into details; the Saviour does not. Some years ago, there was a man, a kind, loving husband, who wished to leave to his wife all his property. Whatever he had, he intended her to have it all, as she ought; so he put down in his will, “I leave to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, all that I have.” That was all right. Then he went on to describe in detail what he was leaving her, and he wrote, “All my freehold and personal estate.” Most of his property happened to be leasehold, so the wife did not get it because her husband gave a detailed description; it was in the detail that the property slipped away from the good woman. Now, there is no detail at all here: “He who comes.” That means that every man, and woman, and child, beneath the broad heavens, who will only come, and trust in Christ, shall in no wise be cast out. I thank God that there is no allusion to any particular character, in order specially to say, “People of that character shall be received,” for then the characters left out might be supposed to be excluded; but the text clearly means that every soul that comes to Christ shall be received by him.

21. III. The flight of time hurries me on, therefore, I ask you to listen earnestly while I speak to you, in the third place, about THE UNMISTAKEABLENESS OF THE PROMISE: “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise” — that is, for no reason, under no circumstances, at no time, under no conditions whatever, — “I will in no wise cast out”; which means, being interpreted, “I will receive him, I will save him, I will bless him.”

22. Then if you, my dear friend, come to Christ, how could the Lord cast you out? How could he do it in consistency with his truthfulness? Imagine my Lord Jesus making this declaration, and giving it to us as an inspired Scripture, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out,” and yet casting out someone, even that unknown someone up in the corner. Why, it would be a lie; it would be a blatant lie! Please, do not blaspheme my Lord, the truthful Christ, by supposing that he could be guilty of such conduct as that. He could do as he liked about whom he would receive until he made the promise; but after he had pledged his word, he bound himself by the veracity of his nature to keep it; and as long as Christ is the truthful Christ, he must receive every soul that comes to him.

23. But let me also ask you, suppose that you came to Jesus, and he casts you out, with what hands could he do it? “With his own hands,” you answer. What! Christ coming forward to cast out a sinner who has come to him? I ask again, with what hands could he do it? Would he do it with those pierced hands, that still bear the marks of the nails? The Crucified rejecting a sinner? Ah! no; he has no hand with which to do such a cruel work as that, for he has given both his hands to be nailed to the tree for guilty men. He has neither hand, nor foot, nor heart with which to reject sinners, for all these have been pierced in his death for them; therefore he cannot cast them out if they come to him.

24. Let me ask you another question, What profit would it be to Christ if he did cast you out? If my dear Lord, of the thorny crown, and the pierced side, and the wounded hands, were to cast you away, what glory would it bring to him? If he cast you into hell, you who have come to him, what happiness would that bring to him? If he were to cast you away, you who have sought his face, you who trust his love and his blood, by what conceivable method could that ever render him any the happier or the greater? It cannot be.

25. What would such a supposition involve? Imagine for a moment that Jesus did cast away one who came to him; if it were ascertained that one soul came to Christ and yet he had cast him away, what would happen? Why, there are thousands of us who would never preach again! For once, I would be finished with the business. If my Lord can cast away a sinner who comes to him, I cannot, with a clear conscience, go and preach from his words, “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” Moreover, I should feel that, if he failed in one promise, he might fail in the others. I could not go and preach a possible but doubtful gospel. I must have “shalls” and “wills” from the eternal throne of God; and if it is not so, our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain.

26. See what would follow if one soul came to Christ, and Christ cast him out. All the saints would lose their confidence in him. If a man breaks his promise once, it is of no use for him to say, “Well, I am generally truthful.” You have caught him false to his word once, and you will not trust him again, will you? No; and if our dear Lord, whose every word is truth and verity, could break one of his promises only once, he would not be trusted by his people any more, and his Church would lose the faith that is her very life.

27. Ah! me; and then they would hear about it up in heaven; and one soul that came to Christ, and was cast away, would stop the music of the harps of heaven, would dim the lustre of the glory-land, and take away its joy, for it would be whispered among the glorified, “Jesus has broken his promise. He cast away a praying, believing soul; he may break his promise to us, he may drive us out of heaven.” When they began to praise him, this one act of his would make a lump come in their throats, and they would be unable to sing. They would be thinking of that poor soul that trusted him, and was cast away; so how could they sing, “To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” if they had to add, “But he did not wash all who came to him, though he promised that he would?”

28. I do not like even to talk about all that the supposition would involve; it is something so dreadful to me, for they would hear about it in hell, and they would tell it to each other, and an awful glee would take possession of the fiendish hearts of the devil and all his companions, and they would say, “The Christ is not true to his word; the boasted Saviour rejected one who came to him. He used to receive even prostitutes, and he let one wash his feet with her tears; and tax collectors and sinners came and gathered around him, and he spoke to them in tones of love; but here is one, — well, he was too vile for the Saviour to bless; he was too far gone, Jesus could not restore him, Christ could not cleanse him. He could save little sinners, but not big ones; he could save sinners almost two millennia ago. Oh! he made a fine show of them; but his power is exhausted now, he cannot save a sinner now.” Oh, in the halls of hell, what jests and ridicule would be poured on that dear name, and, I had almost said, justly, if Christ cast out one who came to him! But, beloved, that can never be; it is as sure as God’s oath, as certain as Jehovah’s being, that he who comes to Christ shall in no wise be cast out. I gladly bear my own witness before this assembled throng that —

    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.

Come, each one of you, and prove the text to be true in your own experience, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Expositions By C. H. Spurgeon {Ps 89:1-37 Joh 6:22-40}

Psalm 89. Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

That is to say, an instructive Psalm, written by or for one Ethan, one of the great singers of David’s day. He sings of the covenant, the covenant with David, ordered in all things and sure. There is no higher theme for song than the covenant of God’s grace, one marvels that it has not more often been sung by those who are the gifted children of poetry.

1. I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever:

Another subject might wear out, but this glorious topic will never be exhausted. Here is a theme which we can sing about in eternity as well as in time. Let others choose whatever subject they may, “I will sing of the mercies of Jehovah for ever.”

1. With my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

God’s faithfulness is the mercy of his mercy. It is the centre point of his goodness that his goodness endures for ever. We are not only to sing; we are to teach. The Psalmist says, “With my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.” In telling his own experience, narrating what he had observed, as well as what he had proved of God’s faithfulness to his promise and his covenant, he would do this so that following generations should know about it. We are the school teachers of the ages to come; I mean, saints who have experienced the mercy and the faithfulness of God. We ought to make known Jehovah’s faithfulness to all generations who are yet to come.

2. For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up for ever:

What a building, — Mercy! God’s mercy is to be built up for ever.

2. You shall establish your faithfulness in the very heavens.”

Like the great arch you see in the firmament on high, unbuttressed and unpillared, yet it stands firm. So God’s faithfulness shall be built up, settled, and established in the very heavens.

And now God speaks: —

3. “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn to David my servant,

Well might the psalmist say, in the second verse, “I have said,” when God in the third verse says, “I have sworn.” It is ours to say, it is God’s to say with such tremendous solemnity that doubt cannot be tolerated. “I have made a covenant with my chosen”: King David, who is, however, only the type of his greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the heir of the dynasty of David. This covenant is made with him for ever.

4. ‘I will establish your seed for ever, and build up your throne to all generations.’ ” Selah.

Whatever may happen in the world, David’s Seed is always reigning; whatever kings may lose their crowns, King Jesus will never lose the many crowns that are on his head. God has sworn it: “I will establish your seed for ever, and build up your throne to all generations.”

Then comes the word, “Selah.” Rest; meditate; and truly, here is enough to rest and meditate on for many a day, if we went no further into the Psalm.

5. And the heavens shall praise your wonders, oh LORD: your faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

The psalmist meant to praise God at such a rate that the sun, and moon, and stars, should hear his song, while angels and the host redeemed by blood should learn to praise God better than ever.

“Your faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints”: one saint begins to sing about God’s faithfulness, and the others take it up, for God is not faithful to one only, but to all his people. This is a subject which, when once started, will produce an echo in every believer’s heart.

6, 7. For who in the heaven can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be compared to the LORD? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,

The holiest are always the most reverent. There is no fear of God in the assembly of the sinners; but he “is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints.”

7. And to be had in reverence by all those who are around him.

The nearer they come to him, the more is their awe of him; the greater their love, the deeper is their humility. God will not have those around him who are flippant and irreverent; he is “to be had in reverence by all those who are around him.”

8. Oh LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like you? or to your faithfulness all around you?

Note how the psalmist harps on that one string, — “faithfulness.” Ah, dear friends, there are times when this is the sweetest note in the whole scale! “Your faithfulness”: we have a God who never forgets his promises, but keeps them to the moment; a God who never changes; a God who never turns away from his word. “Your faithfulness.” Oh, what a blessed virtue is this in God! Let us praise him for it for ever. “Try faithfulness all around you”: as if the Lord never went outside the ring of faithfulness, never did anything that broke his promises, or that made any of his children to doubt; and it is even so.

9. You rule the raging of the sea: when its waves arise, you still them.

Are you now in a storm, my brother? My sister, are you now tempest-tossed? Listen to this word, and remember the Lord High Admiral of the fleet on the Lake of Galilee, and how, after he had been asleep for a while, he arose, and rebuked the winds and the waves: “You rule the raging of the sea: when its waves arise, you still them.”

10. You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain; you have scattered your enemies with your strong arm.

Rahab was Egypt. The word means “strong,” “mighty,” “proud,” all of which were the characteristics of Egypt, which God broke in pieces at the Red Sea. Pharaoh was the greatest of monarchs at the time, but, oh, how soon he had to yield when God’s right arm was bared for war!

11. The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours: as for the world and its fulness, you have founded them.

Sometimes we are tempted to think that the earth cannot be God’s, all over the globe man is the master, he claims everything; if men could map out the heavens, we should have owners for every single twinkling star; and, if they could have their way, we should have to buy our light by measure, and our sunshine by weight. But “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fulness”; and the heavens also are his.

12. The north and the south you have created them: Tabor and Hermon —

East and West, as well as North and South, —

12. Shall rejoice in your name.

There is not a place where God is not to be found. All the points of the compass are encompassed by God. You cannot go where the Lord’s love does not reign, nor where Providence will not follow you.

13-15. You have a mighty arm: strong is your hand, and high is your right hand. Justice and righteousness are the foundation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face. Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound:

There are some who hear it, and yet are not blessed. Blessed are those who “know” it, know its particular accent, know its inward power, know its omnipotence, know its unchangeableness, know it by having tried it and proved it, and rested in it: “Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound.”

15. They shall walk, oh LORD, in the light of your countenance.

It is all the light they need. Let God only smile, it makes their day. If every candle were blown out, yet the favour of God would make life bright enough for them.

16. In your name they shall rejoice all day long: and in your righteousness they shall be exalted.

Even in God’s righteousness. Until we know the Lord, we are afraid of his righteousness, but when we come to know him, his righteousness, which once frowned on us, becomes our heaven. “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love.” God is not unrighteous to cast away a soul that puts its trust in Christ. God is one with his people. When we rejoice all the day in his name, we are exalted in his righteousness.

17-19. For you are the glory of their strength: and in your favour our horn shall be exalted. For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king. Then you spoke in vision to your holy one, and said, “I have laid help on one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

This is David first, but it is Christ high above David. One of ourselves, the carpenter’s Son, yet God has made him to be the Head over all things for his Church: “I have exalted one chosen out of the people.”

20, 21. I have found David my servant, I have anointed him with my holy oil: with whom my hand shall be established: my arm also shall strengthen him.

The full power of God is with Christ. That same arm, that bears the earth’s huge pillars up, and spreads the heavens abroad, is engaged on behalf of the cause and kingdom of the Son of David.

22. The enemy shall not outwit him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him,

He had enough of that when he was on the earth; but it is all over now. He has gone into his glory, and the enemy cannot touch him now.

23. And I will beat down his foes before his face and plague those who hate him,

That is the portion of all haters of Christ. God will, somehow or other, in the order of his providence bring the evil home to them. If they will not have God’s Son, they shall not have his mercy; they shall, sooner or later, be beaten down before his face.

24, 25. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name his horn shall be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

He shall reign “from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” We may go on to fight for him, for his triumph is certain.

26, 27. He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.’ Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth,

So he is. Firstborn among men, firstborn of kings, his throne is loftier than the most imperial power on the earth. Blessed be his name! Let us adore him tonight; and here, in the midst of his people, let us crown him Lord of all.

28-36. I will keep my mercy for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, and do not walk in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and do not keep my commandments; then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless I will not utterly take my lovingkindness from him, nor permit my faithfulness to fail. I will not break my covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. I have sworn once by my holiness that I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

The Son of David is still King in the midst of the true Israel. Jesus still reigns; and on and on, for ever and for ever, great David’s greater Son shall be King of kings, and Lord of lords.

37. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.” Selah.

Now let us read a passage from John chapter six in the New Testament, showing how the Lord Jesus dealt with the crowds who came to him.

22-26. The following day, when the people who stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which his disciples were entered, and that Jesus did not go with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; (however there came other boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate bread, after the Lord had given thanks) therefore when the people saw that Jesus was not there neither his disciples, they also got into boats, and came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, You look for me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate the loaves, and were filled.

Mixed motives bring multitudes together. How true our Master was, how outspoken! He never tried to win a disciple by keeping back the truth; and often he spoke very plainly indeed, as on this occasion: “You look for me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate the loaves, and were filled.”

27. Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for that food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give to you: for God the Father has set his seal on him.”

He seemed to say to them, “Do not come to me for bread and fish; I have given you that. Come for something better; come to me for spiritual food, food for your souls, food for eternity.” It is with that object that we should go to the house of God; not to listen to this preacher or that, but to hear the Word of God, so that we may live by it.

28. Then they said to him, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?”

“What are the best works that we can do? What are the most acceptable?” I wonder what they expected Christ to say. I am sure they did not look for the answer that they received.

29. Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

The greatest, the best, the most acceptable work in all the world is that you come and trust Christ. This saves you; nothing else will do so: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

30, 31. They said therefore to him, “What sign do you show then, that we may see, and believe you? what work will you do? Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”

See how they came around to the old subject again, bread to eat. The Lord Jesus Christ may point them to something higher and better; but their carnal minds always return to that congenial topic, something to eat. Their stomach was lord of their heart.

32. Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses did not give you that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

“What will really feed you, and feed you for all eternity.” Moses could not give the people that bread; only the Father can give “the true bread from heaven.”

33. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”

“He is the bread of God.” What a strange expression, yet what a true one! The bread of heaven is Christ himself. You must come and take him for yourself, and trust him for your salvation, and in that way feed on him, or you can never have the heavenly bread which both gives life and sustains life.

34-39. Then they said to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall never hunger; and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you also have seen me and do not believe. All whom the Father gives me shall come to me; and whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the Father’s will who has sent me, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

See how the salvation of Christ reaches right to the end of all things. You and I may die; but though we lie for a while in the grave, the salvation of Christ will preserve us, to raise us up again at the last day. There shall not be a bone nor a piece of a bone, of a true believer, left in the enemies’ land. All Israel and all who belong to Israel, shall come out of this Egypt, through the blood of the Lamb; not a hoof shall be left behind.

40. And this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

May all of us see the Son, and believe in him, that we may have everlasting life, and that he may raise us up at the last day, for his dear name’s sake! Amen.

 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Gospel, Invitations — Come And Welcome” 492}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Gospel, Stated — The Life Look” 538}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Dedication To God — The Heart Given To God” 658}

Just Published Price, Sixpence; post free, Sevenpence.

The Book Fund And Its Work, 1893. By Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon

“Having had the privilege of reading the manuscript of Mrs. Spurgeon’s new Report, we are able to assure subscribers to the Book Fund that there is as great a literary treat prepared for them as they have enjoyed in previous years. The little book might almost have borne a similar title to last year’s In Memoriam, for right through ‘The Story of the Book Fund’ there gleams the sunshine of the name that is increasingly precious to all lovers of dear Mr. Spurgeon’s words and works. The opening and closing chapters especially will bring to mind last year’s choice memorial article, ‘With Christ, which is far better.’ ”

“1893 has been a busy year for all departments of the Book Fund and Pastors’ Aid work; and every branch is described in detail in Mrs. Spurgeon’s well-known exquisitely charming style. We can hardly indicate the gems in this cabinet, for all are jewels of the first water; but we especially recommend our readers to look out for the dialogue between Mrs. Spurgeon and a Congo missionary, the last quaint epistle in her ‘Letter Bag’, and her instructive spiritual parable on ‘Grafting, and Fruit-bearing.’ Our hearty advice to all our friends is, — Buy the book for yourselves, circulate as many copies of it as you can among your acquaintances, and keep the beloved Manager if the Fund supplied with means for carrying on every part of her Christ-like service of caring for the Lord’s poor ministers of every denomination.” — From Review in “The Sword and the Trowel,” February, 1894.

Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings, London; and all Booksellers.

Gospel, Invitations
492 — Come And Welcome <8.7.4.>
1 Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
      Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
   Jesus ready stands to save you,
      Full of pity join’d with power;
         He is able,
      He is willing; doubt no more.
2 Come, ye needy, come and welcome,
      God’s free bounty glorify;
   True belief, and true repentance,
      Every grace that brings us nigh,
         Without money,
      Come to Jesus Christ and buy.
3 Let not conscience make you linger
      Nor of fitness fondly dream:
   All the fitness he requireth,
      Is to feel your need of him:
         This he gives you;
      ‘Tis the Spirits’s rising beam.
4 Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
      Bruised and mangled by the fall;
   If you tarry till you’re better,
      You will never come at all:
         Not the righteous,
      Sinners Jesus came to call.
5 View him prostrate in the garden;
      On the ground your Maker lies!
   On the bloody tree behold him,
      Hear him cry before he dies,
         “It is finish’d!”
      Sinner, will not this suffice?
6 Lo! th’ Incarnate God, ascended,
      Pleads the merit of his blood:
   Venture on him, venture wholly,
      Let no other trust intrude;
         None but Jesus
      Can do helpless sinners good.
7 Saints and angels join’d in concert,
      Sing the praises of the Lamb;
   While the blissful seats of heaven
      Sweetly echo with his name!
         Hallelujah!
      Sinners here may sing the same.
                        Joseph Hart, 1759, a.

Gospel, Stated
538 — The Life Look
1 There is life for a look at the Crucified One;
      There is life at this moment for thee;
   Then look, sinner — look unto him, and be saved —
      Unto him who was nail’d to the tree.
2 It is not thy tears of repentance or prayers,
      But the blood that atones for the soul:
   On him, then, who shed it, believing at once
      Thy weight of iniquities roll.
3 His anguish of soul on the cross hast thou seen?
      His cry of distress hast thou heard?
   Then why, if the terrors of wrath he endured,
      Should pardon to thee be deferr’d?
4 We are heal’d by his stripes; — wouldest thou add to the word?
      And he is our righteousness made:
   The best robe of heaven he bids thee put on:
      Oh! couldest thou be better array’d?
5 Then doubt not thy welcome, since God has declared,
      There remaineth no more to be done;
   That once in the end of the world he appear’d,
      And completed the work he began.
6 But take, with rejoicing, from Jesus at once
      The life everlasting he gives:
   And know, with assurance, thou never canst die,
      Since Jesus, thy righteousness, lives.
7 There is life for a look at the Crucified One;
      There is life at this moment for thee:
   Then look, sinner — look into him and be saved,
      And know thyself spotless as he.
                  Amelia Matilda Hull, 1860.

The Christian, Dedication To God
658 — The Heart Given To God
1 Oh happy day, that fix’d my choice
   On thee, my Saviour, and my God;
   Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
   And tell its raptures all abroad.
2 ‘Tis done! the great transaction’s done:
   I am my Lord’s, and he is mine:
   He drew me, and I follow’d on,
   Charm’d to confess the voice divine.
3 Now rest, my long divided heart;
   Fix’d on this blissful centre, rest:
   With ashes who would grudge to part,
   When call’d on angels’ bread to feast?
4 High heaven, that heard the solemn vow,
   That vow renew’d shall daily hear:
   Till in life’s latest hour I bow,
   And bless in death a bond so dear.
                     Philip Doddridge, 1755.