| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Carl" |
| Date: |
24 Dec 2007 08:50:23 PM |
| Object: |
Good Cheer for Christmas |
With Christmas day only hours away I would like to share the following
Christmas sermon by Charles Spurgeon.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
---
Good Cheer for Christmas
by Charles Spurgeon
"And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast
of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow,
of wines on the lees well refined."-Isaiah 25:6.
We have nearly arrived at the great merry-making season of the year. On
Christmas-day we shall find all the world in England enjoying themselves
with all the good cheer which they can afford. Servants of God, you who have
the largest share in the person of him who was born at Bethlehem, I invite
you to the best of all Christmas fare-to nobler food than makes the table
groan-bread from heaven, food for your spirit. Behold, how rich and how
abundant are the provisions which God has made for the high festival which
he would have his servants keep, not now and then, but all the days of their
lives!
God, in the verse before us, has been pleased to describe the provisions of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Although many other interpretations have been
suggested for this verse, they are all flat and stale, and utterly unworthy
of such expressions as those before us. When we behold the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink
indeed-when we see him offered up upon the chosen mountain, we then discover
a fulness of meaning in these gracious words of sacred hospitality, "The
Lord shall make a feast of fat things, of fat things full of marrow." Our
Lord himself was very fond of describing his gospel under the selfsame image
as that which is here employed. He spoke of the marriage-supper of the king,
who said "My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready;" and
it did not seem as if he could even complete the beauty of the parable of
the prodigal son without the killing of the fat calf and the feasting and
the music and dancing. As a festival on earth is looked forward to and
looked back upon as an oasis amid a desert of time, so the gospel of Jesus
Christ is to the soul its sweet release from bondage and distress, its mirth
and joy. Upon this subject we intend to speak this morning, hoping to be
helped by the great Master of the feast.
Our first head will be the feast; the second will be the banqueting-hall-"in
this mountain;" the third will be the Host-"The Lord shall make a feast; and
the fourth shall be the guests-he shall make it "unto all people."
I. First, then, we have to consider THE FEAST.
It is described as consisting of viands of the best, nay, of the best of the
best. They are fat things, but they are also fat things full of marrow.
Wines are provided of the most delicious and invigorating kind, wines on the
lees, which retain their aroma, their strength, and their flavour; but these
are most ancient and rare, having been so long kept that they have become
well refined; by long standing they have purified, clarified themselves, and
brought themselves to the highest degree of brightness and excellence. The
best of the best God has provided in the gospel for the sons of men.
Let us attentively survey the blessings of the gospel, and observe that they
are fat things, and fat things full of marrow.
One of the first gospel blessings is that of complete justification. A
sinner, though guilty in himself, no sooner believes in Jesus than all his
sins are pardoned. The righteousness of Christ becomes his righteousness,
and he is accepted in the Beloved. Now, this is a delicious dish indeed.
Here is something for the soul to feed upon. To think that I, though a
deeply guilty one, am absolved of God, and set free from the bondage of the
law! To think that I, though once an heir of wrath, am now as accepted
before God as Adam was when he walked in the Garden without a sin; nay, more
accepted still, for the divine righteousness of Christ belongs to me, and I
stand complete in him, beloved in the Beloved, and accepted in him too!
Beloved, this is such a precious truth, that when the soul feeds on it, it
experiences a quiet peace, a deep and heavenly calm, to be found nowhere on
earth besides. This is a kind of honey which never cloys, to be assured by
the word of God, and by the witness of the Holy Ghost within you, that you
are reconciled and brought nigh by the blood and the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. This is a choice mercy. This is a fat thing indeed; but this is not
all, it is a fat thing full of marrow too. There is an inner lusciousness in
it when you reach the heart and soul of the matter, transcendent in
richness; for remember that this righteousness, this acceptance, this
justification, becomes ours in a perfectly legal way, one against which
Satan himself cannot raise a demurrer, for our Substitute has paid our debt,
therefore are we righteously discharged. Christ has fulfilled the law, and
made it honourable for us, and therefore are we justly accepted and beloved.
Here is marrow indeed when we perceive the truth and reality of the
substitution of Jesus, and grasp with heart and soul the fact of our great
Surety standing in our stead at the bar of justice, that we might stand in
his stead in the place of honour and love. What bliss it is to cry with the
apostle, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God
that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us." Come hither, all ye whose spiritual tastes are
purified by grace, and feed upon this choice provision, which shall be sweet
to your taste, sweeter, also, than honey and the honeycomb.
Meditate upon a second blessing of the covenant of grace, namely, that of
adoption. It is plainly revealed to us, that as many as have believed in
Christ Jesus unto the salvation of their souls, are the sons of God.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God." Here, indeed, is a fat thing. What,
shall a worm of the dust become a child of God? A rebel be adopted into the
heavenly family? A condemned criminal not only forgiven, but actually made a
child of God? Wonder of wonders! "Behold what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God!" To which of
the kings and princes of this earth did he ever say, "Thou art my son"? He
has not spoken thus to the great ones and to the mighty, but God hath chosen
the base things of this world and things that are despised, yea, and things
that are not, and made these to be of the seed royal. The wise and prudent
are passed over, but babes receive the revelation of his love. Lord, whence
is this to me? What am I and what is my father's house, that thou shouldst
speak of making me thy child? This gloriously fat thing is also "full of
marrow." There is an inner richness in adoption, for, "if children, then
heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer
with him, that we may be also glorified together." Well does the apostle
remind us that if children, then heirs, for we are thus assured of our
blessed heritage. "All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present or things to
come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." "He that
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things?" Here are royal dainties of which
the Word has said most truly, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the
fatness of thy house."
Passing on from the blessing of adoption, let us remember that every child
of God is the object of eternal love without beginning and without end. This
is one of the fat things full of marrow. Is it so, that I, a believer in
Jesus, unworthy as I am, am the object of the eternal love of God? What
transport lies in that thought! Long before the Lord began to create the
world, he had thought of me. Long ere Adam fell or Christ was born, and the
angels sung their first choral over Bethlehem's miracle, the eye and the
heart of God were towards his elect people. He never began to love them,
they were always "a people near unto him." Is it not so written, "I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore, with lovingkindness have I
drawn thee"? Some kick at the doctrine of election, but they are ill
advised, since they labour to overturn one of the noblest dishes of the
feast; they would dam up one of the coolest streams that flow from Lebanon;
they would cover over with rubbish one of the richest veins of golden ore
that make rich the people of God. For this doctrine of a love that hath no
commencement, is the best wine of our Beloved, and "that goeth down sweetly,
causing the lips of them that are asleep to speak." How joyously doth the
heart exult and leap for very joy when this truth is brought home by the
witness of the Spirit of God! then the soul is satisfied with favour, and
full with the blessing of the Lord.
Equally delightful is the corresponding reflection that this love which had
no beginning shall have no end. He is a God that changeth not. "The gifts
and calling of God are without repentance." Where he has once set his heart
of love upon a man, he never turns away from doing him good. He saith by the
mouth of his servant the prophet, that he hateth putting away. Though we sin
against him often, and provoke him to jealousy, yet still, as the waters of
Noah, so is his covenant to us; for as the waters of Noah shall no more go
over the earth, so he swears that he will not be wroth with us nor rebuke
us. "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness
shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." "I am the Lord, I change
not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." "Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee
upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." Why,
beloved, this indeed is a fat thing; and I may add that it is full of marrow
when you remember that not merely has the Lord thought of you from
everlasting, but loved you. Oh! the depth of that word "love," as it applies
to the infinite Jehovah, whose name, whose essence, whose nature is love! He
has loved you with all the immutable intensity of his heart, never more and
never less; loved you so much that he gave his only begotten Son for you;
loved you so well that nothing could content him but making you to be
conformed into the image of his dear Son, and causing you to partake of his
glory that you may be with him where he is! Come, feed on this, ye heirs of
eternal life, for here are fat things full of marrow.
We should not, beloved, have completed this list if we had omitted one
precious doctrine, which needs a refined taste perhaps, but which, when a
man hath once learned to feed on it, seemeth to him to be best of all-I mean
the great truth of union to Christ. We are plainly taught in the word of God
that as many as have believed are one with Christ: they are married to him,
there is a conjugal union based upon mutual affection. The union is closer
still, for there is a vital union between Christ and his saints. They are in
him as the branches are in the vine; they are members of the body of which
he is the head. They are one with Jesus in such a true and real sense that
with him they died, with him they have been buried, with him they are risen,
with him they are raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly
places. There is an indissoluble union between Christ and all his people: "I
in them and they in me." Thus the union may be described:-Christ is in his
people the hope of glory, and they are dead and their life is hid with
Christ in God. This is a union of the most wonderful kind, which figures may
faintly set forth, but which it were impossible for language completely to
explain. Oneness to Jesus is one of the fat things full of marrow. For if it
be so, indeed, that we are one with Christ, then because he lives we must
live also; because he was justified by his resurrection, we also are
justified in him; because he is rewarded and for ever sits down at his
Father's right hand, we also have obtained the inheritance in him and by
faith grasp it now, and enjoy its earnest. Oh, can it be that this aching
head already has a right to a celestial crown! That this palpitating heart
has a claim to the rest which remaineth for the people of God! That these
weary feet have a title to tread the sacred halls of the New Jerusalem! It
is so, for if we are one with Christ, then all he has belongs to us, and it
is but a matter of time, and of gracious arrangement when we shall come into
the full enjoyment thereof. Truly, in meditation upon this topic, we may
each of us exclaim, "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips."
I cannot bring forth all the courses of my Lord's banquet; one serving man
cannot bear before you the riches of such a surpassing feast; but I would
remind you of one more, and that is the doctrine of resurrection and
everlasting life. This poor world dimly guessed at the immortality of the
soul, but it knew nothing of the resurrection of the body: the gospel of
Jesus has brought life and immortality to light, and he himself has declared
to us of Jesus, that he that believeth in him shall never die. "He that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet should he live." Jesus is the
resurrection and the life. Not the soul only, but the body also shall
partake of immortality, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. We expect to die, but we are
assured of living again. If the Lord come not, we know that our bodies shall
see corruption; but here is our comfort, we dread no annihilation, that dark
shadow never crosses our spirits; we dread no hell, no purgatory, no
judgment-Christ hath perfected for ever them that are set apart; none can
condemn whom he absolves. The saints shall judge the angels, and sit with
their Lord in the day of the great assize. To us the coming of Christ will
be a day of joy and of rejoicing: we shall be caught up together with him;
his reign shall be our reign, his glory our glory. Wherefore comfort one
another with these words, and as ye see your brethren and your sisters
departing one by one from among you, sorrow not as those that are without
hope, but say unto each other, "They are not lost, but they have gone
before," for, "blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their
works do follow them." Here are fat things full of marrow, for ours is a
glorious hope, and full of immortality. Our expected immortality is not that
of mere existence, it is not the barren privilege of life without bliss,
existence without happiness-it is full of glory; for "we shall be like him
when we shall see him as he is;" we shall be with God, at whose right hand
there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore. He shall make us to
drink of the river of his pleasures; songs and everlasting joy shall be upon
our heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
"Oh, for the no more weeping,
Within that land of love!
The endless joy of keeping
The bridal feast above!
Oh, for the hour of seeing
My Saviour face to face!
The hope of ever being
In that sweet meeting-place."
Thus I have set before you a few of the fat things full of marrow which the
King of kings has set before his guests at the wedding feast of his love.
Changing the run of the thought, and yet really keeping to the same subject,
let me now bring before you the goblets of wine. "Wines on the lees-wines on
the lees well refined." These we shall consider as symbolising the joys of
the gospel. What are these? I can only speak of those which I have myself
been permitted to sip at. One of the dearest joys of the Christian life is a
sense of perfect peace with God. Oh, I tell you when one is quiet for
awhile, and the din and noise of business is out of one's ears, it is one of
the most delicious things in all the world to meditate upon God, and to feel
he is no enemy to me, and I am no enemy to him. It is beyond comparison
cheering, musingly to feel, I love him. If there be anything which I can do
to serve him, I will do it. If there be any suffering which would honour
him, if he would give me the strength to endure it, it should be my
happiness, though it caused me to die a martyr's death a thousand times. If
I could but honour my God, my Father, and my Friend, all should be
acceptable to me. There is nothing between the Lord and me by way of
difference or alienation; I am brought nigh through the blood of his dear
and only begotten Son. He is my God, my Father, and my all, and I am his
child. Some of us have tried the imaginary happiness of laughter; we have
mixed with the giddy throng, and tasted the wines of the house of carnal
merriment, but our honest experience is that one single draught from the cup
of salvation is worth rivers of worldly mirth.
"Solid joys and lasting pleasures
Only Zion's children know."
A quiet heart, resting in the love of God, dwelling in perfect peace, hath a
royalty about it which cannot for a moment be matched by the fleeting joys
of this world.
Our joy sometimes flashes with a brighter light, but even then it is not
less pure and safe. You may look upon this wine when it is red, when it
sparkles in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, for there is no woe, no
redness of the eyes reserved for those who drink even to inebriation of this
sacred wine. This sacred exhilaration is caused by a sense of security. A
child of God, when he has looked well to his Redeemer, and seen the merit of
the precious blood, and the power of the never-ceasing plea, feels himself
safe, perfectly safe. I do not understand the child of God reading his Bible
and yet being afraid of being cast into hell. I can understand that the fear
may cross his mind lest after all he should prove a castaway; but as he
approaches once again to the foot of the cross, and looks up to Jesus, he
feels that it cannot be. None were ever cast away who stood at the cross
foot; for it is written, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
A child of God, with no hope but what he finds in Christ, has no cause to
think his eternal state to be insecure. All are safe who are in Christ, even
as all were safe who were in Noah's ark. No flood, no storm could hurt the
man of whom it was said, "The Lord shut him in." The Lord has shut in all
his people in Christ, and they are eternally safe in Christ. When the spirit
knows that "there is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus," then is it replenished with delight. When one feels that live
or die, or work or suffer, all is well, how free from care is the heart! How
divinely joyful to know that if one should lose all his earthly substance,
the Lord will provide; that if one should be tempted, tempted greatly, yet
with the temptation the way of escape shall be made! here is assurance rich
with consolation. When one feels that all is safe, all safe eternally, for
life or death all secured, I tell you that this is wine on the lees, wine on
the lees well refined, and he who wins a draught thereof need not envy the
angels their celestial banquets.
This joy of ours will sometimes rise to an elevation yet more sublime when
it is caused by communion with God. Believers, while engaged in prayer and
praise, in service and in suffering, are enabled by the Holy Spirit to hold
high converse with their Lord. Do not imagine that Abraham's speech with God
was an unusual privilege. The father of the faithful did but enjoy what all
the faithful ones participate in according to the grace given them. We tell
to God our griefs; discoursing upon our sorrows not in fiction, but
declaring them in real conversation, as when a man speaketh with his
neighbour: meanwhile the Lord's Spirit whispers to us with the still small
voice of the promise, such words as calm our minds and guide our feet. Yes,
and when our Beloved takes us into the banqueting-house of real conscious
fellowship with himself, and waves the love-banner over us, our holy joy is
as much superior to all merely human mirth, as the heavens are above the
earth. Then do we speak and sing with sacred zest, and feel as if we could
weep for very joy of heart, for our Beloved is ours and we are his. His left
hand is under our head, and his right hand doth embrace us, and our only
fear is lest anything should grieve our Beloved and cause him to withdraw
himself from us; for it is heaven on earth, and the fair antepast of heaven
above to see his face, to taste his love. Communion with Christ is as the
wine on the lees well refined.
We will place on the table one goblet more, of which you may drink as much
as you will. We have provided for us the pleasures of hope, a hope most sure
and steadfast, most bright and glorious-the hope that what we know to-day
shall be outdone by what we shall know to-morrow; the hope that by-and-by
what we now see, as in a glass darkly, shall be seen face to face. We shall
say, as in heaven, as the Queen of Sheba did in Jerusalem, "The half hath
not been told us." We are looking forward to a speedy day when we shall be
unburdened of this creaking tabernacle, and being absent from the body shall
be present with the Lord. Our hope of future bliss is elevated and
confident. Oh, the vision of his face! Oh, the sight of Jesus in his
exaltation! Oh, the kiss of his lips-the word, "Well done, good and faithful
servant" from that dear mouth! and then for ever to lie in his bosom.
Begone, ye cares, begone, ye sorrows; if heaven be so near, ye shall not
molest us. The inn may be a rough and poverty-stricken one, but we are only
travellers, not tenants upon lease. This is not our place of resting; we are
on our journey home! Beloved, in the prospect of the quiet resting-places in
the land which floweth with milk and honey, you have wines on the lees well
refined.
If we were not limited to time this morning, as, alas! we are, I should have
reminded you that these joys of the believer are ancient in their origin,
for that is shown in the text. Old wines are intended by "wines well
refined;" they have stood long on the lees, have drawn out all the virtue
from them, and have been cleared of all the coarser material. In the East,
wine will be improved by keeping even more than the wines of the West! and
even so the mercies of God are the sweeter to our meditations because of
their antiquity. From old eternity, or ever the earth was, the covenant
engagements of everlasting love have been resting like wines on the lees,
and to-day they bring to us the utmost riches of all the attributes of God.
I should also have reminded you of the fulness of their excellence, because
the wine on the lees holds its flavour, and retains its aroma; and there is
a fulness and richness about the blessings of divine grace which endears
them to our hearts. The joys of grace are not fantastical emotions, or
transient flashes of a meteoric excitement, they are based on substantial
truth; are reasonable, fit, and proper. They belong not to the superficial
and frothy emotions of mere feeling, but are deep, solemn, earnest motions,
justified by the clearest judgment. Our bliss is not of the foam and the
surge, it dwells in the innermost caverns of our heart. I would also remind
you of their refined nature. No sin mingled with the joys of the gospel and
the delights of communion-they are well refined. Gospel joys are elevating,
they make men like angels. As in the gospel God comes down to men, so by the
gospel men go up to God. I might also have shown you how absolutely peerless
are the provisions of grace. There is no feast like that of the gospel, no
meat like the flesh of Jesus, no drink like his blood, no joys like that
which crowns the gospel feast.
II. I can say no more: the table is before you, and now we must pass on with
great brevity to notice THE BANQUETING-HALL.
"In this mountain." There is a reference here to three things-the same
symbol bearing three interpretations. First, literally, the mountain upon
which Jerusalem is built. I do not doubt that the reference is here to the
hill of the Lord upon which Jerusalem stood; the great transaction which was
fulfilled at Jerusalem upon Calvary hath made to all nations a great feast.
It was there where that centre cross bore upon it One who joined earth and
heaven in mysterious union; it was there where amidst thick darkness the Son
of God was made a curse for men; it was there where sorrow culminated that
joy was consummated. On that very mountain where Jews and Gentiles met
together, and with clamorous wrath cried, "Let him be crucified"-it was
there in the giving up of the Only-begotten, whose flesh is meat indeed, and
whose blood is drink indeed, that the Lord made a feast of fat things.
Everything I have spoken of this morning is found in Christ. He is the
resurrection and the life: in him we are justified, adopted, and made
secure; every drop of joy we drink streams from his flowing veins.
A second meaning is the church. Frequently Jerusalem is used as the symbol
of the church of God, and it is within the pale of the church that the great
feast of the Lord is made unto all nations. I am in the truest sense a very
sound churchman. I am indeed a high churchman; a most determined stickler
for the church. I do not believe in salvation outside of the pale of the
church. I believe that the salvation of God is confined to the church, and
to the church alone. "But," says one, "what church?" Ay! that's the
question: God forbid I should mean by that either the Baptist church, or the
Independent church, or the Episcopalian church, or the Presbyterian, or any
other-I mean the church of Jesus Christ, the company of God's chosen, the
fellowship of the blood-bought, the family of believers, be they where they
may, for them is provided the feast of fat things. Whatever outward and
visible church they may have associated themselves with, they shall drink of
the wines on the lees well refined; but the feast is only to be found where
they are found who put their trust in Jesus. There is but one church in
heaven and earth, composed of men called by the Holy Ghost, and made to live
anew by his quickening power; and it is through the ministry of this church
that an abundant feast is spread for all nations, a feast to which the
nations are summoned by chosen herald, whom God calls to proclaim the good
news of salvation by Jesus Christ.
But, brethren, the mountain sometimes means the church of God exalted to its
latter-day glory. This mountain is to be exalted above the hills, and all
nations shall flow unto it. This text will have its grandest fulfillment in
the day of the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Then shall
the glory of the gospel be unveiled more clearly than at this present. Men
shall have a fuller perception of the glory of the Lord, and a deeper
enjoyment of his grace; while happiness and peace shall reign with
unmolested quiet. Soon shall come the golden age which has been so long
foretold, for which we cry with unceasing expectation. The Lord send it
speedily, and his be the praise.
III. Thirdly, let us think of THE HOST of the feast.
"In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of
fat things." Mark well the truth that in the gospel banquet there is not a
single dish brought by man. The Lord makes it, and he makes it all. I know
some would like to bring a little with them to the banquet, something at
least by way of trimming and adornment, so that they might have a share of
the honour; but it must not be, the Lord of hosts makes the feast, and he
will not even permit the guests to bring their own wedding garments-they
must stop at the door and put on the robe which the Lord has provided, for
salvation is all grace from first to last, and all of him who is wondrous in
working, and who doeth all things according to the counsels of his will. Out
of all the precious truths which I spoke of at the beginning of this sermon,
there is not one which comes from any source but a divine one; and of all
the joys which I tried feebly to picture there is not one which takes its
rise from earth's springs; they all flow from the eternal fount. The Lord
makes the feast; and, observe, he does it, too, as the Lord of hosts, as a
sovereign, as a ruler, doing as he wills amongst the sons of men, preparing
what he wills for the good of his creatures, and constraining whom he wills
to come to the marriage-feast. The Lord provides sovereignly as Lord of
hosts, and all-sufficiently as Jehovah. It needed the all-sufficiency of God
to provide a feast for hungry sinners. No other than the infinite "I AM"
could provide a feast substantial enough to supply the wants of immortal
spirits; but he has done it, and you may guess of the value of the viands by
the nature of our entertainer. If God spread the feast it is not to be
despised; if the Lord has put forth all the omnipotence of his eternal power
and Godhead in preparing the banquet for the multitude of the sons of men,
then depend upon it it is a banquet worthy of him, one to which they may
come with confidence, for it must be such a banquet as their souls require,
and such as the world never saw before. O my soul, rejoice thou in thy God
and King. If he provides the feast, let him have all the glory of it. "Not
unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." O King immortal,
eternal, invisible, thou feddest thy children in the wilderness with manna
which dropped from heaven, and with water that flowed out of a flinty rock,
and they gave thanks unto thy name; but now thou fillest us with nobler
food. They did eat manna and are dead, but we live on the immortal bread,
even Jesus, and therefore we can never die. They drank of the water which
flowed from the rock, and yet they thirsted again, but we shall never
thirst, but for ever abide near to thyself, while the Lamb that is in the
midst of the throne shall feed us, and lead us unto living fountains of
water. Therefore, blessed be thy name, yea, a thousand times blessed be thy
name, O thou Most High! Let all heaven say "Amen" to the praises of our
hearts, and let the multitude of thy children here on earth, for whom this
feast is spread, laud and magnify and bless thy name from the rising of the
sun unto the going down of the same.
IV. Lastly, a word or two upon THE GUESTS.
The Lord has made this banquet "for all people". What a precious word this
is! "For all people." Then this includes not merely the chosen people, the
Jews, whose were the oracles, but it encompasses the poor uncircumcised
Gentiles, who by Jesus are brought nigh. The barbarian is invited to this
feast; the Scythian is not rejected. The polished Greek finds an open door;
the hardy Roman shall meet with an equal welcome. Caesar's household, if
they come, shall receive a portion, and so shall the beggar's brethren.
Blessed be God for that word, "unto all people," for it permits missionary
enterprise in every land; however degraded a race may be, we have here
provision made for it. This feast of fat things is made as much for the
Sudra as for the Brahmin; the gospel is as much to be preached to the
degraded Bushman as to the civilised Chinese. Dwell on that word, "all
people," and you will see it includes the rich, for there is a feast of fat
things for them, such as their gold could never buy; and it includes the
poor, for they being rich in faith shall have fellowship with God. "All
people." This takes in the man of enlarged intelligence and extensive
knowledge; but it equally encompasses the illiterate man who cannot read.
The Lord makes this feast "for all people;" for you old people, if you come
to Jesus you shall find that he is suitable to you; for you young men and
maidens, and you little children, if you put your trust in God's appointed
Saviour, there shall be much joy and happiness for you-"For all people"?
Methinks, if I were now seeking and had not laid hold on Christ, this word,
"all people" would be a great comfort to me, because it gives hope to all
who desire to come. None have ever been rejected of all who have ever come
to Christ and asked for mercy. Still is it true, "Him that cometh to me I
will in no wise cast out." Some very odd people have come to him, some very
wicked people, some very hardened people, but the door was never closed in
any one's face. Why should Jesus begin hard dealings with you? He cannot,
because he cannot change. If he says, "Him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out," make one of the "hims" that come, and he cannot cast you
out. There is another thought, namely, that between the covers of the Bible
there is no mention made of one person who may not come. There is no
description given of a person who is forbidden to trust Christ. I should
like you to look the book through, you who dream that Jesus will reject you,
and find where it is said, "Such a one I will reject; such a one I will
refuse." When you find such a rejecting clause, then you will have a right
to be unbelieving, but till you do I beseech you do not needlessly torment
yourself. Why needlessly sow doubts and fears? There will be enough of them
without your making them for yourself. Do not limit what the Lord does not
limit. I know he has an elect people; I rejoice in it-I hope you will
rejoice in it too one day; and I know that his people have this marrow and
fatness provided for them and for them alone; but still this does not at all
conflict with the other precious truth that whosoever believeth in the Son
of God hath everlasting life. If you believe in Jesus Christ, all these
things are yours. Come, poor trembler, the silver trumpet soundeth, and this
is the note it rings, "Come and welcome, come and welcome, come and
welcome." The harsher trumpet of the law which waxed exceedingly loud and
long at Sinai had this for its note, "Set bounds about the mount: let none
touch it lest they die." But the trumpet for Calvary sounds with the
opposite note; it is, "Come and welcome, come and welcome, sinner, come!
Come as you are, sinful as you are, hardened as you are, careless as you
think you are, and having no good thing whatsoever, come to your God in
Christ!" O may you come to him who gave his Son to bleed in the sinner's
stead, and casting yourself on what Christ has done, may you resolve, "If I
perish, I will trust in him; if I be cast away, I will rely on him." You
shall not perish, but for you there shall be the feast of fat things full of
marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. The Lord bless you very richly,
for his name's sake. Amen.
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| User: "Bible Bob" |
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| Title: Re: Good Cheer for Christmas |
24 Dec 2007 11:46:36 PM |
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On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 21:50:23 -0500, "Carl" <saints@nettally.com>
wrote:
With Christmas day only hours away I would like to share the following
Christmas sermon by Charles Spurgeon.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
Carl,
Why do you continue to promote false doctrines?
John the Baptist's father was of the course of Abia. Converting from
the Jewish calandar to ours; John was conceived in June of 4 BC. Mary
conceived in December of the same year (six months after Elizabeth
conceived). Jesus was born in September 3 BC. Mary did not carry
Jesus in her for 12 months. A normal pregancy lasts only nine months.
December 25th is a pagan holiday; the Winter Solstace. By the way,
isn't Christ mass the RCC celebration of the death of Jesus Christ?
Luk 1:5 KJV
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest
named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the
daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
The Greek-based word “Abia” is the same as the Hebrew-based word
“Abijah.” It is the eighth order (class) (1 Chron 24:10). The Hebrew
month Sivan corresponds to our May or June depending on the year. In
4BC the class of Abijah served in June. Thus, John the Baptist was
conceived in June six months before Mary became pregnant. Counting
nine months from June, John was born in our March. Jesus would be
born six months later in September.
Luk 1:26-27 KJV
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a
city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house
of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
No, the sixth month was not our June. The six month refers to the six
month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. Nor was it the six month of the
Hebrew calendar which would be Elul (August or September). You can't
get December nine months from September. You can get nine months from
December to September.
BB
http://www.biblebob.net
Nothing so completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity
himself, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.
Charles Caleb Colton, author and clergyman (1780-1832)
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