Recruits for King Jesus
February 17th, 1884
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
“And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judith
to the hold unto David. And David went
out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto
me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if ye be come to betray
me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our
fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.
Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he
said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be
unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them
captains of the band.” I Chronicles 12:16-18.
At this time David was in the hold--I suppose in the
stronghold of Ziklag, which the king of the Philistines had given to him. It was in that fortress town that he
received a welcome addition to his band.
David was an exile; and it is not every man who cares to cast in his lot
with a banished nobleman. He was
outlawed, and his sovereign would have slain him with his own hand if he had
found opportunity: few care to stake their all with a man in such a condition.
The many who were on Saul's side spoke very bitterly of David, and, wishing to
curry favor with the king, they slandered him to the blackest degree, few
respectable people care to associate themselves with a person who is in ill
repute. Many to whom he had done no ill
were eager to betray David, and sell him into the hand of his enemy; for men
sought their own gain, and cared not whom they sold, so long as they clutched
the price: it was no small thing for a band of men to unite with a man upon
whose head a price was set. David had
to stand upon his guard, for traitors were all around: the men of Keilah would
have delivered him up when he went in all simplicity of heart within their
gates. The fortunes of David were at a
low ebb, and hence when these men came to David they did a valorous action--an
action which he would be sure to remember in the after days of his triumph.
I want to run a parallel between the case of David and
that of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the
present moment our Lord Jesus, the Son of David, is still in the hold. Among the men of this world He is not yet
enthroned: their hearts go after another prince, and as yet the kingdom has not
come to the Son of David. I know that
He reigns in heaven, and that He is in very deed King of kings and Lord of lords;
but before the eyes of the mass of men He is still despised and rejected. His people, as yet, are but a feeble folk,
and often hard put to it; while His kingdom is ridiculed, His claims are
derided, and His yoke is scorned. The
doctrines which He preached are tossed to and fro like a ball; and men at the
present time are glorying in science or tradition, in reason or in speculation;
yea, they speak as if human wisdom would soon wipe out the very name of
Christianity. It is not so in truth
before God; but it is so in appearance before men. This is an age of blasphemy and of rebuke for our Lord the
King. Brave are they who will stand to
Christ in this, the day of His exile.
They shall be right royally rewarded who will now take up His cause, and
will go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. He is the man for the Lord Jesus who can now
run the gauntlet of miles of scoffers, and be willing to be called a fool, a
madman, or an idiot for His name's sake.
Blessed are they who are not ashamed this day to bear the name of Christ
written out large; and to confess that, after the way which men call
“orthodoxy,” so worship they the Lord God of their fathers. The philosophic Christian may escape if he
will drown the Christian in the philosopher; but this is not to stand out
square for Christ. It does our heart
good nowadays to meet with a few brethren who are not ashamed still to believe
in the merit of the Redeemer's precious blood, and in the power of His Spirit
to regenerate. We feel at home when we
drop in with a few who believe in prayer, and expect the Lord to interpose on
the behalf of His people. I say,
blessed are they who, like these men of Benjamin and Judah, are willing to go
to the King in the hold, and take up His cause though it be at a low ebb, and
stand up for Him when the many are ready to trample Him down, and are
ridiculing His work and His cause. For
my own part, I never loved my Lord better than now that He is defamed; and His
truth is all the dearer to me because it is flouted by the worldly-wise.
It is to those who will volunteer for Jesus that I am
about to speak; and our first head is, that using the text as a parable we have
here a commendable example. It
is a commendable example for men to join themselves with Christ while He is at
a discount. Secondly, here is a cautious
inquiry. When David sees these men
come he does not at once receive them with open arms, but there is a reserve
about him till he has asked them a question or two. He wants to know who they are before he writes down their names
in his muster-roll. And, thirdly, here
is a very cordial enlistment as they answer to his question, and say,
“Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; for thy God helpeth
thee.”
I. First, then, here is A VERY COMMENDABLE
EXAMPLE. May the Holy Spirit lead many
of my dear hearers to follow it.
Many of these men of Benjamin and Judah, in the first
place, went to join themselves to David because they had heard that he was
the Lord's anointed. They
understood that Samuel had gone down to Ramah, and, in the days of David's
youth, had anointed him in the name of the Lord to be king instead of
Saul. Therefore they said, “Whom God
anoints we will follow,” and they came after David. It was fit that they should be loyal to David if they would be
obedient to God.
Now, it is within the belief, I trust, of all
assembled here, that the Lord God Almighty has anointed “one chosen out of the
people” to be His King in Zion--the King of His church forever and ever; and
that One chosen out of the people is Jesus of Nazareth, of the house of David,
who is Himself, as man, the servant of God, but who is also divine, and counts
it not robbery to be equal with God. We
have, I trust, all of us drunk in this doctrine, that the Lord Jesus is the
Anointed of God, the very Word of God, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. Now, it seems to me
that if it be so, the next inevitable step for men who fear God is to go forth
and follow the Lord's Anointed. If
Jesus be the Messiah, the sent One of God, in the name of everything that is
gracious and right let him follow Him.
God has given Him to be a leader and a commander to the people; let us
rally to His banner without delay. If
the Lord has anointed Jesus to be a prince and a Savior, let Him be our Prince
and our Savior at once. Let us render
Him obedience and confidence, and openly avow the same. Our Lord puts it thus-- “If I tell you the
truth, why do ye not believe me?” The argument is irresistible with
true-hearted men. If any of you believe
that Jesus is anointed to be the Savior of men, I say that you are unreasonable
if you do not practically accept Him as such.
But if you arc willing to come right straight out, and say, “Let others
do as they will; as for me, I will be the loving servant of the Anointed of the
Lord”; then you act rightly, and render a reasonable service. What better argument can I find with just
and reasonable persons than this? You
believe that God has anointed Jesus, therefore accept Him for yourself. If these men followed David because God had
anointed him, infinitely more binding is it upon you and upon me, believing
that God has anointed of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to be the King, for us to
follow Him, that we may be found faithful to His cause and kingdom. Oh, my dear hearers, I am perplexed about
some of you: you call Jesus Lord, and yet you do not obey Him; you own that He
is the Savior, and yet you do not trust in Him for salvation. Do think this over, and may the Holy Ghost lead
you to a sensible decision. If Jesus be God's Anointed, let Him be your
Beloved.
Next, these men, no doubt many of them, followed David
because of his personal excellencies.
They had heard of him--of what he was in his youth, what he had been at
home, and at court, and in the army, and in the day of battle. He had behaved admirably everywhere, and
these warriors had heard of it. I
should not wonder if some of them remembered that, when he was a youth and ruddy,
he came forth with his sling and stone and smote the giant foe of Israel on the
forehead. Perhaps they had heard of all
his mighty acts that he did when, as Saul's captain, he went in and out before
the host and did valiantly in the name of the Most High. And when they heard of his gentleness, and
of his courtesy, and of all the many virtues which adorned him, making him so
greatly different from those leaders of freebooting bands who were so common in
that land, I do not wonder if they enthusiastically gave themselves up to be
the loyal followers of this David the son of Jesse. A good soldier should have a good captain: a good captain
deserves good soldiers. These men of
war argued well when they enlisted under David. But how shall I commend the Lord Jesus Christ to you that are of
a noble spirit? Was there ever any like
unto Him? Who among the good, the
great, the brave, the beautiful, can be likened unto Him? He left the courts of heaven that He might
save men. Love brought Him from glory
to be the Redeemer of His enemies!
Being found in fashion as a man, He gave Himself up to death, even the
death of the cross for love of men. All
His life long He did valiantly for the Lord His God, in all holiness and
righteousness, defeating every temptation and overcoming all evil, and He ended
His labor by going up to the cross to enter into personal duel with death and
hell, therein overthrowing all the powers of evil on the behalf of His
people. Oh, could I paint His face, and
could you see it as it is beheld by the eyes of God, you would all be enamored
of Him! Oh, Could all men know how good
He is, how gracious He is, as some of us do know; even if they only went to
that partial extent, surely no men would stand out, but the Prince Immanuel
would win all hearts! All these young
men and all the vast multitude who gather to this Tabernacle would gladly take
up their cross, and follow after Jesus at once, if they had any idea of His
surpassing excellence. O my soul, how wouldst thou rejoice if men would come at
once to Jesus! Oh to hear you all say,
“We also will be with Jesus in the day of His derision and His scorn; for we
see what He is, and there is none like Him.
He shall be our King and our Captain, for He is the Chief among ten
thousand, and the altogether lovely.” He, being such a One, and so worthy of
the anointing which He has received of God, I do as His recruiting sergeant
commend Him to every one here. Oh, that
you would all become His true followers at once; for He deserves the love and
loyalty of every one of you. If ye
would be safe and happy, come to my Lord, and be henceforth His servants. If ye would fight a good fight, enlist
beneath this glorious “Captain of our salvation.”
There was a third reason why brave spirits resolved to
enlist under David, and that was, that lie was so cruelly persecuted by Saul--so
misrepresented and abused by his enemies.
There are some cringing, fawning spirits in this world, who must always
go with the majority. What everybody
says they say: they take their cue from those who lead the fashion of the
hour. They ask leave of common custom
to breathe or eat. They dare not
swallow down their spittle till they have obtained permission so to do. Cringing, fawning, sycophants of all that is
great, and all that is fashionable, scarcely could a soul be found in them if
they were searched through and through with a microscope. These will never come to David when he is in
the hold, nor need he wish that they would.
On the other hand, there are brave spirits who rather prefer to be in
the minority. They do not even care if
they have to stand alone for truth and righteousness. They could have ventured to say with Athanasius, “I, Athanasius,
against the world”; for they know the right and they cling to it; and it is not
to them a question whether truth walks in silver slippers or whether she plods
barefoot through the mire. It is the
truth they care for, and not the habiliments with which she may be adorned or
disfigured. Such men took up David's
side chivalrously because it was the right side, and the despised side; and
they liked it none the less because so many spoke evil of it. Sadly true is it that the Lord Jesus Christ
is still of so little account in this world.
His name, ah, I am sick of the way in which they use His name
today! Shame on some that arc called
Christian ministers! They believe in
Christ, but it is a Christ without His crown, His atonement, His judgment seat,
or even His Godhead. They mock us with
orthodox phrases, from which the essential truth is gone. They pretend that they believe in the
atonement, and when we listen to their atonement we find that it does not
effectually atone for anyone. It is a
mere fiction, and not a fact. It saves
nobody, but is a mere sham. They have
eviscerated the gospel, and then they hold up the empty carcass, and claim that
they are Christians still. Christians
who have murdered Christianity!
Believers who doubt whether there is anything to be believed! Yet we are entreated in our charity to hug
such traitors to our bosom. We shall do
nothing of the kind. We would sooner
believe in infidels outright than in those who pretend to be Christians and are
infidels at heart. “Modern thought” is
a more evil thing than downright atheism; even as a wolf in a sheep’s skin is
worse than a wolf in his natural form.
There are pretty things said of our Lord Jesus by those who deny the
faith which are sickening to me. I
loathe to hear our true Lord praised by false lips. They deny the doctrines which He taught, and yet prate about
believing Him. It is a shallow
trick, but yet it deceives shallow souls.
Poor, weak minds say, “The man speaks so beautifully of Jesus, surely he
cannot be in error.” I tell you it is the old Judas trick--the Son of man is
betrayed with a kiss. How nauseating
their praises must be to Him whom they are betraying. Think nor that they are honest; their designs are far other than
appear upon the surface. They laud Him
as man that they may dishonor Him as God: they cry up His life, and His
example, that they may cast His atoning sacrifice into the ditch. They lift up one part of the divine
revelation with no other intention than that they may dash down the other: they
crouch at His feet that they may stab at His heart.
I avow myself at this hour the partisan of Christ, and
of the whole truth of Christ, in its old-fashioned form: the more old-fashioned
the better for me. I am for Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. I am for the gospel of martyrs and confessors who gave their
hearts' blood as the seal of their faith.
New gospels and new theologies I abhor.
I am for that same ancient gospel which today is said to be absolutely
defunct. Science has wiped out the
evangelicals: we are dead: we are gone.
So they say of us. Yet in our
graves we turn: even in our ashes live our wonted fires: we expect a
resurrection. Truth may be crushed
down, but it cannot be crushed out. If
there survived but one love of the doctrines of grace he would suffice by God's
Spirit to sow the world again with the verities of our holy faith. The eternal truth which Christ and His
apostles taught is not dead but sleepeth; at a touch of the Lord's hand she
shall rise in all her ancient power and look round for her adversaries, and
they shall not be: yea, she shall diligently consider their place and they
shall not be. Blessed are they who at
this time are not afraid to be on the side that is ridiculed and laughed
at. Truth will have its turn, and
though it now grind the dust it shall be at the top before long, and they who
are loyal to it shall share its fortunes.
Let us be bold enough to say, “Put down my name among the fools who
believe, and not among those whose wisdom lies in doubting everything.” God
save us from the wisdom which believes in itself, and give us more of the
wisdom which believes in Him!
Once more. These men came to David because they believed that David had a
great future before him. He was
very poor when they came to him, an exile, as we have said, an outlaw, one who
could not return to his land because the king himself had a personal feud with
him. But they said, “It doth not yet
appear what he shall be. This son of
Jesse will be king yet, and his enemies shall beg their lives of him.” So,
looking to the great future that awaited him, they determined to take shares
with him in his present low estate that they might be raised with him in his
exaltation. Now, I think that I can say
to every one here, “I would that ye would come over to David's side--to Jesus'
side--for there is a future awaiting Him, a glory, a triumph, even here on
earth, such as shall make those men gnash their teeth who throw away this
opportunity of enlisting in His host.”
How will souls lament forever their neglect of joining themselves to
Jesus! It shall be their everlasting
regret that they lost the opportunity of standing straight out for truth, and
right, and love, as they are seen in the person of the Son of God. Oh, it will be an endless loss to have
refused to stand upon the pillory of scorn, and avow Jesus of Nazareth as the Son
of God, and the Savior of men. “Behold
he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him.” Woe to those who pierced
Him by refusing to believe in Him. The
Lord shall reign forever and ever, and the shout of “Hallelujah, hallelujah,”
shall come up from earth and descend from heaven. He shall sit upon the throne of his father David, and of his
kingdom there shall be no end. Who does
not desire to be with Him and to behold His glory? Cast in your lot with him, then, O ye undecided! Let His cause be as it may in the eyes of
worldlings, espouse it at once right heartily; for they that are with Him in
His humiliation shall be with Him in His triumph.
Those are the reasons why, at this time, I stand here,
and exhort, beg, beseech, entreat every one among you to be on the side of
Jesus Christ our Lord. Woe unto you if
you turn your backs upon Him! Woe unto
You if You attempt to be neutrals! Woe
unto you if you are lukewarm followers!
Remember, He that is not with Him is against Him. He that takes not up his cross and follows
after Him is not worthy of Him, and shall not be counted among His
disciples. Oh, that this whole company
here tonight were distinctly and avowedly, perfectly and continuously, on the
side of Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace, the coming King! O my friend,
yonder, I speak to you personally, I would to God that you would at once put on
the livery of my Lord Jesus, and become His sworn servant forever!
II. Now, I have just a few words to say upon the
second head. A CAUTIOUS INQUIRY.
These men of Benjamin and of Judah came to David, and
David met them as a warrior standing upon his guard. The times were not such as to allow of a negligent confidence in
all who professed friendship. The Benjamites
were of the same tribe as Saul, and it was singular that they should come and
join with David, the rival of their own leader. The men of Judah belonged to the same tribe as those men of
Keilah who had betrayed David: therefore the hero was cautious and made careful
inquiry. My Lord Jesus Christ is never
so eager after disciples as to enroll those who cannot bear to be
questioned. He did not go abroad
sweeping up a heap of nominal followers who would increase His apparent
strength and prove a real weakness to Him.
He said to those who offered themselves, “Count the cost;” “Lord, I will
follow thee whithersoever thou goest,” says one. Jesus does not there and then enlist him, but calmly replies,
“Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath
not where to lay his head.” He wants followers, but He wants them to be of the
right kind; therefore He does not delude them and excite them to enter suddenly
upon a course which they will, before long, renounce. He does not act as, I am afraid, the recruiting sergeant does
when he tells the brave boys of all the glories they will enjoy, and crosses
their hands with a shilling, so that they may take Her Majesty’s money and
become her servants. The sergeant does
not say much about the wounds of battle and the pains of hospital: he does not
dwell very long upon wooden legs, and broken arms, and lost eyes, and all
that. No; he dwells on pleasure,
victory, pension, glory. Our great
Captain does not in this manner entrap allies, but He sets the worst part of
His service first, and bids men consider whether they will be able to carry out
that which they propose to do. I would
in this matter imitate my Lord: I have pressed you to come to His banner, but
at the same time I would cautiously inquire of you.
Now, see what David said to them: he set before them the
right way. He said, “If ye be come
peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you.” If you
wish to join with Christ's people, and have your name numbered with them, one
main question is--Do you come unto Him?
Do you first give yourselves to the Lord and afterwards unto His
people? “If ye be come unto me,”
says David. It would have been useless
for them to answer, “We have come because we are fond of some of the people
that are with you.” “No,” he says, “if ye be come to me, then my heart
shall be knit to you. Not else.” Do you
come to Christ, dear friend? Are you
sure that Jesus is your Leader? Do not
profess to be a Christian if you have not come to Christ, for Christ is the
soul of Christianity. To come to Christ
is this: confessing your sin, look to Him as the sin-bearer, trust Him with
your future, trust Him with your soul altogether. By a sincere, simple, undivided faith, you do really come to
Jesus: have you such a faith? Let Jesus
Christ be first and last with you. Take
Him to be your Savior altogether. Do
not be your own Savior even in part.
Let Him save you from beginning to end, from top to bottom, in all ways
and respects. If it be so, come along
with you, for our host will be glad to have its number increased by your coming. If you do not thus come to our Lord, pray do
not come to us, for you will neither do good, nor get good thereby.
Then David puts the question, “If ye be come peaceably
unto me,” and this was needful, for some are captious and quarrelsome. Some profess to come to Christ, but they
quarrel with Christ at the very first.
They would make terms with Him and they come intending to dispute with
His people. From the first they are
discontented and fault-finding, rather patronizing Christ and His cause than
humbly uniting with Him and His people.
They do not think half as much of God's people as God thinks of
them. When I hear people say, “Oh,
there is So-and-So, who is not what he ought to be, and he is a member of the
church,” and then they begin finding fault with this and with that, I say to
myself, “That critic is no true friend.”
The church is not perfect, but woe to the man who finds pleasure in
pointing out her imperfections. Christ
loved His church, and let us do the same.
I have no doubt that the Lord can see more fault in His church than I
can; and I have equal confidence that he sees no fault at all, because He
covers her faults with His own love--that love which hides a multitude of sins;
and He removed all her defilement with that precious blood which washes away
all the transgressions of His people. I
dare not find fault with those whom the Lord has loved from before the
foundation of the world; more especially since I find that I need all my time
to find out my own faults and to get rid of them. If you are a faultless man I do not ask you to join the Christian
Church, because I am sure that you would not find anybody else there like
yourself It is true that if you do not join a church till you find a perfect
one you will not be a church member this side of heaven; but I may add, that if
there were such a church, the moment your name was written in the list it would
leave off being a perfect church, for your presence would have destroyed its
perfection. If you are coming to pick
holes, and quiz, and question, and find fault, and talk about inconsistencies
and so forth, then you may pass on and join some other army; but if ye be come
peaceably to our lord and to us, then I offer you a hearty welcome. We are not anxious to enlist men who love to
have the pre-eminence, nor men of fierce temper, nor unforgiving spirits, nor
proud, envious, lovers of strife; we want only those who have the mind of
Christ. Come peaceably, or come not at
all.
Again David puts the question, “If ye be come peaceably
to me to help me.” Mind this and mark it well: they that join with
Christ must join in His battles, join in His labors, join in His
self-sacrifice. We must come to His
church not only to be helped, but to help.
It is of no use your entering the army if you do not mean to fight; and
it is of no use your uniting with the host of God unless you mean to take your
share in the holy warfare. Many forget
this, and look upon a religious life as one of sanctified selfishness. A great many stop the gospel plow. “Hi!” say they; “stop!” They want to ride on
one of the horses. Yes, but the plowman
has no opinion of such friends. Let
them lead the horses or hold the plow-handles, or do something, or else let
them take themselves off. Of course, I
do not mean the sick and faint; but all fit for war must go to the war. There is something for every church member
to do as well as to receive. They that
join the Church of Christ must come to pull as well as to be pulled--come to
work as well as to eat; and usually the rule is true in Christ's house as it
ought to be in everybody else’s, “He that will not work, neither shall he
eat.” They that do not labor in the
cause of Christ will very soon find that they are not fed in the house of
God. Why should they be? I count it no office of mine to carry bread
and meat to sluggards and lie-a-beds: I would sooner feed swine. They who never do a hand's turn among us
ought to be turned out from us. If ye
be come peaceable to help us, then I speak for my Captain, and bid you welcome;
but if you do not mean real service, please to march on.
There are the three questions, then. Do you come to Christ and accept Him? If so, come along. Do you come with a desire to maintain peace among your Christian
brethren? If so, come! Do you come with the intent of helping the
Lord Jesus Christ to spread abroad His truth?
Then come, and welcome, and the Lord be with you and with us!
Do you know what Jesus says to you who come to Him
aright? “My heart shall be knit unto
you.” Oh, I think that if I had been Amasai, I should have felt the spirit come
upon me to speak just as Amasai did when he so heartily declared that he and
his brethren came to join heart and soul with David. With all that loving warmth which was so natural to him, David
said, “My heart shall be knit to you.” Now when the Lord Jesus Christ says,
“Will you espouse my cause? Will you
accept me for leader? Will you come and
join with my people? Then my heart
shall be knit unto you--do not your hearts leap within you? What a charming promise it is! What union of soul it sets forth! I do not know much about knitting; but some
of you do. Things knit together are not
merely joined in one, but they are one.
They are not merely sewn together by a machine, so that you can draw out
a thread and the pieces divide; but they are knit together and are of one
piece, one fabric, one substance. Come,
then, ye truly faithful, you shall be knit together with Christ, His heart with
your heart; you shall never be separated from Him any more. It is a great thing when the hearts of God's
people are knit together; but it is greatest of all when their hearts are knit
with Christ's heart, and His heart is knit with theirs. Come hither, ye true-hearted: cast in your
lot with your Lord. Is it not reward
enough for coming into His host, that His heart shall be knit to you? I count this my heaven upon earth, to have
my Lord's love; do you not agree with me?
Notice how David put the other side of it, and set
before them the wrong way,-- “But if ye be come to betray me to my
enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look
thereon, and rebuke it.” Will persons ever join the church to betray the Lord
Christ to His enemies? I say not that
such is their present purpose; but a great many have acted as if they were from
the beginning traitors to Him and to His truth. They have come into the church, and yet they have betrayed Christ
to His enemies; yea, they have been aided in their treachery by having been
admitted within our ranks. Some have
done this by giving up the doctrines of the gospel. Falling into this error and that, they have denied the gospel,
overthrown the weak, and shaken the strong.
Some have proved themselves the enemies of the cross of Christ by their
inconsistent lives. People have pointed
at them, and said, “Those are followers of Christ, you see. They can lie, and cheat, and get gain as the
basest rogues do.” They say that they
are Christians, and yet you cannot trust them in trade. They are just as gay, and worldly, and false
as if they were not Christians at all.
Why, then I suspect that they are not Christians at all; but like Judas
Iscariot, they are children of perdition. Then there are some in all ages who
betray the Lord Jesus by apostasy. They
run well for a time, and then they are hindered. Being armed and carrying bows, they turn back in the day of
battle. They are trees twice dead,
plucked up by the roots. Such sorrowful
heart-breaking cases do occur in all churches, where men come to the very
front, and appear to do great service for Christ, and yet forsake Him, and walk
no more with His people, nor in His ways; even denying that they ever were
associated with Him and with His cause.
They open His wounds! They put
Him to an open shame! Woe unto
them! Sorrowfully, yet sternly would I
say, If there should be one here who will in some future day willfully betray
the Savior on any account whatever, the Lord have mercy upon such, and prevent
His joining with our church lest we be overwhelmed with shame and sorrow. True-hearted men, we invite you! Half-hearted, fickle men, we would avoid
you! Yet such do come, and will come,
and what can we say of them? “The God
of our fathers look thereon and rebuke it,”--ay, rebuke it so as to prevent it,
that they may not be as thorns in our side.
III. But time
fails me, and therefore I must finish up, thirdly, by describing from the text
A CORDIAL ENLISTMENT.
The captain of these brave men felt the Spirit come
upon him, and he spoke up as warm-heartedly as David had spoken, saying, “Thine
are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace, be unto thee,
and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee.”
He began thus:--”Thine are we, David.” Now, that is the first thing I want of those
who are going to join the church--”Thine are we, Jesus. We are not our own; we are bought with a
price.” Well may that man avow himself
to belong to Christ who has been bought with the blood of Christ: “For ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things, as with silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ.” Now, if ye
be indeed redeemed by him, I pray you confess that you are altogether and
absolutely your Lord's. Sing with your
whole heart--
Shall be forever thine.
Do not sing it alone, but practice it. Let your lives say--Thine are we,
Jesus. Neither count we anything that
we possess to be our own; but all is dedicated to thy royal use.
Then Amasai added, “and on thy side, thou son of Jesse”:
for, if we belong to Christ, of course we are on Christ's side, whatever that
side may be. In religion, morals,
politics, we are on Christ's side. Here
is the side of the learned; there is the side of the ignorant: we are on
neither the one, nor the other: we are on Christ's side. In every political question we desire to be
and ought to be on Christ's side: we are neither of this party nor of that, but
on the side of justice, peace, righteousness.
In every moral question we are bound to be on Christ's side. In every religious question we are not on
the side of predominant thought, nor on the side of fashionable views, nor on
the side of lucre, but on the side of Christ.
Make this your oracle-- “What would Jesus do?” Go and do that.
How would Jesus think? Go and
think that. What would Jesus
have you to be? Ask God to make you
just that. “Thine are we, David,
and on thy side, thou son of Jesse.”
Then he added, “Peace be to thee.” “Peace, peace, be to thee.” Double peace to thee. So say we to our Lord Jesus Christ: our
heart salutes Him and invokes peace upon Him.
Blessed Master, we are at peace with Thee so completely as to be at one
with Thee. What Thou sayest we believe;
what Thou doest we admire, what Thou commandest we obey, what Thou claimest we
resign; what Thou forbiddest we forego.
We yield ourselves up to Thee wholly, and are at perfect peace with Thee
in all thy purposes, and designs and acts.
Peace, peace to thee.
“And peace be to thy helpers.” We desire all good for all good men. We pray for the peace of the peaceful. The day that we were converted we felt that
we loved every Christian. I used to say
of the little village where I first preached, that I had such an attachment to
every inhabitant in it that if I had seen a dog that came from Waterbeach I
would have given him a bone. Do you not
feel the same towards all the Lord's people?
The proverb hath it, “Love me, love my dog”; and when you love Christ
you love the very lowest of His people.
Ay, if Jesus had a dog, you would love that dog for Christ's sake. I am sure that it is so. When a man is always caviling, I fear he has
not the spirit of Christ, and is none of His.
We know some people who might be compared to hedgehogs, they cannot be
touched by anybody, they are all spines and prickles; such people may think
well of themselves, but it is to be feared that the loving Jesus does not think
well of them. The man with a hot head
and a bitter heart, is he a friend of Jesus?
I cannot imagine that such a head as that will lie in Jesus Christ's
bosom. Oh, no, dear friends, he that
loveth is born of God but not the man of hate and spite. Give me the eyes of the dove, and not those
of a carrion crow. When the dove soars
aloft into the air, what does she look for?
Why, for her dovecote, and when she discovers the beloved abode she uses
her wings with lightning speed, for there is her delight. If you were to throw a raven or a
carrion-crow into the air, it would be looking for something foul which it
could feed upon; and there are men and women in every Christian church who are
always trying with far-reaching and greatly-magnifying eyes to find out some
wretched scandal or another. If you
want to go to your bed uncomfortable, and to lie awake all night, if your are a
pastor of a church, have a few minutes talk with a friend of this order. These are the folks who have just sniffed
out a matter that ought to be inquired into.
When it is inquired into there is nothing to discover, and great
heart-burning is caused in the process of investigation. These same scandal-mongers will have
something fresh tomorrow morning wherewith to keep their dear tongues
going. May we be favored with very few
of these irritating beings.
May those that come among us always be those that can
say, “Peace be to thy helpers.”
Whatever helps Christ I would help.
Wherever I see anything of Christ there my heart shall rest. Oh, to have
a large increase to this church and all the churches of hearty, loving,
peace-making people!
The last word that they said to David was, “For thy
God helpeth thee”; and I shall keep that last sentence very much to
myself: I want to feed upon it as my
portion of meat: you must not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the
corn, and I am that ox at this time.
“Thy God helpeth thee.” How I do
rejoice to think that God is helping the Great Son of David. All the powers of the God of nature and
providence are working to aid the Lord of grace. The stars in their courses are fighting for our Immanuel. Everything is being overruled for the
advance of Christ's kingdom. We are all
on the tremble as to the Sudan and Egypt; but could we see all things we should
rejoice. None of us knows what is
coming. I am no prophet, nor the son of
a prophet, but I venture to foretell that mountains will be leveled for the
coming of our Lord even by calamities and disasters. There will be a speedier dissolution of the empire of the false
prophet and of the false prophet's imitator because of all this mixing up of
the west and the east in an unwilling conjunction. I say not how or when, but the Lord's purpose shall stand, and He
will do all His pleasure. When the
ocean roars at its utmost fury, the Lord puts a bit into the mouth of the
tempest and reins up the storm. Jehovah
maketh a way for Himself amid the tumult of great waters. When confusion and uproar predominate
everywhere, and old chaos seems to be coming back again, all this is but a
phase of unbroken order. How swift and
sure are the revolutions of the wheels which are bringing nearer the chariot of
the Son of God!
Cast in your lot with “the Leader and
Commander of the people,” who has God with him. It is the glory of Christ's cause that the Lord God is involved
in it. Mr. Wesley's dying words were,
“The best of all is, God is with us!”
As I repeat the truth my heart cries, “Hallelujah! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” The Lord thy God helpeth thee, O Christ of
God! The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in thy hand. Thou must reign”:
thy Father swears it to thee. Thou
shalt divide a portion with the great, and Thou shalt share the spoil with the
strong, for Thou hast given up thy soul unto death, and permitted thy glory to
be rolled in the dust; and thou hast risen and gone into the glory; therefore
Thou must reign. O Anointed of the Lord, thy throne shall endure forever! Tonight, thy servants salute Thee again,
Thou Son of David. Wounded Christ, we
lay our fingers in the print of the nails, and say, “My Lord and my God.” Risen Christ, we look upward as the heavens
receive Thee, and we adore. Ascended
Christ, we fall at thy dear feet, and say, “Thine are we, O Son of David,
anointed to be a Prince and a Savior.”
Coming Christ, we wait and watch for thine appearing! Come quickly to thine own! Amen and amen.
Provided by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986