CHEER FOR THE WORKER AND HOPE FOR LONDON – Charles Spurgeon
Cheer for the Worker and Hope for London
“Then spoke the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak and hold not your peace: for I am with you and no man shall set on you to hurt you: for I have much people in this city.” — Acts 18:9-10
It is clear from this, dear friends, that even he who was not a whit behind the chief of the Apostles sometimes needed special comfort. It is possible that even the bravest of the brave may be afraid. Sinking of heart assailed even Samson while yet the thousand slain lay in heaps around him. Moses was cast down in the desert and David on the throne. Even iron will melt, much more a heart of flesh. Remember the faintness of Elijah when he said, “Let me die, I am no better than my fathers,” and recollect that this was a lion-like man, one of those ministers of God who are as a flame of fire! The second Elijah, he who rebuked Herod to his face, was sadly staggered while he lay in prison. John the Baptist sent to Jesus to inquire, “Are you He that should come?” No doubt those heroes who have fought the battle of the Truth of God and have driven back its adversaries have been men of like passions with us, and some of them of more than ordinary sensitiveness of feeling. Luther said, “Because I seem to be always strong and merry, men think that I walk on a bed of roses, but God knows how it is with me.” Perhaps no man ever experienced such mighty joys and such tremendous despairs as did that mighty man who shook the papacy to its foundation! Even Paul was not without his tendency to fear. He writes in one of his Epistles: “When we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.” Do not think, therefore, my dear brother or sister, if in working for Christ, you get thoroughly cast down and sick of yourself, that you are undergoing an experience unknown to the sons of God. It is by no means so. Trembling takes hold on all in turns. Faintness is common enough on all hands. Fear, like the mist of the valley, steals over the very garden of the Lord, and there is not a flower in all the borders which is not, at times, bowed down with the weight of the chilly damp.
The Comfort of God’s Presence
But the Lord took care to visit His servant when he was in a measure of trouble or afraid of being so. He came to him in the visions of the night. We do not expect to see the Lord Jesus Christ in visions now, for “we have a more sure Word of prophecy to which we do well to take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place”—we have the Word of God, inspired and infallible! We have the whole of the divinely written roll—we can read it when we will, and from its pages, God speaks with a clear and certain voice. A dream of the night might, perhaps, be only a dream, even in those olden times when God did speak in visions—but this Word of the Lord is no delusion! It stands fast forever and ever, and every promise is sure, being made yes and amen in Christ Jesus. When by faith we take the promise, it is as if Christ did speak it again to each one of us, for the promise is never exhausted. It is as fresh today, when I read it, as when the eyes of saints a thousand years ago found comfort in it! God is always appearing to you who have believing eyes! God is never silent until we are deaf. He speaks to us morning by morning, and He has precept upon precept for the quiet hours of eventide. The Lord did but appear to Paul during one night, for visions are short and few, but any night you like to wake and open the Scriptures and seek for the power of the Spirit to rest upon them, you shall hear Jesus speaking to you—and any day you turn to that passage in Isaiah, you shall hear the very words that Jesus spoke to Paul, “Fear not, I am with you,” with these additional words, “I am your God. When you go through the fire, you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you.”
Besides, visions and such-like things belong to the infancy of the Church—now that she has grown strong, she exercises a greater faith in God and needs not that the Invisible should be supplemented by signs and wonders. If you plant a tree in an orchard, it is very common to put a big stake by the side of it to hold it up. Nobody thinks of putting a post to support an apple tree which has been there for the last 50 years! In fact, it could hold the stake rather than borrow support from it. When a ship leaves the docks and passes down the river, you will see it towed out till it reaches the sea. But that same vessel will, by-and-by, spread all her sails and with a heavenly breeze to bear her along, she will need no tug to tow her to the desired haven. The Church of God, today, is a tree that needs no support of miracles and visions! She is a vessel that has braved for 2,000 years the battle and the breeze and will still, till Christ comes, outride every storm!
The Assurance of Success
At this time, O servants of Jesus, you have the Word of God, which is better than visions! Oh, that tonight the Lord Jesus would take of His own Word and, by His Spirit, speak it home to all who love Him! Then will they be as much refreshed as though they were in Patmos with the beloved Disciple. My prayer has been especially that the Lord would say to each one here present who knows His name, “Be not afraid, but speak and hold not your peace; for I am with you and no man shall set on you to hurt you: for I have much people in this city.” I am to be understood as speaking to every blood-bought man and woman with the anxious desire that the words of the text should be laid home to the heart of each one. O Spirit of God, make Your servant’s words to be as fire among stubble, that so the Gospel flame may spread abroad!
I. The Tendency of Our Weakness
And, first, Brothers and Sisters, notice briefly the tendency of our weakness. That tendency is revealed in the first word—“Be not afraid.” We feel, when we first find Christ, that we must speak for Jesus, and we do. But after a while, a foolish fear freezes many a tongue and keeps many a lip silent that ought to be telling out the wondrous story of redeeming love. We get to be afraid. We are not, nowadays, afraid as the first Christians might have been—of the amphitheater and the lions, or of Nero and his sword. Happily, we are delivered from almost all open persecution, but there are times which evidently frighten a good many. For instance, some are afraid to speak for Jesus because of the defects of their education. They fancy that when educated persons are present, if they say anything for Christ, they will make a mistake in grammar or mispronounce a word and the very learned folks will discover their ignorance and set them down for dunces. I have heard a young preacher say that in his early days, when he saw a gentleman with a white cravat come into the village chapel, he felt that he could not preach. Something very dreadful about that, no doubt! Somebody from London has entered the cottage where the dear Brother has been trying to talk about Christ, and he is in a cold sweat and he hardly knows why. The stranger has a respectable black coat on and is very different from the agricultural laborers who make up the usual congregation and, for fear of him, the champion of the Cross is quaking! Do you not notice that the good Brother’s voice has undergone a serious toning down? He cannot speak with freedom and yet, if he only knew it, his best friend in the whole congregation is that well-dressed stranger. He is afraid of a Brother who would best sympathize with him and most earnestly pray for him—the very Brother who would encourage him most if they could have a half-hour’s talk together.
Fear of Speaking for Christ
Friend over yonder, are you blushing because this incident has happened once and again to yourself? Do you not think that whenever you have been checked in that way it has been very foolish? Has not pride been at the bottom of it? Should we not be willing to be called blunderers? We should endeavor to do our Lord’s work in the best possible manner, but if our education is deficient and we cannot overcome early disadvantages, ought we, therefore, to hold back? Should we not be willing to save a soul anyway? If we can declare the Gospel in a masterly manner, by all means let us do it! But if we are slow of speech and uncouth in utterance, let not these things silence us. Was not Moses slow of utterance? Was he silent? Did not Isaiah acknowledge that his lips were unfit to deliver God’s message? Was he, therefore, idle? If a man is learned and educated, let him reckon that his learning should help him to simplicity—and if he is not educated, let him talk about Jesus Christ in his own way, with the words that come fresh from his heart and let him never be afraid.
Fear of Ridicule
I have known others to be fearful, on the other hand, because they have not gathered educated people to listen to them, but are surrounded by a rough lot whose manners and habits distress them. Sensitive Christians have shrunk from speaking to such characters for, they said, “Ah, they will turn it all to ridicule and we must not throw pearls before swine.” Brother, are you quite sure that you have any pearls and are you quite sure that the people are swine? I generally feel as if what I had to say was not so pearly that I need be alarmed about the swine treading on it! And, also, I have felt, concerning my congregation, that as they have immortal souls, there is something about them which differentiates them from swine—and anyway, who am I to be so particular about the reception which men give to my words? Christ spoke even to those who refused Him and shall not I do the same?
Overcoming Fear for Christ
Our Savior did not mean, by that expression, what you think He did. Some parts of our experience are choice as pearls, and these we may only tell to God’s own people and not to those who cannot appreciate them. But, as for the Gospel, preach it before all the swine that ever can be gathered together, for to such is it sent! What were all the nations in our Lord’s day but a swinish multitude and yet He bade us preach the Gospel to every creature! The worse the men, the more they need the Gospel and the more we are bound to carry it to them! Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is your business, whoever may be around you, to tell what Jesus Christ has done for you!
II. The Calling of Our Faith
“But they would laugh at it.” Well, well, there are worse things than that in the world! Making people laugh is not the worst thing that can be done. I would sooner increase mirth in the world than sorrow. If I made men’s hearts ache about nothing, as our novelists often do, I would throw away my pen and hold my tongue! But if, in consequence of some awkwardness or eccentricity, people smile at me—well, if they are the happier, it cannot hurt me. Why should they not laugh at me? And am I not, after all, ridiculous? “No,” says one, “I do not think I am.” Ah, but my Brother, there is a comic side to you as well as to everybody else and there is something about you, I dare say, that is ridiculous! I have generally found that the man who could not bear to be ridiculed was some precise kind of body who was the very person to excite remarks. Oh, be content to take a little of the rough with the smooth for your Master’s sake!
III. The Encouragement of Our Service
Some hearts cannot be got at until, first of all, they feel a keen aversion to what they hear. Better that they should rave with wrath than feel nothing! We must get the oyster open, somehow, and if this may be done by a tempting bait as well as by sheer force, then let us try the gentle experiment. It may be the creature will only open out of spite and perhaps it thinks to nip us when it shuts its shell—but we thrust in the knife of the Gospel and the deed is done! While they are criticizing our manner, we can stab at their sin! Sometimes the aversion which people display and the contempt which they profess to feel for the preacher may only be a secondary means of enabling the Gospel to get at them the better and, if it is so, why should we be afraid?
The Comfort of God’s Protection
We have known Brothers who have trembled at the slightest degree of publicity. They are tender souls and do not like to be seen. I would not harshly condemn all, for certain minds are quiet and timid and must be allowed to do good by stealth. But I cannot thus excuse all, either, for some are blamably deficient in courage. There is a beautiful modesty about them, but I would have them remember that modesty is not all the virtues, nor can it be a substitute for them. The soldier who was so very modest that he retired before the battle, I have heard say, was shot. And as for Christian people who are so very modest that they get out of the way of everything that is to be done for Christ, I do not know how they will answer for it to their superior Officer at the last. Come, dear Brother, you sang the other day— “Am I a soldier of the Cross, A follower of the Lamb And shall I fear to own His cause, Or blush to speak His name?” and so on and yet you are a coward? Yes, put it down in English—you are a coward!
The Need for Boldness
If anybody called you so, you would turn red in the face and perhaps you are not a coward in reference to any other subject. What a shameful thing it is that while you are bold about everything else you are cowardly about Jesus Christ! Brave for the world and cowardly towards Christ!! A Christian ought to be afraid to be afraid, for His Lord has said, “Whoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him, also, shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” “Oh, but I am naturally timid,” says one. It is to you, then, that the Lord’s word is addressed—“Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not.”
The Encouragement to Speak Boldly
I have heard and I think I have observed that the bravest men in the hour of danger are timid in the prospect of it. They say that a fire-eater who dashes to the battle is often the man who fails, but he who stands trembling at the first shot—in his inmost soul dreading death—is, nevertheless, the very man to act the hero’s part because he is so overpowered by a stern sense of duty that he masters fear and steadily keeps his position with cool, immovable resolve— “The brave man is not He who feels no fear, For that were stupid and irrational. But he whose noble soul, its fear subdues, And bravely bares the danger nature shrinks from.”
Conclusion
Up, then, you tremblers and play the man! In the matter of speaking for Jesus this should not be a severe ordeal. Oh, do not, I pray you, let timidity so check you that you cannot speak a word to your own children—cannot pray with your own girl, cannot plead as a father with your own boy, cannot speak as a neighbor or a fellow workman to the man who works side by side with you at the bench. May God help you to get out of the cold shade of cowardice, for the text says, “Be not afraid.”
Still, I hear you say, “I am afraid to speak out for religion because I should bring down upon myself a world of opposition at home.” That is painful, my dear Friend, but though painful, it is a part of the cost which you reckoned upon when you took up the Cross to follow Jesus. It is a part of the cost that, “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” “The brother shall deliver up the brother to death and the father the child,” says Christ. It was so in old times. It is so now. It is terrible to think of what some young people have had to suffer for being faithful to their convictions. But when we consider that it is all for Jesus’ sake, happy are they who are honored to endure on that account! For His sake, what were it if we were martyred? What were it if all men did forsake us? We ought to have such an esteem for Jesus that if all were to become our foes and to hunt us to death, we would still say, “It is well, since hereby I become a living sacrifice for Christ.”
Now, I charge every Christian here to be speaking boldly in Christ’s name, according as he or she has opportunity and especially to take care of this tendency of our flesh to be afraid which leads, practically, to endeavors to get off easily and save ourselves from trouble. Fear not! Be brave for Christ! Live bravely for Him who died lovingly for you!