CHOICE COMFORT FOR A YOUNG BELIEVER – Charles Spurgeon
CHOICE COMFORT FOR A YOUNG BELIEVER
“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me: Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever: forsake not the works of Your own hands.” Psalm 138:8.
Introduction
Continually I am clearing the ground and laying the foundation of eternal salvation in the grace of God, which was manifested in Christ Jesus when He came into the world to save sinners. This I did this morning, and the Lord has set His seal thereon right speedily, which is to me a sure proof that the frequent preaching of the foundational truths of God is according to the mind of God. That necessary work cannot be done too often, for men need to hear the true Gospel as often as they hear the striking of the hour, and even then, they forget it. Yet do not all forget. There are a few, like those who were saved with Noah, who seek the Ark of salvation and live. To those who have newly come to put their trust in Jesus, I wish to speak this evening, and I do so with much delight, for as the sight of the newborn babe makes glad the mother, so does the news of a new-born soul fill me with exceeding joy! Good tidings have come to my ears! We do not often sow and reap quite so quickly as I have done on this occasion, for since this morning’s service, I have hopeful evidence that God has blessed the Word to many souls, and my beloved fellow helpers, who watch around this congregation like scouts around an army, report that the slain of the Lord have been many.
The Journey Toward Assurance
Now, between half-past twelve o’clock this morning and this time in the evening, such souls have gone a day’s journey towards Heaven, and already they have begun, I dare say, to question themselves and possibly to be exercised with some few fears. Thus early they may have met with lions in the way or have found worse than real lions in their own fears. They have only lately known the Lord, but already they are growing anxious and looking into the future with a somewhat troubled gaze. Therefore, we come forth lovingly as a shepherd hastens to cherish the newborn lambs. We come to the little ones with words of good cheer, for they need them, and we have special orders from our Master to see that they are tenderly comforted. We trust to also speak to those who have known the Lord for many years, some words of help with regard to matters which may now be causing them alarm. The consolations of the Lord are very reviving, and they abound in number, therefore let small and great partake of them. “Comfort you, comfort you My people,” says your God.
The Transformation of a New Believer
When a man becomes a Christian and the grace of God commences its work in his soul, he learns to be serious and thoughtful. That is one of the first noticeable changes in him. He renounces his former carelessness and indifference and becomes a sober, considerate man in whose mind there is a deep concern as to his own character in the sight of God. He is concerned about the temptations he meets with in his walk among the sons of men, lest these temptations should be too much for him and he should be betrayed into sin. He longs to lead a holy life. In fact, holiness is his great concern. He prays that he may leave such a life behind him for others to remember as shall be worth their following as an example. He asks himself, “Will the hope I have just obtained really endure to the last days of my life? Will it sustain me amidst the pangs and weaknesses of death? Is it truly such that when I go before the burning Throne of God, Himself, I need not tremble?” Such matters were sport to him once—they are serious questions now. He has thrown down the cap and bells of the jester and taken up the staff of a pilgrim and the sword of a warrior, confessing in an unmistakable manner that “life is real, life is earnest.” He is a man of concern now, concerned about his soul’s affairs, his sins, his life, his death, his eternal salvation. A solemn air is about him—he hears the wheels of eternity sounding in his ears, he girds his loins for his life work, and he puts away childish things.
The Danger of Despondency
This is all well, but as every state has its dangers, so the peril of religious concern is despondency. Thoughtfulness soon degenerates into distrust and holy anxiety easily rusts into unbelief. The more a man looks within him, the less he can trust himself, and the more a man looks around him, the more he feels that he is in danger and so he is apt very early in his Christian course to be downcast and much afraid and to say within himself, “I shall surely one day fall by the hands of the enemy. My confidence will prove to be a delusion, and my conversion a fiction.” He is fearful as to the result of future temptations like a fresh recruit in the battle who feels certain that every boom of the cannon proclaims his death.
The Lord Fills Us With Assurance
Now I want, if God will help me, to meet such fears tonight. May the Divine Spirit enable us to have a strong and mighty faith in God, not only with regard to past transgression, which is clean gone through the atoning blood, but with regard to all the difficulties and dangers of the present and future. And may we drink into the spirit of the text which is now before us—“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me: Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever: forsake not the works of Your own hands.” Here, first, we see that God fills us with assurance—“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” Secondly, He gives us rest in His mercy—“Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever.” And thirdly, He puts prayer into our hearts and supplies us with a plea—“Forsake not the works of Your own hands.” May God, the Holy Spirit, most graciously help us in this meditation.
I. The Lord Fills Us with Assurance
At the beginning of our text, to meet our fears about the future, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” You see the assurance is, first, that God is really at work on our behalf. Get a grip of this, you troubled ones, and by a personal faith say, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” You have come to Jesus and trusted your soul in His hands—we take it for granted that you have done so—then it is certain that the Lord has brought you to this state of mind, for never did a man in this world simply come and trust in Christ unless the Spirit of God had led him to it. What says the Savior? “No man comes unto Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him.” You would never have come to a simple reliance upon the mediatorial work and Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus if there had not been a work of grace in your soul! Every effect has a cause, and all spiritual faith is created in the heart by the Holy Spirit. Since the Lord has begun to save you, your confidence with regard to the future must be that He who began this good work will continue to operate in your soul.
If the work of God upon your heart were discontinued—your life, your hope, your faith, your love would be discontinued, too—for you only live because the Holy Spirit lives and works in you! The same power which first made the world and built yonder arch of azure must sustain it still, or the world would feel its final crash and the blue dome would utterly dissolve. Continued outgoings of power from the Creator are essential to the continued existence of creation! There is neither power, nor life, nor being apart from God. This is true in the kingdom of grace as much as in that of nature—we are gracious because God gives us grace, and we keep His ways because the Lord keeps us by His power unto salvation. The new life within us has been created by the Lord, and by Him it must be sustained. Let no one of my hearers forget this. You are to put your reliance upon the working of the eternal power and Godhead within your soul, for there is the fountain of grace and from there the streams must flow. Now mind you, if you base your reliance upon your own perseverance, your own prayerfulness, your own spirituality, your own strength of resolution, or your own settledness of purpose, you will learn that “cursed is he that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm.” Of all the men in the world who are unfit to be trusted, the most unfit one is yourself! It were almost better to trust your fellow man than to trust in yourself. “Trust in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”
II. The Lord Gives Us Rest in His Mercy
For what says the text, “Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever.” See, my Brothers and Sisters, how this works in us rest from fear? “Alas!” sighs one troubled heart, “I fear I shall fall into many sins between here and Heaven.” Well may you have that dread, my Brother. But you may readily overcome the fear by singing in your heart, “Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever.” The blood of Atonement will never fail, and therefore mercy will always endure. “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” — “Dear dying Lamb, Your precious blood shall never lose its power, till all the ransomed Church of God is saved to sin no more.”
Your sins between here and Heaven shall be forgiven you, so let the dread of condemnation be banished! Then comes up another fear—“But I do not see how I am to be perfected. My nature is so vile. I find such resistance to the Divine operations. The flesh struggles against the Spirit and I cannot get my rebellious flesh to be subject to the Law of God.” The answer to this distressing lament is the same as in the former case—“His mercy endures forever.” He will bear with you and forbear beyond all bounds. None but a God could have patience with you, but the Lord is God and not man!
III. The Lord Puts Prayer Into Our Hearts
The Lord, having given His people grace to rest in His mercy, puts it into their hearts to pray and supplies them with a plea—“Forsake not the works of Your own hands.” To my mind, it is a very touching prayer. “Lord, You have begun the work upon me; go on to finish it, for if You do not, it will never be finished. If You leave it, it is left undone, and I am undone, indeed. But do not forsake the work of Your own hands.” It is such a prayer as the clay might put up when it is revolving on the potter’s wheel. The potter is using his best skill and producing an article of great beauty, bringing out its shape and form as it spins round before him. Already you can see something of what it will be—the design does not yet perfectly appear, but you can guess it. But suppose the potter were to stop the wheel, take up the clay, and fling it back again into the lump? That vessel would never be finished, for it cannot finish itself. It has no power to shape itself in any degree, and so if it were rational clay and could speak, it would say, “Forsake not the work of your own hands. Persevere in what you have begun.”
This is a prayer which you and I may well bring before God, whose workmanship we are! “O God, if I have only a little faith, yet You gave it to me. Oh, give me more! If You have given me only a desire after You, yet that desire is a Divine creation! Have respect unto it, I pray You, and fulfill it.” This is a powerful argument with our gracious God, for, Brothers and Sisters, He does not give you a little grace to tantalize you.
Confidence in God’s Perfecting Work
Then it is my confidence and delight that the Lord will perfect that which concerns me! Up to now, He has helped me in a marvelous manner, and why should I fancy that He will forsake me, seeing that with all my heart I desire to honor Him? Only have trust in God, you who live for the Glory of Christ, and as your day, your strength shall be. You shall go forth conquering and to conquer if your sword is drawn only in Christ’s quarrel! If your charge is but a few children in the Sunday school, or if it is the raising of a cause for Christ in a hamlet or a village, only give your whole soul to it and rest in God, and you shall find Him perfecting that which concerns you!
Why, we have not half the confidence in God about our religious efforts that we ought to have! We go to work with a faint heart and tremblingly hope that perhaps we shall succeed. Look how amazed we are when we find a soul converted here and there—and what a noise we make over a solitary convert—like a hen that has laid a single egg and must tell all the world about it! If we had more confidence in God, we would expect converts by the hundreds, and we would have them! We should go to work with the great weapon of the Gospel which God has put into our hands, and with the power which God has promised, we would see the kingdom given unto Messiah and the pleasure of the Lord would prosper in His hands! May we have faith enough to be certain that our unchanging God will perfect that which concerns us. So I leave that first part, trusting that our hearts may be filled with quiet assurance by the Holy Spirit.
Rest in God’s Mercy
II. The Lord Gives Us Rest in His Mercy
And now, secondly and very briefly, the Lord gives us rest in His mercy, for what says the text, “Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever.” See, my Brothers and Sisters, how this works in us rest from fear? “Alas!” sighs one troubled heart, “I fear I shall fall into many sins between here and Heaven.” Well may you have that dread, my Brother. But you may readily overcome the fear by singing in your heart, “Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever.” The blood of Atonement will never fail and, therefore, mercy will always endure. “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” — “Dear dying Lamb, Your precious blood Shall never lose its power, Till all the ransomed Church of God Is saved to sin no more.”
Your sins between here and Heaven shall be forgiven you, so let the dread of condemnation be banished! Then comes up another fear—“But I do not see how I am to be perfected. My nature is so vile. I find such resistance to the Divine operations. The flesh struggles against the Spirit and I cannot get my rebellious flesh to be subject to the Law of God.” The answer to this distressing lament is the same as in the former case—“His mercy endures forever.” He will bear with you and forbear beyond all bounds. None but a God could have patience with you, but the Lord is God and not man! Some of God’s children were the most crooked people that ever were in this world, and it must be sovereignty which chose them, for they are by no means naturally desirable or attractive. It was hard work, even, for Moses to have patience with them of old. Though he was the meekest of men, yet his anger waxed hot against them, and he said, “Hear now, you rebels!” But their God had no such angry words for them—He was still patient and bore with them for 40 years. Brother, Sister, He will have patience with you because His mercy endures forever.
He has been teaching you faith, but how slowly you have learned! There is a man who has been learning faith these 25 years, and he still is an unbeliever at times. Doubts frequently mar the face of his assurance, but the Lord still bears with his unbelief and goes on to teach him, little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept. There is one here who has been taught love. Yes, for the past 40 years that Brother has been learning love to the Lord and love to the Brethren, spelling out the lessons of love, letter by letter. He is in the infant class even now, but the Lord is having a deal of patience with him, and He will yet make him tender, considerate, and affectionate. Let us hope it will be soon, for his own sake, and still more for the sake of his Brethren to whom he acts so roughly. Many of God’s people are very slow learners—they have been at school these 20 years and cannot yet read their own titles to eternal mansions, though penned in capitals by their Redeemer’s own hand!
As for myself, I am more brutish than any man, and other teachers would long ago have lost patience with me, but “the Lord will perfect that which concerns me, for His mercy endures forever.” Between now and Heaven, dear Brothers and Sisters, some of you will, perhaps, have to pass through a great deal of affliction, and some of us who are called daily to see others suffer, feel much tenderness towards those who are the children of affliction, and therefore, we speak with great sympathy when we say, “Do not shudder with regard to those pains and tremors which may come over your poor trembling frame, for His mercy endures forever. He will make your bed in your sickness and underneath you shall be the everlasting arms.”
Between here and Heaven, perhaps you will experience a great many needs. It may be you have been afraid of poverty. You have not a very large sum of money in the bank, and you have not a very large sum in your pocket, either, and sometimes you are out of work. Many times you hardly know what you shall eat or what you shall drink—be this your comfort—“His mercy endures forever.” “Having food and raiment let us be content, for He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” All the streams may dry, but the brook Cherith will flow on, and even if that chosen rivulet should fail, behold, God has a widow woman at Zarephath who will feed you! Though she has nothing herself but a handful of meal and a little oil in the cruse, yet you shall both live upon it till the famine is over. The heir of Heaven shall not lack for the bread of earth while God lives, for it is written, “Trust in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and verily you shall be fed.” “He gives food unto all flesh, for His mercy endures forever.” “Your bread shall be given you.”
Comfort in Death
At last, unless the Lord should suddenly appear, there will come the hour of death, which, by many, is exceedingly dreaded. You will gather up your feet in the bed and bid adieu to all temporal things. And then the enduring mercy of God shall be your abounding consolation! A large part of our fears about death are idle. One man of God always feared death, but he might have spared himself his wretchedness, for he fell asleep one night in apparently excellent health and died in his sleep! He never could have known anything about dying, for on his face were no tokens of pain or struggle, nor was there any reason to believe that he ever awoke till he lifted up his eyes amid the cherubim! Beloved, if we die awake and even if we die in pain, we shall yet hope to die triumphantly! If we do not die shouting victory, we hope that we shall peacefully fall asleep—the Lord, Himself, kissing away our soul into the eternity of joy— “for His mercy endures forever.”
Confidence in God’s Care
“He will perfect that which concerns me.” Now, I want you young friends, especially, who are just beginning life, each one to feel, “Now, I am going to put myself and all my temporal circumstances, all my fears, all my engagements, my living, my dying, everything into the hands of God and there I am going to leave it. I will trust Him with my all. In the beginning I will trust Him and I will do so even to the end and go my way with this calm confidence, ‘He will perfect that which concerns me, for His mercy endures forever.’”
I remember hearing one of our evangelists once say that some Christian people, when they first profess to be Christians, are like a man who is going a long distance by rail, but only takes a ticket for a short distance, and then he has to get out and make a rush for new tickets as he goes along. “Now,” said he, “there are other Believers who know better and take a ticket all the way through at the first, which is by far the wiser way.” Some trust the Lord to keep them for a quarter of a year, and others for a month. But when I believed in Christ Jesus, I thank His name, I trusted Him to save me to the end! I sought for and obtained a finished salvation, which is my joy and hope at this moment! I took a ticket all the way through, and I have not had to get a fresh ticket yet. I have sometimes thought I should, but when I have run to the office, they have handed me back my old ticket, the one I lost, the same one as before—and I knew it to be the same, for it bore this stamp upon it—“He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” The Believer is saved at first by believing, and he shall be so to the last.
Commitment to God’s Care
Do not trust a rickety salvation which may break down with you—a temporary, trumpery salvation which may only last you for a time and then fail to embrace with all your heart that Divine promise—“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Cry out after the Living Water which shall be in you as a well of water springing up unto everlasting life and suck the marrow out of this text, “He that believes in Me has”—has then and there, down on the nail—“has”—now, today, “has everlasting life”—not life for a time, but life everlasting as surely as he believes in Christ!
The Prayer for Perseverance
III. This brings me to conclude with the third clause of our text, which is a prayer. The Lord, having given His people grace to rest in His mercy, puts it into their hearts to pray and supplies them with a plea—“Forsake not the works of Your own hands.” To my mind, it is a very touching prayer. “Lord, You have begun the work upon me; go on to finish it, for if You do not, it will never be finished. If You leave it, it is left undone, and I am undone, indeed. But do not forsake the work of Your own hands.” It is such a prayer as the clay might put up when it is revolving on the potter’s wheel. The potter is using his best skill and producing an article of great beauty, bringing out its shape and form as it spins round before him. Already you can see something of what it will be—the design does not yet perfectly appear, but you can guess it. But suppose the potter were to stop the wheel, take up the clay, and fling it back again into the lump? That vessel would never be finished, for it cannot finish itself. It has no power to shape itself in any degree, and so if it were rational clay and could speak, it would say, “Forsake not the work of Your own hands. Persevere in what You have begun.”
This is a prayer which you and I may well bring before God, whose workmanship we are! “O God, if I have only a little faith, yet You gave it to me. Oh, give me more! If You have given me only a desire after You, yet that desire is a Divine creation! Have respect unto it, I pray You, and fulfill it.” This is a powerful argument with our gracious God, for, Brothers and Sisters, He does not give you a little grace to tantalize you.