GOOD CHEER FOR OUTCASTS – Charles Spurgeon
GOOD CHEER FOR OUTCASTS
“He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.” Psalm 147:2.
Introduction: The Gentleness and Mercy of God
Does not this show us the great gentleness and infinite mercy of God? And as we know most of God in the person of our Lord, Jesus Christ, should it not charm us to remember that when He came on earth He did not visit kings and princes, but He came unto the humble and simple folk? He did not seek out Pharisees, wrapped up in their own supposed righteousness, but He sought out the guilty, for He said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.” The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost!
It would have seemed natural that our Lord Jesus, when He came here, should, first of all, have addressed Himself to the most respectable people He could find and should have sent His message to the rabbis of Jerusalem, to the senators at Rome, to the philosophers of Greece. But instead, the common people heard Him gladly and He rejoiced in spirit while He said, “I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”
The Character of a Man Who Seeks the Affection of the Humble
I think you may judge of a man’s character by the persons whose affection he seeks. If you find a man seeking only the affection of those who are great, depend upon it, he is ambitious and self-seeking. But when you observe that a man seeks the affection of those who can do nothing for him, but for whom he must do everything, you know that he, himself, is not seeking, but that pure benevolence sways his heart.
When I read in the text that the Lord gathers together the outcasts of Israel—and when I see that the text is truly applicable to the Lord Jesus Christ, because this is just what He did—I see another illustration of the gentleness of His heart, who said, “Take My yoke upon you, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls.” Be glad tonight, dear friends, that we gather around such a Savior as this. From Him all pride and self-seeking are absent, and He comes down among us in gentleness and meekness; He comes to gather those whom no man cares for—those who are judged to be worthless and irreclaimable! He comes to gather together the outcasts of Israel!
The Love of Christ for Men, Not Their Advantages
Applying this text to our Lord Jesus Christ, we not only see His gentleness, but we also clearly see an illustration of His love to men, as men. If you seek only after rich men, suspicion arises—and it is more than suspicion—that you seek their wealth rather than they. If you aim only at the benefit of wise men, it is probably true that it is their wisdom which attracts you, and not their manhood. But the Lord Jesus Christ did not love men because of any advantageous circumstances, or any commendable incidents of their condition. His love was to manhood. He loved His own chosen people as men, not as this or that among men. He has no respect for rank, nor care for wealth. A man is a man with Christ whether the “guinea-stamp” is there or not. He died not for titles and dignities, but for men. “Not yours, but you,” our Lord Jesus could truly say.
Where Jesus Christ sees a man, though he is an outcast, an outlaw, or one condemned by the law of his own country—He sees a human being—a creature capable of awful sin and terrible misery, but yet, renewed by grace, capable of bringing wondrous glory to the Most High. Our Lord Jesus Christ, by gathering together the outcasts, proves that it is not the things which surround men, but the men, themselves, that He cares for. He considers not so much where a man is, but what he is—not what he has learned, or what he is thought of, or what he has done—just what he is. The man is the jewel. The immortal soul is the pearl of great price which Jesus seeks as a merchantman seeks goodly pearls.
The Power of Jesus to Transform Even the Most Lost
Another thing is also clear. If Jesus gathers together the outcasts of Israel, it proves His power over the hearts of men. There is a certain class of men who follow that which is morally good because the Lord has given them a noble disposition. Thank God, He has, in mercy, been pleased to give some men a desire after that which is beautiful and true. They, too, are merchantmen seeking goodly pearls, and it is not difficult, when the heart is brought into such a desirable state, for the excellence and beauty of Jesus Christ to attract it!
But here is a tug of war—there are men still left in the guilt and filthiness of human nature who have no desire after that which is good—but whose entire longings are after evil, only evil and that continually. These have no more eyes to anything that is high and noble than the swine has for the stars. The minister of Christ may appeal to them, but he will appeal in vain. And providence may warn them, by the deaths of others and by personal sickness, but they are not to be separated from the earth to which they are glued. Yet our Lord Jesus can gather together even these, the outcasts of Israel!
Such is His power that He does not stop till He sees good desires in men—He imparts those desires to those who have them not! Such are the charms of His cross that blind eyes are made to see by its beauty! Such is the music of His voice, that deaf ears are opened by it! Such is the majesty of His life that the dead hear His voice and they that hear are made to live! No groundwork of goodness is asked or expected from any man that Christ may come and act upon it—He takes man in his ruin and in the extremity of his depravity—and begins with him then and there.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
When the good Samaritan came to the wounded man, he did not wait for him to make the first advance, or come a little towards him. He went to him, where he was, and poured into his wounds the oil and the wine. So the Lord comes where hurtful nature is and, bad as its condition is, He stoops to it and He gathers together the outcasts of Israel! Oh, it is a wonderful thing, this, that there should be attractions about the Lord Jesus Christ which can draw to Him those whom nothing else that is good can possibly stir! You may preach virtue to the sinner, but he does not practically yield to its charms. You may preach to the drunk, to the unchaste, to the immoral, the beauties and excellences of honesty and of all the virtues and the graces, but little good will come of it—the result is infinitesimal. You may charm very wisely upon those subjects, but these deaf adders do not care for charming.
We have heard of a divine who said that he had preached honesty till he had not an honest person left in the parish! And he preached of virtue till he did not know where Diogenes, with his lantern, could find it! Nothing worth having comes of preaching when Christ is not the theme! You may preach the law and men will be frightened by it, but they will forget their fears. Yet if Jesus Christ is preached, He draws all men unto Him. The wicked will listen to the news of Him who is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. The most stubborn have been known to weep when they have heard the story of His grief and of His love! The most proud have found themselves suddenly humbled at His feet, of which some of us are witnesses, for we marveled to find the hardness and loftiness of our hearts suddenly removed by a sense of His goodness!
Encouragement to Preach with Confidence
I do not believe that we preachers have half enough or a tenth enough faith in Jesus Christ. If we could preach Jesus Christ to a company of convicted felons, should we be wrong in hoping to see the larger part of them converted on the spot? If we had but faith enough to preach to them as we should, aiming directly, distinctly and believingly at their souls, might we not look for great results? We go so timidly, so doubtingly to work. We pray that God would save some out of our congregations and that He would be pleased to bless the word here and there! But, such a splendid gospel as we have to preach should not be preached so, nor should we so pray about it! When Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, it was not with this prayer—“Lord, grant that one or two of those who are bitten by the serpent may look and live.” No, Moses came out boldly with his serpent high upon the pole! He believed that thousands would look— they did look—and they lived! May we, after the same manner, proclaim Jesus who “gathers together the outcasts of Israel.”
The Outcasts of Israel
Now, with this introduction, I would speak upon the text a little more particularly, and we shall observe with brevity, first, to whom the text applies—“He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.” Secondly, we shall consider in what sense He may be said to gather them. And then, thirdly, what lesson this teaches us.
I. To Whom May This Text Apply?
It refers to several classes in different ways. First, it is a fact that our Lord Jesus gathered together some of the very poorest and most despised among men—those who might, under some respects, be regarded as outcasts. And it is certain that, to this day, the gospel comes in the largest measure of power to the poor of this world. Often, too, it comes with amazing power to those who are despised by others, or are regarded as being of inferior degree.
You know that at this time it is boastfully said by the enemies of the gospel that the culture, the brain, the intellect, the education of England is all on the side of skepticism. I am not so sure. When people say that they possess a great deal of brains, I am not certain that their claim is correct, unless it is that as sheep have a good deal of brains and yet are not the wisest animals in the world, so these gentlemen, also, are no wiser than they should be. As to those gentlemen who so evidently claim to be the cultured people, who monopolize all the sweetness and the light, I am not clear that they have all the modesty.
It does seem to me that if they talked in a lower key, it would be as well. And if they thought a little less of their own culture and allowed a little more to other people, we might have more faith in this wonderful “culture” of theirs. Some of us have failed to see the deep thought and the profound learning we were told to look for in the books of the skeptical cultured mind and, therefore, we are less patient when we hear the perpetual bragging of our foes. Still, let it stand so. We will not quarrel with it. Suppose it to be so—that none but foolish people embrace the old-fashioned faith—Puritanism which, they say, is nearly dead—the old evangelism which they ridicule as being exploded. Let it be so, that we are an inferior order of people with very little brains and all that. Well, we are not out of heart on that account, because we find that it so happened in our Savior’s day and has happened all days since—that the wisdom of the world has been at enmity with God.
II. In What Sense Does the Lord Jesus Gather These Outcasts?
Of course, I would have to vary the explanation to suit each case, but as that would take a long time, let me say that the Lord Jesus has several ways of gathering together the outcasts. He gathers them to hear the gospel. Preach Jesus Christ and they will come! Both outcast saints and outcast sinners will come to hear the charming sound of His blessed name! They cannot help it. Nothing draws like Jesus Christ!
III. The Lessons We Learn
One lesson is this—encouragement to those who are unworthy, or think themselves so, to go to Jesus Christ tonight. I have been trying to think of all I know and I have lifted up my heart to the Holy Spirit to guide me that I may cheer some discouraged one. It was my objective, last Sunday night, to comfort the broken-hearted, and I do not seem to have gotten out of that vein, yet. I believe there are some here, whom God has sent me to, who really believe themselves to be out of the region of hope.
My dear friends, if God gathers together the outcasts, why should He not gather you? And if it is true that Jesus Christ does not look for goodness, but that He only considers our sin and misery, why should He not look upon you? May I urge you to try my Master? If you go to Him confessing your unworthiness and trusting yourself with Him, if He does not save you, I would like to know about it, because you will be the first person I have ever heard of that trusted himself with Jesus and was rejected! It will not be the case, whatever your condition may be, however desperate your state!
You think your condition to be worse than I have pictured it to be and you fancy that I cannot know anything about how bad you are. Well, I do not know your special form of rebellion, but you are the very person I mean, for all that. I say, if you are as black as hell. If you are as foul as the Stygian bog; if you have sinned till your sins cannot be counted and if your actions are so heinous that infinite wrath is their just desert—yet come and look to those five wounds and to that sacred head once wounded, and to that heart pierced with the spear! There is life in a look at Jesus crucified! Will you try it?
As surely as God’s word is true, if you do but glance your eyes at Him who “died the just for the unjust,” you shall be brought to God and reconciled! And that now—note—while sitting in that seat, before the last word of this sermon shall be uttered, for whoever believes in Him shall be saved! “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
O that you would believe on Jesus now!
Charles Spurgeon