THE PRESENT CRISIS – Charles Spurgeon
The Present Crisis
“I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early.” — Hosea 5:15.
The Lord does not always tell us what He will do. As it is written, “Verily You are a God that hides Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior.” He has told us that “it is the glory of God to conceal a thing,” and our Lord Jesus has said, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own power.” When He does make known to us what He is about to do, it is not to gratify our curiosity, but to direct our conduct. In this case, the Lord speaks aloud concerning His intentions.
God’s Withdrawal from His People
He had grown weary with chastening His people, and therefore, He was about to withdraw Himself from them and leave them alone, as a man leaves a hopeless work or as a judge leaves the bench and gives the prisoner over to condemnation. He says, “I will go and return to My place,” as if His waiting time was over, and He would no longer remain in their midst to be provoked by their obstinacy. This withdrawal would result in the non-acceptance of their prayers and offerings, as He had said in a previous verse, “They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.”
This He tells them in order that they may be led to implore Him to remain with them, or that if He is already gone, they may, by hearty confession of their sin and an immediate seeking of His face, prevail upon Him to visit them once more in His grace. If God is about to go, then all is going, even hope itself. The Divine departure is the worst of calamities, and therefore it is right that those threatened with such a judgment should put their thoughts together, consider their ways, and use the best means to hold Him by the skirts before He has departed, or to bring Him back again before He has effectually closed the door between Him and them.
There should be an eager desire to bring the King back so that once more the heart may bask in the light of His favor.
A Practical Call to Repentance
Dear friends, I shall speak this morning with the most anxious desire to be practical. I am longing and praying in my heart that wherever sin has begun to separate us from God, we may be stirred up to acknowledge our offenses and seek His face. And that where such a separation has long existed, there may arise an intense desire of the whole soul to return from its banishment and draw near to God.
Applying the Text: National Troubles
We shall, this morning, use our text first in reference to our national troubles, for the words were originally spoken with regard to the national troubles of Israel and Judah. Secondly, we shall use it in reference to our personal trials as believers, and then thirdly, in its relation to the personal trials of the unconverted. Instructive lessons may be learned here in each of the three cases. May the Holy Spirit speak the Truth of God home to our hearts.
Our Present National Troubles
I desire to speak of these things before God in all sincerity and simplicity. I know it is impossible to touch upon such a subject without being suspected of political bias, but I can truly declare that from all such partiality I desire to be freed so that I may speak, not as a partisan, but as the servant of the living God. Calmly and solemnly would I speak words of soberness, truth, and justice.
It is a burden to my heart to speak a hard word of my own beloved country, and if I seem to do so, it is not in wantonness but because of a pressure upon my conscience which will not let me be silent. Surely no one will deny that our country is passing through a season of great and grievous adversity. We have been perplexed for many months and even years with perpetual rumors of wars. For a long time, no man knew, when he went to bed at night, but what the journal of the morning would inform him that our nation had plunged into war with at least one of the great powers of Europe.
Our policy has been such, whether wise or unwise, that we have been constantly on the verge of conflict. It is amazing that we have escaped embroiling ourselves in a long and serious war, for many times the flames of contention have threatened a general conflagration.
The Impact of Conflict and Economic Strain
This disquietude itself has been a serious injury to the prosperity of our country, for trade and commerce make prosperous voyages upon the waters of peace, but even before those waters are disturbed by the storms of actual war, while only the threat of battle ruffles the surface, they make small headway or are driven back. Commerce is timid as a dove and is fluttered by every turmoil or whisper of coming trouble. In a thousand ways, political agitations stab at the heart of national prosperity!
In addition to this, we have been engaged in at least two wars—wars that are certainly expensive and questionably expedient. In these two conflicts, it is impossible for us to gain honor, since they are cases of the mighty assailing the feeble. Laurels gained from nations so far inferior to us would have been unworthy of a place upon the brow of a brave nation. We have invaded one country and then another with no better justification than the law of superior force or the suspicion of future danger.
Disaster has followed upon disaster, and at the end of it all, there are great expenses to be met. Our acts of aggression must be paid for, not only with the blood of our soldiers but with the sinew and sweat of our working men. Results of industry which ought to have gone to support the arts and promote the comfort and advancement of the race have been thrown away in wasteful feats of arms. The food that should have fed our children has been flung into the mouth of the lion to be devoured by war, that its evil spirit may become yet more ravenous.
The Consequences of War and Economic Downturn
Willful waste, it is to be feared, will be followed by woeful need unless God, in His mercy, shall interpose. We have meddled in many things and have threatened at least three of the great quarters of the globe, either with our fleets or our armies. Nothing could content us till we had drawn the sword against a brave, though savage people, whose fighting may well be fierce, since it is for their invaded fatherland! These wars, whatever their issue, are serious calamities.
On the back of all this war has come depression in trade. Everywhere there is complaining and not without cause. Even the most cheerful of men, who have always been rejoicing when others have lamented, have begun, at last, to look very serious and admit that the times are threatening. Striving tradesmen wonder whether they shall be able to “provide things honest in the sight of all men.” Many a man now plans and labors but his care and toil earn but a scant reward. All trade is dull, and some trade is dead. Some branches of industry are already paralyzed, and there is but little prospect of their ever being revived.
The Impact of Weather and Prayer for Divine Intervention
As if all this were not enough, the heavens refuse to assist the processes of our farmers. For the most part, the hay crop, so necessary for the cattle, may be regarded as lost, and now great peril is upon the corn. In some places, the corn is too backward to have suffered much at present, but in others, the prospects are dark indeed. It seems certain that a continuance of this constant rain must deprive us of the most precious fruits of the earth.
Farmers are beginning to cry out bitterly, and there is a demand that prayer should be offered in all the churches for fair weather. May God be pleased to look upon our land and deliver us in this hour of trouble, for indeed it is a time of loss and ruin to thousands! If ever prayer was needed, it is surely at this hour!
The Limits of Prayer Without Repentance
You who live in London do not know much about what is happening to the crops, and what the eye does not see, the heart does not rue—but to our agricultural friends, this ill weather is a matter of most serious consideration—they are suffering very heavily. No one can doubt that the badness of trade affects the farmer in common with the rest of the community—and now comes the further burden of sunless skies, winter in summer, and the clouds returning after the rain.
In the first matter, that of a warlike policy, we may, by God’s goodness, make a change. It may be possible that before long, better principles will come to the front, and we may no longer be made to appear as a nation of snarlers and growlers, breathing defiance and delighting in war. God grant it speedily! But as to the two other matters, what can we do? We are powerless to quicken trade! We are certainly powerless to stay the bottles of Heaven. If God wills it, the clouds will gather from day to day and drench our fields with their pitiless downpour. Deluge will follow deluge until the corn shall rot in the fields if God so determines.
Prayer is therefore desired, and well it may be! But by some, prayer is desired as if it were quite certain that if certain pious words are repeated, the rain must necessarily cease and the weather become favorable. I am not quite so sure! Let prayer be offered, by all means, but only under certain conditions can it prove effectual.
The Role of Repentance in Prayer
I know of many reasons why it may be possible that such prayers as are likely to be offered will not be heard, but instead, the threatened judgment of God may, nevertheless, come upon us. I desire, this morning, to speak about prayer in the way of warning, lest men should place an unwise confidence in the formality of reading a form of prayer in churches, or uttering extempore formalities in meeting houses. Few men believe more thoroughly in the power of real prayer than I do, and I have tested and proved it in many remarkable ways so fully that I have no doubts as to its efficacy and heartily magnify the name of our prayer-hearing God. But we must still use our understandings, lest we be deceived and come to expect what we shall not receive.
God’s Sovereignty and the Call for National Confession
Our text says, “I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offense.” If this is the case, there will be no answering of prayer until repentance is manifested. Sometimes the heavens are brass, even to good men, and their cries reverberate and come back into their own ears, not without a blessing to themselves, but still without any visible reply as to the people for whom their intercessions were offered. It is not every sort of prayer that God will hear, for He says by His servant Isaiah, “When you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you: yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isa. 1:15). Intercession is sometimes useless, for Jeremiah tells us, “Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people” (Jer. 15:1).
The Accountability of Believers
And yet we, as believers, are still called to intercede. The saints are intercessors with God for the people! You are God’s remembrancers and, as you are called to make mention of His name, keep not silent day nor night, but in this hour of trouble pour out your hearts before Him!
Be on the side of temperance and sobriety—be on the side of peace and of justice—be on the side of everything that is according to the mind of God and according to the law of love! Love God and your fellow men and seek to promote all interests which look that way. I believe that a country can never have a larger blessing, a truer safeguard for the present, or a firmer security for its future greatness than a band of praying men and women who make mention of it before the Throne of God!
Conclusion: A Call for National Revival
English history, from the first day till now, is as full of instruction as the history of Israel from Egypt even to Babylon. Our nation has been as much under the peculiar and especial Providence of God as were the descendants of Jacob themselves. Therefore, God deals with us as He does not deal with other nations! Our religion is higher, nobler, purer than others, and we must repent and return to the Lord. Let us seek God’s mercy and His healing power before it is too late.
May God bless you, my beloved friends, for His name’s sake. Amen.
The Call to Speak Out
I could say no less, or I would gladly have held my peace. Before God, I am clear in this matter; my only attempt is an upright one. May God grant that my feeble protest may touch the hearts of those who ought to feel its truth. I am not very confident that it will be so, for we have fallen upon evil times, and the heart of the people has waxed gross.
The Personal Trials of Believers
And now, secondly, let us view the text in reference to our personal trials as believers. Brothers and sisters, let us now commune with one another concerning the ways of God with our own souls. The Lord will not cast off His people—despite their faults, they are His own children, and they shall be His children forever. But when His children sin, God is sure to chasten them for it. “You only have I known of all the people; therefore will I punish you for your iniquities.”
He leaves His enemies alone for a while, but He smites His sons. His foes shall go unpunished till the end shall be—but as for His beloved, He is exceedingly jealous over them and He will make them smart when they sin. Has the Lord been chastening any of us of late? Has the moth been in our estates, or has the lion been tearing our peace? Let us turn at His rebuke! Let us say unto the Lord, “Show me why You contend with me. Lord, if You are smiting me, I would not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, but I would turn unto You at once, before You smite me again.”
The Importance of Immediate Repentance
It is good to repent at once and seek our heavenly Father’s face. For, note next, when chastisements are of no avail, withdrawment follows! The Lord has promised that He will not forsake His people, nor will He utterly do so, but there are withdrawals which are not included in that promise. God may so hide Himself from His servants that they may have no conscious fellowship with Him, no enjoyment of His Word, and no power in prayer. In fact, they may pray, but He may shut out their prayer.
Their life may be sapless and spiritless; joy and peace may flee. They may possibly try, at such times, to make up for their loss by enjoying the world. They may run after carnal pleasures and vain amusements, but they cannot fill their minds with them. They have no joy with such empty vanities. Grace has made them incapable of finding soul food in the corn and wine of earth. They must have their God or die!
The Pain of God’s Withdrawal
Let me tell you most solemnly that it is a very sad thing when God has withdrawn from a believing spirit. The more holy a man has been, the more sadly will he lament that he is now under a cloud, and the more earnestly will he cry, “Oh that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat!”
When these withdrawments of God are painfully felt, we should begin most eagerly to search out the sin which has caused them, for sin is at the bottom of it all. If, believer, there is a quarrel between your Beloved and yourself, is there not a cause? Our Lord Jesus is no fitful lover who, in a moment, will leave the soul which is espoused to Him merely to indulge a whim! Far from it! He never trifles with us, but treats our love as a sacred thing.
There is some grave cause whenever the Beloved frowns. Then is the time for a thorough search, a sweeping of the house, and a cleansing out of all things that offend. Throughout the heart, the understanding, and the lips, let a thorough search be initiated. If any sin is detected—and it will not be long before it will be—let it be brought to light and judged. Set it in the light of God’s countenance and there confess it and lament it.
Offer no excuses and explanations, but honestly confess the wrong and leave it!
Confession and Seeking Restoration
Have you restrained prayer? Confess it! Have you neglected the reading of the Word of God? Confess it! Have you been neglectful of your children and your family as to training them in the nurture of the Lord? Confess it! Has there been laxity in your contact with the world? Have you given way to flippancy and levity? Have you been proud? Have you been slothful? Have you indulged too much in the pleasures of the table? Has your heart set itself upon your wealth?
Then bring the idols out and let your heart see the wounds which they have given you. Look at what you have doted on and what these things are that have come between you and your God! Surely you will be ashamed of them when you consider that their love is the price for which you have parted with your Savior’s Presence!
The Hope of Restoration
Is this a goodly price that your Lord was exchanged for by you? Judas’s pieces of silver were not more contemptible than these poor paltry bribes! Lament the treachery of your heart and hear Him ask you, “Do you love Me?” Do not hesitate to answer, “Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You.”
But, beloved, when you have obtained a sense of the sin or sins which separate you from God and have made a full confession, then take care that you seek the Lord with hopefulness and confidence. For, notwithstanding all this, you are still His child and must not give way to paralyzing despair. You are married to Christ, and there is no divorce with Him. “For the Lord, the God of Israel, says He hates putting away.” He will not cast off forever, nor put away His erring spouse.
Seek God’s Face with Confidence
Come, therefore, to Him with humble confidence! He has torn and He will heal. He has struck and He will bind us up. Seek His face, for His face is towards you! The very face of God is Jesus Christ! The Son of God is He in whom we see the Father! Even as you see a man in his countenance, so God is seen in Christ! Seek God in Christ Jesus, for thereby good shall come unto you.
Do not say, “It is of no use, I have backslidden and revolted again and again, and He will now refuse me totally.” No, He will not reject you! You are not out of reach of His love—He will turn again and have compassion on you, for He delights in mercy! If He withdraws, it is only that you may sigh after Him and seek after Him.
God’s Presence in Our Lives
A nurse, when her little child will go away from her and fall into danger, will sometimes hide herself from it to teach it better. She still sees the child, though the little one cannot see her. She is near to help, but the child cannot find her and so it begins to cry for her and does not rest until she is found. The child will not so soon wander again. Even so, may the Lord hide His face to make us cry after Him, but He is very near us all the while, and He will yet be found of us.
“Behold,” says He, “I stand at the door and knock. If any man open to Me, I will enter in.” It is not much, is it, to open the door? That is all He asks. Open and let Him in, for He adds, “And I will sup with him.”
“Ah, Lord,” say to Him, “We have no provision fit for You.”
But know assuredly, He brings His supper with Him and we sup with Him and He with us! He only wants you to lend the house, by opening your heart, for He has brought the food! Yes, He is, Himself, our Bread from Heaven!
A Call to the Church of Laodicea
Now, to whom is this spoken? To sinners? No, no, it is spoken to the Church of Laodicea, which was “neither cold nor hot.” Her Lord was ready to spit her out of His mouth, and yet in mercy, He cries, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”
O backslider, Jesus waits to be gracious to you! He longs to restore you! Only acknowledge your transgression and return to Him! Be of good cheer as to acceptance, for He casts out none who come to Him. End this backsliding, for there need be no more misery! God help you to rise, this very day, into a closer walk with Him, and may He keep you by His side forever!
The Danger of Living Without God
To be out of fellowship with God is for the heart to be in a state of spiritual disease. Things must be wrong within when we are wrong with God. When we do not walk in the Light, as God is in the Light, there is some evil in the eye of the soul. Dread the evil and cry for healing!
To be away from God is to be in a state of spiritual weakness. Samson may shake himself as at other times, but he can do no deeds of strength when the Lord has departed from him. God is our strength, and God’s hiding makes us weak as water!
The Danger of Temptation
If the Lord should leave us, we cannot plead with Him and prevail, nor can we plead with men and win them for Christ. Our strength has departed—both towards God and towards man—when our fellowship with God is suspended. Our heart cannot leap like a young roe upon the mountains; our spirit limps as one whose bones are broken. We cannot even gaze through the gates of pearl to see the Glory which the Spirit reveals, for our eyes are dim so that we cannot see afar off when Jesus is away.
The Call to Return to God
If you are in this condition, you are in an evil case—carking care invades you, anxieties annoy you, your temper gets the mastery, Satan accuses—and conscience trembles! Your spirit is like that of a carnal man and you are apt to speak unadvisedly with your lips and to be readily moved by every external influence.
What is worse, when a man is out of fellowship with God, he is in danger of presumptuous sins! David, on the terraces of his palace, had not been walking with God, or else the sight of Bathsheba had not caused him such a grievous fall.
The Consequences of Separation from God
Lose communion with Christ and you are on the verge of a folly which will stain your character and terribly mar your life! It is only when we are near to God that we are safe—therefore let a sense of danger drive us to Him at once! I speak from a widespread observation as well as from an inward experience. There is but a step between distance from God and the nearness of temptation and sin.
The Need for a Close Walk with God
If God thinks much of you, He will have you near Him, or else He will make you miserable. He will not permit you to rejoice except in Himself! If your love is not worth His having, you may love whom you like. But when He loves you much, He will be very jealous over you, and if He finds you are content to be without His company, He will make you suffer for such wantonness and ingratitude!
That By-Path Meadow business—that going down the green lane to get off the pebbles of the right road; that getting away from Christ to have a taste of the world’s sweet delusions; that coming down from our high places as if we had grown weary of being happy and were discontented with an angelic life—all that means a succession of afflictions and regrets which can only, at the very best, end in our getting to Christ again with broken bones. Such wanderings are painful, and how they may end, I do not know!
Conclusion: The Path Back to Christ
David’s life, before his sin—how different it was from his life afterwards! You can always tell which Psalms he wrote before his transgression—they are so jubilant, so full of holy rejoicing! But afterwards, when he sings, it is in a bass voice. He sweeps his harp, but the strings are disordered. He loves his God, but it is the solemn, tearful love of repentance rather than the bright, sparkling love of delight in God.
Do not err, my beloved brothers and sisters, for error brings sorrow. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” If you have gone aside to evil, then seek early the face of God, and He will be found of you in Christ Jesus!
The Personal Trials of the Sinner
And now my time is almost spent. I have but a few minutes to use on the third head, and I would, therefore, speak few words, but speak them very earnestly, indeed. We shall now think of the personal trials of the sinner.
Oh, you that are unconverted, if God means to save you, He will, before long, begin by chastening you in body or in mind. You will have trouble! You are a wandering sheep, and God will send His black dog after you to fetch you to the fold. If one trouble does not do it, you will have another and another and another!
The Danger of Callousness
Perhaps I speak to some who, as the result of Providential chastening and the work of conscience on their spirit, have already been awakened—let them take heed of trifling with their awakening! After that earnest sermon, or after reading that stirring book, you began to pray, but your desires and feelings have now subsided.
I would have you greatly grieve over this. Let me warn you that God may withdraw Himself from you altogether. Some have been sitting in this Tabernacle for years from whom I fear God has withdrawn Himself, for you used to feel much moved by the Gospel, but it is not so now! You would not come when you were called and admonished, but you revolted more and more—and now His mercy is growing weary of you.
The Urgency of Seeking God
You were smitten again and again, but you still rebelled, and now God says, “Let him alone.” This is a more terrible calamity than you suspect—unless it is averted, it will be your ruin! I may be speaking to some strangers here who, at one time, had a disturbed conscience, but they have grown very callous of late. You are in danger of eternal wrath, but you are amazingly carefree! You can even make jokes about religion, can’t you? Poor souls! I fear the Lord has given you over for a time, at least—I hope not forever!
The Need for Personal Repentance
Do you ask me what you should do? I reply that according to our text, it is high time for you to seek the Lord! You were smitten before you tried self-righteousness, Church-going, Chapel-going, sacraments, and so forth—as the Prophet says, you went to king Jareb, but he could not heal you of your wounds. You must now return to your God, or you will never be right.
It is vain to look to priests, sacraments, or religion—all these things put together are nothing! You must have personal dealings with your God, and you must confess your sin to Him, or you will be eternally undone. Go and do it this morning! Tell Him all that you know about your sin and ask Him to have mercy upon you for Jesus’ sake.
The Path to Reconciliation
Seek to know Him as He manifests Himself in Jesus. Be willing to believe whatever He pleases to reveal. Be anxious to be reconciled to Him. Long to be at peace with the great God who made the heavens and the earth. Why should there be a quarrel between your Creator and your soul? The way of reconciliation is by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. You must, therefore, trust Jesus, and then you shall find the peace of God.
Oh, may His Spirit help you to do this now! Seek Him and seek Him intensely, resolving that you will never cease to seek till you find God full of mercy and love for you. Come, I pray you, and turn unto the Lord now, and may the Holy Spirit aid you in doing so. He has torn and He will heal you. He has struck and He will bind you up. After two days He will revive you. On the third day He will raise you up and you shall live in His sight!
The Need for Immediate Action
God Himself must heal you, or you will never be healed! He who has broken your heart must give you comfort or you will never have any! Hasten to your chamber at once and then, upon your knees, cry out unto God with the prayer of faith. Be not content with your own sense of sin. Do not say, “I am doing fine, for I have felt my guilt.” No, your sense of sin may be but the first drop of a shower of eternal remorse. Get away to God in Christ and rest not till you are there.
Conclusion: The Call to Seek the Lord
Oh, if I had the power to put this into fitting and forcible words, I would implore every man and woman that I look upon not to live without God! He made you and you cannot be happy without Him. While He is angry with you, you cannot be at peace! He bids you come to Him. The blows of His Providence are meant to separate you from the love of sin and drive you to your God!
In Jesus Christ, the great Father stretches out His arms to you and says, “Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Believe in Jesus and live!
“Seek you the Lord while He may be found! Call upon Him while He is near! Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
God bless you, my beloved friends, for His name’s sake. Amen.