WHERE GO YOU? – Charles Spurgeon
WHERE GO YOU?
“But He knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10
On several Sabbath mornings of late I have earnestly handled spiritual subjects which I trust may have been for the edification of the people of God. But it will not do to continue in that line. I am a fisher of men as well as a shepherd of the flock. I must attend to both offices. Here are souls perishing, sinners that need to be saved by Christ, and therefore I must leave the flock and go after the wanderers. I must lay down the crook and take up the net. By a simple sermon, full of earnest expostulation, I would reason with the careless. At this moment I have not so much to expound doctrine as to arouse hearts. Oh, for the power of the Holy Spirit, without which I must utterly fail in my design! We have this morning been praying for the conversion of many—we expect our prayers to be heard. The question is not, Will there be any converted under this sermon? But, Who will it be? I trust many who have come here with no higher motive than to see the great congregation and to hear the preacher, may, nevertheless, be met with in God’s infinite mercy and placed in the way of eternal life. May this be the spiritual birthday of many—a day to be remembered by them throughout eternity!
Job could not understand the way of God with him. He was greatly perplexed. He could not find the Lord, with whom at some prior time he constantly abode. He cries, “Behold, I go forward but He is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive Him: on the left hand, where He does work but I cannot behold Him: He hides Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him.” But if Job knew not the way of the Lord, the Lord knew Job’s way. It is a great comfort that when we cannot see the Lord, He sees us, and perceives the way that we take. It is not so important that we should understand what the Lord is doing as that the Lord should understand what we are doing and that we should be impressed by the great fact that He does understand it. Our case may be quite beyond our own comprehension, but it is all plain to Him who sees the end from the beginning and understands the secrets of all hearts. Because God knew his way, Job turned from the unjust judgments of his unfeeling friends and appealed to the Lord God Himself. He pleaded in the supreme court, where his case was known and he refused the verdicts of erring men. He that does right seeks the light. And as Job saw that the light was with God, he hastened to that light, that his deeds might be made manifest. Like a bird of the day, which begins to signal the return of the morning, he could sing when he stood in the light of God. He was glad that the Lord knew his way, his motive and his desires. For from that truth he inferred that he would be helped in his trials and brought safely through them—“When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
These words afford rich consolation to the saints. And if I were to use them for that purpose, I should expect the Lord’s people greatly to rejoice in the Lord, whose observant eyes and gracious thoughts are always upon them. Our whole condition lies open to Him with whom we have to do. Though never understood by men, we are understood by our God—
“It is no surprising thing
That we should be unknown—
The Jewish world knew not their King,
God’s everlasting Son.”
As the Son of God was known to the Father, though unknown to all the world, so are we hidden from the knowledge of men but well known of the Most High. “The Lord knows them that are His.” “You have known my soul in adversities.”
I quit the design of comforting the people of God for the more presently pressing work of arousing the unconverted. Their way is evil and the end thereof is destruction. Oh, that I could arouse them to a sense of their condition! To that end I shall ask four questions of every man and woman within reach of my voice. God knows the way that you take. I will ask you first—Do you know your own way? Secondly—Is it a comfort to you that God knows your way? Thirdly—Are you tried in the way? And, if so, fourthly—Have you confidence in God as to the result of that trial? Can you say with Job, “When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold”?
I. Do You Have a Way?
My Hearer, I ask you, first—Do You have a way? There is a way which you have taken, chosen, selected for yourself— there is a way which you follow in desire, word and act. So far as your life is left to your own management, there is a way which you voluntarily take and willingly follow. Do you know what that way is? It is not everyone who does know as much as that. It is a very simple question to put to you. But yet it is a very needful one to a great many. For many walk on as in a dream. Do you know where you are going? “Of course,” says one, “everybody knows where he is going.” Do you know where you are going and do you carefully consider your end? You are steaming across the deep sea of time into the main ocean of eternity—to what port are you steering? Where go you, O Man? The birds in the Heaven know their time and place when they fly away in due season. But do you know where you are speeding? Do you keep watch, looking ahead for the shore? What shore are you expecting to see? For what purpose are you living? What is the end and drift of your daily action? I fear that many in this vast congregation are not prepared to give a deliberate answer which will be pleasant to utter and to think upon. Is not this suspicious? If I were to go out tomorrow by sea, I should not walk on board a steamboat and then enquire, “Where are you going?” The captain would think me a crazy fellow if I embarked before I knew where the vessel was going. I first make up my mind where I will go, and then select a vessel which is likely to carry me there in comfort. You must know where you are going. The main thing with the captain of a steamer will be the getting his vessel safely into the port for which it is bound. This design overrules everything else. To get into port is the thought of every watch, every glance at the chart, every observation of the stars. The captain’s heart is set upon the other side. His hope is safely to arrive at the desired haven and he knows which is the haven of his choice. He would not expect to get there if he did not set his mind on it. How is it with you, dear Friend? You are speeding towards Heaven or Hell—which of these is your port? I know of no ultimate abode of souls except the brightness of the Father’s glory, or the darkness of Jehovah’s wrath—which of these will be your end? Which way are you intentionally going? What is it you are aiming at? Are you living for God? Or are you so living that the result must be eternal banishment from His Presence? Surely, to press this inquiry upon you needs no eloquence of speech. The question is vital to your happiness and self-interest should induce you to weigh it. I shall not use a single metaphor or illustration. For I am not here to please, but to arouse. I charge every man and woman in this house now to consider this question—Where are you going? What will be the end of the life you are now leading? Do not cast away the inquiry. It is not impertinent. It is not unnecessary. In the name of the Lord, I beseech you, answer me. If you answer that question, allow me to put another—Do you know how you are going? In what strength are you pursuing your journey? If you feel able to say, “I am seeking that which is right and good,” I then press the inquiry, In what strength are you pursuing it? Are you depending upon your own power, or have you received strength from on High? Do you rely on your own resolves and determinations, or have you received help from the Spirit of God? Remember, there are days in every life-voyage in which the storm-fiend puts all human power to a nonplus. Even in the fairest weather we are all too apt to run on rocks or quicksand. But the voyage of life is seldom altogether a pleasant one and we must be prepared for tempests. Our own unaided strength will not endure the waves and the winds of the ocean of life. And if you are trusting to yourself, disaster will befall you. The Lord brings men to the desired haven. But left to themselves, they are no match for the thousand dangers of their mysterious voyage. Is God with you? Has the Lord Jesus become your strength and your song? Do you sail beneath the blood-red flag of the Cross? If you are trusting in the Lord alone, disappointment, failure and shipwreck are impossible. But if you are hastening on without God for your Guide and Protector, then will your weakness and folly be made clear before long to your inevitable ruin. You may put on all steam and forge ahead in the teeth of the wind. But all in vain—you will never reach the fair havens.
II. Is It a Comfort to You That God Knows Your Way?
Are there any here who decline to answer my question? Will you not tell us where you are going? When a great vessel is crossing the sea and another comes within sight, they propose the question, “Where are you bound?” If the other vessel took no notice, gave no answer whatever, it would look suspicious. A craft that will not say where it is going! We don’t like the looks of it. If one of Her Majesty’s vessels were about and it challenged a sail and received no reply to the question, “To what port are you bound?” I think they would fire a shot across her bow and make her heave to, till she did answer. Might not the silent craft prove to be a pirate? When a man confesses that he does not know where he is going, or what his business may be, the policeman concludes that he is probably going where he ought not to go and has business on hand which is not what it should be. If you are afraid to consider your future, your fear is a bad omen. The tradesman who is afraid to look into his accounts will before long have them looked into for him by an officer from the Bankruptcy Court. He that dares not see his own face in the glass must be an ugly fellow. And you that dare not behold your own characters, have bad characters. Not know where you are going? Ah me, do you wish to find yourselves in Hell all of a sudden? Would you, like the rich man, lift up your eyes in hopeless misery? I am suspicious of you who cannot tell where you are going. And I wish you would be suspicious of yourselves. You who do not like self-examination are the persons who need it most. You who shun awkward questions are the very people who need to face them. I usually speak out—pretty plainly—and those of you who are used to me are not displeased. But sometimes strange hearers are offended and say that they will not come to be spoken to in such a fashion. Ah, my Friend! Your ill humor shows that you are in an ill condition and do not care to be corrected. If you were honestly desirous to be set right, you would like straight talk and honest rebukes. Do you prefer to go to a doctor who is known to say, “There is not much the matter—a little change and a dose of medicine, will soon put you all right”? Do you pay your guineas to be flattered? No. The man who is wise wants to know the truth, however alarming that truth may be. The man who is honest and hopeful, desires a thorough examination and invites the preacher to deal truthfully with him, even if the result should cause distress of mind. If you decline to see where you are going, it is because you are going down into the pit. If you decline to answer the question, What is your way? I fear your way is one that you cannot defend, whose end will cause you endless lament. Is anyone here compelled to say, “I have chosen the evil road”? Remember, the Lord knows the way that you take. I am anxious that you should, yourself, know the truth about your condition and prospects. I dread much your going on in ignorance. I wish every man here who is serving Satan to be aware that he is doing it.
III. Do You Meet With Trials in the Way?
“If Jehovah is God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him”—be hearty one way or the other. If you have chosen the service of sin, own it like a man, to yourself, at least. Choose your way of life in broad daylight. If you propose to die without hope in Christ, say as much. If you resolve to let the future happen as it may, and to run all risks, then put down in black and white your daring resolution. If you believe that you shall die like a dog and see no hereafter, do not at all conceal from yourself your doggish degradation but be true to your own choice. If you choose the way of evil pleasures, do it deliberately, and after weighing all that can be said on the other side. But there is this comfort to me, if it does not comfort you—that if you have chosen the wrong way, that choice need not stand. The Grace of God can come in and lead you at once to reverse your course. Oh, that you may now say, “I had not thought of it but I certainly am going in the wrong direction and, God helping me, I will not go an inch further!” Through our Lord Jesus Christ the past can be forgiven. And by the power of the Holy Spirit the present and the future can be changed. The Grace of God can lead you to turn away from that which you have eagerly followed, and cause you to seek after that which you have disregarded. Oh, that today your cry might be, “For holiness and Heaven!” You have not been up to now on the Lord’s side but now enlist in the army of the Lord Jesus. I would gladly stay your vessel in her evil voyage. I am firing a shot across your bow. I solemnly warn you to consider your ways. Think, what will the end of these things be? Break off your sins by righteousness. For it is time to seek the Lord. “Turn you, turn you; why will you die, O house of Israel?” This is the voice of God’s own Word to you—hear it and be admonished and, God helping you, turn at once.
IV. Have You Confidence in God as to These Storms?
But, my Friend, are you drifting? Do you say, “I am not distinctly sailing for Heaven, neither am I resolutely steering in the other direction. I do not quite know what to say of myself”? Are you drifting, then? Are you like a vessel which is left to the mercy of the winds and the waves? Ignoble condition! Perilous case! What? Are you no more than a log on the water? I should not like to be a passenger in a vessel which had no course marked out on the chart, no pilot at the wheel, no man at watch. Surely, you must be derelict, if not water-logged. And you will come to a total wreck before long. Yours is a dark prospect. Some time ago, I read in a paper of a gentleman being brought up before the magistrate. What was the charge against him? “Nothing very serious,” you will say. He was found wandering in the fields. He was asked where he was going and he said he was not going anywhere. He was asked where he came from and he said he did not know. They asked him where his home was and he said he had none. They brought him up for wandering as— what?—a dangerous lunatic. The man who has no aim or object in life but just wanders about anywhere or nowhere, acts like a dangerous lunatic and assuredly he is not morally sane. What? Am I aiming at nothing? Have I all this machinery of life, making up a vessel more wonderful than the finest steamboat and am I going nowhere? My heartthrobs are the pulsing of a Divinely arranged machinery—do they beat for nothing? Do I get up every morning and go about this world and work hard and all for nothing which will last? As a being created of God for noble purposes, am I spending my existence in a purposeless manner? How foolish! Why, surely, I have need, like the prodigal, to come to myself. And if I do come to myself, I shall ask myself, Can it be right that I should thus be wasting the precious gifts of time and life and power? If I were nothing, it were congruous that I should aim at nothing. But, being a man, I ought to have a high purpose and to pursue it heartily. Do not say that you are drifting. It is a terrible answer, implying grievous danger and casting a suspicion upon your sanity. If you have reason, use it in a reasonable way and do not play the fool. But can you say, “Yes, I am bound for the right port”? It may be that your accents are trembling with a holy fear. But none the less I am glad to hear you say as much. I rejoice if you say, “Christ commands me. I am trusting to His guidance. He is my way, my life, my end.” Dear Friend, I congratulate you. We will sail together, as God shall help us, under the convoy of our Lord Jesus, who is the Lord High Admiral of the sea of life. We will keep with His squadron till we cast anchor in the glassy sea. But now that you know your way and are assured that you are on the right tack, put on all steam. Exert your strength in the work to which your life is consecrated. Waste not a single moment. Let no energy lie dormant, arouse every faculty. If you are serving the Lord, serve Him with all your might. Is it not written, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”? Those words sound to me like great strokes of the soul’s paddle wheels! They urge us to press forward in the holy voyage. Brothers and Sisters, we must run, for our life is to be a race. It must be hard running, too. “Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” If we really are on the right way, let us press forward with all our powers. And may God help us that we may win the prize! Answer this first question and know of a surety whose you are, and where you are, and where you are going.