The best way to get your faith strengthened is to have communion with Christ. If you commune with Christ you cannot be unbelieving. When his left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me, I cannot doubt. When my Beloved sits at his table, and He brings me into His banqueting-house, and His banner over me is Love, then, indeed, I do believe. When I feast with Him, my unbelief is abashed, and hides its head. Speak, ye that have been led in the green pastures, and have been made to lie down by the still waters; ye who have seen His rod and His staff, and hope to see them even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death; speak, ye that have sat at His feet with Mary, or laid your head upon his bosom with the well-beloved John; have you not found when you have been near to Christ your faith has grown strong, and when you have been far away from Him, your faith has become weak? It is impossible to look Christ in the face and then doubt Him. When you cannot see Him, then you doubt Him; but you must believe when your Beloved speaks unto you, and says, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." There is no hesitation then; you must arise from the lowlands of your doubt up to the hills of assurance.
Consider, O waiting soul, that the mercy is worth tarrying for. Is it not salvation—thy soul's deliverance from hell? A long tarrying at the gate of mercy will be well repaid, if the King, at last, will give thee this jewel of exceeding price.
Bethink thee, also, how utterly unworthy thou art of the mercy; therefore be not loath to humble thyself, or patiently to abide the sovereign will of Jehovah. Proud men must be noticed at once, or they will depart; but thou hast nothing to boast of, and shouldst feel that if He disregarded thee for a long season, thine unworthiness could demand no apology for his delay. Moreover, remember that He will hear at last. His promise would be violated, if one praying soul could perish; for He has said, "Seek, and ye shall find"—"Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved." The delay may be for thy good, to lay thee lower in the dust of self-abasement, or to make thee more earnest for the blessing. Possibly the Lord intends to try thy faith, that, like the woman of Syrophenicia, thou mayst reflect honor on Him by thy confidence in Him. Pray on, for "the Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him."
As Christians, we ought ever to be distinguished from the world in the great object of our life. As for worldly men, some of them are seeking wealth, others of them fame; some seek after comfort, others after pleasure. Subordinately you may seek after any of these, but your main and principal motive as a Christian should always be to live for Christ. To live for glory? Yes, but for His glory. To live for comfort? Yes, but be all your consolation in Him. To live for pleasure? Yes, but when you are merry, sing psalms, and make melody in your hearts to the Lord. To live for wealth? Yes, but to be rich in faith. You may lay up treasure, but lay it up in heaven, "where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." You can make the most common calling become really sacred by dedicating your daily life wholly to the service of Jesus, taking as your motto, "For me to live is Christ." There is such a thing as living thus a consecrated life; and if any deny its possibility let them stand self-convicted, because they obey not that precept: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious," it is certain evidence of a divine change; for men by nature find no delight in Jesus. I do not inquire what your experience may have been, or may not have been; if Christ be precious to you, there has been a work of grace in your heart; if you love Him, if His presence be your joy, if His blood be your hope, if His glory be your object and aim, and if His person be the constant love of your soul, you could not have had this taste by nature, for you were dead; you could not have acquired this taste by learning, for this is a miracle which none but the God who is supreme over nature could have wrought in you. Let every tried and troubled Christian, who, nevertheless, does taste that the Lord is good, take consolation from this. "The upright love thee."
It is said, that when the stars cannot be seen during the day from the ordinary level of the earth, if one should go down into a dark well, they would be visible at once. And certainly it is a fact, that the best of God's promises are usually seen by His Church when she is in her darkest trials. As sure as ever God puts His children in the furnace, He will be in the furnace with them. I do not read that Jacob saw the angel, until he came into a position where he had to wrestle, and then the wrestling Jacob saw the wrestling angel. I do not know that Joshua ever saw the angel of God, till he was by Jericho; and then Joshua saw the angelic warrior. I do not know that Abraham ever saw the Lord, till he had become a stranger and a wanderer in the plains of Mamre, and then the Lord appeared unto him as a wayfaring man. It is in our most desperate sorrows that we have our happiest experiences. You must go to Patmos to see the revelation. It is only on the barren, storm-girt rock, shut out from all the world's light, that we can find a fitting darkness, in which we can view the light of heaven undistracted by the shadows of earth.
The Christian is to be a conqueror at last. Do you think that we are forever to be the drudges and the slaves of sin, sighing for freedom, and yet never able to escape from its bondage? No! Soon the chains which confine me shall be broken, the doors of my prison shall be opened, and I shall mount to the glorious city, the abode of holiness, where I shall be entirely freed from sin. We who love the Lord are not to sojourn in Mesech for aye. The dust may defile our robes now, but the day is coming when we shall rise and shake ourselves from the dust, and put on our beautiful garments. It is true we are now like Israel in Canaan. Canaan is full of enemies; but the Canaanites shall and must be driven out, and the whole land from Dan to Beersheba shall be the Lord's. Christians, rejoice! You are soon to be perfect, soon to be free from sin, without one wrong inclination, one evil desire. You are soon to be as pure as the angels in light; nay, more, with your Master's garments on, you are to be "holy as the holy One." Can you think of that? Is it not the very sum of heaven, the rapture of bliss, the sonnet of the hill-tops of glory—that you are to be perfect? No temptation can reach you, nor if the temptation could reach you would you be hurt by it; for there will be nothing in you which could in any way foster sin. It would be as when a spark falls upon an ocean; your holiness would quench it in a moment. Yes, washed in the blood of Jesus, you are soon to walk the golden streets, white-robed and white-hearted too. O, rejoice in the immediate prospect, and let it nerve you for the present conflict.
Eminent as David was for his piety, he was equally eminent for the joyfulness and gladness of his heart. It is often thought by worldly people, that the contemplation of divine things has a tendency to depress the spirits. Now, there is no greater mistake. No man is so happy, but he would be happier still if he had religion. The man who has a fulness of earthly pleasure, would not lose any part of his happiness, had he the grace of God in his heart; rather that joy would add sweetness to all his prosperity; it would strain off many of the bitter dregs from his cup, and show him how to extract more honey from the honeycomb. Godliness can make the most melancholy joyful, while it can make the joyous ones more joyful still, lighting up the face with a heavenly gladness, making the eyes sparkle with tenfold more brilliance; and happy as the worldly man may be, he shall find that there is sweeter nectar than he has ever drunk before, if he comes to the fountain of atoning mercy; if he knows that his name is registered in the book of everlasting life. Temporal mercies will then have the charm of redemption to enhance them. They will be no longer to him as shadowy phantoms which dance for a transient hour in the sunbeam. He will account them more precious because they are given to him, as it were, in some codicils of the divine testament, which hath promise of the life which now is, as well as of that which is to come. While goodness and mercy follow him all the days of his life, he will be able to stretch forth his grateful anticipations to the future when he shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and to say with the Psalmist, "Thou hast made me most blessed forever: Thou hast made me exceeding glad with Thy countenance."
God's people, after they are called by grace, are preserved in Christ Jesus; they are "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation;" they are not suffered to sin away their eternal inheritance, but as temptations arise, they have strength given with which to encounter them; and as sin defiles them, they are washed afresh, and again cleansed. But mark, the reason why God keeps His people, is the same as that which made them His people—His own free, sovereign grace. If you have been delivered in the hour of temptation, pause and remember that you were not delivered for your own sake. There was nothing in you which deserved the deliverance. If you have been fed and supplied in your hour of need, it is not because you have been a faithful servant of God, or because you have been a prayerful Christian; it is simply and only because of God's mercy. He is not moved to anything He does for you by anything which you do for Him; His motive for blessing you lies wholly and entirely in the depths of His own bosom. Blessed be God, His people shall be kept.
"Nor death nor hell shall e'er remove
His favorites from His breast;
In the dear bosom of His love
They must forever rest."
But why? Because they are holy? Because they are sanctified? Because they serve God with good works? No, but because He, in His sovereign grace, has loved them, does love them, and will love them to the end. Thus, salvation from first to last is all of grace. Then how humble a Christian ought to be! We have nothing whatever to do with our salvation; God has done it all. It is mercy undeserved which we have received. It is His boundless, fathomless love which has led Him to save us; and it is the same love and mercy which upholds us now. To Him be glory!
"This man receiveth sinners." Poor sinsick sinner, what a sweet word this is for thee! Respond, respond to it, and say, "Surely, then, He will not reject me." Let me encourage thee to come to my Master, that thou mightest receive His great atonement, and be clothed with all His righteousness. Mark: those whom I address, are the bona fide, real, actual sinners; not those who only say they are sinners with a general confession, but those who feel their lost, ruined, hopeless condition. All these are frankly and freely invited to come to Jesus Christ, and to be saved by Him. Come, poor sinner, come. Come, because He has said He will receive you. I know thy fears; I know thou sayest in thy heart, "He will reject me. If I present my prayer, He will not hear me; if I cry unto Him, yet per-adventure, the heavens will be as brass; I have been so great a sinner, that He will never take me into His house to dwell with Him." Poor sinner! say not so; He hath published the decree. Is not this enough? He has said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Dost thou not venture on that promise? Wilt thou not go to sea in a ship as stanch as this. He hath said it? It has been often the only comfort of the saints; on this they have lived, on this they have died. He hath said it. What! dost thou think Christ would tell thee He will receive thee, and yet not do so? Would He say, "Come ye to the supper," and yet shut the door upon you? No; if He has said He will cast out none that come to Him, rest assured He cannot, He will not cast you out. Come, then, try His love on this ground, that He has said it. Come, and fear not, because remember, if thou feelest thyself to be a sinner, that feeling is God's gift; and therefore thou mayst very safely come to One who has already done so much to draw thee. If thou feelest thy need of a Saviour, Christ made thee feel it; if thou hast a wish to come after Christ, Christ gave thee that wish; if thou hast any desire after God, God gave thee that desire; if thou canst sigh after Christ, Christ made thee sigh; if thou canst weep after Christ, Christ made thee weep. Ay, if thou canst only wish for Him with the strong wish of one who fears he never can find, yet hopes he may—if thou canst but hope for Him, He has given thee that hope. And O, wilt not thou come to Him? Thou hast some of the King's bounties about thee now; come and plead what He hath done; there is no suit which can ever fail with God, when thou pleadest this. Come to Him, and thou wilt find it is true which is written, that "this man receiveth sinners."
"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness." And can a Christian "greatly rejoice" while he is "in heaviness?" Yes, most assuredly he can. Mariners tell us that there are some parts of the sea where there is a strong current upon the surface going one way, while, down in the depths there is a strong current running the other way. Two seas also do not meet and interfere with one another, but one stream of water on the surface is running in one direction, and another below in an opposite direction. Now, the Christian is like that. On the surface there is a stream of heaviness rolling in dark waves, but down in the depths there is a strong under-current of great rejoicing which is always flowing there. Do you ask what is the cause of this great rejoicing? The apostle tells us, "Wherein