Thanksgiving Obtains the Spirit
’ It came even to pass, as the tnimpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.” — 2 Chron. v. 13, 14.
The day here spoken of appears to have been a day of days. It seems to have been the day of Pentecost in Old Testament times — a type of all the glorious days of an outpoured
* AUudittg to a recent occurrence.
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lOG SERMON XT.
Spirit that ever have been in the world — a foretaste of that glorious day when God will fulfil that amazing, soul-satisfying promise: “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.”
My dearly beloved flock, it is my heart’s desire and prayer that this very day might be such a day among us — that God |. would indeed open the windows of heaven, as he has done in times past, and pour down a blessing, till there be no room to receive it. fj
Let us observe, then, how thanksgiving brings down the
Spirit of God.
li I. How the people loere engaged: In praising and fj
thanking the Lord.” Yea, you have their very words: “For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.** It was thus the people were engaged when the cloud came down and filled the house. They had been engaged in many other most affecting duties. The Levites had been L carrying the ark from Mount Zion and placing it under the j wings of the cherubim; Solomon and all his people had been offering sacrifices, sheep and oxen, which could not be told for multitude — still no answer came from heaven. But when the trumpeters and singers were as one in praising and thanking the Lord, when they lifted up their voices, saying: “For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever” — then the windows of heaven were opened — then the cloud came down and filled the whole temple.
My dear flock, 1 am deeply persuaded that there will be no full, soul-filling, heart-ravishing, heart-satisfying, outpouring of the Spirit of God, till there be more praise and thanking the Lord. Let me stir up your hearts to praise.
1. He is good. Believers should praise God for what he is in himself. Those that have never seen the Lord cannot praise him. Those that have not come to Christ, have never seen the King in his beauty. An unconyerted man sees no loveliness in God, He sees a beauty in the blue sky — in the glorious sun — in the green earth — in the spangling stars — in the lily of the field; but he sees no beauty in God. He hath not seen him, neither known him; therefore there is no melody of praise in that heart. When a sinner is brought to Christ, he is brought to the Father. Jesus gave himself for us, “that he might bring us to God.” Oh! what a sight breaks in upon the soul — the infinite, eternal, unchangeable God! I know that some of you have been brought to see this sight. Oh! praise him then,
■J for what be is. Praise him for his purey lovely holiness, that cannot bear any sin in his siht Cry, like the angels, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.” Praise him for bis iiyflnite wisdom — that he knows the end from the hemming. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and biowledge. Praise him for his power — that all matter, all odind, is in his hand. The heart of the king, the heart of ;aint and sinner, are all in his hand. Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Praise him for his love; br God is love. Some of you have been at sea. When ar out of sight of land, you have stood high on the vessel’s prow, and looked round and roimd — one vast circle of ocean ^tbout any bound. Oh! so it is to stand in Christ jus* ified, and to behold the love of God — a vast ocean all ffound you, without a bottom and without a shore. Oh! )raise him for what he is. Heaven will be all praise. If on cannot praise God, you never will be there.
2. /^or his mercy — for what he has done for us. The liord has done much for me since we parted. We were pnce in perils of waters; but the Lord saved the ship. Again ind again we were in danger of plague — we nightly heard he cry of the mourner; yet no plague came near our dwellng. Again and again we were in perils of robbers — the ;un of the murderous Arab has been levelled at us; but he Lord stayed his hand. I have been at the gates of death ince we parted. No man that saw me would have beieved that I could be here this day; yet he hath healed »ur diseases, and brought me back to open once more to on the unsearchable riches of Christ. I, then, have reason
0 praise him; for his mercy endureth for ever. The Lord las done much for you since we parted. My eyes filled with tears when I left you; for I thought he had done it a anger. I thought it was anger to me, and I thought it ?as anger to you; but now I see it was all love — it was all Dercy to unworthy you and to unworthy me. The Lord ;ave you my dear brother to care for your souls; and far ►etter than that — for to give you a man only would have •een a poor gift — but he has given you his Holy Spirit. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul!” Praise him, O my people! or he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. Are there lot some of you brands plucked out of the burning? You ?ere in the burning; the pains of hell were actually getting lold on you. You had a hell in your own hearts — you had
1 hell yawning to leceiye you; but the Lord snatcYied. o from the burning. Will you not praise him? Are there not some of you whom I left blind, and deaf, and dumb, and dead? You saw no beauty in Him who is fairer than I the children of men; you saw no glory in Immanuel — God [ manifest in flesh. But the Lord has said: ^’ Go, wash in the pool of Siloam;” and whereas you were blind, now you see. Oh! praise him that hath done it. In heaven, they praise God most of all for this: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” Oh! haye you no praise for Jesus for all his loye — for the Father — for the Spirit! Some of you cannot sing: ‘’ No man could learn that song but those that were redeemed from the earth.” Some of you are worse than when I left you. You have resisted me — you haye resisted my brother; and, oh! worse than all, you haye resisted the Holy Ghost. You are prayerless yet — Christless yet. Ah! unhappy souls! unredeemed, unrenewed, remember it will be too late to learn to praise when you die. You must begin now. I will tell you what a dear friend of my own once said before dying. She desired all the servants to be brought in; and she sd very solemnly: “There’s nothing but Christ between me and weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Oh! Forrest, if you have not Christ, then there is nothing between you and weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” You that will not praise Christ now, shall wall because of him soon.
IL The manner of their praise.
As one. Their hearts were all as one heart in this exercise. There were a thousand tongues, but only one heart. Not only were their harps, and cymbals, and dulcimers, all in tune, giving out a harmonious melody, but their hearts were all in tune. God had given them one heart, and then the blessing came down. The same was the case on the day of Pentecost; they were all with one accord in one place; they were looking to the same Lamb of God. The same thing will be the case in that day prophesied of in the 133d psalm: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” “There God commands the blessing, even life for evermore.” This is the very thing which Jesus prayed for in that prayer which none but God could have asked, and none but God could answer: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in ns: ;hat the world may believe that thou hast sent me;” and hen follows the blessing: “And the glory which thou vest me I have given them; that they may be one, even IS we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may )e made perfect in one; and that the world may know that ;hou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved ne.
Dear children of God, unite your praises. Let your hearts no more be divided. You are divided from the world by a great gulf. Soon it will be an infinite gulf; but you are united to one another by the same Spirit — you have been chosen by the same free, sovereign love — you have been washed in the same precious blood — you have been filled by the same blessed Spirit. Little children, love Due another. He that loveth is born of God. Be one in your praises. Join in one cry: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain: thou art worthy to open the book — thou art worthy to reign in our hearts.” And, oh! be fervent in praise. Lift up your voices in it — lift up your hearts in it. In heaven they wax louder and louder. John heard the sound of a great multitude; and then it was like many waters, and then it was like mighty thunderings, crying: “Hallelujah! hallelujah!*’ I remember Edwards remark, that it was in the singing of praises that his people felt themselves most enlarged, and that then God was worshipped somewhat in the beauty of holiness. Let it be so among yourselves. Learn, dearly beloved, to praise God heartily — to sing with all your heart and soul in the &mily and in the congregation. But, oh! remember that even your praises must be sprinkled with blood — acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
III. Effects.
1. The cloud Jilled the house. This cloud is the very same which led them through the Red Sea, and went before them forty years in the wilderness. It was a pillar of cloud by day, to shade them from the heat; it was a pillar of fire by night, to guide Israel on their way to the promised rest; and now it came and filled the holiest of all and the holy place. Such was the wonderful effect which followed their united fervent praises. God himself came down, and filled every chamber of the house with his presence. “This is my rest for ever: here will 1 dwell; tot 1 have desired it.” Now, my dear fiiends, we are not now to expect that God will answer our prayers, or follow our ]n»ises, with a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire. These were but the shadows; now we receire the reality — the substance. If ye will but unite in unanimous and heartfelt praises, then am I persuaded that God will give his Holy Spirit to hll this house — to fill every heart in the spiritual temple. How glorious this will be:
(1.) For the children of God, Are there not some of you who have come to Christ, and nothing more? Guilty, weary, heavy laden, you have found rest — redemption through his blood — even the forgiveness of sins. Oh! do not stop there. Do not rest in mere forgiveness — cry for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Forgiveness is but a means to an end. You are justified in order that you may be sanctified. Remember, without hoHness you will never see the Lord; and without this indwelling Spirit, you never will be holy.
Are there not some of you groaning under a body of sin and death, and crying, with the apostle: ‘^ Oh! wretched man, who shall deliver me from the body of this death V* Do you not feel the plague of your own heart? do you not feel the power of your old nature? How many in this state lean upon themselves — trust in their resolutions — attempt, as it were, by force, to put down their sins; but here is the remedy. Oh! cry for the flood-tide of God’s Spirit, that he may fill every chamber of your heart — that he may renew you in the spirit of your mind.
Are there not many who are cold, worldly Christians — those who were long ago converted, but have fallen sadly back, under the power of the world — either its gaiety or its business, its mirth or its money — and they have got into worldly habits, deep ruts of sin? Ah! see what you need. He that created man in his own image at first, must create you over again. You need an almighty indwelling Comforter. Oh! it is he only who can melt your icy heart, and make it flow out in love to God — who can fill you with all the fulness of God.
Are there not some who read the Bible, but get little from
it? You feel that it does not sink into your heart it does
not remain with you through the week. It is like the seed cast in the wayside, easily plucked away. Oh! it is lUSt such an outpoured Spirit you require to hide the Word in your heart When you write with a dry pen, without any
SERMON XT. Ill
k in it, no impression is made upon the paper. Now, inisters are the pens, and the Spirit of God is the ink. ray that the pen may he filled with that living ink, that e Word may remain in your hearts, known and read of I men — that you may he sanctified through the truth. (2.) For the unconverted. So it was in the day of Pencost — the Spirit came first on the small company of disples, and then on the three thousand. You have seen e hills attracting the clouds, and so drawing down the lower into the valleys — so do God’s children, having their jads within the veil, ohtain the Spirit of God in fulness, id dispense it to all around. You have seen some tall ee or spire catching the lightning, and conveying it down ito the ground — so does the fire of God’s Spirit come first pon the trees of righteousness, and from them descends to le dead souls around them.
A word to dead souls. Keep near to Good’s children at ich a time as this. Do not separate from them — do not lock at them; you may yet receive the grace of God through lem. Dear believers, for the sake of the dead souls around on — for the sake of this great town, full of wickedness — )r the sake of our land, filled with formality and hypocrisy M)h! unite in prayer, and unite in praise, and prove the lOrd, if he will not pour out a blessing. Not for your own ikes only, hut for the sake of those perishing around you, rt us wrestle and pray for a fuller time of the Spirit’s workig than has ever been seen in Scotland yet.
2. ITie priests could not stand to minister. Before the loud came down, no doubt the priests were all busily enaged burning incense, and offering sacrifices; but when le cloud came down, they could only wonder and adore. o it ever will be when the Lord gives much of his Spirit; e will make it evident that it is not the work of man. If e were to give only a little, then ministers would begin think they had some hand in it; but when he fills the ouse, then he makes it plain that man has nothing to do ith it. David Brainard said, that when God awakened is whole congregation of Indians, he stood by amazed, ad felt that he was as nothing — that God alone was ‘orking. Oh! it is this, dear friends, that we desire and ray for — that the Lord, the Spirit, would himself desend, and with his almighty power tear away the veil from our hearts convince you of sin, of righteousness, and of idgment — that Jesus himself would take his sceptre, and break your hard hearts, and take all the glory — that we may cry out: ‘’ Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.”
St Peter’s, Nov, 24, 1839 — {after reluming from PdlesUne.)
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