A Time of Finding for Lost Sheep
“I will seek that -which was lost, and bring again that which was dnven way, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment” — Ezek. xxxiv. IG.
It is a groat mercy that God never leaves his church. Ha Las not made a church us a watch-maker constructs a watch, which, aller being wound up is left to depend upon the strength and fitness of the machinery; but he has made a church which, though fitted with the best of machinery, needs his hand every mornont to keep it in motion; — he has lighted the lamps, but he walks among the golden candlesticks; he has placed tho pillars of the temple, but his own mighty shoulders are. *,hG actual thereof: he has not left the church to his ministers, but he himself Is tho great Bishop and Shepherd oi souls. Even if, as some affirm, there were no immediate Divine interpositions in the works of Providence, wo know that there are such mterposifions constantly and every moment hi the works of grace. We have direct experimental evidence of God’s everwatchful care over his church. He does not deal with his people only through instrimients, but he himself takes tho church in his own hands. It is his owu declaration, “I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment, lest any hint it: I will keep it night and day.” Thus doth he ej)eak of his vineyard. So, too, in this chapter. For awhilo tho shey)herds had domineered over tho flock; evil shepherds, who had crept into the office, fed themselves and not tho sheej) It would have been an ill day for the church, if Divine intei position were not the rule of his government; but, because it Is so, God said, “Away, ye shepherds! I am against you; I will require my flock at your hands. Behold I, oven I, will both
112 A TIME OF FINDING FoR I-OST SHEKP.
search mj sheep and seek them out. Away, ye that have dispersed and scattered my family I I am about to make bare mine arm. As ye have proved unworthy servants, your Master himself is coming; as ye have not fed the people of my pasture, and have not gathered together my flock, I myself will grasp the crook in ray own hand.” He speaks in his wrath to the foolish shepherds, yet he mingles his threats with pity for those he elsewhere calls “the flock of slaughter.” “I will feed even you, O poor of the flock 1 I Mill seek that which waa lost, and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.” Ah, beloved! if the Lord did not interfere in his church continually, the church would cease to exist ‘, if the doctrines of his holy word had been left to man’s teaching, they would by degrees have so degenerated that the church would not have had a particle of truth in its midst. If God had not stretched over his truth the broad ajgis of his own omnipotence, truth would have ceased out of the land, and those who profess to be its ministers would have all prophesied lies in the name of the Lord. The ])reservation of truth in our midst is owing to the direct and immediate interposition of the Almighty. And mark it well: the inward witness of the truth in the heai-t of every individual believer is an in-Btance and evidence of the same unceasing care, inasmuch as He only can apply it to the conscience with quickening power. There is of force enough in truth to convert souls, without the influence of the Holy Spirit. The minister maybe a good under-shepherd — he may endeavor to feed the flock; but God’s flock can not be fed, nor can God’s wandering sheep be gathered home, unless the chief Shepherd, the great and mighty Archbishop, even Jesus Christ, shall interfere, and himself do the work. The Divine interposition of God in the midst of his church is her great bulwark, her hope, her shield, her stay. What we want just now is not so much more shepherds, perhaps, not other shepherds — albeit, when the Lord sends laborers into the field, it is because the crops are to be gathered m — but we want the great Master himself to visit us and say,” I will do my own work; since ye will not faithfully and
A TIMK OF FIXDIXG FOR LOST SI £IT. IIS
fearlessly preach, I lnll come and intei-ferc, that ray tvord may be fully and boldly proclaimed.”
Now notice what God has promised to do. Ir. this text there is a character very graphically and minutely described; and we shall look at the four sentences as descriptive of that one character — “thai tohich was lost / that tchich was driven aicaif that which cas hrolcen / and that which was sick.” Then we shall look at the sentences one by one, as being very possibly descriptions of four different characters. We shall al-so endeavor to speak of the sweet promises appended to each character, and conclude with a solemn warning to “t/”.f fltt and the strong.”
I. First, then, notice the four features of character here: “that which was lost; that which was driven away; tha* which was broken; that which was sick.” We say that sorae times all four of these meet in one individual.
To begin with “that aviiicii was lost.” Doubtless there are some here who have felt in their hearts the solemn meaning of this wonderful word “lost.” Not only have I no doubt, but I have strong hopes that some souls here present are really and actually lost in their own experience. It may seem a cruel thing that I should wish you to feel yourselves lost, but it is a well-intentioned cruelty; because if you are lost, this promise is addressed to you, that God will seek that which was lost, I shall endeavor, therefore, to tell you how men feel when they are brought to know the dreadful word “lost” applicable to themselves.
A man is never lost until he is devoid of all strength. See you the mariner who has fallen from the ship? As long as those brawny arms of his can stenx the current, as long as he can buffet the waves and hurl them aside with the strong heart of resistance, he gives up nought for lost. Ay, and should hid arms become weary, if he can float a little, and with one hand i.aove himself amid the billows of the deep, he still thinks it is not all over yet. And while there is one particle of strength remaining his hopes are too buoyant to give himself up for a lost man. Sui)pose him to have grasped a spar; aa long as ever those hands of his can, with a death-clutch, keep
114 A TlMi: OF FINDING FOR LOST SHEEP.
hold of that floating piece of timber, he does not consider him self losto Fond hope still whispers in his ear, “Hold on, thou art not lost yet; some ship may cross this way, Providence may guide its path hither, and thou mayest yet be delivered. Hold on, thou art not lost while a sinew retains its might, while there is any vital force in thy frame.” So, soul, thou canst never say thou art lost till thou feelest in thy heart an utter departure of all thy strength. Hast thou been brcughv to feel that there is nothing which of thyself thou canst do apart from the strength of the Holy Spirit? There was a time when Ihou couldst pray, when thou couldst repent, when thou louldst believe after thine own fashion with thine own supposed strength: is that time all passed over now? Art thou saying, “I have no power to do any one of those thhigs without grace fiom on high! I would, but can not pray; I would, but can not repent; this strong heart will not dissolve, although I strive to melt it; this haughty mind will resist the Saviour, although I wish to be led in chains of grace a willing captive to my Lord?” Art thou brought to feel that if thy salvation depended upon one motion of thy soul in the right direction thou must be lost, for thou hast no spuitual strength? Art thou lying down shorn of all thy might, bereft of all help and hope in thyself; and dost thou confess, “I can do nothing without thee?” Well, then, thou art one of those whom Christ has come to save. This death unto the law is the precursor of thy being inade alive to Christ, and a sure sign that grace is at work in thy soul. So long as thou hast one particle of carnal strength, God will never show thee his salvation; so long as thou thinkest to do one solitary good thing ol thyself, or reliest upon one particle of good works for thy redemption, thou art under the ban and curse of the law, and art not brought to know the covonant-i)lan of mercy. Oh! when thou art stripped of all, when thou sayest, “Divinity must work, for humanity hath fliiled; God’s will must conquer my will, or else I am lost,” — then rejoice, rejoice! though thou givest thyself up for lost, it is now that God writes thee saved. “I will «eek that which was lost.”
Again, a man is never thoroughly lost until, not only his
A. TI-AtE OF FINDlNi FOli LOST SIIKEP. US
Btrciigtli lias failed bun, but he hath come to his loWs end. You know, David describes the manners at sea as rolling to and fro, staixgeriug like a drunken man, and at their wit’? end. While the cai)t:iin could devise any scheme for scudding before the wind, or evading the tempest, or neariiig the harbor, or arriving at the haven, he gave not up his ship for lost; but when every device had failed, — when, after suggestinti twenty plans, all laid held upon as sovereign remedies, but which all foiled, he was at his wit’s end, or, as the margin reads, “his wisdom is swallowed up,” then he gave himself up for being really lost. Have I one here who is at his wit’s end? Once he said, “I will do this, and then I shall be saved; I will forego that lust, I will renounce that crime, I will moderate my conduct, I will behave myself more Christian-like, and thea I shall be saved.” Hast thou tried these high resolves, and have they foiled thee? Perhaps thou hast sought after ceremonies and said, “I will shelter myself in the church, keep her ritual, and zealously obey her rubrics j” yet that has failed thee. Thou hast tried scheme after scheme, only to discover each and all alike abortive. And now thou dost anxiously inquire, “What must I do to be saved?” Do you say,” I have done all that i-eason could dictate; I have followed every maxim 1 could learn, as I ran hither and thither for counsel; I have strained every power mortal can exercise; I have taxed my poor brain till its titful fancies bewilder me — and, alas! all in vain: what must I do? what shall I do? Let me tell thee. Thou art to-day like a traveler who has lost his way in a wood. Thou thoughtest that there was a path, and sorely hast thou been disappointed, until, entangled in the brambles, thou hast rent thy clothes and torn thy flesh. How sure thou didst make of some way of escape; but lo! every avenue was blocked up, and thou couhlst not get out. Thou hast chmbed the highest tree in the forest, to see where the end of the dark wood should be, but the further thou didst look the more intricate did it appear. At length, thy hopes ezting’iished, thy plans defeated, thy strength exhausted, thy tongue parched, and tlune eyes smarting, all that thou canst do is, like the poor traveler m the desert, when the water i*
116 A TIMJi: OF FINDING FOR LOST SHEKP.
epent and his power gone, to lay thee down in fell dcsjjair and die. Art thou such an one? Ilast thou tried everything and has everything failed thee? Art thou now locked up in Despair’s castle? If so, I commend to thee this sure promise: Christ came to seek the lost; and, oh! couldst thou believe it, what a joyous day this would be! Thou wouldst go out of his house dancing for joy of heart, saying, “I went theio poor lost one, but the Shepherd of Israel has found me, for Christ came to seek that which was lost.”
“Depths of mercy 1 can there bo
Mercy yet reserved for me?”
Again, a man is not lost until the door of hope is shut fast. No man in the woi’ld ever gives liiniself uj) for lost as long as he hath a grain of hoi)e. Tell the sick man that he must die, for the physician hath pronounced his case hopeless, and will he believe you? No; he will cherish the thought that he may yet rally. Has one case of recovery ever been known? Then he hopes his may not prove fatal. Has one miraculous cure been wrought? He thinks there may be another; or if not, perhaps that his case may be the first; and so he hopes on, and does not consider his condition desperate. The poor sinner, when lost, gives all up as hopeless; and he says,” I have no reason to hope that Christ will have mercy upon me. He might save all the rest of the world, but upon me he will never look with eyes of compassion. Here have I been lynig for weeks and months by Bethesda’s pool; the angel has often stirred the water; I have seen others step in, and they have been saved: my mother has been saved, my brother and my Bister have found deliverance; yet here am I just the same as ever, I go to God’s house, but I sit there as an alien — I am not like owe of the fimily, and I know I am Lost. It seem a as if the ear of God were shut against my prayer; when I cry unto him, he answereth me not; when my sore runneth in the night season, he disi-egardeth the voice of my groaning. Alas! that my prayer is like the ])rayer of the wicked, an abomination to .he Lord. I feel that he hath cast me out of his sight.
A riMK ‘)T FINDIXQ FOR LOST SHKEP. Ill
and that I am condemn °d already!” What, then, I ask, is thy case too hard for him? “Nay,” say you, “but Lc will not. I have called so long, I have cried so often, surely God hath foffrotteu to be sracious:’! am not one of his elect: he hath Bhut up his bowels of compassion, and I nevGi can be saved.”
Hear this: Christ came U) save thee. If thou feclest all that, let me solemnly assurQ thee, in God’s name, tha’t though lost in thyself, thou art saved in Christ. Would to God that all of you who hear me this day were either agonizing over your being lost, or rejoicing that ye are found. Ye were then equally safe, if Qot equally happy. I had rather, O ye careless sinners! thai, terrors took hold upon you, and fears compassed you about, than that ye should be dancing on the mountains of folly, and revelling in your sins, unconscious of danger. Know this, ye light-hearted, ye giddy and ye gay ones, the hour of your damnation draweth nigh. But as for you, who are broken in pieces, sighujg and groaning, because ye think your case is hopeless, let me tell you, as God’s ambassador, that your case is not hopeless, but hopeful. Ye may call to mind, like Jeremiah, “your afiiiction and your misery, the wormwood and the gall,” and say with him, “Therefore have I hope.” Have I faithfully described thee? Wilt thou answer to thy name, as a prodigal son, as a lost child? Then, lost as thou art, thou hast a Father. So lost as to need finding, — so lost as to need saving, — methinks I hear a Father’s yearnings, “Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do eaniestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.” Methinks I hear the Saviour’s voice saying, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” A vision flits before my eyes, I think I see the blessed Jesus in shepherd’s garb, with staff in hand, bearing on his shoulders a lost sheep whom he has this morning recovered. Just now the poor thing was wandering in the wilderness in a solitary way; now he is laid on the everlasting shoulders, guarded by omnijpotent power, and kept secure fi-om harm. Happy soul!
il8 A TIltE OF FIJJDIXG FOR LOST SHEEP.
the angels rejoice over thee, though thy heart hath not yol reaUzed the sense of security which could give thee joy.
There is another characteristic of the man that feels himself lost more horrible than those I have mentioned. Waking to a consciousness that he is lost, not only does he behold the gate of hope shut, but the gate of hell opened. Ah! ray friends, I speak now as one who should know, as one who hath felt in his own soul what his lips describe. I have passed through that experience which I have told you heretolbre, and this have I likewise known. Well do I remember, after many a month of pi-ayer without an answer from God, when faith I had none, and my hope had given up the ghost, I thought God would never save me; and just then I thought ohe gate of hell was opened before my soul; for if ever a soul did expeiience a foretaste of perdition I think I did; and I believe many of you experienced the same before you found peace with God. You knew you were not in hell, and yet you thought even that almost preferable to your condition, you were in such dread suspense. Sometimes there was a glimmer of hope, but that only made your darkness more visible. As John Bunyan hath it, the hell-drum was beating in your ears; you heard it from moi’ning till night, and from night till morning — “Lost, lost, lost! thou wilt soon be in hell!” Dost thou not remember when thou didst walk the earth and think that every tuft of grass would be as the mouth of hell to open and swallow thee up — when thou couldst not bleep for frightful dreams, and didst wake and feel the very terror which haunted thee in thy night visions? Thy poor conscience was lashed by the whip of the law, and while thy wounds were smarting thou didst cry, “0 God 1 what, wilt thou never save me? The sorrows of death have compassed me about, and all thy billows have gone over me.” Dost thou not remember when, like David, all thy bones were out of joint, and thou saidst, “Create me a clean heart, 0 God, and ]’enew a right spirit wuthin me;” but there was no answer? And, moreover, Satan suggested a reply: “What! renew a nVht spirit in thee! Thou art the worst wretch that ever Uvud; thy death-warrant is signed, the fagot is burning now that will consume thee, the chains are already forged to bind thee forever, and thou shalt be with me shut up under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Now, is there euch an one here — one to whom hell’s gates are opened — upon whom fiends seem perpetually hissing; one who is brought to the black land of confusion, to the valley of the shadow of death, where not only is there no hope, but where the portending clouds seem to be gathered round him? Let him take heart: Christ has come to save such; and as surely as the devil is let loose upon thee in this way, Christ will bind him yet; he will break the teeth of the oppressor, and will take thee, his poor lost sheep, out of the jaw of the Hon and the paw of the bear! Art thou so lost? Then here is thy promise, “I will seek that which was lost.”
But thou sayest, “Sir, I have had too long a trial to think it possible; I have attended your ministry, and other ministries, for many a long year. Sometimes I have thought that surely I might be saved, but ah! it is of no use. You may speak of all the promises you like, they have nothing to do with me; I write my name down amongst the lost, and charm you never so wisely, I am like the deaf adder — never, never to be comforted! It is all over now, I am locked uj) in this iron cage of despair — lost, lost! beyond all hope; and I cannot believe what you say.” Ali! poor soul, but just notice what the text says, “I will seek that which was lost.” I have been seeking thee for many a Sabl)ath, and so have other muiister,’], but we have never found thee. Poor soul, God’s seeking is very different from ours. Oh! if I could, I would come to thee with these weeping eyes of mine, and say, “Poor sinner, do take heart.” I would go down upon my knees with thee, and offer my su]iplications for thee that thou mightest believe in Christ; but I know it woidd avail little, unless my Master sought thee. Oh! the shepherds have been after thee many a day, but they could not find thee; remember God knows, as Ave know not, where thou art. If thou art in the deepest pit in the forest, his almighty eye can see to the bottom. Ay, and in one of the favored moments of the day of salvation, — that time acepted, — he will send bom*
■20 A TlilE OF FINDING FOR LOST SHEEP.
a promise so sweetly that all thy fetters shall break off in an instant — thy night shall be scattered — thy dawn begin; and he will give thee the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of piaise for the spirit of heaviness. Believe now, and thou shalt be comforted now; for the time of iaith is the time of comfort.
There is a second point which often meets in the same character: “I will, bring again that which was driven AWAY.” Souls there are, not only lost, but driven away. “I could tell you of a time,” says one, “when I had a hope of heaven; or, at least, I thought I had; I groaned and prayed and strove, and one Sabbath day — I shall never forget it — I stepped into the house of God, and, during the reading of a chapter, or the singing of a hymn, I fondly thought that I had seen Christ, and had believed in him; but, oh! it was only for a moment: I was only porniitted just to look into the well of living water; no one came to draw water for me, and give me to drink. I thought for a single second, ‘Now is the hour of my salvation;’ something said within my heart, ‘Now is the appointed time, to-day is the day of salvation;’ and I almost began to smile within myself at the thought that I had found the Lord. But, sir, I was driven away, and I dare not go again. If I were only lost, methinks I could believe what you have said. But, ah! I was once very near being a believer; I was just upon the edge of having faith in Christ — but it only makes the night darker to think I once saw a star; for I was driven away.” Now there are different ways in which poor sinners are driven away, and in any case it is the devil’s work. Sometimes unbelief does it: the sinner sees Christ on the cross, the blood flowing from his bauds and feet, and he thinks, —
“Ob I could I but believe,
Then all would easy bo.”
fie thinks of the happy effects that would follow faith in Christ, and something says within him, “Venture on him, venture wholly; let no othei trust intrude.” And he is just
▲ TIME OP FIN^DIXG FOU LOST SHEEP. 121
going to do it, when suddenly there cojues a great black thought, “What, you! you have no right to come; away with you!” Pie has just pressed through the crowd, and is going to touch the hem of his Master’s garment, but ere hig finger reaches it, some one has push’jd before him, and he goes away abashed; and, all the mc re so, to think that he should have ever had the presumption, as he deems it, to hope for salvation. Unbelief has pushed many a sinner away from Christ just when he was coming, and. has kept him away for a long time.
Sometimes legal preachers drive souls awny; they preach a gospel so much mixed up with law, so united with the doings of man, that the poor soul just coming to Christ gets driven away. And even some of God’s true ministers — aye, the very best of them — sometimes drive poor sinners away from Christ. When they speak of the experience of the saint, they speak the truth, perhaps; but then there was something that was wanting; 1 he poor soul takes what is said against him; he writes bittei things against himself, because he does not feel that he comes up to the experience which some of the Lord’s children have had. Ah! we caimot always tell when we are driving poor souls away from Christ. Often, when we think we are wooing we are driving them away; when we woald. be winning to the Saviour, some harsh expression of OUTS frightens sinners away from him. Ah! poor soul, hast thcu been driven away? Dost thou understand and sympathiee with what I have said? Before I knew the Lord, I could declare that I was driven away. Once, under a powerful sermon, my heart shook within me, and was dissolved in the midst of my bowels; I thought I would seek the Lord, and I boWv’d my knee and wrestled, and poured out my heart before him. I ventured within his sanctuary to hear his word, hoping that in some favored, hour he would, send 9 precious promise to my consolation; but, ah! that wretched afternoon I heard a sermon wherein Christ was not; I had nc longer any hope. I would have sipy)ed at that fountain, but I was driven away; I felt that I would have belie ved in Christy and I longed and sighed for him. But, ah I that dreadful
122 A niTJJ OF FINDING FOK LOST SIIFJSP.
Bevmon, and those dreadful things that were uttered; mypooT soul knew not what was truth, or what was error; but 1 thought the man was surely preaching the truth, and I was driven back. I dared not go, I could not believe, I could not lay hold on Christ; I was shut out, if no one else was. Is there some one here who has been driven away? I may have done it, and I will weep before God in secret on account of it. rut let me cheer you. Hear this: “I will biing again that which was driven away.” As surely as you ever did come once you will be brought back again; that heavenly hour shall once more return; that blessed day shall dawn afresh; Christ shall ajipear, and his love and mercy shall be bestowed on you. He has drawn you once and he will draw you again, for God never fails. He may, for wise ends and purposes, suffer you to be driven away once; but he will ultimately bring you to himself, for lie has said, “I will bring again that -which was driven away.”
The other two points have, I think, something to do with the driving away; “I ’ will bind up that wincn was BKOKEN.” This, I think, refers to those who have been broken by being driven away: the shepherds smote them so hard that they even broke their bones. How many have there been who, when they thought they had found Christ, but were driven away, have felt fi-om that moment that they were broken — that they were more sorely wounded than ever they had been? They did entertain some little hope before, that Christ might look upon them with love, but now they are broken to pieces. And that breaking, together with the breaking of the Holy Spirit, which has ground them as in the mortar and pestle of conviction, has so broken them, that they feel utterly destroyed; besides the sickness of shi, they have upon them a sickness partly engendered by the strokes ot those who drove them away. I may be taking an extreme case, when I suppose one character in whom those four points meet. Have I any one here in such a position — not only “lost,” not only “driven away,” but “broken” and “sick” likewise? Thy head has begun to whirl; thou knowest not how it is; but so strong have these convictions got hold of
A TIMK OF ripfUlNQ FOR I GST SHEEP. 123
thee, that thy very mind seems to suflor froiu them; — a mystery to thyself, thou canst not tell where thou art. Some say that thou art mad, and thou thinkest withia thyself that thcj have good ground for the suspicion. Thou aH sick of thine existence, and almost ready to take away thy life; a terrible giddiness has seized thee, as if a hell were kindled in thy breast, to be the prelude of despair and irrevocable destruction, the first notes of the “Miserere” of eternal woe. Art thou reduced to such a terrible extremity? Art thou sick as well as broken aiul driven away and lost? Hear this, “I wil seek that which was lost,” Canst thou not believe God is true? “I will bring again that which was driven away.” Dost thou think God’s “Z<o///” stands for nothing? “I will bin(^ up that which was broken.” Canst thou not implicitly believe what God so absolutely affirms? “I will strengthen that which v.TiS sick.” O, sick one! God give thee grace to understand that he means what he says, and to believe that he wiP do what he promises. Come, now, is there one here in Avhoiu all these troubles meet? Let him lift up his head with joy from this moment, for Jesus Christ has come to save him, an(* his sighings shall, ere long, be exchanged for songs of tliaiikr giving.
II. Now very briefly let me hint at the four character.’ separately: First, *■’’ that lohich was lost.’’’’ This, of course, if the awakened sinner, who is made to know that in Adam ho is lost, and by his own sins he is utterly I’uined and destroyed Such an one has here the Divine anlhorily tor hope that Go(* will seek him, and that he shall yet be saved.
‘“‘■ I ^cill bring again that lohich was driven aioayy Tlii-” refers to the backslider, who has been driven away from Goc by sin. Strong temptations have goa<led him to follow tliP propensities of his own wicked will. Poor backslider I Goc* will restore thee. O! I could tell of some here who havp greatly and grievously departed from the paths of righteous fiess; and their leanness will testify that they have been driven from the pastures. Let me speak to you in God’s name: he will bring back “that which was driven away.” “01 but,’* thou sayest, “six years ago I dishonored my profession, and ever since I have been as one estranged from his people.” Ay, but if thou art the Lord’s child, if it were sixty years, he would bring thee back with weeping and lamentation unto Zion. “O! sir, but I have so disgraced the cause.” Turn thee, turn thee at his bidding; God invites thee to come. My backsliding brother, my backsliding sister, I will not condemn thee; I may become a backslider too, and the best ot these who now stand fast by Jesus may be likewise “overtaken in a fault.” Thou art condemned in thine own heart enough; I would not that thou shouldst “be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.” “Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you.” ‘Tis even so with our God. “Yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled fiorn him.” Come, Ephraim; thou hast been a stubborn child, still thy father bids thee come. Come, prodigal; thou hast wasted thy substance, yet a father’s loving eyes have beheld thee when thou wast a great way oif; come, his breast heaves with love for thee. Come, thou driven away one, come to him; he loved thee before thou lovedst him, and though thou didst rebel against him, he has never ceased to love thee. Though thou hast sinned much, his loving heart is immutably the same. O! believe in his goodness in the teeth of thine own unworthiness, so shalt thou be comforted, and the word on -svhich he hath caused thee to hope shall be fulfilled: “I will bring again that which was driven away.”
The next character is the broken one. The child of God is often broken; especially if ho has been a backslider, he is sure to have broken bones, and he is likely to walk halting all the rest of his days. Or the believer may be broken by trouble, by affliction, by assaults of the enemy; he may be broken on account of the inbred sin manifested to him by the IIoly Spirit. But, broken one, God will help thee, for he hath said, “I will bind up that which was broken.” Sweet thought! l*recious promises are the ligatures with which God himseU binds up broken bones. Marvelous surgeon! God Almighty himself bowing down from heaven to put the heavenly lini
A TIME Oi- FINDING FOR LOST SHEEP. 125
ment and ibe fair “white lincii of a Saviour’s rigliteousnesa round about the wounded spirit! Broken one, rejoice; God says, “I will heal thee.”
Lastly, there are the sick 07ies, and many such there are among the Lord’s people. Their luith is weak; their prayers ar-D not so spiritual and fervent as they could desire; there i* a jhill about them, or else a heat of feverish anxiety — tlieii hearts often palpitate with gloomy fears and sad forebodings; they are not so healthy as they desire to be before God; they long for that perfect love which casteth out fear. Ay, then, dost thou feeJ that sickness, poor saint, this morning? Say not, God will let thee die, because thou art sick. No, for he says, “I will strengthen that which was sick.” So, then, saints in all your distresses, sinners in all your sins, here are exceedingly great promises ministered unto you this morning: and may the Holy Spirit show you their infinite value, and apply them to you with demonstration and with power.
How unspeakable the satisfaction of a poor sufferer when he hears the physician minutely describe all his ailments! But to hear him speak with confidence that, however painful, no symptom is beyond his skill, how the patient will brighten up. Thy case, my brother, is more cheering still. Have you not sometimes neard your doctor say, “When you recover from this sickness you will be better than you were before?” Well, now, think for one moment how far God’s mercies exceed our miseries! how far his cure extends beyond our maladies! how sure he is to do for his people exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think! Then, ho! despairing soul, what though thou hast all four maladies, thou shalt have all four promises! If so be thou art a member of his fomily, for every affliction and every chastisement thou shalt get so many peaceable fruits of righteousness, that thou wilt afterwards kiss the rod and subscribe to David’s testimony, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.” And mark you this — in the fulfillment of his promises ye shall receive double for all your distresses.,
And, now, can I say aught more? Have I not gone to the uttermost case in the appUcation of my text? Are there any
126 A TIME ir riNDIXG roil LOST SIIEKP.
poor souls that I have not roaclied? Then lot rae try once again. My dear friends, do you know yourselves to be lost and ruined by the fall? Do you feel that you are utterly undone, ruined, and lost without Christ? Well, then, in hiy name I solemnly declare this great truth of the gospel, that all who know this and feel it may confidently believe that there is salvation for them. The only p; oof that I can give you that you shall be saints is, that you feel that you are now sinners. Oh! poor sin-sick soul, I thank God that thou art afflicted with this sickness, for thou wilt have recourse to the physician. Oh! poor sinner, I thank God that thou knowest thyself poor, for God will make thee rich.
But as for such of you as are “fat and strong,” that boast yourselves that you are good and have need of nothing, go your way; ye need no gospel and I have none to preach to you; ye who are so good and excellent, ye need no Christ to save you; ye will despise the man that comes in Christ’s name to jDreach free, unmerited, sovereign love. And what if ye do? Doth he care for your contempt? Not one whit. Reproach will sit lightly on him if he may but win souls to be found in Christ at last. If ye need not the medicine, spurn it if you please; but you are fools for your pains. If ye want it not for yourselves let others have it. If ye are so whole that ye need not the physician, hoot him not while he goes to attend uyon those who feel their danger imminent. Grumble not that I ircach no gospel to you, for you want it not. You are as good as you can be — in fact, rather better than most Christians, in your own opinion; you are no cants, no hypocrites. You may want a patch or two of religion to make you all right at last. Your garments are white and courtly, they only want a little brushing to take the dust off. Alas! for you, sirs, hell is built for such good people as you are; you shall find no place in heaven; its blessed mansions are prepared for sinners saved by grace, and hell’s dark dungeons i-emain for those who reject Christ, despise mercy, and scorn to sue for pai ;lon, because they deem themselves too good, too holy, too excellent to need a Saviour. I say again, as for you, who are fat and strong, God shall feed you with judgment. You think to stand by your own works, and your best works will destroy you. Y mi shall appear before God in your own characters, and they shall ruin you for ever. You think your own merits will suflice, and that God will bestow on you a reward. Yes, and he will reward you, and a terrible recompense it shall be, when you shall find yourselves receiving what you have earned — tribulation, wraih. and destruction from the presence of the Lord your God. Your consciences tell you that what I speak is true. Despise the warning now, but in the silent moments of your. sober thought this shall cling to you, this shall haunt you. When your guilt recoils on your memory, when your heart and flesh fail, and your reason totters at the prospect of a hereafter, you will howl with misery and cry out, “Woe worth the day!” Now, ye lost and ruined, come to Jesus; ye broken sinners, believe in Jesus; ye that are bruised and mangled by the &11^ come to Jesus.
“With true belief and true repentance,
Every grace to bring you uigh,
WitLout money,
Come to Jesu3 Christ, and buy.
“Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly droam;
Ail the fitness he requirelh,
la to feel your need of him.
This he gives you,
‘Tis his Sp hit’s rising beam.”
Lost souls, ye doubly lost, ye more than ruined, my Master begs you to coino; he has sent me to you this morning. Just as Abraham of old sent his sei-vant to go wooing for his son, 80 my God has sent me as his sei’vant to bid you come to Jesus. What sayest thou, lost sinner, wilt thou be made whole? Does thy heart leap into thy mouth, and dost thou answer, “Ay, with joy I would be made whole ?» Then that icilUngness God has given thee; the feeling of thy need he has bestowed on thee, and he bids thee now believe. Canst thou not believe Christ? See him there hanging on the cross; on that bloody tree behold him. Sinner, wilt thou not believe him now? What 1 dost
123 A TliLE OF FIXDIXG FOK LOST SHKEP.
thou think he dost not love thee, when he gave up his body to death for thee? What! not love thee, and yet die for thee? “Ay,” sayest thou, “I do not believe he did die for me,” What! not believe what he himself has said? He said he came to save sinners: dost thou doubt whether thou art a shiner? “No, su-,” you reply, “I know that.” Well, theUj wilt thou doubt my Master when he says he came to save sinners? Wilt thou not believe that he came to save thee? Or, if that be too bold for thy timid spirit, at least thou mayest say —
“I can but perish if I go:
I am resolved to try:
For if I stay away, I know
I must for ever die.
But if I die, with mercy sought,
“When I the King have tried,
That were to die — delightful thought l-^
As sinner never died I”
Simie) never did die so; try it, soul, and thou shalt find it true.