Friday, December 21, 2012

A PROMISE FOR US AND FOR OUR CHILDREN -BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON

A PROMISE FOR US AND FOR OUR CHILDREN

NO. 564
DELVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 10, 1864,

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BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“Yet now hear, O Jacob, My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: thus says the Lord that made you, and formed you from the womb, which will help you: Fear not, O Jacob, My servant; and you, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.”
Isaiah 44:1-5.
   Brothers and Sisters, reach down for your biographies; turn over your diaries; go back with me a little while to that spot where you first knew the Savior, then march on along the way by which the Lord has led you, till you reach the day and hour which found you in the House of God, listening to His promise.
   We were once the servants of sin, and the slaves of our own passions, but He who made us free has now taken us into His family and taught us obedience to His will. We can say with David, “I am Your servant; I am Your servant, and the son of Your handmaid: You have loosed my bonds.”
We do not serve our Master perfectly, but we would if we could. There are some of His Commandments which we forget, but there are none which we would despise. We do, through infirmity, turn aside unto crooked ways, but we find no comfort in them. Our meat and our drink is to do the will of Him who sent us, and our prayer is— “Make me to walk in Your commands, It is a delightful road. Nor let my head, nor heart, nor hands, Offend against my God.”
   Ah, my Savior is no fickle lover. He does not feel enchanted for a while with some gleams of beauty from His Church’s eyes, and then afterwards cast her off because of her unfaithfulness.
    Well then, here is His promise of what He will do, “I will help you.”
You cannot pray this morning; you cannot wrestle as you desire—“I will help you.” You feel unable to overcome sin—“I will help you.” You are engaged in service too heavy for you—“I will help you.” Whether it is to suffer, to sacrifice, to labor, or to endure, take this comfort—“I will help you.” I love this promise! It is a very short one, but it is all the longer in meaning because it is short in expression. You may avail yourself of it in all cases. The promise turns every way, and blesses in every form. It is like a weapon which may be used for 50 purposes—it will be to you, if you will, a sword, and you may beat it into a plowshare; or it will prove a shield, a spear, a chariot, and I know not what besides. You cannot find any possible position into which the child of God can be brought in which this promise will fail to bless him!
   O my Brothers and Sisters, when the Holy Spirit visits a man, what a difference it makes in him!

I know a preacher, once as dull and dead a man as ever misused a pulpit; under his slumbering ministrations there were few conversions, and the congregation grew thinner and thinner, good men sighed in secret, and the enemy said, “Aha, so would we have it!”
The revival came—the Holy Spirit worked gloriously, the preacher felt the Divine Fire and suddenly woke up to energy and zeal. The man appeared to be transformed; his tongue seemed touched with fire; elaborate and written discourses were laid aside, and he began to talk out of his own glowing heart to the hearts of others! He preached as he had never done before; the place filled; the dry bones were stirred, and quickening began! They who knew him once so elegant, correct, passionless, dignified, cold, lifeless, and unprofitable, asked in amazement, “Is Saul also among the Prophets?” The Spirit of God is a great wonder-worker!
You will notice certain Church members; they have never been good for much; we have had their names on the roll, and that is all—suddenly the Spirit of God has come upon them, and they have been honored among us for their zeal and usefulness! We have seen them here and there and everywhere diligent in the service of God, and foremost in all sorts of Christian labor, though before you could hardly get them to stir an inch.
I would that the quickening Spirit would come down upon me and upon you—upon every one of us in abundance—to create us valiant men for Truth and mighty for the Lord!
O for some of the ancient valor of Apostolic times, that, like good Knights of the Cross we would dash forward against the foe, and with irresistible courage deal heavy blows against the adversary of souls and his vast host! We may do this; we have only to plead the promise! God will be inquired of, but the promise stands true, “I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.” Do not lose the blessing through remissness, but ask and you shall receive.
Brothers and Sisters, pray for me; for I need more Grace, and in return I will plead the Lord’s words on your behalf.
As a very great comfort to His mourning people, the Lord now promises A BLESSING UPON THEIR CHILDREN. You will observe, dear Friends, that they must get the blessing for themselves first, for the third verse has it—“I
will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground”—that is first; and then afterwards—“I will pour My Spirit upon your seed.”
We must not expect to see our children blessed unless we ourselves grow in Grace. It is often the inconsistency of parents which is the obstacle—the outward obstacle to the conversion of their children.

No doubt there have been multitudes of children of professing parents who have been damned instrumentally by the ungodliness and inconsistency of their parents at home.
The parents, let us hope, were Christians—but there has been so much of apparent inconsistency about them, that the ruin of their children has been the consequence. It is a notorious fact that some of the worst of men have been the children of godly parents.
Do pray, dear Friends, for your children, that God will pour His Spirit upon them; and as to the rest, you may depend that all the fruits will come in due time.
Tell the child that he is dead in trespasses and sins, let there be no doubt about his natural condition, and let this always be your prayer, “Almighty Grace, renew his heart; turn him from darkness to Light, and make him Yours!”