Isaiah 43:6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; My intention is rather to utilise than to expound the text. I. The first counsel is — GIVE UP. 1. With some of you it is imperative that you give up your prejudices. So have you mis-estimated true religion, that you have been accustomed to denounce it as cant, and to declaim the professors of it as hypocrites. Give up this blind bias, and give the Gospel a fair hearing. Should it turn out to be an imposture, you will at least be the better able to expose its fictions, after having studied its facts; but should it happen to be genuine and true, how ill will it be for you if you continue to despise it! 2. Give up in like manner your selfrighteousness. 3. Give up your sins. You cannot be saved from their consequence if you cling to their company. 4. Give up delays. 5. I might well say to some, give up quibbling. You have never yet come to the point with your own conscience. You have always been so deft at finding out knots and raising questions. What is the good of it? If you are never saved till you get every problem solved, you will never be saved at all. If a vessel were breaking in pieces on yonder shore, and the rocket apparatus had fired a rope into the middle of the vessel, would you not think the crew to be insane if they said to one another, "We do not understand how it is that the rocket apparatus manages this"? Oh but they just twist the rope round the mast, get a holdfast, and begin to swing themselves ashore. 6. Give up, you troubled ones; give up despondency; give up the thought that there is no hope; give up the suspicion that Jesus cannot forgive. II. KEEP NOT BACK. 1. Keep not back from attending the means of grace. 2. When you do attend the house of the Lord, keep not back from a simple obedience of the Gospel. 3. When you have looked to Christ, keep not back from the mercyseat. You will begin to pray, perhaps, and find yourself stammering and trembling, but keep not back. Your old sins will half choke you in the recollection of them, but keep not back. If anybody saw you trying to pray they would say, "What you, you old wretch, you trying to pray!" Oh! but keep not back. 'Tis mercy calls you; come and pray. 4. When you have really trusted in Christ, and have learned to pray, then Keep not back from coming forward and making a profession of your faith in Jesus. Be prompt, if you would be precise in serving the Lord. "I made haste," said David, "and delayed not to keep Thy commandments." 5. To those who are saved, and have avowed their conversion, let me say, Keep not back from the Lord's service. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; |
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