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Christ's battles are not such as require strength of muscle and bone, nor do they need great mental capacity. Even the appointed watchman is set only to warn the people: he has not to charm them with eloquence, nor to electrify them with novelties of oratory: he is simply to warn them, and the plainest language may suffice for that.

I. If we would be found really useful and serviceable for our Lord and Master, THE EAR IS TO BE DISCIPLINED. "Hear the word at My mouth." What does this mean?

1. I take it, first, that if we wish to be useful our ear must be disciplined to hear only God's word. Believe Him, for He cannot lie. We come to tell you of what we ourselves have received upon Divine authority, and we claim that you do receive our testimony, not because it is ours, but because it is supported by Divine authority, and is in fact the echo of the Divine word. Only by this mode of utterance can we hope to succeed. On any other footing we court failure and deserve it.

2. Secondly, if we would have our ear educated, it must be not only to receive the word as of Divine authority, but to know what God's word is. Let us study the Bible with diligence. Go to that fountain of truth, I pray you, and never be satisfied with a second-hand version of it. Go you to the fountain head and drink there or ever the streams have been mudded by human blundering.

3. The great thing, I believe, with a successful winner of souls is to hear God's truth from God's own mouth. Do you want to know Christ's way of making men useful? Turn to Mark 3:13-15. Do you see the order? He calls them to Him, — you must not dream of winning souls till you first come to Christ yourself. Next we read, "That they might be with Him," — you cannot go and teach Christ, or bring others to Him, unless you have first been with Him. Communion with Jesus is training for service. After the fellowship comes the work — "That He might send them forth to preach, and to have power."

4. To have our ear well tutored we must feel the force of the truth that we deliver. Sin, — are you going to talk about the evil of it? Do you know the evil of it for yourself? Get back to the place of repentance where you once wet the earth with your tears, and talk to children or grown-up people about sin in that spirit. Pardon, — are you going to speak about that? Do you know the sweetness of it? Go to the place where first you saw the flowing of the ever-precious blood, and feel again your load of guilt removed, and you will speak of it most sweetly. The power of the Holy Spirit, — are you going to speak about that? Have you felt His quickening, enlightening, comforting, and sanctifying influence?

II. THE TONGUE IS TO BE EDUCATED. That is indeed the aim of the discipline of the ear. And to what end is the tongue educated?

1. To be able to deliver an unpleasant message. You and I cannot be useful if we want to be sweet as honey in the mouths of men. God will never bless us if we wish to please men, that they may think well of us. Are you willing to tell them what will break your own heart in the telling and break theirs in the hearing? If not, you are not fit to serve the Lord.

2. Next, you want your tongue tutored to speak the truth as having yourself heard it. The man should be full of emotion, not moved by anger, but by a sacred passion which arouses him and makes the people feel that he is in awful earnest, carried out of himself, not delivering set phrases and words from his mouth outwards, but speaking from his inmost heart. Now, if we were to meet with our Lord Jesus Himself, and were then to speak of Him in the state of mind in which His presence left us, what a style of speech that would be.

3. The tongue needs to be trained in the case of each one of us to deliver the message as from God. You may not all be called to the work of prophesying as ministers are, but you are all called by some means to warn men of the wrath to come and lead them to Christ, and I want you to feel that God is at the back of you when you warn sinners. God will own His truth, therefore never be ashamed of it.

III. I finish by endeavouring to practise THE LESSON OF THE TEXT. I desire to speak to those who are unconverted, and to speak as if I had just come from an interview with my Lord and Master, as I trust I have. I have to say to you now present, that whatever may be your natural excellence of character, and whatever the religiousness of your training, yet you must all of you be born again. The Master would lay a strong tender emphasis upon the "must." "Ye must be born again." Jesus would not demand of us more than is absolutely necessary, nor say a syllable that would tend to shut a soul out of heaven. If He says, "Ye must," why then we must. I want you to own that necessity. Next I desire to introduce you to Jesus sitting at the well with the woman of Samaria. You can see the smile upon His countenance as He instructs her. I want you now to hear Him say these words: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." You must have a spiritual mind and a spiritual nature through being born again: and then you must worship God in a spiritual way, for mere outward religion is nothing in His sight. Oh, ask that the Spirit of God would teach you how to worship in spirit and in truth. Now listen to my Master again. "Ye search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." Do you think you will get salvation by Bible reading? Alas, you are in error. You must go further than that; you must go to Christ Jesus Himself. Listen to my Master once again: "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." I know you will say that I speak hard things. Perhaps I do, but not with a hard heart. Now, my Lord is always tender, never man spake like this man, and never man wept as He did when He had a hard thing to say; hear ye then His declaration, "Except ye believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." The last thing that was ever seen of my Lord and Master upon earth was this. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." They stood with their ears and eves open to know how He would have them put the Gospel, and He said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned."

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

WEB: It happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,