A Discriminating Ministry 2
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2. But again, there are precious DOCTRINES and there are vile doctrines; and these precious doctrines and these vile doctrines are apparently intermixed, so that it needs the servant of God to take forth the one from the other. The doctrine of the blessed Trinity is a precious doctrine. A Trinity of Persons in the unity of Godhead, an eternal Father, an eternal Son, an eternal Spirit, and yet these three Persons all one glorious God in the indivisible unity of the eternal essence– this is a precious doctrine, for it spreads its grace and its glory on every branch of divine truth. It sheds its beauty and glory on the electing love of God, on the redeeming blood of Jesus, on the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of three Persons in one God, and each co-equal in Deity, casts a bright and beautiful luster on every sacred truth of the Bible, so that without it there is no order, but all is confusion. If the blood which cleanses from all sin is not the blood of the Son of God, of him who is God, what value or validity is there in it to cleanse a guilty conscience? If his obedience is not the obedience of God's equal, how can that obedience be imputed to the saints of God, to be their shield and shelter, to justify them from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses? If his love is not the love of the Son of God, how can that love be from everlasting to everlasting? How can it diffuse itself among the members of his mystical body? And again, how can he hear prayer and answer prayer and be an intercessor able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him, unless deity gave validity to every act of his humanity? And so with the Holy Spirit, his divine Person in the glorious Godhead, it casts a beauteous luster on every branch of revealed truth. The Sonship of Christ– that he is the revealed Son of the Father, to ever lie in his bosom as his own proper and real Son– is a precious doctrine; and every notion, fancy, or doctrine which opposes that, is to be stamped as unutterable vile.
The sovereignty of God, in choosing whom he will, in giving no account to man of these matters, but as a sovereign disposing of all men, and all events, and all circumstances, is a precious doctrine. And though there are times and seasons when that doctrine seems to militate against our thoughts and wishes, when it seems to cross our path both in providence and in grace; yet it will ever be embraced by the saints of God, as a God glorifying truth, that He, as a sovereign, has a right to do what he will with body and soul, and that all his purposes are the purposes of a sovereign who can execute what he may determine to bring to pass.
What, then, are vile doctrines? Every doctrine which denies the Trinity, whatever name it be called by, is a vile doctrine. Every doctrine which denies the eternal Sonship of our blessed Lord is a vile doctrine. Every doctrine which derogates from the honor of God, the glory of God, the majesty of God, is a vile doctrine; spring from what source it may, called by whatever name, it is a vile doctrine because opposed to the grand fundamental principles of our most holy faith. That God never chastises people for sin is a vile doctrine, because it leads men to licentiousness; it hardens men's hearts in the practice of sin, if God does not chastise them for their iniquities and purge them by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. Self-righteousness, Pharisaic love, legal duties carried on in a legal spirit, is a vile doctrine, because derogatory to the doctrines of sovereign grace, and opposed to the teaching of the Holy Spirit and the whole word of God from Genesis to Revelation. That men may live as they list; walk in the ways of the ungodly and have peace of conscience; do that which is evil and live in it and love it, and yet be saved without repentance, or godly sorrow, or confession, or leaving their sins, is a vile doctrine, base Antinomianism, and has caused the way of truth to be spoken evil of, for many are Antinomians in spirit and in conduct who dare not broach it in so many words.
Take it, then, as shortly as I can lay it down, that every doctrine opposed to God and godliness, be it called by what name it may, is a vile doctrine, and the servant of the Lord has to take one forth from the other, has to prove every word, and give the precious doctrines of the everlasting Gospel, and set upon them God's attesting seal. And he is to denounce and testify, and warn his hearers against those vile doctrines which harden the heart, sear the conscience, and land men in destruction and perdition.
3. There is precious EXPERIENCE and there is vile experience. A PRECIOUS experience springs out of the teaching of God in the soul and the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart. Every conviction of sin that springs from the Spirit's inward convincing operations is precious as being the handiwork of God. Every sigh, every cry, every groan, every tear, every honest, humble confession before God of what we have been and are, is precious, because it is wrought by a divine power in the soul and the result of it is salvation. Every sweet manifestation of the Son of God to the soul; every glimpse, glance, gleam, or view of his glorious Person by faith; every shining in of the light of his countenance, application of his word with power, whisper of his heavenly love, drawing of his divine grace, application of his precious truth to the heart is precious; it comes from God, it leads to God, it is the work of the Holy Spirit, it prepares the soul for eternity, it is a jewel of God's own gift.
Even the humblings that we experience under the hand of God, the breaking down of a hard heart, the softening of an obdurate spirit, the melting of soul under the breath of the Lord, with the going forth of supplication, confession, and desire unto the God of all our mercies to look upon us and bless us, is precious, because it is his gift and work. Everything which brings out of self, draws to the Lord, makes sin hateful, Jesus precious, puts the world under our feet, gives us the victory over sin, weans us from the love of self, and makes the Lord Jesus precious, should be called a precious experience.
And then there is a VILE experience, which is a knowledge of sin without a knowledge of salvation. Many men can speak of their evil heart and take a glory in it. There are few, speaking comparatively, and perhaps none who sit under a gospel ministry, who cannot speak something of the evil of their hearts. "O, they are so filthy, and so base, and so vile, and so black." Well, they are all that; but after all, it may be a vile experience– nothing but a burning up of nature, nothing but the shining of light upon a dark and wicked heart, without any holy mourning under it, no godly sorrow, no real contrition, no repentance, no confession, no forsaking it. Men will glory in their sins, speak of their bad tempers, how they quarrel with their wives, how cross they are with their children, how they can speak to their servants, and throw these things about as though this vile experience was the effect of grace, the fruit of the teaching of the Spirit. They can even boast of the sins they have committed, talk of the way they have been entangled, the lusts they have fallen a prey to, and throw all this about as though it was grace that had wrought a knowledge of these things in them. It is nothing but a vile experience, just so much dung and dirt of their corrupt nature, without anything of the grace of God in it.
It is not knowing yourselves to be sinners that will save your souls; it is not seeing what you are– black as the tents of Kedar, that will take you to heaven. You may like to hear ministers describe the depths of the fall, the sins we are prone to, the temptations we are subject to, and the evils we feel. You can sit very eagerly to listen to a minister describing his evil heart, and evil temper, and what he feels in the absence of God, what a fretful, murmuring nature he has. You can suck all that down like sweet honey and feed upon it as the honeycomb.
But when the servant of God begins to describe his sighs, cries, mourning, and tears, his restless nights, gloomy days, and how he has been exercised on account of the sins he feels, you turn your ear away; you leave all that. You take all the dark, all the black, all the foul, all the filthy, all the vile, and you gather up all this filth and rubbish, and seek to make an experience of it. You say, "Ah, our good minister tells us how bad he is, and what a vile heart he has– why, I feel just as our good minister does, and if he is right I am right." You take all the filth and vileness, but leave out all the good. And he will tell you perhaps he is tempted; and you say "Yes, I am tempted." But he does not tell you he gives way to temptation if you do. He tells you Satan spreads snares for his feet, but he does not tell you he falls into them as you do. He tells you how wicked his heart is, and how easily he might be drawn aside if God permitted; and you believe all that. But you won't listen to him when he tells you how God keeps him as the apple of his eye, plants his fear deep in his heart, and turns him away from sin. You pull back your ear from all that and thus harden your hearts under a sound Gospel ministry. You feed upon ashes; a deceived heart turns you aside; you bring a lie in your right hand. Here is the vile experience.
Now the servant of God is to take forth the one from the other. He is not to keep back the evils of men's hearts, not to shun declaring the snares laid for their feet, nor the temptations into which they may fall but for God's help. He will tell you what he is and how sin works, because his heart is exercised by it. But he will not leave these things at an uncertainty, but will so take forth the precious experience and hold it up to view that it will be seen it is precious; and then your vile experience, he will take and cast it out like filth, and set upon it his condemning seal, backed by the authority of God. And so he will take forth the precious from the vile.
4. And so with PRACTICE. There is precious practice and there is vile practice; and the servant of God will show you the difference. Precious practice is that which flows from the love of God, influencing the heart to every good word and work, which springs out of union with the living vine, and is produced by the sap and nutriment of grace flowing into the branches; the practice that springs out of love, not fear; grace, not the law; and the work of the Holy Spirit, and not the spawn of free-will. He will show you that precious practice is to live a consistent life, to walk in godly fear, to adorn the doctrine by the fruits of righteousness; and then he will denounce vile practice. He will thunder forth God's denunciations against all vile practice masked and robed under cover of religion. He will take one from the other and show what is precious practice wrought in the heart by the power of God, and what is vile practice as carried on in secret under the cloak of religion, and carried on in the dark chambers of imagery. And he will show, also, that all practice that does not spring out of the power of God upon the soul, that may be born of human approbation, and arise from a Pharisaic spirit, is in the sight of God vile, because not wrought in the heart by his own Almighty power.
II. A PROMISE– "You shall be as my mouth." Now you see what a work the servant of God has to do, and how he ought to be instructed in his own mind to see who are precious characters and who are vile characters, what are precious doctrines and what are vile doctrines, what is precious experience and what is vile experience, what is precious practice and what is vile practice; and not only have wisdom and discernment to see the difference, but boldness to declare it; not to fear man; to stand in no dread of his congregation, but to stand before them in faithfulness and honesty, as being a steward of the mysteries of God and being responsible to God for the due execution of his office. Now this man will be as God's mouth. God will speak with authority by him to your souls. You will receive many a sweet testimony into your conscience from him, because he will not mask over matters nor cloak over doctrines, and experience, and practice, and hide them all up in confusion.
But he will speak with that authority, and that power, and that unction, and that savor, that it will be at times as God's very mouth to your soul. You will see your character described, and it will come home to your bosom, and drop as a word from God into your heart. He shall trace out your experience; he shall bring to light your profession; and the word of God will so back up what he says, that it shall come home with God's authority, power, and unction into your soul. But if a man do not take forth the precious from the vile, he never can be as God's mouth. He never can speak with authority and power; nor would his word find a place in the consciences of those who fear God's name.
III. A COMMAND. Now comes our last point– the PRECEPT or exhortation– "Let this people return to you, but you must not return to them." Now a faithful ministry will drive out and purge those who cannot bear to sit under it. There are very few that can bear a faithful ministry. So when a man begins to take forth the precious from the vile, and be as God's mouth, he must expect to drive from the sound of his voice, those who cannot receive the testimony; because they are convinced in their own conscience, and they fly away because their conscience testifies against them. Now what is he to do to them? Is he to go after them and bring them back? "No!" God says, "Let this people return to you, but you must not return to them. Maintain you your post."
"Well, Lord, but perhaps they are rich; we shall lose their support; they will withdraw their subscriptions; the cause will suffer; we shan't get on so well. Might not he soften it a little, not be quite so harsh, give it out in a more mild and gentle form, not speak about vile characters, and vile doctrines, and vile experience, and vile practice? Why can't he smooth matters over a little, and these people won't leave."' God says, "Let this people return to you, but you must not return to them." And if they be saints of God, and the Lord has begun his work of grace upon their souls, and touched their heart with a coal from off the altar, and made their souls to burn within them, then they will gladly come back. They may go on in error and find their hearts hardened; go among Arminians and free-willers, and find nothing but bondage and death. Now the man of God is not to go after them, nor to smooth matters over, but still to maintain his ground in all faithfulness. "Let this people return to you, but you must not return to them." And those in whose hearts God has planted his fear, in whose souls he has begun to work with his heavenly grace, will always come sooner or later, under the sound of a faithful ministry. But others take offence, go away, leave, turn their back upon the truth and the people of God; and those often perish in their own deceiving.
Do you, dear friends, stand by the cause of God and truth? Is there anything can save your souls but truth? Can error save you, bless you, comfort you, support you, be with you on a bed of sickness, pain, languishing, and death? Is there anything but the blood of Christ that can wash your guilty conscience– anything but his righteousness that can justify your needy, naked soul– anything but his love that can be a sweet balm and cordial to your bleeding spirit? Can you abide by error? abide by evil? abide by sin? abide by the world? abide by carnality and death? No! You can only abide by truth in its power, abide by the blood of Christ revealed to your conscience, abide by the love of God shed abroad in your soul, abide by the support of his upholding hand, abide by the sweet views of his Spirit to your soul. You can die by truth as well as live by truth.
Therefore, never think for a single moment of turning your back on the ways of God, for if you do, you will only walk in the ways that lead to perdition; and if you go on in them, the further you go the more you will be entangled in the maze of sin and error, and it will be a mercy if you are ever brought back. Never mind your discouragements. Keep on in the footsteps of the prophet– they will guide you right at last. Abide by the truth of God– it has saved thousands; it will save you. Therefore, whatever be the consequence, hang by the truth of God; keep close to what he has revealed by his Spirit and grace, and then you will receive the end of your faith in the salvation of your soul.
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