The Mighty Watcher, and His Twofold Work

Next Part The Mighty Watcher, and His Twofold Work 2

Preached at Providence Chapel, London,
on July 11, 1847, by J. C. Philpot

"And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict—so I will watch over them, to build, and to plant," says the Lord. Jeremiah 31:28

True religion—vital godliness, (the words with me are synonymous), has two sides to it. And by this mark it is distinguished from all pretension, without actual possession.

If, for instance, we cast a glance at the profession of some, it is all upon the bright side of things. Constant, unwavering assurance, continually triumphing in Christ, complete victory over doubt, fear, sin, and Satan—is the staple of their religion. And they would gladly have you believe, that they are actually and experimentally before God what they profess to be before men. But when we come with close and searching eye to watch the fruits, internal and external, that spring from this 'splendid profession', how little do they correspond with the profession itself! Pride, covetousness, worldly-mindedness, levity, frivolity, a hard, contentious spirit, irreverence in divine things, bitter and contemptuous speeches against God's tried and tempted family, intermingling with politics, and, in many cases, love of strong drink, running heedlessly into debt, and general looseness of conduct—how often are these dark marks stamped upon this bright profession of 'always triumphing in Christ!'

But again. We may cast a glance at others who are always upon the dark side; who never seem to rise beyond a knowledge of the evils of their heart, and the power of temptation; who are continually falling into open sin, and seem to know nothing of faith in Christ, of hope in his mercy, of love to his name, nor any deliverance from time to time by the hand of God from besetting lusts; nor again, anything of sighs, cries, groans, holy mourning, godly sorrow, or self-loathing for their vileness and baseness. The staple of their religion, as well as the warp and weft in the web of their conversation, is man's fallen condition by nature, and his helplessness and weakness; and yet this seems more expressed than felt, as sin never appears their grief and burden.

Thus of these two classes in the religious world, one is all upon the malady, the other all upon the remedy; both hold truth doctrinally, but each only a part of truth; and the work of the Spirit upon the heart seems to both alike unknown.

From these two extremes, true religion, vital godliness, is distinguished by having two sides, and these as intimately and closely connected as the mortice and the tenon. It is not alllight, it is not all darkness—it is not all faith, it is not all unbelief—it is not all joy, it is not all sorrow—it is not all life and holiness, it is not all death and devilism. And I think, if God enables us to see the mind of the Spirit in the words before us, we shall discover something of these two sides in our text; and then it will be found not a dream of the brain, not a fiction of mine or of any other man's imagination, not a crafty substitution of mere natural feelings and nervous impressions for the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart—in a word, not "a cunningly devised fable," but a spiritual reality, and one which God himself has stamped with his own divine testimony.

Two things we may observe, then, in the words before us. First, the watching of God to pull down; and secondly, the watching of God to build up. And these two things, corresponding to the two clauses of our text, I shall, as the Lord may give strength, wisdom, and utterance, endeavor to set before you this evening.

I. The watching of God to PULL DOWN. "And it shall come to pass, that like as I have WATCHED over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and todestroy, and to afflict." Every expression here demands a separate examination. Gods word cannot be lightly passed over. Every syllable dictated by the Holy Spirit is pregnant with instruction—and if we cannot dig deep into this mine of spiritual and experimental truth, the fault is not in the mine, but in the miner. The vein of spiritual ore is deep and inexhaustible. We indeed may not have wisdom or experience to penetrate beyond the surface; but let us not complain of the thinness of the vein when we should rather complain of our ignorance how to reach the treasure that couches beneath.

"And it shall come to pass, that like as I have WATCHED over them." Is there not something very expressive in this word?—the Lord watching over his people to bring about a certain work, which was pre-designed in his own eternal mind? To my mind, the word contains much worthy of our closest enquiry and deepest observation. Several things may be gathered from the expression.

1. The all-seeing eye, and the all-accomplishing hand of God. Does he leave anything here for the creature to perform? Is one iota of the work put into the hands of man? No; God claims it to Himself as his own inviolable prerogative to watch over his Zion for a special purpose.

2. Mark, too, a certain tenderness connected with God's spiritual watching over his people to bring about in them the secret purposes of his good pleasure. The fond mother watches over the cradle of her child; so the Lord, challenging a comparison with the tenderest mother that ever breathed, says, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you." (Isa. 49:15.) Thus as the fond mother watches her sleeping child until it awakes, so does the Lord tenderly watch over his Zion until his sleeping purposes awake on her behalf.

3. But the word "watch" points also to a fixed time in God's own bosom when a certain pre-determined work is to be brought forth. He is watching (if I may use the word with all reverence) for a certain time to arrive which was before purposed in his own eternal mind—"the set time to favor Zion."

4. It also points out how every circumstance is pre-arranged—that no event comes by chance, or springs out of the dust; that they are not the fruit of human wisdom, or the product of human industry; but are so foreappointed in the eternal mind that it is as if God has "watched" for every circumstance to arise whereby he means to bring his purpose to pass.

5. The word also points out (for we have not yet exhausted all that is lodged in the expression) the means, ways, and instruments which God designs to make use of, in order to execute his own purposes.

6. And, not to draw too much out of the word, it also points to this, that God will never cease to watch until his work is fully accomplished.

Carry, or endeavor to carry these things in your mind, while I attempt, in the Lord's help and strength, to open up what he is watching to do.

"And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, says the Lord."

What a repetition of apparently almost synonymous expressions is here, all pointing to one work! But dare any say, a needless repetition? Dare any one charge God with that which he forbids in us, to think to be heard on account of much speaking? Has God forbidden us to speak to him with "vain repetitions;" and will he use vain repetitions when he speaks to us? We may not indeed be able to enter into the fullness of every word here; yet doubtless, these varied expressions have each their separate and distinct meaning. As God may enable, then, let us endeavor to bring something spiritual and experimental out of each. I feel my ignorance and inability. May the Lord teach and enable me to open up his own blessed mind out of the text.

A. The first thing the Lord "watches" to do, is "to PLUCK UP." What is the idea contained in that expression? Carry your mind to a field covered with noxious weeds, overspread with thorns, thistles, and briars—is not "plucking up" an operation needed there? Take your eyes into your own bosom; look at that field by nature! Does not a field covered with thorns, thistles, weeds, and briars, represent in some measure what your heart is by nature? It was once the garden of the Lord, a smiling Eden—but sin came in—and through the entrance of sin, these briars and thistles have sprung up. Must they not be plucked up? "You are God's husbandry." (1 Cor. 3:9.) "My Father is the husbandman." (John 15:1.) God here takes to himself the name, title, and prerogative of cultivating the soil, the barren soil, of the human heart. And his first operation is, to "pluck up" the weeds he finds there. Does not the Lord himself say, "Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up?" (Matt. 15:13.) And is not this true of the elect inwardly as well as of the ungodly outwardly?

One of the first weeds which the divine Husbandman plucks up is our own righteousness! O that weed! how thickly it is spread over the surface of the soil! Sometimes, as we journey through the country, we see whole fields covered with weeds; some blazing with the scarlet poppy, others yellow with the blossoms of the charlock. Our eye tells us in a moment that the weeds, the noxious weeds must be plucked up before good grain can grow there. And our own righteousness!—is not our heart by nature overspread with it, as the field before alluded to blazes with the poppy, or is all yellow with charlock? It must, then, be plucked up. And will plucking up be very easy and pleasant work? When the husbandman sets to his hand to "pluck up" by the roots our own righteousness—must not pain attend the operation? Could the earth feel, and speak as well as feel, would she not groan and shriek as the plough tore open her bosom? And as the plough of God's holy law enters into the conscience of a guilty sinner to turn beneath the soil the weeds of nature, shall his bosom be like a nether millstone, and feel no inward pang? It cannot be! it cannot be!—pain must attend the operation.

And O how many things, did time suffice to enumerate them here, have to be "plucked up." What prejudices! What secret love to sin! What cleaving to the things of time and sense! What embracing in the arms of our carnal affection things that God hates! O how spread, how overspread our carnal mind is with everything hateful and horrible, noxious and loathsome in the eyes of infinite Purity!

But God, in the case of his Zion, "watches" over her to "pluck up." Time, circumstances, means—all are in God's hands. Time cannot be hastened; circumstances cannot be created—causes cannot be produced, except as God "watches" over his Zion to bring about the purposes of his heart. But as sure as God has foreordained to "pluck up" SELF by the roots—be it righteous self or UNrighteous self, profane self or professing self—the time will come, circumstances will arise, and causes will appear, all in the hands of God, and do his work. It may be under a sermon; it may be by reading the experience of gracious men; it may be in conversation with a godly person; it may be upon a bed of sickness; it may be upon a bed of death! All these things are in the hand of God; for he "watches" over his Zion to do a certain work; and as sure as you belong to his Zion, will he "watch" over you to "pluck up" your weeds and briars, if that operation has not yet taken place.

B. "And to BREAK DOWN." What is the idea contained in this expression? View a city built in stone, as Jerusalem was, with towers and bulwarks, and almost impregnable. Shall that be broken down? It shall!—and not one stone left upon the other shall mark the place where the temple stood. Is not this true spiritually? What towers, what bulwarks, what walls are in our heart!—like the cities of the Canaanites, "walls built up to heaven." What enmity against God's truth! What obstinacy of mind! What determination to have our own will and way! What perverseness! What self-esteem! What self-conceit! What deceitfulness! What delusion in all its shapes and forms!—walls, towers, bulwarks, these all built up against the entrance of God into the soul!

And can the King of Zion find entrance into our breast when every gate bristles with battlements against him, and the very walls of our heart are armed to resist him? But forth he must come, conquering and to conquer; for the ancient word to him is, "Put on your sword, O mighty warrior! You are so glorious, so majestic! In your majesty, ride out to victory, defending truth, humility, and justice. Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds! Your arrows are sharp, piercing your enemies' hearts. The nations fall before you, lying down beneath your feet." (Psalm 45:3-5) Thus the Lord goes forth, and "watches" over Zion to break her down.

And what a mercy it is to be broken down! To have our prejudices against God's truth broken down; to have the carnal enmity of our mind against God in some measure broken down; to have the obstinacy, waywardness, and wilfulness of our heart in any degree broken down; to have unbelief, infidelity, and all the suggestions of our evil nature against God and godliness broken down! The conquerors of old did not enter the city through the gates—the walls were broken down for the triumphant chariot to enter in.

So with King Jesus! The walls of prejudice, unbelief, carnal security, and enmity against God, like those of Jericho, must fall before the ark; the battlements of wilfulness, waywardness, and perverseness must all be broken down that Christ may come into the heart, and take possession of the soul.
C. "And to THROW DOWN." What is this idea? Something lofty. To "break down," embraces the low as well as the high; it takes a general sweep against all that stands in the way of the Almighty—but to "throw down," points to those lofty buildings which are violently hurled down, as if by an earthquake. And is not this the case spiritually and experimentally in God's Zion? O what "airy castles" have we in time past built up, their very tops lost in the heavens! And have not some of these airy castles been thrown down?

O youth, youth! what pleasing prospects danced before our entranced eye in youth! What future happiness in a long vista of coming years! What daydreams did buoyant youth and cheerful spirits picture forth!—days, alas! that never came. And it is our mercy they never did come! To picture days of happiness, prosperity, and joy for ourselves, and not one thought of God in them!—does the Lord approve of these airy castles thus built up? No! How can he approve of them? Were they not, like the Babel of old, built up in defiance of God? Was not this the secret language which every one of these airy castle builders uttered—"I can be happy without God—I can have pleasure without those pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore—I don't need the Lord to make me happy—let me have what my carnal heart desires—it is enough."

Treason! treason against the Majesty of heaven! The Lord cannot, then, consistently with his own perfections and purposes, allow these castles to stand. Throw them down! level these proud pinnacles in the dust! hurl them into deserved ruin!

But O how painful to have these airy castles dissolved like the clouds of a summer's evening! When the sun was dipping beneath the horizon, how they shone gilded with his expiring rays and beams, but when he sunk, they were turned into pitchy darkness! And O, how many clouds, springing from youth and cheerful spirits, and once gilded by the unclouded sun of health and strength, instead of proving substantial realities, have dissolved into thin air, or burst in storms over our heads! Throw them down!

And is there not in our hearts an idol worse than all? Self! self! And must that idol stand where God in Christ stoops to dwell, and make it his temple? for "God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (2 Cor. 6:16.) Shall this idol self, then, stand in the place where God himself means to dwell? It cannot be! For "Christ has no communion with Belial." It must be thrown down! Worldly self, righteous self, professing self, profane self, holy self!—down they must go into the dust, that the Lord alone may reign supreme!

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