Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 875
Delivered on Sunday Morning, JUNE 13, 1869, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“Things to come, all are yours.”- 1 Corinthians 3:22.
A SHORT time ago we meditated upon the former words of this verse, “Things present, all are yours.” [“Things Present,” #870, Vol. 15.] Friends have asserted that it was a pleasant and profitable meditation—may we have more than equal of the blessing of God’s Spirit this morning. The waters are deeper in the things to come than in the things present, but they are, every drop of them, as sweet. The horizon is wider in the future than in the present, but it its equally clear. If the clouds which threaten us in the future are darker than any we have up to now experienced, the Covenant rainbow shall span them all. And if the glories which are to be revealed are more sublime than any we have yet beheld, they are as certainly ours as those of less bewildering luster, for there are no hesitations here, but plainly and boldly does the text assert, “Things to come, all are yours.”
Without further preface let us advance at once to consider the cheering truth of the text. First, let us view the general future as ours. Then let us rejoice that the brightest of all the future is ours. And lastly, if ours, what light does the future cast upon the present?
I. First, THE BROAD FUTURE IS OURS. We are very apt to wish to pry into it by vain forebodings and vainer prognostications, but Divine Grace forbids us to indulge such impertinence and foolish curiosity. The leaves of the book of destiny are folded. The volume is sealed as with seven seals—you need not desire to read a single line, however—for the Lord tells you that whatever may be recorded in it, it is all yours! It must all work for your good. It must all promote your highest happiness.
Why should you wish to see the mystic writing for yourself? Your faith is sure of the issue—let that content you. In the dark days of superstition, the pretended magician would hold up a crystal globe and bid his dupe look in it, and when he saw nothing, he would tell him that he had an untaught, unaccustomed eye. But when the soothsayer stared into that ball himself, he pretended that he saw the future. My text is a crystal ball which does not tell you what the future shall be as to facts and minutiae, but it assures you concerning all coming events what it is far better for you to know—that all things are yours, if you are Christ’s—all future things are vested in your name, to be your possession by a Covenant of salt to minister to your comfort and to increase your highest wealth.
Let that content you. Gaze not through the telescope to see the future, lest you breathe upon the glass and then mistake the haze of your own breath for thick clouds and overshadowing tempests. Be content to quiet vain curiosity by leaving the future in His hands to whom it is even now present. The Lord your God will surely bear your burdens, therefore be quiet as a weaning child. We may expect in the future, Brethren, such a degree of joy as may be fitting this side Canaan. Albeit that the mention of the word, “future,” inevitably suggests to anxious mind’s dreams of dread, yet we have no reason to expect that the rest of our life will be more unhappy than the years which are passed already with the years beyond the flood.
As Christians, we dare not and would not murmur at Providential appointments. Life to us has had its sorrows, but goodness and mercy have followed us up to now and they shall, with equal certainty, follow us all the days of our life. Though this is not our rest and we are strangers and foreigners, as all our fathers were, yet for all this, “He makes us to lie down in green pastures. He leads us beside still waters.” “The lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places and we have a goodly heritage.” We will not speak ill of God’s name who daily loads us with benefits, but we will sing, “Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
2 “Things to Come” Sermon #875
We have reason to expect that in the future our lot will include a fair measure of joy, even as the past has done. Summers will bring their flowers and autumns their mellow fruits. Days shall be bright with sunlight and nights gorgeous with moon and stars. Whatever is beautiful shall still give its rill of joy. Whatever is tender shall yield its ray of comfort. Perhaps to sorrowful hearts the brightest part of their mortal existence is yet to come—they shall pass from Bochim to Beulah. Lay hold on this hope, poor Weeper! You who are in the heyday of your youth, looking to the joys of the future, reckon not too surely upon them—but still you have a right to expect a measure of joy even here below. You who are struggling in the service of your Divine Master, you may reckon up the joy or success, or at least of acceptance at His hands. You who are contending against sin may anticipate the joy of conquest. You who are planning how you can serve God on a wider scale and in a wiser manner may expect the joy of His guidance.