Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 876
Delivered on Thursday Evening, APRIL 15, 1869, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“They shall run and not be weary.”- Isaiah 40:31.
To the older Christian, incitements to zeal may be necessary, but to the young I need offer no exhortations to quicken their pace. With overflowing strength and buoyant spirits, the danger is not that young men should not run, but that they should run amiss, or that they should attempt to run in the right road in their own strength. My text speaks of running and commends it. No, it promises as a blessing that those of whom it speaks shall run, but then it describes a character as well as gives a promise.
There is a chosen band who shall run and not be weary, but these are not those who run in their own strength, as if the Lord took pleasure in the legs of a man or in the energies of unsanctified nature. The untiring runners are described as being such as wait upon the Lord, and so renew their strength. Tonight you are full of energy, my Brothers, and you are resolved to make your lives real and sublime. You have high ambitions within your spirits and far be it from me to repress them. But let me whisper in your ear a word of caution, for if those ambitions should be directed to a wrong object, your life will be a miserable failure.
Or even if you should seek the right thing—yes, seek God Himself—if you go about to serve Him without asking the aid of His Holy Spirit, sure and sorrowful decline will come upon you before long. You shall either become a miserable apostate from that which your heart is set upon, or else you will maintain a hollow name to live while you are dead in the sight of God. May God grant a blessing, this evening, and while we meditate upon the energetic spiritual life described as “running,” may we have Divine Grace to learn how to run in a right fashion.
I shall speak tonight, first of all, of the running. Then a word or two by way of commendation of running. Then thirdly, the runner’s attire—he waits upon the Lord. And, lastly, the runner’s staff—he has the promise that he shall not be weary.
I. First, then, THE RUNNING. There are different paces among the Lord’s servants—Ahimaaz is swifter than Cushi and John outruns Peter—but he who, by faith, has truly entered upon the road to Heaven, though his march is slow and limping, shall nevertheless ultimately reach his journey’s end. Scores of timid Believers creep towards Heaven as the snail crept into the ark and yet, being chosen of God in Christ Jesus, they are safe. However, my Brothers, there is no reason why you should imitate these slowly-moving pilgrims.
If Mephibosheth is lame in both his feet, it is not desirable that you should imitate his limp. Respect for his infirmity must not be made into an excuse for your own sluggishness. Many walk with sacred dignity and consistency in the path of right. Would God their number were multiplied a thousand fold! Walking will always be the general and usual pace of the great host of God’s elect—but there are a few chosen men whose hearts have been specially touched—who have learned to outstrip their fellows in their advances towards God and in their zeal for His service. These are the mighties in
the hosts of the Son of David—the flower of the Church militant! They are, under God, the strength and hope of the good cause.
These are runners rather than walkers. Asahels light of foot as young roes, swifter than eagles, stronger than lions, filled with the Holy Spirit and very zealous for the Lord of Hosts. I should say of this running, in the first place, if I must describe it, that running is the pace of energy. There are men in this world who never do anything with energy, who never under any circumstances throw force into anything they have to do. They walk over the sands of life with a light foot and make no impression. While others, as they tread the pathway which God has allotted for them, take care to bring down their feet with such firmness of purpose and fixedness of resolve that they leave behind them, “footprints on the sands of time,” which shall be seen by others after many days.
The puffball is the emblem of many a forceless life. See yonder man with a hammer in his hand—he touches the heads of the nails right daintily, as if he were afraid to hurt them! See another, how heartily he drives them in and gives them yet another blow to clench them and make all sure. Too many play at work, but the earnest man means work when he is working and throws his heart into it. It is dreadful to see some men at their ordinary occupation—I cannot call it labor, one drop of their perspiration must be a very costly thing—as rare as a pearl of the first water. But others throw their soul into whatever they have to do and not only strike while the iron is hot, but make the iron hot by striking. They do not wait for opportunities, but accept the present event as an opportunity. They work with both hands and make the anvil ring again with the music of their hearty blows.