Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1408
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, April 7, 1878
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee fromyou. Drawnear to God, and He will drawnear to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” James 4:7-10.
WE frequently meet with persons who tell us that they cannot find peace with God. They have been bidden to believe in the Lord Jesus, but they misunderstand the command and, while they think they are obeying it, they are really unbelievers and, therefore, they miss the way of peace. They attempt to pray, but their petitions are not answered and their supplications yield them no comfort whatever, for neither their faith nor their prayer is accepted of the Lord. Such persons are described by James in the 3rd verse of the chapter now open before us—“You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss.” We cannot be content to see seekers in this wretchedness and, therefore, we endeavor to comfort them, instructing them, again and again, in the great Gospel precept, “Believe and live.”
Yet as a rule they get no further, but linger in an unsatisfactory condition. They assure us that they believe in Jesus, but we see none of the fruits of faith in them, neither can they, themselves, say that they derive any spiritual benefit from the faith which they profess. Now I fear that comfort is misplaced in these cases. When we have endeavored to cheer such people, I fear we may have been filming over a wound which needs a sharp knife rather than a soft bandage—a keen lancet rather than a healing liniment.
We shall try at this time to show certain uneasy souls why they do not obtain peace and what they must be brought to by the Holy Spirit before they can rightly claim that they are saved. Though our words may be somewhat caustic, they will be uttered in loving faithfulness and may the Lord our God make them effectual to the ending of the inner strife and the establishment of settled peace. I fear that many who profess to be Christians are in a very questionable condition— they have no joy of their faith and no success in their prayers. Whether they are Christians or not is a moot point and the practical James does not waste time in discussing the doubtful question, but speaks to them from both sides of their apparent condition.
In his previous chapters he calls them, “my brethren,” and even, “my beloved brethren.” He draws no line of demarcation when he, afterwards, addresses them as, “sinners,” whose hands must be cleansed and, as, “double-minded” persons, whose hearts must be purified. They were both of these—they were professedly Brothers and Sisters, but they were at heart unchaste to Christ—they indulged in grievous sins of contention and malice—and their hearts were divided between the love of sin and the hope of salvation. We will not, therefore, raise personal questions, or try to discriminate where certainty is hard to reach, but we will speak to suspicious characters without determining whether they are truly Believers or not.
If such persons claim to be called Brothers and Sisters, we will address them as such, but it will be in a sentence like this, “My Brothers and Sisters, such things ought not to be.” On the other hand, we will use no condemnatory title, but leave the question between God and each man’s own conscience. We will go to the root of the matter and set forth the reason for the lack of peace and salvation of which some complain. May the sacred Spirit help us to point out the fatal failure which keeps the soul from rest. If any man is not sure that he is in Christ, he ought not to be easy one moment more until he is so.
Dear Friend, without the fullest confidence as to your saved condition, you have no right to be at ease and I pray you may never be so! This is a matter too important to be left undecided. Instantly should every man of prudence make
2 The Reason Why Many Cannot Find Peace Sermon #1408
assurance doubly sure and bind all things fast that he may find them fast for eternity—for eternity I say—for thus says the Lord. Never risk your souls, for your souls are yourselves, your real selves and nothing can make up for their loss. If you lose your souls, it will be no recompense to have gained the whole world! Be careful, then! Leave nothing insecure. Carefully measure and weigh every important step. Consider and examine, lest being so near to the kingdom, any of you should seem to come short of it.
To help you to a settled peace, let me, first of all, urge upon you to obey the comprehensive command of our text— “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” And then, secondly, let me further press upon you to practice the other precepts which follow, such as, “Resist the devil.” “Draw near to God.” “Cleanse your hands.” “Purify your hearts.” “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep.” And, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord.”