Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1737
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, September 2, 1883
“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 1:5, 6
JOHN had hardly begun to deliver his message to the seven Churches. He had hardly given his name and stated from whom the message came when he felt that he must lift up his heart in a joyful doxology! The very mention of the name of the Lord Jesus, “the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth,” fired his heart. He could not sit down coolly to write even what the Spirit of God dictated—he must rise; he must fall upon his knees—he must bless and magnify, and adore the Lord Jesus! This text is just the upward burst of a great geyser of devotion. John’s spirit had been quiet for a while, but all of a sudden the stream of his love to Jesus leaps forth like a fountain, rising so high that it would seem to bedew Heaven, itself, with its sparkling column of crystal love!
Look at the ascending flood as you read the words, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Now, in the matter of this bursting out of devotion at unexpected times, John is one among the rest of the Apostles. Their love to their Divine Master was so intense that they had only to hear His footsteps and their pulse began to quicken. And if they heard His voice, they were they carried clean away—whether in the body or out of the body, they could not tell—but they were under constraint to magnify the Savior’s name! Whatever they were doing, they felt compelled to pause at once and to render direct and distinct homage unto the Lord Jesus by adoration and doxology.
Observe how Paul breaks forth into doxologies—“Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Again—“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” The same is true of Jude, who cries—“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” The Apostles overflowed with praise! This explains to me, I think, those texts which bid us “rejoice evermore,” “bless the Lord at all times,” and “pray without ceasing.”
But these do not mean that we are always to be engaged in devotional exercises, for that would cause a neglect of other duties. The very Apostle who bids us “pray without ceasing,” did a great many other things beside praying, and we would certainly be very faulty if we shut ourselves up in our private chambers and there continued perpetually upon our knees. Life has other duties and necessary ones—and in attending to these we may render to our God the truest worship—to cease to work in our callings in order to spend all our time in prayer would be to offer to God one duty stained with the blond of many others! Yet we may “pray without ceasing,” if our hearts are always in such a state that at every opportunity we are ready for prayer and praise. Better, still, if we are prepared to make opportunities! If we are instant in season and out of season and ready in a moment to adore and supplicate. If not always soaring, we may be as birds ready for instant flight—always with wings, if not always on the wing.
Our hearts should be like beacons made ready to be fired. When invasion was expected in the days of Queen Elizabeth, piles of wood and combustible material were laid ready on the tops of certain hills. Watchmen stood prepared to kindle the piles should there be notice given that the ships of the enemy were in the offing. Everything was in waiting. The heap was not made of damp wood, neither had they to go and seek kindling, but the fuel waited for the match. The watch fire was not always blazing, but it was always ready to shoot forth its flame. Have you ever read, “Praise waits for you, O God, in Sion”? So let our hearts be prepared to be fired with adoring praise by one glimpse of the Redeemer’s
eyes—to be all on a blaze with delightful worship with one touch from those dear, pierced hands. Anywhere, wherever we may be, may we be clad in the robes of reverence and be ready, at once, to enter upon the angelic work of magnifying the Lord our Savior. We cannot always be singing, but we may always be full of gratitude—this is the fabric of which true Psalms are made.
This spontaneous outburst of John’s love is what I am going to preach upon this morning. First of all, I shall ask you to consider the condition of heart out of which such outbursts come. And then we will look more closely at the outburst itself, for my great desire is that you and I may often be thus transported into praise, carried off into ecstatic worship! I long that our hearts may be like harps through which each wind, as it sweeps on its way, makes charming music. As roses are ready to shed their perfume, so may we be eager to praise God—so much delighting in the blessed exercise of adoration that we shall plunge into it when colder hearts do not expect us to do so. I have read of Mr. Welch, a minister in Suffolk, that he was often seen to be weeping, and when asked why, he replied that he wept because he did not love Christ more. May not many of us weep that we do not praise Him more? Oh that our meditation may be used of the Holy Spirit to help us in that direction!