Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1848
“For if anyone is a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect Law of liberty, and continues in it, he beingnot a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessedin his deed.” James 1:23-25.
LAST Lord’s Day I tried to show the right way of hearing the Word of God. We spoke of how to behave before the sermon, at the sermon and after the sermon. May God grant that the word which I then spoke may continue in your minds and bring forth good fruit! At this time I shall draw a distinction between the true and blessed hearer of the Word and the person who misses the blessing because he hears to forget. You will forgive my coming back to this subject when I confess that I groan in my own heart with unutterable longings to be a channel of blessing to all who hear or read my discourses. To what purpose do I stand here so often and pour out my soul before you, if you are not the better for it? I am an unhappy sower if all the handfuls of seed which I scatter must fall upon unbroken soil, to be devoured of birds and never take root. Blessed be God, it is not altogether so! We, by His Grace, have reaped many harvests in this place. But still, our hearts ache for larger results!
There remain among us, still, those who are impervious to the Truth of God, in whom the Divine Word has taken no lodging—will these never be saved? They still continue to listen and to listen with kindly respect, but they are not yet doers of the Word. Our lament is that of Paul, “They have not all obeyed the Gospel.” They have heard it and, in a measure, appreciated it, but they have not obeyed it. It has not come to them with power, compelling them to yield to its commands. It will be a sad thing if, when I give in my account, it shall be with grief and not with joy—for this will be as unprofitable for you as it will be grievous for me. I know that I shall meet my hearers at the Judgment Day and I know, also, that an account will be demanded of me—much more searching than any through which my conscience can put me even when it is most awake! How will you stand in that account? It will be read in the seven-fold light of that Great Day for which all other days were made! And what will the record be?
I earnestly desire to present you all as a chaste virgin unto Christ, but I fear it will not be so. Concerning some of you, I fear that I shall have run in vain and labored in vain. I am bowed with grief at such a prospect! O my Hearers, do not kill me by destroying your own souls! Oh, that you may now turn to our Lord Jesus and, in Him, find acceptance with the Lord in that day! The Lord grant it for His infinite mercy’s sake!
Two things are very obvious in the text—the first is the hearer of the Word who does not profit by it and is represented as looking into a glass. And then, secondly, we see the man who does profit by the Word, for he is represented as looking into the perfect Law. May the Holy Spirit help us to see these clearly!
I. First, then, here is LOOKING INTO A GLASS. Looking into a glass is a trivial business. In all areas men, not to say, women, have been fond of seeing themselves. In the earlier days they had no reflecting glasses as we now have, but they used mirrors made of brass and different metals, highly polished. These mirrors yielded a sufficiently clear image of the beholder. Albeit, the children of Israel came out of Egypt in a great hurry, yet we find that the women carried their looking glasses with them into the wilderness. (See Exodus 38:8). It was according to their womanly nature—whatever else they forgot, they must have the indispensable looking glass for the purpose of their toilet. It is to their praise, however, that in the desert their devotion overcame their vanity, for when the bronze laver was to be made in which the
priests should wash, it was made of the looking glasses of the serving-women who were accustomed to meet at the door of the tabernacle.
Still, the use of the mirror must be ranked among the trifles of life—I see that you are half-smiling at the playfulness which glitters around a glass. Is not this a hint at the light in which many regard the hearing of the Gospel? They crowd to hear a preacher if he has some sort of name—not that they desire to get a blessing, but merely that they may say that they have heard him—or that they may gratify their curiosity by seeing what he is like. Truly the burden of our lives is a pastime to some of you! Sirs, this reminds me of the fable of the frogs. When the boys stoned them, the poor creatures said, “It may be sport to you, but it is death to us!” You may hear me, this day, with the most idle curiosity and judge my message with the coldest criticism, but if you do not receive the blessings of the Gospel, it strikes a chill at my heart! Your unspiritual hearing is sport to you, but it is death to me! A deadly shadow like a Hell-mist hovers over my Spirit while I suppose it possible that I am, with all my earnestness, ministering to your condemnation!