Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1914
“The Lord has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yes, Ihave loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have Idrawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3.
THE dread of Divine Justice has often driven men to seek mercy. Many have been caught in the whirlwind of wrath and, in their dismay, they have fled for refuge to that Man who is a covert from the tempest. Hence the Lord does not decline to work upon the minds of the guilty by motives drawn from fear. Notice the 23rd and 24th verses of the previous chapter—“Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return until He has done it, and until He has performed the intents of His heart.” This is by no means a solitary passage. Holy Scripture is strewn with solemn admonitions to flee from the wrath to come. Our dear Redeemer, whose lips are as lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh, in great tenderness of heart warned men of the sure result of their sins and none used stronger or more alarming language than He did concerning the future of ungodly men.
He knew nothing of that pretended sympathy which will rather let men perish than warn them against perishing. Such tenderness is merely selfishness excusing itself from a distasteful duty. Our Savior spoke as the true and earnest lover of men and, therefore, uttered words which, having first wounded His own heart and brought the tears to His own eyes, went home with tremendous force to the minds of others. He spoke of weeping and gnashing of teeth, of a worm which dies not and of a fire which is not quenched. Weeping, He reminded them how often He would have gathered them together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but they would not—and, therefore, He warned them that nothing could come of it but desolation and destruction!
Brothers and Sisters, like our Lord, we do not hesitate to warn men ofjudgment to come. “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” We dare not quit this solemn duty lest it cost us our own souls! We dare not cease to sound the trumpet of alarm lest the enemy destroy our people and their blood be required at our hands!
Still, the master magnet of the Gospel is not fear, but love. Penitents are drawn to Christ rather than driven. The most frequent impulse which leads men to Jesus is hope that in Him they may find salvation. Truly, even then, they are moved by fear of the evil which they would escape, but their feet are led to fly towards Him by hope in His gentleness, His goodness, His readiness to receive sinners. Hope in that mercy of God which endures forever is the great cord which draws men to repentance. Consequently, after the Lord had sounded the clarion note of warning which we have just heard, He touched the harp strings of Grace and brought forth from them notes both soft and sweet, cheering the sad and encouraging the despondent—these notes He knew would be heard where even the trumpet sounded not. Love wins the day!
One hair from the head of Love will draw more than the cable of fear! Let but Love speak a single word out of her heart—and let it reach the hearts of men—and it will accomplish greater marvels than all the prolonged discourses and threats of wrath. I am glad, therefore, that I have to speak to God’s people, this morning, and set forth God’s Love as the reason why they should love Him in return! “We love Him because He first loved us” is the great Law of the Christian life. In proportion as we recognize the love of God and know somewhat of its height, depth, length and breadth, our heart will be graciously affected by it. When the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit which is given to us, then we love our Lord with all our might!
I want you, this morning, to pray that you may realize the things which I speak to you, so that when we discourse upon the love of God you may feel it glowing in your own souls. Oh, that His love, like coals of juniper, may burn in our hearts! With its vehement flame may it consume our hearts with a heavenly passion till all our nature ascends to Heaven like clouds of incense from the golden altar! May our God and Father speak within each one of us and say, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you!”
I. Our first observation will run on this wise—GOD’S DEALINGS WITH US ARE NEVER UNDERSTOOD TILL HE, HIMSELF, APPEARS TO US. He must speak, or we cannot interpret His acts. “The Lord has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.” The Lord had been drawing these people, but they did not know it. God had been loving them with an everlasting love, but they did not recognize it. Nor could they know or recognize His loving kindness till the Lord, Himself, visited them in Person and removed the scales from their eyes! God is His own Interpreter. His Providence and Grace reveal Him, but still more does He, Himself, explain and reveal His Providence and Grace. Though all things in the field and the garden show what the sun does, yet none of these “fruits put forth by the sun” can be perceived till the sun, itself, reveals them.