Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3316
“So He brings them to their desired haven.” Psalm 107:30.
TAKEN strictly, according to its original context, the text plainly and powerfully reminds us that our Providential mercies ought never be forgotten—and more especially those remarkable mercies which concern the safety of our life in times of great peril.
If there are any of you who have been exposed to storms at sea, or who have in any other way been brought near death’s door, and have then been strikingly rescued, should you not devote your life to Him who has spared and prolonged it? Do you think it was without a design that God brought you into the peril? And is it without a purpose that He has lengthened out your span of life? Oh, I pray you, if you have hitherto been ungrateful, let this tenderness of His in sparing your useless life—(for remember it has been useless to Him)—excite in you a hundredfold tenderness! A tenderness of repentance for the past, and of holy desire for the future. In such an assembly as this I have surely some who have either been restored from a bed of sickness when they were almost given over, or who have been preserved from accidents on land, or have had hairbreadth escapes at sea. Oh, praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works toward you! And at the foot of the Cross of Calvary dedicate your few remaining days to the service of the Preserver of men!
But this evening, while remembering these important Truths of God, we intend to use the text with yet another objective. This natural voyage on the sea may be a very excellent type and picture of the spiritual voyage which all men undertake in their soul’s life. And we should first interpret the text as it concerns the seeking sinner on the sea of soul-trouble, brought at length by the gracious Pilot to his desired haven of peace through believing. And then we shall very briefly construe the text with reference to the saint brought through all the troubles of life to the desired haven of the New Jerusalem, where he shall rest forever free from all future storms and perils.
First, then, let us look at I. THE SEEKING SINNER AS A SOUL-VOYAGER.
Our first thought suggested here is that with regard to the sinner, there is a haven. The soul of the man or woman is far out at sea, liable to be wrecked and in such a storm he or she willbe wrecked, for no craft can live it out unless it makes all speed for the haven. And there is a haven for storm-tossed, ship-wrecked souls! There is a harbor of refuge for tempest-driven sinners! That haven is Christ Jesus, received by faith into the soul. I compare Him to a haven because of the peace which those enjoy who once shelter in Him. It is wild, and black, and fierce out there, Sinner, where you are! But there is peace—“the peace of God that passes all understanding”—where the true Believer is. It is not because his ship is different from yours. If he were where you are, as once he was, he would still be in the same peril and suffer the same damage as you. But he is now “in Christ” and you are not. He has changed the hurricane for the haven, the danger for the calm confidence of safety! Oh, if you only knew the peace which faith brings, it would not be long before you cried to God in your trouble and He would bring you to His dear Son and Savior, Jesus Christ!
I also call Jesus a haven because of the safety that there is to every soul that is in Him. Ships are wrecked and broken to pieces out there, on the shoals, on the quicksand, or on the iron-bound coasts—but they escape wreck in the haven. There let the storm-king rage his worst and angriest abroad—they are in perfect peace! Sometimes, not a ripple disturbs the vessel that is in the harbor. My Hearer, you are in great danger tonight! You may soon be in Hell and even now the wrath of God abides on you, for you are “without God” and, consequently, “without hope in the world.” But the Christian is in no such danger! Sin, which is the source of all soul-danger, has been fully forgiven him. He will not need even to
fear death, for to him death is but the gate of life! He need have no fears of temporal trouble, for he has left his burdens with the great Burden-Bearer and may cast all his care on Him who cares for him. He has a peace which is founded upon the Immutable Truth of God! It is not a false peace which expects that there will never come a storm, but a true solid peace which knows that though the though the storm will come, he needs not dread it because his vessel is safe in the haven!
I call Christ a haven, again, because when we get into Him, we do very much what ships do in the haven—we begin unloading. Oh, what a cargo of black sins we had! Oh, what a store of grief, fears, follies and doubts! But when we come to Jesus Christ we unload them all. We cast overboard even what we once thought precious, counting it but dross and dung that we may win Christ and be found in Him. What a blessed riddance to be free of such foul rubbish as once threatened to founder our souls! Says the hymn—