Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3492
“See that you refuse not Him who speaks. For if they escaped not who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven.” Hebrews 12:25.
WE are not a cowering multitude gathered in trembling fear around the smoking mount of Horeb—we have come where the great central figure is the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. We have gathered virtually in the outer circle of which the saints above and holy angels make the inner ring. And now, tonight, Jesus speaks to us in the Gospel. So far as His Gospel shall be preached by us, here, it shall not be the word of man, but the Word of God. And although it comes to you through a feeble tongue, yet the Truth of God, itself, is not feeble, nor is it any less Divine than if Christ, Himself, should speak it with His own lips! “See that you refuse not Him who speaks.” The text contains—
I. An Exhortation of a Very Solemn, Earnest Kind
It does not say, “Refuse not Him who speaks,” but, “See that you refuse not Him who speaks”—that is, “be very circumspect that by no means, accidental or otherwise, you refuse the Christ of God, who now, in the Gospel, speaks to you! Be watchful, be earnest, lest even through inadvertence you should refuse the Prophet of the Gospel dispensation—Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who speaks in the Gospel from Heaven to the sons of men.” It means, “Give earnest heed and careful attention, that by no means, and in no way you refuse Him who speaks.” My objective tonight will be to help you, beloved Friends, especially you that have not laid hold on Christ—who are not the children of Zion, who are joyful in their king—to help you, tonight, that you may see to it.
And to go to our point at once, we shall have many things to say, and we shall speak them in brief sentences, hoping that the thoughts, as they arise, may be accepted by your mind and may, by God’s Spirit, work upon your hearts and conscience. There is great need of this exhortation from many considerations not mentioned in the text. A few of these we will hint at first.
First, from the excellence of the Word of God, itself “See that you refuse not Him who speaks.” That which Jesus speaks concerns your soul, concerns your everlasting destiny—it is God’s wisdom, God’s way of mercy—God’s plan by which you may be saved! If this were a secondary matter, you need not be so earnest about receiving it, but of all things under Heaven, nothing so concerns you as the Gospel. See, then, that you refuse not this precious Word of God, more precious than gold or rubies, which alone can save your souls!
See to this, again, because there is an enemy of yours who will do all he can that you may refuse Him who speaks. Satan is always busiest where the Gospel is most earnestly preached! Let the sower scatter handfuls of seeds—and birds will find the seeds and soon devour them! Let the Gospel be preached, and these birds of the air, fiends of Hell, will soon by some means try to remove these Truths from your hearts, lest they should take root in your hearts and bring forth fruit unto repentance.
Give earnest heed, again, “that you refuse not Him who speaks,” because the tendency of your own mind’will be to refuse Christ. Oh, Sirs, you are fallen through your first father, Adam, and the tendencies now of your souls are towards evil—not towards the right—and when the Lord comes from Heaven to you, you will reject Him if left to yourselves! Watch, then, I say! See that you refuse not! Stir up your souls, awaken your minds, lest this delirious tendency of sin should make you angry with your best Friend and constrain you to thrust from you that which is your only hope for the
hereafter! When a man knows that he has a bad tendency which may injure him, if he is wise, he watches against it. So, knowing this, which God’s Word tells you, watch, I pray you, lest you refuse Him who speaks!
Think well, too, that you have need to see to this, because some of you have rejected Christ already long enough! He has spoken to you from this pulpit, from other pulpits, from the Bible, from the sickbed. He spoke to you lately in the funeral knell of your buried friend—many voices, but all with this one note, “Come to Me! Repent and be saved!” But until now you have refused “Him who speaks.” Will not the time past suffice to have played this mischievous game? Will not the years that have rolled into eternity bear enough witness against you? Must you add to all this weight by again refusing? Oh, I implore you to see to it that you do not again “refuse Him who speaks from Heaven,” for there is not a Word of that which He speaks, but what is love to your souls! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came not armed with terrors to work wrath among the sons of men! All was mercy, all was Grace—and to those who listen to Him, He has nothing to speak but tenderness and loving kindness—your sins shall be forgiven you! The time of your ignorance, God will wink at. Your transgressions shall be cast into the depths of the sea—for you there shall be happiness on earth and glory hereafter! Who would not listen when it is good news to be heard? Who would not listen when the best tidings that God, Himself, ever sent forth from the excellent Glory is proclaimed by the noblest Ambassador that ever spoke to men, namely, God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, the once crucified, but now exalted Savior? For these reasons, then, at the very outset I press upon you this exhortation, “See that you refuse not Him who speaks such precious Truth,” which the enemy would gladly take out of your minds—the Truth of God which you, yourselves, have refused long enough already—and Truth which is sweet and will be exceedingly precious to your souls if you receive it! But now the text gives us—