A Sermon Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, December 20th, 1868, by the
Rev. C.H. SPURGEON
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle,
Newington
"And in this mountain shall
the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the
lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."
—Isaiah 25:6
We have nearly arrived at the
great merry-making season of the year. On Christmas-day we shall find all the world in
England enjoying themselves with all the good cheer which they can afford. Servants of
God, you who have the largest share in the person of him who was born at Bethlehem, I
invite you to the best of all Christmas fare—to nobler food than makes the table
groan—bread from heaven, food for your spirit. Behold, how rich and how abundant are the
provisions which God has made for the high festival which he would have his servants keep,
not now and then, but all the days of their lives!
God, in the verse before us, has been pleased to
describe the provisions of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Although many other interpretations
have been suggested for this verse, they are all flat and stale, and utterly unworthy of
such expressions as those before us. When we behold the person of our Lord Jesus Christ,
whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed—when we see him offered up
upon the chosen mountain, we then discover a fulness of meaning in these gracious words of
sacred hospitality, "The Lord shall make a feast of fat things, of fat things full of
marrow." Our Lord himself was very fond of describing his gospel under the selfsame
image as that which is here employed. He spoke of the marriage-supper of the king, who
said "My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready;" and it did
not seem as if he could even complete the beauty of the parable of the prodigal son
without the killing of the fat calf and the feasting and the music and dancing. As a
festival on earth is looked forward to and looked back upon as an oasis amid a desert of
time, so the gospel of Jesus Christ is to the soul its sweet release from bondage and
distress, its mirth and joy. Upon this subject we intend to speak this morning, hoping to
be helped by the great Master of the feast.
Our first head will be the feast; the second will be
the banqueting-hall—"in this mountain;" the third will be the Host—"The
Lord shall make a feast; and the fourth shall be the guests—he shall make it "unto
all people."
I. First, then, we have to consider THE FEAST.
It is described as consisting of viands of the best,
nay, of the best of the best. They are fat things, but they are also fat things full of
marrow. Wines are provided of the most delicious and invigorating kind, wines on the lees,
which retain their aroma, their strength, and their flavour; but these are most ancient
and rare, having been so long kept that they have become well refined; by long standing
they have purified, clarified themselves, and brought themselves to the highest degree of
brightness and excellence. The best of the best God has provided in the gospel for the
sons of men.
Let us attentively survey the blessings of the
gospel, and observe that they are fat things, and fat things full of marrow.
One of the first gospel blessings is that of
complete justification. A sinner, though guilty in himself, no sooner believes in Jesus
than all his sins are pardoned. The righteousness of Christ becomes his righteousness, and
he is accepted in the Beloved. Now, this is a delicious dish indeed. Here is something for
the soul to feed upon. To think that I, though a deeply guilty one, am absolved of God,
and set free from the bondage of the law! To think that I, though once an heir of wrath,
am now as accepted before God as Adam was when he walked in the Garden without a sin; nay,
more accepted still, for the divine righteousness of Christ belongs to me, and I stand
complete in him, beloved in the Beloved, and accepted in him too! Beloved, this is such a
precious truth, that when the soul feeds on it, it experiences a quiet peace, a deep and
heavenly calm, to be found nowhere on earth besides. This is a kind of honey which never
cloys, to be assured by the word of God, and by the witness of the Holy Ghost within you,
that you are reconciled and brought nigh by the blood and the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. This is a choice mercy. This is a fat thing indeed; but this is not all, it is a
fat thing full of marrow too. There is an inner lusciousness in it when you reach the
heart and soul of the matter, transcendent in richness; for remember that this
righteousness, this acceptance, this justification, becomes ours in a perfectly legal way,
one against which Satan himself cannot raise a demurrer, for our Substitute has paid our
debt, therefore are we righteously discharged. Christ has fulfilled the law, and made it
honourable for us, and therefore are we justly accepted and beloved. Here is marrow indeed
when we perceive the truth and reality of the substitution of Jesus, and grasp with heart
and soul the fact of our great Surety standing in our stead at the bar of justice, that we
might stand in his stead in the place of honour and love. What bliss it is to cry with the
apostle, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."
Come hither, all ye whose spiritual tastes are purified by grace, and feed upon this
choice provision, which shall be sweet to your taste, sweeter, also, than honey and the
honeycomb.
Meditate upon a second blessing of the covenant of
grace, namely, that of adoption. It is plainly revealed to us, that as many as have
believed in Christ Jesus unto the salvation of their souls, are the sons of God.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God." Here, indeed, is a fat thing. What, shall
a worm of the dust become a child of God? A rebel be adopted into the heavenly family? A
condemned criminal not only forgiven, but actually made a child of God? Wonder of wonders!
"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the children of God!" To which of the kings and princes of this earth did he
ever say, "Thou art my son"? He has not spoken thus to the great ones and to the
mighty, but God hath chosen the base things of this world and things that are despised,
yea, and things that are not, and made these to be of the seed royal. The wise and prudent
are passed over, but babes receive the revelation of his love. Lord, whence is this to me?
What am I and what is my father's house, that thou shouldst speak of making me thy child?
This gloriously fat thing is also "full of marrow." There is an inner richness
in adoption, for, "if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
Well does the apostle remind us that if children, then heirs, for we are thus assured of
our blessed heritage. "All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or
the world, or life, or death, or things present or things to come; all are yours; and ye
are Christ's; and Christ is God's." "He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all
things?" Here are royal dainties of which the Word has said most truly, "They
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house."
Passing on from the blessing of adoption, let us
remember that every child of God is the object of eternal love without beginning and
without end. This is one of the fat things full of marrow. Is it so, that I, a believer in
Jesus, unworthy as I am, am the object of the eternal love of God? What transport lies in
that thought! Long before the Lord began to create the world, he had thought of me. Long
ere Adam fell or Christ was born, and the angels sung their first choral over Bethlehem's
miracle, the eye and the heart of God were towards his elect people. He never began to
love them, they were always "a people near unto him." Is it not so written,
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore, with lovingkindness have I
drawn thee"? Some kick at the doctrine of election, but they are ill advised, since
they labour to overturn one of the noblest dishes of the feast; they would dam up one of
the coolest streams that flow from Lebanon; they would cover over with rubbish one of the
richest veins of golden ore that make rich the people of God. For this doctrine of a love
that hath no commencement, is the best wine of our Beloved, and "that goeth down
sweetly, causing the lips of them that are asleep to speak." How joyously doth the
heart exult and leap for very joy when this truth is brought home by the witness of the
Spirit of God! then the soul is satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the
Lord.
Equally delightful is the corresponding reflection
that this love which had no beginning shall have no end. He is a God that changeth not.
"The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." Where he has once set his
heart of love upon a man, he never turns away from doing him good. He saith by the mouth
of his servant the prophet, that he hateth putting away. Though we sin against him often,
and provoke him to jealousy, yet still, as the waters of Noah, so is his covenant to us;
for as the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so he swears that he will not
be wroth with us nor rebuke us. "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be
removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my
peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." "I am the Lord, I
change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." "Can a woman forget
her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they
may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my
hands; thy walls are continually before me." Why, beloved, this indeed is a fat
thing; and I may add that it is full of marrow when you remember that not merely has the
Lord thought of you from everlasting, but loved you. Oh! the depth of that word
"love," as it applies to the infinite Jehovah, whose name, whose essence, whose
nature is love! He has loved you with all the immutable intensity of his heart, never more
and never less; loved you so much that he gave his only begotten Son for you; loved you so
well that nothing could content him but making you to be conformed into the image of his
dear Son, and causing you to partake of his glory that you may be with him where he is!
Come, feed on this, ye heirs of eternal life, for here are fat things full of marrow.
We should not, beloved, have completed this list if
we had omitted one precious doctrine, which needs a refined taste perhaps, but which, when
a man hath once learned to feed on it, seemeth to him to be best of all—I mean the great
truth of union to Christ. We are plainly taught in the word of God that as many as have
believed are one with Christ: they are married to him, there is a conjugal union based
upon mutual affection. The union is closer still, for there is a vital union between
Christ and his saints. They are in him as the branches are in the vine; they are members
of the body of which he is the head. They are one with Jesus in such a true and real sense
that with him they died, with him they have been buried, with him they are risen, with him
they are raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places. There is an
indissoluble union between Christ and all his people: "I in them and they in
me." Thus the union may be described:—Christ is in his people the hope of glory, and
they are dead and their life is hid with Christ in God. This is a union of the most
wonderful kind, which figures may faintly set forth, but which it were impossible for
language completely to explain. Oneness to Jesus is one of the fat things full of marrow.
For if it be so, indeed, that we are one with Christ, then because he lives we must live
also; because he was justified by his resurrection, we also are justified in him; because
he is rewarded and for ever sits down at his Father's right hand, we also have obtained
the inheritance in him and by faith grasp it now, and enjoy its earnest. Oh, can it be
that this aching head already has a right to a celestial crown! That this palpitating
heart has a claim to the rest which remaineth for the people of God! That these weary feet
have a title to tread the sacred halls of the New Jerusalem! It is so, for if we are one
with Christ, then all he has belongs to us, and it is but a matter of time, and of
gracious arrangement when we shall come into the full enjoyment thereof. Truly, in
meditation upon this topic, we may each of us exclaim, "My soul shall be satisfied as
with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips."
I cannot bring forth all the courses of my Lord's
banquet; one serving man cannot bear before you the riches of such a surpassing feast; but
I would remind you of one more, and that is the doctrine of resurrection and everlasting
life. This poor world dimly guessed at the immortality of the soul, but it knew nothing of
the resurrection of the body: the gospel of Jesus has brought life and immortality to
light, and he himself has declared to us of Jesus, that he that believeth in him shall
never die. "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet should he live."
Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Not the soul only, but the body also shall partake
of immortality, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. We expect to die, but we are assured of living again. If the Lord
come not, we know that our bodies shall see corruption; but here is our comfort, we dread
no annihilation, that dark shadow never crosses our spirits; we dread no hell, no
purgatory, no judgment—Christ hath perfected for ever them that are set apart; none can
condemn whom he absolves. The saints shall judge the angels, and sit with their Lord in
the day of the great assize. To us the coming of Christ will be a day of joy and of
rejoicing: we shall be caught up together with him; his reign shall be our reign, his
glory our glory. Wherefore comfort one another with these words, and as ye see your
brethren and your sisters departing one by one from among you, sorrow not as those that
are without hope, but say unto each other, "They are not lost, but they have gone
before," for, "blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow
them." Here are fat things full of marrow, for ours is a glorious hope, and full of
immortality. Our expected immortality is not that of mere existence, it is not the barren
privilege of life without bliss, existence without happiness—it is full of glory; for
"we shall be like him when we shall see him as he is;" we shall be with God, at
whose right hand there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore. He shall make us to
drink of the river of his pleasures; songs and everlasting joy shall be upon our heads,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
"Oh, for the no more weeping,
Within that land of love!
The endless joy of keeping
The bridal feast above!
Oh, for the hour of seeing
My Saviour face to face!
The hope of ever being
In that sweet meeting-place."
Thus I have set before you a few of the fat things
full of marrow which the King of kings has set before his guests at the wedding feast of
his love.
Changing the run of the thought, and yet really
keeping to the same subject, let me now bring before you the goblets of wine. "Wines
on the lees—wines on the lees well refined." These we shall consider as symbolising
the joys of the gospel. What are these? I can only speak of those which I have myself been
permitted to sip at. One of the dearest joys of the Christian life is a sense of perfect
peace with God. Oh, I tell you when one is quiet for awhile, and the din and noise of
business is out of one's ears, it is one of the most delicious things in all the world to
meditate upon God, and to feel he is no enemy to me, and I am no enemy to him. It is
beyond comparison cheering, musingly to feel, I love him. If there be anything which I can
do to serve him, I will do it. If there be any suffering which would honour him, if he
would give me the strength to endure it, it should be my happiness, though it caused me to
die a martyr's death a thousand times. If I could but honour my God, my Father, and my
Friend, all should be acceptable to me. There is nothing between the Lord and me by way of
difference or alienation; I am brought nigh through the blood of his dear and only
begotten Son. He is my God, my Father, and my all, and I am his child. Some of us have
tried the imaginary happiness of laughter; we have mixed with the giddy throng, and tasted
the wines of the house of carnal merriment, but our honest experience is that one single
draught from the cup of salvation is worth rivers of worldly mirth.
"Solid joys and lasting pleasures
Only Zion's children know."
A quiet heart, resting in the love of God, dwelling
in perfect peace, hath a royalty about it which cannot for a moment be matched by the
fleeting joys of this world.
Our joy sometimes flashes with a brighter light, but
even then it is not less pure and safe. You may look upon this wine when it is red, when
it sparkles in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, for there is no woe, no redness of
the eyes reserved for those who drink even to inebriation of this sacred wine. This sacred
exhilaration is caused by a sense of security. A child of God, when he has looked well to
his Redeemer, and seen the merit of the precious blood, and the power of the never-ceasing
plea, feels himself safe, perfectly safe. I do not understand the child of God reading his
Bible and yet being afraid of being cast into hell. I can understand that the fear may
cross his mind lest after all he should prove a castaway; but as he approaches once again
to the foot of the cross, and looks up to Jesus, he feels that it cannot be. None were
ever cast away who stood at the cross foot; for it is written, "Him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out." A child of God, with no hope but what he finds in
Christ, has no cause to think his eternal state to be insecure. All are safe who are in
Christ, even as all were safe who were in Noah's ark. No flood, no storm could hurt the
man of whom it was said, "The Lord shut him in." The Lord has shut in all his
people in Christ, and they are eternally safe in Christ. When the spirit knows that
"there is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,"
then is it replenished with delight. When one feels that live or die, or work or suffer,
all is well, how free from care is the heart! How divinely joyful to know that if one
should lose all his earthly substance, the Lord will provide; that if one should be
tempted, tempted greatly, yet with the temptation the way of escape shall be made! here is
assurance rich with consolation. When one feels that all is safe, all safe eternally, for
life or death all secured, I tell you that this is wine on the lees, wine on the lees well
refined, and he who wins a draught thereof need not envy the angels their celestial
banquets.
This joy of ours will sometimes rise to an elevation
yet more sublime when it is caused by communion with God. Believers, while engaged in
prayer and praise, in service and in suffering, are enabled by the Holy Spirit to hold
high converse with their Lord. Do not imagine that Abraham's speech with God was an
unusual privilege. The father of the faithful did but enjoy what all the faithful ones
participate in according to the grace given them. We tell to God our griefs; discoursing
upon our sorrows not in fiction, but declaring them in real conversation, as when a man
speaketh with his neighbour: meanwhile the Lord's Spirit whispers to us with the still
small voice of the promise, such words as calm our minds and guide our feet. Yes, and when
our Beloved takes us into the banqueting-house of real conscious fellowship with himself,
and waves the love-banner over us, our holy joy is as much superior to all merely human
mirth, as the heavens are above the earth. Then do we speak and sing with sacred zest, and
feel as if we could weep for very joy of heart, for our Beloved is ours and we are his.
His left hand is under our head, and his right hand doth embrace us, and our only fear is
lest anything should grieve our Beloved and cause him to withdraw himself from us; for it
is heaven on earth, and the fair antepast of heaven above to see his face, to taste his
love. Communion with Christ is as the wine on the lees well refined.
We will place on the table one goblet more, of which
you may drink as much as you will. We have provided for us the pleasures of hope, a hope
most sure and steadfast, most bright and glorious—the hope that what we know to-day shall
be outdone by what we shall know to-morrow; the hope that by-and-by what we now see, as in
a glass darkly, shall be seen face to face. We shall say, as in heaven, as the Queen of
Sheba did in Jerusalem, "The half hath not been told us." We are looking forward
to a speedy day when we shall be unburdened of this creaking tabernacle, and being absent
from the body shall be present with the Lord. Our hope of future bliss is elevated and
confident. Oh, the vision of his face! Oh, the sight of Jesus in his exaltation! Oh, the
kiss of his lips—the word, "Well done, good and faithful servant" from that
dear mouth! and then for ever to lie in his bosom. Begone, ye cares, begone, ye sorrows;
if heaven be so near, ye shall not molest us. The inn may be a rough and poverty-stricken
one, but we are only travellers, not tenants upon lease. This is not our place of resting;
we are on our journey home! Beloved, in the prospect of the quiet resting-places in the
land which floweth with milk and honey, you have wines on the lees well refined.
If we were not limited to time this morning, as,
alas! we are, I should have reminded you that these joys of the believer are ancient in
their origin, for that is shown in the text. Old wines are intended by "wines well
refined;" they have stood long on the lees, have drawn out all the virtue from them,
and have been cleared of all the coarser material. In the East, wine will be improved by
keeping even more than the wines of the West! and even so the mercies of God are the
sweeter to our meditations because of their antiquity. From old eternity, or ever the
earth was, the covenant engagements of everlasting love have been resting like wines on
the lees, and to-day they bring to us the utmost riches of all the attributes of God. I
should also have reminded you of the fulness of their excellence, because the wine on the
lees holds its flavour, and retains its aroma; and there is a fulness and richness about
the blessings of divine grace which endears them to our hearts. The joys of grace are not
fantastical emotions, or transient flashes of a meteoric excitement, they are based on
substantial truth; are reasonable, fit, and proper. They belong not to the superficial and
frothy emotions of mere feeling, but are deep, solemn, earnest motions, justified by the
clearest judgment. Our bliss is not of the foam and the surge, it dwells in the innermost
caverns of our heart. I would also remind you of their refined nature. No sin mingled with
the joys of the gospel and the delights of communion—they are well refined. Gospel joys
are elevating, they make men like angels. As in the gospel God comes down to men, so by
the gospel men go up to God. I might also have shown you how absolutely peerless are the
provisions of grace. There is no feast like that of the gospel, no meat like the flesh of
Jesus, no drink like his blood, no joys like that which crowns the gospel feast.
II. I can say no more: the table is before you,
and now we must pass on with great brevity to notice THE BANQUETING-HALL.
"In this mountain." There is a reference
here to three things—the same symbol bearing three interpretations. First, literally, the
mountain upon which Jerusalem is built. I do not doubt that the reference is here to the
hill of the Lord upon which Jerusalem stood; the great transaction which was fulfilled at
Jerusalem upon Calvary hath made to all nations a great feast. It was there where that
centre cross bore upon it One who joined earth and heaven in mysterious union; it was
there where amidst thick darkness the Son of God was made a curse for men; it was there
where sorrow culminated that joy was consummated. On that very mountain where Jews and
Gentiles met together, and with clamorous wrath cried, "Let him be
crucified"—it was there in the giving up of the Only-begotten, whose flesh is meat
indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed, that the Lord made a feast of fat things.
Everything I have spoken of this morning is found in Christ. He is the resurrection and
the life: in him we are justified, adopted, and made secure; every drop of joy we drink
streams from his flowing veins.
A second meaning is the church. Frequently Jerusalem
is used as the symbol of the church of God, and it is within the pale of the church that
the great feast of the Lord is made unto all nations. I am in the truest sense a very
sound churchman. I am indeed a high churchman; a most determined stickler for the church.
I do not believe in salvation outside of the pale of the church. I believe that the
salvation of God is confined to the church, and to the church alone. "But," says
one, "what church?" Ay! that's the question: God forbid I should mean by that
either the Baptist church, or the Independent church, or the Episcopalian church, or the
Presbyterian, or any other—I mean the church of Jesus Christ, the company of God's
chosen, the fellowship of the blood-bought, the family of believers, be they where they
may, for them is provided the feast of fat things. Whatever outward and visible church
they may have associated themselves with, they shall drink of the wines on the lees well
refined; but the feast is only to be found where they are found who put their trust in
Jesus. There is but one church in heaven and earth, composed of men called by the Holy
Ghost, and made to live anew by his quickening power; and it is through the ministry of
this church that an abundant feast is spread for all nations, a feast to which the nations
are summoned by chosen herald, whom God calls to proclaim the good news of salvation by
Jesus Christ.
But, brethren, the mountain sometimes means the
church of God exalted to its latter-day glory. This mountain is to be exalted above the
hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. This text will have its grandest fulfillment in
the day of the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Then shall the glory of the
gospel be unveiled more clearly than at this present. Men shall have a fuller perception
of the glory of the Lord, and a deeper enjoyment of his grace; while happiness and peace
shall reign with unmolested quiet. Soon shall come the golden age which has been so long
foretold, for which we cry with unceasing expectation. The Lord send it speedily, and his
be the praise.
III. Thirdly, let us think of THE HOST of the
feast.
"In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make
unto all people a feast of fat things." Mark well the truth that in the gospel
banquet there is not a single dish brought by man. The Lord makes it, and he makes it all.
I know some would like to bring a little with them to the banquet, something at least by
way of trimming and adornment, so that they might have a share of the honour; but it must
not be, the Lord of hosts makes the feast, and he will not even permit the guests to bring
their own wedding garments—they must stop at the door and put on the robe which the Lord
has provided, for salvation is all grace from first to last, and all of him who is
wondrous in working, and who doeth all things according to the counsels of his will. Out
of all the precious truths which I spoke of at the beginning of this sermon, there is not
one which comes from any source but a divine one; and of all the joys which I tried feebly
to picture there is not one which takes its rise from earth's springs; they all flow from
the eternal fount. The Lord makes the feast; and, observe, he does it, too, as the Lord of
hosts, as a sovereign, as a ruler, doing as he wills amongst the sons of men, preparing
what he wills for the good of his creatures, and constraining whom he wills to come to the
marriage-feast. The Lord provides sovereignly as Lord of hosts, and all-sufficiently as
Jehovah. It needed the all-sufficiency of God to provide a feast for hungry sinners. No
other than the infinite "I AM" could provide a feast substantial enough to
supply the wants of immortal spirits; but he has done it, and you may guess of the value
of the viands by the nature of our entertainer. If God spread the feast it is not to be
despised; if the Lord has put forth all the omnipotence of his eternal power and Godhead
in preparing the banquet for the multitude of the sons of men, then depend upon it it is a
banquet worthy of him, one to which they may come with confidence, for it must be such a
banquet as their souls require, and such as the world never saw before. O my soul, rejoice
thou in thy God and King. If he provides the feast, let him have all the glory of it.
"Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." O King immortal,
eternal, invisible, thou feddest thy children in the wilderness with manna which dropped
from heaven, and with water that flowed out of a flinty rock, and they gave thanks unto
thy name; but now thou fillest us with nobler food. They did eat manna and are dead, but
we live on the immortal bread, even Jesus, and therefore we can never die. They drank of
the water which flowed from the rock, and yet they thirsted again, but we shall never
thirst, but for ever abide near to thyself, while the Lamb that is in the midst of the
throne shall feed us, and lead us unto living fountains of water. Therefore, blessed be
thy name, yea, a thousand times blessed be thy name, O thou Most High! Let all heaven say
"Amen" to the praises of our hearts, and let the multitude of thy children here
on earth, for whom this feast is spread, laud and magnify and bless thy name from the
rising of the sun unto the going down of the same.
IV. Lastly, a word or two upon THE GUESTS.
The Lord has made this banquet "for all
people". What a precious word this is! "For all people." Then this includes
not merely the chosen people, the Jews, whose were the oracles, but it encompasses the
poor uncircumcised Gentiles, who by Jesus are brought nigh. The barbarian is invited to
this feast; the Scythian is not rejected. The polished Greek finds an open door; the hardy
Roman shall meet with an equal welcome. Caesar's household, if they come, shall receive a
portion, and so shall the beggar's brethren. Blessed be God for that word, "unto all
people," for it permits missionary enterprise in every land; however degraded a race
may be, we have here provision made for it. This feast of fat things is made as much for
the Sudra as for the Brahmin; the gospel is as much to be preached to the degraded Bushman
as to the civilised Chinese. Dwell on that word, "all people," and you will see
it includes the rich, for there is a feast of fat things for them, such as their gold
could never buy; and it includes the poor, for they being rich in faith shall have
fellowship with God. "All people." This takes in the man of enlarged
intelligence and extensive knowledge; but it equally encompasses the illiterate man who
cannot read. The Lord makes this feast "for all people;" for you old people, if
you come to Jesus you shall find that he is suitable to you; for you young men and
maidens, and you little children, if you put your trust in God's appointed Saviour, there
shall be much joy and happiness for you—"For all people"? Methinks, if I were
now seeking and had not laid hold on Christ, this word, "all people" would be a
great comfort to me, because it gives hope to all who desire to come. None have ever been
rejected of all who have ever come to Christ and asked for mercy. Still is it true,
"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Some very odd people have
come to him, some very wicked people, some very hardened people, but the door was never
closed in any one's face. Why should Jesus begin hard dealings with you? He cannot,
because he cannot change. If he says, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out," make one of the "hims" that come, and he cannot cast you out. There
is another thought, namely, that between the covers of the Bible there is no mention made
of one person who may not come. There is no description given of a person who is forbidden
to trust Christ. I should like you to look the book through, you who dream that Jesus will
reject you, and find where it is said, "Such a one I will reject; such a one I will
refuse." When you find such a rejecting clause, then you will have a right to be
unbelieving, but till you do I beseech you do not needlessly torment yourself. Why
needlessly sow doubts and fears? There will be enough of them without your making them for
yourself. Do not limit what the Lord does not limit. I know he has an elect people; I
rejoice in it—I hope you will rejoice in it too one day; and I know that his people have
this marrow and fatness provided for them and for them alone; but still this does not at
all conflict with the other precious truth that whosoever believeth in the Son of God hath
everlasting life. If you believe in Jesus Christ, all these things are yours. Come, poor
trembler, the silver trumpet soundeth, and this is the note it rings, "Come and
welcome, come and welcome, come and welcome." The harsher trumpet of the law which
waxed exceedingly loud and long at Sinai had this for its note, "Set bounds about the
mount: let none touch it lest they die." But the trumpet for Calvary sounds with the
opposite note; it is, "Come and welcome, come and welcome, sinner, come! Come as you
are, sinful as you are, hardened as you are, careless as you think you are, and having no
good thing whatsoever, come to your God in Christ!" O may you come to him who gave
his Son to bleed in the sinner's stead, and casting yourself on what Christ has done, may
you resolve, "If I perish, I will trust in him; if I be cast away, I will rely on
him." You shall not perish, but for you there shall be the feast of fat things full
of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. The Lord bless you very richly, for his
name's sake. Amen.