A Gospel Address, delivered by Heyman Wreford, at the Victoria Hall, Exeter, England.
Part 2.
THIS glorious city “Had a wall great and high.” This ensures absolute security. The walls of God’s city are great, and high, and indestructible. What a contrast to earth! There is no security in this world. I repeat again you must get out of the world to be secure. Rahab had to get out of Jericho to be saved; and, before those walls fell down Rahab and her family were safe with the people of God. The woman with the scarlet line did not trust to the falling walls of Jericho for salvation, but to the everlasting walls of the word of God. If a house were on fire and you were in it, could you escape from the danger of the flames by running from room to room? No: for wherever you went, in that burning house, you would be in danger. You must get out of the house if you want to be in safety. The fire-escape comes, and you are delivered, but your deliverance comes from outside. So Christ comes to deliver you from the flames of hell. You must get out of the world, and into Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” This is your only place of safety. Are you there? Again, suppose that a ship has struck a rock, and is sinking fast, would any part of that ship be more secure than another No, and if you were aboard of her you might go from the prow to the stern, and you would still be in danger. You might sit in the state cabin, or in the forecastle, but death would come to you just as soon in one place as in the other. How would you escape? The lifeboat approaches, and soon it is alongside; so you immediately leave the sinking ship, and you are taken to the shore. Friends, this world has struck the rock of sin, and it is sinking fast. There is no safety for the sinner in any part of the world. He may wander amid the deserts of Sahara, or amid the solitudes of Polar snows. He may tread the busy streets in the cities of the world; or the lonely hamlets. Go where he will he cannot escape from his condition as a sinner or from the doom of this guilty world. No, there is no salvation except in Christ. He is the lifeboat that comes over the stormy ‘waves of time to carry us from the sinking ship of this world to the shores of salvation. He is our deliverer from the wrath to come. “There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” And He it is who builds, around the sinner that believes in Him, the walls of salvation, great and high. “Salvation hath God appointed for walls and bulwarks.” Are you inside those walls or are you still in the place of death? When God shut Noah in the ark, he was inside the walls of God. No storm could hurt him, and however wildly the waves of the deluge might wash against the ark, he was perfectly secure. We see also that it
“Had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels.”
This reminds me of Eden, and the cherubim put there by God to keep the sinner Adam out. I see the flashing blade of the sword, guarding the entrance to the tree of life. I seem to hear the voice saying, “Go, sinful Adam; go, sinful Eve. No longer for you the blessed groves of Eden. No more for you the calm retreats where God loved to come, and commune with you. No more the hallowed bliss of innocence. Go, Adam, go; go, guilty Eve. Go out into the world cursed on account of your sin; for ye can never enter here again.” But these twelve angels stand before the gates of a city filled with redeemed hosts, who have come from the sin-stained earth to the sinless abode of God. The curse has been removed from them, by Him who was made a curse for them. The angels stand before those gates of glory, not to keep the sinner out, but because the redeemed are in. And what is the way to those gates of pearl? Christ answers, “I am the Way.” It is remarkable what is next said: —
“And I saw no temple therein.”
No. The people there are in the immediate presence of God. There is no hiding of God’s glory. Where are you now? Are you afar off by sin and wicked works; or are you made nigh by the blood of Christ? Are you still in the darkness of your natural condition; or, have you been “made meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light?” Can you think of yourself as one who is seated in heavenly places in Christ? who is as sure of heaven as if you were there? If any believer in this Hall should die within the next half-hour, he or she would go right into the immediate presence of God. They are holy, and fit for the holiness of God. And you, unbeliever, if you die within the next half-hour, unsaved, you will go into eternal darkness. This is solemn, is it not? If you, or you, die without Christ, you will go to hell. And further, we notice that: —
“The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof.”
Christ is the light-bearer in this glorious city. I read of Him in the glory. I think of what He was from all eternity. I think of His love in laying His glory by, and coming to this world for sinners; of what He was, and of what He became! Oh, my soul, think of it now. Think of the splendor of eternity; and the worship of sinless hosts; and then think of the manger and the cross. “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” He is the Maker and Sustainer of the universe; yet in His humiliation, He could say, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” If the Prince of Wales were to leave his palace, and lay aside his position, and leave his high associates to crack stones by the roadside; and, if he did it to benefit his country, people would flock in thousands to see the one who thus denied himself for the good of others. And as they gazed upon him, working thus humbly, they would speak of his power and glory, of his stately homes, and contrast his brilliant past with the lowly present. His praises would be sounded to remotest time, as the good Prince who gave up all for the sake of others. What, then, of Jesus? From what stupendous heights did He stoop, and to what depths did He descend! Who is it that I see tired, and travel-stained at Jacob’s well? It is Jesus. He is there to save, and to bless a poor lost woman. Who is this asleep in the hinder part of that ship, upon Gennesaret? It is Jesus. He has worked for the good of others, and He rests himself a weary man. And Who is this alone in the desert underneath the shining stars? It is Jesus, He is there to spend the night in prayer. And Who is this agonizing in prayer? It is Jesus, going down the depths of human woe for sinners. And Who is this upon that cross? He has just cried, after three hours of darkness, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” It is Jesus gone down to the very lowest depths for us. He Who knew no sin Himself has been made sin for us. Yes. Jesus who, when here, was the Light of the world. This world was dark with sin and unbelief, but He came, the Light of men. Some eyes saw His glory, and sunned themselves in the brightness of His presence; “but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” And what is Christ to you? In this dark world have you beheld Him Who is the true Light? Can you look up to heaven now, away from all false lights and flashing beams of human glitter, to that city that has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten rt, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Can you say my Saviour is there; and there for me. His presence brightens my heart down here; and will shine on me in glory everlasting. And it is brought to our remembrance that: ―
“The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day.”
Danger threatens not this glorious abode. The gates are ever open. We live in the midst of dangers here, with foes on every hand. The Christian must shut the gates of his heart against the devil. When I was in Pietermaritzburg about five years ago, I was struck in walking through the streets with the precautions the authorities had taken for the defense of the town. All the buildings had sand-bags placed against them, at some little distance from the ground, and around the lower part of the buildings was a wooden barricade, loophole for a musketry fire. This was done to guard against the attacks of the enemy. About a mile from the town was a fort looking down upon it, and there were soldiers and guns. Man takes every precaution to guard his earthly home; but how about the citadel of the heart? Fellow Christian, do we guard that against the enemy? Are we acting on the defensive? Are we armed cap-a-pie with the armor of God? and are we holding the sword of the Spirit in our hands ready for use?
Now I wish to say a few very plain words to the unbelievers here. Let me tell you that your hearts as unbelievers are the devil’s playground. He plays the game of murder in the heart of one, the game of drunkenness in the heart of another. Of blasphemy in the heart of another. But the most delusive game he plays is the game of religion. He erects altars, and makes men say prayers, read their Bibles, and go to church or chapel, and so be Christians, as far as words and actions can make a Christian without Christ. All you unsaved ones here are in the hands of Satan; and going to hell. The gates of hell will be shut forever just think for a moment of your being hurried down the steep decline leading to the portals of hell, and of your being forced by the hand of demons through those awful gates, and then to hear, echoing through every vault of hell, the fearful shutting forever of those gates behind you. No getting out through the countless ages of eternity. Look up! tilt gates of the New Jerusalem are wide open forever; and the twelve angels stand there. Look down! the gates are shut and barred forever. And I see the gates of mercy open now, the gates of God’s mercy to you a poor lost sinner, and if you pass in through these gates this evening you shall live within the gates of the holy city forever. It is beautiful to remark: —
“There shall be no night there.”
No, the blessed morning light of glory shining forever and forever, lighting up the jasper walls, and the unsullied scenery of heaven. “No night there.” No shades of evening falling as on earth; no twilight hours of shadow. A bright, bright day of sunny hours, and shadow-less radiance; only night for the lost. Are you a child of the day, or of the night? For as night comes at the close of day on earth, so when the day of mercy is past, the night of judgment comes. And what a night! A night awful with the terrors of the lost; when the wild cries of despair will pierce the midnight gloom; when appealing voices will be heard amid the shadows of despair. A night that will have no day to brighten it; a night of eternal gloom. And the hours are passing. You unsaved ones here are getting nearer to it. The ticking of the watch tells of passing time. The moments, as they go, seem like little feet running on to eternity; and every tick is like a tiny voice speaking of eternity. O think now; up yonder, there will be no night. Down there — it will be always night.
(To be concluded next month)