A Gospel Address, delivered at the Victoria Hall, Exeter,
By Dr. Heyman Wreford
IT was years ago when I came home to Christ. It was the happiest day of my life when I learned that God loved me, and Christ died for me; and I do trust that many a sinner will come home tonight. Why not everyone in this Hall? The arms of Christ are open to receive you; the heart of Christ has love enough to bless you all, and the blood of Christ can cleanse your every sin. Oh, may you come home to the love of God this evening.
The scene I read to you just now from the fifth of Mark is one of the most striking in Scripture. It is not only thrilling in its details, but most instructive in its application to the sinner. For this man, this Gadarene demoniac is a complete type of every sinner. You may be incredulous as to this but I shall endeavor, with God’s help, to show you in what way you resemble him. We will, for a short time, dwell on the man’s condition, before we see his wonderful coming home. In the first place,
His Dwelling Place was among the Tombs and in the Mountains.
“And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.” This was his dwelling place; even the abode of distance and of death. And sinner, your dwelling place is, “afar from God by sin and wicked works,” you roam the far off mountains of sin, and you are “sitting in darkness, and the shadow of death,” and Scripture says of you, that you are “dead in trespasses and sins.” So yours is the place of distance, and the place of death. Have you realized this distance yet? do you know? How far are you from Christ? If you die in your sins, you will be, for all eternity, as far from Christ as heaven is from hell. The man of my text was under a fearful curse; he was hurried about from place to place, a bond-slave of the devil. In the lonely night the belated wayfarer would hear him startling the still night air with his awful cries, or see him bounding along maddened by his dreadful fate. I see him far away on the mountain-side, afar from all his fellows; and again I see him crouching ‘mid the tombs. And I see you, sinner, tonight, in the light of Scripture, on the far off mountains of sin, “afar from God,” a lonely wanderer from the rest of heaven; and I see you, too, where the darkness of death lies, sitting in “darkness, and the shadow of death.” It is for you to realize your place now: to feel the distance and the darkness, and to know your position and condition before God. Would you like to die afar from God, and pass away into eternity amid the shadows of death? Would you not like to know the home-love of the heart of God; the joy of His presence? The Apostle says of those who trust in Jesus, “ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood, of Christ.” Many here have been “made nigh” by that precious blood; but what of you? Have you trusted the blood that cleanseth from all sin? It is sin that has made the distance between the sinner and his God, and it is the blood of Christ that blots out the sin and makes the sinner nigh. And again, we read in the Colossians, “Giving thanks unto the Father, Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” God is willing to deliver you from the power of darkness, and to make you meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. These are divine realities; it is a reality that you are “afar from God by sin and wicked works”; it is a reality that you are “sitting in darkness and the shadow of death,” and it is a reality that you may be “made nigh by the blood of Christ,” and that you may be delivered from the power of darkness; and be translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Think of these things, I pray you, and may the blessing of the Highest rest upon you!
He was Beyond the Power and Reach of Man.
There was no power on earth that could make this poor demoniac other than he was. His fellow creatures had taken him in hand and tried to do him good; they had bound him in fetters and chains, and he had plucked the chains asunder, and broken the fetters in pieces. Then they had used various arts to tame him, but it was of no avail. He could not be controlled nor tamed; he was beyond the power and reach of man altogether. And is he not like you in this, sinner? There is no power on earth can save you. Man seeks to reform his fellow-man; he puts fetters of restraint upon him, and binds him with chains of reform. But of what avail is all this! No reform, no creed, or dogma can save you. There is no one but the Saviour can do you good, and there is nothing but His finished work that can meet your desperate case. Man may induce a drunkard to give up drink, or a blasphemer to give up blasphemy, but there is no salvation for the soul in the reforms of men. You must look for salvation to the Christ of God. He does not save me from particular sins, but from all my sins; He does not bind me to keep down the evil that is within me; He gives me the power of salvation, and the strength of His love to fight and overcome it, and He makes me to rejoice in the liberty wherewith He has made me free; having delivered me from the dominion of sin. It is as Christ’s freed man that I face my enemy; as one who was once Satan’s slave, but who has been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Oh! my hearers, if man could save his fellow-man, how eagerly would he strive: but this is impossible. You have a loved one who is ill; you watch the progress of the disease, and you feel you can do nothing. You know what the ailment is, and you do not know the remedy. You call in the physician; he knows the disease and he applies the remedy.
And so with your soul; you must leave it in His hands Who knows all about the disease of sin, and Who has found the remedy. The Saviour has taken our disease upon Himself, “He Who knew no sin, was made sin for us,” and He is the One, the only One, Who can restore to life a sinner, “dead in trespasses and sins.” No power on earth can make a dead man live; and no power on earth can give a dead sinner life; he is beyond the reach of man altogether. And so your salvation must come from above; the Voice from heaven says, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved.” This eternal life is God’s gift, and man has nothing to do with it. And we notice concerning this man’s condition: —
“He was Night and Day in Unrest.”
The devil would not let this man rest, and the Bible declares, “There is no peace to the wicked.” There is no rest for you outside Christ; no peace with God for the poor sinner, except through the Lord Jesus Christ. You have never known rest if you are still unsaved; you may have been lulled into delusive slumber by the opiates of Satan, but that is not soul rest. The poor man of my text knew no rest night nor day; and your soul has never felt the balm of rest yet. You may have hurried to and fro, seeking rest and finding none; but you must be quiet to be saved. You have heard of the man who was drowning, and another sprang in to rescue him, but before he could save him he had to strike him and make him senseless; then, when he was passive, he took him to the shore. And so God has often to strike a sinner down before He can save him. Sometimes it is sickness that brings a sinner to the Saviour; the strong man laid low to be blessed by Christ. At other times it is the death or a husband, a wife, a child, or friend. We tremble beneath the blow of death, but we learn to say, “It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good.” Those who will not rest in Christ, who will not give up the false delights of a world of sin, are destroyed for all eternity. But I can say tonight, “there is rest for the weary, there is rest for you.” And the Lord Jesus looks at you and offers you His rest — His peace. Will you have it?
(To be continued, D.V.)