THE words of our text are so well known that even the world often quotes them in connection with its schemes and speculations. More scripturally, the people of God are given to apply them to the providential dealings of their Lord. The word “waters,” however, suggests to us other waters—those seen by Ezekiel; so, for the moment, we will couple our text with the 47th chapter of his prophecy. He saw two waters—one as a sea full of the ready-to-die, and the other as waters full of life. The latter proceeded from the right side of the house of God; running with ever-increasing volume they met and united with the waters of the sea and brought about the healing of every living thing in it. Another portion of God’s Word readily comes to our minds when we think of the “bread” of our text. Jesus said: “I am the bread of life,” and we soon see the connection. There is the sea of sick-unto-death humanity: there are the waters of God’s gracious purposes flowing down to it, and here is the Person, Christ, having cast His all now confidently waiting His “return.” “Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.” He cast in His divinity, His humanity, His life, and His death that there might be a return of glory to God through the Church unto all ages. While He casts in He speaks to His Church: “Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” We cannot follow Him in what He did, nor to the place He went to—Calvary; but the example of His large-heartedness has been the main motive of the Church’s self-denial from Abel downwards, and if we are to be of His body it must as truly be ours. It is with a view to this duty that we are to consider the words of our text.
I. The Waters—
As one stands by the seaside, alike from the far billow and the wavelet that breaks at one’s feet, there comes a message that tells of wide spaces, far reaches, and great depths, and were our souls sensitive enough we would hear the same message from the wavelets of humanity which daily splash themselves upon us. The unregenerate part of humanity with which we are in hourly contact, be it the person who has just knocked at our door, or the neighbour who has just passed up our common stair, or the customer who has just left our counter, or any like them, is representative of the great sea of humanity beyond. We look on one unforgiven sinner, and we look on one possessed of a heart which is banned from the presence of a holy God, one actually under His wrath and curse, and to the ends of the earth every unforgiven son and daughter of Adam is as this one. I often think that science has not among its many inventions one more solemn than the commonplace map of the world. We may sit down and quietly contemplate this tremendous sea; its arms reaching far into the sparsely populated Arctic regions, its swift and full currents pass before us in our crowded cities, but soon the composure leaves us. Every human body has a human soul, and whether we cast our minds among the crowds of a European city in their pursuit of doubtful pleasures, or give ourselves to follow the solitary Arab of the desert as he spreads his mat to pray to a god who is no God, it is souls everywhere. Millions of them, seas full of them, seas full of sinners, of lost sinners. A depth of misery is here, deep calleth unto deep, the misery of millions replying to the greater misery of other millions. “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” From this curse comes a restlessness, a depth of misery in itself. Constitutionally man must seek: one misery of this curse is that seeking where alone he desires to seek he cannot find. As the sea is in constant variance with the land that confines it, and deep in its bosom at war with itself, so is the human race. The law of God is as wide in its application as the distribution of men on the face of the earth, it bounds mankind within itself. Behind it stands a holy God with almighty power to vindicate His right in His own creation. He is even now punishing sinners who, while they lived, willed to live as law-breakers, and as surely He is to do the same on those who do not love His holy, just, and good law. In a frenzy of opposition man casts himself against the law of God; it is too strict, too exacting, as the demons said to Christ: “What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” So do they speak against commandments which are the delight of Heaven. Then they hurl themselves heavenwards, and sooner than acknowledge God’s right to govern in His own universe they will deny Him any existence. But they have come into contact with the thought of God and His law, and as they fall back they carry the war into their own souls. The heart is now divided between duty and its own pleasure, between pleasure and pleasure, between pleasure and the fruits of pleasure. Oh! this seething mass of unregenerate humanity, whither is it bound? Do we not read that hell has enlarged her mouth, as if in comparison to its gorging of fallen angels it must needs enlarge beyond its wonted extent for the reception of lost men and women; perhaps on account of the number of human lost, or perhaps on account of the enormity of human guilt. I do not say, but in the words of Christ the Judge: “There will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” If a few of the human race were to be lost it might well exercise believers for the rest of their lives, but here are multitudes lost each moment. If five were lost, representing one for each continent, it were awful, but here are millions. If the Bible means any thing at all it means that the above is the truth.
(b) The Purposes of God—
Were it not for the waters seen by Ezekiel it would be futile to cast “bread” upon the waters, which we have been considering. From the counsels of eternity the gracious purposes of the Three One God have come forth. Unknowable depths of free and full mercy and love have poured themselves forth through a crucified and risen Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead in a full Christ and communicated by the fullness of the Holy Spirit flows down into and out towards the ends of the world. The purposes of God already encompass the earth, the elect are being gathered, the knowledge of the Lord is being spread over the earth. All activities which are truly for the advancement of our Lord’s kingdom have their source and completion in these waters. These efforts may be different in different persons, in different institutions, in different lands; but the waters are not broken, they are always one in volume. They flow by, catch up, and carry on the lisping efforts of some dying saint, the trumpet calls of some Spurgeon, the obscure zeal of a Brainerd. On, on, until the wilderness blossoms as the rose, and Heaven be peopled with a multitude out of all lands to the glory of the Three One God from whom they proceeded. They carry the blood of Christ, His righteousness, the grace of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of the Father—the most precious things that Heaven’s treasury can give. With their sweetness and healing they pass our doors daily, and we are asked to cast our bread upon them. Apart from the gracious purposes of God, there is nothing in this world but confusion heaped upon confusion. Some teach that we are to help forward these purposes as if God’s purpose would falter if our help faltered, or, as if He were dependent on our efforts. We are workmen with Him; but if we refuse to work He can easily pass us by and make use of others. No doubt but that the waters passed by some unwilling persons that day at the treasury, and caught up the widow’s mite, turning it into a precious stone whose lustre is still undimmed. Surely if we cast ourselves upon the bosom of the merciful purposes of God, and find rest in doing so, we are bound to be all and to do all to bring the healing waters to everyone else.
This suggests another thought. A complex machinery, including routes, harbours, etc., is necessary for the safe delivery of goods, and anyone ignoring it would properly be counted foolish. But we are to cast on the waters without any knowledge of the ultimate destination of what we cast. We are to cast in faith. We know that ultimately we are helping the cause of Christ, but the persons helped, or the places where we have helped, or the extent to which we have helped, are beyond us. We see missionaries sustained by our help to the Home Mission Fund, we may be able to count how many Bibles our contribution has enabled a Bible Society to send forth, but our vision carries us no further. But somewhere in the Highlands of Scotland, or in the remote parts of Africa, souls are being converted to God and built up in holiness, and our “bread” has been a contributory cause. These are in turn blessed to others, and so the waters run on. But we cannot give an accurate return just because it is so glorious, and the results of our act so far-reaching. Our “bread” disappears in the mists and the spray; under the light of God’s Word the spray settles down and the mists scatter, and we see our “bread” in the form of those gathered round the throne singing the praise of Eternal Love. We have not effected this; the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit are the only efficient causes, but we have contributed to it, and the mere thought of this might well make us leap forward with our “bread.” Are we standing by while the waters flow on? Are we clutching our “bread” to our bosoms? Are we being left behind in this glorious work?
II. What are we to cast?—Bread.
We do not look upon bread as either a comfort or a luxury, it is a necessity; hence the saying: “The staff of life.” It is not always easy to know when a thing is a luxury, a comfort, or a necessity, but probably, if our eyes were more single we should the sooner know. We may say, however, that necessity appears to be that which is sufficient for full health, freedom, and service; if we add to this ease we have comfort, and if we add to this any excess, we have luxury. “Cast thy bread”; the arrow penetrates through the last two and enters the first. It is a solemn thought, but here in our giving both our excess and comforts are cancelled. Bread is the Old Testament word for self-denial in the New, and the doing of it. “They sold their possessions.” Let us not think that by setting aside some surplus money, or by relinquishing some comfort for the sake of the cause of Christ we are casting bread on the waters. The world does both of these in order to secure a momentary pleasure, but Christians are on a high plane. It is because their calling is so high that they are called to things so high. Believers are pre-eminently a hoarding people, but it is of gracious thoughts, feelings and habits only; any other kind of hoarding, whether in the individual or Church, is the short cut to death, and a step further on brings loose belief in the truth itself. Self-denial is an antidote for death and heterodoxy. Pointing to the stacks of coins in his treasury, the Pope turned to Thomas Aquinas with a smile and said: “You see, Thomas, that the time is past for the Church to say, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’ ” “Yes,” said Thomas, “and I fear that the time is also past for the Church to say, ‘In the name of Christ take up thy bed and walk.’ ” Christ and believers have a common purse, and consequently the believer’s question is not so much. “Can I afford this?” but “Can the cause of Christ afford it?” “Bread” is a solemn test, but who that values eternal life will grudge to test all in order to attain an assurance of it? Perhaps an over-fondness for our children makes us give to them that portion which should be the Lord’s, and He is getting just what is over after the families He has given to us have had more than enough. That will which we have drafted so favourably for our children might be better redrafted in favour of Him who sealed our testament with His own blood. Forgetful of “Cast thy bread” are we alike forgetful of “Leave thy fatherless children on me?” How is it in our own temporal affairs? More than one has said: “This coat will do my purpose just as well as that more expensive one and will leave me the joy of casting more on the waters than I hoped for.” That alteration to house may add to our body’s comfort, but would it not add more to the comfort of our souls to deny ourselves and help the body of Christ by casting on the waters the sum we contemplate spending on these comforts? I have no doubt but that we would please the Lord better if at times we gave the money for communion visitation to some brother or sister who, because of need, can never stir away from home. Certainly it would be casting bread on the waters to help a brother or sister to enjoy the spiritual comforts which are so easily within our reach and yet beyond theirs. In all this I use the word “perhaps,” as here there is no fixed rule. It is a giving as the Lord has prospered us, and when we ask what proportion is that, and try to answer it from Scripture, we find that there is a gradient or scale which rises higher and higher. It rises from half the goods of Zaccheus to the widow’s giving her all, and then the whole Church’s selling all and giving all. Still higher it rises in the Church of Macedonia in great depths of poverty abounding in such liberality that it receives special mention even in those days when self-denial was a commonplace thing among believers. We reach the highest in this: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might become rich.” We will choose for ourselves which step in the ladder will be ours. I do not say that we will choose as grace will enable us, for if grace had its own way it would choose the topmost rung, but we will choose as grace will enable us. Where we at all times woefully fail is in the exercise of grace bestowed. I take it that very few, if any, of God’s people have been without the experience of feeling deeply their indebtedness to their Lord. In meditation, under the preaching, at prayer, or at the Lord’s Table, the Holy Spirit has given us to see what our Saviour has done for us, and the question in some form has risen up—”All this for me?”—quickly followed by that other question—”What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me”? Alone with our Lord, with the warm beating of His love upon us, with our eyes looking down on a barred hell and upwards to an open Heaven, folded by the wounded hands and reclining on that breast which was bared to receive the punishment of our sins, we have asked ourselves: “Is anything too much to give in return for this?” The grace of self-denial, of great self-denial, is ours already, but have we kept it? Have we exercised it? The “all” soon after becomes the giving of a mere comfort: our consciences meantime nodding; the comfort soon becomes the giving of a part of our excess merely. We got power and will to give “bread,” and we are content to give to the Lord something which costs us nothing: perhaps worse, something which it is greater trouble to keep than to give away. May the Holy Spirit soon lead us back to the place of generous feelings, generous resolutions, and generous living. Our happiness is here.
III. Cast—
This is the manner of our giving so as to be agreeable to the mind of God. Some there be who never go down to these waters unless they are sure that there is a good number of spectators to witness their generosity, then having arrived there they see well to it that their gift is well wrapped up in gaudy dress, duly labelled, and sent forth with all possible pomp. They are careful not only that their right hand knows what their left hand does, but that the ends of the earth are made aware of it also. One would not judge too harshly of them if one were sure that they were not using the holy cause of Christ for a platform on which to advertise themselves. I trust that none of us is like this and may grace save us from it all our days. The Lord is owner of all and He will make use of all; but the same sovereignty, which owns all and will use all, demands a casting in giving. Less ambitious of this world’s praise most of us desire to go no further than to carry our kindness with us through life, while a few may desire to put it one step at least beyond ourselves. We wish to safeguard our name against meanness, and so we hint to, at least, one that we have helped in this or that. But even this is contrary to the spirit of casting. Cast, and leave it a secret between ourselves and the Lord. Cast, and turn your back upon it. Cast head and heart with your gift. Self-abandonment, self abnegation are in casting. If ever it comes up in thought or word let us have a care to record praise to the only Person worthy of it. I often think that no small part of our Lord’s self-denial lay in the absence of that praise due to Him from us yet owing to our limitations not even seen, much less rendered by us. As well as this idea of self-disinterestedness there is that open-handedness. This word scarcely covers what I mean. I had nearly written recklessness, yes, a sanctified recklessness is in “casting.” Is not this the term we would apply to the act of the woman who cast in her all? Let us notice that it was her all. The widow alone knew what that “all” implied. Necessity might urge with seeming reason on its side that she ought to hold what love called on her to cast. Necessity might remind her of the morrow and no bread-winner to meet it. Custom might look her in the face and tell her that as it did not demand this of others in her circumstances it did not demand it of her. Unbelief plausibly asks if her mite, so much to her, will make any difference in the treasury. “Your mite is so small a thing you may as well keep it for all the difference it will make.” Above all pride might say, “Yes cast your all in to-day, and to-morrow be a beggar for your needs. You may have to go for help to those who are to-day worldly prudent enough to cast in little and save much. How people will laugh at you and impute motives of self-advertisement, and say that you now deserve your crust of bread and bits of rags.” It seems to have come to this with the widow—”The Lord’s cause has need and I too have need, but the Lord’s cause comes first, and after He may attend to me if that is His pleasure, and if not be it known that I will not worship the golden image.”
While speaking of these things a woman once told me that we are not supposed to take these things in the Bible in too literal a sense. Our fault is that we do not take them as literally as we ought. Others object that since there are different positions in the world there must be substance in possession corresponding to the position. Character, grace, gifts give position according to God’s Word, not substance. I believe that the vulgar word for this is “style,” but for the children of God over against this: Is set the “Cross” and the Biblical commentary on it. “I determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” If you are among the richest of God’s people cast your all on the waters. If you feel that you are among the poorest, cast in out of your poverty. “Draw near these waters, see where they are going, the glorious work they are to accomplish. They are the wide bosom of your Lord carrying elect sinners from all lands to glory. Cast your all in, even your living, remembering the assurance specially given of the Lord to such as you: I will never forsake thee, your water and your bread will be sure.”
IV. The Return—”After many days.”
We now come to the last part of our text, the return—”After many days.” It is sometimes taught, especially to the young, that if they are kind to God’s people and helpful to His cause, that somehow He will reward them with temporal things; in finding promotion or good situations for them. I hardly think that we should stand on ground as low as this. The Most High may do this, but He has not promised to do it, and so He may not do it. The self-denial and the poor worldly circumstances of the Apostles and others contradict this. And because the Lord may not do it persons who have built on it have been driven to prideful and atheistic thoughts, saying: “Why has He dealt so hardly with me when I have been so kind to His cause.” This has happened, and it is a grave objection to such teaching. “After many days.” What we have here is a definite return, but only after many days. It lifts our minds to the distant horizon. So distant is it that those to whom the words apply may often lose sight of the return. Taken up with the battle between the kingdoms of Christ and Satan the Church only occasionally remembers on the return. But “Thou shalt find it.” Yes, in the distant future, when the angel shall lift his hand and sware that time shall be no more: and the heavens shall fold together as a scroll, and the earth and all in it shall come to nothing, when people from all lands shall stand before the Great Throne. Yes, and those who cast in, too, will be gathered. Then and there before the Throne. “Thou shalt find it.” When the Judge shall say: “I was an hungered and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me. I was sick and ye visited me, in prison and ye came unto me.” Those who had cast shall say; “When saw we thee in these circumstances?” Then shall He say to those gathered from China, Africa, India, Scotland, and all parts of the world: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye did it unto me.” It will then be demonstrated before all that the “bread” of your casting, and which went clean out of your sight, was carried to remote parts of the globe. There it became a contributory means of feeding and clothing the spiritual body of the Lord, and there it set the prisoners free with an eternal freedom to serve your own Redeemer. He who, by mysterious power and beyond the sight of the servants, changed the common water into wine, symbolic of life, changed our “bread” into a crown of life and glory for Himself. We will find it in both the happiness bestowed on our fellow-believers and in the glory given to Christ. There it is in their crowns, robes, and song. There it is in the love and unending service given by multitudes to your own Saviour. The Lord has designed this as an extra happiness for His people, a Heaven within a Heaven. “Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth.” You cry, as regards the bread, the casting and carrying of it: “Not unto us, not unto us, but do thou glory take”; but another song from the Church universal reaches you: “To Him that loved us and washed us in His own blood,” and while discounting yourself of all you have the assurance of Him who sits on the throne that you, even you, contributed to the singing of this song; and as that assurance will be everlastingly in you bosom, so for all eternity will you meet with your return in it. Surely no desire lies nearer to the heart of a child of God than that Christ should be glorified, and next to that the desire to find an opportunity to bring glory to Him. The opportunity is within the reach of all. The waters flow by us—Cast! friend, cast! In consideration for your future happiness, I say, Cast. Are you being left behind? The new Jerusalem melody has begun already, and its volume is daily increasing as daily the children of God leave this world from all parts. The Lord has in His kindness united that song with your casting. Cast, and glorify the Lord who saved you, and having cast, remember that all your casting is at best a contributory cause only, and even that by grace alone.