II. Let us now row in another direction for a moment or two. In the second place, “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” This is the claim of God’s Word upon your attention.
Every word which God has given us in this Book claims our attention, because of the infinite majesty of Him that spake it. I see before me a Parliament of kings and princes, sages and senators. I hear one after another of the gifted Chrysostoms pour forth eloquence like the “Golden-mouthed.” They speak, and they speak well. Suddenly, there is a solemn hush. What a stillness! Who is now to speak? They are silent, because the God the Lord is about to lift up his voice. Is it not right that they should be so? Doth He not say, “Keep silence before me, O islands”? What voice is like His voice? “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.” See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. O my hearer, let it not be said of you that you went through this life, God speaking to you in His Book, and you refusing to hear! It matters very little whether you listen to me or not; but it matters a very great deal whether you listen to God or not. It is He that made you; in His hands your breath is; and if He speaks, I implore you, open your ear, and be not rebellious. There is an infinite majesty about every line of Scripture, but especially about that part of Scripture in which the Lord reveals Himself and His glorious plan of saving grace, in the person of His dear Son Jesus Christ. The cross of Christ hath a great claim upon you. Hear what Jesus preaches from the tree. He says, “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live.”
God’s claim to be heard lies, also, in the condescension which has led Him to speak to us. It was something for God to have made the world and bid us look at the work of His hands. Creation is a picture-book for children. But for God to speak in the language of mortal men is still more marvellous, if you come to think of it. I wonder that God spoke by the prophets; but I admire still more that He should have written down His Word in black and white, in unmistakable language, which can be translated into all tongues, so that we may all see and read for ourselves what God the Lord has spoken to us; and what, indeed, He continues to speak; for what He has spoken He still speaks to us, as freshly as if he spoke it for the first time. O glorious Jehovah; dost thou speak to mortal man? Can there be any that neglect to hear Thee? If Thou art so full of loving kindness and tenderness that thou wilt stoop out of heaven to converse with Thy sinful creatures, none but those who are more brutal than the ox and the ass will turn a deaf ear to Thee!
God’s Word has a claim, then, upon your attention because of its majesty and its condescension; but yet, further, it should win your ear because of its intrinsic importance. “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it”—then it is no trifle. God never speaks vanity. No line of His writing treats of the frivolous themes of a day. That which may be forgotten in an hour is for mortal man, and not for the eternal God. When the Lord speaks, His speech is God-like, and its themes are worthy of one whose dwelling is infinity and eternity. God does not play with thee, man: wilt thou trifle with Him? Wilt thou treat Him as if He were altogether such a one as thyself? God is in earnest when He speaks to thee: wilt thou not in earnest listen? He speaks to thee of great things, which have to do with thy soul and its destiny. “It is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life.” Thy eternal existence, thy happiness or thy misery, hang on thy treatment of that which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. Concerning eternal realities He speaks to thee. I pray thee, be not so unwise as to turn away thine ear. Act not as if the Lord and His truth were nothing to you. Treat not the Word of the Lord as a secondary thing, which might wait thy leisure and receive attention when no other work was before thee: put all else aside, but hearken to thy God.
Depend upon it, if “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” there is an urgent, pressing necessity. God breaks not silence to say that which might as well have remained unsaid. His voice indicates great urgency. To-day, if ye will hear His voice, hear it; for He demands immediate attention. God does not speak without abundant reason; and, O my hearer, if He speaks to thee by His Word, I beseech thee, believe that there must be overwhelming cause for it! I know what Satan says: he tells thee that thou canst do very well without listening to God’s Word. I know what thy carnal heart whispers: it says, “Listen to the voice of business, and of pleasure; but listen not to God.” But, oh! if the Holy Spirit shall teach thy reason to be reasonable, and put thy mind in mind of true wisdom, thou wilt acknowledge that the first thing thou hast to do is to heed thy Maker. Thou canst hear the voices of others another time; but thine ear must hear God first, since He is first, and that which He speaks must be of first importance. Without delay do thou make haste to keep His commandments. Without reserve answer to His call, and say, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” When I stand in this pulpit to preach the Gospel, I never feel that I may calmly invite you to attend to a subject which is one among many, and may very properly be let alone for a time should your minds be already occupied. No; you may be dead before I again speak with you, and so I beg for immediate attention. I do not fear that I may be taking you off from other important business by entreating you to attend to that which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken; for no business has any importance in it compared with this; this is the master theme of all. It is your soul, your own soul, your ever-existing soul, which is concerned, and it is your God that is speaking to you. Do hear him, I beseech you. I am not asking a favour of you when I request you to hear the Word of the Lord: it is a debt to your Maker which you are bound to pay. Yea, it is, moreover, kindness to your own self. Even from a selfish point of view, I urge you to hear what the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, for in His Word lies salvation. Harken diligently to what your Maker, your Saviour, your best Friend, has to say to you. “Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,” but “incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live.” “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Thus I have handled my text in two ways: it is warrant and motive for the preacher; it is a demand upon the attention of the hearer.
III. And now, thirdly, this gives to God’s Word a very special character. When we open this sacred Book, and say of that which is here recorded, “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” then it gives to the teaching a special character.
In the Word of God the teaching has unique dignity. This Book is inspired as no other book is inspired, and it is time that all Christians avowed this conviction. I do not know whether you have seen Mr Smiles’ life of our late friend, George Moore; but in it we read that, at a certain dinner-party, a learned man remarked that it would not be easy to find a person of intelligence who believed in the inspiration of the Bible. In an instant George Moore’s voice was heard across the table, saying boldly, “I do, for one.” Nothing more was said. My dear friend had a strong way of speaking, as I well remember; for we have upon occasions vied with each other in shouting when we were together at his Cumberland home. I think I can hear his emphatic way of putting it—”I do, for one.” Let us not be backward to take the old-fashioned and unpopular side, and say outright, “I do, for one.” Where are we if our Bibles are gone? Where are we if we are taught to distrust them? If we are left in doubt as to which part is inspired and which is not, we are as badly off as if we had no Bible at all. I hold no theory of inspiration; I accept the inspiration of the Scriptures as a fact. Those who thus view the Scriptures need not be ashamed of their company; for some of the best and most learned of men have been of the same mind. Locke, the great philosopher, spent the last fourteen years of his life in the study of the Bible, and when asked what was the shortest way for a young gentleman to understand the Christian religion, he bade him read the Bible, remarking: “Therein are contained the words of eternal life. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any admixture of error, for its matter.” There are those on the side of God’s Word whom you need not be ashamed of in the matter of intelligence and learning; and if it were not so, it should not discourage you when you remember that the Lord has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes. We believe with the apostle that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” It is better to believe what comes out of God’s mouth, and be called a fool, than to believe what comes out of the mouth of philosophers, and be, therefore, esteemed a wise man.
There is also about that which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken an absolute certainty. What man has said is unsubstantial, even when true. It is like grasping fog, there is nothing in it. But with God’s Word you have something to grip at, something to have, and to hold. This is substance and reality; but of human opinions we may say, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Though heaven and earth should pass away, yet not one jot or tittle of what God has spoken shall fail. We know that, and feel at rest. God cannot be mistaken. God cannot lie. These are postulates which no one can dispute. If “The mouth of God hath spoken it,” this is the judge that ends the strife where wit and reason fail; and henceforth we question no more.
Again: if “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” we have in this utterance the special character of immutable fixedness. Once spoken by God, not only is it so now, but it always must be so. The Lord of Hosts hath spoken, and who shall disannul it? The rock of God’s Word does not shift, like the quicksand of modern scientific theology. One said to his minister, “My dear sir, surely you ought to adjust your beliefs to the progress of science.” “Yes,” said he, “but I have not had time to do it to-day, for I have not yet read the morning papers.” One would have need to read the morning papers and take in every new edition to know whereabout scientific theology now stands; for it is always chopping and changing. The only thing that is certain about the false science of this age is that it will be soon disproved. Theories, vaunted to-day, will be scouted to-morrow. The great scientists live by killing those who went before them. They know nothing for certain, except that their predecessors were wrong. Even in one short life we have seen system after system—the mushrooms, or rather the toadstools, of thought—rise and perish. We cannot adapt our religious belief to that which is more changeful than the moon. Try it who will: as for me, if “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” it is truth for me in this year of grace 1888; and if I stand amongst you a grey-headed old man somewhere in 1908, you will find me making no advance upon the divine ultimatum. If “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” we behold in His revelation a gospel which is without variable-ness, revealing “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” Brothers and sisters, we hope to be together for ever before the eternal throne, where bow the blazing Seraphim, and even then we shall not be ashamed to avow that same truth which this day we feed upon from the hand of our God.
“For he’s the Lord, supremely good,
His mercy is for ever sure;
His truth, which always firmly stood,
To endless ages shall endure.”
Here let me add that there is something unique about God’s Word, because of the almighty power which attends it. “Where the word of a king is, there is power”; where the word of a God is, there is omnipotence. If we dealt more largely in God’s own Word, as “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” we should see far greater results from our preaching. It is God’s Word, not our comment on God’s Word, that saves souls. Souls are slain by the sword, not by the scabbard, nor by the tassels which adorn the hilt of it. If God’s Word be brought forward in its native simplicity, no one can stand against it. The adversaries of God must fail before the Word as chaff perishes in the fire. Oh, for wisdom to keep closer and closer to that which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken!
I will say no more on this point, although the theme is a very large and tempting one; especially if I were to dwell upon the depth, the height, the adaptation, the insight, and the self-proving power of that which “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken.”
IV. Fourthly, and very briefly, this makes God’s Word a ground of great alarm to many. Shall I read you the whole verse? “But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Every threatening that God hath spoken, because He hath spoken it, has a tremendous dread about it. Whether God threateneth a man or a nation, or the whole class of the ungodly, if they are wise they will feel a trembling take hold upon them, because “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” God has never yet spoken a threatening that has fallen to the ground. When he told Pharaoh what He would do, He did it; the plagues came thick and heavy upon him. When the Lord at any time sent His prophets to denounce judgments on the nations, He carried out those judgments. Ask travellers concerning Babylon, and Nineveh, and Edom, and Moab, and Bashan; and they will tell you of the heaps of ruins, which prove how the Lord carried out His warnings to the letter. One of the most awful things recorded in history is the siege of Jerusalem. You have read it, I do not doubt, in Josephus, or elsewhere. It makes one’s blood run cold to think of it. Yet it was all foretold by the prophets, and their prophecies were fulfilled to the bitter end. You talk about God as being “love,” and, if you mean by this that He is not severe in the punishment of sin, I ask you what you make of the destruction of Jerusalem. Remember that the Jews were His chosen nation, and that the city of Jerusalem was the place where His temple had been glorified with His presence. Brethren, if you roam from Edom to Zion, and from Zion to Sidon, and from Sidon to Moab, you will find, amid ruined cities, the tokens that God’s words of judgment are sure. Depend on it, then, that when Jesus says, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment,” it will be so. When he says, “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins,” it will be so. The Lord never plays at frightening men. His Word is not an exaggeration to scare men with imaginary bugbears. There is emphatic truth in what the Lord says. He has always carried out His threatenings to the letter, and to the moment; and, depend on it, He will continue to do so, “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
It is of no avail to sit down, and draw inferences from the nature of God, and to argue, “God is love, and therefore He will not execute the sentence upon the impenitent.” He knows what He will do better than you can infer; He has not left us to inferences, for He has spoken pointedly and plainly. He says, “He that believeth not shall be damned,” and it will be so, “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Infer what you like from His nature; but if you draw an inference contrary to what He has spoken, you have inferred a lie, and you will find it so.
“Alas,” says one, “I shudder at the severity of the divine sentence.” Do you? It is well! I can heartily sympathise with you. What must he be that does not tremble when he sees the great Jehovah taking vengeance upon iniquity! The terrors of the Lord might well turn steel to wax. Let us remember that the gauge of truth is not our pleasure nor our terror. It is not my shuddering which can disprove what the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. It may even be a proof of its truth. Did not all the prophets tremble at manifestations of God? Remember how one of them cried, “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones.” One of the last of the anointed seers fell at the Lord’s feet as dead. Yet all the shrinking of their nature was not used by them as an argument for doubt.
O my unconverted and unbelieving hearers, do remember that if you refuse Christ, and rush upon the keen edge of Jehovah’s sword, your unbelief of eternal judgment will not alter it, nor save you from it. I know why you do not believe in the terrible threatenings. It is because you want to be easy in your sins. A certain sceptical writer, when in prison, was visited by a Christian man, who wished him well, but he refused to hear a word about religion. Seeing a Bible in the hand of his visitor, he make this remark, “You do not expect me to believe in that book, do you? Why, if that book is true, I am lost for ever.” Just so. Therein lies the reason for half the infidelity in the world, and all the infidelity in our congregations. How can you believe that which condemns you? Ah! my friends, if you would believe it to be true and act accordingly, you would also find in that which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken a way of escape from the wrath to come; for the Book is far more full of hope than of dread. This inspired volume flows with the milk of mercy, and the honey of grace. It is not a Doomsday Book of wrath, but a Testament of grace. Yet, if you do not believe its loving warnings, nor regard its just sentences, they are true all the same. If you dare its thunders, if you trample on its promises, and even if you burn it in your rage, the holy Book still stands unaltered and unalterable; for “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Therefore, I pray you, treat the sacred Scriptures with respect, and remember that “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
V. And so I must finish, for time fails, when I notice, in the fifth place, that this makes the Word of the Lord the reason and rest of our faith. “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” is the foundation of our confidence. There is forgiveness; for God has said it. Look, friend; you are saying, “I cannot believe that my sins can be washed away, I feel so unworthy.” Yes, but “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Believe over the head of your unworthiness. “Ah,” says one, “I feel so weak I can neither think, nor pray, nor anything else, as I should.” Is it not written, “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly?” “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it;” therefore, over the head of your inability still believe it, for it must be so.
I think I hear some child of God saying, “God has said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,’ but I am in great trouble; all the circumstances of my life seem to contradict the promise:” yet, “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” and the promise must stand. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” Believe God in the teeth of circumstances. If you cannot see a way of escape or a means of help, yet still believe in the unseen God, and in the truth of His presence: “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” I think I have come to this pass with myself, at any rate for the time present, that when circumstances deny the promise, I believe it none the less. When friends forsake me, and foes belie me, and my own spirit goes down below zero, and I am depressed almost to despair, I am resolved to hang to the bare Word of the Lord, and prove it to be in itself an all-sufficient stay and support. I will believe God against all the devils in hell, God against Ahithophel, and Judas, and Demas, and all the rest of the turncoats; yea, and God against my own evil heart. His purpose shall stand, “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Away, ye that contradict it; ours is a well-grounded confidence, “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
By-and-by we shall come to die. The death-sweat shall gather on our brow, and perhaps our tongue will scarcely serve us. Oh that then, like the grand old German Emperor, we may say, “Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,” and, “He hath helped me with His name.” When we pass through the rivers He will be with us, the floods shall not overflow us; “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we shall fear no evil, for He will be with us; His rod and His staff shall comfort us. “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Ah! what will it be to break loose from these bonds and rise into the glory? We shall soon see the King in His beauty, and be ourselves glorified in His glory; for “the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” “He that believeth hath everlasting life;” therefore a glad eternity is ours.
Brethren, we have not followed cunningly devised fables. We are not “wanton boys that swim on bladders,” which will soon burst under us; but we are resting on firm ground. We abide where heaven and earth are resting; where the whole universe depends; where even eternal things have their foundation; we rest on God Himself. If God shall fail us, we gloriously fail with the whole universe. But there is no fear; therefore let us trust and not be afraid. His promise must stand; for “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” O Lord, it is enough. Glory be to Thy name, through Christ Jesus! Amen.