Above all, remember how Jesus loved secret prayer, and if you resolve to keep with Him you must be much at the throne of grace.
I will not detain you over each of these points, but simply say that Ittai’s declaration meant also this—that he intended to share David’s condition. If David was great, Ittai would rejoice. If David was exiled, Ittai would attend his wanderings. Our point must be to resolve in God’s strength to keep to Christ in all weathers and in all companies, and that whether in life or death. Ah that word “death” makes it sweet, because then we reap the blessed result of having lived with Christ. We shall go upstairs for the last time and bid good-bye to all, and then we shall feel that in death He is still with us as in life we have been with Him. Though our good works can never be a ground of confidence when we are dying, yet if the Lord enables us to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, and so to lead a decided, positive, downright, upright Christian life, our death pillow will not be stuffed with thorns of regret, but we shall have to bless God that we bore a faithful witness as far as were able to do so. In such a case we shall not when the dying wish to go back again to rectify the mistakes and insincerities of our lives. No, beloved, it will be very, very sweet to be alone with Jesus in death. He will make all our bed in our sickness; He will make our dying pillow soft, and our soul shall vanish, kissed away by His dear lips, and we shall be with Him forever and forever. Of those that are nearest to Him it is said, “These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. They shall walk with him in white, for they are worthy.”
I conclude with this observation. Will our Lord Jesus Christ accept at our hands tonight such a consecrating word? If we are trusting in Him for salvation will He permit us to say that we will keep with Him as long as we live?
We reply, He will not permit us to say it in our own strength. There was a young man who said, “Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest,” but Christ gave him a cool reception: and there was an older man who said, “Though all men shall forsake thee yet will not I,” and in reply his Master prayed for Him that his faith should not fail. Now, you must not promise as Peter did, or you will make a greater failure. But, beloved, this self-devotion is what Christ expects of us if we are His disciples. He will not have us love father or mother more than Him; we must be ready to give up all for His sake. This is not only what our Master expects from us, but what He deserves from us.
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
This, also, is what the Lord will help us to do, for He will give us grace if we will but seek it at His hands: and this it is which He will graciously reward, and has already rewarded, in that choice word of His in the twelfth of John, where He says of His disciples in the twenty-sixth verse, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor.” Oh, to be honored of God in eternity when He shall say, “Stand back, angels; make way, seraphim and cherubim; here comes a man that suffered for the sake, of my dear Son. Here comes one that was not ashamed of my Only-begotten when his face was smeared with the spittle. Here comes one that stood in the pillory with Jesus, and was called ill names for His sake. Stand back, ye angels, these have greater honor than you.” Surely the angels of heaven as they traverse the streets of gold and meet the martyrs will ask them about their sufferings, and say, “You are more favored than we, for you have had the privilege of suffering and dying for the Lord.” O brothers and sisters, snatch at the privilege of living for Jesus; consecrate yourselves this day unto Him; live from this hour forward, not to enrich yourselves, nor to gain honor and esteem, but for Jesus, for Jesus alone. Oh, if I could set Him before you here; if I could cause Him to stand on this platform just as He came from Gethsemane with His bloody sweat about Him, or as He came down from the cross with wounds so bright with glory and so fresh with bleeding out our redemption, I think I should hear you say, each one of you, “Lord Jesus, we are thine, and in what place Thou shalt be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servants be.” So may the Lord help us by His most gracious Spirit who hath wrought all our works in us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
