Then, next, it is plenteous grace. “I will send them showers.” It does not
say, “I will send them drops,” but “I will send them showers.” “It seldom
rains but it pours.” So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, he usually
gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Where
are we going to hold God’s blessing that we have obtained already? I told the
people on Thursday that God had promised us, that if we brought the tithes
into the storehouse, he would send us such a blessing that we would not have
room to hold it. We have tried it, and the promise has been fulfilled, as it
always will be as long as we rely upon it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we shall want
plenteous grace, my friends; plenteous grace to keep us humble, plenteous
grace to make us prayerful, plenteous grace to make us holy, plenteous grace
to make us zealous, plenteous grace to make us truthful, plenteous grace to
preserve us through this life, and at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do
without showers of grace. How many are there here that have been dry in a
shower of grace? Why, there is a shower of grace here; but how is it that it
does not fall on some of the people? It is because they put up the umbrella
of their prejudice; and though they sit here, even as God’s people sit, even
when it rains, they have such a prejudice of God’s Word, they do not want to
hear it, they do not want to love it, and it runs off again. Nevertheless,
the showers are there; and we will thank god for them where they do fall.
Again, it is seasonable grace. “I will give them the shower in its season.”
There is nothing like seasonable grace. There are fruits, you know, that are
best in their season, and they are not good at any other time; and there are
graces that are good in their season, but we do not always require them. A
person vexes and irritates me; I want grace just at that moment to be
patient; I have not got it, and I get angry; ten minutes after I am ever so
patient; but I have not had grace in its season. The promise is, “I will give
them the shower in its season.” Ah! poor waiting soul, what is thy season
this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the season for
showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the
season for showers. What is your season this morning, business man? Lost
money all the week, have you? Now is the season to ask for showers. It is
night-time; now the dew falls. The dew does not fall in the day-it falls in
the night; the night of affliction, trial, and trouble. There stands the
promise; only go and plead it. “I will give them the shower in its season.”
We have one thought more, and then we have done. Here is a varied blessing.
“I will give thee showers of blessing.” The word is in the plural. All kinds
of blessings God will send. The rain is all of one kind when it comes; but
grace is not all of one kind, or it does not produce the same effect. When
God sends rain upon the church, he “sends showers of blessing.” There are
some ministers who think, that if there is a shower on their church, God will
send a shower of work. Yes, but if he does, he will send a shower of comfort.
Others think that God will send a shower of gospel truth. Yes, but if he
sends that, he will send a shower of gospel holiness. For all God’s blessings
go together. They are like the sweet sister graces that danced hand in hand.
God sends showers of blessings. If he gives comforting grace, he will also
give converting grace; if he makes the trumpet blow for the bankrupt sinner,
he will also make it sound a shout of joy for the sinner that is pardoned and
forgiven. He will send “showers of blessing.”
Now, then, there is a promise in that Bible. We have tried to explain and
enlarge upon it. What shall we do with it?
“In that book there hidden lies
A pearl of price unknown.”
Well, we have examined this rich promise; we as a church are looking at it;
we are saying, “Is that ours?” I think most of the members will say, “It is;
for God has poured out upon us showers of blessing in their season.” Well,
then, if the promise is ours, the precept is ours, as much as the promise.
Ought we not to ask God to continue to make us a blessing? Some say I did so-
and-so when I was a young man; but supposing you are fifty, you are not an
old man now. Is there not something you can do? It is all very well to talk
about what you have done; but what are you doing now? I know what it is with
some of you; you shined brightly once, but your candle has not been snuffed
lately, and so it does not shine so well. May God take away some of the
worldly cares, and snuff the candles a little! You know there were snuffers
and snuffer-trays provided in the temple for all the candles, but no
extinguishers; and if there should be a poor candle here this morning, with a
terrific snuff, that has not given a light for a long while, you will have no
extinguisher from me, but I hope you will always have a snuffing. I thought
the first time when I came to the lamps this morning it would be to snuff
them. That has been the intention of my sermon-to snuff you a little-to set
you to work for Jesus Christ. O Zion, shake thyself from the dust! O
Christian, raise thyself from thy slumbers! Warrior, put on thy armor!
Soldier, grasp thy sword! The captain sounds the alarm of war. O sluggard!
why sleepest thou? O heir of heaven, has not Jesus done so much for thee,
that thou shouldst live to him? O beloved brethren, purchased with redeeming
mercies, girt about with loving-kindness and with tenderness,
“Now for a shout of sacred joy.”
and after that, to the battle! The little seed has grown to this; who knoweth
what it shall be? Only let us together strive, without variance. Let us labor
for Jesus. Never did men have so fair an opportunity, for the last hundred
years. “There is a tide that, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” Shall
you take it at the flood? Over the bar, at the harbor’s mouth! O ship of
heaven, let thy sails be out; let not thy canvas be furled; and the wind will
blow us across the seas of difficulty that lie before us. O! that the latter
day might have its dawning even in this despised habitation! O my God! from
this place cause the first wave to spring, which shall move another, and then
another, till the last great wave shall sweep over the sands of time, and
dash against the rocks of eternity, echoing as it falls, “Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!”
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
