Out of the Deep | Page 8

most
essential of all answers? It is the Holy Spirit of God; the Spirit who
proceedeth from the Father and the Son; the Spirit of the Father who so
loved the world, that He spared not His only begotten Son; the Spirit of
the Son who so loved the world that He stooped to die for it upon the
Cross; the Spirit who is the Comforter, and says, "I have seen thy ways
and will heal thee, I will lead thee also, and restore comforts to thee and
to thy mourners. I speak peace to him that is near and to him that is afar
off, saith the Lord; and I will heal him." Is not that the most blessed
news, that He who takes away, is the very same as He who gives? That
He who afflicts is the very same as He who comforts?
All Saints-Day Sermons.
Oh! blessed news, that God Himself is the Comforter. Blessed news,
that He who strikes will also heal; that He who gives the cup of sorrow
will also give the strength to drink it. Blessed news, that chastisement is
not punishment, but the education of a Father. Blessed news, that our
whole duty is the duty of a child--of the Son who said in His agony,
Father, not my will, but Thine be done. Blessed news, that our
Comforter is the Spirit who comforted Christ the Son Himself; who
proceeds both from the Father and the Son, and who will tell us that in
Christ we are really and literally the children of God, who may cry to
Him in our extreme need, "Father," with full understanding of all that
that royal word contains.

All Saints-Day Sermons.

II. OUT OF THE DEEP OF SIN.
Innumerable troubles are come about me. My sins have taken such hold
upon me, that I am not able to look up; yea, they are more in number
than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me.--Ps. xl. 15.
I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee
only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.--Ps. li. 3.
I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; and so Thou forgavest the
wickedness of my sin.--Ps. xxxii. 6.
Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sin is
purged.--Ps. xxxii. 1.
There is forgiveness with Thee, therefore shalt Thou be feared.--Ps.
cxxx. 1.
God is not against you but for you, in all the struggles of life; He wants
you to get through safe; wants you to succeed; wants you to conquer;
and He will hear your cry out of the deep and help you. And therefore
when you find yourselves wrong, utterly wrong, do not cry to this man
or that man, "Do you help me; do you set me a little more right before
God comes, and finds me in the wrong and punishes me." Cry to God
Himself, to Christ Himself; ask Him to lift you up; ask Him to set you
right. Do not be like St. Peter before his conversion, and cry, "Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord; wait a little till I have risen up,
and washed off my stains, and made myself somewhat fit to be
seen."--No. Cry, "Come quickly, O Lord--at once--just because I am a
sinful man; just because I am sore let and hindered in running my race
by my own sins and wickedness; because I am lazy and stupid; because
I am perverse and vicious, therefore raise up Thy power, and come to
me, Thy miserable creature, Thy lost child, and with Thy great might
succour me. Lift me up, because I have fallen very low; deliver me, for
I have plunged out of Thy sound and safe highway into deep mire

where no ground is. Help myself I cannot, and if Thou help me not, I
am undone."
Do so. Pray so. Let your sins and wickedness be to you not a reason for
hiding from Christ, who stands by; but a reason, the reason of all
reasons, for crying to Christ, who stands by. And then, whether He
delivers you by gentle means or by sharp ones, deliver you He will, and
set your feet on firm ground, and order your goings, that you may run
with patience the race which is set before you along the road of life and
the pathway of God's commandments wherein there is no death.
Good News of God, Sermons.
What are we to do when our sins bring us, as they certainly will some
day bring us, into trouble, but to open our eyes and see that the only
thing for men and women whom God has made is to