Sorrow And Salvation

Outlines Of Three Discourses Preached At Bethesda Chapel, Ipswich, By Mr. T. Poock, On July 9^th, 1854

”I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.”—Jeremiah 31:18-20

This blessed chapter is particularly memorable to my soul, the good Lord having applied the 3^rd verse with such power to my almost distracted mind thirty-eight years ago, that I can never read, think, or preach from any part of it, without remembering that deliverance I then so visibly received from my Lord;—indeed, I find every sentence a sermon throughout this important chapter, when the Holy Spirit is pleased to open and apply it to my heart with his moving and melting influence; and do count at your leisure the number of “Thus saith the Lord” in it, which you will find amount to twenty-one, if I mistake not; confirming the promises, precepts, injunctions, and instructions it contains; shewing the loving heart of our God in covenant to his people, his hatred to sin, his determination to bring Ephraim from it, and the manner of accomplishing it. 

Passing by the literal application of my text to the ten tribes, or to the whole of Israel, or the Jewish nation in general—not that I wish to destroy such application by any means—yet I believe Scripture implies more than is expressed, thereby proving the necessity of looking to and praying for the teachings of the Holy Ghost, that we may rightly understand the mind and will of God in Christ by the Word of truth, feeling the witness of the Spirit in our own souls. I decidedly conclude my text is suitable to every child of God who feels himself described, and his experience set forth in it. 

”I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.”

In the first place, I see Ephraim’s conviction, contrition, repentance, prayer, faith and hope. 

Secondly, His humility, acknowledgement, shame, confusion and guilt.

Thirdly, The Lord’s knowledge of Ephraim, his interrogations, his earnest remembrance of him, his concern for him, his determination to deal mercifully with him. 

First, Ephraim’s conviction. Dr. Dodd, just before he was hung, looked very seriously on his afflicted friends and said, “All speculation ceases here.” So every poor and convicted sinner, when cut in the heart by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, is made to feel sin is sin, and to tremble and quake, and fear before a holy and just God on account of it. The spirituality of the holy law convicts, confounds and condemns him; he feels guilty everywhere and every way; he can do nothing, he can say nothing for himself; he can promise nothing for the future; convinced is he that he deserves hell; he owns the goodness of that very law that condemns his sin, and him as a sinner, and all his work now is in bemoaning himself. 

Secondly, Contrition accompanies conviction—no contrition, no conviction. I am speaking of God working in the soul; for I well know contrition for sin is his work. The law makes me tremble, but grace makes me contrite; in the law I see absolute justice without mercy, but in the work of my sweet Jesus I see the law obeyed, satisfied, hushed, honoured and magnified; in the law I dimly see, through smoke, sin to be dangerous and destructive; in the precious blood of Jesus I feel sin my greatest enemy; and in the sprinkling of that blood on my soul, I behold more than law could ever reveal or accomplish; I feel what none but God could produce—a holy contrition on account of my sins of heart, lip and life. 

Thirdly, repentance. I mean gospel repentance; not that repentance which is said to be man’s duty; nor that repentance, nor that faith, which are said and looked upon as conditions of the covenant—but that faith and repentance which are blessings in the covenant, and which our exalted Lord gives to the poor, convicted, contrite, bemoaning sinner. (See Acts 5:31) And the apostles and brethren in Judea concluded it was God’s grant. (Acts 11:18) As it then was, so it now is; a deal of mistake, I fear, is the result of mixing natural repentance with evangelical repentance. I believe many a child of God that really is blessed with it, fears he has it not; while many a hypocrite concludes he has repented, and that is enough for him. What is the difference between Ephraim’s and Cain’s? Ephraim says,—“After I was turned, I repented.” He does not say, I turned, and after I repented. Cain was never turned, never convicted, never contrite, never repented; so he tells the Lord,—“My punishment is greater that I can bear.” Gen. 4:13. Natural Judas repents himself, which ended without contrition, and in self murder; (Matt 27:3-5); contrite David says, “Against thee, and thee only have I sinned.” Psa. 51. Ephraim smote his thigh, and the poor Publican his breast; (Lk 18:13); both were penitents, filled with self hatred, and repented before God; and if I mistake not, evangelical repentance, produced by the good Lord, consists in a change of both heart and life, and is felt within, and seen without. 

Fourthly, Prayer. Now it is, and never till now, does the sinner pray. He is a contrite petitioner. “Turn though me,” is the desire of his heart. He means what he asks: his soul is bowed down within him; he is sick of his own way; he is really in want; he is coming to himself; (Lk 15:17); he is sorry for his sin; (Psa. 38:18); he does not hide his iniquity, but confesses his transgression unto the Lord; (Psa. 32L5); mercy he wants, for mercy he prays. (Psa. 51:1). And I am fixed in my own mind the Holy Ghost brings his people this way. Look for proof into the 9^th verse, “Thy shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them.” Do not imagine, my friends, you pray best when your prayers are most pleasing to you. Ephraim’s groans are dearer to our Lord than Gabriel’s songs. (Psa. 69:31-33) The good Lord make and keep us right here; for it is to be feared a prayer less profession is a dangerous profession. I would rather go to heaven weeping and supplicating every step of the way till I get there, than to gallop lightly over a prayerless path, and fall into hell. “The wicked call not on the Lord.” Psa. 14:4. But, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matt 5:4. 

Fifthly, Faith is always connected with godly sorrow; for where the good Spirit of God produces the spirit of prayer, he also imparts a living faith in the finished work of the sinner’s Friend. He convicts to comfort, He humbles, to exalt; he wounds to heal; he empties, to fill; he kills, to make alive. (1 Sam. 2:4,5) This sentence of death in self, is coupled with a trust in God, who raiseth the dead. (2 Cor 1:9) Ephraim praying, is Ephraim believing; and though not rejoicing, his faith looks upward, his Lord whispers inward, “They shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a Saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.” Isa. 19:20. His faith gathers that the Lord giveth; his heart waxes warm, gazing on Calvary’s blood; he feels some liberty, a secret enquiring ascends to the great Object his faith is clinging to with a

“Lord, in thy house I road there’s room,

And venturing hard, behold, I come;

But is there—tell me, can there be

Among thy children room for me?”

And as sure as his faith tastes of Immanuel’s blood, so sure is that faith to thrive. Thus he prays and believes, and believes and prays, and finds it written, “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found.” Ps 32:6. This produces, 

Sixthly, Hope. but not in himself, nor yet in his conviction, contrition, repentance, prayers, or his faith; these are evidences, but not proofs; these need support and supply. Ephraim so finds it—is led to conclude from them if God had meant to kill him, he would not have shewn him such things; (Judges 13:23); he believes it to be the Lord’s work in him, and grows in his hope that “he who hath begun a good work in him, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil 1:6

Humility is associated; for nothing humbles a sinner more than the hope he has in the Lord Jesus having loved him and given himself for him; in fact, he cannot feel low enough in himself, while he sees his Lord so gracious, so merciful to so vile a wrath as he feels himself to be. He says, “My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me; this I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.” Sam. 3:20,21

Acknowledgement is his free enough. “My Lord, my Lord, (says he), thou has not dealt with me after my sins, nor rewarded me according to my iniquities.” Nor will he be backward to say so before good me, or bad men; indeed, he is glad to acknowledge the goodness of his Lord, to get a little ease, that his dear Redeemer may get all the glory; he cannot rest without doing and saying, 

“I’ll carve his name on every bark,

And every wounded tree

Shall bear some mystic mark

That Jesus died for me.”

Shame, confusion and guilt have not lost their existence in his thoughts, although his faith lays hold upon the blood atonement, and his hope is fixed upon the righteousness of his loving Lord; for the more he is favoured to enjoy, the more hateful is he in his own sight; guilt removed is not forgotten, and confusion covers him, because is not more thankful.

The Lord’ knowledge of Ephraim is clearly stated in the 18^th verse; for God had both seen him and heard him. Where does our Lord see Ephraim, but in the Lord Jesus? And for whose sake does he hear the poor sinner, but for the sake of our great Daysman and Intercessor? Was it not so, my friends, I must have been given up, I am quite certain, long ago. I am speaking what I know, and testifying that which I have seen, through his great grace to me, a great sinner. My soul can say, “His gentleness hath made me great.” Psa. 18:31.

“Lo, such I come, and at thy feet

Receive thy mercy free;

O love untold! My soul repeat,

Why me, O Lord—Why me?”

Our gracious Father asks, “Is Ephraim my dear son?—is he a pleasant child?” Who can answer? Ephraim must be silent; angels stand amazed; devils dare not reply; the law is quiet; the world is dead; the elder brethren are confounded; the Lord alone can answer himself. Remove the italics, (our translators allow it), and God declares these Ephraims to be both dead and pleasant to him; he loved them, gave his Son for them. (Jn 3:16)

Jesus loved them, have himself for them, (Eph. 5:1,25), obeyed for them, died for them, intercedes for them, and represents them every one. The Holy Spirit loves them, regenerates them, dwells in them, restores them, revives them, (Rom. 15:30), and seals them. God remembers them with the favour he bears to his children, and visits them with his salvation, (Psa. 104:30), forgets and forgives their manifold sins, furnishes them kindly with fatherly supplies, earnestly desiring them, everlastingly loving them. Concerned he is to do them good now, and concerned he is for their everlasting benefit. Angels are to serve them, devils are not to touch them, the earth is not to hurt them; his good providence protects them, and heaven is to house them; death may frighten them, but death is conquered for them. Determined is Ephraim’s God to deal mercifully with him, though Ephraim determined to destroy himself; God’s mercy opposes his misery, God’s love, his hatred, God’s compassion, his rebellion, God’s faithfulness, his backsliding, God’s grace, his fears. His rod speaks against his folly, the rock hides him from deserved wrath. Frowns on the face of an injured Father is no proof of hatred in his grieved heart; he may speak, and does speak against our sins, but earnestly he so remembers us, as to declare his bowels are troubled for Ephraim. O, how language labors to speak the love of our God. I do not read God troubled, but pleased to bruise Jesus. But in this passage God seems in trouble for his naughty, backsliding, prodigal Ephraim. 

May my Ephraim brethren, feel this manifestly, as I have done, and sure I am, conquered they will be, low will they bow, and loud will they sing, 

“O love, how high thy glories swell!

How great, immutable and free!

Ten thousand sins, as black as hell,

Are swallowed up, O love, in thee.

“Lov’d when a wretch defiled with sin,

At war with heaven, in league with hell,

A slave to every lust obscene,

Who, living, lived but to rebel.

“Believer, here thy comfort stands;

From first to last salvation’s free:

And everlasting love demands

An everlasting song from thee.”

Earthen Vessel 1854