“I will give thee showers of blessing”

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 also gives 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.”

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

Again, it is seasonable grace

II. The second point is, that God’s people are not only to be a blessing but THEY ARE TO BE BLESSED. For read the second part of the verse. “And I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” It is somewhat singular, as a prognostication of the showers of blessings we hope to receive here, that God sent us showers on the first day of opening. If I were a believer in omens, I should pray, that as it rained the first day so may it rain every day since. When it stops may the chapel be shut up; for we only want it open so long as showers of grace continue to descend.

Again, it is seasonable grace. “I will give them the shower in its reason.” 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 seasons 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 nighttime; 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.”

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

Then, next, it is plenteous grace

II. The second point is, that God’s people are not only to be a blessing but THEY ARE TO BE BLESSED. For read the second part of the verse. “And I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” It is somewhat singular, as a prognostication of the showers of blessings we hope to receive here, that God sent us showers on the first day of opening. If I were a believer in omens, I should pray, that as it rained the first day so may it rain every day since. When it stops may the chapel be shut up; for we only want it open so long as showers of grace continue to descend.

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 to 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 against 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.

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

Notice next, it is needed grace

II. The second point is, that God’s people are not only to be a blessing but THEY ARE TO BE BLESSED. For read the second part of the verse. “And I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” It is somewhat singular, as a prognostication of the showers of blessings we hope to receive here, that God sent us showers on the first day of opening. If I were a believer in omens, I should pray, that as it rained the first day so may it rain every day since. When it stops may the chapel be shut up; for we only want it open so long as showers of grace continue to descend.

Notice next, it is needed grace “I will give them showers.” What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain? Ah! You may prepare your barn, and sharpen your sickles; but your sickles will be rusted before you have any wheat, unless there are showers. They are needed. So is the divine blessing.

“In vain Apollos sows the seed,

And Paul may plant in vain.”

In vain you come here, in vain you labor, in vain you give your money;

“Till God the plenteous shower bestows,

And sends salvation down.”

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

First, here is sovereign mercy

II. The second point is, that God’s people are not only to be a blessing but THEY ARE TO BE BLESSED. For read the second part of the verse. “And I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” It is somewhat singular, as a prognostication of the showers of blessings we hope to receive here, that God sent us showers on the first day of opening. If I were a believer in omens, I should pray, that as it rained the first day so may it rain every day since. When it stops may the chapel be shut up; for we only want it open so long as showers of grace continue to descend.

First, here is sovereign mercy. Listen to these words; “I will give them the shower in its season.” Is it not sovereign, divine mercy, for who can say, “I will give them showers,” except God? Can the false prophet who walks amongst the benighted Hottentots? He says he is a rain-maker and can give them showers; but can he do it? Is there an imperial monarch, or the most learned man on earth, who can say, “I will give them the showers in their season?” No; there is only one; it wherein all the clouds are held; there is only one hand in which all the channels of the mighty ocean above the firmament are contained; there is only one voice that can speak to the clouds and bid them beget the rain. “Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?” “Who sendeth down the rain upon the earth? Who scattereth the showers upon the green herb? Do not I, the Lord?” Who else could do it? Is not rain in God’s power? And who could send it except him? We know that Catholics pretend that they can get grace without getting it from God directly; for they believe that God puts all his grace into the pope, and then that runs down into smaller pipes, called cardinals and bishops, through which it runs into the priests; and by turning the tap with a shilling you can get as much grace as you like. But it is not so with God’s grace. He says, “I will give them showers.” Grace is the gift of God, and is not to be created by man.

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

What else do we mean by the places round about our hill?

What else do we mean by the places round about our hill? We mean, the churches adjacent. I cannot but rejoice in the prosperity of many churches around us; but as our beloved brother, Mr. Sherman, said last Thursday morning, “It is not invidious to say, that there are very few churches that are in a prosperous state, and that taking the churches at large, they are in a deplorable condition. It is only here and there,” said he, “that God is pouring out his Spirit; but most of the churches are lying like barges at Blackfriars Bridge when the tide is down,-right in the mud,-and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot pull them off, till the tide comes and sets them afloat.” Who can tell then, what good may be done by this church? If there is a light in this candlestick, let others come and light their candles by it. If there is a flame here, let the flame spread, until all the neighboring churches shall be lit up with the glory. Then indeed, shall we be made the rejoicing of the earth: for there is never a revival in one spot, but it shall affect others. Who shall tell, then, where it shall end?

“Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel;

Win and conquer, never cease”

And it never will cease, when God once makes the places round about his hill a blessing.

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

What are the places round about our hill? Our neighborhood

What are the places round about our hill?

But next, there is the neighborhood. I am paralysed sometimes when I think that we are of so little service to the neighborhood, though this is a green oasis in the midst of a great spiritual desert. Just at the back of us we could find you hundreds of Roman Catholics, and men of the very worst character; and it is sad to think that we cannot make this place a blessing to them. It is made a great blessing to you my hearers; but you do not come from this district; you come from anywhere and nowhere some of you, I suppose. People say, “There is something doing in that chapel; look at the crowd; but we cannot get in!” This one thing I ask,-Never come here to gratify your curiosity. You that are members of other congregations, just consider it your duty to stay at home. There are many stray sheep about. I would rather have them than you. Keep to your own place. I do not want to rob other ministers. Do not come here from charity. We are much obliged to you for your kindly intentions; but we would rather have your room than your company, if ye are members of other churches. We want sinners to come-sinners of every sort; but do not let us have that sort of men whose ears are everlastingly itching for some new preacher, who are saying, “I want something else, I want something else.” Oh! Do, I beseech you, for God’s sake, be of some good; and if you are running about from one place to another, you can never expect to be. Do ye know what is said of rolling stones? Ah! Ye have heard of that. They “gather no moss.” Now, don’t be rolling stones, but keep at home, God, however, so help us, as to make us a blessing to the neighborhood! I long to see something done for the people around. We must open our arms to them; we must go out into the open air to them; we must and will preach God’s gospel to them. Let, then, the people around listen to the word of the gospel; and may it be said, “That place is the cathedral of Southwark!” So it is now. Out of it goes a blessing; God is pouring out a blessing upon it.

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

What are the places round about our hill? I think they are first, our agencies

What are the places round about our hill? I think they are first, our agencies; secondly, our neighborhood, thirdly, the churches adjacent to us.

First, there are our agencies. There is our Sabbath-school: how near that is to our hill? I speak a great deal about this, because I want it to be brought into notice. I intend to preach a practical sermon this morning, to move some of you to come and teach in the Sabbath-school, for there we require some suitable men to “come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” Therefore I mention the Sabbath-school as a place very near to the hill; it ought to be just at the very foot of it; yea, it ought to be so near the hill that very many may pass from it to the church.

Then there is our Visiting and Christian Instruction Society which we have for the visiting of this neighborhood. I trust that has been made a blessing God has sent among us a man who labors zealously and earnestly in visiting the sick. I have, as the superintendent of my beloved brother the missionary, a regular account of his labors; his report has most highly gratified me, and I am able to bear testimony to the fact, that he is very efficiently laboring around us. I want that society to have all your sympathy and strength. I consider him as a Joshua, with whom you are to go forth by hundreds to those who live in the neighborhood. Do you not know what dark places there are? Walk down a street a little to the right. See the shops open on a Sunday. Some, thank God, that used to open them, now come and worship with us. We shall have more yet; for “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” and why should not we have it? My brethren, as you visit the sick, or distribute tracts from door to door, make this your prayer-that this society, being one of the places round about our hill, may be made a blessing! Let me not forget any agency connected with this church. There are several more which are places round about our hill; and the Lord has just put it into my heart to fashion other societies, which shall be made a blessing to this hill, and in a little while you shall hear thereof. We have several brethren in this congregation to whom God has given a mouth of utterance; these are about to form themselves into a society for proclaiming the Word of God. Where God has so blessed his church, and made us to be so noted and named amongst the people why should we not keep on? We have been brought up to a great pitch of fervency and love; now is the time for doing something. While the iron is hot, why not strike and fashion it? I believe we have the materials not only for making a church here that shall be the glory of the Baptist churches in London, but for making churches everywhere throughout the metropolis, and we have more schemes on hand, which matured by sober judgment and backed by prudence, shall yet make this metropolis more honored than it has been by the sound of the pure gospel and the proclamation of the pure Word of God. May God make all our agencies-the places round about our hill-a blessing.

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

Thirdly, here is the development of religion – and the places round about my hill

In thus speaking of the church as a blessing, we shall notice three things.

First, here is divinity — “I will make them a blessing;” secondly, here is personality of religion — “I will make them a blessing;” and, thirdly, here is the development of religion — “and the places round about my hill.”

3. But we have to notice, in the third place, the development of gospel blessing. “I will make them a blessing,” but it does not end there. “And the places round about my hill.” Religion is an expansive thing. When it begins in the heart, at first it is like a tiny grain of mustard seed, but it gradually increases, and becomes a great tree, so that the birds of the air lodge in the branches thereof. A man cannot be religious to himself, “No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.” You have heard, a score of times, that if you do but drop a pebble in a brook it causes a small ring at first, then another outside of that, and then another, and then another, till the influence of the pebble is perceptible over the entire bosom of the water. So it is when God makes his people a blessing. “I will make a minister a blessing to one or two; I will then make him a blessing to a hundred; I will then make him a blessing to thousands; and then I will make those thousands a blessing. I will make each one individually a blessing: and when I have done that I will make all the places round about a blessing. I will make them a blessing.” I hope we shall never be satisfied, as members of Park Street, until we are a blessing not only to ourselves, but to all the places round about our hill. What are the places round about our hill? I think they are first, our agencies; secondly, our neighborhood, thirdly, the churches adjacent to us.

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

Secondly, here is personality of religion — I will make them a blessing

In thus speaking of the church as a blessing, we shall notice three things.

First, here is divinity — “I will make them a blessing;” secondly, here is personality of religion — “I will make them a blessing;” and, thirdly, here is the development of religion — “and the places round about my hill.”

2. But notice, next, the personality of the blessing. “I will make them a blessing.” “I will make each member of the church a blessing.” Many people come up to the house of prayer where the church assembles; and you say, “Well, what are you doing a: such-and-such a place where you attend?” “Well, we are doing so-and so”; “How do you spell we?” “It is a plain monosyllable,” say you. Yes, but do you put I in “we?” “No.” There are a great many people who could easily spell “we” without an I in it, for though they say, “We have been doing so-and-so,” they do not say, “How much have I done? Did I do anything in it? Yes; this chapel has been enlarged; what did I subscribe? Twopence!” Of course it is done. Those who paid the money have done it. “We preach the gospel.” Do we, indeed? Yes, we sit in our pew and listen a little, and do not pray for a blessing.

“We have got such a large Sunday-school.” Did you ever teach in it? “We have got a very good working-society.” Did you ever go to work in it? That is not the way to spell “we.” It is “I will make them a blessing.” When Jerusalem was built every man began nearest his own house. That is where you must begin to build, or to do something. Do not let us tell a lie about it. If we do not have some share in the building, if we neither handle the trowel nor the spear, let us not talk about our church; for the text says, “I will make them a blessing,” every one of them.

“But, sir, what can I do? I am nothing but a father at home; I am so full of business, I can only see my children a little.” But in your business, do you ever have any servants? “No: I am a servant myself.” You have fellowservants? “No, I work alone.” Do you work alone, then, and live alone, like a monk in a cell? I don’t believe that. But you have fellow-servants at work, cannot you say a word to their conscience? “I don’t like to intrude religion into business.” Quite right too so say I; when I am at business, let it be business; when you are at religion, let it be religion. But do you never have an opportunity? Why you cannot go into an omnibus, or a railway carriage, but what you can say something for Jesus Christ. I have found it so, and I don’t believe I am different from other people. Cannot do anything? Cannot you put a tract in your hat, and drop it where you go? Cannot you speak a word to a child? Where does this man come from that cannot do anything? There is a spider on the wall; but he taketh hold on kings’ palaces, and spinneth his web to rid the world of noxious flies. There is a nettle in the corner of the churchyard; but the physician tells me it has its virtues. There is a tiny star in the sky; but that is noted in the chart, and the mariner looks at it. There is an insect under water; but it builds a rock. God made all these things for something; but here is a man that God made, and gave him nothing at all to do. I do not believe it. God never makes useless things; he has no superfluous workmanship. I care not what you are; you have somewhat to do. And oh! May God show you what it is, and then make you do it, by the wondrous compulsion of his providence and his grace.

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.