Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps (i) (Quality: very good)

[0:00] As the Lord should be pleased to help me, I should call your attention to a subject you will find in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31 and verse 21.

[0:16] Set thee up way marks, make thee high heaps, set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest. Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

[0:41] Chapter 31, verse 21, the book of Jeremiah. This word brings before us an exhortation to poor sinners who desire to have it made plain that they are pilgrims to Canaan bound.

[1:13] Set thee up way marks. If you are to do that, one thing is evident that you must be in the way to do it.

[1:26] And that is a great concern to sinners born again. Or you cannot always feel, as you would like to feel, that you are indeed a pilgrim to Canaan bound.

[1:44] Because you have to look within and look at the way that you have come along. And often you feel we cannot see our signs.

[2:02] Marks of grace I cannot show. All polluted is my breast. Yet I weary am, I know, and weary long for rest.

[2:18] And if you are here before God at right, and I feel persuaded many of you desire to be, in that blessed attitude, then this is the occupation you want to be engaged in as grace is given to you to do it.

[2:38] Set thee up way marks. Look back. Tis time I marked the road. Another year my feet have trod, one in writer says.

[2:49] And that is a good exercise of mine to be the subject of. And so I want, as the Lord should help me, to look at the subject from three or four viewpoints.

[3:09] The setting of the subject is very instructive, because it refers primarily to when the children of Israel returned from Babylon's captivity.

[3:27] And they were again found in the land of promise. And having arrived there, you will understand this reference.

[3:38] Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these, thy cities. All those cities were in ruins and needed to be rebuilt.

[3:52] And God enabled Israel at length to rebuild the cities and dwell therein. And his worship was set up again.

[4:04] And Jerusalem became the center of it. And so the heading of the page is the gracious restoration of Israel. But then, Israel of old, as I have told you often, were a people typical of the Israel of God.

[4:25] And you and I have got to do with the Israel of God. And we want sure evidence that we are numbered with the Israel of God.

[4:39] And now, first of all then, set thee up way marks, make thee high heat. What evidence can you adduce as you look back over life's journey that you are in the way referred to, the way of life, the way to heaven, the way to God.

[5:06] You say, some of you, oh, I do hope God has set me going along that way. I have no doubt whatever that he has granted that mercy to many of you.

[5:20] And that you are indeed pilgrims to Canaan bound. But then, you want to be assured again and again that you are. You want to be confirmed in your soul that the way you are going along is the right way.

[5:38] And heaven does await you at the end of it. And now it might be difficult. I will come down as low as the gospel allows me to do as grace is given to preach it.

[5:53] I was going to say, it may be difficult for some of you to look back and see wherein you set up the earliest way mark of being found in this way, which is the way of life, as I said.

[6:12] Because the beginning of the good work within is often very gentle and not always very definite and clear-cut as to any outward evidence.

[6:27] And sometimes it must not be forgotten that in very early life, even while in childhood, there is this great mercy made known and while you are in life's early morning, you can be found in this way, the way to God.

[6:55] And yet you cannot say much about it. You could stand no examination as to doctrine sound what it really is and yet deep down in your heart, you are feeling after God.

[7:11] And then all is said and done, that is the essence of being born again, the soul that with sincere desires seeks after Jesus' love, that soul the Holy Ghost inspires with breathing from above.

[7:28] In my long ministerial life, I have lamented many, many times that the work of the Spirit of God amongst the dear young people in their denominational life is very much overlooked and very much underestimated.

[7:47] And it often troubles me that it should be so. But, what a wonderful mercy if you can look back and set up a way mark or two when you hope God began to deal with you, when the things of God became real to you.

[8:11] And when that happens, heaven becomes real and hell becomes real. Oh, when the things of God become real in a poor sinner's soul and he realizes they are what they are, the things of God and to know them and something must be known and felt is the great aim in one's life from that time on.

[8:43] They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. And you find too, when you were born again, still following up this line of thought in the gentle dealings of the Spirit of God, you find that the things of God are very attractive to you.

[9:12] And when you ponder them in your heart, you have a concern to have a living interest therein. sin, if you read about them, you find in your heart a hunger and thirst to know the things you read about in their sweet blessed reality.

[9:36] If you sin about them, you feel just the same, and when you come and listen to the gospel, you listen with a kind of wonder if it can be possible that the preacher, who might be old and grey headed like the pastor is, can come right down to where you are, if anything at all, only a babe in Christ, and you can only drink a little milk if that is forthcoming.

[10:11] But you can taste that the Lord is gracious, and now, if you can look back to that line of things in your soul's experience, you have got a sure way mark that you can set up, and you must be in the way of life to be able to feel as you do, and the Lord help you to set up such a way mark, and remember his word, then shall we follow on to know the Lord.

[10:43] Eh, faith, and you will know if you follow on, and that is what you are concerned about, and it may be some of you can look back over long years in life's journey, going back to your early life, when you did hunger and thirst after righteousness, and here a little, there a little, you have got encouragement, you have got some sweet memories that you treasure up, and it may be very rarely do you bring them out and say anything about them in other folks' ears, but if you have not done it yet, and you have got these sweet memories, be they ever such a few, I am bound to tell you as the pastor, that the church of Christ will be very glad to hear what you can tell out, and to such as you, the word of the

[11:45] Lord is, come in thou blessed of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without, remember the word, what does it say, set thee up, waymarks, where are they to be set up, oh they are to be set up before God, and you humble yourself unto his mighty hand, in his dealings with you, remembering, who maketh thee to differ from another, and what is thou that thou dost not receive, but do remember, they should be set up before the church of Christ, and it is given to poor sinners, who are heaven bound pilgrims, to say, come and hear all ye that fear God, I will tell you what he hath done for my soul, and even if it should be as you feel, only such a little, it should be told out, do suffer the word of exhortation, and now set thee up waymarks, and there is this waymark, when you can feel one thing

[12:57] I know where as I was blind, now I can see, another waymark, God, I will touch on as many as I can, for you to weigh up before God, if you can set them up, the word of God says, in that day, shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and now you might have gone on up through childhoods, years, and become a teenager, and you might have gone on from being a teenager, into manhood, womanhood, and heard the gospel all the while, and never heard it, to your soul's prophet, and the opening of your eyes, and the unstopping of your ears, and then there came a day, when you listened, and you heard as you never heard before, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, and it might have amazed you, that all your life long, you had heard the same language, heard what preachers had to say, about sin, and the sinner, and the saviour, but you never felt before, as you felt then, it was when the eyes of the blind were opened, and the ears of the deaf were unstopped, and it was this,

[14:24] Lydia heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, and it was done for you then, what the word of God declares, a new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, I will take away the stormy heart out of your flesh, I will give you a heart of flesh, set thee up way marks, and then there is that special mark, which everyone taught of God is the subject of when he the spirit of truth is come he shall convince the world of sin, and now one thing needs to be made very plain concerning conviction of sin that is of God, and that is it is lifelong in the communication of it, and now some people when they are born again great,

[15:26] I was going to say and I will, terrible opens up, but what one is by nature that the sight of it, and the sense of it, almost sinks them to despair, but with other people taught of God, or they journey on through life, and it is here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept, and they are led into the truth of their sinnership, but whether taught by terrible things in righteousness, or led by gentle means into the things of God, each one, every one, comes at length to feel from the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, and to put their mouth in the dust of self-abasement, if so be, there may be hope, and to tell all the truth as to what they feel to be before God with whom they have to do, and the truth is something like this,

[16:41] O Lord, how vile am I, unholy and unclean, how can I dare to venture nigh with such a load of sin, and yet that privilege is afforded them to venture nigh, and venture they do, and therein is another way mark set up, behold, he prayeth, and you think of when you began to do it, and you should set up that way mark, when you began to pray, the word of God states that, I know sometimes when I have made this plain in my ministry, in some pulpits, that some people have questioned it, but I shall stick to it, because the word of God says, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord, and there is a beginning to doing it, and you should remember when you began to do it, you should remember when you knocked at mercy's door, first of all, and said,

[17:50] I beseech thee, O Lord, deliver my soul, the word of God lays it down, and that is a way mark that can be set up, and you should set it up, you should remember when it was the truth about you, behold, he prayeth, behold, she prayeth, when you first of all, waited on God, with a solemn awareness of what you sang about, that Jesus might be revealed to you, and you felt nothing else can satisfy, give me Christ, or else I die, set thee up, way marks, and it is a great way mark, to when a sinner begins to pray, when he is the subject of that aching void, which the world cannot fill, when he feels,

[18:50] I hunger now for heavenly food, and my poor soul cries out for God, and then you can say also, the pains of hell got hold upon me, I found trouble and sorrow, oh, that is a way mark, that many heaven bound pilgrim, is enabled to set up, when it may be, you went days, and weeks, and months, and some people, years, and all you could do, as far as you felt, concerning the dealings of God with you, was to look for hell, if my soul is sent to hell, thy righteous law approves it well, and now some people, are led into the truth, like that, and they go deep down, into a solemn, terrible consciousness, of their hell deserving, and it is a wonderful mercy, for such people, when at length, as Joseph

[20:00] Hart puts it, I looked for hell, but he brought me heaven, and that brings us to another way mark, to be set up, and that is when hope is born, in a sinner's rest, can you remember that, ask God to help you, and remember the word of his grace, thou shalt remember all the way, the Lord thy God hath led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, and now, if God helps you to remember the way that he has led you in the wilderness, then you will remember these way marks, even the first one that you ever set up, and remember, God can grant you grace, to help you in your time of need, it is useless for you to use that couplet, my memory is bad, but what is sad, does folly still retain, if your memory retains folly, it is not bad, and that is not the memory whereby you are asked to remember the way the Lord thy God hath led thee, do remember that, the memory that remembers folly is the column of mind, and the memory whereby you do remember the way marks you have set up is that which is locked up in a spiritual mind, do remember that, for it is sound doctrine,

[21:45] God is able to bring all things to your remembrance, and he has promised to do it, I will bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you, and you must never make a plea of your memory being bad, because God has promised grace to help in your time of need, do you think on these things, and now it says, set the way marks, and that must be our concern, being in the way is a very great mercy, and therein you might find another way mark, that you can set up, many of you, think of Eliezer, and he says, I being in the way, the Lord met with me, and brought me to the house of my master's brethren, and now, how can it be, that you feel as you do, and look on many people whom you know, and esteem, as being the people of God, and you find in your heart, a solemn concern, with them numbered,

[22:58] I will be now, and in eternity, and you are ready to stand alongside Moses, you have stood there, long ago, some of you, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, and now, here is a way mark, God, we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren, I like that word in John's epistle, where he says, and he that loveth is born of God, oh, that is the hallmark of the religion, that is of God, love is the golden chain that binds the favored souls above, and he is a head of heaven who finds his bosom, glow with love, set the way marks, and you can remember many of you, when you began to look on people taught of God, and you felt very different about those people to what you had felt as you were born, as you were born, you had said, depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thee, or thy ways, and you may have had your mind made up, to do as you like, and live as you list, when you could, kick over the traces of parental discipline, but that was not allowed to happen, a wonderful mercy, set thee up way marks, and what a way mark, is love, love to the truth, love to the brethren, love to him whose truth it is, love to the house of prayer, and you say, we love the place,

[24:54] O God, wherein thine honour dwells, and the joy of thine abode, all earthly joy excels, and then there is this way mark, as you read in this book of Jeremiah later on, they shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces, did a ward, and now if some of you dear young people, as yet, cannot set up many way marks, and sometimes you wonder if you can set up any, are you asking the way to Zion, Lord, let me be found therein, a pilgrim to turn and bound, the Lord bless you, and remember, those feeble desires, and wishes so weak, tis Jesus inspires, and bids you still see, set the way marks, and now there is this way mark, when you were brought to be separated from the world in which you live and move, separated from it, in the spirit of it, when you felt,

[26:09] I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness, it is a great way mark to set up separation from the world, and you should be able to look back and search out somewhere where you turned your back on the world, and you had that feeling, let others stretch their arms like seas, and grasp in all the shore, grant me the visits of thy face, and I desire no more, separation from the world, and then I said there was hope, good hope through grace, when that was inspired within your breast, and that brings us to this when you thought Jesus Christ, to be what he is to his people, the one thing need for, when you had that feeling, oh what a wonderful favour it is, for any poor sinner who can say my beloved is mine, and I am his, and his desire is toward me, when you looked on it, and it allured you, attracted you, and then it was fulfilled to you,

[27:38] I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me, and you felt, tis Christ the bright and morning star, throws my affections from afar, and remember, to be in want of Jesus Christ, like the prodigal, and he began to be in want, and to add that within your heart, is a blessed way, Mark, unto you therefore, which believe, he is precious, and as a rule, Jesus Christ is precious, in the want of him, known and felt, to me Christ is more precious far, than life, and all its comforts are, and you feel, Lord Jesus, make thyself to me, a living, bright reality, and now these are way marks, and if you can find them in your soul's experience, you can thank God and take courage that you are in the way of life, and heaven is at the end of it for you, however long you may live, in journeying along the way of life, set thee up way marks, and then it goes on, make the high heaps, and now there is an illustration which is very significant, and helpful, especially to seek in souls, travelers in the east, to the land of promise, thinking again, of the children of

[29:27] Israel, returning from Babylonish captivity, it was a long long way, a long trek, from where they were by the rivers of Babylon, to be found again in the land of promise, and as they journeyed along, whenever they came to a heap of stones, they had to take up a stone or two, from the road they journeyed along, and cast it on that heap, that it might be maintained as a heap, a high heap, and be there in a way mark, to other people who should come along the road afterwards, but it is very helpful, and now a way mark suggests a stone, like a monument, more or less sizable, a stone that is just a single stone, an Ebenezer, a stone of help, but when it comes to high heaps, that is a number of small stones, in the aggregate, making the high heap, and now there is a high heap, that some of you can make, it may be,

[30:46] I believe it is, with some of you dear young people, could I joy, is saints to meet, choose the ways I once abhorred, find at times the promise sweet, if I did not love the Lord, and now there, you gather together, evidences, and in the aggregate, they make a high heap, and it means, you're in the way, the way of life, you have been brought through, the straight gate, at the head of the narrow way, that leadeth unto life, and though you have not got very far there in us yet, according to how you feel, you are in the way, and that is a wonderful mercy, bestowed upon you, make the high heaps, what a high heap it is, when you can realise, the wonderful experience of the forgiveness of sins, and now that is an experience, that you can never describe, in adequate words, in the pulpit, because it is, impossible, when you get forgiveness of sins, known and felt in your soul, you are just brimful of joy, and running over, and you cannot find any words to set forth how you feel, because words fail you, but if you have ever had that experience, forgiveness of sins, you have got a high heap, that you can look back upon, however far off it seems to be, in your soul's experience, you can look back to it, and remember, there was that happy day, that dawned in your light, some of you can go back to such a day, the Lord bless you, and keep that day very much alive, in your soul's experience, but some of you as yet, have not set up this high heap, and you think on it, and ponder it, in your heart, as to the mercy of it, and wonder if you ever will set up such a high heap, forgiveness, tis a joyful sound to malefactors, doomed to die, oh may this bliss in me be found, may I redeeming grace, in joy, and now remember, through this man, there is preached unto you, the forgiveness of sins, and assure, as God has set you going, in this way of life, and what in your heart, a felt want of

[33:38] Jesus Christ, and that he is to you, the one thing needful, the time of love will come, when each shall clearly see, not only that Christ shed his blood, but each shall save for me, set the way marks, make the high heaps, and now there is a high heap set up sometimes, when you get a sanctified trouble, trouble, and you do have troubles, not a few, if you are a pilgrim to kin and bound.

[34:16] Remember how the apostles went about preaching, and poor preachers nowadays, nothing like the apostles, alas, as regards the power attending their preaching, oh, they still have to preach the same line of things, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.

[34:45] And now, this tribulation, whatever its nature, oh, when you get trouble coming into your life, and it brings you to have to do with God, and what is even better still, it brings God to have to do with you, and you find the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him.

[35:17] Oh, it is worth any trouble, whatever its nature, that comes into your life, my life, if it helps you to feel that God of a truth, is your God, your father, and your friend.

[35:35] And there are some of you before God this Sabbath morn, let's get down to bedrock, and you tell the truth. You have said, and you did mean it, that you wouldn't mind going through some troubles, again, that you have known and felt in your life, if you could be sure God would do for your soul, again, what he did for your soul, when trouble like a gloomy cloud did gather thick and thunder loud.

[36:11] You have said, oh, I should like to feel again as I felt then. And how did you feel? Oh, you felt to be as clay in the potter's hand, and you were willing to be molded to whatever his will was for you to be and to do.

[36:31] And you could say, let but my fainting heart be blessed with thy sweet spirit for its guest, oh God, to thee I leave the rest, thy will be done.

[36:44] Sanctified troubles. And that means, when you can say, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes, set thee up, way marks, make thee high heaps.

[37:04] And then sometimes you make a high heap in the dealings of God with you in providence. And now, it may be Satan will suggest, when the Lord has appeared for you in providence, you must not forget that was only a providence.

[37:22] Do you think it is a right statement to make, oh, that was only a providence? For people taught of God, is there such a thing as only a providence?

[37:38] I'm quite prepared to take that matter up and argue it. In our old Stephen's hymn book, we add a hymn which you might sing again soon.

[37:51] And the hymn writer speaks about thy providential grace. And I have admired that expression ever since I lighted on it, when I first of all became Union Chapel pastor.

[38:05] Thy providential grace. And now, if you are to make a high heap of what God has done for you in providence, in making that high heap, you will have to be doing that which is spiritual in its nature.

[38:21] if you are going to say, bless the Lord, all my soul, all that is within me, bless his holy name, and it will not be only a providence, what will it be?

[38:33] Whoso is wise and will absorb these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. It will be to you an heavy kneecer, a stone of help, and it will say, hitherto you, hitherto Lord, helped us.

[38:51] Yes. Oh, never, never, listen to the devil, and give place to the devil, when he suggests that this help you had from God was only a providence.

[39:03] As sure as you said thank you to God for it, it must be more than only a providence. Do remember that. I'm so anxious that you should know what I believe is sound doctrine in the things of God.

[39:20] And these things do not come into our lives by chance, raphazard. There is an overruling providence that wisely marshals every circumstance, and you can say as you look on like Manoah and this wife, if the Lord were pleased to kill us, would he have showed us all these things?

[39:39] And you can say with Ezra and Nehemiah, the heart of our God was upon us for good. And that means this, you're in the way of life.

[39:51] Oh, you're in the right way, and God is your guide. And as you look on at what he is doing, you can say, this God is our God forever and ever, and he will be our guide, even unto death.

[40:07] Much might be said, along that line of thought, set thee up way marks, make thee high heaps. And then there is this way mark, when you can say with a psalmist, blessed be God, for he hath heard my prayer, and turned away his mercy from me.

[40:32] Answers to prayer. Oh, they are way marks of a truth. some of them especially are high heaps. Because you prove, before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

[40:50] Then you can say, quite a few of us can say it, in Union Chapel this Sabbath morn, that Christ is God, I can avouch, and for his people cares, since I have prayed to him as such, and he has heard my prayers.

[41:04] others. Another way comes to my mind, and that is what you read about in the Hebrews epistle, in that wonderful gallery of Old Testament worthies, that the Apostle Paul tells us, how they lived and died by faith, and he says, among other things that they did by faith, obtained promises.

[41:31] Did you ever obtain a promise? I'm not referring to any you have read about, and that is to say, a promise you have memorized and repeated, the wording of it, but it says, obtained promises.

[41:52] You go to the well with your bucket, but if you draw no water because you were not able to do it, you return as you went with an empty bucket, you have not obtained what you sought, but if you obtain water and return with the bucket well filled, then you have sought and found, and that is just a simple illustration, how you obtain a promise.

[42:22] If God lodges a promise in your heart, it will remain there as a reality as long as you live. The promises that God gave to me when I became Union Chapel pastor remain, though they were given to me nearly 47 years ago, and I can still say to God and do, remember the word unto thy servant on which thou hast caused me to hope, and you have obtained promises, or at least some of you a promise, and you ponder it in your heart, and sometimes you wonder if God will ever fulfill it, and sometimes the devil may suggest that it did not come from God, and it never will be fulfilled, but you cannot give it up.

[43:11] No, you must say, as I have already said, remember the word unto thy servant on which thou hast caused me to hope, and you will find, as Ezekiel did, in God's own time, and the word of the Lord came expressly to me, and it will come in its sweet blessed fulfillment, and you will say, this is the Lord, we have waited for him, and now the word of the Lord is brought to pass before our eyes, and when he is pleased to do it, you will say with Hezekiah, good is the word of the Lord, and with the psalmist, I rejoice in thy word, as one that findeth great spoil, all to obtain promises, is a wonderful mercy, you think of what it is, I wish I could make it plain to you, I keep trying to preach, promise, and now think, God has got hundreds of millions of his people, on whom he sets his eyes, and he is determined to do every one of them good for time and eternity too, and he has set his eyes on you, and he has lodged a promise, and more than one with many of you, promises in your heart, which in his time he will not fail to fulfill in every jot and tittle, exceeding great and precious promises, and now you think if you can, of the amazing mercy, that

[44:57] God, who said it the first, let there be light, and there was light, and he lodges a word of his grace, in your poor sinful heart, which he is determined to bring to pass, and do you good in fulfilling it for time and eternity too, it is beyond all words to describe what it is to obtain a promise, you can indeed make a high heap when you get one, lodged with thus saith the Lord, to give it divine authority, but I must come to the Amen, and now as God to help you look back over life's journey, and enable, and may he enable you in his light to see light, ask God to enable you, to discern his dealings with you, in their details, and as you look back over the way that he has led you, you will see that there are way marks set up, along life's way, I heaps, that you have been helped to make, when the hand of the Lord has been upon you, for good, and then you can take courage and say, thus far my

[46:29] God has led me on, and made his truth and mercy known, and as you look back and say, Ebenezer, hitherto the Lord hath helped us, you must always remember, when you say hitherto, you say another word, hence forth, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever, he who hath helped me hitherto, will help me all my journey through, give me daily cause to raise, new Ebenezer, to his praise, and now, for all of you, who hope in God, who are pilgrims, to Cairn and Bound, this is the way, and walk ye in it, amen.

[47:20] Amen. number 777, John, City Road, Chapel, number 805.

[47:36] Go straight away,ệu widow, number 777.

[47:58] Oh, change him, away, chambers The world has held the strong strong And if by His favor we are walking on Help me out the way with high angel pride Love, love, love, no praise

[49:01] Love, love, and surprise Love, love, love, and surprise Love was always folded Singled and variated His distance He's made an awakening Except, what's to come My sins we leg of what we have here How thou how are his sins you have chosen The king and the king

[50:08] He obey Himself Then let us rejoice, how carefully sing, With our time rejoice to Jesus our King, Through the storm that brought us from the hill to whom The ransomed that brought us no less than his love.

[51:12] All that in sighting shall now just begin, The prospects of peace and the days of end, To grateful his pleasure to sing and the Lord, Be thankful for present and day of hope.

[52:01] May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, The communion of the Holy Spirit, Be upon us and all who love the truth, Everywhere.

[52:19] Amen and Amen.