An Ark for All God's Noahs in a
Gloomy Stormy Day or,
The Best Wine Reserved Until Last
or,
The Transcendent Excellency of a
Believer's
Portion above All Earthly Portions
by Thomas Brooks, 1662
"The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore
I will hope in Him." Lamentations 3:24
Incitements to see that God is our portion
Now, that I may the more effectually provoke you, and
stir you up to this great and glorious, this necessary and weighty work;
give me permission to propose these following considerations.
[1.] First, Consider that your
present portion, your present condition—is but miserable and cursed,
Lev 26:14-39; Deut 28:15-68. All the earth was cursed upon man's fall, and
until fallen man comes to be savingly interested in God, all his earthly
enjoyments are cursed unto him; his honors are cursed, and his riches are
cursed, and his preferments are cursed, and his pleasures are cursed; the
whole portion of his cup is nothing but a little cursed vanity. Job
20:22-29, "In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full
force of misery will come upon him. When he has filled his belly, God will
vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him. Though
he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him. He pulls it
out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over
him; total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will
consume him and devour what is left in his tent. The heavens will expose his
guilt; the earth will rise up against him. A flood will carry off his house,
rushing waters on the day of God's wrath. Such is the fate God allots the
wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God."
Prov 3:33, "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the
wicked." Mal 2:2, "If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to
honor my name," says the Lord Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you, and I
will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have
not set your heart to honor me." There is a real curse and a secret curse,
an invisible curse and an insensible curse, that lies upon all their souls,
who have not God for their portion. Gal 3:10, "Cursed is everyone that
continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do
them." And as there is a curse upon all their souls, so there is a curse
upon all their comforts, contentments, and enjoyments, who do not enjoy God
for their portion. Until a man comes to enjoy God for his portion, all his
earthly portions are cursed unto him; but when a man comes to enjoy God for
his portion, then all his earthly portions are blessed unto him.
O sirs! there is no mitigating of the curse, there is no
reversing of the curse, there is no altering of the curse, nor there is no
taking of the curse from off your souls, nor from off your earthly
portions—but by gaining God to be your portion. O sirs! you will live
accursed, and you will die accursed, and you will appear before God
accursed, and you will be judged and sentenced by God accursed, and you will
be sent to hell accursed, and you will remain to all eternity accursed—if
God is not your portion! Therefore oh how should this consideration awaken
every sinner to give God no rest until he has given himself as a portion to
him. But,
[2.] Secondly, Consider this,
that there is yet a possibility of attaining God to be your portion,
Luke 18:27. God may be your portion, even yours! If you are but heartily
willing to be divorced from that wicked trinity—the world, the flesh, and
the devil, there is no doubt but that God will be your portion. O sirs! why
has God laid open so clearly and so fully the nature and incomparable
excellency of this portion above all other portions before you—but to
persuade your hearts, and to draw out your souls to look after this portion,
and to make sure of this portion—as that wherein all your happiness and
blessedness lies? Oh that you were wise to consider, that now an opportunity
is put into your hands, that may make you blessed forever! You have all the
ways, and all the means, and all the helps, and all the advantages
imaginable for the obtaining of God to be your portion; so that, if God is
not your portion, I shall be so bold to tell you that your destruction is
from yourselves, Hos 13:9.
O sirs! though God is a golden mine—yet he is such a mine
that may be gained, if you will but dig, and sweat, and take pains to
purpose, Prov 2:2-7; though he is a pearl of infinite price—yet Christ can
purchase this pearl for you; though he is a matchless and incomparable
portion—yet he is such a portion as may be yours, as will be yours, if you
are not lacking to your own souls. Why has God sent his ambassadors early
and late? 2 Cor 5:18-20; and why has he continued them among you to this
very day—but that they should acquaint you with his wonderful readiness and
willingness to bestow himself as a portion upon you? O sirs! God is said to
be a God of great mercy, and to be rich and plenteous in mercy, and to be
abundant in mercy, and to be transcendent and incomparable in mercy; yes,
all the mercies of God are sure mercies, they are royal mercies, they are
innumerable mercies, they are bottomless mercies, they are unchangeable
mercies, and they are everlasting mercies. Therefore there is no reason for
any man to despair of obtaining of God for his portion. [Psalm 105:8; Eph
2:4; Psalm 86:15; 1 Pet 1:1,3; Psalm 103:11] But,
[3.] Thirdly, Consider that God
is a portion-sweetening portion. God is such a portion as will
sweeten all other portions; he is a portion that will make every pleasant
portion, more pleasant; and that will make every bitter portion, sweet.
Poverty is one man's portion, and sorrow is another man's portion, and
crosses and losses are a third man's portion, and reproaches and sufferings
are a fourth man's portion, and sickness and diseases are a fifth man's
portion, etc. But God is a portion that will sweeten all these portions! You
know the tree that Moses cast into the bitter waters of Marah made them
sweet, Exod 15:23-25. Now this tree was a type of Christ, who will certainly
sweeten all our bitterest potions. The church complained in Lam 3:15, "that
God had filled her with bitterness" (or, as the Hebrew has it, "with
bitternesses"), "and that he had made her drunken with wormwood." And yet
this very consideration, that "the Lord was her portion," Lam 3:24,
sweetened all.
If God is your portion—there is no condition that can
make you miserable; if God is not your portion—there is no condition that
can make you happy. If God is not your portion—in the midst of your
sufficiency you will be in straits; if God is your portion—in the midst of
all your straits you shall enjoy an all-sufficiency in an all-sufficient
God, Job 20:22. Until God is your portion, O sinner, you will never taste
anything but death and bitterness in all your comforts, and in all your
contentments, and in all your enjoyments. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Consider that all
earthly portions are not of that infinite consequence and concernment to
you, as this portion is. All earthly portions are but the food
which perishes, John 6:27; they are but moth-eaten and canker-eaten
treasures, Matt 6:19, James 5:3; they are full of uncertainty, yes, they are
all over vanity, Eccles 1:2; they reach not beyond the line of this mortal
life; they can neither suit the soul, nor fill the soul, nor satisfy the
soul, nor save the soul; they can neither change the heart, nor reform the
heart, nor in the least better the heart; they can neither arm a man against
temptations, nor lead a man out of temptations, nor make a man victorious
over temptations; they can neither direct the conscience when it is in
straits, nor relieve the conscience when it is under distress, nor support
the conscience when it is under guilt, nor heal the conscience when it is
under wounds; they can neither make our peace with God, nor keep our peace
with God, nor augment our peace with God; they can neither bring us to
Christ, nor unite us to Christ, nor keep us with Christ, nor transform us
into the similitude or likeness of Christ; they can neither bring us to
heaven, nor fit us for heaven, nor assure us of heaven. In a word, no
earthly portion can free us from death, nor in the least avail us in the day
of wrath. By all which it is most evident that all earthly portions are of
very little consequence and concernment to the souls of men.
Oh—but now God is a portion of infinite consequence and
concernment to all the sons and souls of men. No man can hear as he should,
nor pray as he should, nor live as he should, nor die as he should—until God
is his portion. No man is secure from temporal, spiritual, or eternal
judgments—until God is his portion. No man can be happy in this world, or
blessed in another world—until God is his portion. O sirs! it is not
absolutely necessary that you should have this or that earthly portion—but
it is absolutely necessary that you should have God for your portion; for if
God is not your portion, all the angels in heaven, nor all the men on earth,
cannot prevent your being miserable to all eternity!
[5.] Fifthly, Consider that
until a man comes to have God for his portion, he never comes to be
temptation proof. A man who has God for his portion is
temptation-proof; he will say when tempted, as Themistocles did, 'Give those
trinkets to slaves.' And as Basil did, who, when he was offered honor,
glory, and wealth, etc., answered, 'Give me that glory which abides forever,
and give me those riches which will endure forever.' And as he was being
tempted with offers of money to desert his religion, gave this excellent
answer, 'Let not any think that he will embrace other men's goods to forsake
Christ—who has forsaken his own proper goods to follow Christ!'
Do as that martyr did, who, when he had riches and honors
offered him, if he would recant, answered, 'Do but offer me something that
is better than my Lord Jesus Christ, and I shall recant.' Do as Hormisda, a
nobleman in the king of Persia's court, did, who, because he would not deny
Christ, he was put into ragged clothes, deprived of his honors, and set to
keep the camels; after a long time, the king seeing him in that base
condition, and remembering his former fortunes, he pitied him, and caused
him to be brought into the palace, and to be clothed again like a nobleman;
and then tempts him afresh to deny Christ, whereupon this noble spirit
presently tore his silken clothes, saying, 'If for these you think you can
cause me deny my faith—take them back!' And so he was cast out with scorn a
second time.
And what was it which made the apostles temptation-proof,
and that made those worthies temptation-proof, Heb 11, and which made the
primitive Christians temptation-proof, and which made the martyrs in queen
Mary's days temptation-proof? Certainly, nothing more than this very
consideration—that God was their portion. Ah sinners, sinners, you will
certainly fall, you will readily fall, you will easily fall, you will
frequently fall, you will dreadfully fall before temptations, until you come
to enjoy God for your portion. Every blast and every wind of temptation will
overset and overturn that man who has not God for his portion. Such a man
may pray a thousand times over and over, "Lord, lead me not into
temptation," and yet every day fall before the least temptation, as common
experience does abundantly evidence. Whereas a man who has God for his
portion will stand fast like a rock in all storms, yes, in the face of all
temptations he will be like mount Zion, that cannot be removed.
Luther counsels every Christian to answer all temptations
with this short saying, "I am a Christian!" And I would counsel every
Christian to answer all temptations with this short saying, "The Lord is my
portion!" O Christian, when Satan or the world shall tempt you with
honors, answer, "The Lord is my portion!" When they shall tempt you with
riches, answer, "The Lord is my portion!" When they shall tempt you
with preferments, answer, "The Lord is my portion!" When they shall
tempt you with the favors of great ones, answer, "The Lord is my
portion!" When this persecuting world shall threaten you with the loss of
your estate, answer, "The Lord is my portion!" When they shall
threaten you with the loss of your liberty, answer, "The Lord is my
portion!" When they shall threaten you with the loss of friends,
answer, "The Lord is my portion!" When they shall threaten you with the loss
of life, answer, "The Lord is my portion."
O Christians! If Satan should come to you with an
apple, as once he did to Eve, tell him that "The Lord is my portion!" If
Satan should come to you with a grape, as once he did to Noah, tell
him that "The Lord is my portion!" If Satan should come to you with a change
of clothing, as once he did to Gehazi, tell him that "The Lord is my
portion!" If Satan should come to you with a wedge of gold, as once
he did to Achan, tell him that "The Lord is my portion!" If Satan should
come to you with a bag of money, as once he did to Judas, tell him
that "The Lord is my portion!" If Satan should come to you with a crown,
a kingdom, as once he did to Moses, tell him that "The Lord is my portion!"
But,
[6.] Sixthly and lastly, If God
is not your portion, you will be miserable to all eternity. If
God is not your portion, wrath must be your portion, hell must be your
portion, everlasting burnings must be your portion, a devouring fire must be
your portion, and a separation forever from the glorious presence of God,
must be your portion; as you may clearly see by comparing these Scriptures.
[Psalm 11:6; Psalm 9:17; Isaiah 33:14; Matt 24:51; 2 Thess 1:7-10; Heb
12:22-24]
If God is not your portion in this life—you shall never
have him for your portion in another life; if God is not your portion
here—he will never be your portion hereafter. O sirs! if death should
surprise you before God is your portion—you will as certainly go to hell, as
God is in heaven. Therefore it infinitely concerns you to get God for your
portion. There is no way in the world to make the king of terrors to
be a king of desires to your soul, O man—but by gaining God for your
portion. Of all terribles, death will be most terrible and formidable to
that man who has not God for his portion. If you should live and die, O man,
without having God for your portion—it had been good for you that you had
never been born. If the day of your birth had been the day of your
death—your hell would not have been so hot as now you will certainly find
it.
But now, methinks, I hear some crying out,
O! what shall we do, that we may have God for our
portion? Oh, had we as many worlds at our disposal as there are
stars in heaven—we would give them all that we might have God for our
portion. Oh we now see that we can never be happy except God is our portion;
yes, we now see that we shall be miserable to all eternity, except God is
our portion. Therefore what shall we do, that we may have God for our
portion?
Well then, if you would indeed have God for your portion,
let me thus advise you—
[1.] First, Labor to be very
sensible, that by nature you are without God; yes, at enmity with
God, and alienated from the life and love of God, and that by nature you are
children of wrath and disobedience, and in actual war and rebellion against
the great God. [Eph 2:12; Rom 8:7; Eph 2:1-2; Eph 4:18] O sirs, never talk
of having of God for your portion, until you come to see yourselves without
God, and until you come to judge yourselves unworthy of God. Every man in
his natural estate is afar off from God. Until a man comes to be sensible of
this, he will never desire God to be his portion. But,
[2.] Secondly, If you would have God for your portion,
then you must trample upon all other portions in
comparison of God. Luther protested that God should not put him
off with the poor things of this world. Oh, go to God, and say, "Lord, you
have given me a portion in money—but this money is not yourself; you have
given me a portion in lands—but these lands are not yourself; you have given
me a portion in goods—but these goods are not yourself; you have given me a
portion in jewels—but these jewels are not yourself. Therefore give me
yourself, and I shall say I have enough. Lord, had I all the world for my
portion—yet I would be miserable forever in that other world, except you
bestow yourself as a portion upon my soul. O Lord, give me but yourself, and
take away whatever you please. Oh give me but yourself—and take away all,
strip me of all—and I shall with Job sit down and bless a taking God as well
as a giving God!"
Oh go to God, and tell him, with an humble boldness, that
though he has given you many good things—yet all those good things will do
you no good except he bestows himself upon you as the only good. Oh tell him
that he is the first good; tell him that he is the original of all good;
tell him that he is the greatest good, the noblest good; tell him that he is
a superlative good; tell him that he is an universal good; tell him that he
is an unchangeable good; tell him that he is an eternal good; and tell him
that he is the most soul-suitable and soul-satisfying good. And therefore
tell him that you cannot tell how to live one day without him; yes, that you
know not how to be happy one hour without him. But,
[3.] Thirdly, If you would have God for your portion,
then of all precious promises, of all golden
promises, plead that most, Zech 13:9, "They shall call upon my
name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is my people; and they shall say,
The Lord is my God." O sirs! as ever you would have the great and glorious
God for your portion, plead out this noble promise cordially with God; plead
it out affectionately, plead it out fervently, plead it out frequently,
plead it out believingly, plead it out resolutely, plead it out incessantly.
O sirs! this choice promise is a hive full of heavenly honey, it is a
paradise full of sweet flowers, it is a breast which is full of the milk of
consolation. Therefore be still a-sucking at this breast, be still
a-pleading of this promise. Follow God with this promise early and late,
follow him with this promise day and night, follow him with this promise as
the importunate widow followed the unjust judge, Luke 18:1, and give him no
rest until he has made it good to your souls that he is your God, and that
he is your portion, and that he is your salvation, and that he is your all
in all.
Oh tell him that above all things in this world your
hearts are set on this—to have God to be your God, to have God to be your
portion. Oh tell him that you cannot, tell him that you dare
not, tell him that you may not, and tell him that you shall
not—be satisfied with anything without God, with anything below God, with
anything on this side God, with anything but God. Therefore humbly entreat
him, and earnestly beseech him, to be your God, and to be your portion. But,
[4.] Fourthly, If you would have God for your portion,
then you must be willing to be his portion.
[Deut 32:9; Jer 12:10; Zech 2:12] God is resolved upon this, that he will be
no man's portion, who is not willing to be his. You must make a resignation
of yourselves to God—if ever you would enjoy a saving interest in God. You
must be as willing to be his people—as you are willing to have him to be
your God. You must be as much at God's disposal—-as earthly portions are at
your dispose—or else there will be no enjoying of God to be your God. God
will engage himself to none who are not willing to engage themselves to him.
He who will not give his hand and his heart to God—shall never have any part
or portion in God. O sirs! as ever you would have God for your portion, it
highly concerns you to give up yourselves to God with highest estimations,
and with most vigorous affections, and with utmost endeavors, according to
that precious promise, Isaiah 44:5, "One will say, 'I belong to the Lord';
another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on
his hand, 'The Lord's,' and will take the name Israel." God stands upon
nothing so much as the giving up of yourselves to him, nor is he taken with
anything so much as the giving up of yourselves to him.
I have read of Aeschines, who, seeing his fellow-scholars
give great gifts, namely, gold, silver, and jewels, to his master Socrates,
and he being poor, and having nothing else to bestow, he gave himself, which
the philosopher most kindly accepted, esteeming this present above all those
rich and costly presents that his scholars had presented to him, and
accordingly in love and sweetness he behaved toward him. So there is nothing
that God accepts, loves, likes, and esteems—like the giving up of a man's
self unto him. This is a present that God prefers above all the gold,
silver, and sparkling jewels in the world. Well, sirs, remember this, such
as are not as willing to say, 'Lord, we are yours', as they are to say,
'Lord, you are ours.' Such shall never have God for their portion. But,
[5.] Fifthly, If you would have God for your portions,
then you must take up Christ in your arms, and deal
with God upon the righeousness of Christ. There is no
acquaintance with God, there is no reconciliation to God, there is no union
nor communion with God, there is no readmission into the presence and favor
of God, without a mediator. [Eph 2:16; Heb 2:17; Col 1:20; Eph 1:6-7] God
outside of Christ, is incomprehensible, God outside of Christ, is exceeding
dreadful. An absolute God is a consuming fire, Heb 12:9. Therefore says
Luther, 'let me have nothing to do with God himself.' The blood of Christ,
the blood of the covenant, is that, and only that, which can cement,
reunite, and knit God and man together.
Themistocles, understanding that king Admetus was highly
displeased with him, took up his young son into his arms, and dealt with the
father, holding that his darling in his bosom, and thereby appeased the
king's wrath. O sirs! the King of kings is offended with you, and upon the
account of your sins he has a very great controversy with you. Now, there is
no way under heaven to pacify his wrath, and turn away his displeasure from
you—but by taking up Christ in your arms, and by presenting all your suits
in his name. There is no angel in heaven, nor any saint on earth, who can,
or who dares, to interpose between an angry God and poor sinners. It is only
Christ, the prince of peace, who can make up a sinner's peace with God,
Isaiah 9:6.
John 14:6, "Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth,
and the life; no man comes unto the Father but by me." There is no way to
the Father but by the meritorious blood of the Son; there are none who can
stand between everlasting burnings and us but Christ, Isaiah 33:14. "You
shall not see my face except you bring your brother Benjamin with you," said
Joseph to his brethren, Gen 43:3,5. So says God, Sinners, sinners, you shall
not see my face except you bring Jesus with you, except you bring Christ in
your arms; you shall never see my face with joy, you shall never see my face
and live. There is a writ of vengeance that is issued out of the court of
heaven against all sinners, and except Christ steps in, they will certainly
fall under an eternal arrest, and be thrown into everlasting perdition and
destruction. But,
[6.] Sixthly, If you would have God for your portion,
then you must break your league with sin.
You must fall out with sin—if ever you fall in with God. Sin and you must be
two—or God and you can never be one. There is no property to be had in God,
except your hearts rise against that which first disunited and disjointed
you from God. Sin and you must part—or God and you can never meet. You shall
as soon make a marriage between light and darkness, heaven and hell, noon
and midnight—as ever you shall be able to make a marriage between God and
sin. So long as sin remains ours—God will be none of ours. No prince will be
one with that subject who lives in the practice of treason and rebellion
against him. No prince will be one with him who has killed his only son and
heir, and who daringly continues to hold up those bloody weapons in his
hands with which he has committed the horrid murders. There is no adulteress
that can be so shamelessly impudent, or so vainly confident, as to desire
pardon of her jealous husband, or to expect a oneness and a sweetness with
him—while she continues to hold her wanton lovers still in her arms, and is
fully resolved to hold on in her wanton dalliances as in times past.
O sirs! God is that prince who will never admit of peace
or union with you—until you cease practicing of treason against him, and
until you come to lay down your weapons of rebellion at his feet; he is that
jealous husband who will never take you into a oneness, into a nearness and
dearness with himself—until you come to abandon all your wanton lovers, and
thoroughly to resolve against all wanton dalliances for time to come. If
ever you would have God for your portion, you must say to all your wanton
lovers, and to all those idols of jealousy that you have set up in your
souls, as Ephraim once said to his, "Get you hence, for what have I any more
to do with you?" Hos 14:8. But,
[7.] Seventhly and lastly, If you would have God for your
portion, then you must wait upon him in the use of
all holy means. In the use of holy means, God makes the clearest,
the fullest, and the choicest discoveries of himself; in the use of holy
means, poor sinners come to be acquainted with the excellency of God, and
with the necessity of having God for their portion; in the use of holy
means, poor sinners come to understand the fullness of God, the goodness of
God, the graciousness of God, the sweetness of God, and the wonderful
freeness, readiness, and willingness of God to give himself as a portion to
all such as see their need of him, and who are heartily willing to receive
him as their God and portion; and in the use of holy means God works in poor
sinners a readiness, a forwardness, and a blessed willingness to choose God
for their portion, to close with God for their portion, to embrace God for
their portion, to accept of God for their portion, and to own God for their
portion.
If this question should be put to all the saints in
heaven, namely, How did God come to be their portion? they would all answer,
By waiting upon him in the use of all those holy ways and means that he had
appointed for that purpose. And if the same question were put to all the
saints on earth who have God for their portion, they would all give the same
answer. O sirs! as ever you would have God for your portion, it highly
concerns you to wait patiently upon him in the use of all holy means. He who
is in the use of holy means is in the way of obtaining God for his portion.
But he who casts off the use of the means, he says in effect, "I will not
have God for my portion, I care not to have God for my portion; let me but
have the world for my portion, and let who will, take God for their
portion."
To prevent mistakes, before I close up this direction,
remember that by the use of holy means, I only mean such means that God
himself has appointed, commanded, instituted, and ordained. As for those
means that are of men's inventing, devising, prescribing, commanding, and
ordaining; a man may wait until doomsday in the use of them, before ever he
will gain God for his portion. Therefore they are rather to be declined,
yes, detested and abhorred, than any way to be owned, minded, or used by any
who would have God for their portion. Look! as all the worshipers of Baal
got nothing by all their wailing and crying out from morning to night, "O
Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us!" 1 Kings 18, so those who wait upon God in
humanly invented and devised worship, will never get anything by all their
waiting. No, though they should wait from morning to evening, and from
evening to morning, and cut and lance themselves until the blood gushes out,
as those foolish worshipers of Baal did. And therefore, as ever you would
have God for your portion, be sure that you wait upon him only in his own
ways, and in the use of his own means. And thus I am done with the use and
application of the point. So that I have now nothing to do but these two things:
First, To answer a few objections which poor
sinners are apt to make against their own souls, and against their enjoying
of God for their portion; and,
Secondly, To lay down a few principles which may be of
singular use to all such that have God for their portion. I shall
begin with the objections.