Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle: 365 Sermons
Cheering words and solemn warnings
‘Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.’ Isaiah 3:10
Suggested Further Reading: Psalm 37:16–40
‘Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him,’ from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, from the first gatherings of evening shadows until the day-star shines. It shall be well with him when, like Samuel, God calls him from the bed of his childhood; it shall be well with him when, like David in his old age, he is stayed up in the bed to conclude his life with a song of praise; it shall be well with him if, like Solomon, he shall abound in wealth, and well with him if like Lazarus he shall lie upon a dunghill and the dogs shall lick his sores; it shall be well with him, if like Job he washes his feet with oil and his steps with butter, if the princes are before him bowing their heads, and the great ones of the earth do him obeisance; but it shall be equally well with him if, like Job in his trial, he sits down to scrape himself with a potsherd, his children gone, his wife bidding him curse his God, his friends become miserable comforters to him, and himself left alone; it shall be well, always well. The text evidently means that it is well with the righteous at all times alike, and never otherwise than well; because no time is mentioned, no season is excluded, and all time is intended.
| ‘What cheering words are these! | ’Tis well when joys arise, |
| Their sweetness who can tell? | ’Tis well when sorrows flow, |
| In time, and to eternal days, | ’Tis well when darkness veils the skies, |
| ’Tis with the righteous well. | And strong temptations blow.’ |
For meditation: We become righteous only as the result of trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done for us (Romans 5:19). It is bound to be well with the righteous at all times and in all circumstances because ‘He hath done all things well’ (Mark 7:37).
Sermon no. 729
13 January (1867)