His going forth is as the morning

These words show just where Ephraim was in soul experience. He does not represent one destitute of spiritual light and life, but a quickened vessel of mercy, but one who was wrapping himself up in a garment, not of Christ's giving, nor of the Spirit's application. And there are many still who have the fear of God in their hearts who are wrapping themselves up in a covering which is not of God's Spirit. There is something more to be known than the bare doctrine of Christ's righteousness. That doctrine may even become a lying refuge if the mere letter of truth is sheltered in, and the Holy Ghost does not experimentally make it known to the soul.

I. THE SOUL EXPERIENCE INDICATED. "A following on to know the Lord." To know the Lord is the desire of every living soul. To know Him by His own Divine manifestations, by the gracious revelation of His grace, His love, His presence, His glory. To know the Lord is to know, experimentally and spiritually, the power of Jesus' blood and righteousness. Thus to know the Lord is the sum and substance of vital godliness. But the expression "follow on" implies that there are many difficulties, obstacles, and hindrances in a man's way, which keep him back from knowing the Lord.

1. Sometimes a man takes up the notion that he is but a self-deceiver and a hypocrite.

2. Sometimes Satan hurls a blasphemous suggestion into our carnal mind.

3. Sometimes the remembrance of past sins, lying as a heavy weight on the conscience, presses a man down with despondency and despair.

4. Sometimes the gusts of infidelity will so blow on a man's mind as to make him doubt the reality of all religion.

5. Sometimes the recollection of many inconsistencies, foolish thoughts, words, and actions, stand like mountains of difficulty in his way.

6. Sometimes great worldly troubles hinder him.

7. Sometimes darkness besets the mind, and clouds of unbelief rest on the soul, and the way is obscure. The work of the Spirit in a man's soul is to carry him on in spite of all these obstacles. It is really astonishing how souls are kept alive. For what are we to follow on? To know the Lord, as the sum and substance of all religion, as the very marrow of vital godliness.

II. SEEKING THE LORD AND NOT FINDING HIM. This is a part of experience through which every soul passeth. Here lies the difference between a living soul in his darkest hours and a dead professor. A living soul knows that God is to be found of His saints, but cannot always find Him for himself; but a dead professor knows nothing about God at all. It is to the living soul walking in darkness, and unable to find God, that the. text. says, "His going forth is prepared as the morning." There is an appointed time for the Lord to go forth: and this is compared to the rising of the sun. All His goings forth are as much prepared, and the moment is as much appointed, as the time is fixed every morning for the sun to rise.

III. THE FRUIT AND EFFECT OF THE LORD'S COMING. As the rain — softening and fertilising. To understand the spiritual, we must first know the meaning of the natural figure. Explain the two rain seasons of Palestine. In the "early rain" is a figure of Christ's first coming to the soul. By the "latter rain " is suggested Christ's coming in Christian experience.