The Departed Lord: Sermon 13: Dwell Deep
By George Kulp
"Dwell deep -- without care -- alone" (Jer. 49:30-31).
Jesus knew what we would have to do if we were to dwell deep, and so he told us in a parable of a man who was going to build a house and he digged down deep. He got all the rubbish, and sand and clay out of the way. He also told us that storms were coming and the building we erected would be tested, and it was necessary that we should build on the Rock. All the time we are living we are building -- for all are builders -- and all may see there is a necessity for deep digging. The Christian life is built on Christ. He is the Foundation -- other foundation can no man lay. The poet has well said,
"On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand."
It means much to go with God. We will find the crowd, the multitude going the other way. "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there he that go in thereat."
It took a hundred years to make a Stradivarius, but when it was made it was worth twenty-five hundred dollars. It took God and Stradivarius to make one. First, the tree to grow, to grow where the winds and storms would beat on it, where the lightnings and thunders would play around it. These would toughen its fiber, would get it ready for good work some day in the hands of an artist. Then, after all the years, the ax would be applied and it would be cut down, and then placed away till all the moisture was out, and then Stradivarius, with knife and plane.
So it is with the Christian life. It means all hell to oppose, the world to hate, the carnal mind to criticize and scoff, to be at times misunderstood, and it is necessary to build, and more necessary to dig down deep. Oh, there are so many superficial, shallow professors these days -- so many gigglers. I went one day into a large furniture house, and the salesman, one of the firm, showed me a piece of furniture that he said was cherry. A nice piece of furniture, and he would sell it to me at a very reasonable figure, considering it was cherry. I bought it, took it home, showed it to wife, and lo and behold, it was cherry -- on the outside. It was a very nice job of veneering; looked like cherry, but it was a very thin piece of cherry glued and pressed tight to a very light wood.
There is so much veneering in these days; not worth much when it comes to the testing. Men do not want -- much less seek -- for God's way. They are like an old farmer who had plenty of money and brought his son to Mr. Garfield to get an education. Mr. Garfield was the president of the college, and he showed the farmer a catalogue, and what would be required of the young man; and he told him, further, that it would take four years or more to finish the course contemplated. The old man said, "I do not want him here four years. I can pay for his education." Mr. Garfield saw the point at once and replied, "It takes a hundred years to grow an oak; you can have a squash in a few months. What do you want your boy to be -- an oak or a squash?"
It was ships of oak as well as hearts of oak that made Britain the mistress of the seas for so many years. There are storms coming, dig down deep. You are building for the skies. When you contemplate building high you must go down deep. I was in Philadelphia one day and stopped to look at a foundation they were preparing. It was way down deep, far below the surface. It cost something to put it in, but they counted the cost and said, "It will pay to go down." When they built the St. Louis bridge across the Mississippi River, the engineer who drew the plan said to the contractors, "You must go down till you strike the rock." And the contractors said to the foreman, "You must go down till you strike the rock." And the foreman said to the men, "You must dig down deep till you strike the rock." And they began, they went down day after day, and one day the man said, "We have the rock." They sent a piece of the rock up to the engineers, who after a look said, "No, that is only sandstone; go down till you get the rock." They dug a few days more and said, "Now we have the rock, and again they sent up a piece; but the engineers said, "No, that is not rock yet; that is only a little harder sandstone." And on they went digging down deeper. But one day they heard a great shout coming up from the men.
This time they did not send up a piece to be examined. They said, "We have the rock." The engineers shouted back, "How do you know?" Back came more shouting, "We struck fire!" Sure enough, you will know when you have struck the rock you will get fire at the same time. Never stop digging till you get fire. It is promised, "There is one among you . . . He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire." Where He is there is fire -- and you will know it, and other folks will know it, too. Have you been down so deep that you have struck the fire. We can never dwell deep, unless we first dig deep.
