"After Two Days Is the Passover"
(No. 2522)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 20, 1897.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 1, 1885.
"You know that after two days is tie Passover, and the Son of Man will
be delivered up to be crucified." Matthew 26:2.
One likes to know how a great commander feels before a battle. What is
his state of mind and how does he look forward to tomorrow's struggle?
While yet the balances are trembling, how does he act? How does he bear
himself? One likes to know the condition of heart of one's fellow in
the prospect of a great trial. There is a serious operation to be
performed–how is the sufferer supported in the prospect of the
surgeon's knife and of the danger that will attend it? Or, perhaps,
death itself is rapidly approaching–in what condition of heart is our
departing friend? How does he anticipate the great change? I take it
that it is sometimes much harder to look upon a battle than to fight
one–more difficult to foresee an ill than it is to bear it and,
perhaps, the foresight, even, of death is much more trying than death
itself ever proves to be to a Christian. Can we be confident before the
battle begins? Can we be calm before the clouds burst in the time of
storm? Can we rest in God before the iron gate is opened and we pass
through it into the unknown world? These are questions well worth
asking.
I thought that it would be very profitable to us if we tried to look at
our Master in this condition–the great Captain of our salvation before
the battle–the great Sacrifice led to the altar where His blood is
about to be shed. How does He behave Himself? May there not be
something especially instructive in these last Words of His, when He
seems, as it were, to take off the robes of the Teacher and Prophet and
to put on His priestly garments? May there not be something for us to
learn from the state of His mind and spirit–and from His language just
before His Passion? It is a small window, but a great deal of the Light
of God may come through it. The Master said to His disciples, "You know
that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be
delivered up to be crucified."
I. The first thing I would say upon these words to you, Beloved in
Christ Jesus, is, ADMIRE YOUR SAVIOR. Hear Him speak and regard Him in
holy contemplation, that admiration of Him may be greatly excited.
Admire His calmness. There is no token of any disturbance of mind.
There are no evidences of dismay. There is not even a quiver of fear,
nor the least degree of anxiety about Him. He speaks not boastfully,
otherwise we would suspect that He was not brave. He speaks very
solemnly, for it was a terrible ordeal that lay before Him. Look at it
as He might, but still, with what true peace of mind, in what tones of
quiet serenity, does He say to His little band of followers, "You know
that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be
delivered up to be crucified."
This calmness is very wonderful, because there was so much that was
bitter and cruel about His approaching death. "The Son of Man is
betrayed." The Savior felt that betrayal most keenly. It was a very
bitter part of the deadly potion which He had to drink. "He that eats
bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me," was a venomous drop
that went right into His soul! David, in his great sorrow, had to say,
"For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne
it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against
me; then I would have hid myself from him; but it was you, a man my
equal, my guide, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together,
and walked into the house of God in company." And it was a very, very,
very bitter thing to Christ to be betrayed by Judas, yet He talks of it
calmly and speaks of it when it was not absolutely necessary, one would
think, to mention that incidental circumstance. He might have said, "In
two days I shall be crucified," but He said, "In two days the Son of
Man will be delivered up to be crucified."
Do not forget, also, the extraordinary bitterness that is concentrated
in that word, "crucified." Somehow, we have become used to the
Cross–and the Glory which surrounds our Lord has taken away from our
minds much of the shame which is and should always be associated with
the gallows. The cross was the hangman's gallows of those days–it
implied all the shame that the gallows could imply with us, today, and
more, for a freeman may be hanged, but crucifixion was a death reserved
for slaves! Nor was it merely the shameof crucifixion, but it was the
great pain of it. It was an exquisitely cruel death in which the body
was tormented for a considerable length of time to the very highest
degree. The nails passing through the flesh just where the nerves are
most plentiful and tearing and rending through those parts of the body
by the weight which had to be sustained on hands and feet caused
torture of a kind which I will not attempt to describe. Beside that,
remember, veiled beneath the words, "to be crucified," lay our Savior's
inward and spiritual crucifixion, for His Father's forsaking of Him was
the essence–the extreme gall of the bitterness that He endured. He
meant that He had to die upon the accursed tree, deserted even by His
Father! Yet He talked of it, truly and with all solemnity, but yet
without the slightest trace of trembling. "You know," He said to His
disciples, "that in two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will
be delivered up to be crucified."
Admire, then, the calm, brave heart of your Divine Lord, conscious–far
more conscious than you and I can be–of what was meant by being
betrayed and being crucified! Cognizant of every pang that should ever
come upon Him–the bloody sweat, the scourge, the crown of thorns, the
fevered thirst, the tongue cleaving to the roof of His mouth and all
the dust of death that would surround and choke Him–yet He speaks of
it as though it were no more an unusual event than the Passover itself.
"You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will
be delivered up to be crucified."
I want you to admire, next, your Savior's strong resolve–His resolute
purpose to go through all this suffering that He might effect our
redemption. If He had willed it, He might have paused, He might have
gone back, He might have given up the enterprise. You know how the
Flesh, in sight of all that pain and grief, cried, "If it is possible,
let this cup pass from Me," but here we see, before the Passion came,
that strong and firm and brave resolve which, when the Passion did
come, would not, could not and didnotflinch or hesitate, much less turn
back! He could sweat great drops of blood, but He could not give up the
work He came to do. He could bow His head to death, but He could not
and would not cease to love His people whom He loved so much as to end
His life for their sakes upon the accursed tree! Here are no regrets
and no faltering. Our Lord speaks as you and I would speak of something
about which our mind is quite made up, concerning which there is no
room for argument or debate. "You know that after two days is the
Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." If
He had said, "After two years," I could understand something of His
purpose concerning an event that was so distant–but within two days to
be betrayed, within 48 hours to be betrayed for crucifixion–and yet to
talk of it so! O my Lord, truly Your love for us is strong as death,
Your jealousy overcomes even the grave itself!
Admire Him, then, dear Friends! Let your inmost heart adore and love
Him! But I want you to also notice how absorbed He was in His
approaching betrayal and death. That Truth of God comes out in the
words of our text–"You know that after two days is the Passover, and
the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Ah, dear Lord,
You did speak the truth! They did know it and yet You did speak to them
with loving partiality, for they did not really know it. They did not
as yet understand that their Master must die and that He would rise
again from the dead. He had often repeated to them the assurance that
it would be so, but, somehow, they had not truly believed it, realized
it, grasped it. Ah, but Hehad! He had and, you know, it is the way of
men who have realized a great truth to talk to others as if it were as
real to them as to themselves. You remember how the spouse asks the
watchmen of the city, "Saw you Him whom my soul loves?" She does not
tell them any name, but she talks of her Beloved as if there were no
other, "Him," in all the world! And the Lord here so well knew and was
so wholly absorbed in the great work before Him that He said to these
forgetful, these ignorant disciples, "You know that after two days is
the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."
Why, they had only a little while before walked with Him through the
streets of Jerusalem! The people had strewn the road with their
garments and with branches of palm trees! Scarcely had the sound of
their hosannas died away out of the disciples' ears, yet Jesus says to
them, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man
will be delivered up to be crucified; you have not forgotten that, have
you?" Ah, but they had! They were still dreaming of an earthly
sovereignty and He was dreaming of nothing, but sternly, solemnly
setting His face like a flint to go to prison and to death for their
redemption–and for yours, and for mine–sacredly resolved to go
through with it! He was even "straitened" till His baptism of blood
should be accomplished and He should be immersed in unknown deeps of
grist and suffering! Having all His thought taken up with that subject,
our Lord, therefore, talked to His disciples as if they were taken up
with it, too. This is the language of One who is altogether absorbed
with this gigantic enterprise which He has made to be the very summit
of His ambition, though He knows that it will involve Him in shame and
death. Admire Him, Brothers and Sisters, that He should be so taken up
with the passion of winning souls as to forget everything else–and
have this only upon His mind, and upon His lips–"After two days is the
Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."
I cannot help adding one other thing in which I admire the Savior and
that is, how wise He was to tell His disciples this! You see, all He
cared for was their good. He was not mentioning His suffering that He
might ask for their sympathy. There is no trace of His crying, like
Job, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O my Friends, for the hand
of God has touched me." No, our Lord told His disciples this for their
sakes! First, that they might not be surprised when it came to pass, as
though some strange thing had happened to them–that when He was
betrayed and crucified, it might not be quite so dire a blighting of
all their hopes since He had prepared them for it beforehand. And,
moreover, it was intended to strengthen them when they should come into
the trial, so that they could say, "It is all just as He told us it
would be. How true He is! He told us about this sorrow beforehand and,
therefore, if He spoke the truth, then, we will believe all the rest
that He said is also true. And did He not say that He would rise again
from the dead? Then, depend upon it, He will do so! He died when He
said He would die and He will rise again when He said He would rise
again." This saying of our Lord was well and wisely uttered, that the
crucifixion should not come upon them as a thing unknown to Him, but
that when they were in the midst of the trial, they should remember
that He told them all about it and so they would be comforted.
I ask you, then, dear Friends, to think with reverent affection of this
calm speech of your Divine Master, this resolved and determined
utterance, this all-absorbing thought of His concerning the purchase of
His people by His blood–and this generous wisdom of His in making it
all known beforehand to those who were around about Him and who truly
loved Him. I do not want to turn from that thought until you have felt
in your own heart this intense admiration of your Lord.
II. But, secondly, I want to take your thoughts a little way–not from
the text–but from that particular line of meditation and to ask you,
now, to CONSIDER YOUR SACRIFICE.
The Master says, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the
Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." I cannot help reading
it like this–"You know that after two days is THE PASSOVER. All the
other Passovers have been Passovers only in name, Passovers in type,
Passovers in emblem, Passovers foreshadowing THE Passover. But after
two days is the real Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up
to be crucified." At any rate, I want you to notice how true it is that
our Lord Jesus Christ is our Passover–"Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us." What the paschal lamb was to Israel in Egypt, that
the Lord Jesus Christ is to us! Let us think of that for a few minutes.
Put the Passover and the Cross together, for, indeed, they are one.
And, first, here is a lamb. Was there another man who ever lived who
was so worthy to be called a lamb, as was Jesus Christ? I have never
heard or read of any character that so fully realizes what must be
meant by "the Lamb of God." Other men have been like lambs, but there
is a touch of the tiger about us all at times. There was none about
Him. He was the Lamb of all lambs–the Lamb of God, the most lamb-like
of all men who ever lived or died, for there was no trace of anything
about Him that was contrary to tenderness, love and gentleness. There
were other qualities, of course, but none that were contrary to these.
There were some that were as necessary to a complete character as even
gentleness was, and He failed in nothing. But still, if you only view
Him from that one side of His gentleness, there was none so worthy to
be called a Lamb as He.
The lamb of the Passover, however, had to be perfect It must be without
spot or blemish. And where can you find the likes of Jesus for
spotlessness and perfection in every respect? There is nothing
redundant in Him. There is nothing deficient in Him. The Character of
the Christ is absolutely perfect, insomuch that His very enemies, who
have denied His
Deity, have been charmed with His humanity–and those who have even
tried to undermine His teaching, have, nevertheless, reverently bowed
before His example! He is the Lamb of God "without blemish and without
spot."
The paschal lamb also had to be slain. You know how Christ was slain.
There is no need to dwell upon the sufferings and death of our
Well-Beloved. The lamb had to be roasted with fire. That was the method
by which it was prepared and, truly, Christ our Passover was roasted
with fire. Through what fiery sufferings, through what consuming grief
did He pass! There was nothing about Him that was soaked at all with
water, but every bit of Him was roasted with the fire of human
hatred–and also with the Divine and righteous ire of the thrice-holy
God!
You remember, too, that in the paschal lamb not a bone was to be
broken. Our Lord stood in imminent jeopardy of having His bones broken,
for with iron bars the Roman soldiers went to break the legs of the
three crucified persons, that they might die the more quickly. But John
tells us, "When they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already,
they broke not His legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced
His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw
it bares record, and his record is true. And he knows what he says is
true, that you might believe. For those things were done that the
Scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of Him shall not be broken." And
again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they
pierced." In all this is Christ our true Paschal Lamb.
But you know, dear Friends, that the chief point about the paschal lamb
lay in the sprinkling of the blood. The blood of the lamb was caught in
a basin and then the father of the family took a bunch of hyssop,
dipped it in the blood, and struck the lintel and the two side posts of
the house outside the door. Then, when the destroying angel flew
through the land of Egypt to smite the first-born of men and of cattle,
from the first-born of Pharaoh that was on the throne to the first-born
of one that was in the dungeon, he passed by every house that was
sprinkled with the blood. And these are the Lord's memorable Words
concerning that ordinance, "When I see the blood, I will pass over
you." God's sight of the blood was the reason for His passing over His
people and not killing them! And you know, Beloved, that the reason why
God does not smite you on account of sin is that He sees the sprinkled
blood of Jesus under which you are sheltering. That blood is sprinkled
upon you and, as God sees it, He knows that expiation has been made,
the substitutionary Sacrifice has been slain and He passes you by! Thus
is Christ the true Passover, accepted in your place, and you are saved
through Him.
Remember, too, that the paschal lamb furnished food for a supper. I t
was both a security and a feast for the people. The whole family stood
round the table that night and ate of the roasted lamb. With bitter
herbs did they eat it, as if to remind them of the bitterness of their
bondage in Egypt. With their loins girt and with their walking staves
in their hands, as men who were about to leave their homes and go on a
long journey, never to return–thus they stood and ate the paschal
lamb. They all ate it and they ate it all, for not a relic of it must
be left until the morning. If there was too much for one family, then
others must come in to share it. And if any was left, it must be
destroyed by fire. Is not this, dear Friends, just what Christ is to
us–our spiritual meat, the food of our souls? We receive a whole
Christ and feed upon a whole Christ–often with bitter herbs of
repentance and humiliation–but still we feed on Him and we all eat of
the same spiritual meat, even as we are all sprinkled with the one
precious blood, if, indeed, we are the true Israel of God!
Beloved, let us bless our Lord for the true Passover! It was a night to
be remembered when Israel came out of Egypt, but it is a night to be
remembered even more when you and I, by the sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus, are once and for all passed over by the angel of avenging
justice and we live when others die–a night to be remembered when our
eager lips begin to feed on Him whose flesh is meat, indeed, and we eat
and live forever! Is not that the teaching of this text? Did not the
Savior mean this when He said, "You know that after two days is the
Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified"?
These two things are bracketed together, as in mathematics there is a
sort of mark of "equals" put between them to signify that the one is
equal to the other–the feast of THE Passover, and the fact that the
Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.
III. Now I turn to a third point and I think I shall have your earnest
attention upon it because there is something in it which very deeply
interests all of us who belong to Christ. I have already asked you to
admire your Savior and to consider your sacrifice. Now, dear Friends,
ADORE YOUR LORD.
1 ask you to adore your Lord, first, for His foresight. "After two days
the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." We cannot
prophesy concerning the future. The man who can tell me what will
happen in two days must be something more than man. As to many events,
it is as difficult to foresee two minutes as to foresee two centuries,
unless there are some causes operating which must produce certain
effects. In our Lord's case, the influences seemed all to point away
from betrayal and crucifixion. He was extremely popular. To all
appearances He was beloved by the mass of the people and even the
scribes and Pharisees, who sought His death, were thoroughly afraid of
Him! Yet, with that clear foresight of the eyes which shine in no head
but that which is Divine, Jesus says, "After two days the Son of Man
will be betrayed." He sees it all as if it had already happened. He
does not say, "shall be," but He so fully sees it, He is such a true
Seer, that He says, "The Son of Man will be delivered up to be
crucified."
Now, Beloved, if He thus foresaw His own betrayal and death, let us
adore Him, for He can foresee our trials and death. He knows all that
is going to happen to us. He knows what will happen to me within two
days. I bless Him that I do not! I would far rather that the eyes which
see into the future should be in His head than in mine–they are safer
there. But, Brothers and Sisters, if within two days, or two months, or
two years you are to pass through some bitter agony, some scourging and
buffering which looks very improbable, now, you may not see that it may
be so, but there is One who sees it. The sheep's best eyes are in the
shepherd's head. The sheep will do well enough if he can see what is
just before him, especially if he can see his shepherd–that is all he
needs to see. The shepherd can see into the cold winter. He can see
into the wild woods where lurks the wolf. The shepherd can see
everything. And I want you, dear Friends, to adore your Lord because if
in His humiliationHe foresaw His betrayal and death–from the vantage
ground of His Glory He can now see yourgrief and yourwoes that are yet
in reserve. And it ought to be enough for you that He knows all about
you! He knows what your difficulty will be and He will pray for you
that your faith fail not. Adore your Lord, then, for His foresight.
I want you, next, to adore Him for His wonderful Providence. There was
a Providence which surrounded the Christ of God at that time. It was
according to the Divine Purpose and will that He should die at the
Passover–at that particular Passover–and that He should die by being
betrayed and by being crucified. Without entering into the question of
the responsibility and free will of men, I am sure that the Providence
of their Lord and Master worked this all out. I wonder that they did
not take up stones to stone Him, but they could not, for He must be
crucified. I wonder that they did not hire an assassin, for there were
plenty in those days who would have stabbed Him for a shilling. But
no–He must be crucified! I marvel that they had not slain Him long
ago, for they did take up stones again and again to stone Him–but His
hour was not then come. There was a Providence working all the while
and shaping His end as it shapes ours. He was immortal till His work
was done. But when the two days of which He spoke were over, He must
die. With cruel and wicked hands and of their own voluntary and evil
will, they crucified and slew the Christ–yet it was all according to
"the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." I never yet
pretended to explain how free agency and absolute predestination can
both be true, but I am sure that they are both true, both written in
Scripture, and both facts. To reconcile them is no business of mine or
yours, but to admire how they are reconciled in fact is a business of
yours and mine and, therefore, let us do so now.
I want you, next, to admire your Lord by recognizing His extraordinary
correctness as a Prophet. Let me read on beyond our text–"You know
that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man
will be delivered up to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief
priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, into the palace
of the High Priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they
might take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. But they said, not on the
feast day"–mark that–"not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar
among the people." Now note this–it must be on the feast day and it
shall be on the feast day. Yet they said, "not on the feast day." But
what does it matter what theysay? Do you not observe how they were
checkmated all round, how their purpose was like the whistling wind and
the Eternal Purpose stood firm in every particular? They said, "We will
take Him by trickery and kill Him." But they did not–they took Him by
force. They said, "We will kill Him." But they did not, for He died by
the hands of the Romans. They meant to slay Him privately, but they
could not, for He must be hung up before high noon in the midst of the
people!
And, above all, they said, "not on the feast day. Not on the feast
day." I think I hear old Caiaphas there, with all his wisdom and all
his cunning, saying, "not on the feast day," and Annas and all the
priests join in the chorus, "not on the feast day. Postpone it a little
till the millions have departed, the vulgar throng who, perhaps, would
make a riot in His favor." There they stood with their broad-bordered
garments and their phylacteries. And they were of the opinion that what
Caiaphas had proposed, and Annas had seconded, should be carried
unanimously–"not on the feast day." But
Christ had said, "After two days is the feast day, and the Son of Man
will be delivered up to be crucified." We do not know how it all came
to be hurried on against their deliberate will, but Judas ran to them
in hot haste and said, "What will you give me?" And they were so eager
for Christ's death that they overleaped themselves! "We will give you
thirty pieces of silver," they said, and they weighed it out to him,
little thinking how quick he would be about his accursed business! Soon
he comes back and says, "He is in the garden. You can easily take Him
there while He is in prayer with a few of His disciples. I will conduct
you there." And before long the deed of darkness is done. These crafty,
cruel men had said, "not on the feast day," but it was on the feast
day, as Jesus had foretold that it would be!
Now, Beloved, when our Lord tells us anything, let us always believe
it. Whatever may appear to be against His statements, let us make
nothing of it. A man in Jerusalem at that time might have said, "The
Christ cannot be put to death unless these scribes and elders of the
people agree to it! And you can see that they have resolved not to have
it on the feast day. He will not be crucified on the Passover! The
whole type will break down and it will be shown that He is not what He
professed to be." Ah, but they may say, "not on the feast day," till
they are hoarse–He has said, "After two days is the feast day, and the
Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified"–and so it came to
pass!
Our Lord has said that He will come again, yet men ask, "Where is the
promise of His coming?" Brothers and Sisters, you can be sure that He
will come! He has always kept His Word and He will come as He said. Ah,
but they say that He will not come to punish the ungodly who have
defied Him–but He will! The Son of Man shall sit upon the Throne of
His Glory and before Him shall be gathered all nations! He shall
separate them, the one from the other, as a shepherd divides the sheep
from the goats, and He will say to those on His left hand, "Depart, you
cursed," as surely as He will say to those on His right hand, "Come,
you blessed." Every jot and tittle that has ever fallen from the lips
of Christ is sure to come to pass, for you know that He said, "Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away." You may
rest upon the eternal purpose of God and the faithful promise of Christ
which shall never fail, for not one of Christ's Words shall fall to the
ground unfulfilled!
Let us adore Him, then, as our true Prophet. "Very God of very God,"
"the faithful and true Witness," "the Prince of the kings of the
earth," we do adore You this very hour!
IV. Now, fourthly, and lastly, dear Friends, I want you to IMITATE YOUR
EXEMPLAR.
I will not detain you more than a minute or two upon this point, but I
want you, as far as your Lord is imitable, to imitate Him in the spirit
of this verse. I have told you that there was no boasting in Him, but
that there was a deep calm and a firm resolve even in the immediate
prospect of a cruel and shameful death. And I think that you should
imitate your Lord in this respect. Suppose that, in two days, there
shall come a "post" from the New Jerusalem to tell you that the silver
cord is about to be loosed, the golden bowl to be broken and that your
spirit must return to God who gave it? In such a case, it behooves you,
dear follower of Christ, to receive that message with as much calmness
as Christ delivered His own death warrant, though it had to be spoken
in such language as this–"You know that after two days is the feast of
the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."
It will not run like that with you, but it may be that in two days
consumption will end in hemorrhage, or that old age will bring down the
frail tent of your mortality, or that disease which is now upon you
will drag you to the grave. Well, if it is so in two days–ah, if it
were so in two hours, or two minutes!–it is for the child of God to
say, "Your will be done," just as the Master did. Happy was that woman
who said, "Every morning, before I come downstairs, I dip my foot in
the river of death, and I shall not be afraid to plunge into it for the
last time." They who die daily, as we all should, are always ready to
die! I like Bengel's notion concerning death. He says, "I do not think
that a Christian should make any fuss about dying. When I am in company
and somebody comes to the door and says, 'Mr. Bengel is needed,' I let
the company go on with their talk and I just slip out and I am gone.
Perhaps, after a little while, they say, 'Mr. Bengel is gone.' Yes,
that is all–and that is how I would like to die–for God to knock at
my door and for me to be gone without making any fuss about it."–
"Strangers into life we come, And dying is but going Home."
I do not think that there ought to be any jerk on the metals when we
arrive at the heavenly terminus. We just run straight on into the shed
where the engine stops–no, into Glory where we shall rest forever and
ever! I think I have heard of a captain who was so skilled that when he
had arranged all the steering gear, he had not to alter a point for
thousands of miles. And when he came to the harbor, he had so guided
the vessel that he sailed straight in. If you get the Lord Jesus Christ
on board the vessel of your life, you will find that He is such a
skillful steersman that you will never have to alter your course! He
will so set your ship's head that between here and Heaven, there will
be nothing to do but to go right on. And then, all of a sudden, you
will hear a voice saying, "Furl sail! Let go the anchor!" You will hear
a little rattle of the chain and the vessel will be still forever in
that port which is truly called the Fair Havens.
That is how it should be and I am going to finish by saying that I
believe that is how it will be. If I say to you that it ought to be so,
you will perhaps say to me, "Ah, Sir, but I am often subject to bondage
through fear of death!" Yes, but you will not be when you come to die!
O poor Little-Faith, you want to have strength nowto die? But God knows
that you are not going to die for some time, yet, so what would you do
with dying Grace if He were to give it to you now? Where would you pack
it up and store it? It will be quite time to get dying Grace when you
come to die. Have I not seen some fidgety old folk who have been really
a trouble to other people through their getting so worried and anxious?
But all of a sudden there has come upon them such a beautiful quiet! It
has been said, "Oh, grandma is so different! Something is going to
happen, we feel sure."
One day she had not anything to trouble her. Everybody could see that
she was seriously ill, but her dear old eyes sparkled with unusual
brightness and there was an almost unearthly smile upon her face. And
she said at night, "I don't feel quite as well as usual. I think
tomorrow morning, I shall sleep a little later." And she did. So they
went up to her. She said that she had had a blessed night–she did not
know whether she had slept, but she had seen in the night such a
wondrous sight, though she could not describe what it was like! They
all gathered round the bed, for they perceived that something very
mysterious had happened to her. And she blessed them all and said,
"Good-bye. Meet me in Heaven." And she was gone. And they said to me
afterwards, "Our dear old grandma used always to be afraid of dying,
but it did not come to much when she really came to die, did it?" I
have often seen it so! It is no strange story that I am telling you.
A Christian man has been so unwise as to be always fearing that he
would play the fool when he came to die and yet, when it has come to
the time of night, the dear child of God, who had long been in the
dark, has received his candle! His Lord has given him his bedroom
candle and he has gone upstairs–and by its light he has passed away
into the land where they need no candle, neither light of the sun, but
the Lord God gives them light! I believe that many of us will die just
like that! I believe that you will, my dear Sister. I believe that you
will, my dear Brother. As your days, your strength shall be, and as
your last day is, so shall your strength be. And I should not wonder
if, one of these days, you or I will be heard saying, "Now, dear
Friends, the doctor has told me that I cannot live long. I asked him
how long, and he said, 'Perhaps, a week,' and I was a little
disappointed that I had to wait so long."
I should not wonder if those around us should hear us say, "Well, it is
only two days according to their reckoning, and perhaps it will not be
two days. I think that I shall go next Sunday morning, just when the
bells are ringing the people into the House of Prayer on earth. Just
then I shall hear Heaven's bells ringing and I shall say, 'Good-bye,'
and be where I have often longed to be, where my treasure is, where my
Best-Beloved is!"
So may it be with you all, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 4:16-30; JOHN8:37-59. (R. V.)
We will read, from the Revised Version, two passages which record
attempts made to kill our Lord before His time had come. You will see,
from the sermon, why we read them. [Sermon came after the
exposition.–eod.]
Luke 4:16-21. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up:
and He entered, as His custom was, into the synagogue on the Sabbath
day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of
the Prophet Isaiah. And He opened the book and found the place where it
was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me
to preach good tidings to the poor: He has sent Me to proclaim release
to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord. And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and
sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on Him.
And He began to say unto them, Today has this Scripture been fulfilled
in your ears. Alas, not in their hearts They had heard Christ read the
prophecy that related to Himself, but they had not accepted its
message.
22-27. And all bore Him witness, and wondered at the Words of Grace
which proceeded out of His mouth: and they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? And He said unto them, Doubtless you will say unto Me this
parable, Physician, heal Yourself: whatever we have heard done at
Capernaum, do also here in Your own country. AndHe said, Verily Isay
unto you, No Prophet is acceptable in his own country. But of a truth
Isay unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah,
when the Heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came
a great famine over all the land; and unto none of them was Elijah
sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that
was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha
the Prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.
Thus the Savior taught God's absolute right to deal out His mercies as
He pleases. To that great doctrine of Divine Sovereignty, Christ's
Hearers would not submit, even as many in the present day will not
yield.
28. And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue. They admired
Christ's style of speech, but when He came to that man-humbling and
God-glorifying doctrine, they were filled with wrath!
28-30. As they heard these things; and they rose up, and cast Him forth
out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their
city was built, that they might throw Him down headlong. But He,
passing through the midst of them, went His way.
John 8:37-59. I know that you are Abraham's seed; yet you seek to kill
Me, because My Word has not free course in you. Ispeak the things which
1 have seen with My Father: andyou also do the things which you heard
from your father They answered and said unto Him, Our father is
Abraham. Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham's children, you
would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man that
has told you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham.
You do the works of your father They said unto Him, We were not born of
fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God
were your Father, you would love Me: for I came forth and am come from
God; for neither have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not
understand My speech? Even because you cannot hear My Word. You are of
your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks
of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof But because I say
the truth, you believe Me not Which of you convicts Me of sin? If I say
truth, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God hears the Words of
God: for this cause you hear them not, because you are not of God. The
Jews answered and said unto Him, Say we not well that You are a
Samaritan, and have a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I
honor My Father, andyou dishonor Me. But I seek not My own glory: there
is One that seeks and judges. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man
keeps My Word, he shall never see death. The Jews said unto Him, Now we
know that You have a devil Abraham is dead, and the Prophets; and You
say, If a man keeps My Word, he shall never taste of death. Are You
greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the Prophets are
dead: whom make You Yourself? Jesus answered, If I glorify Myself, My
glory is nothing: it is My Father that glorifies Me of whom you say,
that He is your God; and you have not known Him: but I know Him; and if
I should say, I know Him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar: but I
know Him, and keep His Word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My
day; and He sa w it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto Him,
You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham? Jesus said
unto them, Verily, verily, Isay unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am.
They took up stones therefore to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself,
and went out of the Temple.