Christ Crucified
(No. 2673)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 6, 1900.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING, EARLY IN
THE YEAR 1858.
"For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ
and Him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2.
CORINTH was situated in the midst of a people who admired eloquence and
wisdom. This Epistle was written in the age of orators and
philosophers. The Apostle Paul was a man of profound learning–he had
been educated at the feet of Gamaliel in all the wisdom of the East. We
are quite sure he was a man of a very capacious mind, for, although his
writings were inspired by the Holy Spirit, yet the Holy Spirit chose as
His instrument a man evidently possessing the capacity for strong and
vigorous thought and argument and, as for his oratorical powers, I
believe that if he had chosen to cultivate them, they would have been
of the very first order, for we have in some of his Epistles eloquence
more sublime than ever fell from the lips of Cicero or Demosthenes.
The temptation would exist, in the mind of any ordinary man entering
into such a city as Corinth, to say within himself, "I will endeavor to
excel in all the graces of oratory. I have a blessed Gospel to preach
that is worthy of the highest talents that ever can be consecrated to
it. I am," Paul might have said to himself, "largely gifted in the
matter of eloquence. I must now endeavor to carefully polish my periods
and so to fashion my address as to excel all the orators who now
attract the Corinthians to listen to them. This I may do very laudably,
for I will still keep in view my intention of preaching Jesus
Christ–and I will preach Jesus Christ with such a flow of noble
language that I shall be able to win my audience to consider the
subject."
But the Apostle resolved to do no such thing. "No," he said, "before I
enter the gates of Corinth, this is my firm determination–if any good
is to be done there, if any are led to believe in Christ the Messiah,
their belief shall be the result of hearing the Gospel–not of my
eloquence! It shall never be said, 'Oh, no wonder that Christianity
spreads, see what an able advocate it has.' Rather, it shall be said,
'How mighty must be the Grace of God which has convinced these persons
by such simple preaching, and brought them to know the Lord Jesus
Christ by such humble instrumentality as that of the Apostle Paul!'" He
resolved to put a curb upon his fiery tongue. He determined that he
would be slow in speech in the midst of them and, instead of magnifying
himself, he would magnify his office and magnify the Grace of God by
denying himself the full use of those powers which, had they been
dedicated to God–as indeed they were, but had they been fully
employed, as some would have used them–might have achieved for him the
reputation of being the most eloquent preacher upon the face of the
earth!
Again, he might have said, "These philosophers are very wise men. If I
would be a match for them, I must be very wise, too. These Corinthians
are a very noble race of people–they have, for a long time, been under
the tutorage of these talented men. I must speak as they speak, in
enigmas and with many sophisms. I must always be propounding some dark
problem. I need not live in the tub of Diogenes, but if I take his
lantern, I may do something with it. I must try and borrow some of his
wisdom. I have a profound philosophy to preach to these clever people
and if I liked to preach that philosophy, I should dash in pieces all
their theories concerning mental and moral science. I have found out a
wondrous secret and I might stand in the midst of the market and cry,
'Eureka, Eureka, I have found it!' But I do not care to build my Gospel
upon the foundation of human wisdom. No, if any are brought to believe
in Christ, it shall be from the simple
unadorned Gospel, plainly preached in unpolished language. The faith of
my hearers, if they are converted to God, shall not stand in the wisdom
of men, but in the power of God."
Can you not see, dear Friends, that the Apostle had very good reasons
for coming to this determination? When a man says that he is determined
to do a certain thing, it looks as if he knew that it was a difficult
thing to do. So, I think it must have been a hard thing for the Apostle
to determine to keep to this one subject–"Jesus Christ and Him
crucified." I am sure that nine-tenths of the ministers of this age
could not have done it. Fancy Paul going through the streets of Corinth
and hearing a philosopher explain the current theory of creation. He is
telling the people something about the world springing out of certain
things that previously existed and the Apostle Paul thinks, "I could
easily correct that man's mistakes. I could tell him that the Lord
created all things in six days and rested on the seventh, and show him
in the Book of Genesis the Inspired account of the creation. But, no,"
he says to himself, "I have a more important message than that to
deliver." Still, he must have felt as if he would have liked to set him
right, for, you know, when you hear a man uttering a gross lie, you
feel as if you would like to go in and do battle with him. But instead
of that, the Apostle just thinks, "It is not my business to set the
people right about their theory of the creation of the world. All that
I have to do is to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
Besides, in Corinth, there was now and then sure to be a political
struggle, and I have no doubt that the Apostle Paul felt for his
people, the Jews, and he would have liked to see all his Jewish kindred
have the privilege of citizenship. Sometimes the Corinthians would hold
a public meeting in which they would support the opinion that the Jews
ought not to have citizenship in Corinth–might not the Apostle have
made a speech at such a gathering? If he had been asked to do so, he
would have said, "I know nothing about such matters! All I know is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified." They had political lectures, no doubt,
in Corinth, and one man delivered a lecture upon this subject, and
another upon that. In fact, all kinds of wonderful themes taken from
the ancient poets were descanted upon by different men. Did not the
Apostle Paul take one of the lectures? Did he not say, "I may throw a
little Gospel into it and so do some good ?" No, he said, "I come here
as Christ's minister and I will never be anything else but Christ's
minister. I will never address the Corinthians in any other character
than that of Christ's ambassador. For one thing, only, have I
determined to know, and that is Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Would
to God that all the ministers of this age had determined to do the
same!
Do you not sometimes find a minister who takes a prominent part in an
election, who thinks it his business to stand forth on the political
platform of the nation? And did it ever strike you that he was out of
his place, that it was his business to know nothing among men except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Do we not see, at every corner of our
streets, a lecture advertised to be delivered on this and that and the
other subject, by this minister and that, who leave their pulpits in
order that they may be enabled to deliver lectures upon all kinds of
subjects? "No," Paul would have said, "if I cannot spread the Gospel of
Christ legitimately, by preaching it openly, I will not do it by taking
an absurd title for my sermon! The Gospel shall stand or fall on its
own merits, and with no enticing words of man's wisdom will I preach
it. Let anyone say to me, 'Come and give able advocacy for this or that
reform,' and my answer would be, 'I do not know anything about that
subject, for I have determined not to know anything among you except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified.'"
As Albert Barnes very well says, "This should be the resolution of
every minister of the Gospel. This is his business– not to be a
politician; not to engage in the strifes and controversies of men; not
to be merely a good farmer, or scholar; not to mingle with his people
in festive circles and enjoyments; not to be a man of taste and
philosophy or distinguished mainly for refinement of manners; not to be
a profound philosopher or metaphysician, but to make Christ crucified
the grand Object of his attention and to seek always and everywhere to
make Him known. He is not to be ashamed anywhere of the humbling
doctrine that Christ was crucified. In this, he is to glory! Though the
world may ridicule, though philosophers may sneer, though the rich and
the gay may deride it, yet this is to be the grand object of interest
to him and at no time, and in no society, is to be ashamed of it!
"It matters not what are the amusements of society around him–what
fields of science, or gain, or ambition, are open before him–the
minister of Christ is to know only Christ and Him crucified. If he
cultivates science, it is to be that he may the more successfully
explain and vindicate the Gospel. If he becomes in any manner familiar
with the works of art and of taste, it is that he may more successfully
show to those who cultivate them the superior beauty and excellence of
the Cross. If he studies the plans and the employments of men, it is
that he may more successfully meet them in those plans and more
successfully speak to them of the great plan of redemption! The
preaching of the Cross is the only kind of
preaching that will be attended with success! That which has in it much
respecting the Divine mission, the dignity, the works, the Doctrines,
the Person and the Atonement of Christ will be successful.
"So it was in the time of the Apostles! So it was in the Reformation!
So it was in the Moravian missions! So it has been in all revivals of
religion! There is a power about that kind of preaching which
philosophy and human reason have not. 'Christ is God's great ordinance'
for the salvation of the world and we meet the crimes and alleviate the
woes of the world just in proportion as we hold the Cross up as
appointed to overcome the one and to pour the balm of consolation into
the other."
Would that all ministers would keep this mind, that they would do
nothing outside the office of the ministry, that to once be a minister
is to be a minister forever and never to be a politician, never to be a
lecturer! That to once be a preacher is to be a preacher of Christ's
holy Gospel until Christ takes us to Himself to begin to sing the new
song before the Throne of God!
Now, Brothers and Sisters, I have discharged my duty in saying these
things. If they apply to any ministers whom you admire, I cannot help
it. There is the text and what do we learn from it but this, that the
Apostle Paul determined to do everything as a minister of Christ! And,
my dear Brothers and Sisters, it is your duty to do this as hearers. As
Christians, it is your duty and privilege to know nothing but Jesus
Christ and Him crucified!
I. And first, with regard to THE DOCTRINES WHICH YOU BELIEVE, I beseech
you, do not know anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
You are told by one person that such-and-such a system of theology is
based upon the most sound principles of reason. You are told by another
that the old doctrines which you have believed are not consistent with
these advanced times. You will now and then be met by smart young
gentlemen who will tell you that to be what is called a Calvinist is to
be a long way behind this progressive age, "for you know," they say,
"that intellectual preachers are rising up and that it would be well if
you would become a little more intellectual in the matter of preaching
and hearing." When such a remark as that is made to any one of you, I
beseech you to give this answer, "I know nothing but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. If you can tell me more about Christ than I know, I will
thank you. If you can instruct me as to how I may become more like
Christ, how I may live nearer in fellowship with Him, how my faith in
Him may become stronger and my belief in His holy Gospel may become
more firm, then I will thank you. But if you have nothing to tell me
except some intellectual lore which you have with great pains
accumulated, I will tell you that although it may be a very good thing
for you to preach, and for others who are intellectual to hear, I do
not belong to your class, nor do I wish to belong to it–I belong to
that sect spoken against everywhere, who after the way that men call
heresy worship the Lord God of their fathers–believing all things that
are written in the Law and in the Prophets. I belong to a race of
people who believe that it is not the pride of intellect, nor the pomp
of knowledge that can ever teach men spiritual things. I belong to
those who think that out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God has
ordained strength, and I do not believe that out of your mouth God has
ordained any strength at all! I belong to the men who like to sit, with
Mary, at the feet of Jesus, and to receive just what Christ said, as
Christ said it, and because Christ said it. I want no truth but what He
says is the Truth of God, and no other ground for believing it but that
He says it, and no better proof that it is true than that I feel and
know it to be true as applied to my own heart."
Now, dear Friend, if you can do that, I will trust you anywhere–even
among the wisest heretics of the age! You may go where false doctrines
are rife, but you will never catch the plague of heresy while you have
this golden preservative of the Truth of God and can say, "I know
nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified." As for myself, I can truly
say that Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the sum of all knowledge to
me. He is the highest intellectualism! He is the grandest philosophy to
which my mind can attain! He is the pinnacle that rises loftier than my
highest aspirations and deeper than this great Truth of God I wish
never to fathom! Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the sum total of all
I want to know and of all the Doctrines which I profess and preach!
II. Next, it must be just the same in YOUR EXPERIENCE. Brothers and
Sisters, I beseech you, in your experience know nothing except Jesus
Christ and Him crucified.
You may go out tomorrow not merely into the outside world, but into the
church, the nominal church, and you will meet with a class of persons
who take you by the ear and who invite you into their houses. And the
moment you are there, they begin to talk to you about the Doctrines of
the Gospel. They say nothing about Christ Jesus, but they begin at once
to talk of the eternal decrees of God, of election and of the high
mysteries of the Covenant of Grace. While they are talking to you, you
say in your hearts, "What they are saying is true, but there is one
lamentable defect in it all–their teaching is the truth apart from
Christ." Conscience whispers, "The election that I believe is election
in Christ. These men do not talk anything about that, but only of
election. The redemption that I believe always has a very special
reference to the Cross of Christ. These men do not mention Christ–they
talk of redemption as a commercial transaction and say nothing about
Jesus. With regard to final perseverance, I believe all that these men
say, but I have been taught that the saints only persevere in
consequence of their relation to Christ–these men say nothing about
that." This minister, they say, is not sound, and that other minister
is not sound, and let me tell you that if you get among this class of
persons, you will learn to rue the day that you ever looked them in the
face!
If you must come into contact with them, I beseech you to say to them,
"I love all truths that you hold, but my love of them can never
overpower and supersede my love to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I tell you plainly, while I could not sit to hear erroneous doctrine, I
could just as soon do that as sit to hear the truthful doctrine apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ! I could not go to a place where I saw a man
dressed in gorgeous robes, who pretended to be Christ, and was not.
And, on the other hand, I could not go to a place where I saw Christ's
real robes, but the Master, Himself, was absent–what I need is not His
robe–I need the Master, Himself. And if you preach to me dry doctrine
without Jesus Christ, I tell you it will not suit my experience, for my
experience is just this–that while I know my election, I can never
know it unless I know my union with the Lamb. I tell you plainly that I
know I am redeemed, but I cannot bear think of redemption without
thinking of the Savior who redeemed me. It is my boast that I shall
endure to the end, but I know–each hour makes me know–that my
endurance depends upon my standing in Christ. I must have that Truth
preached in connection with the Cross of Christ."
Oh, have nothing to do with these people, unless it is to set them
right, for you will find that they are full of the gall of bitterness
and the poison of asps is under their tongue! Instead of giving you
things whereon your soul can feed, they will make you full of all
manner of bitterness, malice and evil speaking against those who truly
love the Lord Jesus, but who differ from them in some slight matter.
You may meet with another class of persons who will take you by the
other ear, and say to you, "We, too, love Christ's doctrines, but we
believe that our friends on the other side of the road are wrong. They
do not preach enough experience." And you say, "Well, I think I have
got among the people who will suit me, now," and you hear the minister
insisting that the most precious experience in the world is to know
your own corruption, to feel the evil of the human heart, to have that
filthy dunghill turned over and over in all its reeking noisomeness and
exposed before the sun! And after hearing the sermon, which is full of
pretended humility, you rise from your seats more proud than you ever
were in your lives, determined now that you will begin to glory in that
very thing which you once counted as dross! The things which you were
ashamed, once, to speak of, you now think should be your boast! That
deep experience which was your disgrace shall now become the crown of
your rejoicing! You speak to the dear Brothers and Sisters who imbibe
this view and they tell you to seek first, not the Kingdom of God and
His righteousness, but the hidden things of the prison, the discovery
of the unrighteousness and unholiness of the soul.
my dear Friends, if you wish to have your lives made miserable! If you
want to be led back to the bondage of Egypt. If you want to have
Pharaoh's rope put round your necks once again, take their motto for
your motto. But if you wish to live as I believe Christ would have you
live, I would entreat you to say, "No, it does me good, sometimes, to
hear of the evil heart, but I have made a determination to know nothing
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and you do not tell me anything
about Him." These men preach one Sunday upon the leper, but do they
preach, the next Sunday, upon the leper healed! These men tell all
about the filthy state of the human heart, but they say little or
nothing about that river that is to cleanse and purify it! They say
much about the disease, but not so much about the Physician! And if you
attend their ministry very long, you will be obliged to say, "I shall
get into such a doleful condition that I shall be tempted to imitate
Judas and go out and hang myself! So, good morning to you, for I have
determined to know nothing in my experience but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified."
1 must be very earnest in trying to warn you about this matter, for
there is a growing tendency, among a certain order of professing
Christians, to set up something in experience beside Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Tell me that your experience is all concerned with the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I will rejoice in it. The more of Christ there
is in it, the more
precious it is. Tell me that your experience is full of the knowledge
of your own corruptions, and I answer, "If there is not in it a mixture
of the knowledge of Christ, and unless the knowledge of Christ
predominates to a large degree, your experience is wood, hay and
stubble and must be consumed–and you must suffer loss."
By the way, let me tell you a little story about Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress. I am a great lover of John Bunyan, but I do not believe him
Infallible. The other day I met with a story about him which I think a
very good one. There was a young man in Edinburgh who wished to be a
missionary. He was a wise young man. So he thought, "If I am to be a
missionary, there is no need for me to transport myself far away from
home. I may as well be a missionary in Edinburgh." There's a hint to
some of you ladies who give away tracts in your district, but never
give your servant Mary one. Well, this young man started and he was
determined to speak to the first person he met. He met one of those old
fishwives– those of us who have seen them can never forget them–they
are extraordinary women, indeed! So, stepping up to her, he said, "Here
you are, coming along with your burden on your back. Let me ask you if
you have got another burden, a spiritual burden." "What?" she asked.
"Do you mean that burden in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress? Because
if you do, young man, I got rid of that many years ago, probably before
you were born.
"But I went a better way to work than the pilgrim did. The evangelist
that John Bunyan talks about was one of your parsons that do not preach
the Gospel, for he said, 'Keep that light in your eye and run to the
wicket-gate.' Why, man alive! That was not the place for him to run to!
He should have said, 'Do you see that Cross? Run there at once!' But,
instead of that, he sent the poor pilgrim to the wicket-gate first–and
much good he got by going there! He got tumbling into the slough and
was like to have been killed by it."
"But did not you," the young man asked, "go through any Slough of
Despond?" "Yes, I did. But I found it a great deal easier going through
with my burden off than with it on my back." The old woman was quite
right! John Bunyan put the getting rid of the burden too far off from
the commencement of the pilgrimage. If he meant to show what usually
happens, he was right, but if he meant to show what ought to have
happened, he was wrong. We must not say to the sinner, "Now, Sinner, if
you will be saved, go to the baptismal pool, go to the wicket-gate, go
to the church–do this or that." No, the Cross should be right in front
of the wicket-gate and we should say to the sinner, "Throw yourself
down there and you are safe. But you are not safe till you can cast off
your burden and lie at the foot of the Cross and find peace in Jesus."
III. Let me conclude by saying, Brothers and Sisters, determine, from
this hour, that IN YOUR FAITH you will know nothing but Jesus and Him
crucified.
I am perfectly certain that I have not a grain of my own merit to trust
in and not so much as an atom of creature strength to rely upon, but I
often find myself, during the seven days of the week, relying upon
merit of my own that does not exist, and depending upon strength of my
own which I, at the same time, confess has no existence at all. You and
I often call the "Pope," the antichrist, but do we not, ourselves,
often play the antichrist, too? The "Pope" sets himself as the head of
the Church, but do not we go further by setting ourselves up,
sometimes, to be our own saviors? We do not say so, except in a sort of
still small voice, like the mutterings of the old wizards. It is not a
loud, out-spoken lie, because we would know, then, how to answer it.
"But now," whispers the devil, "how well you did that!" And then we
begin to rely upon our works, and Satan says, "You prayed so well
yesterday, you will never be cold in your prayers again. And you will
be so strong in your faith that you will never doubt your God again."
It is the old golden calf that is set up once more, for, although it
was ground to powder, it seems to have the art of coming together
again! After we have been told, ten times over, that we cannot have any
merit of our own, we begin to act as if we had! And the man who tells
you, in his doctrine, that all his fresh springs are in Christ, yet
thinks and acts just as if he had fresh springs of his own–he mourns
as if all his dependence were upon himself and groans as if his
salvation depended upon his own merits! We often get to talking, in our
own souls, as if we did not believe the Gospel at all, but were hoping
to be saved by our own works and our own creature performances. Oh, for
a stronger determination to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified! I would to God that I could make that resolution, myself,
and that you would all make it with me!
I heard once of a countryman who was preaching, one day, and he
preached very nicely the first half of his sermon, but towards the end
he entirely broke down and his brother said to him, "Tom, I can tell
you why you did not preach well at the end of your sermon. It was
because you got on so nicely at first that devil whispered, 'Well done,
Tom, you are
getting on very well.' And as soon as the devil said that, you thought,
'Tom is a very fine fellow,' and then the Lord left you." Happy would
it have been for Tom if he could have determined to know nothing but
Jesus Christ and Him cruci-fied–and not to have known Tom at all!
That is what I desire to know myself, for if I know nothing but the
power which comes from on high. I can never be less powerful at one
time than at another and I can glory in my infirmity because it makes
room for Christ's power to rest upon me–
"I glory in infirmity,
That Christ's own power may rest on me: When I am weak, then am I
strong, Grace is my shield, and Christ my song."
It would be a good resolution for you, Brothers, and for myself, to
determine to know nothing about ourselves and nothing about our own
doings. Now friend John, begin to think nothing about yourself and to
know nothing but Jesus Christ. Let John go where he likes and be you
relying not upon John's strength, but upon Christ's. And you, Peter,
know nothing about Peter at all, and do not boast, "Though all men
should deny You, yet will I never deny You," but know that Peter's Lord
Jesus is living inside Peter–and then you may go on comfortably
enough.
Determine, Christian, that, by the Grace of God, it shall be your
endeavor to keep your eye single, to keep your faith fixed only on the
Lord Jesus, without any addition of your own works, or your own
strength–and determining that– you may go on your way rejoicing,
singing of the Cross of Christ as your boast, your glory and your all!
We are now coming to the Table of our Master, and I hope that this will
be our determination there–to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And may the Lord give us His blessing! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: Psalm 22.
This Psalm is headed, "To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar"–or,
as the margin renders it, "the hind of the morning"–"A Psalm of
David." It begins in the very depths of the Master's sorrow, when this
great and bitter cry escaped His lips–
Verse 1. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?Every word is
emphatic. "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" "All others may
forsake Me, and I need not be greatly troubled at their absence, but
'why have You forsaken Me?'" "Why have You forsaken Me?' I understand
why You smite Me, for I am the Shepherd predestined to be smitten for
the flock, but 'why have You forsaken Me?'" "Why have you forsaken
Me?–Your only-begotten, Your well-beloved Son–'why have You forsaken
Me?'"
1. Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My
roaring?1 'Why have I no inflowing of Your love–no enjoyment of Your
Presence–no whispers from Your heart? I am left alone–left
utterly–left on the Cross–left in My direst need." God's adapted
children do not usually talk like this. Such a lament as this has not
often come even from the martyrs for the faith, for, as a rule, they
have had God with them in their hour of deepest agony. But here was One
who was far greater than they, who had to yet endure suffering from
which they were exempted–the only perfect One was forsaken by God! You
know that if was because He stood in our place that the Savior had this
preeminence in suffering and sorrow.
2. O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You hear not; and in the night
season, and am not silent Think of what a weight that unanswered prayer
was upon the soul of the Well-Beloved. Have you ever felt such a burden
as that? Then, you are not alone in that experience, for He who is
infinitely better than you had to think over His day prayers and His
night prayers which, for a while, were not answered.
3. But You are holy, O You that inhabits thepraises ofIsrael. Follow
the example of your Lord, poor troubled soul. Find no fault with your
God, even though He should forsake you. Call Him holy even though He
should leave you. And when He seems not to hear your prayers, yet do
not forget His praises.
4-6. Our fathers trusted in You: they trusted, and You did deliver
them. They cried unto You, and were delivered: they trusted in You, and
were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men,
and despised of the people. Think of our Divine Lord thus taking the
very lowest place and becoming, as it were, something less than man–
just that little crimson worm which has simply a life made up of blood.
Christ likens Himself to it as He says, "I am a worm, and no man."
7, 8. All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn: they shoot out the lip,
they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that He would
deliver Him: let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him. Oh, these
were cruel and cutting words! Like a sharp razor, they cut to the very
heart of our Divine Master as He heard His enemies exulting even over
His faith, as though it had come to nothing, for now Jehovah, Himself,
had forsaken Him and left Him to die alone upon the tree!
9, 10. But You are He that took Me out of the womb: You did make Me
hope when I was upon My mother's breasts. I was cast upon You from the
womb: You are My God from My mother's belly. Sometimes, we also may
derive great comfort from this Truth of God to which our Savior here
refers. When we could not help ourselves in the least degree, the Lord
preserved us, so will He not again help us when we are at our worst?
You who have reached your second childhood may reflect with gratitude
and hope upon the way in which God took care of you in your first
childhood. Then, you certainly were entirely dependent upon Him, yet
you fared well and so you shall if each sense shall fail you–if the
power of moving shall be taken away, and the power of sight, and the
power of hearing–yet the Lord, who blessed you when you were just
born, will still preserve you right to the end. You remember how the
Lord puts this Truth in Isaiah 46:4– "Even to your old age I am He;
and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear;
even I will carry, and will deliver you." Our Savior, having comforted
Himself thus, falls to praying again.
11, 12. Be not far from Me; for trouble is near; for there is none to
help. Many bulls have compassed Me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset
Me round. These were the Pharisees, the chief priests and the strong
Roman soldiers that compassed our Savior when He was upon the Cross.
13, 14. They gaped upon Me with their mouths, as a ravening and a
roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of
joint: My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels.
Can you not see your Savior hanging on the accursed tree–every
particle of Him, as it were, loosened from its fellow by the fever
raging in His whole being and the anguish and deep depression of His
spirit?
15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and My tongue cleaves to
My jaws. Such was the intensity of His anguish that the fever within
Him turned His mouth into an oven and His tongue was so dried up that
it could scarcely stir.
15. And You have brought Me into the dust of death. As if His whole
body were prepared to go back into its primary elements. He feels in
Himself the sentence pronounced upon the first Adam, "Dust you are, and
unto dust shall you return,"
16. For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have
enclosed Me. These were the common people, the rabble, the multitude
that thronged around, barking at Him like a pack of hungry hounds.
16. They pierced My hands and My feet This little sentence shows that
this Psalm must relate to the Lord Jesus. Truly did David see Him in
vision! It happened not to David to have his hands and feet pierced,
but this was the portion of David's Master and Lord. He could, indeed,
say, "They pierced My hands and My feet."
17. I may count all My bones: they look and stare upon Me. He is
emaciated through His fasting and all the agony He has endured. And His
bones seem to break through His skin by reason of the cruel scourging
to which He had been subjected.
18. 19. They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My
vesture. But be not You far from Me, O LORD: O My Strength. That is,
El–the name He gave to God in the first verse–"O My Strong One."
19-21. Hasten You to help Me. Deliver My soul from the sword; My
precious life from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion's mouth
and from the horns of the wild oxen. You have heard Me. Did You notice
that flash of light gleaming through the darkness, "You have heard Me"?
Perhaps it was at that moment that the sun again shone forth; at any
rate, it is clear that the lost light had returned to our suffering
Lord, for the rest of this Divine soliloquy is full of comfort and
confidence.
22. I will declare Your name unto My brethren. His first thought, even
in His agony on the Cross, was about them. And He seemed to say, "When
I have risen from the dead, I will tell them all about this time of
trial. And through the ages to come, I will tell My people how You did
help Me–the greatest of all Sufferers–and that You will help them,
also. I was left for a time, and yet I was not finally left. I cried,
'Lama Sabachthani,' and yet I triumphed, even then, and so shall they.
They shall do as I have done–confide and conquer."
22. In thee midst of thee congregation will I praise You. And you know
that He did so. He stood in the midst of His people and told them what
God had done! And, spiritually, He stands in our midst at this moment
and He leads our songs of praise unto Jehovah.
23, 24. You that fear the LORD, praise Him; all you the seed of Jacob,
glorify Him; and fear Him, all you the seed of Israel For He has not
despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He
hidden His face from Him; but when He cried unto Him, He heard. What a
change of note! If men could hear us speak when we are in the depths of
sorrow, they might conclude that God had forsaken us. But when we get
out, again, how quickly we eat our words and how soon we begin to tell
the goodness of the Lord! Then we lift up the joyous strain, "O give
thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endures forever."
25. My praise shall be of You in the great congregation: I will pay My
vows before them that fear Him. Christ still praises God in the great
congregation. On my way to this evening's service, I called to see one
of our dear brethren who is very ill, and I was much refreshed with a
sweet thing that he said–"When we all get to Heaven, we shall feel
quite at home there, for you know, Sir, we have worshipped in a great
congregation for these many years." And so we shall. There is something
most exhilarating and refreshing in going with a multitude to keep holy
day–the more, the merrier! But what shall be the joy in Heaven, where
the number of the redeemed cannot be counted, and all shall be
continually praising God? This was one of the joys that was set before
Christ, for which "He endured the Cross, despising the shame."
26. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. Even in the time of His great
agony, our Lord was thinking of you hidden ones, you little ones who
think yourselves worth nothing. Christ says that He was finding bread
for you, for He gives us His flesh to eat, that flesh which is meat,
indeed.
26. They shall praise the LORD that seek Him: your heart shall live
forever. Because He died, all who trust in Him shall live forever. Oh,
how sweetly does He die, with the thought of their eternal bliss upon
His mind!
27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord:
and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before You. He sees
the result of His death. He beholds the fruit of His soul-travail and
His heart is glad within Him!
28-31. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and He is the Governor among the
nations. All they that are fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all
they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him: and none can keep
alive his own soul A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare His
righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He has done this.
The Psalm really ends with almost the last cry of our Lord upon the
Cross–"It is finished." So the whole Psalm is a window through which
we can see into the inmost heart of Christ when it was being torn upon
the Cross.