A Sermon
(No. 54)
Delivered on Sabbath Evening, December 2, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."–1 Corinthians
5:7.
THE more you read the Bible, and the more you meditate upon it, the
more you will be astonished with it. He who is but a casual reader of
the Bible, does not know the height, the depth, the length and breadth
of the mighty meanings contained in its pages. There are certain times
when I discover a new vein of thought, and I put my hand to my head and
say in astonishment, "Oh, it is wonderful I never saw this before in
the Scriptures." You will find the Scriptures enlarge as you enter
them; the more you study them the less you will appear to know of them,
for they widen out as we approach them. Especially will you find this
the case with the typical parts of God's Word. Most of the historical
books were intended to be types either of dispensations, or
experiences, or offices of Jesus Christ. Study the Bible with this as a
key, and you will not blame Herbert when he calls it "not only the book
of God, but the God of books." One of the most interesting points of
the Scriptures is their constant tendency to display Christ; and
perhaps one of the most beautiful figures under which Jesus Christ is
ever exhibited in sacred writ, is the Passover Paschal Lamb. It is
Christ of whom we are about to speak to-night.
Israel was in Egypt, in extreme bondage; the severity of their slavery
had continually increased till it was so oppressive that their
incessant groans went up to heaven. God who avenges his own elect,
though they cry day and night unto him, at last, determined that he
would direct a fearful blow against Egypt's king and Egypt's nation,
and deliver his own people. We can picture the anxieties and the
anticipations of Israel, but we can scarcely sympathize with them,
unless we as Christians have had the same deliverance from spiritual
Egypt. Let us, brethren, go back to the day in our experience, when we
abode in the land of Egypt, working in the brick-kilns of sin, toiling
to make ourselves better, and finding it to be of no avail; let us
recall that memorable night, the beginning of months, the commencement
of a new life in our spirit, and the beginning of an altogether new era
in our soul. The Word of God struck the blow at our sin; he gave us
Jesus Christ our sacrifice; and in that night we went out of Egypt.
Though we have passed through the wilderness since then, and have
fought the Amalekites, have trodden on the fiery serpent, have been
scorched by the heat and frozen by the snows, yet we have never since
that time gone back to Egypt; although our hearts may sometimes have
desired the leeks, the onions, and the flesh-pots of Egypt, yet we have
never been brought into slavery since then. Come, let us keep the
Passover this night, and think of the night when the Lord delivered us
out of Egypt. Let us behold our Saviour Jesus as the Paschal Lamb on
which we feed; yea, let us not only look at him as such, but let us sit
down to-night at his table, let us eat of his flesh and drink of his
blood; for his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed. In
holy solemnity let our hearts approach that ancient supper; let us go
back to Egypt's darkness, and by holy contemplation behold, instead of
the destroying angel, the angel of the covenant, at the head of the
feast,–"the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world."
I shall not have time to-night to enter into the whole history and
mystery of the Passover; you will not understand me to be to- night
preaching concerning the whole of it; but a few prominent points
therein as a part of them. It would require a dozen sermons to do so;
in fact a book as large as Caryl upon Job–if we could find a divine
equally prolix and equally sensible. But we shall first of all look at
the Lord Jesus Christ, and show how he corresponds with the Paschal
Lamb, and endeavour to bring you to the two points–of having his blood
sprinkled on you, and having fed on him.
I. First, then, JESUS CHRIST IS TYPIFIED HERE UNDER THE PASCHAL LAMB;
and should there be one of the seed of Abraham here who has never seen
Christ to be the Messiah, I beg his special attention to that which I
am to advance, when I speak of the Lord Jesus as none other than the
Lamb of God slain for the deliverance of his chosen people. Follow me
with your Bibles, and open first at the 12th chapter of Exodus.
We commence, first of all, with the victim–the lamb. How fine a
picture of Christ. No other creature could so well have typified him
who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Being
also the emblem of sacrifice, it most sweetly pourtrayed our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Search natural history through, and though you
will find other emblems which set forth different characteristics of
his nature, and admirably display him to our souls, yet there is none
which seems so appropriate to the person of our beloved Lord as that of
the Lamb. A child would at once perceive the likeness between a lamb
and Jesus Christ, so gentle and innocent, so mild and harmless, neither
hurting others, nor seeming to have the power to resent an injury.
"A humble man before his foes, a weary man and full of woes."
What tortures the sheepish race have received from us! how are they,
though innocent, continually slaughtered for our food! Their skin is
dragged from their backs, their wool is shorn to give us a garment. And
so the Lord Jesus Christ, our glorious Master, doth give us his
garments that we may be clothed with them; he is rent in sunder for us;
his very blood is poured out for our sins; harmless and holy, a
glorious sacrifice for the sins of all his children. Thus the Paschal
Lamb might well convey to the pious Hebrew the person of a suffering,
silent, patient, harmless Messiah.
Look further down. It was a lamb without blemish. A blemished lamb, if
it had the smallest speck of disease, the least wound, would not have
been allowed for a Passover. The priest would not have suffered it to
be slaughtered, nor would God have accepted the sacrifice at his hands.
It must be a lamb without blemish. And was not Jesus Christ even such
from his birth? Unblemished, born of the pure virgin Mary, begotten of
the Holy Ghost, without a taint of sin; his soul was pure, and spotless
as the driven snow, white, clear, perfect; and his life was the same.
In him was no sin. He took our infirmities and bore our sorrows on the
cross. He was in all points tempted as we are, but there was that sweet
exception, "yet without sin." A lamb without blemish. Ye who have known
the Lord, who have tasted of his grace, who have held fellowship with
him, doth not your heart acknowledge that he is a lamb without blemish?
Can ye find any fault with your Saviour? Have you aught to lay to his
charge? Hath his truthfulness departed? Have his words been broken?
Have his promises failed? Has he forgotten his engagements? And, in any
respect, can you find in him any blemish? Ah, no! he is the unblemished
lamb, the pure, the spotless, the immaculate, "the Lamb of God who
taketh away the sin of the world;" and in him there is no sin.
Go on further down the chapter. "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
male of the first year." I need not stop to consider the reason why the
male was chosen; we only note that it was to be a male of the first
year. Then it was in its prime then its strength was unexhausted, then
its power was just ripened into maturity and perfection, God would not
have an untimely fruit. God would not have that offered which had not
come to maturity. And so our Lord Jesus Christ had just come to the
ripeness of manhood when he was offered. At 34 years of age was he
sacrificed for our sins; he was then hale and strong, although his body
may have been emaciated by suffering, and his face more marred than
that of any other man, yet was he then in the perfection of manhood.
Methinks I see him then. His goodly beard flowing down upon his breast;
I see him with his eyes full of genius, his form erect, his mien
majestic, his energy entire, his whole frame in full development,–a
real man, a magnificent man–fairer than the sons of men; a Lamb not
only without blemish, but with all his powers fully brought out. Such
was Jesus Christ–a Lamb of the first year–not a boy, not a lad, not a
young man, but a full man, that he might give his soul unto us. He did
not give himself to die for us when he was a youth, for he would not
then have given all he was to be; he did not give himself to die for us
when he was in old age, for then would he have given himself when he
was in decay; but just in his maturity, in his very prime, then Jesus
Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. And, moreover, at the time
of his death, Christ was full of life, for we are informed by one of
the evangelists that "he cried with a loud voice and gave up the
ghost." This is a sign that Jesus did not die through weakness, nor
through decay of nature. His soul was strong within him; he was still
the Lamb of the first year. Still was he mighty; he could, if he
pleased, even on the cross, have unlocked his hands from their iron
bolts; and descending from the tree of infamy, have driven his
astonished foes before him, like deer scattered by a lion, yet did he
meekly yield obedience unto death. My soul; canst thou not see thy
Jesus here, the unblemished Lamb of the first year, strong and mighty?
And, O my heart! does not the though rise up–if Jesus consecrated
himself to thee when he was thus in all his strength and vigour, should
not I in youth dedicate myself to him? And if I am in manhood, how am I
doubly bound to give my strength to him? And if I am in old age, still
should I seek while the little remains, to consecrate that little to
him. If he gave his all to me, which was much, should I not give my
little all to him? Should I not feel bound to consecrate myself
entirely to his service, to lay body, soul, and spirit, time, talents,
all upon his altar. And though I am not an unblemished lamb, yet I am
happy that as the leavened cake was accepted with the sacrifice, though
never burned with it–I, though a leavened cake, may be offered on the
altar with my Lord and Saviour, the Lord's burnt offering, and so,
though impure, and full of leaven, I may be accepted in the beloved, an
offering of a sweet savour, acceptable unto the Lord my God. Here is
Jesus, beloved, a Lamb without blemish, a Lamb of the first year!
The subject now expands and the interest deepens. Let me have your very
serious consideration to the next point, which has much gratified me in
its discovery and which will instruct you in the relation. In the 6th
verse of the 12th chapter of Exodus we are told that this lamb which
should be offered at the Passover was to be selected four days before
its sacrifice, and to be kept apart:–"In the tenth day of this month
they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of
their fathers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little
for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it
according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating
shall make your count for the lamb." The 6th verse says, "And ye shall
keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month." For four days this
lamb, chosen to be offered, was taken away from the rest of the flock
and kept alone by itself, for two reasons: partly that by its constant
bleatings they might be put in remembrance of the solemn feast which
was to be celebrated; and moreover, that during the four days they
might be quite assured that it had no blemish, for during that time it
was subject to constant inspection, in order that they might be certain
that it had no hurt or injury that would render it unacceptable to the
Lord. And now, brethren, a remarkable fact flashes before you–just as
this lamb was separated four days, the ancient allegories used to say
that Christ was separated four years. Four years after he left his
father's house he went into the wilderness, and was tempted of the
devil. Four years after his baptism he was sacrificed for us. But there
is another, better than that:–About four days before his crucifixion,
Jesus Christ rode in triumph through the streets of Jerusalem. He was
thus openly set apart as being distinct from mankind. He, on the ass,
rode up to the temple, that all might see him to be Judah's Lamb,
chosen of God, and ordained from the foundation of the world. And what
is more remarkable still, during those four days, you will see, if you
turn to the Evangelists, at your leisure, that as much is recorded of
what he did and said as through all the other part of his life. During
those four days, he upbraided the fig tree, and straightway it
withered; it was then that he drove the buyers and sellers from the
temple; it was then that he rebuked the priests and elders, by telling
them the similitude of the two sons, one of whom said he would go, and
did not, and the other who said he would not go, and went; it was then
that he narrated the parable of the husbandsmen, who slew those who
were sent to them; afterwards he gave the parable of the marriage of
the king's son. Then comes his parable concerning the man who went unto
the feast, not having on a wedding garment; and then also, the parable
concerning the ten virgins, five of whom were very wise, and five of
whom were foolish; then comes the chapter of very striking
denunciations against the Pharisees:–"Woe unto you O ye blind
Pharisees! cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter;" and
then also comes that long chapter of prophecy concerning what should
happen at the siege of Jerusalem, and an account of the dissolution of
the world: "Learn a parable of the fig-tree: when his branch is yet
tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.: But I
will not trouble you by telling you here that at the same time he gave
them that splendid description of the day of judgment, when the sheep
shall be divided from the goats. In fact, the most splendid utterances
of Jesus were recorded as having taken place within these four days.
Just as the lamb separated from its fellows, did bleat more than ever
during the four days, so did Jesus during those four days speak more;
and if you want to find a choice saying of Jesus, turn to the account
of the last four days' ministry to find it. There you will find that
chapter, "Let not your hearts be troubled;" there also, his great
prayer, "Father, I will;" and so on. The greatest things he did, he did
in the last four days when he was set apart.
And there is one more thing to which I beg your particular attention,
and that is, that during those four days I told you that the lamb was
subject to the closest scrutiny, so, also, during those four days, it
is singular to relate, that Jesus Christ was examined by all classes of
persons. It was during those four days that the lawyer asked him which
was the greatest commandment? and he said, "Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." It was then that
the Herodians came and questioned him about the tribute money; it was
then that the Pharisees tempted him; it was then, also, the Sadducees
tried him upon the subject of the resurrection. He was tried by all
classes and grades–Herodians, Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers, and the
common people. It was during these four days that he was examined: but
how did he come forth? An immaculate Lamb! The officers said, "never
man spake like this man." His foes found none who could even bear false
witness against him, such as agreed together; and Pilate declared, "I
find no fault in him." He would not have been fit for the Paschal Lamb
had a single blemish have been discovered, but "I find no fault in
him," was the utterance of the great chief magistrate, who thereby
declared that the Lamb might be eaten at God's Passover, the symbol and
the means of the deliverance of God's people. O beloved! you have only
to study the Scriptures to find out wondrous things in them; you have
only to search deeply, and you stand amazed at their richness. You will
find God's Word to be a very precious word; the more you live by it and
study it, the more will it be endeared to your minds.
But the next thing we must mark is the place where this lamb was to be
killed, which peculiarly sets forth that it must be Jesus Christ. The
first Passover was held in Egypt, the second Passover was held in the
wilderness; but we do not read that there were more than these two
Passovers celebrated until the Israelites came to Canaan. And then, if
you turn to a passage in Deuteronomy, the 16th chapter, you will find
that God no longer allowed them to slay the Lamb in their own houses
but appointed a place for its celebration. In the wilderness, they
brought their offerings to the tabernacle where the lamb was
slaughtered; but at its first appointment in Egypt, of course they had
no special place to which they took the lamb to be sacrificed.
Afterwards, we read in the 16th of Deuteronomy, and the 5th verse,
"Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates, which
the Lord thy God giveth thee; but at the place which the Lord thy God
shall chose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the
Passover at even at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou
camest forth out of Egypt." It was in Jerusalem that men ought to
worship, for salvation was of the Jews; there was God's palace, there
his altar smoked, and there only might the Paschal Lamb be killed. So
was our blessed Lord led to Jerusalem. The infuriated throng dragged
him along the city. In Jerusalem our Lamb was sacrificed for us; it was
at the precise spot where God had ordained that it should be. Oh! if
that mob who gathered round him at Nazareth had been able to push him
headlong down the hill, then Christ could not have died at Jerusalem;
but as he said, "a prophet cannot perish out of Jerusalem," so was it
true that the King of all prophets could not do otherwise,–the
prophecies concerning him would not have been fulfilled. "Thou shalt
kill the lamb in the place the Lord thy God shall appoint." He was
sacrificed in the very place. Thus, again you have an incidental proof
that Jesus Christ was the Paschal Lamb for his people.
The next point is the manner of his death. I think the manner in which
the lamb was to be offered so peculiarly sets forth the crucifixion of
Christ, that no other kind of death could by any means have answered
all the particulars set down here. First, the lamb was to be
slaughtered, and its blood caught in a basin. Usually blood was caught
in a golden basin. Then, as soon as it was taken, the priest standing
by the altar on which the fat was burning, threw the blood on the fire
or cast it at the foot of the altar. You may guess what a scene it was.
Ten thousand lambs sacrificed, and the blood poured out in a purple
river. Next, the lamb was to be roasted; but it was not to have a bone
of its body broken. Now I do say, there is nothing but crucifixion
which can answer all these three things. Crucifixion has in it the
shedding of blood–the hands and feet were pierced. It has in it the
idea of roasting, for roasting signifies a long torment, and as the
lamb was for a long time before the fire, so Christ, in crucifixion,
was for a long time exposed to a broiling sun, and all the other pains
which crucifixion engenders. Moreover not a bone was broken; which
could not have been the case with any other punishment. Suppose it had
been possible to put Christ to death in any other way. Sometimes the
Romans put criminals to death by decapitation; but by a such death the
next is broken. Many martyrs were put to death by having a sword
pierced through them; but, while that would have been a bloody death,
and not a bone broken necessarily, the torment would not have been long
enough to have been pictured by the roasting. So that, take whatever
punishment you will–take hanging, which sometimes the Romans practised
in the form of strangling, that mode of punishment does not involve
shedding of blood, and consequently the requirements would not have
been answered. And I do think, any intelligent Jew, reading through
this account of the Passover, and then looking at the crucifixion, must
be struck by the fact that the penalty and death of the cross by which
Christ suffered, must have taken in all these three things. There was
blood-shedding; the long continued suffering–the roasting of torture;
and then added to that, singularly enough, by God's providence not a
bone was broken, but the body was taken down from the cross intact.
Some may say that burning might have answered the matter; but there
would not have been a shedding of blood in that case, and the bones
would have been virtually broken in the fire. Besides the body would
not have been preserved entire. Crucifixion was the only death which
could answer all of these three requirements. And my faith receives
great strength from the fact, that I see my Saviour not only as a
fulfilment of the type, but the only one. My heart rejoices to look on
him whom I have pierced, and see his blood, as the lamb's blood,
sprinkled on my lintel and my door-post, and see his bones unbroken,
and to believe that not a bone of his spiritual body shall be broken
hereafter; and rejoice, also, to see him roasted in the fire, because
thereby I see that he satisfied God for that roasting which I ought to
have suffered in the torment of hell for ever and ever.
Christian! I would that I had words to depict in better language; but,
as it is, I give thee the undigested thoughts, which thou mayest take
home and live upon during the week; for thou wilt find this Paschal
Lamb to be an hourly feast, as well as supper, and thou mayest feed
upon it continually, till thou comest to the mount of God, where thou
shalt see him as he is, and worship him in the Lamb in the midst
thereof.
II. HOW WE DERIVE BENEFIT FROM THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. Christ our Passover
is slain for us. The Jew could not say that; he could say, a lamb, but
"the Lamb," even "Christ our Passover," was not yet become a victim.
And here are some of my hearers within these walls to-night who cannot
say "Christ our Passover is slain for us." But glory be to God! some of
us can. There are not a few here who have laid their hands upon the
glorious Scapegoat; and now they can put their hands upon the Lamb
also, and they can say, "Yes; it is true, he is not only slain, but
Christ our Passover is slain for us." We derive benefit from the death
of Christ in two modes: first, by having his blood sprinkled on us for
our redemption; secondly, by our eating his flesh for food,
regeneration and sanctification. The first aspect in which a sinner
views Jesus is that of a lamb slain, whose blood is sprinkled on the
door-post and on the lintel. Note the fact, that the blood was never
sprinkled on the threshold. It was sprinkled on the lintel, the top of
the door, on the side-post, but never on the threshold, for woe unto
him who trampleth under foot the blood of the Son of God! Even the
priest of Dagon trod not on the threshold of his god, much less will
the Christian trample under foot the blood of the Paschal Lamb. But his
blood must be on our right hand to be our constant guard, and on our
left to be our continual support. We want to have Jesus Christ
sprinkled on us. As I told you before, it is not alone the blood of
Christ poured out on Calvary that saves a sinner; it is the blood of
Christ sprinkled on the heart. Let us turn to the land of Zoan. Do you
not think you behold the scene to-night! It is evening. The Egyptians
are going homeward–little thinking of what is coming. But just as soon
as the sun is set, a lamb is brought into every house. The Egyptian
strangers passing by, say, "These Hebrews are about to keep a feast to
night," and they retire to their houses utterly careless about it. The
father of the Hebrew house takes his lamb, and examining it once more
with anxious curiosity, looks it over from head to foot, to see if it
has a blemish. He findeth none. "My son," he says to one of them,
"bring hither the bason." It is held. He stabs the lamb, and the blood
flows into the bason. Do you not think you see the sire, as he commands
his matronly wife to roast the lamb before the fire! "Take heed," he
says, "that not a bone be broken." Do you see her intense anxiety, as
she puts it down to roast, lest a bone should be broken? Now, says the
father, "bring a bunch of hyssop." A child brings it. The father dips
it into the blood. "Come here, my children, wife and all, and see what
I am about to do." He takes the hyssop in his hands, dips it in the
blood, and sprinkles it across the lintel and the door-post. His
children say, "What mean you by this ordinance?" He answers, "This
night the Lord God will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when
he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord
will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into
your houses to smite you." The thing is done; the lamb is cooked; the
guests are set down to it; the father of the family has supplicated a
blessing; they are sitting down to feast upon it. And mark how the old
man carefully divides joint from joint, lest a bone should be broken;
and he is particular that the smallest child of the family should have
some of it to eat, for so the Lord hath commanded. Do you not think you
see him as he tells them "it is a solemn night–make haste–in another
hour we shall all go out of Egypt." He looks at his hands, they are
rough with labour, and clapping them, he cries, "I am not to be a slave
any longer." His eldest son, perhaps, has been smarting under the lash,
and he says, "Son, you have had the task-master's lash upon you this
afternoon; but it is the last time you shall feel it." He looks at them
all, with tears in his eyes–"This is the night the Lord God will
deliver you." Do you see them with their hats on their heads, with
their loins girt, and their staves in their hands? It is the dead of
the night. Suddenly they hear a shriek! The father says, "Keep within
doors, my children; you will know what it is in a moment." Now another
shriek–another shriek–shriek succeeds shriek: they hear perpetual
wailing and lamentation. "Remain within," says he, "the angel of death
is flying abroad." A solemn silence is in the room, and they can almost
hear the wings of the angel flap in the air as he passes their
blood-marked door. "Be calm," says the sire, "that blood will save
you." The shrieking increases. "Eat quickly, my children," he says
again, and in a moment the Egyptians coming, say, "Get thee hence! Get
thee hence! We are not for the jewels that you have borrowed. You have
brought death into our houses." "Oh!" says a mother, "Go! for God's
sake! go. My eldest son lies dead!" "Go!" says a father, "Go! and peace
go with you. It were an ill day when your people came into Egypt, and
our king began to slay your first-born, for God is punishing us for our
cruelty." Ah! see them leaving the land; the shrieks are still heard;
the people are busy about their dead. As they go out, a son of Pharoah
is taken away unembalmed, to be buried in one of the pyramids.
Presently they see one of their task-master's sons taken away. A happy
night for them–when they escape! And do you see, my hearers, a
glorious parallel? They had to sprinkle the blood, and also to eat the
lamb. Ah! my soul, hast thou e'er had the blood sprinkled on thee?
Canst thou say that Jesus Christ is thine? It is not enough to say "he
loved the world, and gave his Son," you must say, "He loved me,, and
gave himself for me." There is another hour coming, dear friends, when
we shall all stand before God's bar; and then God will say, "Angel of
death, thou once didst smite Egypt's first born; thou knowest thy prey.
Unsheath thy sword." I behold the great gathering, you and I are
standing amongst them. It is a solemn moment. All men stand in
suspense. There is neither hum nor murmur. The very stars cease to
shine lest the light should disturb the air by its motion. All is
still. God says, "Has thou sealed those that are mine?" "I have," says
Gabriel; "they are sealed by blood every one of them." Then saith he
next, "Sweep with thy sword of slaughter! Sweep the Earth! and send the
unclothed, the unpurchased, the unwashed ones to the pit." Oh! how
shall we feel beloved, when for a moment we see that angel flap his
wings? He is just about to fly, "But," will the doubt cross our minds
"perhaps he will come to me?" Oh! no; we shall stand and look the angel
full in his face.
"Bold shall I stand in that great day!
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
While through thy blood absolved
I am From sin's tremendous curse and shame."
If we have the blood on us, we shall see the angel coming, we shall
smile at him; we shall dare to come even to God's face and say,
"Great God! I'm clean! Through Jesus' blood, I'm clean!"
But if, my hearer, thine unwashen spirit shall stand unshriven before
its maker, if thy guilty soul shall appear with all its black spots
upon it, unsprinkled with the purple tide, how wilt thou speak when
thou seest flash from the scabbard the angel's sword swift for death,
and winged for destruction, and when it shall cleave thee asunder?
Methinks I see thee standing now. The angel is sweeping away a thousand
there. There is one of thy pot companions. There one with whom thou
didst dance and swear. There another, who after attending the same
chapel like thee, was a despiser of religion. Now death comes nearer to
thee. Just as when the reaper sweeps the field and the next ear
trembles because its turn shall come next, I see a brother and a sister
swept into the pit. Have I no blood upon me? Then, O rocks! it were
kind of you to hide me. Ye have no benevolence in your arms. Mountains!
let me find in your caverns some little shelter. But it is all in vain,
for vengeance shall cleave the mountains and split the rocks open to
find me out. Have I no blood? Have I no hope? Ah! no! he smites me.
Eternal damnation is my horrible portion. The depth of the darkness of
Egypt for thee, and the horrible torments of the pit from which none
can escape! Ah! my dear hearers, could I preach as I could wish, could
I speak to you without my lips and with my heart, then would I bid you
seek that sprinkled blood, and urge you by the love of your own soul,
by everything that is sacred and eternal, to labour to get this blood
of Jesus sprinkled on your souls. It is the blood sprinkled that saves
a sinner.
But when the Christian gets the blood sprinkled, that is not all he
wants. He wants something to feed upon. And, O sweet thought! Jesus
Christ is not only a Saviour for sinners, but he is food for them after
they are saved. The Paschal Lamb by faith we eat. We live on it. You
may tell, my hearers, whether you have the blood sprinkled on the door
by this: do you eat the Lamb? Suppose for a moment that one of the old
Jews had said in his heart, "I do not see the use of this feasting. It
is quite right to sprinkle the blood on the lintel or else the door
will not be known; but what good is all this inside? We will have the
lamb prepared, and we will not break his bones; but we will not eat of
it." And suppose he went and stored the lamb away. What would have been
the consequence? Why, the angel of death would have smitten him as well
as the rest, even if the blood had been upon him. And if, moreover,
that old Jew had said, "there, we will have a little piece of it; but
we will have something else to eat, we will have some unleavened bread;
we will not turn the leaven out of our houses, but we will have some
leavened bread." If they had not consumed the lamb, but had reserved
some of it, then the sword of the angel would have found the heart out
as well as that of any other man. Oh! dear hearer, you may think you
have the blood sprinkled, you may think you are just; but if you do not
live on Christ as well as by Christ, you will never be saved by the
Paschal Lamb. "Ah!" say some, "we know nothing of this." Of course you
don't. When Jesus Christ said, "except ye eat my flesh, and drink my
blood, ye have no life in you," there were some that said, "This is a
hard saying, who can heart it?" and many from that time went back–and
walked no more with him. They could not understand him; but, Christian,
dost thou not understand it? Is not Jesus Christ thy daily food? And
even with the bitter herbs, is he not sweet food? Some of you, my
friends, who are true Christians, live too much on your changing frames
and feelings, on your experiences and evidences. Now, that is all
wrong. That is just as if a worshipper had gone to the tabernacle and
began eating one of the coats that were worn by the priest. When a man
lives on Christ's righteousness, it is the same as eating Christ's
dress. When a man lives on his frames and feelings, that is as much as
if the child of God should live on some tokens that he received in the
sanctuary that never were meant for food, but only to comfort him a
little. What the Christian lives on is not Christ's righteousness, but
Christ; he does not live on Christ's pardon, but on Christ; and on
Christ he lives daily, on nearness to Christ. Oh! I do love Christ-
preaching. It is not the doctrine of justification that does my heart
good, it is Christ, the justifier; it is not pardon that so much makes
the Christian's heart rejoice, it is Christ the pardoner; it is not
election that I love half so much as my being chosen in Christ ere
worlds began; ay! it is not final perseverance that I love so much as
the thought that in Christ my life is hid, and that since he gives unto
his sheep eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of his hand. Take care, Christian, to eat the Paschal
Lamb and nothing else. I tell thee man, if thou eatest that alone, it
will be like bread to thee–thy soul's best food. If thou livest on
aught else but the Saviour, thou art like one who seeks to live on some
weed that grows in the desert, instead of eating the manna that comes
down from heaven. Jesus is the manna. In Jesus as well as by Jesus we
live. Now, dear friends, in coming to this table, we will keep the
Paschal Supper. Once more, by faith, we will eat the Lamb, by holy
trust we will come to a crucified Saviour, and feed on his blood, and
righteousness, and atonement.
And now, in concluding, let me ask you, are you hoping to be saved my
friends? One says, "Well, I don't hardly know; I hope to saved, but I
do not know how." Do you know, you imagine I tell you a fiction, when I
tell you that people are hoping to be saved by works, but it is not so,
it is a reality. In travelling through the country I meet with all
sorts of characters, but most frequently with self-righteous persons.
How often do I meet with a man who thinks himself quite godly because
he attends the church once on a Sunday, and who thinks himself quite
righteous because he belongs to the Establishment; as a churchman said
to me the other day, "I am a rigid churchman." "I am glad of that," I
said to him, "because then you are a Calvinist, if you hold the
Articles.'" He replied "I don't know about the Articles,' I go more by
the Rubric.'" And so I thought he was more of a formalist than a
Christian. There are many persons like that in the world. Another says,
"I believe I shall be saved. I don't owe anybody anything; I have never
been a bankrupt; I pay everybody twenty shillings in the pound; I never
get drunk; and if I wrong anybody at any time, I try to make up for it
by giving a pound a year to such-and-such a society; I am as religious
as most people; and I believe I shall be saved." That will not do. It
is as if some old Jew had said, "We don't want the blood on the lintel,
we have got a mahogany lintel; we don't want the blood on the
door-post, we have a mahogany door-post." Ah! whatever it was, the
angel would have smitten it if it had not had the blood upon it. You
may be as righteous as you like: if you have not the blood sprinkled,
all the goodness of your door-posts and lintels will be of no avail
whatever. "Yes," says another, "I am not trusting exactly there. I
believe it is my duty to be as good as I can; but then I think Jesus
Christ's mercy will make up the rest. I try to be as righteous as
circumstances allow; and I believe that whatever deficiencies there may
be, Christ will make them up." That is as if a Jew had said, "Child,
bring me the blood," and then, when that was brought, he had said,
"bring me a ewer of water;" and then he had taken it and mixed it
together, and sprinkled the door-post with it. Why, the angel would
have smitten him as well as anyone else, for it is blood, blood, blood,
blood! that saves. It is not blood mixed with the water of our poor
works; it is blood, blood, blood, blood! and nothing else. And the only
way of salvation is by blood. For, without the shedding of blood there
is no remission of sin. have precious blood sprinkled upon you, my
hearers; trust in precious blood; let your hope be in a salvation
sealed with an atonement of precious blood, and you are saved. But
having no blood, or having blood mixed with anything else, thou art
damned as thou art alive–for the angel shall slay thee, however good
and righteous thou mayest be. Go home, then, and think of this: "Christ
our Passover is sacrificed for us."