Christ–the Fall and Rise of Many
A sermon
(No. 907)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, DECEMBER 26, 1869, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary His mother, Behold, this
Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a
sign which shall be spoken against."- Luke 2:34.
[I thank God most devoutly that I am permitted, once again, to appear
in my place among you. It is always a most painful deprivation to me
when I am unable to preach the Gospel on the Sabbath to my beloved
congregation. I earnestly pray that this long affliction may be for my
spiritual growth and that you may all profit by that which my Lord has
taught me in the School of the Cross. I beseech you, my dear fellow
Helpers, ask of God, as a great favor, that now, upon my return to my
accustomed work, a double blessing may rest upon all that is done–that
those already saved may be more active and the conversions in our midst
may be more numerous. So may God grant it and His shall be the praise.]
THIS text has within it a profound deep meaning, but I shall not
attempt to fathom it. There was a company hired a few months ago for
attempting to recover ingots of gold and bars of silver, supposedly
lying at the bottom of the sea in a Spanish galleon which sunk some
centuries back. My ship is not fitted with the necessary machinery for
obtaining gold from mysterious deeps, and I have, moreover, great
question as to whether the attempt might not be more dangerous than
profitable, for many who vary into the awful depths of predestination
have lost themselves. And many more have become unprofitable to the
Church and to the world.
My ship is but a little fishing boat whose business it is to fish for
the souls of men. My gifts fit me only to be such a coasting vessel as
may carry corn from port to port to feed those who hunger for
satisfying bread. I shall not, therefore, attempt to enter into the
sublime mystery which is contained in this text as to the Divine
appointment of Christ to be the occasion of the falling and rising of
many souls. I believe in that doctrine, however, though I cannot
expound it. I tremblingly believe in Peter's words concerning those who
stumble at the Word of God, being disobedient, "whereunto also they
were appointed." But I say again, though believing the doctrine of
predestination in all its length and breadth because I see it revealed
in the Word of God, yet as I cannot see any practical result that might
come out of a discussion of that subject this morning, I shall leave it
for other minds and tongues.
Rather would I conduct you to the practical Truth of God which lies in
the text. The great practical doctrine before us is this–that wherever
Jesus Christ comes, with whomever He may come in contact–He is never
without influence, never inoperative–but in every case a weighty
result is produced. There is about the holy Child Jesus a power which
is always in operation. He is not set to be an unobserved, inactive,
slumbering Personage in the midst of Israel, but He is set for the
falling or for the rising of the many to whom He is known. Never does a
man hear the Gospel but he either rises or falls under that hearing!
There is never a proclamation of Jesus Christ (and this is the
spiritual coming forth of Christ Himself) which leaves men precisely
where they were–the Gospel is sure to have some effect upon those who
hear it.
Moreover, the text informs us that mankind, when they understand the
message and work of Christ, do not regard them with indifference. When
they hear the Truth of God as it is in Jesus, they either take it
joyfully in their arms with Simeon, or else it becomes to them a sign
that shall be spoken against. He that is not with Christ is against Him
and He that gathers not with Him scatters abroad. Where Christ is, no
man remains neutral–he decides either for Christ or against Him. Given
a mind that understands the Gospel, you have before you, also, a mind
that either stumbles at this stumbling-stone, being scandalized
thereby, or else you have a mind that rejoices in a foundation upon
which it delights to build all its hopes for time and for eternity.
Observe, then, the two sides of the Truth! Jesus is always working upon
men with marked effect–and on the other hand, man treating the Lord
Jesus with warmth either of affection or opposition–an action and a
reaction being
evermore produced. Why is this, do you think? Is it not, first, because
of the energy which dwells in the Lord's Christ and in the Gospel which
now represents Him among men? The Gospel is all life and energy. Like
leaven it heaves and ferments with inward energy. It cannot rest till
it leavens all around it. It may be compared to salt which must
permeate, penetrate and season that which is subject to its influence.
Paul compares the preaching of Christ to a sweet-smelling savor.
Now, you cannot say to a perfume, "Be quiet! Do not load the air with
sweets. Do not affect men's nostrils." It cannot do otherwise–the
fragrance must fill the chamber. Even so, Christ must be a savor,
either of life unto life, or of death unto death–but a savor He must
be wherever He comes! It is no more possible for you to restrain the
working of the Gospel than to forbid the action of fire. Stand before
the fire–it shall warm and comfort you. But thrust your hand into
it–it will burn you. Keep that fire in its proper place, it shall
yield you abundant service. Cast forth the firebrand, it shall consume
your house–it shall devour all that comes in contact with it. You
cannot say to fire, "Restrain your consuming energy." It must work
because it is fire.
And so with yonder sun. Though clouds may hide it from our sight at
this moment, yet forever does it pour forth, as from a furnace mouth,
its heat and light. Nor could it cease to burn and shine unless it
ceased to be a sun. As long as it is a sun it must permeate surrounding
space with its influence and splendor. Do you wonder that the Sun of
Righteousness is of yet more Divine energy? Do you marvel that the
blaze of His Glory blinds His enemies, or His warmth of love dries the
tears of His friends? In every case there is a distinct result and a
manifest effect! Never does the Gospel return void–it prospers even in
that for which the Lord has sent it. Jesus in the Gospel cannot cease
to work. "My Father works and therefore I work."
The Father, in Providence, pauses not, nor does the Son cease from the
work of Divine Grace. Moreover, let it be remembered that Jesus Christ
and His Gospel are matters of such prime importance to mankind that
from this cause, also, there must always be an effect produced by
Christ. Consider other matters that are of prime importance to humanity
and my meaning will be clear. Here is the air, I breathe it. What then?
Why, I live! I cannot breathe it without obtaining this grand result.
The lungs receive the air–the blood is supplied with oxygen–life is
sustained. Suppose I refuse to breathe the air, what then? Will there
be any remarkable effect produced? Shall I be sickly? Shall I be a
little faint? Shall I be somewhat less energetic? No, I must die!
Breathing, I live. Refusing to breathe, I die. So the Lord Jesus is as
necessary to our souls as the atmosphere to our bodies.
If we receive Christ Jesus we live. We cannot receive Him without
living by Him. If we will not receive Him, we must die. It is
unavoidable that it should be so. You cannot reject the Savior and be a
little damaged. There is no alternative but that you utterly perish.
Take another article of human necessity, bread. You shall eat bread, it
shall nourish you, it shall provide for you the material of flesh and
sinew, nerve and bone. Refuse to eat it and you take your life from
you. You may, if you will, try to impose upon others, but, whether
watched or unwatched, you shall die if you will not eat. It is so
ordained by wise decree that there is no living without food–let but
the space of time be long enough and death must be inevitable to those
who will not eat.
So is it with Christ who is the Bread sent down from Heaven. Receive
Him–you have all that your soul needs to sustain it and drive away its
hunger. Reject Him and there is neither in Heaven nor in earth anything
that can supply your soul's lack. I might instance the water that we
drink, or, indeed, anything else that is not a matter of luxury or of
artificial need, but which is absolutely necessary to human life. All
such things become operative for good or ill, according as you accept
them or reject them. So must it necessarily be with Christ. We may add
that the position in which Jesus Christ meets man makes it inevitable
that He must have an effect upon them. I shall not speak of the heathen
who never hear of Him, nor of our unhappy heathen around us who will
not hear of Him.
But concerning you who have heard of Christ, I assert that in your case
the Lord Jesus has met with you on occasions where to accept or to
refuse was to make a crisis in your being. He was right in your way. It
was one Sunday evening when the Holy Spirit was with the preacher. Or
it was one day when your father had just been buried. Or, Woman, it was
one night when your dear babe had just been taken from your bosom and
laid upon the bed of death. You may readily recall the occasion. Christ
came right in your way and you could not go around Him–you must
either, that night, stumble over Him, make Him to be to yourself a rock
of offense–or you must then and there build on Him and accept Him as
your soul's confidence.
I believe that such a time of decision comes to all hearers of the Word
who have at all intelligently heard it. And when the Holy Spirit
enables us from that time forth to take the Redeemer to be the ground
of our soul's confidence, oh, what a joy it is! But if we are left to
ourselves to reject Christ, we shall not have rejected Him without a
strain upon conscience–without having done violence to everything good
and true. We shall not have stumbled at Christ without knowing that we
were stumbling at the noblest gift of God–at the greatest token of the
Father's love–stumbling at the only thing which could deliver us from
the wrath to come and ensure us an eternity of joy. Thus, you see,
because Christ comes to us at the important crisis of our life, He,
therefore, cannot be indifferent to us. He must make us either to fall
or rise.
Once again, let me observe that the Lord Jesus was appointed for this
very thing–so says the text–He "was set for the fall and rising again
of many in Israel." It was for this very end He came. See the farmer
take the fan. You observe the heap of mingled wheat and chaff lying on
the floor. He begins to move the fan to and fro till he has created a
breeze of wind. What happens? The chaff flies to the further end of the
threshing floor and there it lies by itself. The wheat, more weighty,
remains purified and cleansed, a golden heap of grain. Such is the
preaching of the Gospel! Such is Christ! He is the Separator of those
who will perish from those who shall be saved. The fan discerns and
discovers. It reveals the worthless and manifests the precious. Thus
has Christ the fan in His hand!
Or, take another metaphor, which we find in the Prophets, "Who may
abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appears? For
He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap." You see the
refiner's fire? Notice how it burns and blazes. Now, it turns to a
white heat–you cannot bear to look on it. What has happened? Why the
dross is divided from the silver and the alloy from the gold. The
refiner's fire separates the precious from the vile. And so the Gospel
reveals the elect of God and leaves to hardness of heart the finally
impenitent. Where it is preached, the men who accept it are precious
ones of God, His elect, His chosen! The men who reject it are the
reprobate silver. So shall men call them, for God has rejected them.
Mark too, the fuller's soap. The fuller takes his soap and, exercising
his craft upon yonder piece of linen marked with many stains and
colors, you see how these foul things fly before the soap and the fair
fabric remains. Both spots and linen feel the power of the soap. So
does the Gospel take the polluted fabric of humanity and cleanse
it–the filth departs and flies before it and the fair linen remains.
Such are the saints of God–when the Gospel comes to them they are
purified, thereby–while the wicked, as foul spots, are driven away in
their wickedness. Thus I have shown you that it is not possible for
Christ to come anywhere without working some result. I would impress
upon each of you that it is not possible for Christ to come to you
without effecting a result in you.
I beseech you never fall into the error of those who assert that
unbelief is no sin and that to reject Christ is no fault of yours. The
whole tenor of Holy Scripture is contradictory to that most erroneous
opinion. I know of hardly anything more likely to lull the conscience
to sleep than that delusion. Depend upon it, the Gospel will be a savor
of death unto death to you if it is not a savor of life unto life to
you. If you believe not, you are condemned already. Why? Hear the voice
of God: "He that believes on Him is not condemned. But he that believes
not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of
the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, (above all
other condemnations), that light is come into the world and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
You are in a solemn position, this morning, in listening to the Gospel
of Christ. You cannot go out of this House without a mark being made
upon you which shall remain there evermore either for your good or for
your ill. Christ must operate upon your souls. He is set either for
your fall or for your rising again.
Having thus set forth the great Truth of God of the text, I purpose
with as much brevity as shall be possible to answer one or two
questions.
I. The first is this, WHO ARE THOSE THAT FALL BY CHRIST? In Christ's
day the question was not difficult to answer. Those that fell by
Christ, were, first of all, the holders of tradition. There were
certain persons who always pleaded, "It was said by them of old time."
They quoted some saying of Rabbi Ben this, or Rabbi Ben that–and these
famous sayings were practically exalted above the written Word of
God–often so as to take the very meaning out of the Decalogue itself
and make the traditions of men a higher authority than the Commandments
of God.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ laid the axe at the root of this evil tree,
for often and often did He say, "It is said by them of old time, but I
say unto you." He denounced their making void the Law of God through
their traditions. He took a broom and relentlessly swept away the old
cobwebs of what the fathers did and what the ancients said and placed
the everlasting, "it is written," above the authority of antiquity.
Much such work is there for Him to do in this, our day, when the use of
"Sacraments," and the custom of the orthodox churches and I know not
what else of venerable rubbish profane the House of God! And, my
Brothers and Sisters, He will surely do it and tradition will yet again
fall before the Ever-living Word.
There fell, also by our Lord's hand the externalists. These men made
much of washing their hands before they ate bread. They thought it a
great thing to make broad the borders of their garments. They were
peculiarly attentive to their phylacteries. They carefully used
strainers to keep flies from getting into their wine, lest unclean
animals should touch their lips. But the Master in His ministry made
short work of them. You blind fools, said He, you strain at gnats and
you swallow camels! How He held up to scorn their long prayers and vain
pretences, their tithing of cumin and their devouring of widows'
houses! Never could they forget the simile of the cup and platter,
washed outside but foul within, nor that of the whitewashed sepulcher,
so fair to the eye and yet so full of rottenness. "Woe unto you," said
He, "Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites."
And with that word He swept away the whole empire of externalism and
made men see the vanity of outward religiousness while the heart is
unrenewed. How forcible are those words, "Not that which goes into the
mouth defiles a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this
defiles a man." The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but joy in
the Holy Spirit. O for an hour of our Lord's Presence to lash the
formalism of today! But be of good cheer, His Gospel will do it yet.
The Master, at the same time, made to fall all the self-righteous. They
conceived in themselves that they were righteous and they despised
others. What a fall He gave to such when He told that famous parable of
the Pharisee and the Publican who went up to the temple to pray! How
that proud man, who thanked God he was not as other men, went to his
house without peace–while the humble sinner, who confessed himself
unworthy to lift his eyes to Heaven– went to his house justified of
God!
Oh, it was a grand sweep the Master made of self-righteousness in the
days of His flesh! Why, one would think that where Christ was, the
Pharisee must have half-wished to pull off their phylacteries and hide
the broad border of their garments! Small matter for their pride was it
to stand away and profess to be better than other men, while Jesus of
Nazareth tore off the mask and revealed the heart! Jesus our Lord was
also the fall of the wiseacres of His day. There were the lawyers. They
knew every point. They could discern in a moment what should be and
what should not be according to the fathers. And they had a way of
reading every precept of Moses so as to make it mean just whatever you
might please, according to the depth of your purse.
Then there were the Scribes–what diligent students they had been! They
knew how many letters there were in the whole Law and which was the
middle letter and which the middle word. They knew the size and length
of each book and they had written notes, matchless for wisdom, upon
every passage. And they were expert in muddling the sense of every
passage and making the words mean what they were never intended to
teach. Diligent students of the letter these doctors of divinity, these
Scribes of Christ's day, and yet He nonplussed them with a question so
simple that a child should be able to answer–"David in your Law called
the Messiah, Lord. How is He then his Son?" They could not reply to
Him. And if they had been able, with all their wisdom, to answer that
one question, yet could He have asked them many more by which their
ignorance would have been discovered.
He was their fall, as He will be at this day the fall of all the
boastfully wise, for, "He takes the wise in their own craftiness." But
if our Lord was thus the fall of those who were externally religious,
who were self-righteous, who were merely orthodox–He was also the fall
of the broad Church as well as of the high Church. What a fall He gave
the Sadducees! These were your broad churchmen. They professed to
believe the Law of Moses, but robbed it of its supernatural element.
And yet they continued in the then established Church. Of course they
did! Why should not the national Sanhedrim be of the most comprehensive
character? Yet these skeptics declared that there is no resurrection,
neither angel nor spirit!
When our Lord came into the arena against them, their famous story of
the woman with the seven husbands was snapped like a wooden sword and
the point of an irresistible weapon was set at their breasts as Jesus
asked them whether
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was the God of the dead or of the
living! Our great Leader's triumph over the skeptical faction was as
complete as that achieved over the ritualistic band–to each He gave a
crushing fall! If it is easy to answer the question, Who fell by Christ
in His lifetime? It is not difficult to answer the enquiry, Who falls
by Christ today? Why, very much the same sort of people as fell by Him
then! If any of you are trusting in the externals of religion. If you
are strangers to the inner spiritual life. If you are depending upon
your confirmation, your baptism, your reception of the sacrament, or
anything of ceremony, assuredly Christ will be the fall of you!
Hear His own words, "You must be born again." "If any man has not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Though you may receive the
baptism of Christ and the supper of Christ as often as you will,
without His Spirit, you are lost! If there are any here who are
confident in their own excellence. If you are hoping to enter Heaven
because you have never done any great harm and have, on the whole, been
very good people–amiable, and kind and generous–Christ will be the
fall of you! Continuing as you are now, His Gospel condemns you
thoroughly. For what says that Gospel? "By the works of the Law there
shall no flesh living be justified." Why, then, should you hope to be
justified, in the teeth of what Christ, by His Inspired Apostle, has
declared? Christ is the death of self-righteousness and you will most
assuredly perish, if self is your reliance.
Some will tell you that human nature is not at all so bad as it is said
to be in Scripture–there are some fine points about man which only
need opportunities of development. Ah, but if man were not fallen, why
did he need a Savior? If man were not hopelessly fallen, why need God
have come down from Heaven to take upon Himself human flesh to redeem
man? You who praise up human nature are robbing Christ of Glory to
crown a dying rebel! And rest assured that such robbery will be your
ruin unless repented of. There are others who say let man do his best
and he will, no doubt, be accepted of God. They hope that there is
enough of strength in man to enable him to force his way to that which
is desired of him.
If so, why that bleeding Sacrifice? What necessity for Calvary's groans
and death-pangs? The Sacrifice of Christ is the death of all hopes of
self-salvation. If you could save yourself, it were monstrous that
Christ should come to save you! I tell you if you hold to
self-reliance, Christ's Cross will be the fall of you! It will be a
condemning witness against you! Moreover, Jesus is the fall of all who
rely upon priests, or who profess to be priests. When the Son of God
has appeared as the Priest of fallen humanity, oh, how dare you, you
curs and dogs who yelp at the heels of Antichrist, to claim to be what
Jesus, alone, is! How dare you take upon yourselves to stand at the
altar when He is there! Now that the Sun of Righteousness has risen, we
cannot, dare not, trust in such mere blots of darkness as you are!
All persons who are self-contented. All those who are lofty in mind–to
these Christ will assuredly give a dreadful fall. "Every valley shall
be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be laid low." Every look
of pride will He abase, for He is set for the fall of all those,
whether in Israel or among the Gentiles, who exalt themselves in the
face of the Lord of Hosts. Judge you, Sirs, whether He will be your
fall! You can readily tell. He that is down need fear no fall! But he
that is on high may tremble lest the Child who was born in Bethlehem
should be his fall.
II. But I must pass on. Another and a happier question suggests itself.
To WHOM WILL THE LORD JESUS BE A RISING AGAIN? He will be a rising
again to those who have fallen. Do you confess, "I have fallen"? Do you
acknowledge, "I possess a fallen nature"? Do you lament you have fallen
into sin? O my Brothers and Sisters, He will be your rising! He cannot
uplift those who are not brought low. But if you have fallen and are
conscious of it this day, He is set to be the rising again of such as
you are.
Again, are you conscious of being down? There cannot be a lifting to
those who are up–there cannot be healing to those who are not sick.
Christ came not for so preposterous a purpose as to be the Savior of
those who are already safe. Are you sick? He was set to heal such as
you are. Are you down? Then the more desperate your fall, the deeper
your sense of degradation, the more I will rejoice! If you call
yourself the chief of sinners, I shall but be the more thankful. And if
you feel yourself past all hope, I shall congratulate you as a prisoner
of Hope, for He came to be the rising again of such as you are! Clearly
to everybody's common sense the rising is not for those who are already
up, but for those who are in need of raising. They shall rise in Him!
Note, again, those that rise in Him are those who are now willing to
rise in Him. He saves none while they are unwilling, but He makes men
willing in the day of His power. Are you willing this day to rise in
Christ? That gracious will came from God! That will is an indication
that Jesus is set to raise you up. Never did a soul cling to Christ
with
earnest will to rise and find that Christ did leave it to perish! Only
lay hold of the hem of His garment and He will lift you up to His own
Glory! We have heard of drowning men who have clutched at others who
could barely save themselves, but could not support another and have
therefore been compelled to throw off those who clung to them. But you
may cling to Christ without fear! He is an almighty swimmer and will
bear to land every soul that lays hold on Him.
Trembling Believer in Jesus the Redeemer, you shall rise from your
poverty to sit among princes! You shall rise from the dunghill of your
sins to reign with angels! You shall rise from your spiritual death to
newness of life! You shall rise from the shame of your sin to the honor
of perfection! You shall rise to be children of God, educated and
trained for a better world! You shall rise to dwell in the many
mansions of your Father's house! You shall rise to oneness with Christ
and shall enter into His joy, triumphing with Him!
But all this is not for those who have a high esteem of themselves, but
for those who lament their own unworthiness and sinfulness. He still
has a frown for the haughty and a smile for the lowly. "He has put down
the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. He has
filled the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent empty
away."
III. Another matter shall occupy us for a moment. Some of the best
critics of modern times differ entirely from the older expositors and
think that the, "and," here used is conjunctive and not disjunctive.
That is to say, that the two words describe but one character, whereas,
older commentators and, as I believe, rightly, interpret the words of
two classes of persons. However, let us include that other sense in our
exposition. This Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in
Israel–that is to say there are some who shall both fall and rise
again in Christ–to whom Christ shall give such a fall as they never
had before and such a rise as shall be to their eternal resurrection.
Let me give you a picture. You remember Jacob and the angel wrestling
at night? Did you ever, yourself, experience what it was to wrestle
with Christ? I do remember when He met me and entered into gracious
conflict with my rebellious spirit. I stood erect in pride and as good
as told Him that I had no need of a Savior. But He wrestled with me and
would not let me go. I stood foot sure, as I imagined, on the Law, but
what a fall He gave me when He revealed its spiritual nature and proved
me guilty at every point! Then I thought I had firm footing with one
foot on the Law and the other upon His Grace–imagining that partly by
the mercy of God and partly by my own endeavors I might be saved. But
what a fall was there when I learned that if salvation was of works, it
could not be of Grace–and if it was of Grace it could not be of
works–the two could not be mixed together.
Then I said I would hope in the performance of the duties which the
Gospel inculcates–I thought I had power to do this–I would repent and
believe and so win Heaven. But what a fall I had and how each bone
seemed broken when He declared to me, "without Me, you can do nothing.
No man can come unto Me, except the Father who has sent Me draw him"!
Do you remember, Brothers and Sisters, when you lay before Christ and
the Gospel, all broken and bruised, till there was no life in you
except the life that could suffer pain and even that you questioned,
for you feared you did not suffer enough pain? You felt you were not
penitent enough, nor believing enough and that you could not make
yourself anything other than you were. You were hopeless and helpless.
Ah, this is how Christ saves souls! He gives them a fall first and
afterwards He makes them rise. You cannot fill the vessel till it is
empty. There must be room made for mercy by the pouring out of human
merit. You cannot clothe the man who is clothed already, or feed him
who has no hunger. It is the hungry soul that is filled. It is the
naked soul that is clothed. It is the fallen one that is lifted up. But
this fall which Jesus gives us is a blessed fall! He never did throw a
man down without lifting him up afterwards. "I kill and I make alive. I
wound and I heal"–these are the attributes of Jehovah Jesus. The text
says after the fall shall come the rising again. I have explained what
that is and I hope you understand it.
If you this day are enabled to lay hold of Jesus Christ by simply
trusting Him, you are already raised up through Him. He who trusts
Christ is forgiven. He is accepted. He is saved–and low as you may
have fallen in your own esteem through the fall which the Truth of God
has given you, you may rise just as high in the union that you have
with Christ, for you are accepted in the Beloved! And there is,
therefore, now no condemnation to you. Heaven is your sure portion! You
shall be with Christ where He is!
IV. We shall conclude with a few words upon the last part of the text.
The text tells us that the Lord Jesus is, "A SIGN THAT SHALL BE SPOKEN
AGAINST." What is He a sign of? The Lord Jesus Christ is a remarkable
sign and the only sign I know of that was ever spoken against. He is a
sign of Divine love. "God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son." There never was such a sign of God's love to man as when
God gave His own Son for him. Now there have been many
other signs of God's love and men have not spoken against them. The
rainbow was in some respects a sign of His love–that He would no more
destroy the world with a flood.
The sun is a sign of God's love to man and so is the moon. He makes the
sun to shine by day and the moon by night, for His mercy endures
forever. A fruitful harvest, a flowing stream, a refreshing wind–the
common mercies of life–these are all signs of God's benevolence.
Nobody speaks against them! But the grandest sign of benevolence on
God's part was when He spared not His own Son! But listen to the
babble, the noise and confusion of tongues, like the voices of many
waters, as the nations cry, "This is the heir, let us kill Him." "Away
with Him! Away with such a Fellow from the earth! It is not fit that He
should live"! Oh, prodigy of human malice! God reaches the climax of
benevolence and man exhibits the climax of deadly hate!
The greatest gift provokes the greatest hostility and the loftiest sign
brings forth the most virulent opposition!
Christ was a sign of Divine justice. A bleeding Savior. The Son of God
deserted by His Father. The thunderbolts of vengeance finding a target
in the Person of the Well-Beloved–herein is justice revealed most
fully! I hear not that other signs of vengeance have been spoken
against. Men have trembled, but have not railed. Sodom and Gomorrah,
with bowed head, confessed the justice of their doom. Egypt, engulfed
in the Red Sea, says nothing of it. None of her records contain a
single blasphemy against Jehovah for having swept away the nation's
chivalry. The judgments of God, as a rule, strikes men dumb with awe!
But this, which was the greatest display of Divine hatred of sin, where
the Son of God was made to descend into the lowest depths as our
Substitute–this provokes, today, man's uttermost wrath! Know you not
how many are continually railing at the Cross? The Crucified is still
abhorred! How matchless is the perversity of human nature that when God
displays His justice most, but blends it sweetly with His love, the
sign is everywhere spoken against!
Let me close where much more might be said, by observing that Christ
was the sign of man's communion with God and of God's fellowship with
man. None ought to have spoken against that. It ought to be man's
greatest joy that there is a ladder that reaches from earth to
Heaven–that there is a connecting bridge between creature and Creator.
But man does not want to be near his God, and therefore he rails at the
means provided for communion! Christ is the sign of the elect seed. He
is the woman's Seed, the Head of the covenanted people and this is,
perhaps, the main ground of opposition–for the serpent must always
hate the Seed of the woman. God has put an enmity between them. Jesus
is the representative of the holy, the new-born, the spiritual. He is
the sign of the elect of God, and therefore, as soon as the carnal mind
that knows not God, nor loves Him, perceives Christ and His Gospel, it
at once stirs up the depth of its malevolence to put Christ down if it
is possible.
Brothers and Sisters, they shall never put Him down! They may speak
against the Gospel, but here is our joy–that Christ will raise up His
people and will certainly give the fall to His enemies. It is one of
the proven facts of Providence that no lie is immortal. Never be afraid
that any error can long be dominant. The Ark of the Lord can never fall
before Dagon–but Dagon must fall down before the Lord's Ark. Have
patience, have patience! The victory is as sure as it is slow. You may
complain that the Ritualists gather force. Have patience! The Lord
shall laugh them to scorn. The Lord shall have them in derision. You
may say that the doubters as to the truth of God's Word are gathering
in strength. But wait with patience– skepticism shall have its
overthrow. "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion."
The Lord God has declared the decree and the decree shall stand. Be of
good cheer, for all is well! Inasmuch as you have risen in Him, be not
dismayed though the sign is spoken against. In patience possess your
souls, for the day shall come when He will ease Him of His adversaries,
when the loftiest foe shall be hurled to the ground–for He shall dash
them in pieces, He shall rule them with a rod of iron–He shall break
them like a potter's vessel. O come you who want to be on His side, you
who would be safe! "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish from
the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they
that put their trust in Him."
Come, you tremblers, cower down beneath the wings of your Savior who
says today, as He did in the days of His flesh, "How often would I have
gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens
under her wings and you would not!" Refuse Him not, lest He be unto you
a swift flying eagle that scents the prey from afar and descends with
terrible vengeance to tear in pieces and to destroy!
The Lord grant that the Child Jesus may be set for your rising again
and for a sign in which your souls shall delight, for His name's sake.
Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Luke 2.
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