"Flee From the Wrath to Come"
(No. 2704)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 9, 1900.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 23, 1881.
"Who hats warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Matthew 3:7.
"Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."
Hebrews 6:18.
WE will first consider the question of John the Baptist. "When he saw
many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto
them, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath
to come?" I have no doubt that the Pharisees and Sadducees were very
much surprised to hear John addressing them in that way, for men who
wish to win disciples ordinarily adopt milder language than that–and
choose more attractive themes–for they fear that they will drive their
hearers from them if they are too personal and speak too sharply. There
is not much danger of that, nowadays, for the current notion now abroad
is that Gospel ministers can sew with silk without using a sharp needle
and that, instead of piercing men with the sword of the Spirit, they
should show them only the hilt of it–let them see the bright diamonds
on the scabbard, but never let them feel the sharpness of the two-edged
blade! They should always comfort, console and cheer, but never allude
to the terror of the Lord.
That appears to be the common interpretation of our commission. But
John the Baptist was of quite another mind. There came to a him a
Pharisee, a very religious man, one who observed all the details of
external worship and was very careful even about trifles. He was a firm
Believer in the resurrection, and in angels and spirits, and in all
that was written in the Book of the Law, and also in all the traditions
of his fathers. He was a man who was overdone with external
religiousness, a Ritualist of the first order who felt that if there
was a righteous man in the world, he certainly was that one! He must
have been greatly taken aback when John talked to him about the wrath
of God and plainly told him that that wrath was as much for him as for
other people! Those phylacteries and the broad borders of his garment,
of which he was so proud, would not screen him from the anger of God
against injustice and transgression, but, just like any common sinner,
he would need to "flee from the wrath to come."
I daresay that the Sadducee was equally taken aback by John's stern
language. He, too, was a religious man, but he combined with his
religion greater thoughtfulness than the Pharisee did–at least, so he
said. He did not believe in traditions and he was too large-minded to
care about the little details and externals of religion. He observed
the Law of Moses, but he clung rather to the letter of it than to its
spirit, and he did not accept all that was revealed, for he denied that
there was such a thing as an angel or a spirit. He was a Broad
Churchman–a man of liberal ideas, fully abreast of the age! He
professed to be a Hebrew of the Hebrews, yet, at the same time, the
yoke of religion rested very lightly upon his shoulders. Still, he was
not irreligious!
Yet here is John the Baptist talking to him, as well as to the
Pharisee, about "the wrath to come"! They would both have liked to have
a little argument with him, but he talked to them about feeingfrom the
wrath to come. They would both have been pleased to discuss with him
some theological questions and to bring up the differences between
their two sects, just to hear how John would handle them, and to let
them see which way he would lean. But he did not waste a moment over
the matters in dispute between Pharisees and Sadducees–the one point
he had to deal with was the one of
which he would have spoken to a congregation of publicans and
harlots–and he spoke of it in just the same way to these nominally
religious people! They must "flee from the wrath to come," or else, as
surely as they were living men, that wrath would come upon them and
they would perish under it!
So John just kept to that one topic–he laid the axe to the root of the
trees as he warned these hypocritical professors to escape for their
lives, otherwise they would perish in the common destruction which will
overwhelm all ungodly men. This was not the style of preaching that
John's hearers liked, but John did not think of that. He did not come
to say what men wished him to say, but to discharge the burden of the
Lord, and to speak out plainly what was best for men's eternal and
immortal interests! He spoke, therefore, first, concerning the wrath of
God and, next, he spoke concerning the way of escape from that wrath.
Those shall also be our two topics. First, the tremendous peril–"the
wrath to come." And, secondly, the means of escape–"Flee from the
wrath to come."
I. First, dear Friends, let us think of THE TREMENDOUS PERIL which
overtakes all men who do not escape from
it.
That tremendous peril is the wrath of God. There is a wrath of God
which abides on every ungodly man. Whether men like that Truth of God
or not, it is written, "God is angry with the wicked every day." And,
also, "he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." And yet again,
"he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abides on him."
But this wrath is in abeyance for a time and, consequently, men do not
think much either of the wrath that now is, or of "the wrath to come."
It will not, however, always be in abeyance. The sluices of the great
deep will be pulled up and the awful torrents will come leaping forth
and will utterly overwhelm all who are exposed to their fury. This
"wrath to come" will, in part, fall upon men at death, but more fully
at the Day of Judgment, and it will continue to flow over them forever
and ever! This "wrath to come" is that of which John spoke, and of
which we will now think for a while.
I remark, first, that this "wrath to come" is absolutely just and
necessary. If there is a God, He cannot let sin go unpunished. If He is
really God and the Judge of all the earth, He must have an utter
abhorrence of all evil. It cannot be possible that He should think the
same of the honest and the dishonest, of the chaste and the unchaste,
of the sober and the drunk, of the truthful and the lying, of the
gracious and the dissolute. Such a god as that would be one whom men
might rightly despise! But the true God, if we understand aright what
He is, must hold all sin in detestation. All evil must be utterly
abhorrent to His pure and holy soul. And it is not only because He can
do it, but because He mustdo it, that He will, one of these days, let
loose the fury of His wrath against sin!
As it is necessary, in the very nature of things, that there should be
certain laws to govern His creation, so is it equally necessary, in the
very nature of things, that sin should be punished and that every
transgression and disobedience should receive a just recompense of
reward. This is the inevitable consequence of sin–there is nothing
arbitrary about such a result. It is fixed in the very nature of things
that, "for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
account in the Day of Judgment." And for every sinful action, they must
appear before the bar of God. Do not think, when we speak about the
wrath of God, that we picture God to you as a tyrant. We do but tell
you that this is only the nature of things–that just as if you take
poison, it will kill you, or if you indulge in drunkenness, or if you
take almost any form of disease, it will bring pain and mischief to
you–so sin must bring upon you the wrath of God–it cannot be
otherwise. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle
of God's Law can pass away till all is fulfilled–and one part of that
Law requires that He should punish all transgression, iniquity and sin.
And if now, for a time, the full manifestation of that anger is
delayed, I beseech you, Brothers and Sisters, do not therefore trifle
with it! The longer God's arm is uplifted, the more terrible will be
the blow when at last He strikes. To sin against the patience and
long-suffering of Almighty God is to sin with a vengeance! You do, as
it were, defiantly put your finger into the very eye of God when you
know that He sees you sin and yet you go on sinning because He does not
immediately take vengeance upon you for all your evil works! It is in
great love that He restrains His wrath, for He is "slow to anger, and
plenteous in mercy." But as a torrent that is dammed up for a while,
gathers force and strength, and every hour in which it is kept back it
gets to be more irresistible, so must it be with "the wrath to come"
when, at last it does come upon you! If it has waited for some of you
for seventy, or sixty, or fifty, or even for 20 years, it will come as
an
overwhelming flood when, at last, it bursts the barriers which, at
present, hold it back. Trifle not, therefore, with that long-suffering
of God which may be blest to your salvation!
Nor is "the wrath to come" any the less sure because it is delayed.
Because sentence is not at once given against an evil work, therefore
men say, ''We need not trouble ourselves. 'How does God know? And is
there knowledge in the Most High?' Behold, He winks at our iniquities!
He counts them as mere trifles. No harm will come to us because of
them." Sirs, if you are prepared to cast away the Bible, I can
understand a little that you should talk like that. But if you really
believe that the Scriptures are the Word of God, you know what the
consequences of your sin must be. Concerning the wicked, it is written,
"If he turns not, He will whet His sword. He has bent His bow and made
it ready. He has also prepared for him the instruments of death." Even
if you are so foolish as to cast away your Bibles, yet, unless you
think yourselves to be mere dogs and cattle that shall rot back into
the ground from where you came, and be done with forever, you must
expect that there will be another state of existence in which right
shall be vindicated and wrong shall be punished! It seems to lie upon
the very conscience of man, in the unwritten code of intuitive
knowledge, or of knowledge handed down from father to son, that there
must come a time in which God will surely bring every secret thing to
light, and visit with judgment the proud and the high-handed
oppressor–and vindicate the rights of men and the rights of His own
Throne. It must be so! And if the wrath tarries for a while, it is none
the less sure.
I feel quite staggered as I try to speak of this "wrath to come"
because when it does come it can be something very terrible because
Divinity enters into the essence of it. The wrath of man is sometimes
very terrible, but what must the wrath of God be? O Sirs, I have tried,
these many years, humbly, yet earnestly, to preach the love of God, and
I have never yet reached the height of that great argument, for His
love is boundless! But so are all His attributes and, if you consider
any one of them, you must say, "It is high, I cannot attain unto it."
But the just indignation of God against sin must be commensurate with
His absolute purity. That man who trifles with right and wrong, and
thinks that these are mere arbitrary terms, has no indignation when he
sees wrong done. But God, who is infinitely pure and holy, cannot–it
is not possible that He should look upon sin without an awful
abhorrence. "Oh," He says, by the mouth of His servant Jeremiah, "do
not this abominable thing that I hate." He is not indifferent to
sin–He hates it–and He pleads with men not to do it because it is so
abominable and so hateful in His sight!
What will "the wrath to come," be? If God but touches a man, as it
were, with only His little finger, the strongest must at once fail and
fall, the mightiest can scarcely open his eyes, and the seal of death
is speedily imprinted on his brow. But what will it be when the hand of
God shall begin to plague the ungodly, when He shall pour out all the
vials of His wrath upon them and crush them with the bosses of His
buckler? What will be their portion when He says, "Ah, I will ease Me
of My adversaries, and avenge Me of My enemies?" Think, too, what must
be the meaning of that terrible passage–let me repeat it to you slowly
and solemnly–"Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you
in pieces, and there be none to deliver."
Thus have I faithfully tried to set before you "the wrath to come." Now
listen to me for a few minutes, and let me have your impartial
judgments while I still further speak upon this important theme. Who,
do you think, are the more honest men–those who tell you plainly what
the Scriptures say concerning this wrath of God, or those who smooth it
over, or deny it altogether? I will not judge them–before the Judge of
the quick and the dead let those appear who dare to be apologists for
sin, and to diminish the dread thought of God's anger against it! But I
might, without any breach of Christian charity, be permitted to suspect
the honesty of those who use flattering words to please and deceive
their hearers! But I could not suspect the honesty of those who preach
an unpalatable Truth of God which grieves themselves as much as it is
distasteful to those who hear it!
Let me also ask you which style of preaching has the greater moral
effect upon yourself? Will you be likely to go and sin after you have
heard of God's anger against it, or will you more readily commit
iniquity when you have it salved over and you are told that it is but a
little thing of which God takes no account? I was in the cabin of a
vessel, one day, with a brother minister who was disputing with me upon
the non-eternity of future punishment. And the captain of the ship came
in and said, "What are you discussing down here? The scenery is
beautiful, come up on deck and admire it." So I said to him, "This is
the question in dispute, whether the punishment of sin is eternal, or
not." "Well," he said, "we cannot have any theological discussion just
now," but, turning to my opponent, he said, "Don't you go on deck and
talk to my sailors any of your rubbish! They are bad enough as they
are. But if you tell them what I heard you say just now, they
will swear and drink worse than ever." Then, turning to me, he said,
"You may talk to the men as much as you like–you will do them good and
not harm by telling them that God will certainly punish their sins."
Now, there is common sense in that argument of my friend–you know that
there is! That which is most likely to do good, and to repress sin, is
most likely to be right. But that which gives me latitude to offend my
conscience, leads me to suspect whether it could ever have come from
God at all, and makes me seriously doubt whether it can be true.
And what, Sirs, will be the consequence if it should turn out that we
are mistaken when we preach to you concerning the wrath of God? What
losers will those of us be who have fled to Christ for refuge? But
suppose it should turn out that we are right? Where will you be who
have despised the wrath of God? We have two strings to our bow, but, to
my mind, youhave none at all! I would not like to lie down upon my
deathbed in the hope that death would be an eternal sleep– that would
be a miserable hope even if it could ever be fulfilled! I would not
like to risk my destiny in the world to come upon the prospect of being
annihilated because I did not believe in God! It would be a wretched
thing to hope for, but what if even that poor hope should fail me?
Where should I be then?
But I can go with confidence before my God and say to Him, "Be Your
wrath what it may–I know that it must be terrible to the last
degree–but be it what it may, I will not dare it. And even if it would
not hurt me, yet I would not make You angry, O God, by sinning against
You. And if there were no punishment for sin but the loss of Your
love–if there were nothing but the loss of Heaven, the loss of having
failed to please You, my God–I would count that loss to be tremendous
and terrible. Let me be reconciled to You, my Maker. Tell me how You
can be just and yet forgive the guilty. To You I fly! Oh, save me from
the wrath to come!"
Thus have I set before you, as best I can, the tremendous peril.
II. Now, in the second place, I want, for a few minutes, to tell you
about THE MEANS OF ESCAPE. John said to the Pharisees and Sadducees,
"Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
By this question, he seemed to imply that there is no way of
deliverance from "the wrath to come" but by flight. Sinner, you cannot
endure the wrath of God! If your ribs were granite and your nerves were
brass, you could not endure the wrath of the Almighty! No, not even for
a moment! If a man had a toothache, how dreadful it would seem to him
to have to bear that pain for twelve months, even if he knew that there
would be an end to it then. But what must the anger of God be when He
comes to deal with our entire manhood and to punish our sins forever
and ever? We cannot bear it–we must flee from it. What does this mean?
It means, first, immediate action. You must escape, Man! If you remain
where you now are, you will certainly perish. You are in the City of
Destruction which is to be overwhelmed with the fiery flood of "the
wrath to come." You must be in earnest to escape from it before
judgment is executed upon the place and all who are in it! You must
"flee from the wrath to come."
Fleeing means not only immediate action, but swift action. He that
flees for his life does not creep and crawl–he runs at his utmost
speed and he wishes that he could ride on the wings of the wind. No
pace that he can reach is fast enough for him. Oh, if God the Holy
Spirit will make you, whom I am now addressing, feel your imminent
danger, you will want to fly to Christ with the swiftness of a flash of
lightning! You will not be satisfied to linger as you are even for
another hour. What if that gallery should fall about your ears? What if
God should smite the house while you are still in your sins? What if,
in walking home, you should walk into your graves? What if your beds
should become your tombs? It may be so with any one of you, so there is
no time to linger or delay. Haste is the word for you–God sends it to
you and says, "Today if you will hear My voice, harden not your hearts;
behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
To flee also means to go straight away at your objective. A man who
flees for his life does not want any circuitous, round-about roads. He
takes short cuts, he goes over hedge and ditch that he may get where he
wants to be in the shortest possible space of time! So straight away to
Jesus is the only direction for you just now. Some people will
recommend you to read books which I am certain you cannot understand,
for no living soul can. Or perhaps you may meet with persons who want
to explain to you some wondrous mystery. Listen to them, if you like,
at the Day of Judgment, when the great business of your salvation is
over–but just now you have not any time for mysteries, you have no
time for puzzles, you have no time to be confused and confounded–the
one thing you have to do is to go straight away to Jesus, straight away
to Jesus!
You are a sinner and He is the only Savior for sinners–so trust
Him–God help you to trust Him and thus to find immediate salvation! It
is a straight road to Christ. The plan of salvation is not a thing that
is hard to be understood. "He that believes on the Son has everlasting
life." And he shall never come into condemnation, for he as passed from
death unto life! There is the Gospel in a nutshell–lay hold of it and
live by it. You have not time for anything else and you have no need of
anything else, so flee, "flee from the wrath to come."
Notice how John the Baptist explained to those Pharisees and Sadducees
the way in which they had to flee. He told them, first, that they must
repent. There is no going to Heaven by following the road to Hell!
There is no finding pardon while continuing in sin. Depend upon it, Mr.
Drunkard, you will not be forgiven for your drunkenness if you still go
on with your drinking! Let not the man who is unchaste imagine that he
can go on with his sin and yet be forgiven. Let not the thief dream
that there is any pardon for him unless he quits his evil course and
tries to make such restitution as he can to those whom he has wronged.
There must be repentance, then, and that repentance must be practical.
Note how John put it–"Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for
repentance"–evidences of true amendment of life. It is no use whining
and crying, and going into the enquiry rooms with a lie in your right
hand, and then going home to swear and drink, or to break the Sabbath,
and to live as you like–and all the while hoping to enter Heaven. No,
sin and you must part, or else Christ and you can never keep company.
You remember that message that John Bunyan thought he heard when he was
playing at tip-cat on a Sunday on the village green? He suddenly stood
still with the stick in his hand, for he thought he heard a voice
saying to him, "Will you leave your sins and go to Heaven, or have your
sins, and go to Hell?" That is the alternative which both the Law and
the Gospel put before men. "Flee from the wrath to come." But there is
no fleeing from wrath except by repentance of sin–and by fruits meet
for repentance–evidencesof a real change of heart and life.
Then John went on to say to the Pharisees and Sadducees that they must
give up all the false hopes which they had cherished. "Think not to say
within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father." Those Pharisees
said, in deed, if not in word, "It really does not matter though we act
the hypocrite, for Abraham is our father." And the Sadducees said, in
effect, "Though we are unbelievers, it is of small consequence, for
Abraham is our father." "No," answered John, "you must abandon all such
false hopes as that." And if any of you, dear Friends, have said, "We
shall be all right because we are regular church people." Or if you
have said, "We are all right, for we are Baptists, we are Methodists,
we are Presbyterians–our father and mother, and our grandfather and
grandmother were good Christian people." Ah, yes, and so may your great
grandfather and great grandmother have been, but your pedigree will
avail you nothing unless you personally quit your sin and lay hold on
Christ as your Savior!
Nor is there anything else upon which you can depend for salvation.
Your Baptism, your church or your chapel attendance, your eating of the
Lord's Supper, your saying of collects, your family prayers, your
giving of your guineas– everything of your own put together will all
be less than nothing and vanity if you trust to it! You must flee away
from all such false hopes as that and get a better hope, even that of
which my second text speaks–"That by two immutable things, in which it
was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who
have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."
John the Baptist did not tell his hearers all this, for he did not come
to preach the Gospel to them. He came to preach the Law, but he did
sufficiently indicate where they must go, for he said to them, "There
stands One among you, whom you know not. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and with fire." It is to Him, even to Jesus, that you must
flee. If you would be saved, you must be among those who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before you. That is the real
refuge for sinners–the laying hold of Christ, the getting a faith-grip
on Jesus as the one atoning Sacrifice, the looking to Him with tearful
but believing eyes, and saying, "Jesus, Son of God, I trust in You. I
put myself into Your hands, and leave myself there, that You may
deliver me from the wrath to come."
I pray you, Brothers and Sisters, wherever you are, you who think you
are so good, be anxious to get rid of all that fancied goodness of
yours! I beseech you, if you have any self-righteousness about you, to
ask God to strip it off you at once! I should like you to feel as that
man did who had a forged bank note and some counterfeit coin in his
possession. When the policeman came to his house, he was anxious not to
have any of it near him–so, shake off your self-righteousness! You
will be as surely damned by your righteousness, if you trust in it, as
you will by your unrighteousness!
Christ, alone, the Gift of the free Grace of God–this is the gate of
Heaven–but all self-satisfaction, all boasting, all exaltation of
yourself above your fellow men is mischievous and ruinous, and will
surely be deadly to your spirit forever.
How does Christ deliver us from "the wrath to come?" Why, by putting
Himself into our place, and putting us into His place. Oh, this blessed
plan of salvation by substitution–that Christ should take a poor,
guilty sinner, and set him up there in the place of acceptance and joy
at the right hand of God and that, in order to be able to do so, Christ
should say, "Here comes the great flood of almighty wrath–I will stand
just where it is coming and let it flow over Me" And you know that it
did flow over Him till He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, and
more, till He cried aloud, "My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?"
And still more, till He cried, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head
and gave up the ghost–
"He bore, that you night never bear, His Father's righteous ire"–
and so, suffering in your place, and putting you into the place of
acceptance which He, Himself, so well deserves to occupy, He saved you
from "the wrath to come."
I used to think that if I once told this wondrous story of "Free Grace
and dying love," everybody would believe it. But I have long since
learned that so hard is the heart of man that he will sooner be damned
than be saved by Christ! Well, you must make your choice, Sirs. You
must make your choice for yourselves–only do me this one favor when
you have made your choice–do not blame me for having tried to persuade
you to act more wisely than I fear your choice will be. I sometimes
tremble as I think of the account I have to give in concerning the many
thousands who crowd this place to listen to my voice. What if my Master
should say to me, at the last, "You flattered them. You tried to run
with the times. You did not dare to preach to them the old-fashioned
Gospel and to tell them of Hell and of judgment, and of atonement by
blood?"
No, my Master, by Your Grace, You will never be able to say that to me!
With all my faults, infirmities and imperfections, I have sought to
declare Your Truth, as far as I knew it, to the sons of men. Therefore,
my Hearers, I shake my skirts free of your blood! If any of you shall
reject Christ, I will have nothing to do with your damnation! Be
spiritual suicides if you will, but I will not be your soul-murderer,
nor act like Saul wished his armor-bearer to do when he bade him thrust
him through with the sword. I implore you to "flee from the wrath to
come!" Escape by quitting your sins and laying hold on Jesus! Do it
this very moment, for you may never have another opportunity to do it!
May the Lord, in His infinite mercy, grant you Grace to trust in Jesus!
Amen and Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 3; 11:20-30; REVELATION 7:9-17.
Matthew 3:1, 2. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the
wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is
at hand. His was a preparatory ministry. His work was to prepare men's
minds for Christ and never is the heart of man so ready to receive
Christ as when it is in a state of repentance. When it is weary of sin,
then is it that Christ comes in and is welcomed by the soul conscious
of its guilt, tired of it, and longing to be rid of it.
3, 4. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord,
make His path straight. And the same John was clothed in camel's hair,
with a leather belt about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild
honey. Everything about him was impressive and everything was suitable
to the message he had to deliver. He was so dressed as to be noticed,
at once, as a man of ascetic habits. He was not the chaplain of a
prince, otherwise he would have been clothed in soft raiment. He was
not one who had a gentle message to deliver, or he would not have gone
into the wilderness and summoned the people to come away from their
avocations to listen to him. He was the rough pioneer to prepare the
way for the King.
5, 6. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region
round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing
their sins. That was his baptism–a baptism of repentance and of
confession–preparatory to the coming of the Master. See what power
there was in John because God was with him! I do not know that he had
any remarkable eloquence. Certainly, some things about him were rather
repulsive than attractive. But when God is with a
man, the people must listen to him! Jerusalem must pour her thousands
out of her gates and the rural districts must yield their hundreds–for
if God speaks, no matter by whom–He will have human ears listen to His
voice.
7, 8. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his
baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who has warned you
to flee from the wrath to come?Bring forth therefore fruits meet of
repentance. Answerable to your repentance, congruous therewith, arising
out of it and truly provingits reality!
9, 10. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our
father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise
up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of
the trees. No mere pruning and trimming work did John come to do! He
was the handler of a sharp axe that was to fell every worthless tree.
10, Therefore every tree which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire. I t is not enough to hew it down–into the fire
it must go! And John minces not his words about the matter–he speaks
the message of his Master straight out and plain.
11, 12. Iindeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that
comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to
carry: He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: whose
fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather
His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire. See the humility of the true servant of Christ! He
is not even willing to exercise the office of a slave and to carry his
Master's shoes, or to unloose the laces of them. And who among us is
worthy to occupy even the lowest office for Christ? There is an honor
about it that far transcends any worthiness of ours. To serve Him at
all, is honor, indeed! But, Brothers and Sisters, fix your eyes upon
Christ and recollect what a Baptism it is into which He baptizes
us–not with water, but into the Holy Spirit and into fire! Can we bear
it? Can we endure the fire? It will only burn up that which ought to be
burned–and happy is he to whom God has imparted that eternal life
which can never be consumed!
13, 14. Then Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be
baptized of him. But John forbade Him, saying, I have need to be
baptized of You, and You come to me?This is one of the most striking
proofs that the ordinance of Baptism is not to be neglected by any of
Christ's followers, for even He who, in Himself, could have had no need
for it–who is, Himself, the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit and with
fire, yet comes to the baptizer in water, and asks to be immersed!
15. And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for
thus it become us to fulfill all righteousness. Nothing that appertains
to righteousness must be neglected–the little as well as the great
must be observed!
15-17. Then he allowed Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up
immediately out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him,
and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon
Him: and lo a Voice from Heaven saying, This is My Beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. This doctrine of repentance was preached by the
Master as well as by the servant. Turn to the 11th Chapter of Matthew's
Gospel and let us read a few verses, beginning at the 20th .
Matthew 11:20. Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His
mighty works were done, because they repented not. They listened.
Sometimes, they applauded. But they repented not and there is nothing
really accomplished until men have repented. In vain have we preached
until men are brought to repent! So the Master said–
21, 22. Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto you, Bethsaida! For if the
mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say
unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of
Judgment, than for you. Listen to that, you Gospel-hardened sinners,
you who have heard and heard, and heard, but have not repented! See how
great is your sin, for you have rejected what others would have
received if it had been presented to them? See how your guilt
accumulates–and its also punishment!
23, 24. And you, Capernaum, which are exalted unto Heaven, shall be
brought down to Hell: for if the mighty works which have been done in
you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But
I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land ofSodom in
the Day of Judgment, than for you. Sodom–that is the blackest place of
all! Ah, me, will that verse ever fall, like a millstone, upon any one
of my hearers, to grind him to powder, because you heard the Gospel and
rejected it– always intending to receive it–but never receiving it at
all? From such a doom, may God in mercy deliver you!
25-30. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank You, O Father,
Lord of Heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father:
for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things are delivered unto Me
of My Father, and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows
any man thee Father, save the Son, and he to whomever the Son will
reveal Him. Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For
My yoke is easy, and My burden is light Just by way of contrast to what
I am going to say in my sermon, let us read a few verses in Revelation
7. [Sermons were always preached after the expositions–EOD.]
Revelation 7:9. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which
no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues, stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb. Our numbering
can go a very long way–what, therefore, must be the countless hosts of
the redeemed who are to be "a great multitude, which no man could
number"? And what an infinite variety there will be among them, seeing
that they shall not only be "of all nations," but out of those nations
they shall be "of all kindreds, and people, and tongues"–that is, all
sorts and conditions of men, of every race, and of every age from the
first century down to the last. Christ's immeasurable redemption price
must bring to Him a great reward! Isaiah long ago foretold that "He
shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." And it
is no little result that will satisfy Him for such travail of soul as
He endured! This great multitude "stood before the Throne, and before
the Lamb."
9. Clothed with white robes. To set forth their purity, their victory
and their entrance into the marriage state, for such was the color
usually worn on such occasions. "Clothed with white robes," to show
that they had entered into their rest, so that their garments were no
longer soiled through their toil. They have reached their everlasting
Sabbath, their weekday service is over forever!
9-11. And palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying,
Salvation to our God which sits upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb. And
all the angels stood round about the Throne, and about the elders and
the four beasts, and fell before the Throne on their faces, and
worshipped God, The angels form the outerring. The elders, who
represent the Church of the redeemed, are nearer to the Throne of God
than even the holy angels are! Nearest to God in Heaven are those who
have been redeemedfrom among men. How high a dignity–how noble an
estate–awaits us, by-and-by! But, all alike, both saved men and
unfallen angels, "fell before the Throne on their faces, and worshipped
God."
12-17. Saying Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever.
Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, Who are these who
are arrayedin white robes? And from where have they come? And I said
unto him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, these are they who came out
of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne of God,
andserve Him day andnightin His temple: andHe who sits on the Throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst,
anymore; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the
Lamb who is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes.