For Christ’S Sake

For Christ'S Sake

DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 12, 1865,

BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"For Christ's sake." Ephesians 4:32.

THIS is the great argument of awakened sinners when they seek mercy at
God's hands. Once they could boast of their own righteousness. They
could rest upon their feelings, their resolutions, their goodness of
heart, or their prayers–but now that God the Holy Spirit has shown
them what they are and revealed to them the desperate evil of their
hearts, they dare not offer any other plea than this–"For Christ's
sake." They look and there is no man to succor. They cast their eyes
around and there is no helper and their heart knows neither peace nor
hope till they behold the Person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Then
straightway their mouth is opened with arguments and they can plead
with God with prevailing reasons, saying, "For Christ's sake, for
Christ's sake, have mercy upon me."

Indeed, Beloved, this is the only argument which can prevail with God
in prayer, whether the prayer comes from saint or sinner. It is true
that God did not originally love us for Christ's sake, for His electing
love was Sovereign and absolute–the Father loved us not because the
Savior died–but the Savior died because the Father loved us from
before the foundation of the world. Nevertheless the only channel of
communication between a loving Father and His elect people is the
meritorious and glorious Person of Christ. The Father gives us no
privilege except through His Only-Begotten, nor are we looked upon as
accepted or acceptable except as we stand in and through our Lord
Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, perfect in Christ Jesus.

I must use no other argument when I plead with God but the name of His
dear Son, for this is the sum of all heavenly logic. Whatever Covenant
mercy I may wish for, this is the key which will unlock the storehouses
of Heaven. No other name will prevail with God to scatter His mercies
among undeserving sinners. He who knows how to plant his foot on the
solid foothold of, "for Christ's sake," needs not fear, like Jacob, to
wrestle with the Angel of God. But if we forget this in our prayers, we
have lost the muscle and sinew from the arm of prayer–we have snapped
the spinal column by which the manhood of prayer is sustained erect–we
have pulled down about our own ears the whole temple of supplication as
Samson did the house of the Philistines.

"For Christ's sake," this is the one unbuttressed pillar upon which all
prayer must lean–take this away and it comes down with a crash! Let
this stand and prayer stands like Heaven–reaching upward–holding
communion with the skies. In two ways, as the Holy Spirit may enable
us, we will read the words before us. It is God's argument for
mercy–"For Christ's sake." It is our reason for service–"For Christ's
sake."

I. GOD'S ARGUMENT FOR MERCY. He forgives us "for Christ's sake." Here
let us first look at the force of this motive. And then, secondly, let
us notice some qualifications in it which may, through God's blessing,
be the means of comforting seeking sinners who desire to find rest in
and through Jesus Christ.

1. Let us consider the force of this motive by which God is moved to
forgive sinners, "for Christ's sake." You know that if we do a thing
for the sake of a person, several considerations may work together to
make our motive powerful. We may be willing not only to do some things,
but many things–no, all things–for the sake of the individual admired
or beloved. The first thing which will move us to do anything for
another's sake is his person, with its various additions of position
and character. The excellence of a man's person has often moved others
to high enthusiasm, to the spending of their lives–yes, to the
endurance of cruel deaths for his sake.

In the day of battle, if the advancing column wavered for a single
moment, Napoleon's presence made every man a hero. When Alexander led
the van there was not a man in all the Macedonian ranks who would have
hesitated to lose his life in following him. For David's sake the three
mighties broke through the host, at imminent peril of their lives, to
bring him water from the well of Bethlehem.

Some men have a charm about them which enthralls the souls of other men
who are fascinated by them and count it their highest delight to do
them honor. There have been, in different ages, leaders, both warlike
and religious, who have so entirely possessed the hearts of their
followers that no sacrifice was counted too great, no labor too severe.
There is much to move the heart in the excellence of a person. How
shall I, in a fitting manner, lead you to contemplate the Person of our
Lord Jesus Christ, seeing that His charms far exceed all human
attractions as the sun outshines the stars?

Yet this much I will be bold to say, that He is so glorious that even
the God of Heaven may well consent to do ten thousand things for His
sake! Brothers and Sisters, we believe our Lord Jesus Christ to be very
God of very God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, essential
Deity. Jesus is no distinct God, separate from the Father, but, in a
mysterious manner, He is One with the Father, so that the old Jewish
watchword still stands true. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one
Lord." And yet Jesus is Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness.

Besides this, He, for us men and for our salvation, took upon Himself
the form and nature of man–became Incarnate, as the virgin's son and,
as such, lived a life of perfection, never sinning, always full of love
and holy service, both to God and man. There He stands–by the eye of
faith we may see Him–"God over all, blessed forever." And yet Man, of
the substance of His mother, He stands to plead before the eternal
Throne–Almighty God, all-perfect Man. He wears upon His head a crown,
for he is a Prince of the house of David, and His dominion is an
everlasting dominion.

Upon His bosom glitters the bejeweled breastplate, for He is a Priest
forever, after the order of Melchisedek and over His shoulders hangs
the mantle of prophecy, for He is a Prophet and more than a Prophet.
Now, as He stands there, adored of angels, worshipped by cherubim and
seraphim, having the keys of Heaven and earth and Hell at His side–
Master of winds and waves, Lord of Providence, the Wonderful, the
Counselor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords–I wonder not that such a Person
should prevail with the Father, and that God, for His sake, should
bestow innumerable blessings upon the unworthy for whom He pleads!

He is the chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely! His head
is as much fine gold! His lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling
myrrh! His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars! His
mouth is most sweet–yes, He is altogether lovely. The whole creation
can afford–

"But some faint shadows of my Lord. Nature, to make His beauties known,
Must mingle colors not her own. Nor earth, nor seas, nor sun, nor
stars, Nor Heaven, His full resemblance bears. His beauties we can
never trace, Till we behold Him face to face." In the surpassing
majesty of His Person lies a part of the force of the plea. A far
greater power lies in near and dear relationship. The mother, whose son
had been many years at sea, pined for him with all a mother's fondness.
She was a widow and her heart had but this one object left. One day
there came to the cottage door a ragged sailor. He was limping on a
crutch and seeking alms. He had been asking at several houses for a
widow of such-and-such a name. He had now found her out.

She was glad to see a sailor, for never since her son had gone to sea
had she turned one away from her door, for her son's sake. The present
visitor told her that he had served in the same ship with her beloved
boy–that they had been wrecked together and cast upon a barren
shore–that her son had died in his arms and that he had charged him
with his dying breath to take his Bible to his mother. She would know
by that sign that it was her son–and to charge her to receive his
comrade affectionately and kindly for her son's sake. You may well
conceive how the best of the house was set before the stranger! He was
but a common sailor. There was nothing in him to recommend him. His
weather-beaten cheeks told of service, but it was not service rendered
to her–he had no claim on her and yet there was bed and board and the
widow's hearth for him.

Why? Because she seemed to see in his eyes the picture of her son–and
that Book, the sure token of good faith, opened her heart and her house
to the stranger. Relationship will frequently do far more than the mere
excellence of the person. Think, Brothers and Sisters–Jesus Christ is
the Only-Begotten Son of God! Our God had but one begotten Son and that
Son the darling of His bosom. Oh, how the Father loves Him! It is not
possible for us to measure Divine love, for we have no measuring line.
Human love at best is only finite even when it reaches its very
highest. When we plunge into the depths of human love, there is yet a
bottom!

But Divine love has neither shore nor boundary. Little can we tell what
unity of essence means. The Divine Persons are one in Essence–one God.
We cannot, therefore, conceive what affection must spring from this
closest of all known unities. Oh, how Jehovah loves Him! And yet that
dear Son of His, for our sakes left the starry throne of Heaven, became
a Man, suffered–bled and died! And when we come to mercy's bar,
bringing with us Christ's own promise, the Eternal Father sees Jesus in
our eyes–bids us welcome to mercy's table and to mercy's house for the
sake of Him who is His Only-Begotten Son.

Still I have only advanced to the border of my subject. The force of
the words, "for Christ's sake," must be found deeper still, namely in
the worthiness of the Person and of His acts. Many peerages have been
created in this realm which descend from generation to generation–with
large estates–the gift of a generous nation and why? Because this
nation has received some signal benefits from one man and has been
content to ennoble his heirs forever for his sake. I do not think there
was any error committed when Marlborough or Wellington were lifted to
the peerage–having saved their country in war it was right that they
should be honored in peace. And when, for the sake of the parents,
perpetual estates were entailed upon their descendants and honors in
perpetuity conferred upon their sons, it was only acting according to
the laws of gratitude.

Let us think of what Jesus Christ has done and let us understand how
strong must be that plea–"for Jesus' sake." The Law of God was
violated. Jesus Christ came into the world and kept it–kept it so that
out of the whole Ten Commands there is not one whose clamorous tongue
can lay anything to His charge. Here was a Divine dilemma–God must be
just, yet He willed to save His people. How could these two things
meet? Where was the man who could break down the mountain which
separated Justice and Mercy, so that they could kiss each other? God
must punish sin and yet He will be gracious to whom He will be
gracious. How shall these two things agree?

Forth came the priests, with their various sacrifices. But the
slaughter of bullocks and heifers and rams and he-goats, could not make
God just. What comparison could there be between rivers of blood of fed
beasts and the sin of man? But Jesus came–the great Solution of the
Divine enigma–Jesus came–eternal God, but yet perfect Man and He
bowed His head to the ignominious death of the Cross! His hands were
pierced! His feet were nailed–His soul was sorrowful, even unto
death–

"Jesus, our Lord and God, Bore sin's tremendous load. Praise His name!
Tell what His arm has done,
What spoils from death He won! Sing His great name alone.
Worthy the Lamb!"

God was just–He punished human guilt in the Person of man's
representative, Jesus of Nazareth. God is gracious–He accepts every
believing sinner for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Think, then, of what Christ has done and you will see the force of the
argument. He has honored the Law of God which man had dishonored and
has opened a way for God's mercy which man's sin had fast closed up.
Oh, God, Your Son has brought back what He took not away–He has taken
the prey from the mighty and the lawful captive He has delivered. Like
another David He has snatched the sheep from the jaws of the lion and
delivered the lamb from the paws of the bear. Like another Samson He
has slain Your enemies and taken the gates of their strongholds upon
His shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill. Every wound
which He endured upon the Cross, every stroke which He felt in Pilate's
hall, every drop of blood which He sweat in Gethsemane strengthens the
plea, "for Christ's sake."

Still, still I think I have not yet arrived at the force of the words.
If any stipulation has been made, then the term, "for His sake," become
more forcible–because they are backed by engagements, promises,
covenants. In Christ's case solemn promises have been exchanged. There
was a distinct engagement made between the Judge of men and the
Redeemer of our souls. The Prophet Isaiah has published the engagement,
"He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in His hand."

Yet again, "I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall
divide the spoil with the strong." And still further, "He shall see of
the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall
My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities."
There was a distinct transaction, then, of ancient date between the
Father and the Son in which the Son stipulated that He would bear the
sin of His people. He was to be the Scapegoat for His people Israel.
And then it was solemnly engaged on the part of the Divine Judge of all
the earth that He would give Him the souls of the redeemed to be His
portion forever.

Now, Brethren, there is a strength in the plea, "for Christ's sake." Oh
God, with reverence would we speak of You, but how could You be just if
You did not save those for whom Jesus shed His precious blood?
Brethren, we speak as unto honest men–would you, being men, first of
all accept a surety and a substitute and then expect the debtor to pay
the debt himself? Look at human governments–if a man were drafted into
the army and should find a substitute, does the law afterwards seize
the man himself? And shall God be less just than man? Shall the supreme
king of Heaven be less just than the kings of earth? If Christ has paid
my debt, God's justice cannot demand payment of me! It cannot expect
the same debt to be paid twice. Justice cannot demand payment–

"First at my bleeding Surety's hands, And then again at mine."

If Christ served in that dread warfare for me as my Substitute, how can
it be that after this I should myself be driven to the edge of the
sword? Impossible! Beloved, see that scapegoat yonder? Israel's sins
have been confessed upon it. The High Priest has laid his hand on the
victim's head. It is led away by the hand of a fit man. He sets it
free. He watches it– it is out of sight. He climbs a rock, looks far
away to the east, the west, the north, the south–he cannot see it. He
waits awhile–looks with anxious eyes–it is gone! He comes back and
tells the people of Israel that the sin has been typically carried away
upon the scapegoat's head.

Now, Christ is the fulfillment of the scapegoat. Our sins were laid on
Him–He is gone–gone where? "You shall seek Me but you shall not find
Me," He says. He is gone into the desolate regions of the dead. The
Scapegoat, Christ, has carried away into His own tomb, the sins of all
His people forever. Now, was that a farce, or was it a reality? Did
Christ take away sin, or not? If He did, then how can men be punished
for sins which Jesus took away, for the sins for which Christ was
punished? If He did not suffer for sin, then where is the deliverance
for any soul born of Adam? Oh you that receive general redemption, you
know not what you receive! You who talk of a universal atonement which
does not make an atonement for all sin, know not what you affirm!

But we who speak of a special Atonement made for every soul that ever
has believed or ever shall believe–we speak of something sure,
certain, worthy of the soul's resting itself upon–since it does save
every soul for whom it was offered up! There remains only one other
thought upon this point. It tends very much to strengthen the plea,
"for Christ's sake," if it is well known that it is the desire of the
person that the gift should be granted and if, especially, that desire
has been and is earnestly expressed. Oh how glad we ought to be to
think that Christ, when we plead His name, never tells us that we are
going too far and taking liberties! No, Beloved, if I anxiously ask for
mercy, Christ has asked for mercy for me long ago!

There is never a blessing for which a Believer pleads but Christ pleads
for it, too! "He ever lives to make intercession for us." Our
supplications become His supplications and our desires, when excited of
the Spirit, are His desires. In Heaven He points to His wounds, the
mementoes of His grief, and He cries–"Father, for My sake grant this
favor to these poor undeserving ones. Give them blessing as You would
give Me blessings. Be kind and gracious to them, as You would be kind
and tender towards Me." This makes the plea omnipotent. It is not
possible but that it should mightily prevail with God.

2. Pausing a minute let us enumerate some few other qualifications of
this plea by way of comfort to trembling seekers. This motive, we may
observe, is with God a standing motive. It cannot change. Suppose, poor
Sinner, that God offered to forgive for your own sake. Then if at one
time you were penitent and broken-hearted, there would be hope for you.
But at another time you might be bemoaning the hardness of your heart
and powerlessness to repent and then there would be no motive why God
should bless you. But, you see, Christ is always as much worthy at one
time as another and therefore God has the same reason for blessing
you–a poor wandering soul today–as He can have had twenty years ago!

And if you have grown grey in sin–if you have become like a dry piece
of wood ready for the fire–yet this motive does not wear out! It has
the dew of its youth upon it. God, for Christ's sake, forgives little
children and for the same reason He can forgive the man who has passed
his threescore years and ten. As long as you are in this world, this is
a standing reason for mercy. Remember, again, that this is a mighty
reason. It is not merely a reason why God should forgive little sins,
or else it would be a slur upon Christ–as though He deserved but
little.

Can you tell how great your sin is? "Oh," you say, "it is high as
Heaven, it is deep as Hell!" Now can you tell how great Christ's
worthiness is? I will tell you that His worthiness is deeper than Hell
can be and higher than Heaven itself. What? If your sin could reach
from east to west and from the highest star to the depth of the abyss,
yet the worthiness of Christ is a fullness which fills all in all and
therefore it would cover all your sins! Your sins, like Egypt's hosts,
are many and mighty–Christ's worthiness is like the flood of the Red
Sea–able to drown the whole so that not one of their host shall be
left. They shall sink into the bottom like a stone.

Your sins are like Noah's flood which drowned all mankind. Christ's
worthiness is like Noah's ark which swims above the tide and mounts
higher as the flood grows deeper. The deeper your sin the more is
Christ's merit exalted above the heavens when Jehovah forgives you all
your iniquities! Think not little of Christ! I would not have you think
little of sin–but still think more of Christ. Sin is finite. It is the
creature's act. Christ is Infinite. He is Omnipotent. Whatever, then,
your sin may be, Christ is greater than your sin and able to take it
away.

Then, Brothers and Sisters, it is a most clear and satisfactory–I was
about to say most reasonable reason–a motive which appeals to your own
common sense! Can you not already see how God can be gracious to you
for Christ's sake? We have heard of persons who have given money to
beggars, to the poor. Not because they deserved it, but because they
would commemorate some deserving friend. On a certain day in the year
our Horticultural Gardens are opened free to the public. Why, why
should they be opened free? What has the public done? Nothing. They
receive the gift in commemoration of the good Prince Albert.

Is not that a sensible reason? Yes. Every day in the year the gates of
Heaven are opened free to sinners. Why? For Jesus Christ's sake! Is it
not a most fitting reason? If God would glorify His Son, how could He
do better than by saying, "For the sake of My dear Son set the pearly
gates of Heaven wide open and admit His chosen ones. See these myriads
of spirits–they are all admitted to their throne of immortal glory for
the sake of My dear Son. They are happy, but they are happy for His
sake. They are holy, but they are holy for His sake." Casting their
crowns at His feet, they sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory,
and blessing."

You perceive at once that this reason appeals to common sense and
therefore, I hope, dear Friends, you will lay hold of it. Let me say,
poor Sinner, that it is a reason applicable to your case. If you can,
think of any good and solid reason why God should forgive you! Turn
them all over. You cannot see one! I know the time when I could not
find a half a reason why God should save me, but I could find fifty
thousand reasons why He should damn me! And when I see that, "for
Christ's sake," O that is a reason! That is a good reason–it is a
reason I can get hold of! Suppose me to be the blackest sinner out of
Hell. How it will glorify Christ if, for Christ's sake, the blackest
sinner that ever lived should be snatched from Hell and taken to Heaven
for His sake!

Suppose I have been a blasphemer, unchaste, an adulterer, a
murderer–what then? "For Christ's sake." The more sin I have, the more
glorious will the merit of Christ seem to be, when, in opposition to
all my unworthiness, it brings me pardon and eternal life and takes me
to the enjoyments of His right hand! Sinner, grasp this motive! I know
where you have been–you have been raking about in that filthy dunghill
of your own heart. You have been turning the filth over to find a jewel
in it. You will never find one! The jewels which once belonged to
mankind were all lost by our father, Adam.

I know what you have been doing! You have been trying to be better in
order to deserve well of God. Thus you thought you would manufacture a
reason which should move the heart of God. Leave off this foolish
work–come with nothing in your hands but Christ! When the Molossians
were threatened by their king to be cut to pieces for their rebellion,
they pleaded very hard, but no argument would touch his heart. Then,
one day one of their ambassadors saw his son in the palace. Catching
him up in his arms, he took and laid him down before his father's feet
and said, "For your son's sake, have pity upon us."

Now, do this, Sinner–take Christ in your arms and say, "For Christ's
sake." The whole heart of the Gospel lies here. All true theology is
comprehended in this, "For Christ's sake." Substitution–saving the
guilty through the innocent. Substitution blessing–the unworthy
through the worthy. Try this precious plea, poor Soul, and I will
warrant you that, before long, you shall find peace with God if you can
understand the power of this argument! I may close these reflections by
observing that this is the only motive, the only motive which can ever
move the heart of God!

You may cry as long as you will, reform as much as you please, pray as
earnestly as you like–but the gate of Heaven will never stir to your
knockings till you plead, "For Jesus' sake!" There is the, "Open
Sesame," which will make the gates of the city turn on their hinges.
But if you have not this watchword all your doings and almsgivings and
praying and what not will be but a heap of filth piled up against
Heaven's gate. Remember, "other foundation can no man lay than that
which is laid." And that, "there is none other name under Heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved," save Jesus Christ, the Righteous.
Use that! Plead that and you shall succeed with God!

II. "FOR CHRIST'S SAKE" IS THE BELIEVER'S GREAT MOTIVE FOR SERVICE. Two
or three hints as to what kind of service may be expected of us. Then a
little exhortation by way of stirring us up to do this service for
Christ.

1. We begin with a few hints as to what service is expected of us. One
of the first things which every Christian should feel bound to do, "for
Christ's sake," is to avenge His death. "Avenge His death?" asks one.
"Upon whom?" Upon His murderers. And who were they? Our sins! Our
SINS!–

"Each of our crimes became a nail, And unbelief the spear."

The very thought of sin having put Jesus to death should make the
Christian hate it with a terrible hatred. I do not wonder that the
Highlanders bit their lips and marched with awful determination and
dread resolve of vengeance against the rebel Sepoys when they
remembered how the murdered women filled up the well of Cawnpore.

Every man must have felt, then, that he was twenty men in one for
retribution. And when his arm smote, he wished to concentrate all the
might of justice into each stroke of his sword. When I remember that my
sins tore my Savior's body on the tree, took the crown from His head
and the comfort from His heart–and sent Him down into the shades of
death–I vow revenge against them. "O sin! Happy shall he be that takes
your little ones and dashes them against a stone!" Yes, doubly blessed
is he who, like Samuel, shall hew the Agag of his sins in pieces before
the Lord and not spare so much as one single fault, or folly, or vice,
because it slew the Savior. Be holy, be pure, be just–be you separate
from sinners for Christ's sake!

Then, next, the Christian is expected to exalt his Master's name and to
do much to honor His memory, for Christ's sake. You remember that
queen, who, when her husband died, thought she could never honor him
too much and built a tomb so famous that though it was only named for
him, it remains, to this day, the name of every splendid memorial–the
mausoleum. Now let us feel that we cannot erect anything too famous for
the honor of Christ–that our life will be well spent in making His
name famous. Let us pile up the unhewn stones of goodness, self-denial,
kindness, virtue, grace–let us lay these one upon another and build up
a memorial for Jesus Christ so that whoever passes by may know that we
have been with Jesus and have learned of Him!

Should we not, for His sake, care for the growth of His kingdom and the
welfare of His subjects? Ought we not to minister to the wants of His
servants and comfort the sorrows of His friends? If He has a poor
brother anywhere, is it not at once an honor and a duty to aid him? As
David cherished Mephibosheth, who was lame in his feet, for the sake of
Jonathan, so should you and I look after every heavy-laden,
faint-hearted Christian, for the sake of Jesus! Should we not be
bearing one another's burdens because Christ bore our burdens? Weeping
with them that weep because Jesus wept? Helping those who ask our help
because God has laid help upon One that is mighty, even our Redeemer?
And above all, "for Jesus' sake" should be a motive to fill us with
intense sympathy with Him.

He has many sheep and some of them are wandering–let us go after them,
my Brothers and Sisters, for the Shepherd's sake. He has pieces of
money which He has lost–let us sweep the house and light our candle
and seek diligently till we find them, "for Jesus' sake." He has
brethren who are playing the prodigal–let us seek to bring them
back–"for Christ's sake." Let the soul of the poorest little street
Arab–let the soul of the grossest scoundrel and the most abandoned
harlot be very dear to us for Jesus' sake–let us care even for the
obstinate and rebellious for Jesus' sake.

As you look at souls imagine you see Jesus weeping over them. As you
look at perishing sinners imagine you see His blood bespattered on them
and you will love them, "for Jesus' sake." Oh, Brethren, you who are
doing nothing for Christ–you who come here and listen to me–and sit
at His Table and take the bread and wine in remembrance of Him–what
will you do when your Master comes and you have to confess that you did
nothing for Him? That your love was of such a sort that you never
showed it–you talked of it–but you never gave to His cause, you never
worked for His name?

Away with such love as that! What do men think of it–a love that never
shows itself in action? Why, they say, "Open rebuke is better than
secret love of that kind." You had better have rebuked Christ than to
have had a sneaking, miserable, untrue, unloving love to Him–a love so
weak that it was never powerful enough to actuate you to a single deed
of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism, or zeal! Oh, Brothers and
Sisters, let it not be so with us any longer, but let us seek, by God's
Grace, that "for Jesus' sake" we may have a sympathy with Him in
yearning over the souls of men and endeavoring to bring them to a
knowledge of His salvation!

2. A few words, lastly, by way of exhortation on this point and I will
not weary your attention by longer talk. Clear as the sound of a
trumpet startling men from slumber and bewitching as the sound of
martial music to the soldier when he marches to the conflict ought to
be the matchless melody of this word, "for Christ's sake." It ought to
make men perform deeds which should fit them to rank with angels. It
ought to bring out of every regenerate man more than was ever forced
from manhood by any other word–let it have what charm it might. It
ought to make the least among us valiant as David and David as the
servant of the Lord.

Think, my Brethren, what mighty wonders other words have worked. For
philosophy's sake what have men not suffered? They have wasted their
health over unhealthy furnaces–breathing noxious gases. They have worn
out their days and their nights burning the midnight oil. They have
spent their last farthing to acquire the secrets of nature! They have
beggared themselves and their families to unravel mysteries which have
brought no more substantial reward than the honor of learned
approbation and conscious power. The martyrs of science are
innumerable. If someone would write their story it would make a bright
page in human history!

Think again of what men have done for discovery's sake by way of
traveling. Take down the books of modern travelers and you will be
astounded at their zeal, their courage and disinterestedness! They have
mocked the fever, have laughed at death, have left friends and kindred
and the comfort of home! They have gone to inhospitable climates among
more inhospitable men, have wandered about in weariness, wet with the
rain, frozen with the cold, or burnt up with the heat! They have gone
hungry and thirsty, sick and weary–have journeyed on and on to find
the source of a river or a passage through a frozen strait!

When I think of such expeditions as those of Ross and Franklin, I
marvel at and reverence the endurance of humanity! How these bold men
have braved old Boreas in his own ice-palace and faced grim desolation
in its own domain! The text, "Quit you like men," gets a new emphasis
when we think of these conquerors of famine and cold and peril. And
shall the in-quisitiveness of mankind prove a stronger motive than
God-given love to Jesus? If so, shame upon us! Think, again, of what
men have done for false religion's sake! In years gone by the scimitar
flashed from the Arab's sheath and the Arab's eyes flashed fire at the
very name of Mahomet! For the one dogma, "God is God and Mahomet is his
Prophet," blood flowed in rivers and fields were strewn with the slain
rejoicing to be slain because they dreamed that Paradise was to be
found under the shadow of swords.

Think how the heathen cast themselves before the car of Juggernaut to
be crushed into a hideous mass of mangled flesh and broken bones and
oozing blood for their god's sake! Their filthy, horrid god's sake! How
many have given themselves to die by Gunga's stream? How many a woman
has gone up to the funeral pile and thrown herself upon her husband's
dead body, giving herself an offering to her cruel gods? I know not
what men have not suffered for the horrid deities which they have
chosen for themselves.

Martyrs to fanaticism and deception are not a few and shall the Truth
of God find us unready and unwilling to run risks for its sake? Review,
my Brethren, the heroic struggles of the Lord's people and here we turn
to the brightest page of the world's annals! Think of the suffering of
God's people through the Maccabean war! How marvelous was their courage
when Antiochus Epiphanes took the feeblest among the Jews to constrain
them to break the law and found himself weak as water before their
dauntless resolve! Aged women and feeble children overcame the tyrant.
Their tongues were torn out. They were sawn asunder. They were broiled
on the fire. They were pierced with knives–but no kind of torture
could subdue the indomitable spirit of God's chosen people.

Think of the Christian heroism of the first centuries! Remember
Blandina tossed upon the horns of bulls and set in a red-hot iron
chair! Think of the martyrs given up to the lions in the amphitheatre
amidst the reviling of the Roman mob– dragged to their death at the
heels of wild horses, or, like Marcus Arethusa, smeared with honey and
stung to death by bees.

And yet in which case did the enemy triumph? In none! They were more
than conquerors through Him that loved them! And why? Because they did
it all, "for Christ's sake," and Christ's sake alone.

Think of the cruelty which stained the snows of the Switzer's Alps and
the grass of Piedmont's Valleys blood-red with the murdered Waldenses
and Albigenses and honor the heroism of those who, in their deaths,
counted not their lives dear to them "for Christ's sake." Walk this
afternoon to your own Smithfield and stand upon the sacred spot where
the martyrs leaped into their chariot of fire, leaving their ashes on
the ground, "for Jesus' sake!" In Edinburgh, stand on the well-known
stones consecrated with covenanting gore where the axe and the hangman
set free the spirits of men who rejoiced to suffer for Christ's sake!

Remember those fugitives, for Christ's sake, "meeting in the glens and
crags of Scotia's every hill." They were daunted by nothing–they dared
everything–"for Christ's sake." Think, too, of what missionaries have
done, "for Christ's sake." With no weapon but the Bible they have
landed among cannibals and have subdued them to the power of the
Gospel! With no hope of gain except in the reward which the Lord has
reserved for every faithful one, they have gone where the most
enterprising trader dared not go! They have passed through barriers
impenetrable to the courage of men who sought after gold–but to be
pierced by men who sought after souls.

Think of the Moravians, first and choice warriors for God. Think of
them selling themselves for slaves that they might teach other slaves
the liberty of the Gospel–consenting to be confined in the lazar house
for life–with the absolute certainty of rotting away piece-meal with
leprosy and with diseases fouler still! Why? Only that they might save
the leper's soul and have an opportunity of teaching the poor diseased
one the way by which his spirit might be made whole through Jesus the
great Physician!

And what have you and I ever done? Oh, pigmies, dwarfs, sons of
nobodies! Our names will never be remembered. What have we done?
Preached a few times, but with how little fire? Prayed at certain
seasons, but with how little passion? Talked now and then to sinners.
With what half-heartedness given to the cause of Christ, but seldom
given till we denied ourselves and made a real sacrifice! Believed in
God at times, but oh with what unbelief mixed with our faith! Loved
Christ, but with what cold, stolid hearts. "For Christ's sake." Do you
feel the power of it? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your
soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness and clear away the
mists of sin!

"For Christ's sake!" Be this the tongue of fire that shall sit on every
one of you! "For Christ's sake!" Be this the Divine rapture, the
heavenly impulse to bear you aloft from earth! The Divine spirit that
shall make us bold as lions and swift as eagles in our Lord's service!
Fixed, fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, resolve
to honor Him with a determination that is not to be turned aside and
pressing on with an ardor never to be wearied.

I cannot preach as I would on such a theme as this, but I leave it with
you. How much do you owe to my Lord? Has He ever done anything for you?
Has He forgiven your sins? Has He covered you with a robe of
righteousness? Has He set your feet upon a rock? Has He established
your goings? Has He prepared Heaven for you? Has He prepared you for
Heaven? Has He written your name in His Book of Life? Has He given you
countless blessings? Has He a store of mercies which eyes have not seen
nor ears heard?

Then do something for Christ worthy of His love. Wake up from natural
sleepiness and this very day, before the sun goes down, do something in
some way by which you shall prove that you feel the power of that
Divine motive, "for Christ's sake." May God accept and bless you, dear
friends, "for Jesus' sake." Amen.

"See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did ever such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads over His body on the tree.
Then am I dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small!
Love so amazing, so Divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."