The New Year's Guest
(No. 1757)
A SERMON PREACHED ON LORDS-DAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 16, 1883,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT MENTONE, BEFORE THE COMMUNION, TO A SMALL COMPANY OF BELIEVERS.
"I was a stranger, andyou took Me in." Matthew 25:35.
"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12.
I LATELY received a New Year's card which suggested to me the topic on
which I am about to speak to you. The designer of the card has, with
holy insight, seen the relation of the two texts to each other and
rendered both of them eminently suggestive by placing them together.
There is freshness in the thought that, by receiving Jesus as a
stranger, our believing hospitality works in us a Divine capacity and
we thereby receive power to become the sons of God. The connection
suggested between the two Inspired words is really existent and by no
means strained or fanciful, as you will see by reading the context of
the passage in John–"He was in the world, and the world was made by
Him, and the world knew Him not." So He was a stranger in the world
which He Himself had made! "He came unto His own, and His own received
Him not." So He was a stranger among the people whom He had set apart
for His own by many deeds of mercy! "But as many as received Him"–that
is to say, gave entertainment to this blessed Stranger–"to them gave
He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His
name."
I thought that this might prove to be a suitable and salutary passage
to discourse upon at the beginning of a New Year, for this is a season
of hospitality and some among our friends will think it well to
commence a New Year by saying to the Lord Jesus, "Come in, You blessed
of the Lord; why do You stand outside?" This Divine stranger has
knocked at many doors till His head is wet with dew and His locks with
the drops of the night. And now I trust there are some who will rise up
and open unto Him so that at the end of the year they may say with Job,
"The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the
traveler." Verily, in so doing, you will not only entertain angels
unawares, but you will be receiving the Lord of angels!
The day in which you receive Him shall be the beginning of years to
you–it shall be the first of a series of years which, whether they are
few or many, shall be, each one, in the best sense happy! I would say a
few words, first, about the Stranger taken in and then, about the
Stranger making strangers into sons.
I. THE STRANGER TAKEN IN–this is a simile given to us by our Lord,
Himself–a royal metaphor presented to us from His own Throne. Note
that the passage begins, "I was hungry and you gave Me meat: I was
thirsty and you gave Me drink." These are two good works which prove
faith in Jesus and love of Him and, therefore, they are accepted,
recorded and rewarded. But it is a distinct and memorable growth when
it comes to, "I was a stranger, and you took Me in." A place to stay is
a larger gift than refreshment at the door. It is good, believingly, to
do anything for Christ, however small, but it is a much better thing to
give entertainment to Jesus within our souls, admitting Him into our
minds and hearts.
We have not come to the full of what our Lord has a right to expect of
us until we have given from our stores to Him by benefiting His poor
and aiding His cause–then we deliberately open the doors of our entire
being to Him and install Him in our souls as an honored Guest! We must
not be satisfied with giving Him cups of cold water, or morsels of
bread, but we must "constrain Him, saying, Abide with us." Our hearts
must be as a Bethany, where, like Mary, Martha and Lazarus, we give our
Master a grand welcome! Or as the house of Obededom where the Ark of
the Lord may dwell in
peace. Our prayer must be that of Abraham's, "My Lord, if now I have
found favor in Your sight, pass not away, I pray You, from Your
servant."
The most important word of our text is stranger and its light casts a
hue of strangeness over the whole passage. Here are three strange
things. The first is, that the Lord Jesus should be a Stranger here
below. Is it not a strange thing that, "He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him," and yet He was a stranger in it? Yet is it not
a whit more strange than true, for when He was born there was no room
for Him in the inn? Inns had open doors for ordinary strangers, but not
for Him, for He was a greater Stranger than any around Him. It was
Bethlehem of David, the seat of the ancient family to which He
belonged, but alas, He had become "a Stranger unto His brethren, and an
alien unto His mother's children"! And no door was opened unto Him.
Soon there was no safe room for Him in the village, itself, for Herod
the king sought the young Child's life and He must flee into Egypt, to
be a Stranger in a strange land and worse than a stranger–an exile and
a fugitive from the land where, by birthright, He was king! On His
return and in His public appearing, there was still no room for Him
among the mass of the people. He came to His own Israel–to whom
Prophets had revealed Him and types had set Him forth– but they would
have none of Him. "He was despised and rejected of men." He was the Man
"whom men abhorred," whom they so much detested that they cried, "Away
with Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Yes, the world so little knew Him
that they must necessarily hang up the Lord of Glory on a Cross and put
"the Holy One and the Just" to a felon's death! Jew and Gentile alike
conspired to prove how truly He was a stranger–the Jew said, "As for
this Fellow, we know not from where He is." And the Roman asked Him,
"Where are You from?"
Now, that Christ should be such a Stranger was, indeed, a sadly
singular thing, and yet we need not wonder, for how should a wicked,
selfish world know Jesus or receive Him? The Lord's own had been
forewarned of this in ancient type, for long before the Lord appeared
in the flesh, He had shown Himself as a Stranger to the faithful. He
came in angelic form to Abraham and thus we read the story–"And he
lifted up his eyes and looked and, lo, three men stood by him: and when
he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself
toward the ground. And said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your
sight, pass not away, I pray you, from Your servant: Let a little
water, I pray You, be fetched, and wash Your feet, and rest yourselves
under the tree: and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort you
your hearts."
The Lord, who stands out in the center of the three, was a Stranger,
and the father of the faithful entertained Him, in type of what all the
faithful of every age will do. This is He of whom Jeremiah said, "O the
hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of trouble, why should You
be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turns aside
to tarry for a night?" Yet with this fair warning, it still remains
sadly singular that, coming on an errand of mercy, our Lord should find
so scant a welcome; should be so little known; so seldom recognized, so
harshly entreated. Truly as Egypt made Israel to serve with rigor, so
have we made this patient Stranger to serve with our sins and wearied
Him with our iniquities.
The Son of Man had not where to lay His head. Luke says the barbarians
showed Paul and his friends no little kind-ness–but men were worse
than barbarians to their Savior! Shall the servant be better treated
than his master, or the disciple than his Lord? "Behold, what manner of
love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons
of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not."
Another strange thing is that we should be able to receive the Lord
Jesus as a stranger. He has gone into Glory and will He always say of
us, "I was a stranger and you took Me in"? Yes, He will say so, if we
render to Him that spiritual hospitality of which He here speaks.
This can be done in several ways. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, for
such I trust you are, we can receive Christ as a stranger when
Believers are few and despised in any place. We may sojourn where
worldliness abounds and religion is at a discount–and it may need some
courage to swear our faith in Jesus. Then have we an opportunity of
winning the approving word, "I was a stranger, and you took Me in."
There is a sure proof of love in receiving our Lord as a stranger. If
the Queen desired, again, to visit Mentone, every villa would be gladly
placed at her disposal! But were she driven from her empire and reduced
to be a poor stranger, hospitality to her would be a greater test of
loyalty than it is today.
When Jesus is in low esteem in any place, and He sometimes is so, let
us be all the more bold to acknowledge our allegiance to Him. I fear
that many professors take their color from their company and are
fellows with the irreligious and the unbelieving. These cry, "Hosanna,"
with the multitude of the Lord's admirers, but in heart they have no
love to the Son of God. Our loyalty to Christ must never be a matter of
latitude and longitude–we must love Him in every land, honor Him when
the multitude disregard Him–and we must speak of Him when all forget
Him. Again, we have the Lord's own warrant for saying that if we show
brotherly kindness to a poor saint we entertain the Lord, Himself.
If we see Christians in need, or despised and ridiculed and we say,
"You are my Brother in Christ. It matters not what garb you wear, the
name of Christ is named on you and I suffer with you. I will relieve
your needs and share your reproach," then the glorious Lord, Himself,
will say to us at the last, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of
the least of these, My brethren, you have done it unto Me." It does
seem passing strange, though I thus speak, that you and I should still
be able to entertain our Lord and yet it is so! We do not wonder that
the righteous, with a humble truthfulness exclaim, "Lord, when did we
see You hungry and feed You? Or thirsty and gave You drink? When did we
see You a stranger and took You in?" Neither are we free from admiring
surprise. We also cry, "Will God in very deed dwell with men upon the
earth? Will He accept hospitality at our hands?" It is even so!
Again, we may entertain the Stranger, Christ, by holding fast to His
faithful Word when the doctrines taught by Himself and His Apostles are
in ill repute. Nowadays the Truth which God has revealed seems of less
account with men than their own thoughts and dreams! And they who still
believe Christ's faithful Word shall have it said of them, "I was a
stranger and you took Me in." When you see the revealed Truth of God,
as it were, wandering about in sheepskins and goatskins, being
destitute, afflicted, tormented, and no man says a good word for it,
then is the hour come to acknowledge it because it is Christ's
Truth–and to prove your fidelity by counting the reproach of Christ
greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt!
Oh, scorn on those who only believe what everybody else believes
because they must be in the swim with the majority! These are but dead
fish borne of the current and they will be washed away to a shameful
end! If living fish swim against the stream, so do living Christians
pursue Christ's Truth against the set and current of the times, defying
alike the ignorance and the culture of the age! It is the Believer's
honor, the chivalry of a Christian, to be the steadfast friend of the
Truth of God when all other men have forsaken it. So, also, when
Christ's precepts are disregarded, His day forgotten and His worship
neglected, we can come in, take up our cross and follow Him–and so
receive Him as a stranger.
To be sure, some will say, "Those people are fanatical Methodists, or
strait-laced Presbyterians," but what of that? It matters nothing to us
what the world thinks of us, for we are crucified to it and it to us!
If our Lord has laid down a rule, it is ours to follow it and find rest
unto our souls in so doing! Yes, and a special rest in doing it, when
by so doing we are securing that blessed sentence, "I was a stranger,
and you took Me in." Death, itself, for His sake, would be a small
matter if thereby we secured that priceless word!
Once more, that spiritual life which is the innermost receiving of
Christ–that new life which no man knows but he that has received it;
that quickening of the Spirit which makes the Christian as much
superior to ordinary men as men are above dumb, driven cattle–if we
receive that blessed gift, then shall we with emphasis be entertaining
our Lord as a stranger. Profession is abundant, but the secret life is
rare. The name to live is everywhere, but where is the life fully seen?
To be rather than to talk; to enjoy rather than to pretend; to have
Christ truly within–this is not every man's attainment, but those who
have it are among the God-like ones, the true sons of God!
A third strange thing is the fact that Jesus will deign to dwell in our
hearts. Such a One as Jesus in such a one as I am? The King of Glory in
a sinner's bosom? This is a miracle of Divine Grace, yet the manner of
it is simple enough. A humble, repenting faith opens the door and Jesus
enters the heart at once. Love shuts the door with the hand of
Penitence and holy Watchfulness keeps out intruders. Thus is the
promise made good, "If any man hears My voice, and opens the door, I
will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me." Meditation,
contemplation, prayer, praise and daily obedience keep the house in
order for the Lord!
And then follows the consecration of our entire nature to His use as a
temple–the dedication of spirit, soul, body and all their powers, as
holy vessels of the sanctuary! It is the writing of, "Holiness unto the
Lord," upon all that is about us till our everyday garments become
vestments, our meals sacraments, our life a ministry and ourselves
priests unto the Most High! Oh, the supreme condescension of this
indwelling! He never dwelt in angels, but He resides in a contrite
spirit! There is a world of meaning in the Redeemer's words, "I in
them." May we know them as Paul translates them, "Christ in you, the
hope of glory."
II. A few words must suffice upon THE STRANGER MAKING STRANGERS INTO
SONS. "As many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name." Yes, Beloved, the moment Christ is received into
our hearts by faith, we are no more strangers and foreigners, but of
the household of God, for the Lord adopts us and puts us among His
children! It is a splendid act of Divine Grace, that He should take us,
who were heirs of wrath, and make us heirs of God, joint-heirs with
Jesus Christ! Such honor have all the saints, even all that believe on
His name.
There is more to follow–the designation of sons brings with it a birth
into the actual condition of sons. The privilege brings with it the
power; the name is backed up and warranted by the nature–for the
Spirit of God enters into us, when Christ comes, and causes us to be
born again. To be adopted without being born again would be a lame
blessing, but when we are both adopted and regenerated then have we the
fullness of sonship and the Grace is made perfect towards us. "Except a
man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And this
mysterious birth, which comes with the reception of Christ, makes us
free, not only in the kingdom of God, but in the house and the heart of
God!
Don't forget that when the Lord Jesus enters our hearts, there springs
up between us and Him a living, loving, lasting union which seals our
sonship–for as we become one with the Son, we must be sons, also.
Jesus puts it, "My Father and your Father." It is the Spirit of His Son
in our hearts by which we cry, "Abba, Father." "He that is joined unto
the Lord is one spirit." We are unto the Father even as Jesus is, as He
says, "You have loved them as You have loved Me." Thus you see that in
receiving Jesus, we receive, as the Revised Version puts it, "the right
to become the sons of God."
Yet once more–the practical reception of Jesus into the life becomes a
proof to ourselves and others that we are the sons of God, for it
creates in us a likeness to God which is apparent and unquestionable.
For look, although Jehovah, our God, is incomprehensible and Infinite,
and His Glory is inconceivable in its splendor, yet this fact we know
of Him, that in His bosom lies His Son, with whom He is always
well-pleased. When we receive Jesus into our bosom, as one with us, and
when our joy and delight are in Him, we do, in that matter, become like
the Father. Having thus, with the Father, the same Object of love and
delight, we are brought into fellowship with Him and begin to walk in
the Light of God as He is in the Light.
A small window will let in the great sun–much more will Jesus, as the
blessed meeting place between our souls and God–let in the Life, Light
and Love of God into our souls, making us like God! Moreover, having
received Jesus as a stranger, we feel a tenderness towards all
strangers, for we see in their condition some resemblance to our own.
We have love to all who, like ourselves, are strangers with God and
sojourners, as all our fathers were, and thus again we are made like
God, of whom it is written, "The Lord preserves the strangers." Our God
is "kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Our Lord Jesus,
therefore, bade us be the children of our Father which is in Heaven,
"For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends
rain on the just and on the unjust."
By becoming doers of good, we are known as children of the good God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of
God." A man is a son of God when he lives beyond himself by a
thoughtful care for others; when his soul is not confined within the
narrow circle of his own ribs, but goes abroad to bless those around
him, however unworthy they may be. True children of God never see a
lost one without seeking to save him; never hear of misery without
longing to bestow comfort. "You know the heart of a stranger," said the
Lord to Israel. And so do we, for we were once captives, ourselves, and
even now our choicest Friend is still a stranger, for whose sake we
love all suffering men.
When Christ is in us, we search out opportunities for bringing
prodigals, strangers and outcasts to the great Father's house. Our love
goes out to all mankind and our hands are closed against none if it is
so that we are made like God, as little children are like their father.
Oh, sweet result of entertaining the Son of God by faith! He dwells in
us and we gaze upon Him in holy fellowship so that, "we all with open
face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord."
"Love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God."
May we daily feel the power of Jesus within our hearts, transforming
our whole character and making us to be more and more manifestly the
children of God! When our Lord asks, concerning us, "What manner of men
were they?" may even His enemies and ours be compelled to answer, "As
You are, so were they–each one resembled the children of a King." Then
shall Jesus be admired in all them that believe, for men shall see in
the children, the Divine Stranger's handiwork.