Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, November 12th, 1871 by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the
ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof."–Psalm
19:4-6.
"The Sun of righteousness."–Malachi 4:2.
WE SHOULD FEEL QUITE JUSTIFIED in applying the language of the 19th
Psalm to our Lord Jesus Christ from the simple fact that he is so
frequently compared to the sun; and especially in the passage which we
have given you as our second text, wherein he is called "the Sun of
Righteousness." But we have a higher justification for such a reading
of the passage, for it will be in your memories that, in the 10th
chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul, slightly
altering the words of this psalm, applies them to the gospel and the
preachers thereof. "Have they not heard?" said he, "Yea, verily, their
sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the
world." So that what was here spoken of the sun by David, is referred
by Paul to the gospel, which is the light streaming from Jesus Christ,
"the Sun of Righteousness." We can never err if we allow the New
Testament to interpret the Old: comparing spiritual things with
spiritual is a good mental and spiritual exercise for us; and I feel,
therefore, that we shall not be guilty of straining the text at all
when we take the language of David in relation to the sun, and use it
in reference to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do not your hearts often say, "What shall we do, or what shall we say
to render honor unto our Redeemer?" Have you not often felt confounded
as to what offering you shall bring to him? If you had been Possessor
of all the worlds, you would have laid them at his feet; if the
universe had been your heritage, you would cheerfully have resigned it
to him, and felt happy in stripping yourself of everything, that he
might be rendered the more glorious by your sacrifice. Since you have
not all this wealth, have you not again and again asked of your soul,
"Oh what shall I do,
My Savior to praise?"
I would write the best of poems if so I could extol him, but the
faculty is not in me; I would sing the sweetest of songs, and compose
the most melting music, if I could, and count art, and wit, and music
exalted by being handmaidens to him; but, wherewithal shall I adore
him, before whom the best music on earth must be but discord; and how
shall I set him forth, the very skirts of whose garments are bright
with insufferable light? At such times you have looked the whole world
through to find metaphors to heap upon him; you have culled all the
fair flowers of nature, and made them into garlands to cast at his
feet, and you have gathered all earth's gems and precious things
wherewith to crown his head, but you have been disappointed with the
result, and have cried out with our poet:–
"The whole creation can afford
But some faint shadows of my Lord;
Nature, to make his beauties known,
Must mingle colors not her own."
At such times, while ransacking land, and sea, and sky for metaphors,
you have probably looked upon the sun, and have said: "This great orb,
the lord of light and lamp of day, is like my Savior; it is the faint
image of his excellent glory whose countenance thineth as the sun in
its strength." You have done well to seize on such a figure. What
Milton calls the golden-tressed sun is the most glorious object in
creation, and in Jesus the fullness of glory dwells; the sun is at the
same time the most influential of existences, acting upon the whole
world, and truly our Lord is, in the deepest sense, "of this great
world both eye and soul; he "with benignant ray sheds beauty, life, and
joyance from above. The sun is, moreover, the most abiding of
creatures; and therein it is also a type of him who remaineth from
generation to generation, and is the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever. The king of day is so vast and so bright that the human eye
cannot bear to gaze upon him; we delight in his beams, but we should be
blinded should we continue to peer into his face; even yet more
brilliant is our Lord by nature, for as God he is a consuming fire, but
he deigns to smile upon us with milder beams as our brother and
Redeemer. Jesus, like the sun, is the center and soul of all things,
the fullness of all good, the lamp that lights us, the fire that warms
us, the magnet that guides and controls us; he is the source and
fountain of all life, beauty, fruitfulness, and strength; he is the
fosterer of tender herbs of penitence, the quickener of the vital sap
of grace, the ripener of fruits of holiness, and the life of everything
that grows within the garden of the Lord. Whereas to adore the sun
would be idolatry; it were treason not to worship ardently the divine
Sun of Righteousness.
Jesus Christ is the great, the glorious, the infinitely blessed; even
the sun fails to set hire forth; but, as it is one of the best figures
we can find, be it ours to use it this day. We will think of Jesus as
the Sun this morning; first as in the text; secondly, as he is to us;
and then, thirdly, for a few minutes, we will bask in his beams.
I. First, then, we will contemplate Jesus AS THE SUN IN THE TEXT.
Note how the passage begins: "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the
sun." Kings were accustomed in their pompous progresses through their
dominions to have canopies of splendor borne aloft over them, so that
marching in the midst of their glittering soldiery they were themselves
the main attraction of the gorgeous pageant. Our Lord Jesus Christ in
his church is, as it were, traversing the heavens in a majestic
tabernacle, and, like the sun, scattering his beams among men. The
Redeemer is canopied by the adoration of his saints, for he "inhabiteth
the praises of Israel." He is from day to day advancing in his glorious
matchings through the universe, conquering and to conquer, and he will
journey onward till the dispensation shall terminate, and the gospel
age shall be closed by his second advent. When the text saith that
there is a tabernacle set for the sun in the firmament, we are reminded
of Christ as dwelling in the highest heavens. He is not alone the
Christ of ancient history, but he is the Christ of to-day. Think not
always of him as the lowly man despised and rejected, as nailed to the
cross, or buried in the tomb; he is not here, for he is risen, but he
still exists, not as a dream or phantom, but as the real Christ. Doubt
it not, for up yonder, in the seventh heaven, the Lord has set a
tabernacle for the Sun of Righteousness. There Jesus abides in splendor
inconceivable, the joy and glory of all those blessed spirits who,
having believed in him on the earth, have come to behold him in the
heavens.
"Bright, like a sun, the Savior sits,
And spreads eternal noon;
No evenings there, nor gloomy nights,
To want the feeble moon."
That Jesus lives is a deep well of consolation to the saints, and did
we always remember it our hearts would not be troubled. If we always
remembered that Jesus both lives and reigns; our joys would never
wither. We worship him, it is true, as one who was slain and hath
redeemed us unto God by his blood; but we also extol him as one who is
"alive for evermore, and hath the keys of death and of hell."
Let your faith to-day behold Jesus sitting at the right hand of God,
even the Father. He sits there because his atoning work is done, and he
is receiving the infinite reward which his Father promised him. He is
exalted as a king upon his throne, expecting until his enemies are made
his footstool. He dwells within his tabernacle of praise, adored and
admired by angels and glorified spirits. He sits there, not as a weary
one, feeble and exhausted, but with the keys of universal monarchy at
his girdle, for "the government is upon his shoulder, and his name is
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God." I want you fully to
grasp the thought of the living Savior,–of the Sun in his tabernacle
in the highest heavens, for this must be the fulcrum upon which we
shall work this morning. We shall get our leverage here: the living
Savior, the mighty Savior, the reigning Savior; he is the church's joy
and hope in the present and for all years to come.
The text proceeds to speak of Jesus as the sun, and describes him first
as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. A beautiful description
indeed of the sun when he rises in the early morning. He comes forth
from the vast obscure, as from within a secret chamber. He withdraws
the veil of night, and floods the earth with fluid gold. From curtains
of purple and vermillion, he looks forth, and scatters orient pearl
around him. Clad with a blaze of glory, he begins the race of day. Thus
our Lord Jesus Christ when he rose from the dead, was as the sun
unveiling itself. He came forth from the sepulcher as a bridegroom from
his chamber. Observe that dear name of bridegroom. The Lord of heaven
and earth, between whom and us there was an infinite distance, has
deigned to take our humanity into union with himself of the most
intimate kind. Among men, there is no surer mode of making peace
between two contending parties, than for a marriage to be established
between them. It has often so been done, and thus wars have been ended,
and alliances have been established. The Prince of Peace on heaven's
side condescends to be married to our nature, that henceforth heaven
and earth may be as one. Our Lord came as the bridegroom of his church
out of his chamber, when he was born of the virgin and was revealed to
the shepherds and the wise men of the east; yet, in a certain sense, he
still continued in his chamber as a bridegroom all his life, for he was
hidden and veiled, the Jewish world knew not their king; though he
spake openly in their streets and sought not mystery, yet he was
unknown, they did not discern him; and in some respects he did not then
desire to be discerned, for he often bade his disciples to tell no man
what was done. That was the time when the bridegroom was in his
chamber, being made perfect through suffering and perfectly conformed
unto his church, hearing her sicknesses and her sorrows, suffering her
wants, enduring her shame, and thus completing the marriage union
between the two. To this end, he actually descended by dark steps of
anguish into the silent inner room of the grace, and there he slept in
his chamber, perfectly wedded to his church. Come and look at him, you
who admire the lover of your souls; he stooped to death and the
sepulcher, because manhood had fallen under their yoke; his church was
subject to death, and he must die. She deserved to stiffer the penally
due to God's insulted law, and, therefore, Jesus bowed his head to the
stroke.
"Yea, said the Son, with her I'll go
Through all the depths of sin and woe;
And on the cross will even dare
The bitter pains of death to bear."
And he did bear them, and in the darksome chamber of the tomb, he
proved how true a bridegroom he was to his church. Before his great
race began, of which we are soon to speak, it behaved our mighty
champion to descend into the lowest parts of the earth, and sleep among
the dead. Before every day there is a night wherein darkness seems to
triumph. It behaved Christ to suffer, and then to rise again. His
descent was necessary to his ascent; his sojourn in the chamber to his
race and victory.
Thus I have introduced to you the prelude of the race, the bridegroom
in his chamber. Now observe the coming out of it. The sun comes forth,
at the appointed hour, from the gates of day, and begins to gladden the
earth; even so on the third day, early in the morning, Jesus, our Lord,
arose from his sleep, and there was a great earthquake, for the angel
of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the
door of the sepulcher. Then did the Sun of Righteousness arise. Then
did the great Bridegroom come forth from his chamber, and begin his
joyful race. It must have been a ravishing sight to have beheld the
risen Savior; well might the disciples hold him by the feet and worship
him. Methinks, if ever angels sung more sweetly at one time than
another, it must have been on that first Easter morning, when they saw
the divine champion break his bonds of death asunder, and rise into the
glorious resurrection life. Then was he revealed to the sons of men;
and, no longer hidden: he began to tell his disciples the meaning of
those enigmas which had been dark to them; things which they had not
understood, which seemed inexplicable, were all opened up by him, for
now was his time to come out of his chamber. His words, though plain
enough, had aforetime hidden him even from those who loved him; but now
he speaketh no more in proverbs, but showeth them openly concerning
himself and the Father. He hath laid aside the incognito in which he
traversed the earth as a stranger, and he is now divinely familiar with
his friends, bidding them even touch his hands and his side. In his
death the veil was rent, and in his resurrection the High Priest came
forth in his robes of glory and beauty. A little while he was gone
away, but he returned from the secret chambers of the ivory palaces,
and showed himself unto his disciples. Blessed were the eyes that saw
him in that day.
Though during the forty days in which our Lord lingered among his
followers upon earth we may truly say that he had come out of his
chamber, we perceive that he more fully did so when, after the forty
days had been accomplished, he took his disciples to the top of Olivet,
and there ascended into heaven, out of their sight. Then had the sun
indeed ascended above the horizon to make his glories stream along the
heavens. See ye not the angelic bands poising themselves upon the wing
in mid-air, waiting until he shall return all gloving with the victory
non in long and deadly fight. Mark ye well that matchless spectacle as
he is "seen of angels."
"The helmed cherubim
And sworded seraphim
Are seen in glittering ranks, with wings displayed."
They have hastened to meet the Prince of Glory, and attend him to his
ancient patrimony. Right glad are an the heavenly band to welcome back
the Captain of the Lord's host, and, therefore, they harp in loud and
solemn quire to Heaven's triumphant Heir. As for the glorified of
mortal race, redeemed of old by his blood which in the fullness of time
was shed, they hail him with gladdest hymn, and lift up their sweetest
symphonies to extol him who finished transgression, made an end of sin,
and brought in everlasting righteousness. Then the bridegroom came out
of his chamber with fit marriage music: his beauties hidden awhile in
the chamber, where he vies regarded as without form or comeliness,
blazed forth with renewed splendor, such as confounded both sun and
moon.
In another respect, Christ came out of his chamber at his ascension,
because, when he ascended on high, leading captivity captive, he
received and gave gifts for men. The gifts were intended for the
manifestation of himself. His church, which is his body, was by his own
command sitting still in the chamber, tarrying till power was given.
But, on a sudden, the bridegroom's power was felt, for there was heard
the sound as of a rushing mighty wind, which filled all the place, and
then descending upon each favored head came the cloven tongue, and,
straightway, you could see that the bridegroom had come out of his
chamber, for the multitude in the street began to hear his voice. It
was Peter that spake, we say, but far rather was it Christ, the
bridegroom, who spake by Peter. It was the sun, from the chambers of
the east, bursting through the clouds, and beginning to shine on
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia,
and Rome, and Egypt, and making the multitudes in far off lands to see
the day which prophets and kings had waited for, but which had never
visited their eyes. Do you hear the joyful motion among the people, the
joy mingled with the sorrows of repentance? This is the singing of
birds, and these the dewdrops which hail the rising sun. The people
cry, "What must we do to be saved?"–the shadows are fleeing. They
believe in Jesus, and are baptized into his name,–the true light is
shining. Three thousand souls are added in one day to the church, for
truly the bridegroom is awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty
man that shouteth by reason of wine (Psalm 78:65). Then was the gospel
race commenced with a glorious burst of strength, such as only our
champion could have displayed. Meditate at your leisure upon this first
general manifestation of our Lord to the general multitude. He had not
gone out of Israel before. "I am not sent," said he, "save to the lost
sheep of the House of Israel." Palestine was his chamber: he went to
the windows of it, and looked forth on Tyre and Sidon wistfully; but he
had not come forth of his chamber till that day, when the gospel began
to be preached to the Gentiles also, and in fulfillment of the gift of
Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out upon all flesh, the apostles
vent everywhere preaching the word. When even we, the dwellers in the
far off northern isles, received the gospel, then, indeed, had the
bridegroom come forth out of his chamber.
But enough of this, or time will fail me. After the coming forth, we
have to consider in the text his course. The course of Jesus has been
as that of the sun, or like that of a mighty champion girded for
running.
Notice, under this head, his continuance. Our Lord's gospel has been no
meteor that flashed for a while and then passed away, but it has
remained as the sun in the heavens. What systems of philosophy have
come and none since on Calvary the Christ of God was lifted up! What
speculations, what lo-heres and lo-theres have shone forth, have
dazzled fools, and have been quenched in night, since he left the
chamber of his marriage! Yet he continues still the same; nor,
brethren, are there any marks of decrepitude either in him or in his
gospel. They tell us that the idolatry of Hindostan is evidently
crumbling: it falls not yet, but it is worm-eaten through and through.
Equally sure is it that the false prophet holds but a feeble swats
among his followers, and we can all see that though popery makes
desperate efforts, and its extremities are vigorous, yet it is
paralyzed at its heart, and the Vatican is made to feel than its time
of power is short.
As for the gospel, it wears the dew of its youth after eighteen
centuries of struggles; and it predominates most in those young nations
which have evidently a history before them. The old systems are now
most favored by those nations which are left behind in the race of
civilisation, but the peoples whom God has made quick by nature are
those to whom he has given to be receptive of his grace. There are
grand days coming for the church of God. Voltaire said that he lived in
the twilight of Christianity; and so he did, but it was the twilight of
the morning, not the twilight of the evening. Glory be unto God, the
little cloud the size of a man's hand is spreading; it begins to cover
the heavens, and the day is not far distant when the sound of abundance
of rain shall be heard. Christ was not a strong man, who bounded forth
at a leap, and then put forth no more strength, but he rejoiced to
continue his work, and to run his race. He was not a shooting star that
sparkles for a moment, but a sun that shall thine throughout the
livelong day.
Note next in this metaphor the unity of our Lord's course, for it is
clear in the text: "Rejoicing as a strong man to run the race." A race
is one thing; there is the one goal, and the man gathers up his
strength to reach it. He has nothing else to think of. They may throw
the golden apples in his road, but he does not observe them; they may
sound harp and sackbut to the right, and breathe the lute or sweeter
instruments of music to the left, but he is deaf to all; he has a race
to run, and he throws his whole strength into it. This is a fit image
of our Lord; he has never turned aside, he has never been compelled to
retrace his steps, to revise his doctrine, to amend his system, or
change his tactics. On, on, on has the course of Jesus been, shining
more and more unto the perfect day.
A certain people now-a-days who yet dare to call themselves Christians,
are always hankering after something new, pining for novelties, and
boasting of their fresh discoveries, though, forsooth, their fresh
things are only fragments of broken images of heresies, which our
fathers dashed to shivers centuries ago. The great thinkers of the
present day are nothing more than mere translators–you know the London
meaning of that word–buyers of old shoes who patch then up, and send
them forth again as if they were something new. Old shoes and clouted
are common enough among those Gibeonites who would deceive Israel, and
whose boast is that they have come from far, and bring us treasures of
wisdom from remote regions. Sirs, we want not your new things, for our
Lord's race is the same as of old, and as he continues in one course so
also will we. To spread righteousness and, in so doing, to save sinners
and to glorify God, this is the one purpose of Christ; from it he will
never cease, and nothing shall ever tempt him from the pursuit of it.
Look, I pray you, with pleasure and see how our Lord, from his first
coming out of his chamber until now, has continued still in the gospel
to thine forth with rays of glory, without variableness or shadow of a
turning. Though we believe not, he abideth faithful, he cannot deny
himself; he changes not in work or way. For Zion's sake he worketh
hitherto, and the pleasure of the Lord prospers in his hand.
But now, observe next, the notable idea of strength which the text
conveys to us. "Rejoicing as a strong man to run his race." It is no
drudgery the ascended Lord to carry on his cause;
"The baffled prince of hell
In lain new efforts tries,
Truth's empire to repel
By cruelty and lies;
Th' infernal gates shall rage in vain
Conquest awaits the Lamb once slain."
There is a race to be run but Jesus is strong enough for it; he does
not come panting up to the starting place, and thence go creeping on,
but like a strong man he surveys the course. He knows that he is equal
to it, and, therefore, he delights in it. When he began his race he was
opposed, but the opposition only made him triumph the more readily, for
"they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word."
When our Lord arose like the sun, the clouds were thick and heavy, but
he painted their fleecy skirts with gold; persecution hung over the
eastern horizon, but he turned it into the imperial purple of his
sovereignty. As he pursued his course the ice of centuries melted, the
dense gloom of ages disappeared. No chains could bind him, and no bonds
could hold him. He dashed on with undiminished energy, and the gates of
hell could not prevail.
As no cloud has ever stayed the sun as he has "whirled his car along
the ethereal plain," so no difficulties impeded the onward course of
the gospel in the days of its dawning. To the first days of the church
Thomson's lines to the sun are fully applicable–
"Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent sun
Melts into limpid air the high-raised clouds,
And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills,
In party-coloured bands; till wide, unveiled,
The face of nature shines, from where earth seems
Far stretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere."
The gospel soon shed its light in every land, and all nations felt its
benign power. Men ceased to persecute, and bowed before the cross.
Anon fresh clouds arose, and the church passed through them. Errors and
heresies multiplied, filthy dreamers led away a huge apostacy, Rome
became the mother of harlots and abominations, but the true church, and
the true Christ within her, went right on. The church was not less
triumphant in her second trial than in her first. Rome Papal was
overcome as, surely as Rome Pagan. Popes were no more her conquerors
than bloody emperors had been of yore. To the thoughtful eye the sun of
Christ is not less bright over the valleys of Piedmont than over the
waves of the sea which bore Paul and his fellow apostles. The
champion's race was as eager and as triumphant as before.
Since then, dense banks of spiritual deadness and false teaching have
barred the visible heavens, and have appeared to mortal sight an ebon
wall impenetrable as steel, but the Lord reigneth. He that sitteth in
the heavens doth laugh, the Lord doth have them in derision. Strong is
his right hand, and his enemies shall be broken. On goes the Sun of
Righteousness, nothing impedes him, his tabernacle is above them all,
he rideth on the heavens, yea, he rideth on the wings of the wind.
Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is
everlasting strength. Christ has failed in nothing, the decrees have
been executed, the eternal purposes have been fulfilled, the elect have
been saved, his kingdom is established, and shall continue as long as
the sun. Who shall stay his hand? Who shall resist his will?
Observe, therefore, how the force is coupled with joy. Weakness brings
sorrow, but strength begets joy. Christ is always glad, and he would
have his people rejoice, for his cause goeth right on and he shall not
fail nor be discouraged. He rejoices as he divides the spoil with the
strong. When a man has a task to do which is easy to him, and which he
can readily perform, he sings at his work; and so this day doth Christ
rejoice over his church with joy, and triumph over her with singing.
His cause goes on in spite of foes, and his strength is so great, that
even the battle fills him with delight. I remember to have heard a
Welsh preacher make use of the following simile. He was speaking of the
joy of Christ in heaven, and he said, "You tell me that the church is
sorrowful on earth and I tell you that Christ is joyous in heaven; and
then you ask me how this can be? You see yonder mother with her babe,
and she is washing the child; its face is foul and she desires to see
it shine with brightness, she would see it white as the marble mingled
with the redness of the rose. Therefore she washes it; but the child
cries, it is fretful and knows not what is good for it, so it whines
and struggles; the mother does not cry, or share its sorrow, she keeps
on singing because she knows that all is right, and that her darling
will smile like a cherub when all is over; she sees the good results
coming, while the babe only feels the present discomfort, so she sings
her song and never stops, let the child cry as it may." And so the Lord
Jesus has pleasure in his work; he is purifying his church, and making
her fit to be presented to himself, and though she winces and laments,
it is the flesh that makes her so to do. The Lord sings still joyously,
because he sees the end from the beginning! Earth may be swathed in
mist, but the sun is never so, he shines gloriously evermore.
The text mentions one other fact connected with Jesus as the
sun,–"There is nothing hid from the heat thereof;" by which is meant,
nothing is able to escape the powerful influence of Christ Jesus. His
own chosen people must, in due season, feel his power to save. They may
wander as they do, and sin as they may, but when the time appointed
comes, they shall be redeemed out of the land of the enemy. The sun's
power is felt in the darkest and deepest mines; that there is a sun
still shining might be discoverable even in the bowels of the earth!
and so, in the darkest haunts of sin, God's elect shall be made to feel
the sovereign power and omnipotent grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When
you and I shall die, and when we shall be buried in the grave, we shall
not there be hid from the heat of this Sun of Righteousness, by-and-by
he shall kindle life within our bones again; he shall create a soul
within the ribs of death, and we shall spring upward as the grass, and
as the willows by the watercourses, when the sun renewers the year. Our
dry bones shall live, and in our flesh shall we see God. Meanwhile,
while the gracious operations of Christ thus fall on all his elect, and
there is nothing hid from the heat thereof, other operations are at
work on all the sons of men. He rules in providence over all people,
whether they believe in him or not, and if men do not accept the
gospel, yet they are affected by it, in some way or other. Even the
darkest parts of the world feel something of the presence of the Christ
of God. Responsibility is heaped on those that hear of him and reject
him; he becomes a savor of death unto death where he is not a savor of
life unto life. There is nothing hid from the heat thereof. Oh, how
this ought to encourage you Christian people to work! The Lord has gone
before you; there is nothing hid from the heat of his presence. Jesus
is King of the darkest settlements of the heathen, and he reigns in the
lowest haunts of London's vice. Go there, for you are not intruders;
you have a right to go any there in your Master's dominions; and the
earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. Be not afraid to face
the vilest blasphemer, or the most foul-mouthed infidel, for Christ is
Master, and if you bring the gospel before his enemy, he will be made
to feel its power, either so as to yield to it a willing submission, or
else to be condemned by it, In either case, you shall have done your
part, and uttered your testimony, and freed your head of his blood.
In these thoughts combined, we see Christ Jesus, the risen Savior,
pursuing his ever glorious course till he shall descend again the
second time to take his people to himself to reign with him.
II. Very briefly indeed in the second place. Let us think for a moment
of JESUS AS A SUN TO US. Worship and bless our Savior, it is ever meet
and right to do so. Let him be extolled and be very high. Some would
give him a secondary place, let it never be so with us. As the sun is
the center, so is Christ; as the sun is the great motor, the first
source of motive power, so is Christ to his people; as the sun is the
fountain from which light, life, and heat perpetually flow, so is the
Savior; as the sun is the fructifier by which fruits multiply and
ripen, so is Christ: and as the sun is the regulator and rules the day,
and marks the seasons, even so is Jesus owned as Lord to the glory of
God the Father.
Think these thoughts over in the following respects. When you take the
Bible remember that Christ is the center of the Scriptures. Do not put
election in the center; some do, and they make a one-sided system. Do
not put man in the center,–some do, and they fall into grievous
errors. Christ is the center of the entire system of the gospel, and
all will be seen to move with regularity when you perceive that he is
the chief fixed point; you cannot be right in the rest unless you think
rightly of him. He is the center and King of all truth.
He is the center of the Church too. Not the pastor, not the church
itself, not any rule or government, no bishop, no priest, and no Pope
can be our center, Christ alone is our central sun. We follow as
planets where he leads the way: around him we revolve, but we own no
other Lord.
Let it be so in the world that even there Christ governs and is the
center of all history. You will understand history better when you know
this, for this is the key of the world's story, the reason for the rise
and fall of empires. You shall understand all things when you know
Immanuel, God with us.
And let him have this place in your hearts. There enthrone him!
Establish him as the central sun, and let him rule your entire being,
enlightening your understanding, warming your hearts, filling all your
powers, passions, and faculties with the fullness of his presence. To
have Christ in us, the hope of glory–oh, what blessedness! But let us
take care that it is so, for we know not Christ aright unless we give
him such a place in our hearts as the sun occupies in God's world.
III. But time fails me, and we must now pass on to the last point, and
let us for a minute or two BASK IN HIS BEAMS. How shall we do it?
First, we must realize that he is. Sinner, saint, Christ lives: he who
trod the wave of Galilee lives on. He who was marked with the nails
rules on. Oh, sinner, does not that comfort you? The Savior lives, the
redeemer lives; he who forgives sins still lives. Saint, does not this
comfort you? The man of the tender heart still lives, with a bosom
still to be leaned upon, and with lips still ready to speak endearing
words. There is a tabernacle for the sun; he is not extinct; he thineth
still, he blesses still. Bask in his beams, then, by realising that he
is.
Then come and lay your souls beneath his divine influence. O my soul,
if thou art guilty come and rest in his atonement, if thou art
unrighteous come and take his righteousness. If thou art feeble lay
hold upon his strength. If thou canst not pray accept him as thine
intercessor. If thou art in thyself nothing, take him to be thy all in
all. Some creatures delight to warm themselves in the sun, but oh, what
a pleasure it is to sun ones self in the presence of Christ. Never mind
how little I am, how nothing I am, how vile I am, how foul I am; all I
am he has taken to himself, and all he has belongs to me. I sin, but he
has taken all my sin: he is righteous and all his righteousuess is
mine. I am feeble, he is mighty; his mightiness is mine, I wrap myself
in his omnipotence. Christ is all and Christ is mine. Why, I utterly
fail when trying to talk about such things as these; talking is but
stuttering on such a theme. Faith must enjoy rather than express her
delight. Come, plunge ye all into this sea of sweetness, dive deep into
this abyss of happiness–Christ Jesus is yours for ever and for ever.
The sun is very great but it is all for me, and Christ is very bright
and glorious, but he is all my own.
Then next, if you would sun yourself in his beams, imbibe the joy of
his strength. He is like a bridegroom rejoicing to run his race. Now,
brethren and sisters, I am often afraid lest in serving God, we should
grow dispirited and downcast, and think that things are not going on as
they should, the joy of the Lord is your strength. If you begin to say,
"Our cause is very feeble, the gospel will not prevail among us, you
will slacken your efforts." Do not so, but remember that Jesus Christ
does not fret or sadden himself about his kingdom. He runs on full of
strength and rejoices as he runs; and I bid you in the power of the
Holy-Spirit, do the same. Cast away your doubts and fears, the kingdom
is the Lord's, and he will deliver his adversaries, into your hands. I
fret and worry myself sometimes about these inventors of new doctrines,
and those ritualists who bring up the old rates and stale tallow of the
past ages. Let us fret no more, but think that these are only like the
clouds to the great sun; the gospel will still proceed in its career.
Let us laugh the enemies of God to scorn and defy them to their faces.
They defy the Lord God of Israel as did the Philistine of old, but God
himself is mightier than they, and the victory is sure to the true
church and to the gospel of his Son. Be ye very courageous! Be not
alarmed with sudden fear! Trust in Jehovah, for the Lord will surely
give unto his own servants the victory in the day of battle.
And brethren, if you would sun yourselves in Christ's beams, let me bid
you reflect his light whenever you receive it. He is the sun, and you
are the planet, but every planet shines, shines with borrowed light. It
conceals no light, but sends back to other worlds what the sun has
given to it. Cast back on men the light which Jesus gives you. Triumph
in Christ's circuit, that it is so broad as to comprehend the world,
and compass all time. Enlarge your oven hearts, and let your light
thine far and wide, believing that the power of God which gives you
light will go with the light which you reflect. Comfort your hearts!
"Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Who
shall stop the Christ of God in his race? Let him first go pluck the
sun from his sphere. Who shall stay the champion of God who has girt
himself for his race? Whosoever cometh in his way woe unto him, for if
Samson smote a thousand men hip and thigh, what shall our immortal
Samson do? Let all the armies of pope and devil come against him, he
will utterly defy them, and drive them like chaff before the wind.
Sing ye unto his name, for he hath triumphed gloriously! Begin the
everlasting song, for he is the Lord and God, and to the uttermost ages
shall he reign; yea, for ever and ever is he priest and King.
God bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Psalm 19.