DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JANUARY 9, 1870,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water:
and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from
Heaven, saying, This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased."
Matthew 3:16,17.
"While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and
behold a Voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My Beloved Son, in
Whom I am well-pleased; hear Him."
Matthew 17:5.
"Father, glorify Your name. Then came there a Voice from Heaven,
saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." John
12:28.
THAT our Lord was the true Messiah of God was proved by His answering
to all those prophecies which described the promised Messenger of the
Covenant. His miracles also proved that God was with Him, and from
their character they marked Him out as the ordained Deliverer. To open
blind eyes and unstop deaf ears were works foretold as denoting the
Messiah. His teachings were equally clear proofs of His mission–there
is about them an authority found nowhere else. The words which He spoke
are Spirit and Life. They are self-evidencing in their elevation,
purity, perfection. "Never man spoke like this Man."
His Testimony is unique and bears a majesty of Deity about it which
bespeaks itself. His resurrection also was a clear proof that he was
sent of God. He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, by the
resurrection from the dead." But in addition to all this and a great
deal more, the Divine Father was pleased, also, to speak out of Heaven
with an audible voice to declare that Jesus of Nazareth was no other
than the Son of God and the promised Christ for whom the faithful were
watching. Thrice did the majesty of Heaven break its sublime silence
and bear witness to the Incarnate God. The three occasions, as
mentioned in our texts, are most instructive, and shall command our
attention this morning. May the Holy Spirit instruct us.
Without any further preface, let us consider the three Testimonies
given to our Lord by the voice of the Most High. If time permits we
will then notice one or two instructive circumstances connected with
them. And we will close by drawing a great practical lesson from them.
I. In endeavoring to bring before your attentive minds THE THREE
OCCASIONS ON WHICH THE FATHER, BY A VOICE FROM HEAVEN, BORE WITNESS TO
HIS SON, I would invite you to observe, first, when these voices were
heard.
Angels had proclaimed His birth, and wise men had seen His star, but
the Divine Voice was not heard during the first thirty years of His
sojourn. The three celestial utterances were reserved for the brief
period of His public life. The first came at the commencement of His
public ministry–at His Baptism. The second some little time after the
central point of His ministry. And the last, just before He closed His
work, by being offered up. It is a fit thing to pray that all our works
may be begun, continued, and ended under the Divine blessing.
Certainly our Lord Jesus Christ, as to His public work, both began it,
continued it, and ended it with the publicly declared witness of the
Most High. How cheering a thing it is at the beginning of a great
enterprise to have from God clear Testimony that He has sent you upon
it! Such was the Testimony given to the Master in the waters of Jordan,
when He was first announced as "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin
of the world."
How sweetly encouraging it is to the soul when the labor is heavy, the
opposition vehement, and the spirit faint, to receive another affirming
word from the excellent Glory! Such was that which came to Jesus on the
Holy Mount, when retiring from the multitude He sought the refreshment
of prayer and fellowship with God. Then, as He prayed, the fashion of
His countenance was altered and His raiment was white and glistering,
and a Voice came out of the cloud, "This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I
am well-pleased, hear Him."
And best of all, when our work is almost done, and the shadows of
evening are lengthening–when we are about to depart into the land of
spirits–what a consolation it is to receive another refreshment from
the Divine mouth! Such our Savior had a little while before He was
lifted up from the earth. In answer to His fervent cry, "Father,
glorify Your name," there came a Voice from Heaven saying, "I have both
glorified it, and will glorify it again."
In our departing hours we are most anxious about that which was our
life's dearest object. The lifework of Christ was to glorify His
Father's name. Concerning that He prayed, and concerning that the Voice
gave full assurance. The result of the Lord's lifework was declared to
be ensured, and therefore, wrapping Himself about with that heavenly
Testimony, the great Redeemer went bravely to His death. It is to be
noted, then, that at the beginning, the middle, and end of our Master's
work, the Divine Voice was heard.
The first celestial witness was uttered after He had lived for thirty
years in comparative obscurity. It seemed meet that when He first
appeared, there should be some token that He was what He professed to
be. That heavenly declaration, be it also remembered, came just before
His memorable temptation. He was to be forty days in the wilderness
tempted of the devil, and among the horrible suggestions hissed forth
from the serpent's mouth would be the doubt, "if you are the Son of
God." What better forearming of our great Champion than the witness,
"This is My Beloved Son"?
How in the recollection of that paternal Testimony would the Son be
made strong to overcome all the temptations of the Fiend, or to endure
the hunger which followed the forty days of lonely fast! Thus ever, my
Brethren, it is not with the Master, only, but with the servants.
Before temptation there comes spiritual sustenance which makes the
heart strong in endurance. Like Elijah of old, the Believer falls
asleep. Being awakened, he eats bread of Heaven's own providing and in
the strength of that meat he journeys forty days through the wilderness
without weariness. Expect that when the Lord tries you He will also
send you strength to sustain you under it.
The second occasion of the heavenly utterance was when our Lord was
about (according to Luke) to send out other seventy disciples to preach
the Word. The twelve had healed the sick, cast out devils and done many
mighty works. But now the laborers were to be increased and the harvest
more rapidly ingathered. The seventy Evangelists were to carry the
Divine Crusade through all the Holy Land.
Brethren, it is instructive that Heaven gave to our Savior, before
extending His agencies of mercy, a fresh token for good. And we also,
when the Lord calls us to wider service, may go up to the mountain to
pray. And while we are there we, too, may expect to enjoy the
comforting and strengthening witness of the Spirit within. The heavenly
Voice shall whisper, "You are Mine," and we shall descend with radiant
countenance to fight anew the battles of the Lord.
The third heavenly Testimony came to our Lord just before His
sufferings and death. I need not say to you how well-timed was that
witness. With such a death before Him, with such circumstances
surrounding Him–all tending to make His agony sharper, and His death
more terrible than any which had fallen to the lot of man before. With
Gethsemane, with Gabbatha, with Golgotha all before Him. With such
words as these yet to be uttered, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful,
even unto death." And these, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken
Me?"–it was meet that the oppressed Sufferer, who must tread the
winepress alone–should receive at the outset a Word from the Throne of
the Highest, meeting exactly the point about which His soul was most
concerned, namely, the glory of the Father's name.
While still enlarging upon the times when the Divine Voice was heard,
we may also note that the first came to our Lord when He was in the
attitude of obedience. Why needed He to be baptized? It is a sinner's
ordinance–Jesus is no sinner and needs no washing, no death, no
burial! But He takes the sinner's place, and therefore comes to be
buried in Jordan, for, "Thus," says He, "it becomes us to fulfill all
righteousness." It was to Christ an act of obedience. He took upon
Himself the form of a servant, and being found in fashion as a Man, He
became obedient to every ordinance of God, and hence He yielded Himself
to Baptism. Then came the Voice, "This is My Beloved Son."
Brothers and Sisters, learn that when you are in the path of filial
obedience you may expect the Spirit to bear witness with your spirit
that you are born of God! But if you live in neglect of any known
duty–if you are willfully unobservant
of any command of Christ–you may expect that there shall be withheld
from you the sweet assuring tokens of Divine love. But if you are
scrupulously obedient on desiring to know what is the Lord's will, and
then promptly do it–not asking the reason why, nor using your own
tastes, or indulging your own whims–then in the path of obedience,
especially if it costs you much, you may expect to have the witness in
yourself that you are a child of God.
The second attestation came to our Master in His devout retirement. He
had gone up to the mountain to pray. His desire was to be alone. He had
taken with Him His accustomed bodyguard of three–Peter, James, and
John–that they might be with Him while His soul communed with God. I
doubt not that, as in the garden, they were bid to remain a stone's
cast distance off, for surely Jesus poured out His soul before God
alone. And then it was that suddenly the Glory of God shone upon Him.
Then, in His retirement, Moses and Elijah appeared, coming forth from
the spirit-world to commune with Him. Then did the Father utter a
second time the Testimony, "This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am
well-pleased."
Brothers and Sisters, you too, like your Master, may expect to receive
Divine Testimonies when you are on the mount of communion alone, when
your fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. The
neglect of retirement will probably rob you of such assurances. If your
prayer should be, "Show me a token for good," the answer will be, "Get
you to the top of Tabor, get you away to your retirement. There will I
give you the token which your heart desires." But to live evermore
spending our strength in public, wasting ourselves in the turmoil of
this world, and to neglect the soul-refreshing ordinance of private
devotion is to deprive the inner man of the richest of spiritual
delights.
The third Testimony came to our Lord in His ministry. He was preaching
in the temple when the Father responded to His prayer. Now while I have
spoken a good word for obedience, and also have sought to magnify
retirement, let it never be forgotten that public service is equally
acceptable to God. Our Lord had been conversing with certain enquiring
Greeks and declaring the living power of His death to all who chose to
hear Him. In that same hour the Father gave an audible answer to His
prayer. If you, my Brethren, are called to any form of service, I
beseech you, under no pretext neglect it. The neglect of anything for
which you have the talent, and to which you have the call, may deprive
you of the inward witness.
Bear much fruit–so shall you be His disciples consciously so. Keep His
Commandments–so shall you abide in His love and know it. Forget not to
be obedient, forget not to be prayerful in retirement, but forget not,
also, that you are meant to shine as a light in this world. Forget not
that you must work while it is called today. Forget not that you are
not sent into this life merely to enjoy spiritual recreation or even
celestial refreshment–but to do a work which no other can do–and for
which you must give a personal account.
We must now dismiss the question of the times, and briefly consider to
whom the attestations were given. The first at Baptism, came to John
and to our Lord, and most probably to them, only. We do not think the
Voice from the opened Heaven was necessarily heard by anyone but John
and our Lord. The token of the descending dove was given to John as the
sign by which he should discern the Christ. "And I knew Him not. But He
that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom
you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is
He which baptizes with the Holy Spirit."
John probably gathered from all that he had heard of Jesus that He was
the great Bridegroom to whom he stood as a friend. But he was not to
follow his own judgment–he was to receive a token from God
Himself–and till that token came he could not act as one fully and
indisputably convinced. When he had immersed our Lord he saw the
heavens opened, saw the Spirit descending upon Him, and heard the
confirming Voice. And then he knew beyond all doubt that Jesus was the
Christ. To the Baptist, alone, that Voice was audible. And then through
him it was published to all Judea.
The second Testimony had a somewhat wider range–it came not to one,
but to three. Peter, James, and John were present. What if I say to
five? For there were with them Moses and Elijah. They represented the
Law and the Prophets. The three Apostles were the representatives of
the Christian Church–as if to show that Law and Gospel meet in Jesus–
and the things in Heaven and the things on earth are gathered together
in one in Him. The Testimony enlarges, you see. At first one opened ear
hears it, next five are assured.
The third time the Voice was heard by many. How many I cannot say, but
the crowd in the temple heard it. Many heard it who did not understand
it, for they said it thundered–perhaps perversely determining not to
believe in the Presence of God–but to ascribe that articulate Voice
rather to a rumbling thunder than to the Divine mouth. Others
who confessed that they heard words, averred that an angel spoke–men
will have anything but God! Thunder, or cherubim, or even devils they
will welcome–but Divine interpositions are irksome to them.
Many, we say, heard the third Voice. It was a Testimony to
hundreds–may we not learn from this that God's Testimony to Christ is
evermore a growing one? If at first He was revealed to one, then to
more, then to a numerous band, expect, my Brethren, the fulfillment of
that promise, "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." If the
glory of Jesus is today seen by thousands, it shall yet be unveiled to
tens of thousands, and in the latter days the Voice which spoke once
and again to our fathers, shall so speak as to shake not only earth,
but also Heaven. And in that day, if not before, every knee shall bow,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father!
The heavenly Testimony grows and spreads. Jesus is proclaimed as Lord
in many hearts. Look not on the present littleness of His visible
kingdom, despise not the day of small things. The witness of Jesus is
but a spark of fire. But the conflagration thereof shall yet belt the
world with holy flames. The three Testimonies were given in this wise.
The first, to the greatest of men–for "among those that are born of
women there was not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist." Yet the
voice revealed a greater than he, whose shoelaces he was not worthy to
untie.
The second was heard by the best of men–the great Lawgiver, the chief
of the Prophets, and the noble of the Apostles–yet the Voice bore
witness to a better than they. The third time the Voice echoed in the
holiest place in the tem-ple–and there it testified to a holier than
the holiest shrine. Jesus is everywhere magnified beyond all others as
the only Beloved Son of the Father. I need not however enlarge. There
is far more of teaching than either time or ability allow me to open up
to you.
We come, in the next place, to notice to what God bore Testimony. God
never sets His seal to a blank. What was it, then, which He attested?
First, at the Jordan, witness was borne to Christ's miraculous origin.
"This is My Beloved Son." He comes not here as the Pharisees, and
soldiers, and others have done, a mere son of man. Son of man He is,
but He is also Son of the infinite, eternal God. And now on His
introduction to His work He receives a spiritual anointing and a
recognition from the Father. The seal was set that day to His Godhead
and His relation to the Father was acknowledged.
By the second audible declaration it seems to me that the Father sealed
the Son's appointment as the great Prophet, and the anointed Servant of
God. For in the second Testimony these memorable words were added,
"hear Him." Here God commands us to accept Him as the great Teacher, to
acknowledge Him as the Head of the dispensation, to yield to Him our
loyal attention and obedience. When the Lord appears, it is necessary
that men should know who He is. When He is actually engaged in His work
it may be needful to confirm His authority.
This was done on the Holy Mount, for so Peter understood it, as he
writes in his second Epistle, "For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He
received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a
Voice to Him from the excellent Glory, This is my Beloved Son, in Whom
I am well-pleased. And this voice which came from Heaven we heard, when
we were with Him in the Holy Mount."
The third Testimony bore witness to the success of His work. "I have
both glorified My name," says the Father, "and will glorify it again."
"What," you say, "what if Jesus should not succeed? He has come into
the world to vindicate the justice of God, and reveal His love, and so
to glorify God–what if He should miss the mark? What, if after all His
life of labor and His death of agony, He should be unsuccessful?"
The Father's Word declares that the results anticipated shall certainly
be produced. "I have glorified it," says the Father–"all Your past
life has glorified My name. Your coming down from Heaven, Your life of
thirty years' obedience, all the works which You have done in Your
three years of toil. All these have brought renown to the infinite
Majesty.
And "I will glorify it again," in the most supreme sense. Amidst the
glooms of the garden, amidst the terrors of Pilate's hall, and amidst
the sorrows of the Cross, I will glorify My name yet again. Yes, and in
Your resurrection, in Your ascension, in Your majesty at My right hand,
in Your judgment of the quick and the dead I will glorify My name
again." The three Voices may be viewed as attesting the Son's Person,
work, and success.
Some have thought that the three Voices attested our Lord in His
threefold offices. John came proclaiming the kingdom–Jesus was in His
Baptism proclaimed as the Chief of the new kingdom. On the second
occasion, the Voice which
said, "Hear Him," ordained Him as the Prophet of His people. And on the
third occasion Jesus was owned as a Priest. Standing in the midst of
priests–in the Temple where sacrifice was offered–Himself about to
offer the true sacrifice. And praying that His sacrifice might glorify
God, He receives the witness that God has been glorified in Him, and
will be yet again.
My Brethren, in this threefold witness receive into your hearts the
Testimony of God who cannot lie. Behold your Savior, well-pleasing to
His Father. Let Him be well-pleasing to you. Hear Him proclaimed as
God's Beloved. O let Him be the Beloved of your hearts! Hear the
Testimony born to Him that He has glorified God, and remember that His
further glorifying God in some measure depends on you–for it is by
your godly conversation, by your holy patience, by your zealous
exertions for your Master's praise that God in Christ Jesus is to be
glorified until He comes. Let these three Testimonies, as they make up
a complete and conclusive code of evidence, have force upon your hearts
and minds, and win you to a solemn confidence in your Lord and Master.
I shall now ask your attention to the question, How were the
Testimonies given? Observe that when our Lord was baptized, the heavens
were opened and the Spirit descended. What if this proclaims to us that
by His obedience our Lord procured the opening of Heaven for us–that
our prayers might ascend to God, and all blessings might descend to us,
and especially that the Holy Spirit might come down and rest forever
upon the Church of God?
The Master's Baptism was the type of His death. Buried beneath the
waters of Jordan, He pictured there His being buried in the deeps of
agony and in the darkness of the tomb. Rising from the Jordan, He
typified His resurrection. Ascending its banks He represented His
Ascension into Heaven. God sees in figure all righteousness fulfilled,
and answers the type by the relative type of Heaven opened and the dove
descending.
Heaven was not beheld as opened when a second time the Voice was heard.
In Luke 9 we read that the Voice came out of the cloud. The
overshadowing cloud is a beautiful representation of the Mediatorship
of Christ. He, like a glorious cloud, veils the excessive brightness of
the Godhead. He shields us, so that when God speaks, He may not speak
as from the top of Sinai–with a voice of trumpet and sound of
thunder–but may speak through an interposing Medium, with that still,
small voice of love which we can hear with delight.
Out of the cloud, my Brethren, God speaks to His people. That is to
say, He speaks to us in Christ Jesus. That was a strong utterance of
Luther, but it was strictly true, "I will have nothing to do with an
absolute God," meaning I will have nothing to do with God out of
Christ. If, indeed, we had to do with God out of Christ, what misery
were it for us, my Brethren! We should stand in the same terror as
Israel did when bounds were set about the Mount. Even Moses said, "I do
exceedingly fear and quake." It is a great mercy that the heavenly
Voice, as it reaches us, comes out of the cloud.
In reading the narrative of the third Divine Testimony, our mind rests
neither upon the opening of Heaven nor the cloud, but upon the Voice
alone. It is as if the glory of God in the work of Christ put every
other thought aside. The opening of Heaven, or the interposition of a
Mediator are but means to the great end of glorifying God. O that this
one great object may absorb all our souls! But, alas, the Voice, plain
as it was, was misunderstood, and the clearest Revelation that God ever
gave to mortals has been misunderstood by many. There will always be
those who think of thunder and the so-called grandeur of nature–and
others who see only angels or second causes.
Once more, consider what was it that was spoken on those three
occasions. There was a difference in each case, though in the first two
but slight. The first time the heavenly Voice preached the Gospel,
"This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased." The old fathers
were likely to say, "Go to Jordan if you would see the Trinity," and we
may add, go to Jordan if you would hear the Gospel. "This is My Beloved
Son, in Whom I am well-pleased." Observe the Gospel in this sentence!
The Gospel is tidings concerning a blessed Person sent of God. Such
tidings the Lord here utters.
This Man rising dripping from the water. This Man is pointed out as the
Hope of the world! The Gospel is never preached except where the Person
of Jesus Christ is exhibited to men. "I, if I am lifted up"–not truths
about Me–but "I Myself, if I am lifted up, will draw all men unto Me."
The attraction lies in the Person of Christ, because the real power to
save lies there. We have here the Gospel revealing the acceptableness
of the chosen Person with God–"My Beloved Son."
What men needed was a Savior who could stand for them before God. One
dear to the heart of God. It is good news to us that the Anointed One
is well-beloved of the Father. Why, my Hearers, though I have not yet
opened up the fullness of that utterance, does not Gospel light break
in upon you already? Here is a Person sent of God to save–a Man of
your
own race, but yet right well-beloved of God. He is so near to God as to
be called His Beloved Son! But note, yet more earnestly, the Gospel of
the next words, "In Whom I am well-pleased." Not, "with Whom," as hasty
readers suppose, but, "In Whom I am well-pleased."
This is the very Gospel–that God, as He looks upon men is well-pleased
with all who are in Christ. God in Christ is not anger, but good
pleasure. If I, a poor sinner, enter by faith into Christ, then I may
be assured that God is well-pleased with me–that, if I, as His child,
come to Him, and by a living faith link my destiny with the life and
person of Christ–I need not fear the wrath of Heaven. Sinner, God is
not well-pleased with you as you are. Child of God, God is not
well-pleased with you as you are–there is enough about either saint or
sinner to provoke the Lord to jealousy. But, Sinner, if you are in
Christ by faith, God is well-pleased with you. And, O Heir of Heaven,
with all your infirmities and imperfections, since you are one with
Christ by an eternal and now vital union, God is well-pleased with you!
Said I not well that the Gospel sounded from Jordan's waves?
The second sound of the Voice uttered not only the Gospel itself, but
the Gospel command, "Hear Him." Matthew Henry has some very delightful
remarks upon this expression, "Hear Him." He remarks, in effect, that
salvation does not come by seeing, as the Roman church would have it,
for the disciples were not directed to behold Christ in His Glory,
though the sight deserved all their attention. No, but they were bid to
hear rather than see. To hear the Gospel is a most important duty, for
faith comes by hearing. Salvation comes not by hearing the doctrines of
men but by hearing Jesus Christ.
There stood Moses. And those three Jewish worthies, Peter, James, and
John, might have longed for Moses to open his Mouth–and had he spoken
to them they would have been very attentive to Him. But the Word was
not, "Hear Moses," but "Hear Him." There was Elijah, too. O for a
burning word from that master among the Prophets, whose life was flame.
But it was not said, "Hear Elijah," but "Hear Him." "They have Moses
and the Prophets, let them hear them," is the word sent to careless
sinners, but to sincere seekers the direction is, "Hear Him."
Dear Brothers and Sisters, the great salvation of God comes to us
through the Testimony of Jesus Christ–not through the moral essays or
philosophical treatises or doctrinal discussions of men. "Hear Him,"
the Gospel so commands you. Let not your ears be deaf when God
communicates tidings of eternal life.
On the third occasion the Testimony given was not the Gospel nor the
Gospel precept, but the Gospel's result–"I have glorified it, and will
glorify it again." I call your attention to this that you may be
earnest in preaching the Gospel. It is through the Gospel that God is
glorified. By the poorest Gospel sermon that was ever preached, God,
through His Holy Spirit, gets to Himself a glory which the most pompous
ritual cannot yield Him. You never speak well of Jesus but what you
glorify God. No Gospel Word falls to the ground and is lost. It must
accomplish that for which God has sent it.
He has glorified His name by the Gospel, and He will again. Let this
encourage those of you who are afraid that the times are very bad and
that we are all going to the pope. Do not be at all afraid. God will
glorify His name by the Gospel again as He did before. Martin Luther
was not, in himself, a character so lovely that one might be
overwhelmed with admiration of him. Where, then, lay his power? His
power lay in this–that he grasped the true Gospel–and he was a man
who, when he grasped a thing, gave it a "grip so firm that the devil
himself could not wrench it away from him.
With the Gospel in his hands he could say, "Heaps upon heaps with the
weapon of the Gospel I have slain my thousands. Heaps upon heaps the
foes of God are overturned." He was mighty because he declared the
Gospel of Jesus Christ–and with this he shook the world and brought
about the Reformation. You need not, therefore, despair.
If the ministers of Christ will only come back to preaching the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, plainly, simply, and with the Holy Spirit sent down
from Heaven, we shall drive the Ritualists, those cubs of the old Roman
monster, back to their dens, as our fathers did their mother of old.
Never lose your faith in the Gospel. Always believe that our power is
gone when we get away from the Cross–but know also without a
doubt–when we come back to the Truth as it is in Jesus, God glorifies
His name.
II. LET US NOW OBSERVE ONE OR TWO INSTRUCTIVE CIRCUMSTANCES connected
with these three Divine Testimonies. On each occasion Jesus was in
prayer.
My dear, dear young people, look at the proofs of that in your Bibles.
You will find in one or other of the Evangelists that it is distinctly
stated on each occasion that our Lord was in prayer. Learn, then, that
if any child of God would
have God speak comfortably to him, he must speak to God in prayer. If
you would have the witness of the Holy Spirit in your soul, you must be
much in supplication. Neglect not the Mercy Seat.
Notice next that each time the sufferings of Christ were prominently
before Him. John, at the waters of Jordan had said, "Behold the Lamb of
God," plainly speaking of sacrifice. Baptism itself, the fulfilling of
all righteousness, we have seen to be the type of His death, and of His
immersion in suffering. On Tabor, on the second occasion, Matthew tells
us that, "Behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and
Elijah: who appeared in glory, and spoke of His decease which He should
accomplish at Jerusalem."
The subject that the best of men talked about when they met was the
death of Jesus. No better topic, then, for us when we meet. If we were
the most talented and the wisest men that ever lived, if we met
together and wanted the most select topic for an eclectic discussion,
we ought to choose the Cross. For Jesus, Moses, and Elijah–three great
representative men–talked of the Atoning death of the great
Substitute. The third time our Lord had just spoken about the hour
being come in which He was to be glorified, as you well remember. Learn
then, my Brethren, that if you desire to see the glory of Christ, as
attested of the Father, you must dwell much on His death.
Do not talk to me about the life of Christ in all its parity, I know it
and rejoice in it. But I tell you that the death of Christ, in all His
misery, is the grandest point of view. The example of Jesus should be
exalted by all means–but His Atonement is far grander. And you, Sirs,
who take the Man Christ and offer your pretty, complimentary phrases
about Him–but then turn round and deny His expiating Sacrifice–I tell
you your tawdry offerings are unacceptable to Him. To be complimented
by your lips is almost to be censured, for if you do not believe on Him
as an Atoning Sacrifice, you do not understand His life. Thus each
attestation came in connection with the Lord's sufferings, as if the
glory of Christ dwelt mainly there.
Once more–each time that Jesus received this Word from the Father He
was honoring the Father. In Baptism He was honoring Him by obedience.
On the mountain He was honoring Him in devotion. In the Temple the very
words He was using were, "Father, glorify Your name." Oh, if you would
see God's glory, and hear God's Voice in your own heart, honor Him!
Spend and be spent for Him! Keep not back your sacrifices, withhold not
your offerings! Lay yourselves upon His altar, and when you say with
Isaiah, "Here am I, send me," for any service–whatever it may be–then
shall you also feel that the Lord is with you, owning both you and your
works, and glorifying Himself in it.
III. Lastly, THE PRACTICAL LESSON may be found in the words, "Hear
Him."
Earnestly let me speak to everyone here. God has three times with
audible Voice spoken out of Heaven to bear witness to Jesus. These are
historical facts. I beseech you, then, receive with assured conviction
the Truth to which God bears witness. The Man of Nazareth is the Son of
the Highest. The Son of Mary is the Savior appointed to bear human sin.
He is the way of salvation, and the only way. Doubt not this Truth of
God. Accept the Savior, for God declares that He is well-pleased in
Him. Hear Him, then, with profound reverence–accept the teaching and
invitations of Jesus as not the mere utterances of fallible men–but as
the instructions and the loving expostulations of God.
I pray you have respect to every Word and command of Christ. Listen to
Him as spirits listen to the voice of the Most High when they bow
before the Truth of God. And if He says to you, as He does this
morning, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest," hear Him and lovingly obey the command. Hear Him,
I pray you, with unconditional obedience. God attests Him as being sent
from Heaven. Whatever He says to you, do it. And since He bids you
believe Him, be not unbelieving. He has told us to say in His name, "He
that believes and is baptized, shall be saved." Despise not that double
command. Attend, O Sinner, attend, for it is the Son of God who speaks
to you! Trust and be baptized, and you shall be saved. There stands the
Gospel stamped with the authority of Deity! Obey it now. May the Holy
Spirit lead you to do so.
Hear Him, lastly, with joyful confidence. If God has sent Jesus, trust
Him. If He bears the Glory of God's Seal upon Him, joyfully receive
Him. You who have trusted Him, trust Him better from this day forth.
Leave your souls right confidently in the hands of Him of whom Jehovah,
thrice speaking out of Heaven, declares that He is the only Savior.
Receive Him, Sinner, you that would be saved! May the Lord confirm the
Testimony which He spoke out of Heaven, by speaking in your hearts by
His Holy Spirit, that you may rejoice in His Beloved Son, and glorify
God in Him.
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Overwhelming Obligations