“Who Is This?”

"Who Is This?"

(No. 3394)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1914.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST
19, 1869.

"When He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, 'Who
is this?'" Matthew 21:10.

THIS was not the first time that question had been asked, or asked
concerning the same Person. "Who is this?" is a common question in
reference to our Lord. "Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed
garments from Bozrah?" "Who is this king of glory?" and so on.
Doubtless, the angels who are represented as standing on the Mercy Seat
gazing down upon its golden brightness, desired to look into this very
question in the olden times, and often said to one another, "Who is
this?" We hear the Prophet speak of One who is anointed with the oil of
gladness above His fellows, and is therefore Man, but He is called by
the same Prophet equal with God, Fellow of the Eternal! How can this
be? "Who is this?" The subject of the Incarnation of a pure Spirit such
as God is, in human flesh, must have been staggering even to the
intellect of seraphs–and again and again they must have said, one to
another, "Who is this?"

I can conceive that on that memorable night when the first Christmas
carol made glad both Heaven and earth, the angels came to Bethlehem's
manger and looked upon the new-born Child, and said, "Who is this?"
Knowing that He was the same Person to whom they had been obedient for
many an age, the ever-glorious Son of God, they must have marvelled to
find Him an Infant sleeping there where the horned oxen fed, or hanging
on a woman's breast! And they said to each other, "Who is this?" And I
can conceive that they followed Him through those 12 years of His
childhood, or during the years in which He remained in solitude and
obscurity, unknown to the sons of men, and though they knew Him as the
Son of Mary, and the reputed Son of Joseph, yet as watchful spirits
they must have seen the pure beams of Deity in His Character! And so
the marvelous and supernal excellence of His secret life must often
have compelled them to ask, one of another, "Who is this?"

He is in the carpenter's workshop, using the axe and the plane, and yet
this is He who is to deliver Israel! How is this, and who is this? And
I can imagine them following Him through the three years of His public
ministry in the wilderness beholding Him tempted of the devil, though
Lord of All and Prince and King! When they watched Him in His hunger,
and cold, and nakedness, and saw Him in His sleepless nights upon the
bare mountainside–when they beheld Him and strengthened Him in His
agony and bloody sweat–when they gathered around the Cross, with all
its terrors, could their eyes have known a tear, they would have wept
it there and would have said, "Who is this?" When He was buried and
after three days, rose again from the grave, there must have been
amazement through all the angelic host! They came, some of them, and
sat, the one at the head and the other at the foot, where the body of
Jesus had lain, still wondering much at the great mystery. We can well
gather that they asked such questions onward through His life, since
when that life had come to a close, and the issues of it had begun to
be developed, when our Lord ascended up on high and led captivity
captive, clothed with Glory–when they came to meet Him, joined in the
triumphal procession and approached the golden gates–when the songs
went up, "Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be you lifted up, you
everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may come in!" there was a
wonder lingering among the watchers at the portals of Heaven, for they
said, "Who is the King of Glory?" And again, a second time they said,
"Who is the Lord of Hosts? Who is the King of Glory?" and they had to
receive the two answers–they had to be told who He was that was mighty
in battle and the Lord of Hosts who was the King of Glory! Do they not
even now marvel, as they cast their crowns upon the glassy sea and
mingle with the white-robed band–do they not now marvel that such as
He should be born of a woman, that such as He should be tempted by the
devil, that such as He should have known poverty, and nakedness, and
death itself? Thosewounds, those scars still visible, must still be a
theme for holy admiration and adoring questioning! And as they worship
Him, recognizing in Him the Wisdom that was with God in the beginning,
and without whom was not anything made that was made–as they adore Him
as the Eternal Word, the Preserver as well as the Creator of all
things–they must still, as they look to His Manhood taken into such
union with His Godhead, think of Him with holy amazement, with joyous
astonishment and ask, "Who is this?"

But we have not to do with the angels at this time! Rather our business
is with the sons of men. And among them there ought to be more of the
asking of this question, and there ought to be less. There ought to be
more of it, the asking in holy wonder! There ought to be less of the
asking of it in ignorance or in derision. The question, I take it, can
be asked in both ways. Endeavoring to understand the mystery, he that
knows it best may still say, "Who is this?" Caring not to know Him, but
scornfully turning aside from this great mystery of godliness, there
are tens of thousands who will continue to say, "Who is this? And why
make this noise about Him, and all this stir and hubbub about the Man
of Nazareth?" This question is still asked among the sons of men
because in one sense it ought to be more common, but because in another
sense it ought never to be raised, I speak upon it tonight. And first
we shall take–

I. THE QUESTION AS IT STOOD IN REFERENCE TO THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM.

I suppose there was a pretty common knowledge of our Lord in Jerusalem.
He spoke openly in the Temple. He was no teacher in secret
conventicles, hidden away in the dark. He had been seen in their
streets. His miracles had been the subjects of admiring wonder and
observation by tens of thousands. They knew who He was. Many of them
rather delighted to remember His lowly origin. "His brothers, are they
not all with us?" They knew His mother. They said they knew His father.
"Is not this the carpenter' s Son?" A knowledge of Christ was pretty
general. They did not ask the question out of ignorance, but it was
asked for this reason, among others–by some it was asked because now
He came under quite a different aspect from that in which He had ever
appeared before. He never rode, that I know of, upon the land but that
once. He never rode in anything like pomp or state. He had come into
Jerusalem and He had gone out of it, a simple private individual,
claiming no office except that of preacher. But on this occasion He
comes as a King! Riding in pomp as one who claims to be honored among
men, and even claims to be King, for He says, "Behold, your King comes,
meek and lowly." They, therefore, said, "Who is this?" What a change
has come over the scene!–

"The lowly Man before His foes, The weary Man and full of woes."

Does He ride, and ride amidst shouts of popular acclaim, He that did
not strive, nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets?
He? Does He come in this guise? Therefore greatly struck and amazed by
the change, they said, "Who is this?" Yes, and we may learn from this
that when Christ, who is still among the sons of men as the meek and
lowly Savior, bearing with their bad behavior, and saying, "Come you
weary, take My yoke and bear it, and you shall find rest"–when He
comes before long as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the whole
earth will then cry out, "Who is this?"

Is this the Man that bled at Calvary? Is this the Man that died praying
for His enemies? And does He come with a rod of iron in His hand to
break the nations and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel? Oh,
what astonishment will seize the sons of men when they see the King in
His Glory, whom they would not understand nor serve when He came in the
meekness and gentleness of love!

Part of the reason why the people of Jerusalem asked the question was,
no doubt, this–they were struck with the remarkable enthusiasm with
which the people received Him. People had been enthusiastic at other
times, but then it had been immediately after they had been fed with
the loaves and fishes and, therefore, their enthusiasm was very easily
accounted for. But on this occasion there had been no feeding with
loaves and fishes, and yet here He was received by a most enthusiastic
crowd. They could not, if they had all been sure that He was the very
Messiah, have received Him outwardly with greater delight. There were
their garments for Him to sit upon. There were their garments in the
road to carpet the ground which was thought too coarse for Him to tread
upon. There were the trees, denuded of their branches, and the palm
branches borne in front amidst general acclamations of, "Hosanna,
blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!" Yes, and the world
may say whenever it sees an enthusiastic Church, whenever it beholds a
company of people treating Christ as He ought to be treated, "Who is
this?" The Church, as we generally see it, never excites any wonderment
among men. They quite understand what it is–a compact of people who
have got enough religion to make themselves comfortable and form an
association for mutual admiration. But a genuine Church is a company
formed for the admiration of Christ Jesus! A company of people who are
melted into one because they are all red-hot and flow like streams of
molten metal into one mold–all united, loving Christ after such a sort
that they would not merely put their garments in the road, but would
themselves make a road–who would wish, themselves, that their blood
could be shed if Christ might be glorious! When the world sees such a
Church as this, then they begin to cry, one to another, "Who is this?
Who is this around whom such enthusiasm gathers?" Glory be to God, Your
day shall yet come to this world when the Church shall wake from her
slumbers! Then shall she be ashamed of herself, to have treated her
Bridegroom in such a scurvy manner! When she once loves Him as she
ought and puts the crown upon His head as she should–then will the
whole earth say, "Who is this?"

I have no doubt, also, that part of the question of the people of
Jerusalem arose from the singular nature of the pomp with which the
enthusiastic multitude surrounded our Lord. There was a great deal of
beauty about it, but how very simple it was, how altogether opposed to
the usual array, to the usual order of pomp! Why, my Brothers and
Sisters, if you could see the pomp in which great priests–say, at
Rome–are carried through the streets, with men all clad in liveries,
with attendants in blue and scarlet, and fine linen and peacocks'
feathers, and the high elevated throne on which the man is carried who
claims to be, "His Holiness," you would see how artificial it all is!
And it is all the same if there is nobody there that cares about it!
True, some may, but if they did not, it would be all the same. It would
all be gone through and the admiration that is poured on any of these
kings and princes–well, it all comes as a matter of course! It is
natural that we poor worms of the dust should clap our hands when we
see a king. Of course, it is the bounden duty of such ordinary mortals
as we are to pay wonderful respect to all those who happen to have a
peculiar kind of blood in their veins. That is the order of things and,
as long as people are conventional fools, it always will be! And the
men of the world will always remain so. We shall always reverence rank,
whether it has any worthy character about it or not–and priests will
always like such reverence as that!

But here was a different style of pomp altogether. Here was a plain,
common Man, whose garment was merely the smock-frock of an ordinary
peasant–a garment "without seam, woven from the top throughout"–a Man
who made no professions to rank, did not separate Himself at all from
the people! And here they have extemporized for Him a pomp in which
every jot and tittle is true and real! There was not a shout raised
here because it was the custom to raise shouts to Jesus of Nazareth.
There was not a garment strewed in the way because His office required
Him to be esteemed. It was all genuine, true, real and, mark you,
Brothers and Sisters, there is no pomp like it!

What a distinction there is between the honor given to a monarch who is
beloved, such as we would give to ours– and the honor that is given to
a monarch such as the one I spoke ofjust now–who is honored merely
because he is a monarch, but whom men would honor just as heartily or
even more heartily if he were gone! Now, the honor given to our Lord
Jesus Christ was all given because of His Person and the work that He
had really done in the raising of Lazarus, out of–I will not say true
spiritual affection, for the multitude did not understand Him in His
deeper Character, so as to receive Him spiritually–but out of a real
feeling of reverence for this wonderful Being. There was a natural pomp
about the whole thing that quite distinguished it from anything that
the inhabitants of Jerusalem had ever seen before. Some of them might
have seen a Caesar or a Pompey come home from the wars. Some of them
might have seen the conquerors and their pageants, and their triumphal
return into the capital and all the imposing preparations that were
made that everyone might join in the welcome. They hailed him as Rome's
greatest man, who trod Rome's enemies beneath his heels. But they had
never seen anything like this–when the very children in the streets
took up the cry and said, "Hosannah! Ho-sannah! Blessed is He that
comes in the name of the Lord." And so they said, "Who is this?"

Now, mark you, this is always one of the points which should
distinguish the triumphs of Christ. It is not the victory of
officialism. It is not the splendor of outward dress, and form, and
show. There is a real force over men's hearts so that they come to love
Jesus for what He truthfully is to them. It is not a mock homage which
they pay, which consists of genuflections and of pompous ceremonies,
but it is that they exult at the very thought of Him! The heart
invents, without being taught, its own method of praising Him, seeking
out and straining after new songs with which to sing unto the Lord who
has gloriously triumphed! I do believe that the very beauty of the
Christian religion is its simplicity. And the beauty of the Church of
God is its having simple worship–all its joys and all its pomp being
that which comes out of thesimple heart–which has no form, no ceremony
and needs no directorium, no rule by which to guide it but just does
what it feels to be the natural expression of that which is felt
within. And wherever this is, the world cries, "Who is this?"

Still, there were some in that crowd who did not ask the question for
that reason at all, but merely that they might say, "Who is this? What
is He? What's in it? It is all an imposture! He is not the Messiah! He
comes not in the name of the Lord." They looked down upon the crowd who
followed Christ, and they said, "It is a vulgar herd–have any of the
rulers believed in Him? Did the Rabbis follow at His heels? Do the
Scribes and chief priests accept Him? Who is this?" Well, and this,
too, is a part of the proof of the true Christ. Wherever He is fully
preached and His power is known, there is sure to be stirred up a
company of men who, knowing nothing of the real power of the Gospel,
will be quite sure to sneer at it! They will say it is only the poor
who come to it, as though that were not said of old, "The poor have the
Gospel preached to them." They will say it is only the illiterate, as
though they had not known that the Apostle Paul, himself, blessed God
that He "had chosen the foolish things of this world, and things that
are not, to bring to nothing the things that are." There will always be
those who, not caring to enjoy, themselves, the blessings of the Great
Shepherd's reign, will sneer at all those who would. Let us accept
their sneers as the only tribute they can render to Christ, and as true
a proof of His excellence and His Glory as the admiration of His
followers!

I will not detain you further about the people of Jerusalem, but now
just observe that–

II. THIS QUESTION WILL ALWAYS BE ASKED WHENEVER JESUS CHRIST COMES INTO
ANY PLACE THROUGH THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL.

Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, I am not about to criticize that which is
called the preaching of the Gospel, so as to condemn it in any
wholesale way, but I will say this, that wherever the Gospel has been
preached simply, not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but with the
plain words of the common tongue. Wherever Christ has been preached
affectionately. Wherever the whole Gospel has been delivered with
fervor and with impartiality, it has never failed in any place, or in
any time, to draw attention to itself, to excite enquiry and to compel
men to take sides about it, one way or the other! We need never be
afraid that the Gospel is not suitable to any village, that the
inhabitants are too degraded. Take it there and they must and shall
receive it, or else, at their peril shall they reject it! But they will
hear it! It shall attract them! They shall be found, if not willing
acceptors of it, yet at least willing hearers of it, willing critics of
it and that is something! We need not, on the other hand, be afraid to
take the Gospel among the most enlightened classes. Whatever they may
know, they know nothing superior to the Word of Jesus Christ–and it
shall command even their attention. They shall be compelled to examine
it and if it is not a savor of life unto life to them, still it shall
be a savor of death–and to God in either case–a sweet savor of Jesus
Christ! Let us never think that the Gospel needs to be rendered
attractive by some additions of our own! It is like a sword that cuts
just as well without the diamonds in the hilt, for the cut of it lies
not in the handle, but in the sword itself. The Gospel will cut and
clear its own way. I scarcely think we shall need to come down to the
use of so-called popular lectures on Sundays. I think we shall never
need to come down to catchwords for sermons. The Gospel will, after
all, if it is but drawn out of its scabbard and lifted up as the bare
and naked sword of the Lord, be pretty sure to cut its own way. And,
ah, how have we learned in the past, when the Gospel has come to a
place and it has begun to be the means of the conversion of sinners,
what a stir it has made! The little village was snug enough in the
darkness that had gathered around the old tower and there it lay all
asleep and in the death, but some Methodists came and preached upon the
Green. A few were converted and gathered into a little room–and what a
noise there was about it! The squires would put it down. How there were
threats against those poor cottagers and others! They must lose their
work–certainly their Christmas gifts–but all that only proved that
the Gospel still had power, a power, at any rate, to irritate the
ungodly, which is something, and to bless the simple men and women that
were willing to receive it!

Before long we have sometimes seen those very persons who were the most
determined opponents of the Gospel, sit at its feet! Some of them have
become its preachers! More and more the Kingdom of Christ has spread
and grown! From village to village, from town to town the sacred ardor
has spread! In the days of Whitfield and Wesley the whole nation was
awakened–as from a long sleep our land started up! Then there were
found a multitude whom God had chosen, who began to sing glad hymns and
to chant the praises of God in every town and street! And this land,
which seemed fast going down in sin and wickedness to the very gates of
Hell, took a start on the road to Heaven, which, thank God, has never
been altogether lost, nor shall be, for still will God raise up others
who will preach Jesus Christ and the leaven shallcontinue to permeate!
The salt shall still work for Christ among the putrefying mass until He
comes, who shall end the battle in a glorious victory!

But I hasten from that to notice that the same wonderful effect in
another form is produced–

III. WHEN THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST COMES INTO A SINGLE HEART.

Do not some of you remember when Jesus Christ first came to your heart?
Oh, I remember when Moses came into mine, with the Law and the great
Commandments. When I saw myself a sinner in the light of the Law of
God! When the fiery light of Sinai made me see my multitude of
spots–yes, discover that I was covered all over with filthiness and
blackness! Then the minister came to my gate and I heard the Word
preached, preached affectionately, too. Then parents taught me the Word
with tears and prayers, but I got no comfort and my soul continued in
bondage under a sense of sin. But what a mercy it is when Jesus Christ,
Himself, comes! When it is no longer the coming of the minister or of
the preacher, but the coming of Jesus Christ, Himself, when Jesus
passes by! I know some of you can remember right well the time when He
passed by you and came into your heart. You believed Him–it was but a
small action–you believed in Jesus! You gave up all trying to save
yourselves by your works–you renounced once and for all your reliance
upon ceremonies, past or future, and you cast yourselves down before
that Cross whereon the Master shed His atoning blood! You remember
that. Now, do you not remember what peace there was that came into your
spirit, a peace that passes all understanding?

The promises of God could not comfort you until Jesus came with them
and applied them to your soul. They were full of power when He brought
them in His hands, but they were nothing until He brought them!

Do you remember, too, how your doubts and fears all fled? They had been
hooting in your soul, but when that Light of God shone in, full upon
you, they soon took to their wings and there was not one of them left!
You could then rejoice where so lately you had been mourning–and you
now had songs instead of groans! And do you remember those sinful
habits of yours which you could not break off? You had struggled
against them, but you were like a man who is bound fast in iron–you
could not snap the fetters by any means! You tried, and tried, and
tried again, but always in vain. But when Jesus came, how free you
were, how delivered you were! [Here someone shouted, "Hallelujah! Glory
be to God! Jesus is passing by!"] I wish our friends would not be at
all troubled with our Brother who simply spoke out of the affection of
his heart. We are not Methodists and do not quite like it, but when a
Brother does it, it does not disconcert me and it ought not to trouble
you! I wish sometimes that there were interruptions like that which
came at Pentecost, "What must I do to be saved?" I wish sometimes that
we did feel that we must tell all that Jesus was passing by and was
entering into our hearts, as our Brother told us just now. Well, you
remember the moment when Christ came to those bad habits of yours–when
you had strived against them but could not overcome them–but when He
came, they dropped off as though they were cloth! Those great ropes of
sin were snapped and were gone–and you recollect the joy you felt
within when you could say, "I'm forgiven! I'm, forgiven!"

Later when you sat down in holy wonder, you could not help it, but the
tears came fast and thick, one after the other, as you said, "Bless the
Lord, O my Soul, that ever I was led to receive Christ and to find
peace in Him!" Oh, Beloved, I know that you said to yourselves, "Who is
this? What a matchless Christ is this? Who is this that could have
worked such a wonderful change in me, that could have made my dead
heart live, could have thawed the iceberg, could have made the mountain
of snow that is in my soul dissolve, could have brought me up from the
Valley of the Shadow of Death into the land of light and exceeding
brightness and glory?" I know you said, "Who is this?"

And, let me add, your wonder at Christ has not ceased since then! It is
not long ago since you had sore trouble in business and your heart was
very heavy. But you got alone with God in prayer and you saw Christ as
suffering with you, standing in the furnace with you–and how happy and
quiet your mind was! You could not help saying to yourself, "What
manner of Man is this that He made me to rejoice, even in tribulation,
and to be calm in the midst of my afflictions?" You lost a child not
long ago and you thought your heart would break under that trial, but
you took the case to Jesus and you were resigned to it, and you said,
"What manner of Man is this, again, that could so have comforted me?"
Or it may be you are like some of us watching day by day the slow but
steady progress of disease in one dear to you as your life. And the
only comfort you have is by feeling that Jesus Christ being with you,
it is still easy to bear and to be resigned. And, perhaps, you have
been slandered for Christ's sake and misrepresented in all you have
tried to do. But when you have told it to Him, you have said, "I'll
hail reproach and welcome shame for Jesus' sake." And the calm you have
had has made you say, "Who is this?" I can only say tonight, though I
hope I have known my Lord these 21 years, that I do marvel more and
more at Him, that ever He could do such marvels for me, a poor
worthless worm. And I think the more you know of yourselves, and the
deeper you sink in self-abasement, the more will the question rise in
your soul, "What a glorious Christ must this be! What power there must
be in His blood! What prevalence in His plea! What tenderness in His
heart! What might in His arm! What immutability in His Nature, that
ever He should continue to look down on me and bless me as He does!"
"Who is this?" your soul will say!

Now, I must not detain you on that and, therefore, again with great
brevity, remark that–

IV. THE TIME IS COMING WHEN THIS QUESTION MAY BE ASKED BY SOME HERE
WITH GREAT FEAR AND ALARM.

Unless we ask it now in loving wonder, we shall soon have to ask it in
most fearful terror! We know not when the time shall be, for times and
seasons are not committed to us. But it is certain that within a short
time, Christ will come upon the clouds of Heaven. When the time
appointed by the Father shall arrive, that very Man who was crucified
on Calvary, and, who was taken up from among His disciples upon the
Mount of Olives, shall so come in like manner as He went up to Heaven.

Now, He went up in Person, and He will come in Person, too, and when He
comes, it will not be alone, as first He came, but in the Glory of His
Father and all His holy angels with Him! What astonishment and
confusion will seize the minds of those who doubted His very existence,
who denied His Godhead, who stood out against His power! What will the
Jew say when he looks on Him whom he pierced? What will the Gentile say
when he looks on Him whom he despised? What will the great men of the
earth say as they rise from their graves and find themselves so little
and Him, whom they thought so little, to be so great? What will the
rich men of the earth say as they find themselves naked and poor as
beggars and the King, whom they thought nothing of, clothed with the
Glory of God? Oh, what then will the pleasure-seeker say, who said, "As
for Christianity, I care not the snap of my finger for it"? What will
the blasphemer say who even poured contempt and curses upon Christ's
name? There He sits in majesty that out blazes the sun! There He is
surrounded by immortals, each one of them shining forth like the sun,
for so the promise is to all the righteous! There rings the trumpet
that every ear must hear, and all the dead start up from sea and
land–a countless multitude! There are the books, they are opened
amidst a blaze of light and there is the voice that reads out the doom
of the sons of men! Jesus! Jesus it is, who says, "Depart, you cursed,"
as well as, "Come, you blessed." Oh, how the multitude will wring their
hands in amazement when they discover that the Man of Nazareth and the
Son of Mary is the Everlasting Son of the Father–and those, His
enemies who would not that He should reign over them, shall be utterly
destroyed by the Glory of His Presence when He comes in His power! Oh,
how will the question be asked and how terrible will be the answer,
"Who is this?" I would rather that you should ask tonight, humbly and
enquiringly, "Who is this?" And if you do so ask, these few words shall
tell you and may God tell you to your heart what I can only tell to
your ears. Who is this? It is Jesus Christ, God over all, blessed
forever! He so loved the sons of men that He would rather die than they
should die! He came into the world, took our flesh and became Emmanuel,
God With Us and, being found in fashion as a Man, He humbled Himself
and became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross–

"He bore that we might never bear,

The Father's righteous ire."

And whoever trusts in this Man–this God, the appointed Substitute for
man–shall be saved! But if you trust Him, you must take Him to be your
Monarch. You must henceforth, by His Grace, yield Him service! And His
service is pleasure. His service is holiness and holiness shall to you
be a delight! Oh, that you would, finding that He is such a Savior,
Divine and Human blended in one–a dying Savior risen from the dead and
living at the right hand of God–oh, that you would say, "I know who He
is," and then, "I will accept Him! He shall be mine forever." God grant
to you the willing mind to do this, and yours shall be the
blessing–and His shall be the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 TIMOTHY 2:15-26.

15. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word off truth. This is a metaphor
taken from the action of the priest at the sacrifice. The priest cut up
the bullock and then laid it in its different pieces according to
order. Or, as some think, it is taken from the part of the father at
the table, when he carves the meat and gives to every child its
portion. Old Master Trapp said that "there are some ministers who are
only fit to be Gibeonites–and certainly not to be Levites, for they
hardly understand the cutting of wood, much less the art of cutting up
the sacrifice of God." Brothers, it is well so to handle the Word of
God as to be able to give rebuke when rebuke is needed, exhortation
when it is needed, and comfort when consolation is required, for
otherwise we do mischief. As it is said in the old fable of the
simpleton, that he gave to the ass a bone and to the dog hay, so there
are some who give wrong exhortations, not because they are wrong in
themselves, but because they are wrong in their application.

16, 17. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase
unto more ungodliness. And their word wiil eat as does a camkei. Now,
there are some people who can never be content except they make their
religion a sort of wrangling match. They get hold of a Word in
Scripture, and away they go with it! Here shall be another opportunity
for finding fault with all the Church of God. Here shall be another
occasion for railing against all the preachers of the Truth of God. How
delighted they are when they can do this! Shun profane and vain
babblings! Martin Luther said that there were some in his day so nice
and precise about the letter of Scripture, that when one of them had
delivered an exposition upon the Book of Job, Luther said that by the
time the man had got to the 10th Chapter, Job had been a thousand times
more plagued by the expositors than he had ever been by the losses
which he suffered upon the dunghill! And doubtless there are many
Truths of Scripture which are turned to mischief because men will be
forever making them opportunities for strife–not bonds of love!
Brothers, hold the five points of the Calvinistic Doctrine, but mind
you do not hold them as babbling questions! What you have received of
God, do not learn in order to fight with it, and to make contention and
strife and to divide the Church of God, and rail against the people of
the Most High as some do! But on the contrary, love one another as
Brothers and Sisters, and hold the Truth of God in love, and seek after
the unity of the Spirit and the perfect bond of charity. The word of
those who raise these questions will eat as does a cancer, which eats
till it gets to the bones, and turns the sound flesh into rottenness.
Oh, there are many contentions which have done this mischief in the
Church of Christ!

17-19. Hymenaeus andPhiletus are of this sort. Who concerning the
truth, have erred, saying that the resurrection is already past; and
overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God stands
sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are His. How careful
the Apostle is lest we should think that any have turned aside, who
were the Lord's people. He says the faith of some was overthrown, but
nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Oh Brothers and
Sisters, whenever we see apparent apostasy, let us not therefore think
that any of God's people have perished! Oh, no, for the Lord knows them
who are His!

19-21. And let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from
iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and
of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor, and some
to dishonor If a man, therefore, purges himself from these, he shall be
a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and
prepared unto every good work When Mr. Philpot, the martyr, was
addressing a young man about to die for Christ, he said to him,
"Brother, you are a vessel in the great house of your Master, and this
day He will scour you, scour you hard, but remember, you shall soon
stand upon the shelf, shining bright and glorious." Well, sometimes
pains and troubles, and tribulations do have this effect of scouring
the vessels of God to make them bright for Heaven. We must all be
purged and scoured from sinful lusts, from all the contamination of the
flesh and of the creature–and then we shall be fit for the Master's
use!

22. Flee also youthful lusts. Run away from them! It is no use
contending with them. Fight with the devil. Resist the devil and make
him flee, but never fight with the flesh. Run away from that. The only
way to avoid the lust of the flesh is to stay out of its way. If you
subject yourself to carnal temptations and fleshly lusts, remember it
is almost certain that you will be overcome by them!"Flee youthful
lusts," and as you must keep going and have something after which to
follow–

22, 23. But follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that
call on the Lord out of a pure heart But foolish and unlearned
questions, avoid, knowing that they do cause strifes. It is generally a
good thing to avoid all questions that breed strife, unless they are
upon vital and important matters. For, oh, Brothers and Sisters, it is
so important tokeep the unity of the Spirit! It is such a blessed thing
to preserve love among Christians and there are some who in order to
create disunion, go about the land and tear and rend the body of Christ
as much as they can! Beware of such! Seek not their company! Come not
near them, lest their cancer pollute you also!

24-26. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto
all men, apt to teach, patient In meekness instructing those who are in
opposition, if God, perhaps, will give them repentance to the
acknowledging of the truth. And that they may recover themselves out of
the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him to do his will We
have here laid down, then, the duty of the Christian minister and the
duty of each Christian, too! And let us seek, in the Holy Spirit' s
Grace, to carry it out, being at once firm, and gentle, and loving of
heart, and yet honest for the Truth of God as it is in Jesus.