The Sure Triumph Of The Crucified One

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 25, 1875,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and
extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at you, His visage
was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of
men: So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their
mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see;
and that which they had not heard shall they consider." Isaiah
52:13-15.

MODERN Jewish writers refuse to see the Messiah in this passage, but
their predecessors were not so blind. The Tar-gum and the ancient
Rabbis interpreted it of the Messiah and, indeed, all attempts to
explain it apart from Him are palpable failures. Christian commentators
in all ages have seen the Lord Jesus here. How could they do otherwise?
To whom else could the Prophet have referred? If the Man of Nazareth,
the Son of God, is not right visible in these three verses, they are
dark as midnight itself! We do not hesitate for a moment in applying
every word to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear Brothers, when our Lord ascended on high, He gave us this
commission, "Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
creature." Our duty is to obey that command, whether men will hear or
whether they will not. The commission is unconditional and is not
dependent upon our success. If up to this date, 1875, there had never
been a solitary convert through Christian ministry. If the whole of the
Church of God had, until this time, labored in vain and the succession
of saints had only been kept up by miracle, it would not affect our
duty one iota. Our business is to preach the Gospel, even to those who
are driven to persecution thereby. We are to sow, whether a harvest
follows or not. Success is with God–service belongs to us.

I believe, therefore, that true faith, when it is in a healthy
condition, will enable us to go plodding on, carefully scattering the
seed even by the wayside and on stony places. But there is flesh about
us all–and faith is not always unalloyed with sight–and consequently
we occasionally flag and almost faint if we do not see some present
usefulness. This passage may cheer us if we fear that we have spent our
strength for nothing, for such certainly was the condition of the
Church of God at the time when this passage was addressed to it.

There is a break made, in our version, between the 52nd and 53rd
chapters, but no such break should have been made. And if we read
straight on we shall see that these consoling words are meant for
mourning workers. We hear even Prophets saying, "Who has believed our
report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Even the bravest
of the Prophets lamented that the offense of the Cross hindered men
from seeing the comeliness of the Messiah. All-Glorious as He was to
the Prophets, when they beheld His substitutionary griefs, He was not
understood by the multitudes who only saw in Him a man smitten of God
and afflicted, having no beauty that they should desire Him.

To support them under circumstances so dispiriting, there comes, in
this comfortable word of our text in which the marred visage and
disfigured form of the great Servant of the Lord are fully recognized,
encouragement from the voice of the Lord that the shame and contempt
caused thereby will be temporary–and the ultimate result will be sure!
The issue of the great scheme of Redemption is by no means uncertain.
His cause must prosper, His Throne must be established and the will of
the Lord must be done. Let us brace ourselves up, this morning, with
the delightful prospect of the predestinated triumph of the kingdom of
our Lord and of His Christ!

In handling our text we shall note, first, that in directing us to the
Lord Jesus Christ, it dwells upon the character of His dealings–"My
servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be
very high." Then, secondly, it mentions the stumbling block which lies
in His way, the great hindrance to the progress of His work–"As many
were astonished at you, His visage was so marred more than any man, and
His form more than the sons of men." Thirdly, we

see in the verses before us the certainty of the removal of this
hindrance–"So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut
their mouths at Him." And, fourthly, the manner of its accomplishment,
namely, by instruction in the Gospel–"For that which had not been told
them they shall see; and that which they had not heard shall they
consider."

I. THE CHARACTER OF OUR LORD'S DEALINGS. He is called in the text, "My
Servant," a title as honorable as it is condescending. The Lord Jesus
has undertaken, in Infinite Love, to become the Servant of the Father
for our sakes. And He is a Servant like unto Moses, who was set over
the Lord's house to manage the affairs of the dispensation. Jesus,
though a Son and, therefore Lord, has deigned to become the great
Servant of God under the present economy. He conducts the affairs of
the household of God and, as it is said in the text and it is to that
we have to draw attention–that He deals prudently.

He who took upon Him the form of a Servant, acts as a wise Servant in
everything. And, indeed, it could not be otherwise, for, "In Him are
hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge." This prudence was
manifest in the days of His flesh, from His Childhood among the doctors
in the Temple, on to His confession before Pontius Pilate. Our Lord was
enthusiastic–there was a fire burning within Him which nothing could
quench–He found His meat and drink in doing His Father's will. But
that enthusiasm never carried Him into rashness, or forgetfulness of
sound reason. He was as wise and prudent as the most cold-hearted
calculator could have been.

Our Savior was full of Love and that Love made Him frank and
open-hearted. No frigid reserve kept Him at a distance from the people,
or shrouded Him in a cloud of mystery. He was a Man among men,
transparent, childlike, "the holy Child Jesus." But for all that He was
ever prudent and "committed Himself unto no man, for He knew what was
in man." Too many who aspire to be leaders of the people study policy,
craft and diplomacy–and think it necessary to use language as much for
the concealment as for the declaration of their thoughts. Such men
watch their own words till their very soul seems withered within them.

The Friend of Sinners had not a fraction of that thing about Him and
yet He was wiser and more prudent than if diplomacy had been His study
from His youth up! You see His wisdom when He baffles His adversaries.
They think to entangle Him in His speech, but He breaks their snares
asunder as with a wave of our hand we sweep cobwebs from our path. You
see His wisdom when He deals with His friends–He has many things to
say to them, but He perceives that they cannot bear them–He,
therefore, does not overload their intellects, lest undigested Truth
should breed mischief in their souls. Little by little, like the
increasing brightness of the dawn, He lets Light into their souls, lest
their eyes should utterly fail before the brilliance.

He does not send them upon difficult errands at first–He reserves for
their riper years and stronger days the sterner tasks and more heroic
deeds of daring. As we see His career in the light of the four
Evangelists, it is distinguished for His prudence–and in that respect,
"never man spoke like this Man." He who on earth became obedient unto
death has now gone into Glory, but He is still over the House of God,
conducting its affairs. He still deals prudently. Our fears lead us to
judge that the affairs of Christ's kingdom are going amiss, but we may
rest assured that all is well, for the Lord has put all things under
the feet of Jesus and made Him to be Head over all things to His
Church. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in the hand of Jesus!

We err, but He does not. No, the very points in which we err are
overruled by Him for the display of His unerring wisdom and consummate
skill. The storms and tempests which surround the Church serve only to
illustrate the wisdom and power of our great Pilot. He has ultimate
designs which are not apparent upon the surface which He never fails to
accomplish. Brethren, all along through the history of the Church the
dealings of the Lord Jesus with His people have been very remarkable.
The wisdom in them is often deep and only discoverable by those who
seek it out. And yet frequently it sparkles upon the surface like gold
in certain lands across the sea.

Note how the Lord has made His Church learn the Truth of God by degrees
and purified her, first of one error, and then of another. The Church
has fallen, first, into one folly and then into another, but her Lord
has borne with her and delivered her. Full often He has allowed her to
work her folly out so as to see its result. And by this process He has
stamped out the error effectually, so that it will never again gain
power. At the present time the gross folly of uniting with the State is
being practically proved before the eyes of all men–and when it has
come to its fullness it will end– never to be revived again.

We wonder, sometimes, why He allows this or that error to exist, and we
ask how it can be that the Church should be so despoiled of her purity
and weakened in her strength. We wonder that our Lord does not judge
the evil and punish it at once, or that He does not raise up some
strong voice to protest against it and, sending His Holy Spirit,
destroy the evil at once. I know He might, but there is prudence in the
withholding of His power. The wise physician tolerates disease until it
shall have reached the point at which he can grapple with it, so as to
eradicate it from the system. So has the good Lord allowed some ills to
fester in the midst of His Church, that He may ultimately exterminate
them.

We wish to see great success following all forms of ministry. We would
see our missionary societies prosperous to such a degree that a nation
should be born in a day! But the Lord withholds success in a great
measure and herein He is dealing prudently. He keeps us back from
prosperity till we have learned that it does not, after all, arise out
of our plans, schemes, resources and energies–He would strip us
ofpride–He would put us in such a condition that it would be safe to
give us success and would be glorious to Himself, also.

Often has a Church, like Israel of old, to suffer defeat till it
discovers and destroys the Achan who troubles the camp. The Church has
been foiled and humbled till at last, in sheer despair, she has fallen
upon her face in prayer and lifted up her heart to the Strong for
strength! And then her strength has returned and victory has waited on
her banners. As rivers filter and purify in their running, so does the
Church, in her course, become pure through the manifold wisdom of her
Lord. Study the pages of ecclesiastical history and you will see how
Jesus Christ has dealt wisely in the raising up of men for all times. I
could not suppose a better man for Luther's age than Luther, yet
Luther, alone, would have been very incomplete for the full service
needed had it not been for Calvin, whose calm intellect was the
complement of Luther's fiery soul.

You shall not find a better age for Wickliffe to have been born in than
the time in which he shone forth as the morning star of the
Reformation. God fits the man for the place and the place for the man!
There is an hour for the voice and a voice for the hour! Our Lord has
done all things well, even unto this day, but now, perhaps, we are
getting a little tired. It is near 2,000 years since He died and there
has been a lot of talk about its being the end of the 6,000 years since
Creation, and we murmur to each other that the great Sabbath must
surely be very near. I am not much in love with this chronological
theory, for I think we cannot be certain that we have not long ago
passed beyond the 7,000 years.

It is very questionable to me whether we do not altogether
misunderstand the chronology of the Old Testament. Certainly nothing is
more perplexing than the ancient Hebrew numbering. Still, the many will
have it, and possibly so it is. A portion of the Church not only
expects the Lord's Second Advent, but gets into a state of feverishness
about the matter. Surely, they say, His delays have been very
great–why are His chariots so long in coming? Ah, Brothers and
Sisters, the Master knows best! It may please Him to finish up the
present dispensation today! If so, He will doubtless deal prudently in
so doing. But it may be that myriads of years are yet to elapse before
His appearing–and if so, there will be wisdom in the delay!

Let us leave the matter alone, for while the general fact that He will
come is clearly revealed in order to quicken our diligence–the details
are veiled in mystery–since they would only gratify our curiosity. If
I knew that our Lord would come this evening, I should preach just as I
mean to preach. And if I knew He would come during this sermon, I would
go on preaching until He did. Christian people ought not to be standing
with their mouths open, gazing up into Heaven and wondering what is
going to happen–they should abide with loins girt and lamps burning,
ready for His appearing whenever it may be. Go straight ahead upon the
business your Lord has appointed you and you need be under no
apprehension of being taken by surprise.

On one occasion I called to see one of our friends and I found her
whitening the front steps. When she saw me she jumped up and blushingly
said, "Oh dear, Sir, I am sorry you caught me like this. I wish I had
known you were coming." "My dear Sister," I said, "I hope that is how
the Lord will find me at His coming–doing my duty." I should like to
be found whitening the steps when the Lord comes, if that were my duty.
Steady perseverance in appointed service is far better than prophetical
speculation, especially if such speculation leads us to self-conceit
and idleness. We may rest assured that the future is safe, for Jesus
will deal wisely and come at the right time! Therefore we may leave all
matters in His hands. If the times are dark, it is right they should
be. If the times are bright, it is right they should be. I, at least,
cannot change the times and, therefore, my duty is to do the work God
has given me to do, whether the times are dark or bright.

For all practical purposes it is enough for us that Infinite Wisdom is
at the helm of affairs. "My Servant shall deal prudently."

Another translation of the passage is, "My Servant shall have
prosperous success." Let us append that meaning to the other.
Prosperity will grow out of our Lord's prudent dealings. The pleasure
of the Lord prospers in the hands of Jesus. The Gospel will prosper in
the thing which God has sent it. The decrees of God will be
accomplished. His eternal purposes will be fulfilled. We may desire
this or that and our wish may or may not be granted, but whatever the
Lord has appointed, in His Infinite Wisdom to be done, will come to
pass to the last jot and tittle. The blood of Jesus Christ will not
miss of its foreseen result in reference to any individual under
Heaven–and no end that was designed in the eternal plan of Redemption
shall be left unaccomplished. All along the line the Captain of our
salvation will be victorious and in every point and detail of the
entire business the will of the Lord shall be done–and all Heaven and
earth shall be filled with praise as they see that it is so.

In consequence of this, the text tells us the Lord shall be exalted and
extolled. How well He deserves to be exalted and extolled for His
matchless prudence! He cannot be esteemed too highly. At the present
time you will say the name of Christ is not honored. But wait awhile
and He shall be very high. His name is, even now, more honored than in
former days when it was the jest of the nations. The prudent plans
which the Lord has adopted are surely working out the growth of His
kingdom and will certainly result in bringing to the front His name,
Person and teaching. Perhaps you think that certain doctrines are
hindrances to the success of the Gospel–you know not what you say! In
the end it shall be seen that every part of His teachings and
procedure–and every act of His life, and all His government in
Providence–were so wisely ordered that, as a whole, they secured in
the best and speediest manner the exalting and extolling of His holy
name.

The star of Jesus rises higher every hour! The twilight of Calvary
brightens towards Millennial Day! He was despised and rejected of men,
but now tens of thousands adore Him and, according to the Omnipotent
promise of the Father, to Him every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess that He is Lord! The Spirit of God is at work glorifying Jesus
and Providence is bending all its forces to the same end. In Heaven
Jesus is exalted and extolled. In His Church He is very high. And even
in the world, itself, His name is already a word of power and destined
to be supreme in ages to come. Thus much, then, upon the character of
Messiah's dealings.

II. Now let us view THE STUMBLING BLOCK IN THE WAY OF OUR LORD. It is
His Cross, which to Jew and

Greek is always a hindrance. As if the Prophet saw Him in vision, he
cries out, "As many were astonished at you, His visage was so marred
more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." When He was
here, His personal position and condition and appearance were very much
against the spread of His kingdom. He was the son of a carpenter. He
wore the smock frock of a peasant. He associated with publicans and
sinners. Is He the Son of David? We looked for a great prince. We hoped
for another Solomon. Is this He?

Therefore the Jews rejected the meek and lowly Prince of the house of
David and, alas, they persist in their rejection of His claims. Today
He has risen from the grave and gone into Glory, but the offense of the
Cross has not ceased, for upon His Gospel there remains the image of
His marred visage and, therefore, men despise it. The preaching of the
Cross is foolishness to many. The main doctrine of the Gospel concerns
Jesus Crucified–Jesus, the Son of God, put to an ignominious death,
because, for our sakes, He was numbered with the transgressors and bore
the sin of many. Many will tell you they could believe Christianity if
it were not for the Atonement, that is to say, if Jesus will come down
from the Cross, modern scoffers will believe in Him, just as the
ancient ones tauntingly promised to do.

But of the Gospel we may say that the atoning blood is the pledge and
if you leave out the substitutionary work of Christ, there is no
Gospel. It is a body without a soul. This, then, seems to be the
impediment to the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom–He, Himself, with
His marred visage–and His Gospel with a visage equally uncomely in the
eyes of carnal men. The practical part of the Gospel is equally a
stumbling block to ungodly men, for when men inquire what they must do
to be saved, they are told that they must receive the Gospel as little
children, that they must repent of sin and believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ.

These are very humbling precepts for human self-sufficiency! And after
they are saved, if they do what they should, the precepts are not those
which commend themselves to proud, hectoring human nature–for they are
such as these– "Be kindly affectionate, one to another." "Forgive one
another and forbear one another even as God, for Christ's sake,

has forgiven you." To the world which loves conquerors and blasts of
trumpets–and wreaths of laurel–this kind of teaching has a marred
visage and an uncomely form. Then, what seems even more humbling, the
Lord Jesus Christ, in His prudent dealing, not only brings before us an
offensive Gospel, because of the Doctrine of Atonement and offensive in
its practical precepts, but He sends this Gospel among us by men who
are neither great nor noble, nor even among the wise of this world!

The proud say, "We would submit ourselves to men of master minds, but
we cannot endure these foolish ones! Send us philosophers and orators
combined. Let men overcome us by cogent arguments. Let them master us
by words whose splendor shall dazzle our intellects." Instead of which,
the Lord sends a man who talks humbly, plainly and, perhaps, even
coarsely. Very simple is what he says–"Believe and live. Christ, in
your place, suffered for you. Trust Him." He says this and little more.
Is not this the fool's Gospel? Is it not worthy to be called the
foolishness of preaching? Men do not like this. It is an offense to
their dignity. They would hear Caesar if he would officiate in his
purple, but they cannot endure Peter preaching in his fisherman's coat!

They will hear a pope in his sumptuous array, or a cardinal in his red
hat! And they would not object to listen to a well-trained dialectician
of the schools, or an orator from the forum. But they are indignant at
the man who disdains the excellency of speech and styles the wisdom of
this world folly! How can the Gospel spread by such means? How, indeed,
unless the Lord is with it, using human weakness to display the power
of His Grace? Worse still, if there can be worse, the people who become
converted and follow the Savior are generally of the poorer sort and
lightly esteemed. "Have any of the rulers believed?" is still the
question.

With what scorn do your literary men speak of professed Christians!
Have you ever seen the sneer upon the face of your "advanced thought"
gentleman and of the far-gone school of infidels, when they speak of
the old women and the semi-idiots who listen to the pious platitudes of
evangelical doctrines? They know how to despise us if they know nothing
else! But is such scorn worthy of men? It is only another version of
the old sneer of the Pharisees when they said, "Do you hear what these
say?" and pointed to the boys and the rabble who shouted, "Hosanna,
blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." Contempt has always
followed at the heels of Jesus and it always will till the day of His
Glory. If the great ones of the earth despise the Lord Jesus, on their
own heads be their blood! To Him it is a Glory rather than a shame that
"the poor have the Gospel preached to them."

He is the people's Christ whom it was written of old–"I have exalted
One chosen out of the people." He rejoices to be called a Leader and
Commander of the people and He is glad that "the common people hear Him
gladly." But here stands the head and front of the difficulty–the
Cross, which is the soul of Christianity–is also its stumbling block.
If any here are offended with Christ because of His Cross, I beg them
to dismiss the prejudice. Should it lead any man to doubt the Savior or
withhold his heart from Him because He comes with a visage marred with
sorrow? If He came to teach us to be unhappy and to prescribe to us
rules for increasing misery, we might be excused if we shunned His
teaching. But if He comes bearing the grief, Himself, that we may not
bear it, and if those lines of agony were worked in His Countenance
because He carried our griefs and our sorrows, they ought to be to us
the most attractive of all beauties!

I reckon that the scar across the warrior's face, which he gained in
defending his country, is no disfigurement to him–it is a beauty spot!
If my brother had, in saving my life, lost an arm or received a hideous
wound, he would be all the more beautiful in my esteem. Certainly I
could not shun him on that account. The wounds of Jesus are precious
jewels which should charm our eyes. They are eloquent mouths which
should win our hearts. Be attracted by Him, all of you! Hide not your
faces from Him! Look on Him and live and love!

That crown of thorns has far more true glory about it than any crown of
gold! Those hands pierced and nailed should be your delight to kiss!
Before that once sorrowing Person you should bow with joyful alacrity.
Jesus, O marred One, your Cross, instead of being a stumbling block to
us is the Glory of our faith! That the Gospel is spoken very plainly
and that God blesses very simple people ought not to offend anybody!
Ought it not, rather, to make us hopeful for the conversion of men
because God may so largely bless commonplace instruments? Ought the
conversion of the poor and the illiterate be an offense to us? It shows
a need of humanity! It looks as if pride had dried up the milk of human
kindness in us if we can begrudge those who have so little of this
present world but the priceless gifts of another.

III. THE CERTAINTY OF THE REMOVAL OF THIS STUMBLING BLOCK and the
spread of Christ's kingdom. As His face was marred, so surely, "shall
He sprinkle many nations," by which we understand, first, that the
Doctrines of

the Gospel are to fall in a copious shower over all lands! Jesus shall,
by His speech which drops as the dew and distils as the rain, sprinkle
not the Jews only, but Gentile nations everywhere! Your brethren
abhorred You, O Immanuel! They despised You, O Man of Nazareth! But all
lands shall hear of You and feel You coming down like showers upon the
mown grass! The dusky tribes afar off and the dwellers in the land of
the setting sun shall hear Your doctrine and shall drink it in as the
fleece of wool sucks up dew. You shall sprinkle many nations with Your
gracious Word!

This sprinkling we must interpret according to the Mosaic ceremonies.
Remember there was a sprinkling with blood, to set forth pardon of sin,
and a sprinkling with water to set forth purification from the power of
sin. Jesus Christ with–

"The water and the blood From His riven side which flowed," has
sprinkled not only many men but many nations! And the day will come
when all nations shall feel the blessed drops which are scattered from
His hands and know them to be "of sin the double cure," cleansing
transgressors both from its guilt and power. Dr. Kitto explains the
passage by an Oriental custom. He says that kings, when they invited
their subjects to great festivals, would employ persons to sprinkle
with perfume all who arrived as they passed the palace gate. I scarcely
think that that is the meaning of the text, but at any rate it supplies
an illustration of it.

Jesus invites men of all nations to come to the Gospel feast–and as
they enter He casts upon them the sweet perfumes of His Love and Grace,
so that they are fragrant before the Lord. There were no perfumes for
You, O Jesus, upon Calvary! Vinegar and gall were all they offered You,
but now, since You have gone to Heaven, You provide perfumes for
multitudes of the sons of men! And nations north and south and east and
west are refreshed with the delicious showers of fragrance which,
through the Gospel, fall upon them!

The text, then, claims for Jesus Christ that the influence of His Grace
and the power of His work shall be extended over many nations and shall
have power not over the common people only, but over their leaders and
rulers. "The kings shall shut their mouths at Him." They shall have no
word to say against Him. They shall be so subdued by the majesty of His
power that they shall silently pay Him reverence and prostrate
themselves before His Throne. Kings, remember this! I am always glad to
hear of noblemen being converted, though I am by no means inclined to
flatter the great, or to think more of one man's soul than of
another's. I am glad, however, to hear of the salvation of peers and
princes, for it indicates the wide spread of the Gospel, when all
classes are affected by it, and when those who usually stand aloof
yield themselves to its power.

"Kings shall shut their mouths at Him." This promise has not been
fulfilled yet. There are those who think that the Biblical prophecies
are pretty nearly accomplished and that we are passing into a new
dispensation. Well, I dare not dogmatize, but I dare question most of
the talk I hear nowadays about the future. Scores of prophecies are not
yet fulfilled! Kings have not yet shut their mouths at Him! They have
mostly opened their mouths wide against Him and reviled and blasphemed
Him and persecuted His saints. There will be brighter days to come for
this poor world when even princes shall humbly obey our Lord!

The more I study the Bible, the more sure I am of two things which I
cannot reconcile. First, that Christ will come at such an hour as men
look not for Him and may come right now. And secondly, that the Gospel
is to be preached in all nations and that "all the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn unto the Lord." I do not know which of the two
things I am surest of–neither do I know how to reconcile them. They
are both in the Word and in due time they will be reconciled by history
itself. Assuredly the day will come when the mightiest prince shall
count it his highest honor to have his name enrolled as a member of the
Church of Christ. "Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him. All
nations shall serve Him."

The little handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains
is yet to increase till the fruit shall shake like Lebanon. "They shall
not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord; for all shall know Him from the least to the greatest."
We look for this, and it will come! O thorn-crowned King of Calvary,
kings shall yet be Your courtiers!

IV. Let us consider THE MANNER OF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. How will it come
to pass? Will there be new machinery? Will the world be converted and
the kings be made to shut their mouths by some new mode of operation? I
do not think so. Will the saints take the sword one day? Will it be
accomplished by that wonderful implement of civilization, a gunboat?
Shall we convert the Hottentots by gunpowder? We have had a little
trial of these carnal weapons and some

admire the success, but they may live to regret it. The Prince of Peace
bids us put the sword into its scabbard. His weapons, like His kingdom,
are not carnal. The way which has been from the beginning of the
dispensation will last to its close.

I believe that this battle is to be fought out on the line upon which
it began. It pleases God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them
that believe. To conceive that our Lord will end the present mode of
warfare, as though it were admitted that evil could not be conquered by
the use of instrumentality, is to my mind to do Him great dishonor. To
me it is plain that, as He has chosen to magnify His power by using
feeble instruments, He will continue to do so till the victory is won.
He has never yet relinquished His work so as to give the enemy an
opportunity of claiming a victory. To change weapons is to lay one's
self open to the charge of being unable to conquer with those first
used–but it is not so with our Lord.

The very same grain of mustard which is now so small is yet to become a
tree with far-spreading branches. The leaven is yet to leaven the whole
lump. The last harvest will be the result of sowing by men and not by
some miraculous agency. The dividing of the people, at the last, will
be made from the contents of one and the same Gospel dragnet, which we
are bound to use till the heavens are no more. According to this
passage, these kings and nations are, first of all, to hear. "Faith
comes by hearing." They are to hear something. Well, Brothers and
Sisters, if they are to hear, we must preach and teach so that our
clear line of duty is to go on spreading the Gospel! Jesus Christ would
have His servants preach and teach the Gospel! Are you doing it? Go on
doing it, Brother, in the power of the Holy Spirit, no matter what
happens!

Have you not done it? Begin to do so now, as one of Christ's servants,
and pray for Divine help. Do you say you cannot do it? You can! You are
hiding your talent in a napkin! Take it out, you unfaithful servant,
lest your Lord comes and judges you! But you cannot teach many? Who
said you could? Teach one! Oh, but you cannot preach? Who said preach?
Teach! Teach somehow. Cause the people to know the story of the Cross.
But you cannot teach kings, you say. Why need you? Teach servants and
children–only spread the Gospel!

The world is to be won to Christ, if it is ever won at all, by hearing
the glad tidings of a dying Savior's love. And how can they hear
without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent?
Christ sends you, for He says, "Let him that hears say, 'Come.'" In the
power of that commission say at once–

"Now will I tell to sinners round What a dear Savior I have found,
Point them to His redeeming blood And say, Behold the way to God."
These people appear not only to have heard, but to have seen. "That
which had not been told them shall they see." This seeing is not with
their bodily eyes, but by the perceptions of their minds. Faith comes
by the soul perceiving what the Gospel means. We cannot believe in that
which we do not understand. Therefore we must go on telling people the
Gospel till they see what the Gospel is.

Many men will never know the Gospel till they have been told it a
thousand times–and you must keep on telling it to them till you get to
that thousandth time. "What do you mean by that?" you ask. I mean this,
that it must be line upon line and precept upon precept almost to the
exhaustion of patience. It must be a mother's prayers, a teacher's
anxieties, Providences, sicknesses, twitches of conscience, ministries
of all sorts and much pleading. And it is only at the last stroke that
the Word will be achieved, though all the other efforts will have
contributed towards it. Go on, dear Brother, go on and teach Jesus
Christ till the people see Him! That sight will come all of a sudden.
How many times have I heard the young convert say, "I knew all about
this before, Sir. I had heard it many times, but I could not see it.
Now I

see it."

O, how it makes a man shut his mouth at Christ in humble silence, when
he perceives, at last, that His marred visage and suffering form were
tokens of Divine Love–and that by such sorrows sin is purged away!
Would to God you all saw Him! After they had seen, it appears from the
text that they considered. "That which they had not heard shall they
consider." This is how men are saved–they hear the Gospel, they catch
the meaning of it, and then they consider it. Let us pray, dear
Friends, that God would set unconverted people considering! If we can
but get them to think, we have great hopes for them. If any of you,
here, have never yielded to Jesus Christ, I would ask you to hear or
read about Him. Spend this afternoon in carefully reading one of the
Gospels. Turn to Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John and read the story
of His passion and ask God to let you see what it all means.

And when you see it, turn it all over in your minds. Think of it. Think
how wonderful it is that God should become Man to suffer in your place.
See if it is reasonable to disbelieve it or right to refuse to love the
Savior. There are a thousand reasons why you should rush into His arms
and say, "Incarnate Deity, how can I resist You? Bleeding Omnipotence,
how dare I doubt You? Immortal Love, crucified for my sins, I yield
myself to You! I would be Your servant forever." It is clear that those
people, when they had seen and considered silently, accepted the Lord
as their Lord, for they shut their mouths at Him. They ceased all
opposition! They quietly resigned wills and paid allegiance to the
great King of kings.

Brothers and Sisters, we want to see hundreds, here, doing this for
Christ! There is a great religious stir, just now, and we desire that
this Church and all the Churches abroad, should use the favorable
breeze. You know how, in harvest time, the farmer gets all the men he
can to work and they toil on through long hours. I have seen them
working briskly beneath the bright moonlight to get the wheat in. This
is our harvest time and we must get our sheaves in! The Lord has much
corn and it needs to be garnered. I pray you make long hours and work
hard for Jesus! Let the subject expounded this morning inspire you. The
success of the Gospel is in no jeopardy whatever. Jesus must reign till
He has put all enemies under His feet.

If the devil can persuade you that Christ is going to give up the war,
or is going to fight it out on another line and dispense with your
efforts, you will soon grow idle. You will find an excuse for laziness
in some supposed conversion of the world by miracle, or some other
wonderful affair. You will say the Lord is coming and the war will all
be over at once, so there is no need of your fighting it out now. Do
not believe it! Our Commander is able to fight it through on this
line–in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, by the power of the Eternal
Spirit, we are bound to keep right on till this world yields before
God. You remember the American general who, when the nation was eager
for speedy victory, said he did not know when that would come, but that
he would keep on pegging away? That is what we are bound to do–to keep
on "pegging away."

No gunner may leave his gun, no subordinate may disperse his band, no
officer may suggest a retreat. Brothers and Sisters, Popery must fall!
Mohammedanism must come down! All the idol gods must be broken and cast
to the moles and to the bats! It looks like a task too gigantic, but
the bare arm of God–only think of that–His sleeve rolled up,
Omnipotence, itself, made bare–what can it not accomplish? Stand back,
devils! When God's bare arm comes into the fight, you will all run like
dogs, for you know your Master! Stand back, heresies and schisms, evils
and delusions! You will all disappear, for the Christ of God is
mightier than you!

O, believe it! Do not be downhearted and dispirited! Do not run to new
schemes and fancies and interpretations of prophecy. Go and preach
Jesus Christ unto all the nations! Go and spread abroad the Savior's
blessed name, for He is the world's only hope! The Cross is the banner
of our victory! God help us to look to it ourselves and then to hold it
up before the eyes of others till our Lord shall come upon His Throne.
Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Isaiah 53. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK"–72, 418, 302.