Pricked in Their Heart

Pricked in Their Heart

A Sermon

(No. 2102)

Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, September 1st, 1889, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At [6]the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath
made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now
when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we
do?"'Acts 2:36-37.

THIS WAS THE FIRST public preaching of the gospel after our Lord was
taken up into glory. It was thus a very memorable sermon, a kind of
first-fruits of the great harvest of gospel testimony. It is very
encouraging to those who are engaged in preaching that the first sermon
should have been so successful. Three thousand made up a grand take of
fish at that first cast of the net. We are serving a great and growing
cause in the way chosen of God, and we hope in the future to see still
larger results produced by that same undying and unchanging power which
helped Peter to preach such a heart-piercing sermon.

Peter's discourse was not distinguished by any special rhetorical
display: he used not the words of man's wisdom or eloquence. It was not
an oration, but it was a heart-moving argument, entreaty, and
exhortation. He gave his hearers a simple, well-reasoned, Scriptural
discourse, sustained by the facts of experience; and every passage of
it pointed to the Lord Jesus. It was in these respects a model of what
a sermon ought to be as to its contents. His plea was personally
addressed to the people who stood before him, and it had a practical
and pressing relation to them and to their conduct. It was aimed, not
at the head, but at the heart. Every word of it was directed to the
conscience and the affections, It was plain, practical, personal, and
persuasive; and in this it was a model of what a sermon ought to be as
to its aim and style. Yet Peter could not have spoken otherwise under
the impression of the divine Spirit: his speech was as the oracles of
God, a true product of a divine inspiration. Under the circumstances,
any other kind of address would have been sadly out of place. A flashy,
dazzling oration would have been a piece of horrible irreverence to the
Holy Ghost; and Peter would have been guilty of the blood of souls if
he had attempted it. In sober earnestness he kept to the plain facts of
the case, setting them in the light of God's Word; and then with all
his might he pressed home the truth upon those for whose salvation he
was labouring. May it ever be the preacher's one desire to win men to
repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! May no
minister wish to be admired, but may he long that his Lord and Master
may be sought after! May none bewilder their people with the clouds of
theoretic philosophy, but refresh them with the rain of revealed truth?
Oh, that we could so preach that our hearers should be at once pricked
in their hearts, and so be led at once to believe in our Lord Jesus,
and immediately to come forward and confess their faith in his name!

We must not forget, however, to trace the special success of the sermon
on the day of Pentecost to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, in which
Peter had shared. This it is which is the making of the preacher.
Immersed into the Holy Spirit, the preacher will think rightly, and
speak wisely; his word will be with power to those who hear. We must
not forget, also, that there had been a long season of earnest, united,
believing prayer on the part of the whole church. Peter was not alone:
he was the voice of a praying company, and the believers had been with
one accord in one place crying for a blessing; and thus not only was
the Spirit resting upon the preacher, but on all who were with him.
What a difference this makes to a preacher of the gospel, when all his
comrades are as much anointed of the Spirit as himself! His power is
enhanced a hundredfold. We shall seldom see the very greatest wonders
wrought when the preacher stands by himself; but when Peter is
described as standing up "with the eleven," then is there a twelve-man
ministry concentrated in one; and when the inner circle is further
sustained by a company of men end women who have entered into the same
truth, and are of one heart and one soul, then is the power increased
beyond measure. A lonely ministry may sometimes effect great things, as
Jonah did in Nineveh; but if we look for the greatest and most
desirable result of all, it must come from one who is not alone, but is
the mouthpiece of many. Peter had the one hundred and twenty registered
brethren for a loving body-guard, and this tended to make him strong
for his Lord. How greatly I value the loving co-operation of the
friends around me! I have no word, to express my gratitude to God for
the army of true men and women who surround me with their love, and
support me with their faith. I pray you, never cease to sustain me by
your prayers, your sympathy, and your co-operation, until some other
preacher shall take my place when increasing years shall warn me to
stand aside.

Yet much responsibility must rest with the preacher himself; and there
was much about Peter's own self that is well worthy of imitation. The
sermon was born of the occasion, and it used the event of the hour as
God intended it to be used. It was earnest without a trace of passion,
and prudent without a suspicion of fear. The preacher himself was
self-collected, calm, courteous, and gentle. He aired no theories, but
went on firm ground, stepping from fact to fact, from Scripture to
Scripture, from plain truth to plain truth. He was patient at the
beginning, argumentative all along, and conclusive at the end. He
fought his way through the doubts and prejudices of his hearers; and
when he came to the end, he stated the inevitable conclusion with
clearness and certainty. All along he spake very boldly, without
mincing the truth'Ye with wicked hands have crucified and slain him
whom God has highly exalted. He boldly accused them of the murder of
the Lord of glory, doing his duty in the sight of God, and for the good
of their souls, with great firmness and fearlessness. Yet there is
great tenderness in his discourse. Impulsive and hot-headed Peter, who,
a little while before, had drawn his sword to fight for his Lord, does
not, in this instance, use a harsh word; but speaks with great
gentleness and meekness of spirit, using words and terms all through
the address which indicate a desire to conciliate, and then to
convince. Though he was as faithful us an Elijah, yet he used terms so
courteous and kindly that, if men took offence, it would not be because
of any offensiveness of tone on the speaker's part. Peter was gentle in
his manner, but forceful in his matter. This art he had learned from
his Lord; and we shall never have master-preachers among us till we see
men who have been with Jesus, and have learned of him. Oh, that we
could become partakers of our Lord's Spirit, and echoes of his tone!
Then may we hope to attain to Pentecostal results, when we have
preachers like Peter, surrounded by a band of earnest witnesses, and
all baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

When we follow the run of Peter's argument, we do not wonder that his
hearers were pricked in their hearts. We ascribe that deep compunction
to the Spirit of God; and yet it was a very reasonable thing that it
should be so. When it was clearly shown to them that they had really
crucified the Messiah, the great hope of their nation, it was not
wonderful that they should be smitten with horror. Looking as they were
for Israel's King, and finding that he had been among them, and they
had despitefully used him, and crucified him, they might well be
smitten at the heart. Though for the result of our ministry we depend
wholly upon the Spirit of God, yet we must adapt our discourse to the
end we aim at; or, say rather, we must leave ourselves in the Spirit's
hand as to the sermon itself as well as in reference to the result of
the sermon. The Holy Ghost uses means which are adapted to the end
designed. Because, beloved, I do desire beyond all things that many in
this congregation may be pricked in the heart, I have taken this
concluding part of Peter's discourse to be the text of my sermon this
morning. Yet my trust is not in the Word itself, but in the quickening
Spirit who works by it. May the Spirit of God use the rapier of his
Word to pierce the hearts of my hearers!

First, note that Peter speaks to his hearers upon their evil conduct to
the Lord Jesus; and, secondly, he declares to them the exaltation that
God has bestowed upon him. When we have dwelt on these two things, we
will notice, in the third place, the result of knowing this grand
fact"Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."

I. First, then, Peter dwelt tenderly, but very plainly, upon THEIR EVIL
CONDUCT TOWARDS THE LORD JESUS. "He came unto his own, and his own
received him not." As a nation, Israel had rejected him whom God had
sent. The inhabitants of Jerusalem had gone further, and had consented
unto his death; nay, had even clamoured for it, crying, "Crucify him,
crucify him." Solemnly had the Jews exclaimed, "His blood be on us, and
on our children." None of them had protested against the murder of the
innocent One; but many of them had been eager to make an end of him.
This Peter, in plain words, charged upon them, and they could not deny
it; nor did they pretend to do so. It is well when a sense of guilt
compels a man to stand silent under the rebuke of God. We then have
hope of him that he will seek for pardon.

Men and brethren, we are not in Jerusalem, and the death of our Lord
happened more than eighteen hundred years ago; therefore we need not
dwell upon the sin of those long since dead. It will be more profitable
for us practically to consider how far we have been guilty of similar
sins against the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us look at home. Let each one
consider his own case. I may be addressing some to-day who have
blasphemed the name of the Lord Jesus. I do not suppose that you have
been guilty of the vulgar language of blasphemy, which is coarse and
revolting, as well as profane; but there are politer methods of
committing the self-same crime. Some, with their elaborate criticisms
of Christianity, wound it far more seriously than atheists with their
profanities. In these days, wiseacres, with their philosophy, derogate
from the glory of our Lord's nature, and, with their novel doctrines,
undermine his gospel. Denying the atonement, or teaching it as
something other than a substitutionary sacrifice, they try to make away
with that which is the very heart and soul of the Redeemer's work. Men
nowadays drink in opinions which lessen the guilt of sin, and, of
course, lower the value of the atoning blood. The cross is still a
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. Men do not now accept the
words of the Bible as authoritative, nor the teaching of the apostles
as final; they set themselves up to be teachers of the great Teacher,
reformers of the divine gospel. They do not accept the teaching of the
Lord Jesus one half so much as they criticize it. If any here present
have been thus guilty, may the Holy Spirit convince them of their sin!
Since the Lord God hath made this atoning Jesus both Lord and Christ,
and set him on his right hand, any teaching which does despite to him,
however learned, however advanced, however cultured it may seem to be,
is a grievous sin against the Lord God himself. By such conduct we are,
as far as in us lies, again putting the Lord Jesus to death; we are
attempting to make away with that which is the very life and glory of
Christ. O my hearer, if you have denied his Deity, rejected his atoning
blood, ridiculed his imputed righteousness, or scoffed at salvation by
faith in him, may you be pricked in the heart as you see that God hath
made that same Jesus to be Lord of all!

Much more common, however, is another sin against our Lord
Jesus'namely, neglecting him, ignoring his claims, and postponing the
day of faith in him. I trust that none here are willing to die
unconverted, or would even dare to think of passing away without being
washed in the precious blood; yet, my hearers, you have lived to
manhood; to ripe years; perhaps even to old age, without yielding your
hearts to the Lord Jesus, and accepting him as your Saviour. To say the
least of it, this is a very sad piece of neglect. To ignore a man
altogether is, in a certain sense, as far as you are concerned, to kill
that man.

If you put him out of your reckoning, if you treat him as if he were
nothing, if your estimate of life is made as if he were a cipher, you
have put your Lord out of existence in reference to yourself. You treat
him with empty compliment by observing his day, and hearing his Word;
but you have no real regard for him. Is not this a cruel fault? From
morning till night your Lord is not in all your thoughts; he never
affects your dealings with your fellow-men; you never endeavour to
catch his spirit of love, and considerateness, and meekness; and thus,
as a Leader and Exemplar, he is dead to you. You have never confessed
your sin before him, nor sought for pardon at his hands, nor have you
looked to see whether he hath borne your sins in his own body on the
tree. O soul, this is base neglect'ungrateful contempt! God thinks so
much of his Son that he cannot set him too high; he has placed him at
his own right hand, and yet you will not spare him a thought! The great
God thinks heaven and earth too little for him, and magnifies him
exceedingly above all, as King of kings, and Lord of lords; and yet you
treat him as if he were of no account, and might be safely made to wait
your time and leisure. Is this right? Will you treat your Saviour thus?
May this prick you in the heart, and may you cease from this base
ingratitude!

There are others who have done more than this, for they have rejected
Christ. I now allude to those of you who have not been able to resist
the appeals made to you by the Lord's ministers. You have felt a good
deal'felt more than you would like to confess. You have been so
inclined to seek the Saviour that you have almost done so; sin has
flashed in your face like the flames of Tophet, and in alarm you have
resolved to seek salvation; you have gone home to bend the knee in
prayer, you have read the Scriptures to learn the way of eternal life;
but, alas! an evil companion crossed your path, and the question came,
"Shall it be this man or Christ?" You chose the man: I had almost said,
you chose Barabbas, and rejected Jesus. A sinful pleasure came before
you when you had begun to be serious, and the question arose, "Shall I
give up this pleasure, or shall I renounce all hope of Christ?" You
snatched at the pleasure, and you let your Saviour go. Do you not
remember when you did violence to your conscience? There was an effort
about it, as you stifled conviction. You had to put forth a decided act
of the will to quench the Spirit of God, and to escape from the
strivings of your awakened conscience. I know not to whom this may
apply; but I am certain, as certain as Peter was when he spoke to the
crucifiers of Christ, that I am speaking to some who have been
rejecters of the Lord Jesus Christ, not once nor twice. Some of you
have distinctly rejected him almost every Sabbath-day; but especially
when the Word of the Lord has been with extraordinary power, and you
have felt it shake you, as a lion shakes his prey. Thank God, you are
not past feeling yet! I pray you, do not presume upon the continuance
of your tenderness. You will not always feel as you have felt: the day
may come when even the thunders of God may not be heard by your
deafened ear, and the love of Christ will not affect the heart which
you have made callous by wilful obstinacy. Woe to the man when his
heart is turned to stone! When flesh turns to stone, it is a conversion
unto eternal death; just as the turning of stone to flesh is conversion
to eternal life. God have mercy upon you, and prick you in the heart
this morning, while you yet have tenderness enough to feel that you
have rejected him whom you ought to embrace with all your heart!

I must come a little closer to certain of you, who have forsaken the
Lord Jesus Christ. There are a few unhappy persons here this morning,
over whom I greatly grieve, because of their wanderings; and yet I am
glad that they have not quite forsaken the courts of the Lord's house.
These once professed to be disciples of Christ; but they have gone
back, and walk no more with him. They were once numbered with us, and
went in and out of our solemn assemblies for prayer and breaking of
bread; but now we know them not. They were not backward to confess
themselves Christians, But now they deny their Lord. In former days
they were zealous, and apparently devout; they were quick in the
service of God, and sound in their creed. But there came a day'I need
not describe the circumstances, for they differ in different cases'when
two roads were before them, and they must go either to the right or to
the left; and they took the road by which they turned their back upon
Christ, and upon the vitality of godliness. They went off into sin, and
apostatized from the faith. We fear "they went out from us, but they
were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have
continued with us." They have gone aside unto crooked ways, and we fear
that the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. O my
backsliding hearer, I hope you are not a Judas; my trust is that you
may be a Peter! You have denied your Master, but I hope you will yet
weep bitterly, and be restored to your Lord's service. For your good I
must bring home your wanderings to you; may the Lord prick you in the
heart about them! Why have you left your Lord? Wherein has he wearied
you? There may be present persons from the country, or friends from
America, who were once glad to be numbered with the children of God,
but now they care nothing for God, or his people. Alas! they take part
with the adversaries of Christ, and the despisers of his precious
blood! Friend, you are here this morning that I may bring your sin to
remembrance, and ask you why you have done this thing! Were you a
hypocrite? If not, why have you turned aside ? God has exalted to his
throne the Saviour, on whom you have turned your back; have you not
acted madly in what you have done? The Most High God is on the side of
Jesus, and you are avowedly on the other side; is this right, or wise?
It is painful to me to speak of these things. I hope it is far more
painful for you to hear of them. I want you to feel as David did, when
his heart smote him. What have you been doing? Has the Lord Jesus
deserved this at your hands? Turn, I pray you, from your evil way, and
turn unto the Lord with full purpose of heart.

II. After Peter had dwelt upon the sin of his hearers in treating the
Lord so ill, he declared to them THE EXALTATION BESTOWED ON HIM BY GOD.
The great God loved, and honoured, and exalted that same Jesus whom
they had crucified. O my hearers, whatever you may think of the Lord
Jesus, God thinks everything of him! To you he may be dead and buried,
but God hath raised him from the dead. To God he is the ever-living,
the ever well-beloved Christ. You cannot destroy the Lord Jesus, or his
cause. If you could do all that the most malicious heart could suggest,
you could not really defeat him. Men wreaked their vengeance on him:
once they put him to a felon's death, they laid him in the grave, and
sealed the stone; but he rose again, for God was on his side. My
hearer, whatever you do, you cannot shake the truth of the gospel, nor
rob the Lord Jesus of a single beam of his glory. He lives and reigns,
and he will live and reign, whatever becomes of you. You may refuse his
salvation but he is still a Saviour, and a great one. His gospel
chariot rolls on, and every stone which is placed to hinder it is
crushed into the earth, and compelled to make a road for him. If you
resist the Lord, you do it at your peril; but you do it in vain. You
might as well hope to reverse the laws of nature, quench the sun, and
snatch the moon from her orbit, as hope to overthrow the cause and
kingdom of the Lord Jesus; for God is on his side, and his throne is
established for ever. God hath raised his Son from the dead, and taken
him up to sit at his right hand, and there he will remain while his
enemies shall be made his footstool. By this you may see what evil you
have done through rejecting Christ, and may know who he is whom you
have neglected refused, and forsaken.

Let me remind you that, when we read of our Lord as being at the right
hand of God, we perceive that he enjoys infinite felicity. At the right
hand of God there are pleasures for evermore; and David said, as the
representative of our Lord, "Thou hast made known to me the ways of
life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance." He who was
the Man of sorrows now overflows with gladness. All his work and
warfare done, he rests in boundless blessedness. His priestly work
being finished, he sits down. No more does be feel the cross and nails,
no more does he endure the mockery of cruel eyes and ribald lips. He is
full of joy, that joy which be bids his people share when he says,
"Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." His portion is measureless,
infinite, inconceivable delight. Can it be that you are opposed to him,
and neglect him, while God lavishes upon him more than all the bliss of
heaven, and makes him to be the fountain of unspeakable delight to all
his redeemed ones? Grieve that you should grieve him whom God thus
loads with blessedness.

Moreover, remember that at the right hand of God our Lord sits in
infinite majesty. Jesus, whom you think little of, Jesus, from whom you
turn aside, is to-day adored of angels, obeyed by seraphs, worshipped
by just men made perfect. He is the highest in the highest heavens. Do
you not hear the blast of heaven's trumpets, which proclaims him head
over principalities and powers? Do you not hear the song which ascribes
to him honour, and glory, and power, and dominion, and might? My faith
anticipates the happy day when I shall stand a courtier in his
unrivalled. courts, and behold him, the Lamb upon the throne, reigning
high over all, with every knee in heaven and in earth gladly bowing
before him. Can it be that you have neglected him whom God hath
exalted? Can it be that you have refused him, that you have done
despite to him, that you have, as far as you could, put him to death
whom Jehovah has made Lord of all?

Nor is this all: for the place at the right hand of God, to which he is
now exalted, is the place of power. There sits the Mediator, the Son of
God, the man Christ Jesus, while his enemies are being subdued under
him. Do not believe it, O proudest of doubters, that thou canst take
away from Christ any measure of his power! He overrules all mortal
things; he directs the movements of the stars; he rules the armies of
heaven. He restrains the rage of his adversaries, and what he suffers
to be let loose he turns to his glory. All power is given to him in
heaven and earth; he reigns in the three realms of nature, providence,
and grace. His kingdom ruleth over all, and of his dominion there shall
be no end. O sirs, what do our hearts suggest but that we bow at his
feet? that we worship him with loving reverence? that we yield to that
supreme power which is used for purposes of love? Yet it is this
Christ, this mighty Christ, who is set at nought by some of you, so
that you run the risk of perishing because you have no heart for him
and his great salvation.

Learn, next, that he is at the right hand of the Majesty in the
heavens, seated as our Judge. If we refuse him as a Saviour, we shall
not be able to escape from him as Judge in the last great day. All the
acts of men are being recorded, and in that day, when the great white
throne shall be set in the heavens, all things shall be made manifest,
and we must stand unveiled in his presence. You have often heard and
sung of him whose face was more marred than that of any man, when he
was here as a sacrifice for guilty men. If you refuse him, you will
have to stand before his bar to answer for it. The most awful sight for
the impenitent in the day of judgment will be the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I do not find that they cry, "Hide us from the tempest,"
nor "Hide us from the angel-guards," nor "Hide us from their swords of
fire," but, "Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb." Love, when once it turns to wrath, is
terrible beyond compare. As oil when set on fire blazes with great
force, so the meek and loving Jesus, when finally rejected, will
exhibit a wrath more terrible than death.

"Ye sinners, seek his grace,

Whose wrath ye cannot bear;

Fly to the shelter of his cross,

And find salvation there."

Perhaps through ignorance you have rebelled; repent, and take another
course. You supposed that when you kicked against a sermon, you had
only put down the minister's words; but in reality you resisted the
Saviour's love. You thought that when you turned away from Christ and
his people, it was only leaving a church, and having your name crossed
out of a book. Ah, sirs! take heed, for I fear you have left the Lamb
of God, and renounced your part in his Book of Life! At the last it may
turn out to have been an awful thing to have been put forth from the
Church of Christ on earth; for when we, as a church, do our Lord's
bidding, that which we bind on earth is bound in heaven. In refusing
the Lord's Word, you refuse him who speaks from heaven: you refuse not
only his words, but himself, and he shall be your Judge'your Judge most
just, most holy. Oh, how will you bear it? How will you bear to stand
at the bar of the despised Saviour?

Peter also showed his hearers that the Lord was greatly exalted in
heaven as the Head over all things to his church, for he had that day
shed abroad the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, he comes from
Christ, and as the witness of his power. He proceedeth from the Father
and the Son, and he bears witness with both. Christ's power was
marvellously proved when, after he had been but a little while in
heaven, he was able to bestow such gifts upon men, and specially to
send the tongues of fire, and the rushing mighty wind, which betoken
the energy of the Holy Ghost. He is such a Lord that he can save or
destroy. The Christ that died upon the cross hath all things committed
into his hands. He can this morning send forth salvation to the ends of
the earth, so that multitudes shall believe and live; for him hath God
exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give
repentance and forgiveness of sins. Or, he can turn the key the other
way, and shut the door against this untoward generation; for he
openeth, and no man shutteth; and he shutteth, and no man openeth. In
any case, be ye sure of this, ye Gentiles, even as Peter would have the
house of Israel be sure of it, that "God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."

I notice that, at this time, few writers or preachers use the
expression, "Our Lord Jesus Christ." We have lives of Christ, and lives
of Jesus; but, brethren, he is THE LORD. Jesus is both Lord and Christ:
we need to acknowledge his Deity, his dominion, and his divine
anointing. He is "God over all, blessed for ever," and we can never
praise him too much. A great and grievous error of the times is a want
of reverence for our Lord and his sacrifice. To sit in judgment on his
sacred teaching, is to spit in his face; to deny his miracles, is to
strip him of his own clothes; to make him out to be a mere teacher of
ethics, is to mock him with a purple robe; and to deny his atonement,
in philosophical phraseology, is to crown him with thorns, and crucify
him afresh, and put him to an open shame. Be not guilty of this, my
hearers, for God hath made this same Jesus "both Lord and Christ"; let
us worship him as Lord, and trust him as Christ.

III. Now I come to my closing point, which is, THE RESULT OF KNOWING
THIS ASSUREDLY. May I here pause to ask'do you know this assuredly? I
hope all of you believe that God hath made Jesus Christ, the Mediator,
in his complex person, as God-and-man, to be " both Lord and Christ."
He was Lord, as God, always; but as God-and-man, he is now Lord and
Christ. Manhood and Godhead are in him united in one wondrous Parson,
and this Person is "both Lord and Christ." You believe it. But do you
so believe it that it is a fact of the utmost importance to you? Will
you assuredly believe it, that the man of Nazareth, who died on
Calvary, is to-day both Lord and Christ? If you do now believe this,
what are your feelings as you review your past misconduct towards him?
Does not your past neglect prick you in the heart? If you do not so
believe, it is of little use for me to describe what the result of such
belief would be, for that result will not take place in you; but if you
have so believed, and Jesus is to you Lord and Christ, you will look on
him whom you have pierced, and mourn for him. As you recollect your
negligence of him, your rejection of him, your backsliding from him,
and all your ungrateful acts which show contempt of him, your heart
will be ready to break, and you will be seized with a great sorrow, and
a hearty repentance. The Lord work it in you, for his Son's sake!

Observe, that as the result of Peter's sermon, his hearers felt a
mortal sting. "They were pricked in their heart." The truth had pierced
their souls. When a man rinds out that he has done a fearful wrong to
one who loved him, he grows sick at heart, and views his own conduct
with abhorrence. We all remember the story of Llewellyn and his
faithful dog. The prince came back from the hunt, and missed his infant
child, but saw marks of blood everywhere. Suspecting his dog Gelert of
having killed the child he drove his vengeful sword into the faithful
hound, which had been bravely defending his child against a huge wolf,
which lay there, all torn and dead, "tremendous still in death." Yes,
he had slain the faithful creature which had preserved his child. Poor
Gelert's dying yell pierced the prince to the heart; and well it might.
If such emotions fitly arise when we discover that we have, in error,
been ungenerous and cruel to a dog, how ought we to feel towards the
Lord Jesus, who laid down his life that we, who were his enemies, might
live?

I recall an awfully tragic story of an evil couple, who kept an inn of
base repute. A young man called one night to lodge. They noticed that
he had gold in his purse, and they murdered him in the night. It was
their own son, who had come back to gladden their old age, and wished
to see whether his parents would remember him. Oh, the bitterness of
their lamentation when they found that through the lust of gold they
had murdered their own son!

Take out of such amazing grief its better portion, and then add to it a
spiritual conviction of the sin of evil'entreating the Son of God, the
perfect One, the Lover of our souls, and you come near the meaning of
being "pricked in the heart." Oh, to think that we should despise him
who loved us, and gave himself for us, and should rebel against him
that bought us with his own blood while we were his enemies! I would to
God everyone here, that has not come to Christ, would feel a sting in
his conscience now; and would mourn that he has done this exceeding
evil thing against the ever-blessed Son of God, who became man, and
died for love of guilty men.

When we read "they were pricked in their heart," we may see in it the
meaning, that they felt a movement of love to hima relenting of heart,
a stirring of emotion towards him. They said to themselves, "Have we
treated him thus? What can we do to show our horror of our own
conduct?" They were not merely convinced of their fault so as to be
grieved, but their desires and affections went out towards the offended
One, and they cried, "What shall we do? In what way can we acknowledge
our wrong? Is there any way of undoing this ill towards him whom we now
love?" To this point I would have you all come. I would have you know
the meaning of Newton's hymn:'

"I saw One hanging on a tree,

in agonies and blood,

Who fix'd his languid eyes on me,

As near his cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath

Can I forget that look;

It seem'd to charge me with his death,

Though not a word he spoke.

My conscience felt and own'd the guilt,

And plunged me in despair;

I saw my sins his blood had spilt,

And help'd to nail him there.

Alas! I knew not what I did;

But now my tears are vain;

Where shall my trembling soul be hid?

For I the Lord have slain."

Let us tearfully enquire how we can end our opposition, and prove
ourselves to be his friends and humble servants.

As a consequence of Peter's sermon, preached in the power of the Holy
Spirit, these people exhibited obedient faith. They were roused to
action, and they said, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" They
believed that the same Jesus whom they had crucified was now Lord of
all, and they hastened to be obedient unto him. When Peter said,
"Repent!" they did indeed repent. If repentance be grief, they grieved
at their hearts. If repentance be a change of mind and life, they were
indeed altered men. Then Peter said, "Be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Take the open and
decisive step: stand forth as believers in Jesus, and confess him by
that outward and visible sign which he has ordained. Be buried with him
in whom your sin is buried. You slew him in error; be buried with him
in truth. They did it gladly, they repented of the sin; they were
baptized into the sacred name. And then Peter could tell them'"You have
remission of sins: the wrong you have done to your Lord is cancelled:
the Lord hath put away your sin for ever. Remission of sins comes to
you through Jesus, whom you slew, whom the Father has raised up. You
shall not be summoned before the bar of God to account even for the
hideous crime of murdering the Lord, for by his death you are forgiven.
In proof of forgiveness you shall now be made partakers of the great
gift which marks his ascending power. The Holy Spirit shall come upon
you, even upon you his murderers, and you shall go forth, and be
witnesses for him."

O my hearers, to what a place have I brought you now! If indeed the
Holy Spirit has helped you to follow me in my discourse, see where we
have climbed! However black your crime, however vile your character, if
you have seen the wrong that you have done, if you have repented of
having done it because you see that you have sinned against your loving
Lord, and if you will now come to him repenting and believing, and will
confess him as he bids you confess him in baptism; then you have full
remission, and you shall be partakers of the gifts and graces of his
Holy Spirit, and henceforth you shall be chosen witnesses for the
Christ whom God hath raised from the dead. Beloved, you need no choice
speech from me: pure gold needs no gilding, and as I have told you the
most wonderful of all facts in heaven or in earth, I let it remain in
all its simple grandeur.

May God write out this old, old story on your hearts! Oh, that he would
issue a new edition of his gospel of love, printed on your hearts!
Every man's conversion is a freshly-printed copy of the poem of
salvation. May the Lord issue you hot from the press this morning, a
living epistle to be known and read of all men; and specially to be
read by your children at home, and your neighbours in the same street!
The Lord grant that hearts may be pricked by this sermon, for his
name's sake! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Acts 2:14-42.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"'909, 279, 429.