Our Compassionate High Priest

Our Compassionate High Priest

(No. 2251)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 10, 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL
3, 1890.

"We can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of
the way; for he, himself is also compassed with infirmity." Hebrews
5:2.

THE High Priest looked Godward and, therefore, he had need to be holy,
for he had to deal with things pertaining to God. But at the same time
he looked manward–it was for men that he was ordained–that, through
him, they might deal with God and, therefore, he had need to be tender.
It was necessary that he should be one who could have sympathy with
men, otherwise, even if he could succeed Godward, he would fail to be a
link between God and man from lack of tenderness and sympathy with
those whom he sought to bring near to Jehovah.

Hence, the High Priest was taken from among men that he might be their
fellow and have a fellow-feeling with them. No angel entered into the
holy place. No angel wore the white garments. No angel put on the ephod
and the breastplate with the precious stones. It was a man, ordained of
God, who for his brothers, pleaded in the Presence of the Shekinah.

Many of us, I trust, have a desire within out hearts to come to God,
but we need a High Priest. But we need a High Priest, in order that we
may draw near, who shall be a Man as well as God! We may reflect with
joy upon the Godhead of our great High Priest. Inasmuch as it is His
right, He counts it not robbery to be equal with God, but He communes
with the Father as One that was by Him, as One brought up with Him, who
was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. But we ought, also,
to be very grateful that we can come into touch with our High Priest on
His human side and rejoice that He is truly Man. For thus says the
Lord, "I have laid help upon One that is mighty: I have exalted One
chosen out of the people." He is anointed, it is true, with the oil of
gladness above His fellows, but still, He and they are one, "for which
cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

Those who came to the High Priest of old were not often of the rough
sort. Those who wished to have fellowship with God through the High
Priest in the Tabernacle, or in the Temple, were generally the timid
ones of the people. Remember how she who came when Eli was High Priest
was "a woman of sorrowful spirit"–and the High Priest had to deal with
many such. The sons and daughters of affliction were those who mostly
sought the Divine oracle and desired to have communion with
God–therefore the High Priest needed not only to be a man, but a man
of tender and gentle spirit. It was necessary that he should be one
with whom those with broken hearts and those who were groaning under a
sense of sin, would like to speak. They would dread an austere man and
would, probably, in many cases, have kept away from him altogether.

Now, the mercy for us is that our Great High Priest is willing to
receive the sinful and the suffering, the tried and the tempted! He
delights in those that are as bruised reeds and smoking flax, for thus
He is able to display the sacred qualifications. He "can have
compassion." It is His Nature to sympathize with the aching heart, but
He cannot be compassionate to those who have no suffering and no need.
The heart of compassion seeks misery, looks for sorrow and is drawn
towards despondency–for there it can exercise its gracious mission to
the fullest!

Often, when we are trying to do good to others, we get more good
ourselves. When I was here one day this week, seeing friends who came
to join the Church, there came among the rest a very diffident
tender-hearted woman who said many sweet things to me about her Lord,
though I know she did not think that they were any good. She was afraid
that I should not have patience with her and her poor talk, but she
said one thing which I especially remember–"I have, today, put four
things together from which I have derived a great deal of comfort," she
told me. "And what are they, my

Sister?" I asked. "Well," she said, "they are those four classes–'the
unthankful and the evil, the ignorant and on them that are out of the
way.' Jesus 'is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil,' and He, 'can
have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.'
And I think that I can get in through those four descriptions. Though I
am great sinner, I believe that He will be kind to me and have
compassion upon me."

I stored that up, for I thought that one of these days I might need it
myself. I tell it to you, for if you do not need it now, you may need
it one of these days. You may yet have to think that you have been
unthankful and evil, ignorant and out of the way–and it will give you
comfort to remember that our Lord Jesus is kind to the unthankful and
to the evil, and that He, "can have compassion on the ignorant, and on
them that are out of the way."

On this latter subject, I would speak at this time, wishing to comfort
some who are of a sorrowful spirit, and others who may yet have need of
such consolation as this topic gives.

Notice in our text, first, the sort of sinners with whom our High
Priest is concerned, namely, "the ignorant and them that are out of the
way." Secondly, the sort of High Priest with whom sinners have to
deal–One "who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that
are out of the way." And thirdly, the sort of infirmities in men that
may be sanctified to great uses. "For that he, himself, is also
compassed with infirmity," is said of an earthly High Priest–this is
what it was that made him fit to be a High Priest–and there are
certain infirmities that we might almost glory in, for they enable us
to be like priests unto God and make us helpful to His sorrowing and
suffering children!

I. First, then, let us carefully observe THE SORT OF SINNERS FOR WHOM
OUR HIGH PRIEST IS CONCERNED. While it is true that He is willing to
receive all sorts of sinners, there are many who never come to Him, nor
submit to His authority. With those who proudly and rashly stand before
God on their own merit, He has nothing to do! But with others of a
different character, He is greatly concerned.

The people who claim Christ's aim are generally those who have a very
low opinion of themselves. Out of all the tribes of Israel, those that
came to the High Priest, to ask him to present their sacrifice to God
for them, and to speak a word from God to them, were God-fearing
people. No doubt hypocrites, occasionally, did come, and some of a
proud spirit who trusted in their own offerings, but I should think
that, all the year round, the High Priest saw some of the humblest and
best people in all Israel. Men and women in sore trouble would come to
him and these chastened spirits would be choice spirits. Men and women
who were conscious of sin and longing for pardon would come to the High
Priest. Men and women who had not sinned after the similitude of a
public transgression, who, nevertheless, felt evil darkening their
conscience within, would draw near to him. Men and women who had lost
the light of God's Countenance and who came longing to have it back,
again, because they could not live without it, would approach the
courts of God's House. All these would be welcome visitors at the High
Priest's door and would receive his sympathy and compassion. Such are
the people whom Christ, our Great High Priest, now delights to bless.
The proud and self-satisfied cannot know His love, but the poor and
distressed may always find in Him comfort and joy because of His Nature
and by means of His intercession.

As with the High Priest of Israel in the olden time, among those who
come to our High Priest, are many whose fear and distress arise from
ignorance. Oh, dear Friends, if all the ignorant were to come, we would
all come, for we are all ignorant! But there are some who fancy that it
is otherwise with them. They imagine they know all things and,
professing themselves to be wise, they become fools! They know not
their need of the Great High Priest. Their folly is proved by their
light esteem of Him. But among those who come to our Great High Priest
in Heaven, there are none but those who are ignorant.

In the first place, there is a universal ignorance. Notwithstanding all
that great men may say about what they evolve from their own
consciousness, I think that the only thing that a man can evolve from
his own consciousness is folly and sin, for there is nothing else
there. If he goes on evolving, he will evolve greater folly and greater
sin, that is all. But when the Lord deals with men, He makes them feel
that they know very little. What do we know of sin? The larger
proportion of our sins are probably unknown to us. We do them and
scarcely observe that we have committed them. And who knows the evil
that lies in any one sin? Who is he that can weigh his iniquities in
scales, or his errors in balances? Upon that one dread subject of sin,
we are all like babes! We have not begun to learn more than the
alphabet of that awful knowledge! Sinful we are, but it is part of the
effect of sin that we do not know the extent of our sinfulness–and we
would not know it at all if it were not for the teachings of the Holy
Spirit!

Again, what do we know of ourselves? Does any man truly know himself?
"The proper study of mankind is man," says Pope. I am not sure of that,
but I am certain that the proper study of mankind is Christ–for in Him
we not only can learn about man, but much more besides. But we know
little of ourselves, of our natural weakness, of our evil tendencies,
of our proneness in this direction, or in that!

What do we know of God the Unsearchable? Is not He past finding out?
Who can sufficiently tell of His Nature, or of His wondrous attributes?
Who can speak adequately of His greatness, or of His Glory? Who can
number up His years, or declare the whole of His loving kindness? "O
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" On this
great subject as well as on the other topics I have mentioned, there is
a universal ignorance. As compared with the Light of God, we are in the
dim twilight. He that sees best only sees men as trees walking.

But, in addition to the ignorance that is universal, there is also a
comparative ignorance on the part of some. And because of this, the
compassion of Christ flows forth to them. Those who are ignorant in
this way are the kind of sinners whom He has come to help as High
Priest. He puts them in a class by themselves.

There are, first, the recent converts–young people whose years are few
and who probably think that they know more than they do–but who, if
they are wise, will recognize that even by reason of the fewness of
their years, their senses have not been fully exercised to discern
between good and evil. You must not ask them questions about the deep
things of God. They have to be satisfied with those blessed parts of
Scripture where a lamb may wade. They must not meddle with those parts
where leviathan has to swim. Many Truths of God are either above them
or below them–much experience is too deep for them. In the presence of
many of God's ways, they are compelled to say, "Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."

The Lord Jesus Christ can take little boys and girls to His bosom and
He does so, while they are, as yet, ignorant of many things. He loves
them! He teaches them! He has compassion on them and He says of them,
"Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for
such is the Kingdom of God." Christ receives them in spite of their
lack of knowledge and, therefore, we must treat such very tenderly.
"Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones," for our
Great High Priest has compassion upon their ignorance and He instructs
them. "All your children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be
the peace of your children," when they trust in Him who sympathizes
with them and who cares for them.

Others there are who are ignorant because of their little opportunity
of getting instruction. Are there not many who are so placed that they
have little chance of ever learning to read? We are thankful that there
will be few left of that sort, by-and-by. But there are others who, if
they could read, have scarcely sufficient time allowed them to read
their Bibles, and who, when they have read them, are very much like the
Ethiopian eunuch in that they do not comprehend what they have read. If
the question were addressed to them, "Do you understand what you have
read?" they could truly say, "How can I, except some man should guide
me?" There are many, all over our land, who are situated in places
where they cannot often hear the Gospel–and when they do hear it–it
is so mixed up and confused, that it is small wonder they cannot make
heads or tails of it! Constantly do we meet with persons of that kind,
whose ignorance is excusable, for they have had no teaching. They have
not had opportunities of reading and searching, as most of us have had!
Upon these our Great High Priest has compassion and often, with their
slight knowledge, they show more of the fruits of the Spirit than some
of us produce even with our more abundant Light of God!

Further than that, there are many who are of a very feeble mind. You
can only, with difficulty, get a thought into their brain–and if you
try to get another idea on the top of it–the second one seems to knock
the first one out. They never learn much and they are so constructed
that they never will. In our pilgrim band we have a number who are like
Mr. Feeblemind–we may try all that we can with him, but we shall never
make a hero of him. Others are like Mr. Ready-to-Halt with his
crutches. He once danced, you will remember, when Giant Despair's head
was cut off, but still, he had to go on his crutches, even then, and he
never gave them up till he crossed the river! Then he left them to
anybody who needed such things and, I fear, there are many who need
them today.

We have those in our company who never will be able to give a
systematic statement of the Doctrines of Grace, though they are full of
Grace. They could never explain how they were saved, but they are
saved. I daresay the snail could never explain how he got into the ark,
but he did get in–and these feeble ones are in Christ though they
cannot fully

explain how they came to that blessed position! Some of these good
people are not very apt to receive knowledge–they are not "learnable,"
if I may coin a word to express my meaning We cannot make them learn.
They are willing to be taught–they are teachable–but they are not
"learnable." Ah, well, our Blessed High Priest can have compassion on
the ignorant and the feeble-minded!

Beside the universal ignorance of which we have spoken, and this
comparative ignorance, there is a sinful ignorance. We have some who
are ignorant and no excuse is to be made for them. Their ignorance is
to be condemned! And if these words reach any who are thus guilty, I
would beseech them to pray God to pardon their guilt–and cease to sin
in this way any longer! I mean those who are ignorant for lack of
attention. They are so full of business and have such a great many
other things to think of that they do not value the means of Grace.
They say that they cannot attend, but we know that where there is a
will there is a way. Perhaps they go once on a Sunday and never more
all the week. Now, if I had to eat one meal a week, and only one, I
should need it to be a very good one! But I think that I should hardly
be in a good condition for the next one the week following. It is a
grand thing to get a little bit by the way, by coming on a Thursday
night, or a morsel or two on a Monday, at the Prayer Meeting. This
stays the heart and keeps the soul in good order.

Some will never be much above the ignorant because they have not the
ambition to learn. They do not set themselves to study the things of
God. They do not sufficiently prize the Revelation of God. I pray that
they may be stirred up to do so. Though they have been guilty of
neglectfulness and forgetfulness, they are not to be deprived of the
sweetness of this text. Our Lord can have compassion on the ignorant
and on such as are out of the way. Here stands the great company to
which His compassion goes out and its name is written, "The ignorant."
I think that we had better all get into this class. Indeed, I am sure
that we had better join it and thus obtain our Lord's compassion!

I have seen, at a railway station, gentlemen with first-class tickets
walking up and down the platform unable to find a first-class carriage.
And if the train was going on, they have jumped in the third-class
section so as to get to the journey's end. If there is a man here who
does not think that he ought to be put down quite among the ignorant,
jump in, Brother, because you will get to your journey's end in this
compartment–and there is no carriage, just now, for any wise person!
There is nothing provided in the train that starts from this text
except that which is provided for the ignorant! The Lord has us
personally to rejoice that He can have compassion on the ignorant!

Now comes another description of the sort of sinners for whom our High
Priest is concerned. There are many whose fears arise from being out of
the way. The Lord "can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them
that are out of the way." I remember that when I felt myself to be a
very great sinner–and verily thought I was more of a sinner than
anybody else–these words were very, very much blessed to me! I read
them, "and on them that are out of the way," and I knew that I was an
out-of-the-way sinner. I was then, and I am afraid that I am, now,
somewhat like a lot out of the catalog, an odd person who must go by
himself. Very well! Our High Priest can have compassion on those that
are odd, on those that are out-of-the-way, on those who do not seem to
be in the common run of people and do not go with the multitude, but
who must be dealt with individually and by themselves! He can have
compassion upon such.

But now let us look at the more exact meaning of the text.

To be out of the way is, in the case of all men, their natural state.
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way." That is where we all are by nature–and our own way is out of
the way. Therefore, Christ can have compassion upon all of us who come
to Him, for He has learned to deal with those who are out of the way,
and such, literally, are we all!

In addition to that, men have gone out of the way by their own personal
folly. We had enough original sin, but we have added to that another
kind of originality in evil–

"Like sheep we went astray, And broke the fold of God. Each wandering
in a different way– But all the downward road."

But there are some who wander most foolishly. You wonder why they sin
in the particular way that they do. There seems to be no reason for it,
no motive for it, no special temptation in that direction and yet, they
will do it! They wander out of the way by themselves! Have you done so,
dear Friend? The Lord can have compassion on those that are out of the
way.

Some are out of the way because of their seduction from the way by
others. False teachers have taught them and they have taken up with the
error brought before them by a stronger mind than their own. In some
cases persons of evil life have had a fascination over them. It is
wonderful how, in the cases of young men and young women, they
frequently seem to not be themselves, but the evil embodiment of
another. They are ruled and governed by the will of somebody else and
not by their own. Thus they are led out of the way. They are like sheep
that "have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Ah, poor Friend,
it is evil that you should have been the victim of another's
temptation! But do not blame your tempter! Blame yourself and, at the
same time, remember that Christ has compassion upon those who have been
led out of the way. As by the will of another you were beguiled from
the true path, so by the love of Another shall you be won back again,
even as it has been with many of us!

Many are out of the way because of their backsliding after Grace has
come to them. Our text comprehends backsliders who were once in the
way. To such we may say, "You did run well. Who did hinder you, that
you should not obey the Truth of God?" Something has been an occasion
of stumbling to such and now, though sitting in the House of God, they
know they are not what they once were, nor what they ought now to be,
nor what they must be, nor what I hope they will be, even before I
shall finish my discourse! "Turn, O backsliding children, says the
Lord, for I am married to you." Why will you wander from the only
source of good? "Take with you words and turn to the Lord." "Come now,
and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like
crimson, they shall be as wool." The Lord calls you in infinite
tenderness, for He can have compassion upon backsliders and stop them
from becoming apostates–bringing them back to Himself according to His
Divine purpose.

Others are out of the way because of their consciousness of special
sin. Is there anyone here conscious of some great sin in years gone by?
Is there a crimson spot upon your hand which you have tried to wash out
but cannot? Was there some act of your life which you would undo and
remove? There it is, still there, always there. Does it fret you by
night, and weary you by day, to think of the gross iniquity of yours?
Ah, it has put you out of the way! Perhaps you did not grasp all the
consequences of what you were doing when you did it. Be comforted by
this gracious text! Hear your High Priest pray, "Father, forgive them;
for they know not what they do." He pleads your ignorance! You "did it
ignorantly in unbelief" and, while this does not excuse you, it puts
you into the list of those who are both ignorant and out of the way!
Come to this compassionate High Priest and trust your case in His dear
hands–they were pieced because of your sin. Trust your iniquity with
Him. His heart was opened and set abroach because of your
transgression. Come, trust in Him. He died because of your sin. "He is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He
ever lives to make intercession for them."

Thus I have very feebly set forth the sort of sinners for whom Christ
is High Priest–those who are ignorant–and those who are out of the
way. This message is for almost everybody here, except my Friend, over
there, who knows everything and never did anything wrong! He does not
need any Christ and I will not bother him with one. "They that are
whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick," says the
Lord Jesus. And He further adds this word, which shuts out you who
never did any harm, "I come not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance." To be so very learned and so very good in your own
estimation is no recommendation to Christ, but the reverse! He comes to
men who need compassion and those He teaches to profit and leads in the
way everlasting.

II. Having seen the sort of sinners with whom our High Priest is
concerned, let us, in the second place, look at THE SORT OF HIGH PRIEST
WITH WHOM SINNERS HAVE TO DEAL.

Now, if I go back to the High Priest under the Law, the type would be a
fine fatherly man whose very face invited confidence. I should think
that all the people were glad when the High Priest was very tender and
compassionate. Possibly they occasionally had a High Priest who was
very high and very mighty–one who was very glad when the day's service
was over. If sinners needed to see him, he was not visible. And when he
did talk to them, he was not very gentle. Sometimes he may have said to
them, "Now you are stupid, you talk nonsense!" And when any of them
were very sad, he said, "You ought to know better than to indulge this
foolish nervousness of yours." I think that they were not sorry when
that High Priest was taken from them!

But the pattern High Priest was a fatherly-looking man, with love in
his eyes, a smile on his face–one who had often sorrowed himself, one
to whom all the people could go naturally. There are such men still
alive. They are like a harbor for ships. Sometime it brings a very
heavy burden upon them, but they are happy men to have such a burden to
carry.

I think that some of those High Priests must have seen a great deal of
sin and a great deal of Divine mercy and love. When the poor people
went up to the Temple, one would say, "I must go in and see the High
Priest. I have such a burden and he will be able to help me." Another
would say, "No, I shall not go in. I do not need to take up his time.
Did you not hear him speak? What he said was just the very thing that I
needed. God gave him the very word that my distress required, and so I
can go in peace." But here and there one would say, "Ah, I must tell
him. It does me good to unburden my heart." Now that is the kind of
High Priest that we would all have wished for had we been living in
those days–but our Lord Jesus is something incomparably better than
that!

He is One who can bear with ignorance, forgetfulness and provocation.
How do I know? Because He bore so wonderfully with the ignorance of
people when He was here! It was with a very tender accent that He said
to one of His disciples, "Have I been so long time with you, and have
you not known Me, Philip?" He had told them many, many times the same
thing, over again, and yet He was not above repeating it. He had such
compassion on them that, sometimes, He could not say what He would have
liked to say, and yet He bore with the poor men who did not know the
burden He had on His heart. He only said, "I have yet many things to
say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." And when, after He had
taught them, they still forgot, He did not chide them. I never find
that He turned one of them away because of their stupidity. He did not
even cast off Thomas for his unbelief. He let them still linger about
His Person despite their false notions and their forgetfulness. They
must often have grieved Him through their ignorance and through getting
out of the way, especially when they got into the way of each desiring
to be the greatest. But notwithstanding all, our Lord was never like
Moses. Of him it is written that the people of Israel "provoked his
spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips." But never an
impatient word came from those lips into which Grace was so abundantly
poured! There was never such a meek, gentle and quiet spirit as our
Divine Lord and Master possessed. I need not dwell on that, for you all
know what compassion He had upon the ignorant sons of men.

Again, He is One who can feel for grief because He has felt the same.
When I have explained compassion as implying meekness of disposition, I
have not given you the full meaning of the expression. Not only has our
Lord compassion on the ignorant by being gentle towards them, but He
sympathizes with them by having a like feeling with them. They got out
of the way and into the thorns. They wandered and fell into a maze.
They were lost in the dark mountains, but He was "a Man of Sorrows, and
acquainted with grief." "In all their afflictions He was afflicted."
Because of that fellow-feeling, He is always very tender and full of
pity–and if He finds any of His children sorrowing, He has abundant
compassion upon them.

Moreover, He is One who lays Himself out tenderly to help such as come
to Him. He did so when He was here in body and He is the same now–all
His life was given in tenderness. You never find Christ throwing bread
and meat to the hungry crowd as we throw bones to the dogs. He has made
them sit down on the green grass–and then He blessed the food, gave it
to His disciples and they distributed it in a quiet, orderly way. And
the Lord Jesus Christ has a very loving way of helping His people now.
So tenderly does He do it, that the doing of it is almost as great a
wonder as the thing that is done! He abounds towards us in all wisdom
and prudence, and we may each say, "Your gentleness has made me great."
Oh, He is a wonderful Savior! There is none like Him for sympathizing
with us and dealing tenderly with us.

Another thing I have to say of Him that never can be said of anybody
else is, that He is One who never repelled a single person. Not even
the most ignorant or the most out of the way was ever turned back from
Him. It was always true– "This Man receives sinners." And this word is
forever settled in Heaven, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise
cast

out."

I have not time to go fully into this matter, but all who have read the
life of Christ know what a gentle and tender High Priest He was towards
men–

"Now, though He reigns exalted high, His love is still as great. Well
He remembers Calvary Nor lets His saints forget."

His heart is on earth, though He has ascended into the heavens. If
anyone here groans after Him, He will hear that gro-an–and if the wish
does not come to a vocal sound at all, but if your heart only aches
after Him–He will feel that ache of your heart and know what it means.
And if you do not know how to pray, the very desire to pray He will
interpret! He can have compassion on the ignorant. And if you do not
know what you need, but only know that it is something that

you must have or die, He will give it to you, for He will interpret
your wordless desires–and what you cannot read, yourself, He will read
for you. But, oh, you must have Him! You must have Him! You cannot get
to God without Him!

I pray that you will feel such confidence in His tenderness that you
may come and take Him as your own High Priest. If you do, He will be
yours at the moment of acceptance. He will never refuse the seeker. He
will not hide Himself from His own flesh. He will never be distant and
strange to any penitent sinner. If you desire Him, it is because He
desires you! And if you have a spark of wish for Him, He has a furnace
of desire for you! Come, and welcome! He can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way. God bless these words! I
pray that He may do so to very many.

III. Now, I want to speak to those of you who are the people of God. I
can imagine that some of you here are troubled, perhaps ill, and that
you cannot get on as you would like in the world. You seem compassed
with infirmities. I want to remind you that there may be a blessing
even in your weakness–and so that this may be the more clearly seen,
we will look, in the third place, at the SORT OF INFIRMITY WHICH MAY BE
SANCTIFIED AND MADE USEFUL.

The High Priest of old was compassed with infirmities, but this was
part of his qualification. "Yes," says one, "but he was compassed with
sinful infirmities. But our Lord Jesus had no sin." That is quite true,
but please remember that this does not make Christ less tender, but
more so. Anything that is sinful, hardens–and inasmuch as He was
without sin–He was without the hardening influence that sin would
bring to bear upon a man! He was all the more tender when compassed
with infirmities, because sin was excluded from the list. We will not,
then, reckon sin in any form as an infirmity likely to be turned to a
great use, even though the Grace of God abounds over the sin. But,
beloved Friends, let me try and speak to some of you who wish to do
good, and set forth some of the things which were sore to bear at the
times, and yet have been rich in blessing since.

First think of our struggles in finding mercy. Years ago you had a hard
time of it when you were seeking the Savior. I had and I have always
been very glad of it ever since. It was a long while before I could
perceive the eternal Light of God and cast myself on Christ. I thank
God that it was so because I have had to deal with hundreds–I might
say thousands– in a similar case! And if I had found Christ, as many
dear friends do, very readily and very easily, I could not have guided
them! But now I can sit down by the side of them and say, "What? Have
you got into the dark? I have been in the dark, too! You are down in
the lowest dungeon, are you? Well, I was in the lowest dungeon of all.
I can show you the way to where the jug of water stands and the bit of
brown bread. I know the way, for I have been there." If you have not
had a certain experience, you cannot so well help others who have–but
if you were compassed with infirmity in your first coming to Christ,
you may use that in helping others to come to Him.

Again, our grievous temptations may be infirmities which shall be
largely used in our service. "What a blessing it would be to live
without temptations!" says one. I do not believe it would be a blessing
at all. I think that being without temptation is more of a temptation
than having a temptation! There is no devil that is equal to no devil,
for when there seems to be none, we get so very quiet and so very
easy–and think that everything is going on well–when it is not! Be
glad if you have been tempted. Remember that temptation is one of the
best books in the minister's library. To be tried, to be afflicted, to
be downcast, to be tested–all this helps you to deal with others. You
cannot be unto others a helper unless you have been compassed with
infirmities! Therefore accept the temptations which trouble you so much
as a part of your salvation to make you useful to others.

Our sickness may turn out to be in the same category. Of course we
would like to be always well. I think that health is the greatest
blessing that God ever sends us, except sickness, which is far better!
I would give anything to be perfectly healthy, but if I had to go over
my time, again, I could not get on without those sick beds and those
bitter pains–and those weary, sleepless nights. Oh, the blessedness
that comes to us through smarting if we are ministers and helpers of
others, and teachers of the people! I do not say that too much of it is
to be despised, but the Lord knows how much is too much–and He will
never afflict us beyond that which He will enable us to bear! But just
a touch of sickness now and then may help you mightily. I have heard
some Brothers preach the Gospel, but it was as hard as a Brazil
nut–little children could never get at the kernel! These Brothers had
never had any trouble or affliction–and if you have never had any, you
may try to be very tender, but it will be like an elephant picking up a
pin–you may try to be patient and sympathetic, but you will not be
able to manage it! Glory in your infirmities, then, and in your
sicknesses, for they shall be made useful in you for the comfort of
God's sick people.

Our trials, too, may thus be sanctified. He that has had no troubles
and no trials–what mistakes He makes! He is like the French lady in
the time of famine who said that she had no patience with the poor
people starving because of the price of bread. You can always buy a
penny bun for a penny, she said–and therefore she thought there need
not be any poverty at all! She was one of the rich ones of the earth. I
do not suppose that she had ever had a penny bun in her life, or a
penny, either. Ah, dear Friends! You must, if you are ready to help
others, be, yourself, compassed with infirmity!

Our depressions may also tend to our fruitfulness. A heart bowed down
with despair is a dreadful thing. "A wounded spirit who can bear?" But
if you have never had such an experience, my dear Brother, you will not
be worth a pin as a preacher. You cannot help others who are depressed
unless you have been down in the depths yourself. You cannot lift
others out of despondency and depression, unless you, yourself, have
sometimes needed to be lifted out of such experiences. You must be
compassed with this infirmity, too, at times, in order to have
compassion on those in a similar case.

Herein I think that every one of us should try to make use of all his
weaknesses. Our whole nature as feeble men may be turned to the noblest
use if it calls forth our compassion towards others. Thank God that you
are not a man of iron. We had the Iron Duke, once, who did famous
things, but in a different fight from ours. An iron preacher would need
to have iron hearers–and then, I am afraid, that there would come a
crash before long. No, no, we must have our weaknesses and infirmity
consecrated to God and laid at His feet.

Let us go, in all our weakness and infirmity, and try to help others
who are as ignorant and as out of the way as we once were and, God
blessing us, when we are weak, we shall be strong! When we are less
than nothing, the all-sufficiency of God will be all the more
manifested. Here I must stop, for our time has gone. May the Lord bless
the word, both to the sinner and to the saint, for His name's sake!
Amen.

Portion of Scripture Read before Sermon–Hebrews 4:15,16:5.