Majesty in Misery

Majesty in Misery

(No. 2825)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 5, 1903.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 7, 1883.

"And the men that held Jesus mocked Him and struck Him. And when they
had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him saying,
Prophesy, who is it that struck You? And many other things they
blasphemously spoke against Him." Luke 22:63-65.

I SUPPOSE that all this cruelty took place while our Lord was before
Caiaphas, in the dead of night, before the Sanhedrim had been fully
gathered together to hold their trial at daybreak. His enemies were in
so great a hurry to condemn Him that as soon as He arrived at the high
priest's house, they had a kind of preliminary examination that they
might try the tack upon which they meant to sail in endeavoring to
procure a conviction against Him. Thus, after He had been, in an
informal and illegal way, condemned without any proper trial, they left
Him in the custody of their officers until early in the morning when
they summoned the rest of their companions, so as to go through again
the farce of trying Him whom they knew to be innocent.

While these officials had Christ in their keeping, they might at least
have left Him in peace and quietness. According to the rules of all
civilized nations, a prisoner detained in custody should be guarded
from insult and ill-treatment while in that condition. Whatever his
ultimate punishment may be after he has been tried and found guilty,
while he is as yet uncondemned, he is reckoned to be under the
protection of the State that has arrested him–and he ought not to be
subjected to insult or injury. But here, as if they had been so many
savages, the judges of our Lord abandoned Him to those outcasts whom
they employed to do their foul work–and those wretched creatures
treated Him with mingled cruelty and scorn–"The men that held Jesus
mocked Him and struck Him." Could they not have allowed Him a little
time of rest? The traces of the bloody sweat must still have been upon
Him. They could see, by the emaciation of His Person, that He was, as
it had been long before foretold that He would be, "a Man of Sorrows,
and acquainted with grief." He must already have been ready to faint
under the rough usage which had been meted out to Him both before and
at His preliminary trials before Annas and Caiaphas. His tormentors
must have seen how exhausted He was, yet they had no pity for Him in
their hard, unfeeling hearts! They allowed Him no respite and gave Him
no opportunity to prepare Himself to answer the charges that were about
to be brought against Him. There were none found to vindicate His
Character, or to plead His cause–and the intervals between the
informal and the more formal trials were spent in mockery and in scorn.

These men were gross cowards. I am sure that they must have been
because they were so cruel, for cruelty is one of the badges of
cowardice wherever you find it. These are the very men who, in the
garden, "went backward, and fell to the ground," when Christ did but
say, "I am He," in answer to their declaration that they were seeking
"Jesus of Nazareth." They went out, with swords and staves, to take Him
prisoner, yet they fell to the ground when He did but speak a word or
two to them! But now that they had Him in their power and perceived
that He was, apparently, not inclined to exert the Divine energy with
which He was endowed, but that He was as submissive as a sheep before
her shearers, they determined to be as cruel as they could be to Him.
God grant that the sin of cruelty to anything that lives may never be
justly laid to the charge of any one of us! If you have acted cruelly,
even though it is to the meanest thing in creation, despise yourself,
for you are of a lower order than the creature that you tortured! And
if these men could have judged themselves aright, they would have
despised themselves. They seem to me to have been the very meanest of
mankind who, having

such a gentle Sufferer in their power, instead of showing any humanity
to Him, seemed as if they could not sufficiently abuse Him. And so they
indulged their vile nature to the utmost in mocking and persecuting
Him.

I. I hope that some spiritual profit may come to us while we are
considering this terrible part of the suffering of our Lord. And,
first, I want you, in imagination, to, gaze upon MAJESTY IN MISERY.

There stands Jesus of Nazareth. I will not attempt to picture Him.
There has never yet been a painter who could portray the lineaments of
that wondrous face! The highest art has never yet been able to satisfy
itself upon that point even though it has borrowed its outline and its
colors from the Scriptures themselves. The most skillful hand grows
unsteady in the Presence of One so glorious in His griefs. I will not,
therefore, attempt to draw a portrait of my Lord and Master, but will
simply ask you, by faith, to behold Him, clothed with the garment that
was without seam, bound, delivered over to the officers and surrounded
by them while they mocked and scoffed at Him. Letting your eyes rest
upon Him in a loving look, regarding Him as the great center of your
heart's affection, what do you see–you who believe in His Deity– and
who can say that He is "very God of very God" to you?

If your eyes are opened by the Spirit of God, you will see Omnipotence
held captive. "The men that held Jesus" did not really know who He was.
He appeared to them to be a poor Galilean peasant. Speaking the country
brogue, they saw that He was a humble, lowly, emaciated Man and, as He
had been committed to their charge, they held Him as their prisoner.
But they did not recognize that He was the Almighty God, the very Deity
that created the heavens and the earth, for, "all things were made by
Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." He was, at
that very moment, "upholding all things by the word of His power" and,
amid all His weakness, and in all His sufferings, He was still "over
all, God blessed forever," whom all the holy angels continued to adore.
Is it not a great mystery that Omnipotence should thus be held captive?
What a marvelous thing it is that He who can create or who can destroy,
according to the good pleasure of His own will, should take upon
Himself our nature and in that Nature should sink so low as to become
subject even to the very coarsest and most cruel of mankind! What a
wondrous stoop of condescension is here! Omnipotence allows itself to
be bound and never proves itself more truly Omnipotent than when it
restrains itself and permits itself to be held as a prisoner by sinful
men!

Look again at this Majesty in misery and you will see glory mocked, for
"the men that held Jesus mocked Him." To them He seemed to be a fit
subject for ridicule and derision in professing to be a king, when He
had neither an armed host nor multitudes of followers who could hope to
stand for a single second against the mighty Caesar who held Israel in
bondage! Yes, but there was a Glory in Christ which He had deigned to
veil and to conceal for a while, but which angels still beheld and
adored–yet these men were mocking Him! There are some themes which
seem to strike a speaker dumb and this subject has something like this
effect upon me. It appears to me amazing that the God who had reigned
in Glory over myriads of holy angels, should be mocked by miscreants
who could not even have lived an instant longer in His Presence if He
had not permitted them to do so! Yet I see, in my text that He who made
the heavens and the earth stood there to be despised and rejected of
men and to be treated with the utmost contumely and scorn. I can make
that statement, but you cannot realize what it means. This is one of
those great mysteries of the faith that seem to stagger you. You
believe it without the slightest hesitation, yet, the more you try to
really grasp and comprehend it, the more it seems to elude you and to
tower above you!

Thus, we see Omnipotence held captive and Glory mocked.

Next, we see Goodness smitten–perfect, infinite, unutterable Goodness
stricken, bruised, assailed, assaulted–"The men that held Jesus mocked
Him and struck Him." To strike wickedness is an act of justice. And
even to lift the sword against oppression may not always be a thing to
be condemned. But to strike Him who never did any man a wrong, but who
has done all men some measure of good and who has given to some men all
conceivable good–ah, this is indeed brutish! The blessed Son of God
who stood there, had within His soul that mercy which endures forever,
yet they struck Him–there burned in His heart a love which many waters
could not quench and which the floods could not drown, yet they struck
Him! He had come here upon no errand of vengeance, but to bring peace
and goodwill to men–and to set up a Kingdom ofjoy and love–yet they
bound Him! Ah, me, it is amazing that Goodness should be so good as to
submit to this shameful indignity! None but Divine Goodness would have
submitted to it.

See what these mockers and smiters did next to our Lord. They produced
a handkerchief, or a cloth of some kind, and they put it over His eyes.
Omniscience must seem to be blinded, which, in truth, it cannot be.
Yet, in the Christ there

was the Omniscience of the Godhead and, to the utmost of their power,
these men blinded Him in the hope that He might not see what they were
doing. I know some who are trying to act that way at this present time.
The only god that they have is a blind god. They believe in what they
call, "the forces of nature," and then they condescendingly talk as
though God was only the aggregate of the forces of nature working
according to certain mechanical laws that can never be altered. The god
in whom they profess to believe is a god that does not see. They tell
us that it is idle to pray, or to think that God takes any interest in
such insignificant individuals as we are. Ah, I remember reading about
those gods of the philosophers–"They have mouths, but they speak not:
eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not:
noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle
not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through
their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is everyone
that trusts in them." "But our God is in the heavens," seeing all that
happens and doing as He pleases among the hosts above and among men
below. He is not now to be blindfolded, as He was once, when He
condescended to wear our nature and to bear our sin. Yet it is amazing
that He should ever have permitted this indignity to be put upon Him.
The spouse in the Canticles truly sings, "His eyes are as the eyes of
doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly
set"–exceeding the very stars of Heaven for brightness–yet they
covered them over! His eyes flamed with love and in them there did
gleam bright diamonds of pity for all the sorrows of mankind–yet those
cruel men did hide those precious eyes of His, blindfolding the Christ
of God!

Now, surely, they had made Him suffer enough, far too much–yet again
the infinite beauties of His blessed Countenance were to be marred, for
"they struck Him on the face." "Oh, but had we been there," we say,
"our indignation would have burned against them for striking that dear
face!" Yet we had need lay aside our indignation and bring forward
penitence, instead, for we, also, have sometimes struck that dear face
of Jesus, which is as the Sun of Heaven, far brighter than the sun
which lights up the world! All other beauties put together cannot equal
the marvelous charms of that Countenance which was marred more than any
man's. There is nothing under Heaven, or in Heaven, itself, that can
rival the face of the Well-Beloved, yet these men struck it! I think an
angel might well shiver with horror if, for the first time, he heard
that men had struck the face of His Lord! It was but His Humanface, it
is true, but therein they struck at all of Deity that they could reach.
It was man striking God in the face! A slap in the face of Deity was
what it really meant. Ah, me, that my Master should ever have had to
endure such insult and pain–that He should ever have been willing to
suffer such indignity as this–was there ever love like unto His?

Then the mockers said, "Prophesy, who is it that struck You!" That was
Justice defied. They seemed to say to our Lord, as they struck Him,
"Tell us what our name is; say who struck that blow. You cannot resist
it. You cannot avenge Yourself, but, at least, see if You can tell the
name of him that struck You. We defy You to do it." Ah, He had written
down their names and they will find out, one day, that He knows them
all, for there are none who strike the Savior who will not have their
blows come back upon themselves unless they repent of their sin! There
was Justice defied, as "they struck Him on the face and asked Him,
saying, Prophesy, who is it that struck You?"

I say again that I am not worthily able to speak on such a theme as
this. And I think I never shall be, however long I may live. It is not
within the compass of lips of clay, with words of air, to describe the
condescending sufferings of Him who, though He was rightly called,
"Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace," nevertheless stooped so low as to be mocked, struck,
blindfolded, and struck again for your sakes and mine–

" Vexed, I try and try again, Still my efforts are all in vain– Living
tongues are dumb at best, We must die to speak of Christ."

The wonder of this Majesty in misery can be described in four words.
The first wonder is that, under all this torture, our Lord was so
patient. Not a flush of anger appeared on His cheek, not a flash of
wrath from His eyes. He bore it all, bore it in His very soul, with
Diving Patience, the very patience of "the God of Patience."

The next wonder is that He was silent under all this cruelty–not a
word did He utter either in complaint or in condemnation of His
assailants. This proved His true greatness. Eloquence is easy compared
with silence and, perhaps, it would not have been true of Christ that
"never man spoke like this Man," if it had not also been true of Him
that never man was silent like this Man. He fulfilled to the letter the
ancient prophecy, "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens not His mouth."
Lord, teach us how to imitate Your patience and Your silence!

Notice, in the third place, how eloquent He was by that very silence.
He said more for us, and more to us, by holding His tongue than if He
had delivered Himself of many burning sentences. It is matchless
eloquence that is seen in the calm serenity of Christ in the presence
of these cruel persecutors, in the forgiving Character of Christ under
the most exasperating circumstances and in the patience of Christ under
unparalleled sufferings!

And yet again, I see something so triumphant in our Savior's griefs
that, while I call Him patient, silent, and eloquent, I must also call
Him victorious. His persecutors could not make Him give way to anger.
They could not destroy His mercy. They could not slay His love. They
could not cause Him to think of Himself. They could not make Him
declare that He would go no further with His work of saving sinners,
now that men began to scoff at Him, strike Him and des-pitefully use
Him. No, the strong-souled Christ still perseveres in His merciful
work, even as a mighty hunter pursues his game upon the mountain,
leaping from crag to crag and cliff to cliff, defying danger and death
that he may secure the creature on whose track he has gone. So, O
mighty Christ, You did accomplish Your glorious purpose of love and
mercy! You did lead captivity captive by suffering, to the bitter end,
all that was inflicted upon You, even unto the death of the Cross!

Thus have I tried to picture Majesty in misery, but I have not been
able to describe either Christ's Majesty or His misery as they deserve
to be described. Meditate on them and pray the Spirit of God to give
you such a sight of them as human nature, by itself, can never afford
you!

II. Now I pass on to notice, secondly, that my text seems to me to show
us SIN AT ITS SPORT.

All this sad scene represents what sin did when it had the
opportunity–when all restraining bands were loosed and it could act
according to its own evil will. It also represents what sin is still
doing, as far as it can, and what would always be the action of sin if
it were not hindered by the almighty power of God.

What, then, does sin do in the hour of its liberty? I invite you to
notice, first–and to pay particular attention to any part that may
come home to yourself–the levity of sin. These men are grossly
insulting the Christ of God, but, to them, it is a sport, a game. They
play at blindfolding Him–it is simply mirth and amusement to them.
Sad, indeed, is it that sin should ever be what men call sport, yet I
need scarcely remind you how often it is so, even now, to many. They
run after it with the utmost eagerness and they call it pleasure–they
call that which is provoking God pleasure–they call that which
crucified Christ pleasure! They say that "they must see life," and they
call that, "life," which forced from Jesus a bloody sweat and which
afterwards dragged Him to a cruel death! And, alas, they say of many a
sin, "What a delight it is to us! Would you make our life miserable by
taking away our enjoyments?" So it becomes a matter of enjoyment to
them to strike Christ on the face and to mock Him! Perhaps I am
addressing some who have even made the Bible into a jest-book–their
puns and mirth have been pointed with passages of Holy Writ. Possibly
others have made rare fun out of some venerable Christian, some
faithful servant of the living and true God. Well, Sirs, if you have
done so, I would have you know how heinous is your sin in thus making
sport of the godly–such "sport" as that, unless you repent of it, will
damn you forever! As surely as you live, it will shut you out from the
great Father's love and close the door of Mercy against you, world
without end! Yet that is how sin acts when it has its liberty. Yes, and
it sports even with the wounds of a Crucified God! Alas, that it should
ever do so!

Notice, next, the utter wantonness of sin. If these men really wanted
to get amusement out of Christ, they were able to get it, but what need
was there for them to also strike Him? What need was there of all that
superfluity of cruelty by which they put Him to such shame and pain? If
Christ must die, at least let Him die in peace–why that spitting in
His face, that terrible scourging, that awful aggravation of His
griefs? It was because men will sin out of sheer wantonness! I have
known some persons sin in such strange ways that I have wondered why
they did it. It was not for pleasure–at least I could not see any
pleasure in it. It caused the man's own family to be utterly miserable
and brought them and himself, too, down to poverty–what mirth or
merriment could there be in that? There are some who seem as if they
could never be happy unless they were engaged in making themselves
unhappy forever and ever. They are not content without committing some
extravagance in sin and making their whole lives an outrageous series
of rebellions against God. If any of you have ever been guilty of such
wantonness in sin, may the Holy Spirit cause a gracious influence to
steal over you so

that you will no longer grieve the Christ of God, but will, yourself,
grieve that you should ever have sinned so shamefully against Him!

Then note, next, the cruelty of sin. I have already asked and I repeat
the question–What need was there for these men to strike the Savior?
What pleasure could they derive from all the pain they caused Him? By
the mouth of His ancient Prophets, the Lord said, "Oh, do not this
abominable thing that I hate!" It was in their own interests that He
thus pleaded with men, for He would not have them injure
themselves–and sin is always self-injury–it is a sort of suicide.
Whenever a man does wrong, mischief must certainly come of it, and God
knows this, so He beseeches men not to act so foolishly. And, oh, when
a man mocks at true religion, rejects Christ and postpones the day of
repentance, He is piercing again that dear heart that bled for the
unworthy, and grieving that blessed Spirit who still strives with the
sons of men, though He is often vexed and grievously provoked by them.
Why are you so unkind to your God? Surely, there can be no necessity
for committing such a sin as this!

Then, observe the desperate unbelief that there often is in sin. These
men would not have blindfolded Christ if they had really believed Him
to be the Son of God. They acted as they did because they had no faith
whatever in Him. This is the great evil that lies at the root of most
men's sins–they believe not in Jesus Christ whom God has sent. It is
this of which the Spirit of God convinces men, as our Savior foretold
concerning Him–"He will convince the world of sin…because they
believe not on Me." Yet there is nothing more reasonable, nothing more
worthy to be believed, than the Revelation of God as given to us in the
Holy Scriptures! A man has only to test and try for himself whether it
is true, or not, and he shall soon have the proof of its verity in his
own bosom. Let him really believe it and then see whether it does not
make him both holy and happy–that shall be to him the test of its
truth.

Notice, again, how often there is in sin a kind of defiance of God. If
a boy were to come to his father and were to say to him, "I will do all
manner of rude and unkind things to you, yet you will not chastise me,"
it would not be long before that father would make his son smart if he
were, himself, worthy to be a father! But sinners act towards God in
that kind of way. They often do to God what these persecutors did to
Christ, as far as they can. They mock Him, strike Him and defy Him. Am
I addressing anyone who has ever called down upon himself the curse of
God? Beware lest that blasphemous prayer of yours be answered the next
time you utter it, for it is God's way to answer prayer and, perhaps,
He will answer yours–and then where will you be? Some have even dared
to defy God thus–"Well, even if it is as you say, I am willing to take
my chances–I will not submit to God." Ah, Sir, Pharaoh tried that plan
and he repented of it, I think, when it was too late! In the midst of
the Red Sea, when the waters began to overwhelm him and all his mighty
host, then he learned what were the consequences of saying, "Who is the
Lord, that I should obey His voice?" Every sin has in it a measure of
defiance of God–it is like these men striking Christ upon the face and
saying to Him–"Prophesy, who is it that struck You?"

I will not linger longer upon this part of my theme except just to say
that there is one more thing about sin that is peculiarly lamentable,
namely, the multiplicity of sin. Read the 65th verse–"And many other
things they blasphemously spoke against Him." One thing, two things, 20
things will not content them–they must say "many other things" against
Him! When a man once gives himself up to sin, it is like getting into a
current which bears him onward where, at first, he had no thought of
going. If you wade into the waters of sin, it will not be long that you
will be able to retain a foothold and, by-and-by, unless the Lord
shall, in His Grace, prevent such a calamity, the rapid current will
bear you away to your everlasting destruction! It is no use for you to
say, "This far will I go in sin, but no farther." You cannot stop when
you please–if you once commit yourself to the influence of sin, you
know not where it will carry you. Alas, alas, some men seem as if they
never could sin enough to satisfy themselves! They multiply their
transgressions beyond all count. Every iron of iniquity that they have
is thrust into the fire. Both hands are diligently engaged in doing
mischief. Sometimes they rise up early, but, more often, they sit up
late–possibly all through the night, that they may waste the more
precious hours in their wickedness! So God is grieved and Christ is
wounded afresh by the sin of man. It is a sad, sad picture. I cast a
veil over it and turn to something brighter and better.

III. We have seen Majesty in misery, and sin at its sport. Now,
thirdly, let us see LOVE AT ITS LABOR.

All that shame and suffering was endured by our Savior for love of each
of us who can truly say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." All
this blindfolding, mocking, and striking was borne by Christ for your
sake, Beloved, and mine. I will not try to describe it further, but I
will ask you to just spend a minute or two in trying to realize that
sad scene. For

you–as much as if there were no other person in the whole
universe–for you the King of Glory became the King of Scorn and bore
all this despising and rejection of men! For you, John. For you, Mary.
For you, old friend. For you, in your youth. If you, whoever you are,
believe in Him, He was your Substitute. Your faith gives you the
assurance that He was enduring all this for you–for you, I say, as
much as if He had no other redeemed one, but had paid the ransom price
all for you. Less than this would not have sufficed for you, though it
is, indeed, sufficient for all the innumerable host redeemed by the
precious blood of Jesus!

Let us, then, see love at its labor. I mean, our love to our Lord,
though I might also speak of our Lord's love to us, and what it did for
us. What shall our love do to show how grateful we are to Jesus for all
that He endured for us? Well, first, let it set penitence to confess.
Come, my Heart, here is room for the display of your grief. Why was
Christ mocked in Jerusalem? Surely it was because you have mocked God
with prayers that were no prayers, with hymns carelessly sung, with
Scripture read as if they were merely the writings of men, with
professions of religion that were hollow and empty! Brothers and
Sisters, have you not some of these things to repent of? If you have
mocked Him thus, the mocking that He endured in the hall of the high
priest was on your account.

And as He was blindfolded, let us weep because our unbelief has often
blindfolded Him. We imagined that He did not know about us, or that He
had forgotten us. We thought that He could not see the end from the
beginning and that He would not be able to bring good out of evil. Let
me ask you, dear Friends–have you not often made Christ to be a
blindfolded Christ so far as your apprehension of Him was concerned? If
so, because you have thus blindfolded God by your unbelief, you are, by
your sin, imitating the guilt of these men who literally blindfolded
Christ.

And as we behold Him struck, let us again grieve as we remember how it
was written of Him, "He was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are
healed." Every sin that we have ever committed made a gory furrow upon
His precious back! Those black and blue bruises that alternate upon His
sacred shoulders were caused by the cruel scourging to which each of us
contributed our share by our transgressions. O Beloved, weep as you see
Him bearing what you ought to have borne!

And when you read that they asked Him taunting questions while His eyes
were blindfolded, ask yourself, O child of God, whether you have not
often done the same! Have you never asked for a sign, instead of
walking by faith? I confess that I have sometimes wished that I could
have some token or indication of what my Lord thought. Ah, that is what
these cruel men sought from Christ–they tried to get Him to convince
them that He knew them when His eyes were blinded. O Brothers and
Sisters, let us never seek a sign as that wicked and adulterous
generation did! Let us walk by faith, not by sight, and implicitly
trust our Lord! Because we have not trusted Him as we should have done,
but have demanded of Him signs and tokens, we have been too much like
these men who asked Him, "Prophesy, who is it that struck You?"

I said that we would see love at its labor, so I want you, next, to let
your love urge faith to confide in Christ. Come, dear Friends, in all
this suffering of our Savior, let us see fresh reasons for trusting
ourselves more entirely in the hands of Christ. Those men held Jesus in
order that neither death nor Hell might ever be able to hold us. He was
held in our place, so He says concerning us, as He said concerning His
disciples in the garden, "If, therefore, you seek Me, let these go
their way." The great Substitute is held as a prisoner so that all for
whom He stood as Surety might be set at liberty forever!

He also was mocked. And to what end? We deserve eternal shame and
contempt because of our sin, but He took all that shame upon Himself
and made this wonderful exchange. As He put on the rags of our shame,
He said to us, "Take My glittering vesture and wear it!" And now, the
Glory which He had with the Father from eternity, He has put upon His
people, that they may be like He and may be with Him where He is
forever and ever! What a wonderful exchange is this! As Thomas read the
Deity of Christ in His wounds, so do I read the eternal glory of His
people in the mockery which He endured on their behalf.

When you see your Lord struck, why is that but that there may be no
striking and no wounds for you, now or forever? You shall go free, for
Jesus has borne all that you deserved to bear! He bore blow after blow
that not one might ever fall upon you.

Why, too, was Jesus blindfolded but that we might be able to see? Our
sin had blinded us to all that was worth seeing, but His death has
taken away the scales and we can now see because He was caused not to
see. Because He suffered these miserable miscreants to bind His eyes,
therefore are our eyes unbound, today, and they shall be yet more
unbound in that day when we shall behold Him face to face and be no
more parted from Him.

And why was Jesus blasphemed by the "many other things" which they
falsely laid to His charge? He was blasphemed that we might be
justified! He was unrighteously accused and slandered in order that we
might be able to boldly say, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is
Christ that died." Therefore, be glad, Beloved–while you sorrow over
your Lord's griefs, rejoice over what those griefs have brought to you
and what they will continue to bring to you throughout eternity!

Now, lastly, let our love at its labor awaken our zeal to consecration
to our Lord. Was He held captive? Then come, my most burning zeal, and
inflame me with devotion to His cause! Was He held thus for me? Then He
shall hold me fast and never let me go! My Lord, I do surrender myself,
my life, my all, to You, to be Your willing captive forever! Take these
eyes, these lips, these hands, these feet, this heart–and as you were
and are altogether mine, so let me be altogether Yours. Is not this a
fair requital? Does any child of God object to that?

Then, next, as they despised Him, come, my Soul, what do you say to
this? Why, that I will despise the world that did despise my Lord and
Savior! O world, world, world, you are a blind, blear-eyed,
black-hearted thing to have treated my Master so! Shall I conform to
your customs? Shall I flatter you? Shall I ask for your applause? No,
you are crucified to me. As a felon nailed up to the cross, so, O
world, are you to me because you have crucified the Christ, the
infinitely-lovely Son of God! Henceforth, the world is crucified to us
and we to the world!

And as they blindfolded Jesus, what then? Why, I will be blindfolded,
too! I will henceforth see no charm, no attraction anywhere but in my
Lord. My eyes shall behold Him and no other in the glory that is yet to
be revealed and, today, I can say with the Psalmist, "Whom have I in
Heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire but You." Go
through the world, Beloved, blindfolded to all but Christ, and you
shall do well!

And, as they struck Jesus on the face, what will you and I do to show
how much we love that face which was so shamefully ill-treated? My
heart brings up before me a vision of that "sacred head, once wounded,"
encircled by the crown of thorns–that dear face, so bruised and
battered, yet even then more beautiful than all the other loveliness of
Heaven besides! Jesus, Son of God, and Son of Man, we adore You and we
hasten to kiss those blessed feet of Yours, in loving adoration, and we
do it all the more because wicked men did strike You upon the cheek!
Reverence and love we gladly give to Him who once was struck by
outcasts and who afterwards was nailed to the accursed tree!

And, inasmuch as these men said "many other things blasphemously
against Him," come, my Brothers, let us say many things in His praise!
And, Sisters, join us in the holy exercise! No one shall close our
lips, faulty as they are, from speaking in honor of our dear Lord!
Sometimes, with the Prophet, we are ready to confess that we are men of
unclean lips and that we dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips,
but, such as we are, we will render to Him the calves of our lips and
give glory to His holy name! Never be ashamed to speak up for your
Lord, Beloved. Never blush to acknowledge that you belong to Him. No,
if you blush at all, blush with shame that you do not love Him more and
serve Him better! By the memory of that dear face, blindfolded and
struck, while cruel men all around slander Him with their blasphemous
accusations, I charge you to–

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, You soldiers of the Cross!"

God help you to do so!

Oh, that some here who have never believed in Jesus Christ would now
begin to trust Him! I do not invite you, just now, so much to believe
in Him in His glory as to believe in Him in His shame. Was He really
the Son of God and did He suffer for guilty men all that we have been
talking of, and far more than that? Then I must believe in Him! To me,
Jesus Christ seems to be a Character that men could never have
invented. He must be historical for He is so original. Unaided human
minds could never have thought out such a Character! There are strange
things in Buddhism and other false religions, and men with wild
imaginations have conceived curious notions concerning their gods, but
I challenge anyone to show me, in any book except God's Book, anything
that can parallel the story of the Eternal God, Himself, becoming Man
in order to make atonement for the sins of His creatures, that is, the
sins committed by them against Him. Yes, Brothers and Sisters, I must
believe in Him! What is more, I must believe that He died for me–

"That on the Cross Be shed His blood

From sin to set me free."

Having so believed–I speak as God's witness to all who can hear me–I
feel an inward peace that nothing can break, a holy joy that nothing
can disturb and a sacred calm which death, itself, shall not be able to
destroy. I have been at the deathbeds of many of our Brothers and
Sisters who have been accustomed to worship here and who have been
members of this Church. And–note this testimony, I pray you–I have
never seen one of them afraid to die! I have not met with one coward
among them all! But I have heard some of them singing triumphantly in
their last hours, as merrily as though it were their marriage
day–while others have been as calm and quiet as if to die were but to
go to bed, sleep a while and wake again in the morning!

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ–in this very Lord who stooped from
the heights of Glory to the depths of shame and suffering–and you,
also, shall find that your confidence in Him shall be rewarded even in
this life! While, as for the world to come–ah then, when there shall
be no blindfolded eyes for Him–no mockery and scorn and smiting for
Him–but all shall be Glory forever and ever, then you and I, if we are
believers in Him, shall eternally share His Glory! God grant it, for
Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.