Jesus, the Example of Holy Praise

Jesus, the Example of Holy Praise

A Sermon

(No. 799)

Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, March 8, 1868, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the [12]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"I will declare Your name unto My brethren: in the midst of the
congregation will I praise You. You that fear the Lord, praise Him;
all you the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all you the
seed of Israel." Psalm22:22,23.

WE greatly esteem the dying words of good men, but what must be the
value of their departing thoughts! If we could pass beyond the gate of
speech and see the secret things which are transacted in the silent
chambers of their souls at the moment of departure, we might greatly
value the revelation, for there are thoughts which the tongue could not
and must not utter, and there are deep searchings of heart which are
not to be expressed by syllables and sentences. If, by some means we
could read the inmost death-thoughts of holy men, we might be
privileged, indeed.

Now, in the Psalm before us, and in the words of our text, we have the
last thoughts of our Lord and Master, and they beautifully illustrate
the fact that He was governed by one ruling passion–that ruling
passion most strong in death was the glory of God. When but a Child, He
said, "Know you not that I must be about My Father's business?"
Throughout His work-life He could say, "The zeal of Your house has
eaten Me up." "It is My meat and My drink to do the will of Him that
sent Me." And now, at last, as He expires with His hands and His feet
nailed, and His body and soul in extreme anguish, the one thought is
that God may be glorified!

In that last happy interval, before He actually gave up His soul into
His Father's hands, His thoughts rushed forward and found a blessed
place of rest in the prospect that, as the result of His death, all the
kindreds of the nations would worship before the Lord, and that by a
chosen Seed the Most High should be honored. O for the same
concentration of all our powers upon one thing, and that one thing–the
glory of God! Would God that we could say with one of old, "This one
thing I do," and that this one thing might be the chief end of our
being–the glorifying of our Creator, our Redeemer, the liege Lord of
our hearts!

My object, this morning, is to excite in you the spirit of adoring
gratitude. I thought that as last Sabbath we spoke of Christ as the
example of protracted prayer, it might seem seasonable at the end of a
week of so much mercy to exhibit Him to you as the example of grateful
praise and to ask you as a great congregation to follow Him as your
Leader in the delightful exercise of magnifying the name of Jehovah–

"Far away are gloom and sadness; Spirits with seraphic fire, Tongues
with hymns, and hearts with gladness, Higher sound the chords and
higher." I shall ask your attention, in considering these verses,
first, to our Lord's example: "I will declare Your name unto My
brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise You." And,
secondly, I shall invite you to observe our Lord's exhortation: "You
that fear the Lord, praise Him; all you the seed of Jacob, glorify
Him; and fear Him, all you the seed of Israel."

I. We begin with OUR LORD'S EXAMPLE. The praise which our Jesus as our
Exemplar renders unto the Eternal Father is twofold. First, the praise
of declaration, "I will declare Your name unto My brethren." Secondly,
the more direct and immediate thanksgiving, "In the midst of the
congregation will I praise You."

1. The first form of the praise which our blessed Mediator renders unto
the eternal Father is that of declaring God's name. This, my dear
Friends, you know He did in His teaching. Something of God had been
revealed to men before. God had spoken to Noah and Abraham, and Isaac
and Jacob and especially to His servant Moses–He had been pleased to
reveal Himself in different types and ceremonies and ordinances. He was
known as Elohim, Shaddai and Jehovah, but never until Christ came did
men begin to say, "Our Father which are in Heaven." This was the loving
word by which the Well-Beloved declared His Father's name unto His
brethren.

The sterner attributes of God had been revealed amidst the thunders of
Sinai, the waves of the Red Sea, the smoke of Sodom and the fury of the
deluge. The sublimities of the Most High had been seen, and wondered at
by the Prophets who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But
the full radiance of a Father's love was never seen until it was beheld
beaming through the Savior's face. "He that has seen Me," said Christ,
"has seen the Father." But until they had seen Him they had not seen
God as the Father. "No man can come unto the Father," says Jesus,
"Except by Me." And as no man can come affectionately in the outgoings
of his heart or fiducially in the motions of his faith, so neither can
any man come to God in the enlightenment of understanding except by
Christ, the Son.

He who understands Christianity has a far better idea of God than he
who only comprehends Judaism. Read the Old Testament through and you
shall value every sentence, and prize it above fine gold–but still you
shall feel unrest and dissatisfaction–for the vision is veiled and the
light is dim. Turn, then, to the New Testament and you discern that in
Jesus of Nazareth dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily! Then
the noontide of knowledge is around you. Then the vision is open and
distinct. Jesus is the express image of His Father, and seeing Him you
have seen God manifest in the flesh! This sight of God you will
assuredly obtain if you are one of the Brethren to whom, through the
Spirit, Jesus Christ in His teaching declares the name of the Father.

Our Lord, however, declared the Father more, perhaps, by His acts than
by His words, for the life of Christ is a discovery of all the
attributes of God in action. If you want to know the gentleness of God,
you perceive Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them. If you would
know His condescension, behold the loving Redeemer taking little
children into His arms and blessing them. If you would know whether God
is just, hear the words of a Savior as He denounces sin–and observe
His own life–for He is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners. Would you know the mercy of God as well as His justice? Then
see it manifested in the ten thousand miracles of the Savior's hands,
and in the constant sympathy of the Redeemer's heart.

I cannot stay to bring out all the incidents in the Redeemer's life,
nor even to give you a brief sketch of it, but suffice it to say that
the life of Christ is a perpetual unrolling of the great mystery of the
Divine attributes, and you may rest assured that what Jesus is, that
the Father is. You need not start back from the Father, as though He
were something strange and unrevealed, for you have seen the Father if
you have seen Christ. And if you have studied well and drunk deep into
the spirit of the history of the Man of Sorrows, you understand, as
well as you need to, the Character of God over all, blessed forever.

Our Lord made the grandest declaration of the Godhead in His death–
"Here His whole name appears complete, Nor wit can guess, nor reason
trace, Which of the letters best is writ– The power, the wisdom, or
the Grace." There at Calvary, where He suffered, the Just for the
unjust, to bring us to God, we see the Godhead resplendent in noonday
majesty, albeit that to the natural eye it seems to be eclipsed in
midnight gloom. Would you see stern justice such as the Judge of all
the earth perpetually exhibits (for shall not He do right)? Would you
see the justice that will not spare the guilty, which smites at sin
with determined enmity and will not endure it? Then behold the hands
and feet, and side of the Redeemer welling up with crimson blood!
Behold His heart broken as with an iron rod, dashed to shivers as
though it were a potter's vessel! Hearken to His cries. Mark the lines
of grief that mar His face. Behold the turmoil, the confusion, the
whirlwinds of anguish which seethe like a boiling caldron within the
soul of the Redeemer! Here is the vengeance of God revealed to men so
that they may see it and not die–may behold it and weep–but not with
the tears of despair!

At the same time, if you would see the Grace of God, where shall you
discover it as you will in the death of Jesus? God's bounty gleams in
the light, flashes in the rain and sparkles in the dew. It blossoms in
the flowers that paint the meadows, and it ripens in the golden sheaves
of autumn. All God's works are full of goodness and truth! Even on the
sea itself are the steps of the beneficent Creator–but all this does
not meet the case of guilty, condemned man. Therefore, to the eye of
him who has learned to weep for sin, Nature does not reveal the
goodness of God in any such a light as that which gleams from the
Cross. Best of all is God seen as He that spared not His own Son, but
freely delivered Him up for us all.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us." "For God
commends His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us." Your thoughtful minds will readily discover every one of
the great qualities of Deity in our dying Lord. You have only to linger
long enough amidst the wondrous scenes of Gethsemane, and Gabbatha, and
Golgotha to observe how power and wisdom, Grace and vengeance,
strangely join– "Piercing His Son with sharpest smart, To make the
purchased blessing mine." Beloved, in the midst of the Brethren a dying
Savior declares the name of the Lord and thus magnifies the Lord as no
other can. None of the harps of angels, nor the fiery, flaming sonnets
of cherubs can glorify God as did the wounds and pangs of the great
Substitute when He died to make His Father's Grace and justice known.

Our Lord continued to declare God's name among His Brethren when He
rose from the dead. He did so literally. Among the very first words He
said were, "Go to My Brethren," and His message was, "I ascend unto My
Father, and your Father, and to My God, and your God." His life on
earth after His resurrection was brief, but it was very rich and
instructive, and in itself a showing forth of Divine faithfulness. He
further revealed the faithfulness and glory of God when He ascended on
high, leading captivity captive. It must have been an august day when
the Son of God actually passed the pearly gates to remain within the
walls of Heaven enthroned until His second advent! How must the spirits
ofjust men made perfect have risen from their seats of bliss to gaze on
Him!

They had not seen a risen one before. Two had passed into Heaven
without death, but none had entered into Glory as risen from the dead.
He was the first instance of immortal resurrection, "the First Fruits
of them that slept." How angels adored Him! How holy beings wondered at
Him while– "The God shone gracious through the Man, And shed sweet
glories on them all!" Celestial spirits saw the Lord that day as they
had never seen before! They had worshipped God, but the excessive
splendor of absolute Deity had forbidden the sacred familiarity with
which they hailed the Lord in flesh arrayed. They were never so near
Jehovah before, for in Christ the Godhead veiled its thrilling
splendors, and wore the aspect of a fatherhood and brotherhood most
near and dear. Enough was seen of Glory, as much as finite beings could
bear, but still the whole was so sweetly shrouded in humanity that God
was declared in a new and more delightful manner–such as made Heaven
ring with newborn joy!

What if I say that I think a part of the occupation of Christ in Heaven
is to declare to perfect spirits what He suffered, how God sustained
Him? To reveal to them the Covenant and all its solemn bonds–how the
Lord ordained it, how He made it firm by Suretyship, and based it upon
eternal settlements–so that everlasting mercy might flow from it? What
if it is not true that there is no preaching in Heaven? What if Christ
is the Preacher there, speaking as never man spoke and forever
instructing His saints that they may make known unto principalities and
powers yet more fully the manifold wisdom of God as revealed both in
Him and in them–in them the members, and in Him the Head? I think, if
it is so, it is a sweet fulfillment of this dying vow of our blessed
Master, "I will declare Your name unto My brethren."

But, Brothers and Sisters, it is certain that at this hour our Lord
Jesus Christ continues to fulfill the vow by the spreading of His
Gospel on earth. Do not tell me that the Gospel declares God, but that
Jesus does not! I would remind you that the Gospel does not declare God
apart from the Presence of Jesus Christ with the Gospel. "Lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the world," is the Gospel's true life
and power. Take Christ's Presence away and all the doctrines, and the
precepts, and the invitations of the Gospel would not declare God to
this blind-eyed generation–this hard-hearted multitude! But where
Jesus is by His Spirit, there is the Word the Father declares.

And, my Brethren, this great process will go on. All through the
present dispensation Christ will declare God to the sons of
men–especially to the elect sons of men, to His own Brothers and
Sisters. Then shall come the latter days of which we know so little,
but of which we hope so much. Then, in that august period there will be
a declaration, no doubt, of God in noonday light, for it shall be said,
"The tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell among them." Of
that age of light Jesus shall be the sun! The great Revealer of Deity
shall still be the Son of Mary, the Man of Nazareth, the Wonderful, the
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!

We shall, each one of us, tell abroad the savor of His name till He
shall come. And then we shall have no need to say one to another, "Know
the Lord," for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest–and
know the Lord for this reason, because they know Christ, and have seen
Jehovah in the Person of Jesus Christ His Son. I cannot leave this
passage without bidding you treasure up that precious word of our
Master, "I will declare Your name unto My brethren"–

"Our next of kin, our Brother now,

Is He to whom the angels bow.

They join with us topraise His name,

But we the nearest interest claim."

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He
also Himself likewise took part of the same."

"For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of
one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

The Savior's Brethren are to know God in Christ. You who are one with
Jesus–you who have been adopted into the same family–have been
regenerated and quickened with His life. You who are joined together by
an indissoluble union, you are to see the Lord. I said an indissoluble
union, for a wife may be divorced, but there is no divorce of Brethren.
I never heard of any law, human or Divine, that could ever "unbrother"
a man! That cannot be done–if a man is my brother, he is and shall be
my brother when Heaven and earth shall pass away. Am I Jesus' brother?
Then I am joint heir with Him. I share in all He has and all that God
bestows upon Him. His Father is My Father. His God is My God. Feast, my
Brethren, on this dainty meat, and go your way in the strength of it to
bear the trials of earth with more than patience!

The example of our Lord, under this first head, I must hint at and
leave. It is this–if the Lord Jesus Christ declares God, especially to
His own Brethren, be it your business and mine, in order to praise
Jehovah, to tell what we know of the excellence and surpassing glories
of our God! And especially let us do it to our kinsfolk, our household,
our neighbors, and, since all men are in a sense our brethren, let us
speak of Jesus wherever our lot is cast. My Brothers and Sisters, I
wish we talked more of our God–

"But ah! how faint our praises rise!

Sure 'tis the wonder of the skies,

That we, who share His richest love,

So cold and unconcerned should prove."

How many times this week have you praised the dear Redeemer to your
friends? Have you done it once? I do it often officially–but I wish I
did it more often spontaneously and personally–to those with whom I
may commune by the way.

You have doubtless murmured this week, or spoken against your
neighbors, or spread abroad some small amount of scandal, or, it may
be, you have talked frothily and with levity. It is even possible that
impurity has been in your speech–even a Christian's language is not
always so pure as it should be. Oh, if we saved our breath to praise
God with, how much wiser! If our mouths were filled with the Lord's
praise and with His honor all the day, how much holier! If we would but
speak of what Jesus has done for us, what good we might accomplish!
Why, every man speaks of what he loves! Men can hardly hold their
tongues about their inventions and their delights. Speak well, O you
faithful, of the Lord's name! I pray you, be not dumb concerning One
who deserves so well of you! Make this the resolve of this Sabbath
morning, "I will declare Your name unto my Brethren."

2. Our Master's second form of praise in the text is of a more direct
kind–"In the midst of the congregation will I praise You." Is it a
piece of imagination, or does the text really mean this, that the Lord
Jesus Christ, as Man, adores and worships the eternal God in Heaven,
and is, in fact, the great Leader of the devotions of the skies? Shall
I err if I say that they all bow when He as Priest adores the Lord, and
all lift up the voice at the lifting up of His sacred psalmody? Is He
the chief Musician of the sky, the Master of the sacred choir? Does He
beat time for all the hallelujahs of the universe? I think so. I think
He means just that in these words: "In the midst of the congregation
will I praise You."

As God, He is praised forever–far above all worshipping–He is Himself
forever worshipped! But as Man, the Head of redeemed humanity, the
ever-living Priest of the Most High God, I believe that He praises
Jehovah in Heaven. Surely it is the office of the Head to speak and to
represent the holy joys and devout aspirations of the whole body which
He represents. In the midst of the congregations of earth, too, is not
Jesus Christ the sweetest of all singers? I like to think that when we
pray on earth our prayers are not alone, but our great High Priest is
there to offer our petitions with His own.

When we sing on earth it is the same. Is not Jesus Christ in the midst
of the congregation–gathering up all the notes which come from sincere
lips–to put them into the golden censer, and to make them rise as
precious incense before the Throne of the infinite majesty? So then, He
is the great singer rather than we! He is the chief player on our
stringed instruments, the great master of true music! The worship of
earth comes up to God through Him, and He, He is the accepted channel
of all the praise of all the redeemed universe! I am anticipating the
day–I hope we are all longing for it–when the dead shall rise and the
sea and land shall give up the treasured bodies of the saints. Then
glorified spirits shall descend to enliven their renovated frames, and
we who are alive and remain shall be changed and made immortal, and the
King Himself shall be revealed!

Then shall be trod under our feet all the ashes of our enemies! Satan,
bound, shall be held beneath the foot of Michael, the great archangel,
and victory shall be on the side of truth and righteousness. What a
"Hallelujah" that will be which shall peal from land and sea and from
islands of the far-off main–"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The
Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" Who will lead that song? Who shall be the
first to praise God in that day of triumph? Who first shall wave the
palm of victory? Who but He who was first in the fight and first in the
victory? Who but He who trod the winepress alone and stained His
garments with the blood of His enemies? Who but He that comes from
Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?

Surely He it is who in the midst of the exulting host, once militant
and then triumphant, shall magnify and adore Jehovah's name forever and
forever! Has He not Himself said it, "My praise shall be of You in the
great congregation"? What does that expression mean which is so hard to
be understood, "Then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God, even the Father"? What does that dark saying mean, "And
when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son of God
also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that
God may be All in All"?

Whatever they may mean, they seem to teach us the mediatorial crown and
government are temporary and intended only to last until all rule,
authority and power are put down by Jesus–and the rule of God shall be
universally acknowledged. Jesus cannot renounce His Godhead. But His
mediatorial sovereignty will be yielded up to Him from whom it
came–and that last solemn act in which He shall hand back to His
Father the all-subduing scepter will be a praising of God to a most
wonderful extent beyond human conception! We wait and watch for it, and
we shall behold it in the time appointed.

Beloved Friends, we also have in this second part an example–let us
endeavor to praise our God in a direct manner. We ought to spend at
least a little time every day in adoring contemplation. Our private
devotions are scarcely complete if they consist altogether of prayer.
Should there not be praise? If possible, during each day, sing a hymn.
Perhaps you are not in a position to sing it aloud–or very loud, at
any rate–but I would hum it if I were you. Many of you working men
find time enough to sing a silly song–why cannot you find space for
the praise of God? Every day let us praise Him when the eyelids of the
morning first are opened, and when the curtains of the night are drawn.
Yes, and at midnight–if we wake at that solemn hour–let the heart put
fire to the sacred incense and present it unto the Lord that lives
forever and ever.

In the midst of the congregation, also, whenever we come up to God's
House, let us take care that our praise is not merely lip language, but
that of the heart! Let us all sing, and so sing that God Himself shall
hear. We want more than the sweet sounds which die upon mortal ears–we
want the deep melodies which spring from the heart–and which enter
into the ears of the immortal God. Imitate Jesus, then, in this twofold
praise, the declaring of God, and the giving of direct praise to Him.

II. My time almost fails me, and I have need of much of it, for now I
come to the second head, OUR LORD'S EXHORTATION. Follow me earnestly,
my dear Brothers and Sisters, and then follow me practically, also. The
exhortations of the second verse are given to those who fear God, who
have respect to Him, who tremble to offend Him, who carry with them the
consciousness of His Presence into their daily lives and who act
towards Him as obedient children towards a father. The exhortation is
further addressed to the seed of Jacob, to those in covenant with God,
to those who have despised the pottage and chosen the birthright, to
those who, if they have had to sleep with a stone for their pillow,
have, nevertheless, seen Heaven opened and enjoyed a revelation of God.
It is addressed to those who know what prevalence in prayer means, to
those who, in all their trouble, have yet found that all these things
are not against them, but work their everlasting good, for Jesus is yet
alive and they shall see Him before they die.

It is, moreover, directed to the seed of Israel–to those who once were
in Egypt in spiritual bondage, who have been brought out of slavery,
who are being guided through the wilderness, fed with Heaven's manna
and made to drink of the living Rock. It is directed to those who
worship the one God and Him only, and put away their idols and desire
to be found always obedient to the Master's will. Now, to them it is
said, first, "Praise Him." Praise Him vocally. I wish that in every
congregation every child of God would take pains to praise God with his
mouth as well as with his heart. Do you know, I have noticed one
thing–I have jotted this down in the diary of my recollection–that
you always sing best when you are most spiritual!

Last Monday night the singing was very much better than it was on
Sabbath evening. You kept better time and better tune, not because the
tune was any easier, but because you had come up to worship God with
more solemnity than usual–and therefore there was no slovenly singing
such as pains my ear and heart sometimes. Why, some of you care so
little to give the Lord your best music, that you fall half a note
behind the rest! Others of you are singing quite a false note, and a
few make no sound of any kind! I hate to enter a place of worship where
half-a-dozen sing to the praise and glory of themselves, and the rest
stand and listen. I like that good old plan of everybody
singing–singing their best– singing carefully and heartily.

If you cannot sing artistically, never mind, you will be right enough
if you sing from the heart and pay attention to it–and do not drawl
out like a musical machine that has been set and runs on mechanically.
With a little care the heart brings the art, and the heart desiring to
praise will, by-and-by, train the voice to time and tune. I would have
our service of song to be of the best. I care not for the fineries of
music and the prettiness of chants and anthems. As for instrumental
music, I fear that it often destroys the singing of the congregation
and detracts from the spirituality and simplicity of worship.

If I could crowd a house 20 times as big as this by the fine music
which some Churches delight in, God forbid I should touch it! Let us
have the best and most orderly harmony we can make–let Believers come
with their hearts in the best humor and their voices in the best
tune–and let them take care that there be no slovenliness and discord
in the public worship of the Most High. Take care to praise God also
mentally. The grandest praise that floats up to the Throne of God is
that which rises from silent contemplation and reverent thought. Sit
down and think of the greatness of God– His love, His power, His
faithfulness, His sovereignty–and as your mind bows prostrate before
His majesty you will have praised Him, though not a sound shall have
come from you!

Praise God, also, by your actions. Your sacrifice to Him of your
property–your offering to Him, week by week, of your substance. This
is true praise and far less likely to be hypocritical than the mere
thanksgiving of words. "You that fear the Lord, praise Him." The text
adds, "Glorify Him, you seed of Jacob"–another form of the same thing.
Glorify God–that is, let others know of His glory. Let them know of it
from what you say, but specially let them know of it from what you are.
Glorify God in your business, in your recreations, in your shops and in
your households. In whatever you eat and drink, glorify the Lord!

In the most common actions of life wear the vestments of your sacred
calling and act as a royal priesthood serving the Most High. Glorify
your Creator and Redeemer! Glorify Him by endeavoring to spread abroad
the Gospel which glorifies Him. Magnify Christ by explaining to men how
by believing they shall find peace in Him. Glorify God by
yourself–boldly relying on His Word in the teeth of afflicting
Providence and over the head of all suspicions and mistrust. Nothing
can glorify God more than an Abrahamic faith which staggers not at the
promise through unbelief. O you wrestling seed of Jacob, see to it that
you fall not off in the matter of glorifying your God!

Lastly, the text says, "Fear Him," as if this were one of the highest
methods of praise. Walk in His sight. Constantly keep the Lord before
you. Let Him be at your right hand. Sin not, for in so doing you
dishonor Him. Suffer rather than sin. Choose the burning fiery furnace
rather than bow down before the golden image. Be willing to be despised
sooner than God should be despised. Be content to bear the cross,
rather than Jesus should be crucified afresh. Be sooner put to shame,
than Jesus should be put to shame. Thus you will truly praise and
magnify the name of the Most High.

I must close by a few remarks which are meant to assist you to carry
out the spirit and teaching of this sermon. Beloved Brothers and
Sisters, this morning I felt, before I came to this place, very much in
the spirit of adoring gratitude.

I cannot communicate that to you, but the Spirit of God can. And the
thoughts that helped me to praise God were something like these–let me
give them to you as applied to yourselves–glorify and praise God for
He has saved you– has saved you from Hell–saved you for Heaven. Oh,
how much is comprehended in the fact that you are saved! Think of the
election which ordained you to salvation! Think of the Covenant which
secured salvation to you! Think of the Incarnation by which God came to
you, and the precious blood by which you now have been made near to
God!

Hurry not over those thoughts though I must shorten my words. Linger at
each one of these sacred fountains and drink–and when you have seen
what salvation involves in the past–think of what it means in the
future. You shall be preserved to the end! You shall be educated in the
school of Divine Grace! You shall be admitted into the home of the
blessed in the land of the hereafter. You shall have a resurrection
most glorious, and an immortality most illustrious! When days and years
are passed, a crown shall adorn your brow, a harp of joy shall fill
your hand. All this is yours, Believer–and will you not praise Him?

Make any one of them stand right out, as real to you personally, and I
think you will say, "Should I refuse to sing, surely the very stones
would speak." Your God has done more than this for you. You are not
barely saved, like a drowning man just dragged to the bank–you have
had more given you than you ever lost! You have been a gainer by Adam's
fall! You might almost say, as one of the fathers did, O beata culpa,
"O happy fault," which put me into the position to be so richly endowed
as now I am! Had you stood in Adam, you had never been able to call
Jesus, "Brother," for there had been no need for Him to become
Incarnate! You had never been washed in the precious blood, for then it
had no need to be shed!

Jesus has restored that to you which He took not away. He has not
merely lifted you from the dunghill to set you among men, but to set
you among princes, even the princes of His people. Think of the bright
roll of promises, of the rich treasure of Covenant provision, of all
that you have already had and all that Christ has guaranteed to you of
honor, and glory, and immortality–and will you not in the midst of the
congregation praise the Lord? Brothers and Sisters, some of us have had
special cause for praising God in the fact that we have seen many saved
during the last three weeks, and among them those dear to us. Mothers,
can you hear the fact without joy? Your children saved! Brothers, your
sisters saved! Fathers, your sons and daughters saved! How many has God
brought in during the last few weeks?

And you Sunday school teachers who have been the instruments of
this–you conductors of our classes who have been honored of God to be
spiritual parents! You elders and deacons who have helped us so nobly,
and who have now to share the joy of the pastor's heart in these
conversions–will you not bless God? "Not unto us, not unto us, but
unto Your name be praise." But oh, we cannot be silent! Not one tongue
shall be silent! We will all magnify and bless the Most High! Brothers
and Sisters, if these do not suffice to make us praise Him, I would say
think of God's own glorious Self! Think of Father, Son, and Spirit–and
what the triune Jehovah is in His own Person and attributes–and if you
do not praise Him, oh, how far must you have backslidden!

Remember the host who now adore Him! When we bless Him, we stand not
alone–angels and archangels are at our right hand–cherubim and
seraphim are in the same choir! The notes of redeemed men go not up
alone–they are united to, and swollen by the unceasing flood of praise
which flows from the hierarchy of angels! Think, Beloved, of how you
will soon praise Him! How, before many days and weeks are passed, many
of us will be with the glorious throng! This last week three of our
number have been translated to the skies–more links to Heaven–fewer
bonds to earth. They have gone before us. We had almost said, "Would
God it were our lot instead of theirs!" They have seen, now, what eye
has not seen, and heard what ear has never heard–and their spirits
have drunk in what they could not otherwise have conceived! We shall
soon be there! Meanwhile, let each one of us sing–

"I would begin the music here,

And so my soul should rise:

Oh, for some heavenly notes to bear

My passions to the skies!

There you that love my Savior sit,

There I would gladly have a place

Among your thrones, or at your feet,

So I might see His face."
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The Centurion's Faith and Humility

A Sermon