Our Lord’s Humanity a Sweet Source of Comfort

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man,
and he strengthened me." Daniel 10:18.

WE are not able, as yet, to bear the full revelation of Divine things.
If any intellect had been strong enough, if any heart had been pure
enough to see the exceeding glory of the Covenant angel, surely Daniel
possessed such a head and heart. But even he fell upon his face and was
cast into a dead swoon, for he was unable to bear the sight of the man
clothed in linen, whose "body was like the beryl, and his face as the
appearance of lightning." We ought to be thankful that our God has
revealed no more. The Word of God is as excellent in its darkness as in
its brightness. Had it unveiled more, its discoveries would have been
no more beneficial–perhaps they had been less profitable. As it is,
there is far more within this Book than you and I have seen as yet, and
we need not wish that more had been written. If we entertain such a
desire, our loving Lord may silence us with the words, "I have many
things to show unto you, but you cannot bear them now."

It appears from our text that, when weighed down under a sense of the
Divine Presence, the readiest method of consolation is found in the
touch of a certain sublime, mysterious, human hand. I know it is very
usual to say that the personage who appeared to Daniel was the angel,
Gabriel, but I cannot bring myself to believe that he is the angel of
this chapter. Surely this glorious Being was that uncreated Messenger
of the Covenant who, though not born into our nature in Daniel's day,
yet took upon Himself the similitude of a man for a time, as He had
done before, when on special occasions He appeared to others of the
saints before His actual Incarnation!

Even if we grant that an angel was the person who touched Daniel, still
the truth which I wish to bring out will be none the less clear,
namely, that even if an angel should wish to comfort us, he must assume
a visible human form and he must lay upon us a sympathetic hand like
our own so that there shall be, at any rate, "the appearance of a man,"
or otherwise we shall not be strengthened. If this is granted as true,
I shall not insist upon the text immediately referring to Christ, but I
shed the general principle and say this–comfort is best brought to men
by a man and if we are to be strengthened, the touch of "one like the
appearance of a man" is needed.

Therefore we may, without difficulty, rise to the reflection that it is
always to us the richest and highest comfort, as Believers in Christ,
that the Lord Jesus is a Man and when He strengthens us, it is full
often by laying His human hand upon us. He reveals His kinship with us
and our spirit is consoled and strengthened by a sense of His union
with us. My one objective is, by the Spirit's aid, to draw water from
the ancient well of our Lord's humanity. The Son of God is also the Son
of Man. We, none of us, doubt His Deity and, therefore, we shall be
able to spend all our time in this sermon in musing upon His Manhood
and the joys contained in that Truth of God.

Jesus is God. But Jesus was born, Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose
again and Jesus is in Heaven, as a Man. He is God and Man in one
Person, but there is no confusion of Natures. He is neither a deified
man nor a humanized God. His Godhead is altogether Godhead and His
Manhood altogether manhood. We must not divide the Person, nor confuse
the natures. He is as truly Man as if He were not God and as truly God
as if He had never assumed the nature of man. It is of His Manhood that
we are now about to speak. We shall not attempt to prove it, but shall
simply endeavor to show how the touch of the hand of Jesus, the Man,
strengthens us.

I. And, first, dear Friends, does it not cheer us WHEN WE LABOR UNDER A
SENSE OF LONELINESS? If we are true to Him, we are strangers and
sojourners with Him, as all our fathers were. Before His Cross we find
ourselves to be strangers in this land, even as He was, for as the
world knew Him not, so it knows us not, and as it placed Him outside
the camp, so, also, does it make aliens of us. It is sweet to feel,
when walking the separated path, "I am a stranger with

You"–a stranger in the world as You are, an exile as You were. In such
solitude the Manhood of Jesus is a delicious cordial!

Some feel alone because they are the only ones of their house who serve
the Lord. How you wish it were otherwise! It is your daily prayer that
all your kindred may be followers of Christ, but they are not so.
Perhaps they openly oppose you and make your life unhappy through their
hard speeches. Well, there is a Friend that sticks closer than a
brother! There is a Brother who will hear what you have to say, no, who
knows all that is in your heart before you utter it! He is the antitype
of Joseph and He knows what it is to be separated from His Brethren. Of
all that ever lived He was the loneliest, by far, and therefore He
sympathizes with the forsaken ones.

The child of God, as he grows in Grace, becomes more lonely under
certain aspects, just as the higher mountains have fewer familiarities,
till Mont Blanc speaks to no equal in his awful height, but communes
only with himself. They that serve God much and well–and draw near to
His innermost Presence–in that proportion draw away from men, as to
deriving comfort from them. But, oh, there are no heights to which
Jesus has not risen, no attainments which He has not surpassed! That
glorious Man is with you–with you in the singleness of heart with
which you serve your God! He is with you in the perfect consecration
which the Holy Spirit has given you, with you in the intimate
fellowship of your soul with the Eternal Father! In your highest flight
of ecstasy there is still a Man at your right hand, saying, "Fear not,
for I am with you: be not dismayed, for I am your God."

It falls to the lot of some Christians to stand alone in their
contention for the faith. Perhaps there is made known to them what has
not been revealed to others, or which, being revealed, others have
refused to see–or seeing have been afraid to declare. In such cases
true-hearted men find themselves standing very much alone, at least for
a time. They have a treasure which others do not prize and they are
bound to show it, for to this end was the treasure placed in their
earthen vessel. God has not committed it to them for themselves, alone,
but He has put them in trust with the Gospel for the good of others and
they must speak it out. If, when they do so, they hear no sympathetic
answer, but are met in the spirit of controversy and unkind rebuke, it
is blessed for them to know that "the faithful and true Witness" is the
champion of every honest testimony.

He stood alone as our atoning Sacrifice and into that loneliness we
never intrude, but in all other work He is our companion, even He who
is called, "the Man Christ Jesus," and, therefore, we shall be cheered
by His Presence if we find ourselves without earthly helpers. Oh, if we
had our choice between having an angel to always live in our house and
to know our secrets, or to have the Man Christ Jesus to be our constant
Friend, we should not deliberate in our choice but choose our Lord's
company at once! An angel would often afflict us–we would be afraid to
confess our littleness to him. We would fear that he would think them
meanness. His unsuffering nature we would suspect of contempt–and we
would be ill at ease in his presence. But such a feeling as that does
not cross our mind when we have to deal with One who is touched with
the feeling of our infirmities!

We know our Lord to be true Man and, therefore, we speak to Him with
familiarity and make Him our heart's dearest companion. Lonely One,
take care that you have no secrets apart from Jesus! Love your
loneliness rather than seek to escape from it, if it brings you nearer
to Him! You will do well to be always ready for Christian fellowship,
yes, and to seek it–but do not live on it–for fellowship with Jesus
is sweeter than fellowship with saints! I know that fellowship with
saints is poor stuff if it come not through fellowship with the saints'
Master. When communion comes from His hands and we come to the feast in
His company, then every Brother and Sister who sits at the table adds
to our enjoyment.

But if we approach the table to see them and forget Him, then everybody
adds to our discomfort and forms another veil to hide the Lord. Cling
to the Christ of the Garden and the Cross, and find, O lonely One, your
sweetest joy in the thought that He is a Man such as you are. Sing with
me those sweet lines–

"When gathering clouds around I view,

And days are dark and friends are few,

On Him I lean, who not in vain

Experienced every human pain.

He sees my needs, allays my fears,

And counts and treasures up my tears."

II. How sweet it is to feel the touch of the humanity of Christ WHEN WE
ARE HUMBLED IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD. I know not, Brethren, whether you
are often favored to behold the shining of the Divine Glory and to feel
the warmth of it in your own soul. This I know–if you are, you find it
a wearing and breaking joy. If we had more of it, it might be a
destroying delight, for "even our God is a consuming fire," and when we
come nearest to Him and best understand that He is Love, the glory of
that love overcomes us! We cannot eat much honey, neither can we endure
much sensible enjoyment of the Divine Glory–I mean much comparatively,
for, of course, it is much to us, but it is not much compared with what
He could reveal if we were able to endure it.

Have you ever felt what it is to be as if you were not–to see your
comeliness turned into corruption, your excellency all despoiled and
yourself not only lying low in the Presence of God, but being as if you
had no being at all–as if you had no separate existence in the
Presence of such wondrous majesty, such awe-inspiring love? You feel no
dread, far from it! And no unhappiness, but the very reverse–you,
yourself, seem gone, and God is All in All. A blessed extinction of
self makes room for Infinite Love! There is not one Covenant blessing
but what, if we understood it, would have this humbling effect upon us!

Every gift which God bestows upon His chosen, if rightly understood and
truly grasped, would make us say with Abraham, "I that am but dust and
ashes," or make us sit down with David and exclaim, "Why this to me? Is
this the manner of man, O Lord God?" Now, at such times of
self-annihilation, it is strengthening to the mind, which is almost
ready to expire beneath the load of heavenly Glory, to feel the touch
of that hand and to perceive that He who is our God is also very near.
It is bliss to me, to perceive that the Creator has become one with the
creature, for Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem. Jesus ate, drank,
slept, wept, bled and died–and now He sits at the right hand of the
Father! And so, notwithstanding the awe which crushes me, I see an
infinite condescension–no, I perceive a near kinship which draws me
close to God. Himself, so that I say, "My Father," and with the next
breath, "My Brother, my Friend, my Husband, my

Best-Beloved."

I wonder what we should have done if we had known so much of God and
had not known Christ! I suppose I am speaking paradoxically and saying
what I should not say, for we never could have known God, except in
Jesus Christ, in such a way as we do know Him. But if such a thing had
been possible, it must have been destructive to us. But now, God in
Jesus Christ, how blessed! God out of Christ, we know nothing of, nor
need we. Luther used to say, "I will have nothing to do with an
absolute God." Beware of attempting to deal with God apart from the
Mediator, for no man comes unto the Father but through His Son, Christ
Jesus. Thus have we felt the touch of the human hand strengthening us
when we have fallen prostrate under a deep sense of the Glory of God.

III. Thirdly, Brothers and Sisters, and here, perhaps, you Sisters take
precedence over us–IN SORROW–oh, how blessed it is to feel the touch
of the man's hand! Bodily pain is the portion of many of God's people.
They are seldom long without it. Weakness, constant weakness, keeps
many of God's precious ones tied to the bedchamber or to the house and
often the beloved means of Grace are taken from them because of their
inability to come up to the assembly of God's saints. Others endure the
affliction of poverty–with all their economy and industry, they find
it difficult to provide things honest in the sight of all men.

Some true Christians are naturally of a somber temperament and, to
them, even summer weather has a wintry aspect. The Lord has allotted to
each one of His children a cross to carry and His loving wisdom led Him
to do so. Those who are, for the most part, without trial, are usually
the weakest in the Church of God. They are usually the least spiritual,
the least instructed in experimental truth and altogether the least
knowledgeable in Divine things. We have our sorrows, but have we not
found, by actual experience, that the choicest consolation for sorrow
is the fact that Jesus Christ knows all about it and is with us in it!

How often has that verse run through my soul like a trumpet note to
urge me onward when otherwise I should have retreated from the
battle?–

"In every pang that rends the heart, The Man of Sorrows had a part.
With boldness, therefore, at the Throne Let us make all our sorrows
known." There is no abyss of grief into which Jesus has not descended!
Sickness of body and pangs of soul, bereavement, poverty, scorn,
slander, desertion, treachery–He knows all these things! Malice, Envy,
Contempt and deadly Hate all shot their

fiery darts against Him. He has sounded the deeps of the ocean of
sorrow. Did He not say that He was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto
death? And did not the sweat of blood which covered His face show how
terrible were the inward agonies through which His soul was passing?
Prince of Sorrow are You, O Jesus! Emperor in the realm of woe, are
You, O Christ! You could say far more truly than the Prophet of old, "I
am the Man that has seen affliction."

Now, Brothers and Sisters, our bitter cup is sweetened, for His dear
lips have touched the brim! No, He has drained it to its dregs! Now,
Brethren, our hard sorrow is softened because it is only a piece from
that loaf of which He ate the most, Himself. Well may we be satisfied
to go through the valley of tears, for it is "the King's vale" and all
along it we can track His footprints. We know them, for they show the
marks of the nails! They are the footprints of the Crucified! Joined
with us in every grief and woe, He is always at our side when our
hearts are heavy. He carried up to Heaven the same human heart which
was pierced below–and there He remembers Calvary and all the griefs He
suffered on our behalf. He still sympathizes with us.

I delight in that thought of one of our hymn writers, where he says–

"Yet even after death His heart For us, its tribute poured."

After our Lord was dead, His heart yielded blood and water for our
sakes, so that after death He was still in sympathy with us. Jesus
still gives His heart to His people! Glory be to His name! Who among
you will refuse to shoulder your cross, now? Did you lay it down just
now and say, "I can carry it no longer. I must give up in despair"?
Why, He carries the heavier end for you! Put your shoulder to the
burden which He consecrates by His fellowship. It will grow light when
you think that He once carried it!

When Alexander's troops were on long marches, that which cheered them
was that Alexander always walked as far as they. If they were very
thirsty in the broiling sun and if any water was to be found, of course
they brought it first to Alexander. Should they not, first, consider
their king? But he nobly put the cooling draught on one side and said,
"as long as a sick man needs water, Alexander will go without." This
made each warrior strong, for his king fared as he fared! Let this
strengthen us tonight. Jesus Christ puts His hand upon us and says,
"Fear not. I am with you in your sorrow. My heart is as your heart,
therefore be of good cheer."

IV. I will not dwell long on any one thought, but leave you to dilate
upon it. The fact that Jesus Christ is a Man such as we are, should
greatly comfort us in ALL OUR STRUGGLES. It seems hard, this battle of
life, this "contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the
many"–this fighting against sin, this contention against inbred
corruption, this warring against spiritual wickedness in high
places–and we are apt to think sometimes, "Can we ever win? Is not the
battle too difficult?"

In such moments look at yonder Man who sits upon the Throne of God! He
is the typical Man, the representative to us of what manhood should be,
no, of what, through His Grace, it is! He wrestled hard, as hard as you
do, but He won the victory! You are tempted. Does that cause you doubt?
He was "tempted in all points like as we are." Yet He did not sin. Are
you distressed by the contentions of godless men? "Consider Him who
endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be
weary and faint in your minds." The struggle is not so hard with you as
it was with Him. You have an easier battle to fight and you have the
promise that, as your days, your strength shall be.

Now, as He overcame, finding strength enough for His conflict, He is to
you a living prophecy of what you shall do through Him. Yes, Brothers
and Sisters, you shall trample sin beneath your feet, you shall take
the strongholds of the adversary and Grace shall reign within your
heart! The world, the flesh and the devil, that trinity of evils, shall
be overcome by you! You shall be a conqueror, no, listen–"More than a
conqueror through Him that loved you."–

"As surely as He overcame, And triumphed once for you, So surely you
that love His name, Shall triumph in Him, too."

"Did a man ever do that?" asked a bold spirit concerning some renowned
achievement, "for if one man did it, another man shall." It was a brave
speech! But let us apply it to Christ for a moment. Did He, a Man, live
in the midst of this world amid fierce temptations–and did He come out
of that scorching furnace with not so much as the smell of fire upon
Him? Then the eternal God can work the same in other men and we may
believe, no, we may be confident that the victory shall be unto us
through the blood of the Lamb. Be of good courage, O sons of men, for
the Son of Man has won

the victory! Throw not away your confidence. Let not your swords be
laid aside. Jesus, Jesus the representative Man, has conquered!

And, therefore, those who are in Him, "strengthened with all might by
His Spirit in the inner man," shall conquer also! Herein is comfort.

V. Further, Brothers and Sisters, in the fifth place, what a blessed
thing it has been to look at the Manhood of Jesus

Christ AT TIMES WHEN WE HAVE BEEN DECEIVED IN OUR BRETHREN. Our natural
tendency to idolatry

tempts us to confide in man. Among religious people there always has
been a tendency, much to be deplored, to lean a good deal upon men of
eminence–upon ministers, leaders and men of experience. We get a great
deal of good from them, blessed be God, and, therefore, we conceive a
high opinion of them as, indeed, we may rightly do if we attribute all
that is praiseworthy to the God who gave it.

But every now and then we pass beyond the proper confidence which a
younger brother may place in an elder and we pin our faith to the man's
sleeve and make our hope, in a measure, dependent upon his sincerity.
This is the peculiar sin of young Christians, but I have sometimes met
with it in simple-hearted persons, even in extreme old age. The "dear
minister," the "venerable man of God"–they have looked far too much to
him. Alas, there has come a discovery that man is only man and that
some men are not saints though they talk in a saintly manner! There has
been the explosion of a profession, the total casting down of an idol
and the breaking of it to pieces–and at such times the faith of many
has been grievously staggered–even those who are somewhat more
established have, nevertheless, received a grievous blow.

We have seen Judas again, and Demas, and Hymenaeus, and Philetus, and
old Ahitophel rising from the dead and we have been filled with grief.
At such times it is most cheering to remember that there is one Man who
will never deceive us! There is One who has not uttered a promise which
He will not fulfill, nor won from us a confidence which He will not
more than justify! It is such a blessed thing to see Jesus standing
there–honesty, integrity, uprightness, Righteousness Incarnate, truth
His very Nature with no sinister motives or desires to make Him subtle
for His own gain, but altogether disinterested–living for the glory of
God and the good of His people.

To get back into His bosom, again, and to nestle there and
feel–"Child, here is a heart that is ever warm with true love. You are
safe here"–this is rest, indeed! To get back to Jesus and say, "Now am
I neither of Paul, nor of Apollos, nor of Cephas, but of Christ." To
hear the news of religious strife in this denomination and that and,
amidst the clashing elements of different ecclesiastical parties, to
say, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" and, clinging to Jesus, to
feel, "But this is not vanity, this is reality, this is truth!" Oh, to
stay with Jesus, Brothers and Sisters!–never to stir away from Him and
to feel that the truth which you can trust, the integrity on which you
can rely is embodied in the Man, Christ Jesus!

Is not man the meanest thing in all creation? Do you not feel him to be
so when he deceives you? But, then, when you look at Jesus, how manhood
rises in your esteem! After all, He is capable of something grand and
glorious! And you bless the Lord Jesus who has, by the sublime
perfection of His Character, redeemed our nature from its frightful
degradation!

VI. Again, I hope I shall not weary you. Surely I may continue to draw
out the silken threads of such a subject. Children of God will find the
doctrine of Christ's Humanity to be wonderfully comfortable to them IN
SEASONS OF DOUBT. Many of you are free from grievous doubts and I would
be the last to sow them in your minds. I love Cowper's picture of the
poor woman with her pillow and bobbins who only knew her Bible, true,
and left all the philosophies in the world to those who cared for them.

But there is a class of disciples like Thomas who think much and are
apt to doubt much. They do not love doubts– they hate them, yet their
doubts often go very deep and undermine the most precious doctrines.
The men are really steadfast in the faith, but it costs them many
exercises and painful questions. They ask, "How is this?" And, "Why is
that?" Perhaps they have more brains than heart. I suppose many of us
get into that condition and, do you know, to me a sight of my Lord is
my great security–a sheet anchor which has held me fast in times of
skepticism and doubt. I cannot doubt when I see Him! When I turn over
the Bible and read of His Character, I find it impossible to be a
disbeliever! If any man invented the Character of Christ, I will
worship him–He must be Divine to have created such perfection!

It seems to me that if the life of Jesus were not a fact, the very
fiction would be a creation demanding perfect holiness in the inventor.
Who but a perfectly holy being could have conceived a Character like
that of our Lord and Master? Every other character has its flaw. Man
may be likened to a statue I once saw in Cambridge, which I think is in
Trinity

College library now–a statue of Byron. I remember looking at it from
one point of view and the gentleman who showed it to me said, "There,
Sir, there is the poet!" Yes, and a noble face it is, full of high
thought, rare imagination. You admire the man.

"Come round to this point," said my conductor, "for there is the man
who dared defy the Deity." You could see at once the semi-maniac Byron,
lost to all pure and devout emotion. The artist had sketched the
duplicate man, the true Byron, a man both great and wicked! Now, if
some artist, able to exhibit the whole truth could thus set you forth
in marble, your friends might go to ever so many points and say,
"Beautiful! Beautiful! Admirable! Commendable! Lovely!" and so on. But
when they came to some one point (and some of us may be very thankful
that people do not get to that point) they would exclaim, "Alas," and
they would not like to say much more. They would feel the conviction
that things are not altogether what they seem to be and that flaws are
discoverable in those they most admire.

It is not so with Jesus. Survey Him, before and behind, on the right
and on the left. Come upon Him at midnight. Look at Him in midday.
Watch Him as a Child, see Him as a Man. Look at Him alone. Behold Him
in company. See Him in His pomp as He rides through Jerusalem. See Him
in His shame as they hound Him to His death. From every point He is
perfect, absolutely perfect! You cannot improve Him, you cannot hint at
a fault in Him! This is, to candid minds, a solid establishment,
rendering it hard to be a doubter. And it becomes to Believers, who
love their Lord and Master, a blessed chain which holds them fast so
that they cannot give up the Truth of God they have received, for they
have not followed cunningly devised fables.

If Peter and James and John, when they saw their Lord transfigured,
were convinced, so are we, also, when we view His human life on earth,
for His whole career is the transfiguration of humanity–a wonderful
display of how poor human nature's garments can be made whiter than any
fuller can make them–how the brightness of manhood can excel the glory
of the sun at noonday! This consoles us amidst the battle of doubtful
thought.

VII. Further, dear Brothers and Sisters, how blessedly the touch of our
Redeemer's human hand COMFORTS US IN THE PROSPECT OF DEATH. Unless the
Lord comes, "It is appointed unto all men, once, to die." In the
presence of death and the grave, when we really get to look at them,
there is hardly one among us who does not begin to ask himself, "Is it
all right?" Must we die? We shrink back–we cannot bear it. "Shall I
rise again? If, after my skin, worms devour this body, shall I, in my
flesh, see God? Does it seem likely? Is it possible? Can these dry
bones live?"

We have read the burial service many times and heard it read over our
friends. We have thought that we believed in the Resurrection, but when
it comes to ourselves, and we are about to die and sickness tells upon
us, then we ask the question over again, "Shall we rise? And is it
true? Is it really true?" Often and often have I put myself through my
paces over that question and this is where I always land–I know that
the Man, Christ Jesus, rose from the dead. I am sure of that. How do I
know it? No fact in human history was ever better attested or even so
well attested as this–that Jesus, who was crucified, did truly rise
from the dead.

The witnesses are so many. Read Paul's summing up of the evidence in
Corinthians. He shows that sometimes Christ was seen by one disciple
alone, then by 12 and, on one occasion, at any rate, by 500 witnesses
at once. Jesus showed Himself alive by indisputable proofs–we are sure
that He rose from the dead. Well, then, I know that I shall, too, for
the Apostle, by inspiration, has put the two things together–"If
Christ rose not, then is there no resurrection of the dead. But if
Christ rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no
resurrection of the dead?" One man has broken from the prison of the
grave and, therefore, so will all who are like He!

Brothers and Sisters, in the gaze of mortality we shall escape from
this city, for our Samson rose in the morning and took away the gates,
posts, bars and all, and carried them to the top of the hill! The gates
of the grave are open–pass through, you redeemed of the Lord! He has
rent away the bars of the sepulcher, it is a dungeon no longer! The
tomb is now a bedchamber where you shall sleep a little while, till
your body shall be prepared for the Lord's embrace–

"What, though our inbred sins require Our flesh to see the dust, Yet as
the Lord our Savior rose, So all His followers must."

VIII. Once more. Children of God, the Manhood of Christ ought to be a
great comfort to you WHEN YOU ARE SEEKING TO DO GOOD AMONG YOUR FELLOW
MEN. This is an awful world, this world of human beings. If you ride
along the main streets, it looks to be a very respectable city. But
just go down the side streets! And from these, turn

into the courts and alleys. Enter Jack Ketch, or Tiger Bay. Visit those
regions where the means of livelihood are sin, where drunkenness is the
chief delight, where debauchery has ceased to be pleasure and has
become an occupation– where every villainy is transacted unblushingly.
Oh, God! When we think of what humanity is, even where Christianity
keeps it within bounds, and then think of what it is when left to
itself to bow down before blocks of wood and stone, and offer orgies of
vice as the adoration of God, we might justly say, "Oh, it is a foul
thing! Let it alone! It scarcely deserves

pity."

If we could but entertain the comfortable notions of the Corinthian
Brethren and believe that the world is not to be converted, how relaxed
we might be! We could sit down and care no more for this poor earth,
because the Lord Jesus is coming and the thing will end–and there is
nothing for us to do but to pull here and there a man off the sinking
ship, for the kingdoms of this world are never to become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of His Christ–and He is never to have dominion from
sea to sea. At any rate, not by the ordinary method of the proclamation
of the Gospel–and we may as well go to bed and enjoy ourselves, for
effort is needless where success is hopeless.

So they tell us, and if I could believe them, I could sleep more
soundly at nights. But I believe that the world is to be converted to
God and that here, on this battleground, and by the same weapons with
which the fight began, the conflict will be fought out to the glorious
end! And I believe sin shall be trodden down by the Lord's people, who
will win the victory through His blood! Still, look at fallen human
nature. Whitefield used to say that it was half beast and half devil.
He was very near the mark, but I question whether both beast and devil
are not slandered by being compared with man when he is left to
himself!

Fallen man is a horrible creature and each one of us may see a specimen
in his own natural heart. But, oh, Brothers and Sisters, let us gird up
the loins of our minds and be encouraged! Let us look beyond the Fall
and see what humanity once was and what it may yet become! Jesus took
human Nature upon Him and thereby did it the highest honor–an honor
which has more than rolled away its reproach. Though free from sin, yet
His Nature was human. And in assuming such a Nature, Jesus showed the
value which He set by our race. He thought it worth His while to live,
to suffer, to bleed, to die for such poor things as we have been
speaking of. He thought it worth His while to preach to a woman who had
had five husbands and was still living in sin.

He thought it worth His while to permit His feet to be washed by a
woman who had been a sinner. Worth His while to mix with tax collectors
and sinners–the common vulgar people of the great cities, for He was a
physician–and He had come to heal the sick. Never let us give way, for
a solitary moment, to the proud feeling that anybody is below us, or
that any human being is so mean that he is not worth looking after–and
so bad that it is really of no use to hope to benefit him. Have I not
heard it insinuated with regard to fallen women, "Oh, it is very
melancholy work to have to do with them and probably it would be better
to let them alone"?

"And these children in the streets," say some, "these waifs and
strays–would it not be better to let those eminent Christian
dignitaries, the parochial authorities, instruct them in the poorhouse?
Would it not be better to let the grosser evils alone? They are so
hideous! Drunkenness, poverty, uncleanness–they so abound in this
great city that one runs great risks and undergoes much pollution in
coming near them." Very superior beings, sometimes, talk in this
fashion. I mean, rather to say, that conceited coxcombs thus speak! Is
there one being on the face of the earth so degraded that you and I
might not have been more degraded, still, if the Lord's Grace had been
withheld? Does there live on the face of the earth one incarnation of
wickedness that can possibly excel what we might have been if exposed
to the same influences and denied the restraints of love?

How, then, can we talk of sinners as being beneath us? Jesus Christ
stoops, indeed, but for you and me it is almost impossible to stoop,
for we are already down so low that we are near to the very lowest–and
there is no great stoop possible on our part. This always cheers me. If
my Master would give me a house full of convicts who had been
imprisoned many times and given over as hopeless, I should feel great
confidence in preaching the Gospel to them, because I should think,
"Now, I am in the very place in which my Master would have chosen to
place His pulpit." Did He not come to save us, who are convicts under
the Law of God? And, if He has done that, let us never despair of the
worst of felons! Never despair of a creature for whom Jesus died! Never
despair of a creature, the likes of which you may see by myriads before
the eternal Throne, singing, "We have washed our robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb." City mission-

ary, Bible woman, Brother, Sister, you who work among the lowest of the
low–let the Master's hand touch you and give you strength!

Now, I have done when I have said a few inviting words to those here
present who do not know much of the Redeemer and have not yet believed
in Him. Do you feel yourselves guilty before God? Do you wish for
mercy? Come, then, and come NOW, for Jesus Christ, a Man like
yourselves, invites you! Remember, you cannot go to God without a
Mediator, but you may go to Christ without a mediator and you may go
just as you are. You need no introduction to Jesus! I know that you can
go and tell another man like yourself your sins, for some are so
foolish to do so. They confess their sins to the priests, as Judas did,
but you know Judas then went and hanged himself, which was a very
likely thing to do after such a confession.

But if you will go and tell your sins to Jesus, who is a Man, and
something more than a Man, He will hear your story and it will not
pollute His ear. He will listen to it and He will do more–He will
effectually absolve you. Have you not felt, now, that you have grown up
to be big fellows, that you wished you were boys again, so that you
could go at night and tell mother all that you had done wrong during
the day, so that mother might kiss you and you would go to bed feeling
that everything was right again? Well, there is no mortal to whom you
can go for such forgiveness, now, but the Lord Jesus Christ–who will
be to you all that your mother was when you were a child.

Go and tell Him all about it and ask Him to wash you in His blood and
cover you with His Righteousness–and He will forgive you as freely as
your own kind mother would have done! Jesus Christ will feel for you,
for He knows all your temptations and weaknesses. If there is any sort
of excuse to be made for you, He will make it. He did that for His
murderers when He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do." For that which cannot be extenuated at all, He has something
a great deal better than an excuse–namely, His own atoning Sacrifice.
He will tell you, "Simply trust Me and I will save you."

Do not be afraid to come and tell Him all about your case. He will not
spurn you! Did He ever spurn a sinner, yet? The dogs eat the crumbs
under His table and He never drives them away. Dog of a sinner, you may
come to His feet and He will make something better than a dog of you!
But you tell me, "The Man, Jesus, is in Heaven." So much the better,
for if He were here on earth in this Tabernacle, then He would not be
over in Seven Dials and Golden Lane and over in North and East London,
or away there in Scotland and Ireland, or across the seas! But, being
in Heaven, He is within equal reach of us all, wherever we may be! And
whoever darts a thought after Him, or a wish towards Him–above all,
whoever trusts Him–shall find in Him eternal life!

Sinner, you have not to deal with an absolute God! You have to deal
with God in Jesus, the Man! Come, then, to Him, for He has come to you.
The Ladder, Christ Jesus, you know, has its foot on earth and its top
in Heaven. The higher we ascend, the more we shall delight to think of
the Glory of Christ. But our first business is to think of the foot of
the Ladder and I want you, tonight, to know that its foot stands on
earth, just in front of you. Jesus was such as you are–not sinful,
that He could not be–but in all else like you. He was poor and
suffering as you are. Now, put your foot on the first rung of the
Ladder, His Manhood and His bloody sacrifice upon the Cross.

Trust that and you shall climb till you ascend where the full Deity of
the Incarnate Savior blazes forth! And you shall rejoice in His Second
Advent and all the splendors of His future reign. Tonight you may leave
those higher things alone. Begin at the bottom of the Ladder and
commence to climb! The Lord help you! The Lord bless you! May He lay
His hand on you at this moment, poor Sinner! That will melt your heart!
That will cheer your spirit! That will give you life from the dead! May
He do it for His name's sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Daniel 10. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK"–820, 260, 761.
__________________________________________________________________

Gone, Gone Forever