Setting Jesus at Nothing–Treating Him with Contempt

Setting Jesus at Nothing–Treating Him with Contempt

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1888, BY C. H.
SPURGEON,

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1888,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And Herod with his men of war set Him at nothing." Luke 23:11.

IT is your Lord whom Herod set at nothing! Once worshipped of angels
and all the heavenly host, He is treated with contempt by a ribald
regiment. In Himself "the brightness of His Father's glory and the
express image of His Person." But now set at nothing by men not worthy
of the name. Soon to reassume all His former glory with the Father and
to descend in infinite splendor to judge the earth in righteousness and
reign as King of kings–and yet here He is set at nothing! It is a
sight of horror and of shame. How could angels bear to see it? This
paltry prince and his rough retinue made nothing of Him who is All in
All. They treated Him as beneath their contempt.

The most contemptible flouted Him. The mean soldier in the petty army
of a petty prince made unholy mirth of Heaven's high Lord and earth's
Redeemer. What a sorrowful and shameless business! May we be helped to
sorrow over it! These wretches were of our race. May we mourn because
of Him! When the thorns of grief and repentance are at our breast, may
God grant that they may act as lancets to let out the foul blood of our
pride, for we, too, are partakers in this tremendous crime, since our
sin involved our Savior in the necessity of bearing this barbarous
scorn.

Herod himself treated Him with contempt. In this loathsome being I see
the most likely person to think nothing of the Lord Jesus. Let me just
say a word or two about this member of a detestable family, that I may
see whether his like can be found here tonight. I will not give you any
history of this Herod. It is not worth while. This "fox" is not worth
unearthing. The page of history is stained by the Herodian name. I will
give you enough concerning him to help you to answer the question–Are
you like he? Have you set Christ at nothing? Have you treated Christ
with contempt?

I. This shall be our first enquiry–WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY PERSON TO
TREAT OUR LORD WITH CONTEMPT?

Herod was a man who had once heard the Word of God. Yes, heard it with
a measure of attention and apparent benefit. We read, "Herod feared
John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him. And
when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly." According
to the margin, Herod "kept him or saved him"–preserving him from those
who would have laid violent hands upon him. But he broke away from his
respectful regard of John and now that Jesus stands before him, his
memory of the Baptist does not restrain him from mocking the Baptist's
Lord. He had silenced that eloquent tongue and now he had no care to
listen to anything which might further bestir his conscience.

We often find that the greatest despisers of Christ are those who
formerly were hearers and readers of His Word but have turned from it.
An apostate Methodist is a scoffer–a runaway Baptist is an infidel. It
looks as if men must have some knowledge of the Truth of God to be able
to fight against it in the most malicious way. The viper must be warmed
in the man's bosom that he may have strength to bite him. Is not this a
wretched business? Am I talking to any here who not so many years ago
were regular attendants upon a faithful ministry but who have grown
weary of it and given it up? I do not know what reason you give. But I
suppose the real reason is that you love the world better than Christ
and so you have left His people and His Word.

It troubles your conscience that you have done so and now you try to
conceal your uneasiness by picking holes in your former minister and
finding fault with the Truths of God which he preached to you. I know
the tricks and manners of apostates. Wanting an opiate for your
consciences, you invent a fault in the Gospel, or try to disbelieve it
altogether.

What an unhappy thing that the hopeful hearer should decline into a
hopeless despiser! Herod heard John but he ridiculed Jesus. See to what
unconverted hearers may come?

If I look at Herod again, I see in him a man who, after hearing the
Word faithfully preached, had distinctly done violence to his
conscience. He heard John until John came home to him about the woman
with whom he was living in an incestuous union. Herodias would have
killed John at once–and though Herod did not dare to go so far as
that, he shut him up in prison. A filthy lust must not be
rebuked–Herod imprisons his reprover. He knew that John was right and
he trembled at his rebuke. But he could not give up his sin and so he
put the servant of God in a dungeon. He was held fast, as many a man
before, and since has been held fast, by an evil woman.

She demanded of him that at the very least the man of God should be
cast into prison. How dare he speak against what the prince chose to
do! How dare a peasant censure so great a man as Herod about his
personal life! So, instead of bowing before the supreme authority of
right and listening to the voice of truth as uttered by the Lord's
Elijah, he must exercise his royal power and lay his reprover by the
heels. The man who could do this was in training for the more daring
act of setting the Lord Jesus at nothing.

First despise the man, and then the Master. First do violence to your
better self and then scoff at godliness. My Friend, do you remember
that night when you distinctly decided for the devil? Do you recollect
when, after having the evil set before you and seeing it and counting
the cost, you decided to continue in it? Then you turned with
bitterness upon the honest reprover whose rebuke you had aforetime
endured. Perhaps it was your wife upon whom you turned with anger. What
hard words you said to her for the gentle remark she ventured to make!
It was an effort for you. You gave conscience an awful wrench. And
therefore you put yourself into a passion and talked like an insulted
man.

Or was it your brother? It may be you left his society in order to be
free from his remarks. Was it your child, or your friend? You could not
put them in prison. But you were determined that you would not bear any
more of their protests. You abused and silenced them. Not because you
thought they were wrong, but because they made you feel that you were
wrong. By all this you have prepared yourself to treat the Lord with
contempt. And we cannot wonder that you do so.

This man also had yielded to sinful companions and had committed a
gross sin as the result of it, for when Herodias danced and he promised
to give her whatsoever she desired, she asked the head of John the
Baptist on a platter. And he, not liking to break his word in the
presence of the assembled guests and not willing to stand out against
the woman with whom he lived in unhallowed intercourse, yielded and the
Baptist's head was taken from his shoulders. Ah, well, you may not have
sinned quite in that way. But you, too, once had better thoughts and
higher aims. Your companions were too many for you and drove all good
out of you.

I do not mention this that you may dare to cast the blame upon others
of that which was really your own act and deed. If there had been a
spark of true manhood in you, you would have resisted the suggestion of
those enemies in the garb of friends. But you are soft and plastic,
like wax, in the hand of evil. Instead of being as you ought to be,
like granite towards evil and like wax towards good you now feel as if
you had gone too far to turn back. You are now fixed in an evil estate.
A black sin seems to bar the way to repentance. Truly, even now, you
will be welcomed to the bosom of mercy, but you are not anxious enough
for it. It is a long lane that has no turning, but you seem to have got
into such a lane and you are driven along it by evil forces.

This is the man that thinks nothing of Christ–the man who thinks so
much of drinking and dancing and of the companions which such things
have brought around him. Of course he does not think anything of
Christ, for His ways would take from him these vile associates. How
should he value the holy Jesus? Will swine ever think much of pearls?
It is vain that we set before you beauties for which you have no eyes,
hopes for which you have no heart. Jesus cannot be valued by a man of
Herod's sort, who puts so high a value upon the opinion of those who
sit with him at his banquets.

Once more–the man who thinks nothing of Christ is the man that means
to go on in sin, even as Herod did. The die was cast–his mind was made
up for evil. He would be very glad to hear Christ–he has no objection,
still, to go to a place of worship and listen to a preacher. He would
be very pleased to see a miracle–he would join in a revival, for he
would be glad to enjoy something sensational–but he does not mean to
give up the sin in which he lives, nor the company which eggs him on in
it. He does not mean to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right
eye. Not he! He is too fond of the vice, too much ensnared by his
passions.

And so, as he gives his heart to his lust, he takes away his heart from
Christ. No, he treats religion with derision, because it is opposed to
his bent and inclination. What a sad thing! I generally find when man
speaks against the Lord Jesus, that if you follow him home he would
rather not have you go indoors for fear his inner life should be known.
He does not want you to see the skeleton in the closet. I have so often
met with this fact in actual life that when I have heard a man speak
bitterly of my Master, I have formed my opinion and have not been
wrong. A little enquiry has revealed so much that I have said, "It is
not at all surprising that such a man should speak evil of Christ. It
is as natural to such a man to talk against Christ as for a dog to
bark."

When a bad fellow once praised Socrates, that philosopher said, "I
wonder what I can have been doing amiss, that such a man should speak
well of me." If lustful lips praised the Savior, one might begin to be
afraid. But when they denounce and deride Him, we feel that it is the
only homage which vice can pay to Purity.

This, then, is the man who sets Jesus at nothing. I wonder whether he
is here tonight! Possibly it is a woman who is doing this. Women fall
into precisely the same evils as men from their own side of the house
and the same remarks apply to both sexes. You who once were hearers,
you who once were impressed, you who did willful violence to
conscience. You who persist in sin, you who are the slaves of evil
company and dare not do right for the life of you, for fear of
ridicule– you are the kind of people of whom Herod was a sad
specimen–you set Jesus at nothing. You treat my Master in contempt.

II. Having tried to find out Herod, let us now answer a second
question–ON WHAT GROUND DID HE TREAT OUR LORD WITH CONTEMPT?

Men have some reason or other for their acts, although often those
reasons are most unreasonable. Before we consider the unhallowed
reasons for this great crime, let us do homage to the name of the Son
of God. O Lord Jesus, even in Your lowest humiliation You are worthy of
all reverence. To Your friends You are all the more dear and the more
honored because You were greatly despised. You, bound and brought a
prisoner before the tetrarch, are free to rule our hearts. You were
charged with sedition but we fall at Your blessed feet and proclaim You
King of kings! Herod sets Him up as the butt of his ridicule and makes
nothing of Him. As Herbert puts it–

"Herod and all his bands do set Me light, Who teach all hands to war,
fingers to fight, And only the Lord of Hosts and might. Was ever grief
like Mine?"

I suppose that part of the reason why he and his men of war made
nothing of our Lord was because of His gentleness and patience. Our
Lord had no sword and none of the temper of men who wear weapons. His
visage was not like the face of a man of war–it was marred with grief
but not with anger. Worn with sorrow but not with battle. He was the
lamb and not the lion, the dove and not the eagle and therefore the
fighting men despised Him.

If he had any weapons they were His tears and His almighty love. But
these the Herodian ruffians utterly despised. All unarmed He stood
before them and when He was reviled He reviled not again. You know how
men of muscular strength and physical bravado value men by their
muscles and bones and think nothing of those who are feeble in arm and
body. The Savior, in His emaciation and faintness, must have seemed a
poor creature to these ruffians. The Christian religion teaches us to
be meek and gentle, to forgive injuries and even to give up our own
rights rather than to inflict wrong.

Such precepts savor of cowardice to the blustering world.
Non-resistance they cannot hear of. They do not like the word
"Forgive." "Surely," they say, "a worm will turn?" Thus they think so
little of Christ that they prefer an earthworm's example to that of the
Lord. The sweet savor of gentle forbearance, which the spirit of Jesus
breathes into the hearts of His people, is held in contempt by many.
They call it cant and hypocrisy because it is so alien to their nature,
so inconsistent with their ideas of manly conduct.

Furthermore, our Lord was ridiculed by Herod because He refused to
gratify his curiosity and amuse his love of sensation. The wicked Herod
virtually said to the holy Jesus, "Come, work us a miracle. We hear
that you did deliver from death, now release yourself from our hands.
We hear that you did multiply loaves and fishes and feed multitudes.
Give us a banquet here. You can do all things, so reports say of
You–come, do some little thing that we may see and believe. Did not
Moses work miracles before Pharaoh? Work a miracle before us."

There stands our Lord, with all power in His hands but He will not lift
a finger for His own deliverance and Herod's amusement. O blessed
Jesus, it is the same still, You will not dazzle nor amuse and
therefore men prefer any charlatan to You. Herod then begins to
question Him. He asks Him this and that and the other, with many a jest
rolled in between. But he receives no answer. He who answered blind
beggars when they cried for mercy is silent to a prince who only seeks
to gratify his own irreverent curiosity. Then the men-at-arms laugh at
their silent victim. "Why," they say, "the man is dumb. Either He can
say nothing for Himself, or He is obstinate and ill-mannered. He speaks
not when He is spoken to.

Has He lost His wits?"

Thereupon they multiply their profane jests and make nothing of the
silent One. I do not doubt that often men turn away from the faith
because their curiosity is not gratified and they see nothing marvelous
in it. A Gospel for the age! A brand new Gospel every year might suit
them. But the old is stale–they know all about it and sneer at it.
Plain Gospel is too plain for them. They desire adornment, or at least
mystery and the pomp which veils the unknown. They would rather go
where there are gorgeous ceremonies and mutterings in an unknown tongue
amid the smoke of incense and the harmony of music. The simple Gospel
of, "Believe and live," does not suit them. For it seems fit only for
the poor and uneducated–thus they treat Jesus with contempt.

Moreover, the royal claims of Jesus excited their scorn. I think I hear
the "Aha! Aha! Aha!" of Herod as he said, "Call Him a King? You could
find such kings as this in every street of Jerusalem. Talk of a kingdom
for Him! Go to the pool of Bethesda and fetch up some poor wretch who
lies waiting there for the moving of the water and call him a king!
King? What hosts are at Your command? What kingdom do You govern? What
laws can You make? Here! Put the white robe upon Him. Let Him at least
look like a monarch. Yes, that old robe will do! Is He not every inch a
King?"

Then the soldiery took up the jest! How bitterly, how derisively did
they make His royalty the football of contempt! Thus today the world
makes nothing of the royalty of King Jesus. A nominal king He may be
but as a real king they will not have Him. Those who would be in the
dust before the mean prince have no esteem for Him. There is no pomp
about the pure religion of Jesus. There is no glory of philosophy about
His teaching. And so they set Him and His cause at nothing. Ah, me,
what will a rebellious people do in the day when He appears to claim
His throne and punish sedition?

Then, too, they denied His prophetic office. "Look!" said Herod, "He
will not speak. I have asked Him twenty questions and He will not
answer one of them. This is a pretty Prophet! John was the voice of one
crying in the wilderness but this man has no voice at all. A dumb
Prophet! Why, He is mute as a fish and has nothing to say for Himself."
With such unhallowed merriment did Herod and his men of war treat the
Lord with contempt. How they provoked Him! But He stands in the majesty
of His self-government, quiet to the end. Here was an Omnipotence which
restrained the lips of Omnipotence. It was a wondrous power, that
God-like patience which enabled indignant Holiness to withhold its word
of condemnation.

The Prophet proved His commission by His silence. And yet He provoked
their scorn, so that they set Him at nothing. At this time, because the
Christian faith is silent upon a great many questions, certain men
deride it. When men come to it with captious questions they receive no
answer and they are irritated thereby. When they idly demand a miracle
and it does not yield to their desires, they have fresh jeers for it.
"You preach up the faith of Christ as the only true and Divine
religion–let us see it work wonders. Where are your miracles? We have
asked you fifty questions about the past and the future and you do not
reply. Where is the ground for your boastings?" Thus they make nothing
of Christ and disdain His claim to teach with authority.

Those, I suppose, were the grounds upon which Herod and such as Herod,
make light of Christ. Poor grounds they are, and such as will fail to
justify them before the bar of God.

III. Now, dear Friends, let us consider–DO MEN NOW SET OUR LORD AT
NOTHING? DO MEN NOW

TREAT OUR LORD WITH CONTEMPT?

Herod is dead and buried and there is no sort of reason why we should
not let him rot into oblivion. I therefore speak to you and try to
discover whether you are setting Christ at nothing. Are you treating
our Lord with contempt? I fear there are such. Who are they?

Some set Him at nothing for they will not even consider His claims.
"Oh," they say, "we have plenty else to think about besides religion.
What is there in it which will fill our pockets? There is nothing at
all in it worth a moment's attention." How do they know? They do not
know. Nothing in it? God gives His own Son to die for guilty men and
there

is nothing in it? The highest thoughts of God are set forth in the
Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and you do not think it worth while
even to consider what God has therein revealed?

A man goes to a bookstall and turns over a book. It is a novel–he
reads a page and would like to buy it. But suppose it is a book upon
the glories of Christ. Does he read, then? Does he wish to buy it? No.
It is one of those dry theological books and he shuts it up. He will
make no bid for a volume on so dull a subject. He would like to know of
Alexander the Great or even of Tom Thumb but for the world's Redeemer
he cares nothing. He makes nothing of Christ–he treats our Lord with
contempt.

Do I not convict some here present tonight? They have never set apart
one solitary hour in their lives to the honest and candid consideration
of the claims of Jesus, the Divine Savior. If it is so, you have,
indeed, made Christ very cheap. And if you perish for lack of Him, your
blood is on your own heads! If this is the medicine that will heal your
disease, and you huff at it, and will not even hear of the cures it has
worked, who is to blame if you perish? Who is to save the man who will
not listen when salvation is put before him? Yet the great mass of our
fellow citizens are of this kind.

In London there are millions who make so little of Christ that they
will not even come to hear what His ministers have to say about Him,
nor read their Bibles, nor show the least interest in the matter. In
many a house in London, Mahomet is practically as much esteemed as
Jesus. Ah me,

There are many others who prefer their business to Jesus. They would
not mind giving some little attention to the Lord Jesus but then they
are too busy just now. They say that they really cannot afford the
time. O my busy Hearer! You will have to find time to die before
long–why not think of that solemn certainty? You are very busy and yet
you find time to eat. Have you no time to feed your soul? You find time
to put on your dress, have you no time to dress your souls? You seek
out the surgeon when you are ill. Have you no time to seek out a Savior
for your sin-sick soul? Ah, it is not that–you have the time but you
have not the heart.

Others prefer amusements to the Lord Jesus. "Well," says one, "we must
have recreation. In my spare time I like a game." I know that. I am not
for denying you healthy recreation but everything should be in order
and I claim first place for Jesus Christ and His salvation. What? Is it
not worth while to give up a sport to seek Jesus? Do you think a game
of cards more important than seeking the pardon of your sin? An evening
at the theater or the music hall–do you really think so little of
Jesus that you can live without Him and satisfy your mind with these
poor things? Can you suffer the paltry amusements of the world to stand
before the Lord Jesus?

Yet it is so with some of you–I wish it were not. My Master's blood
and righteousness, the salvation of a soul from Hell, the preparing of
a heart for Heaven–these are laid away in the lumber-room–to allow
the childish pleasures of a vain world to engross your thoughts. You
will know better one day. God grant you may learn wisdom while yet it
may be of use to you. Too late! What awful words! May you even now feel
that if the Son of God has lived and died for men, it is of the first
importance that you put business and pleasure in their proper places
and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Another sort of persons make nothing of Christ because they profess to
see nothing profound and philosophical in the faith which He has
revealed. These are the Greeks, to whom the doctrine of the Cross is
foolishness. O foolish Greeks! These wise men will not hear some of us
because we can be understood by the people. "Anybody can understand
you," they say, "you speak after the manner of the crowd and what you
say is simple enough to be clear to the most ignorant. We like
something deeper, something too profound to be readily grasped. We are
above commonplace people and need something more intellectual and
philosophical."

A man of note once said to me, "Why do you keep on preaching to those
thousands at Newington? Preach so that the mob will leave you and the
elite will support you." To whom I answered that if one man's soul was
of less value than another, his was of the least value who could talk
so slightingly of others. Those who make no pretense to culture are
often far more sensible people than those who affect superiority. The
man who thinks that he is intellectual and talks in that fashion is a
miserable snob, and has scarcely a soul at all.

When a man despises the multitude, he deserves to be despised himself.
But, my dear Sir, if the salvation of Christ is very simple and very
plain, is it not so much the better? Have you not enough of
philanthropy to make you feel that if you could have a Gospel only for
the elite, it would be a matter of deep regret? Is not a Gospel for the
multitude the thing to be desired? Do you not desire the vast mass to
be saved? I hope you do. But I fear you make nothing of Christ when

you despise His Gospel because you imagine that it is not deep enough
and philosophical enough for you. The most profound science in the
world is the science of the Cross! Christ Himself is the highest
wisdom, for He is the wisdom of God.

Others treat Christ with contempt because they confide in themselves.
They think themselves quite good enough without a Savior. If they are
not quite perfect, they believe that they can make themselves so and be
saved without an atoning sacrifice, or a new heart, or union to Christ.
They are doing their best and they make no doubt, whatever, that they
will find their way to Heaven as well as others. Do you thus think? You
are in grave error.

There was a learned Romanist who once ventured to say that if salvation
could only be had on terms of Free Grace, he would not have it. Do you
know what happened? Why, he did not have it–that was all. And that is
what will happen to you–if you will not have salvation as a free gift
of Divine Grace, without any merit wherewith to purchase it–then you
must go without it and perish in your sin. For the terms of Free Grace
will never be altered to suit the pride of the human heart.

If any man sets up his righteousness in the place of Jesus Christ, the
sin-removing Lamb, why then he has made nothing of Christ and the Lord
will make less than nothing of him. Alas, that any man should be so
profane as to think himself so good that he does not need God's Grace
and the atoning blood! Such pride treats the Lord Christ with contempt
and will bring sure destruction upon the man who is guilty of it.

I have no doubt that there are many, also, who treat Christ with
contempt because they have no conscience whatever as to His present
claims upon them. O dear Sirs, if you did but know His kindness to the
sons of men, even to His enemies and how He sought them with His tears
and then bought them with His blood, you would feel forced to love
Him–

"Surely Christ deserves the noblest place In every human heart." Truly
know Jesus and you must love Him.

But some men do not think that they owe Him anything, or are in any
need of Him. It is nothing to such that He died, for they did not
require His death to save them–in their judgment they are not lost.
Those who are of this mind will leave this Tabernacle tonight and will
go back to the world just as they came in, practically saying, "Whether
Jesus lived or whether He died and whatever He did or was, I care
nothing, for I owe Him nothing." And yet you owe Him everything. You
had not been here tonight if it were not for the mercy which has spared
you and which has come to you through Him. The axe would have had you
down long ago but for His intercession.

There had been no Gospel to set before you tonight if it had not been
for the death agony of the Lord Jesus. You owe the very opportunity of
hearing the Gospel and the opportunity of accepting it to His dying
love. Oh, that you had a conscience which would make you just towards
Jesus! Oh, that you felt that you were bound to love Him and live for
Him, because of all that He has done for guilty men!

As they have no conscience of His claims upon them, so many have no
fears concerning the day of His appearing. Whether you believe it or
not, Jesus, as your Judge, is at the door. He said, years ago, "Behold,
I am coming quickly." He is still coming and must soon arrive to
commence the last dread session of justice. What matters it how many
more years may elapse? They will fly like the wind. The day will come
when Heaven and earth shall be ablaze. The thick darkness will lower
down–

"And, withering from the vault of night, The stars shall pale their
feeble light." The hour will come when the earth and sky will rock and
reel and pass away, rolled up like a worn-out vesture. Then shall the
trumpet ring out exceeding loud and long–"Awake, you dead and come to
judgment!" How will you endure that voice which shall disturb the
stillness of the sepulcher? "Come to judgment! Come to judgment! Come
to judgment!" How it will peal forth! None of you will be able to
resist the call. From your beds of dust you will start up amazed to a
terrible awakening. From the sea, from the land, from the teeming
cemetery, from the lonely grave, men will rise, and all of them stand
before Christ!

In that day you will see nothing but the Great White Throne and Him
that sits upon it. You will be unable to close your eyes, or to turn
your gaze elsewhere. There will He sit and you will know Him by His
scars–

"How resplendent shine the nail-prints! Every eye shall see Him move."

Still shall the trumpet thrill out the summons, "Come to judgment! Come
to judgment! Come away!" And you must come, whether you will or not.
And if you have despised the Lord as Savior, you will tremble before
Him as Judge. You will then hear His voice, which in itself is sweeter
than the harps of Heaven but to the ungodly it will be more full of
thunder than the crash of tempest–"Depart! Depart! Depart!"

O my Hearer, what will then become of you? The prospect is
terrible–but you have no concern about it. To die, to rise, to be
judged, to be condemned–you take no account of it. Like Herod, you set
him at nothing. Like Herod, you treat Him with contempt. How dare you
do so? How dare you despise the great Judge? Ah, my Lord, have mercy
upon them! Have mercy upon them now and turn them from doing to You and
to themselves this grievous wrong of making nothing of the Lord of All.
They set Him at nothing!

This is very heavy preaching to me. If it is as painful to you to hear
as to me to speak, you will be glad when I have done. I pray that these
solemn words may long remain upon your hearts. Oh, that they might
bring you to Jesus at once by the power of the Holy Spirit!

IV. But I close with this–WHAT DO BELIEVERS SAY ABOUT THEIR LORD?
Herod made nothing of Him–

what do we make of Him? Well, we say, first, that we mourn and lament
that there ever was a time when we ourselves made nothing of the
glorious One. It is many years ago with some of us. But we cannot
forget it, nor cease to bewail it. There were a certain number of years
in our lives in which it was nothing to us that Jesus should die.

O my dear Hearers, perhaps some of you have been lately converted after
forty, or fifty, or sixty years of sin. Repent with all your hearts
that you were Herods so long. Christ has forgiven you. But can you
forgive yourselves? No. I think that you still smite on your breast and
say, "Lord, I grieve that ever I lived a moment without acknowledging
You as my Lord–that I ever ate a meal or drew in a breath without
bowing before You." Lord, bury those years in forgetfulness which we
spent in forgetfulness of You!

Next, it is now our grief that any others should set the Lord Jesus at
nothing. It must be a great grief to any man here if she who lies in
his bosom treats the Lord with contempt. Dear woman, I know what your
daily burden must be if the husband who is so dear to you does not love
your Savior whom you love with a higher love. What an anguish it is to
nourish and bring up children and see them refuse our Lord! I have no
greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the Truth. And no
greater sorrow than to see them running into evil ways.

Could we really see the heart of an unregenerate man or woman it would
cause us the utmost distress. If we felt as we ought to feel, if there
were only one unconverted person in this Tabernacle, we should make a
Bochim of it till that heart was yielded to Christ. If there existed
only one man or woman who did not love the Savior. And if that person
lived among the wilds of Siberia and it were necessary that all the
millions of Believers on the face of the earth should journey there and
plead with him to come to Jesus before he could be converted, it would
be well worth all the zeal and labor and expense of all that effort.

One soul would repay the travail in birth of myriads of zealous
Christians. Lord, we cannot bear it that there should go on existing
men and women who make nothing of the bleeding Son of God! It is an
awful thing–as awful as Hell itself! Out in that street tonight think
of the thousands who will be hunting for the precious life. Walk along
our crowded thoroughfares and think of the myriads even of this city
who live and die without God and without hope, making nothing of Jesus
and you will feel a heartbreak which will make life a burden. I could
wish that you felt that heartbreak for their sakes and for Christ's
sake.

But then, dear Friends, what do we make of Christ ourselves now? Well,
that I cannot tell you, except it is in one word–Christ is All. Herod
made nothing of Him. We make everything of Him–

"All my spacious powers can wish,

In You do richly meet;

Nor to my eyes is light so dear,

Nor friendship half so sweet."

Could any of you who love my Lord tell me what you think of Him? I am
sure that you would break down in the attempt. For my own part, I
always fail in the glad endeavor–

"When my tongue would hope to express

All His love and loveliness,

Then I lisp and falter forth

Broken words not half His worth."

If we could give every drop of our blood for Jesus. If we could be
burnt at a slow fire for a century for Him, He deserves all our
suffering and all our life. Could our zeal know no respite, a whole
eternity of service would not adequately set forth what we think of
Him.

I close with this practical thought. Sometimes Believers show their
love and their appreciation of their Master by special acts of homage.
Herod, you see, when he made nothing of Him, said, "Here, bring out
that glittering white robe of mine and put it on Him, that we may heap
contempt upon Him. He calls Himself a King! Let us pay Him homage!"
They mocked Him, and they put the robe upon Him and then sent Him back
to Pilate. Now, I want you to imitate Herod in the opposite direction.
Let us do our Lord special honor tonight. Let us crown Him. As soon as
we have opportunity, let us make some special offering of our substance
to His cause.

Let us set apart a season for adoration and reverent worship. Let us
resolve that for His sake we will speak well of His name to somebody to
whom we have not yet spoken. It may be that some of you can sing a hymn
to Jesus with choice music, or write a glorious verse for His dear
sake. Go, take your pen and dip it in your heart and write a fresh
tract in honor of His blessed name. Herod set Him at nothing but let us
set Him on high in our best manner. Set Him at the highest figure that
your thought and your imagination can reach.

It may be that some Brother here could preach about his Lord and yet he
has not opened his mouth from timidity. Come, try, my Friend. Shake off
your bashfulness. It may be that some Sister here might teach women, or
get together a class of youngsters and glorify Christ by instructing
them. I long to undo what Herod did and pay the Well-Beloved a
recompense for His shame. Oh, how would I honor Him! But what am I?
What can one person do? Come, all of you, my Brethren, and help to cry
"Hosanna!"

Alas, what are we all together? The music has no volume in it, compared
with what He deserves. Come, all you saints and worship Him! And what
are all the saints on earth? Come, you in Heaven, who bear the palm,
redeemed, perfected and white-robed as you are–come, worship Him who
washed your robes in His own blood! And what are all they? Even the
armies of the redeemed suffice not. Come, all holy ones and praise
Him–

"Angels, assist our mighty joys! Strike all your harps of gold! But
when you raise your highest notes, His love can never be told."

Therefore do I summon all things that are to praise the Lord, without
whom was not anything made. I charge all living things to adore Him who
is the resurrection and the life. Let space become one great mouth for
song. Let time unceasingly flow with hallelujahs. Let eternity become
an orchestra to the praise of Jesus who was mocked of Herod and his men
of war. Glory be to His name! Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen.