The Greatest Exhibition of the Age

The Greatest Exhibition of the Age

(No. 2307)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 7, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY
5, 1889.

"For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show
the Lord's death till He comes.'" 1 Corinthians 11:26.

FIRST, let me say that the Lord's Supper is nothing to us unless we
partake of it as spiritual persons in a spiritual way. We must
understand what we are doing in coming to the Communion Table. The mere
mechanical celebration will be vanity. It may even be a sin. To observe
this ordinance aright, you must bring your mind in an awakened state.
You must come with holy faith, love and concentrated thought. I pray
that we may so come, tonight. I know how mechanical we all get. We even
stand up and sing and, oftentimes, we forget what we are singing while
the sounds issue from our lips. We cover our eyes in prayer, but we do
not always pray. There is such a thing as preaching from the mouth
outward, instead of speaking from the heart. And I believe there is a
kind of hearing which is dreadfully superficial and can do the hearer
no good. Now, if you come to the Supper, tonight, bring your hearts
with you! And if your hearts are warm with love to Christ, desire to
have them yet more full of love to your Lord.

I remember reading of a Mr. Welch, a very devout minister of the Gospel
in Suffolk, who was found weeping one day. And when he was asked by a
brother minister why he wept, he said it was because he should love
Christ more than he did. That was a very good reason for weeping. Now,
let us love our Lord much, tonight, and if we cannot feel the glow of
love as we wish to feel it, let us weep to think that it is so. May the
Spirit of God come and put life into our Communion, that every child of
God, here, may have real fellowship with Christ in the breaking of
bread!

But now, let us get to our work. The Lord's Supper, dear Friends, is,
first of all, a memorial. "This do in remembrance of Me." It is
intended to keep alive in our own hearts and in the minds of others,
the wondrous fact that the Son of God was here among men and laid down
His life a Sacrifice for sin. It is well known that a custom, a rite, a
festival, has a very great historical power to keep up in the minds of
men the recollection of a fact–and our Lord has selected this common
meal, this Supper, as a method by which men should be made to know to
the very end of time that He died. There can be no doubt about the
death of Christ because through long ages all history bears record that
Christian men and women have met together–and have eaten bread and
have drunk wine–to keep up the memory of His sufferings and death.
This is better than if there had been a statue erected, or than if a
document had been written, or than if a brass tablet had been
inscribed. We are not without memorials of other sorts, especially are
we not without books, but this perpetually celebrated feast–kept up
without cessation, kept up in every country on the face of the
earth–is one of the very best memorials that the death of Christ can
have. All of you who come to the Table, tonight, will be helping to
keep alive, in the memory of men, the great fact that Jesus died.

But the Lord's Supper is more than a memorial, it is a fellowship, a
communion. Those who eat of this bread, spiritually understanding what
they do–those who drink of this cup, entering into the real meaning of
that reception of the wine–do, therein, receive Christ spiritually
into their hearts. Their heart, soul, mind feeds upon Christ, Himself,
and upon what Christ has done. We do not merely record the fact, but we
enjoy the result of it. We do not merely say that Christ died, but we
desire to die with Him and to live only as the result of His having
died! We take scot and lot with Christ as we come to the table. We say
deliberately, "Yours are we, You Son of God, and all that we have. And
You are ours and, in testimony thereof, we eat this bread and we drink
of this cup to show that we are one with Yourself, partners with You in
this great fellowship of love."

Well, now, if you need a permanent memorial and a perpetual means of
fellowship, it will be wise to have a rite or ceremony in which there
shall also be a likeness to the fact that has to be remembered! This
supper is, therefore, an exhibition, a showing, a setting forth, a
proclamation of the death of Christ. That you may remember that Jesus
died, there is something here that bears a resemblance to His death.
That you may the better have fellowship with Him in His death, here is
something which is a vivid picture of that death and which will help to
bring it more clearly before your mind's eyes. That is the subject for
tonight's meditation–this Supper as a showing forth, an exhibition of
Christ's death, "till He comes."

In speaking of this exhibition, this showing forth, we will consider,
first, what it shows. Secondly, how it shows it. And thirdly, how long
it is to show it.

I. Thinking of this Supper that we are about to celebrate, we will
consider, first, WHAT IT SHOWS. "As often as you eat this bread, and
drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death."

Brothers and Sisters, tonight we are to show, to exhibit, to
demonstrate, to set forth, to symbolize, to represent, to picture the
death of Christ! He lived, or He could not have died. That fact is,
therefore, included in our confession of faith. But the point we
especially set forth is this, that He died, He who was born at
Bethlehem, the Son of Mary, and who lived here on earth, being also the
Son of God, in due time, died! He gave His life a ransom for many. Why
do we record that fact? To my intense grief, I have heard it said, even
among a certain class of preachers, that we dwell too much upon the
death of Christ. They ask why we do not talk more about His life. The
death of a man, they say, is not so important, by a great many degrees,
as his life. The Lord have mercy upon the miserable and ignorant men
who talk in that fashion! But we have a reason for making so much of
Christ's death–the Lord has instituted no memorial of His life–the
memorial that He has instituted is to keep before His people the
perpetual remembrance of His death. And why is that the case?

I take it because this is the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
The doctrine that He died, "the Just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God," is essential to the Gospel. Leave out the vicarious
Sacrifice unto death, and you have left out the life of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ! There are some Truths of God which ought to be preached
in due proportion with other Truths, but if they are not preached,
souls may be saved. But this is a Truth of God which must be preached
and if it is left out, souls will not be saved! I should have more hope
of the salvation of a man hearing a Romish priest, with all his
superstition, if he preached the death of Christ, than I should of one
hearing a Unitarian, with all his intelligence, if he left out the
doctrine of the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! "The blood is
the life thereof." "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Because
the death of Christ is the life of the Gospel, therefore it is that
there is an ordinance to set forth that death "till He comes."

And this is the more so, in the next place, because this is the point
where the Gospel is always being assailed. You shall find, in almost
every controversy, that the fight thickens about the Cross. It is
around the standard that the foemen cluster. There the sword rings upon
the armor! There the loudest shout is heard! There you see the garment
rolled in blood! So the Cross, the Cross is the standard of our
Christianity! Round the Atoning Sacrifice the controversialists gather.
They think they are aiming at other things, but the real password is,
"Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the Divine
Substitute for men." If they could once get rid of the Doctrine of the
Atoning Sacrifice, they would destroy that which is the greatest tower
of strength to the Gospel of Christ! But, thank God, they cannot get
rid of the Cross! We can still sing–

"The Cross it stands fast, Hallelujah! Defying every blast, Hallelujah!
The winds of Hell have blown, The world its hate has shown, Yet it is
not overthrown. Hallelujah for the Cross! It shall never suffer loss!

Therefore, set forth the Atoning Sacrifice of Christ, Brothers and
Sisters, in this ordinance, "till He comes."

So well does this Supper set forth the death of Christ in that respect,
that it has been argued by some Brethren that, if a man comes to the
Communion Table, unless he is a great liar, he has already made a
confession of faith in Christ. I will not go that length, but there is
a good deal of truth in the argument. If you truly eat and drink of
this Supper, you must

believe in the Atoning Sacrifice–you come here under false pretences
if you are not a believer in that, for, at the institution of this
Supper, the Savior said, "This is My blood of the New Testament (or
Covenant) which is shed for many for the remission of sins." The pardon
of sin must be by the shedding of the blood of Christ–and if you
reject the blood of Christ, you have rejected the true meaning of this
Supper–and, certainly, you cannot come here with a clear conscience.
This Supper, then, sets forth the great fact that Jesus died, and it is
ordained to set that death forth because it is essential to the Gospel,
and because it is the point which is most fiercely attacked.

And you will notice, Brothers and Sisters, according to our text, that
this showing of the death of Christ is to be kept up through every age
"till He comes." It will not be needed after the Coming of Christ for
reasons which we will speak of, by-and-by, but until then it will
always be needed. Shall I always have to preach the Doctrine of
Atonement? Yes, always. Shall we always have to set Christ forth
evidently crucified among men? Yes, always. First, because we always
need to have this Truth of God set forth. You and I, who are firm
believers in this glorious Truth of God, yet cannot too often think
upon it. I love to come every Lord's-Day to the Communion Table–I
should be very sorry to come only once a month, or, as some do, only
once a year. I could not afford to come as seldom as that. I need to be
reminded, forcibly reminded, of my dear Lord and Master very often. We
do so soon forget and our unloving hearts so soon grow cold. How is it
with you, my Brothers and Sisters? I know that it is thus with me. I
sing, sometimes–

"Gethsemane, can I forget?

Or there Your conflict see,

Your agony and bloody sweat,

And not remember Thee!'

But that is the point of my argument. We need to go often to Gethsemane
and there see our Lord's agony and bloody sweat, that we may remember
Him. I suppose that, until we see His face, we shall never have one
Communion too many, and we shall never have a thought of Christ that is
superfluous. No, banish all poetic thought rather than that I should
lose a thought of Him! Be gone the most delightful classical expression
and the most charming thoughts of philosophers, if they would push out
one thought of Jesus, for thoughts of Christ are golden thoughts–and
thoughts of other things, however burnished by the wit and genius of
men–are but poor metal compared with thoughts of Jesus! We need this
Supper for ourselves, Brethren, and we should partake of it often, for
that is what is meant by our Lord's words, "As oft as you drink it." We
need that often we should eat this broad and drink this cup–and show
His death for our own sins.

But this Supper is as much needed for the sake of others. We are to
show Christ's death that others may know about it, that others may be
impressed by it, that others may be saved by it! I sometimes wonder,
when I am talking to you upon this theme, that I do not preach much
better. And yet, when I have done, I say to myself, "Well, how can
there be anything better if one only tells the tale truly?" That God
came here in human flesh and for our sins did serve, did die. That He
bore the vengeance due to our guilt, the punishment which our
transgressions had incurred. Brethren, that is poetry! It is essential
poetry, even though I only put it into a child's speech. It needs no
garnishing. The face of perfect beauty must not be touched with
Jezebel's paints! And all the garnishing of eloquence that can be
brought to such a fact as this is unnecessary, meretricious, and
degrading. Oh, hear you the tale, and then, as you come to the Table,
remember what it is that you set forth, and say to yourself, "I am, by
this action, telling a story more wonderful than all the histories of
men put together. I am showing to those who look on something which
angels desire to look into, which the most wonderful intelligences
will, throughout all the ages, study with ever-growing wonder and
delight–God Incarnate, suffering in the sinner's place!"

Show that forth, Brothers and Sisters, for it is worth the showing!

II. But now, secondly, having mentioned what it is that this Supper
shows, let me prove to you HOW IT SHOWS IT.

It does so, first, very instructively in the emblems themselves. We
need to tell men and to tell our own hearts that Jesus died. Well,
look, here is bread! Mark you, not a wafer, but a piece of household
bread. And here is wine in a cup. Not wine and water, but the true
juice of the grape, which our Lord called, "the fruit of the vine."
What then? Here are bread and the fruit of the vine, separately. Bread,
representing the flesh of Christ, has a million sermons in it. Shall I
tell you its story? It was a grain of wheat. They threw it into the
ground, they buried it beneath the clods, it lay there exposed to
winter's cold. It sprang up and many a frost nipped it in the green
blade. But then came spring weather and summer tide, and the wheat grew
and grew on till it turned into the yellow golden grain. Look, they
come along with a sharp sickle and cut it down! It must feel the keen
edge. After cutting it down, they take it away in sheaves. They spread
it out upon

the barn floor. Here are flails which come hammering down upon it–in
those olden times they used flails. Now they beat out the grain from
the ear and now, when they have all the grain separated from the straw,
it must be winnowed and the chaff must be blown away.

Then they take this wheat and put it between two stones and grind it.
Woe unto you, O Grain, you are ground into the finest flour! But it has
not finished its history of suffering yet. When well ground and
separated from the bran, it is taken and a woman kneads it with all her
might, and makes it into dough. Nor is its suffering ended, yet, for
she thrusts it into the oven! Now does it feel the heat of the fire and
when the loaf is taken out of the oven, it is cut, or broken, and
devoured. It is a story of suffering from the beginning to the end!

Now take that cup and look into its ruddy depths. Do you see that vine
yonder? You expected to find it festooned on trelliswork, a lovely
object–but looking at it in the winter and spring, you say to
yourself, "Is that a vine? It looks like an old, dead stick left in the
ground." Yes, it has been cut down. Did you not see the pruner's knife?
How sharply he cut! "Surely," you said, "he is killing that vine." No,
vines are made to bear much fruit by being closely cut and pruned. But
now it is summer and in the early months of autumn the vine is loaded
with red grapes–and those grapes must be taken off the vine and
severed from the branch. Look, they are throwing them into the
winepress, heaps upon heaps! Look how they are piled up! And what
happens now? Men leap in upon them and with their feet they tread the
grapes. The blood of the grape runs out of the winepress, red like
ruddy gore! This is the history of the wine of which you drink and so
it comes to you. And, oh, I need not tell you of your Lord, how He was
thrown into the winepress, and how He suffered even unto death! These
elements of bread and wine are stories to you and emblems of suffering!

You notice, too, that these emblems are separate. If I were to take the
bread and crumble it into the cup, and then pass it to you that you
might drink of that curious mixture, you would not celebrate the Lord's
death at all! It would not be possible, for it is the body with the
blood separated from it that sets forth death! While the blood is in
the veins, you have life, but when the blood is drawn away from the
body, which is set forth to you in the pure white bread and in the red
juice of the grape, then you have the picture of death–and in that way
you show Christ's sufferings and death in the celebration of this
Supper.

So much I have, I hope, made plain enough for all to understand.

Now notice the manner of the use of these two elements, for the manner
of their use vividly shows Christ's death. I think it is in the Church
Catechism that we are taught that the word, "sacrament," means "an
outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace." That
definition will do for this ordinance, which is the outward and visible
sign of an inward and spiritual Grace.

It is very remarkable how the emblems before us appeal to our various
senses. Notice, first, the Savior took the bread and the cup. You see
them–they are before you, you can see them. After He had blessed them,
He said, "Take." Did you ever see, in a very Ritualistic church, that
little game played by the priest with his napkin held out under the
chin of the communicant and, telling him to open his mouth and popping
the wafer in? This is not eating the Lord's Supper, for the command at
the institution of the Lord's Supper was, "Take, eat." It is essential
that you take it in your hand. "Take, eat." So there is another sense
that is affected in this sacred exercise, that is, the sense of touch.
Jesus took the bread and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, that
they might employ the second sense. They had seen, now they touched.
"Take, eat," said the Lord, and they held it in their hands.

Never do you have the Lord's Supper without an appeal to the ears, for
He said, "This is My body." Whenever we break this bread, we say the
same, "This bread is Christ's body," so there is an appeal to the ears.
You put the bread and the wine into your mouth–there comes in your
fourth sense, your taste, so that four senses are made to assist you in
realizing that Christ did really die, that His death is no dream, no
fiction! It is not merely a man in a book, but a living Man who died, a
real Man who poured out His life unto death for you! I have said that
four senses are appealed to, but I might add the sense of smell, also.
There is an old proverb, "Nothing smells so sweet as bread," and to a
hungry man there is nothing so refreshing as the presence of bread
which regales the nostril. The Lord has given us an ordinance, here, in
which He brings our body to support our soul and to render vivid to our
mind by at least four, if not all of our five senses, this most blessed
fact, that Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary and the Son of God, did really
lay down His life a Sacrifice for us!

But now I remind you of another thing. We show the death of Christ, in
the next place, by the mode of the disposal of this bread and this
wine, for these elements go into our bodies. They are received into the
inner man and are digested and assimilated there, and taken up into our
system to build us up. And herein we teach that Christ, dying for us,
is to be received by faith into the heart. We are to believe in that
death as being for us. We are to appropriate it as our own. We are to
trust in it. We are to live upon it. It is to become part and parcel of
our spiritual nature and we are to be built up, thereby, for Christ's
death on the Cross saves nobody to whom Christ does not come into the
heart. If you do not believe, even Christ lifted up between earth and
Heaven will not save you. "As many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God." But without receiving Him, Christ is
dead in vain so far as you are concerned. You have no part nor lot in
this matter. This fact, I say, we set forth by the method of the
disposal of the emblems.

And now, carefully note that the spirit of this ordinance is also very
instructive. How does it begin? Jesus takes bread and blesses it. In
other words, He gives thanks. It is very usual to call this ordinance
the Eucharist, or, the giving of thanks. That is the spirit of it–it
is all through a giving of thanks. Now, mark you, there is no reason to
give thanks for the death of Christ unless it was an Atoning death and
an expiation for sin. I should regret, infinitely regret, that a good
man should die as Jesus died unless there was an end to be accomplished
by it worthy of that death. The end of Christ's death was that, dying
for us, by the shedding of His blood, there might be remission of
sins–and for that we may well give thanks! The Communion begins with
thanksgiving, but how does it continue? It continues by our sitting at
ease. There are some who think that to kneel at the Communion is the
most reverent posture. So it is, and I doubt not that God accepts their
reverence–but it is a most unscriptural posture! There is more
presumption than reverence in it, for to alter the ordinance of Christ,
even on the pretense of reverence, is not justifiable! When our Lord
first of all instituted the Supper, they did not sit down as we do, but
they reclined as the Orientals still do, at their ease, so much at
their ease that the head of John was on the breast of Jesus.

I cannot conceive anything more exactly the opposite of coming up to an
altar rail and kneeling down, than this reclining upon couches with
your head upon your next neighbor's bosom! The fact is that it meant
ease, it meant rest–and that is what the posture which we take up
should mean. Our nearest approach to that which can be tolerated in our
western clime is to sit as much as you can at ease, as a person in this
country does at a banquet, as near an approach as possible to the
method of the Oriental at his banquet. That is how the feast goes
on–it began with a blessing, it proceeds with a restful posture. How
does it end? After Supper they sang a hymn. It was not a dirge, it was
not funeral–they celebrated the death of Christ, but not with funeral
rites. They sang a hymn! It was joyous, probably part of the great
Hallel of the Jewish Passover. This indicates to us and we set it
forth, that the death of Christ is now a joyous event–that to the
whole of His people it is not a thing to sigh over, but that, believing
in Christ–it is a thing to thank God for, to be at ease about and to
sing over! And we set that forth by the manner in which we partake of
this Supper.

One thing more we set forth. The persons who come to the Table must be,
according to Christ's rule, believers in Him. They, and they only, have
a right to eat of this feast. Others eat and drink unworthily and drink
and eat condemnation to themselves. We do, therefore, say, albeit that
there is no limit to the value of the Sacrifice of Christ (that were
inconceivable), yet He had a special objective in it and He died for a
special people, which people are known by their being led to believe in
Him, to unite with Him in a distinct affiance by trusting in Him. Not
for you all will this avail, but for all of you that believe, for so it
is written, "For God so loved the world," so much and no more, "that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life"–a universality which, nevertheless,
has a specialty hidden in its inner self.

Believe this, or else this death is not for you. Trust Christ, or else
you shall have no share in the blessings which His death has purchased.
And we set that forth when, gathering at the Table, we come as
Believers, but we are obliged to tell others that if they are not
Believers, they must not come–they have no right to come.

III. My time has nearly gone, and therefore I must finish with the
third point. We have seen what this Supper shows, and how it shows it.
Now we are to consider HOW LONG IT IS TO SHOW IT.

I have tried, as best I could, in a very simple way, to show how this
Supper symbolizes and sets forth the death of Christ. How long are we
to do it? "Till He comes." Well, now, what does that teach us? When
Jesus comes, we are to leave off observing the Lord's Supper, but not
till He comes.

It teaches us, then, that there will always be a value in Christ's
wondrous death. God would not have us set forth a thing that is done
with, a sucked orange, a mere shell out of which the seed is gone. If
the death of Christ were not abundantly efficacious, still, He would
not have us set it forth. But tonight we can sing, with as much meaning
and force as ever we could–

"Dear dying Lamb, Your precious blood Shall never lose its power, Till
all the ransomed Church of God Be sa ved to sin no more."

It is nearly 1,900 years since Jesus was here and yet His blood is
still powerful, His death can still take away sin! Come and try it,
tonight, some of you who have never believed in Him! Tonight, I say, at
the close of this–

"Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,

The bridal of the earth and sky." Come now, tonight, and yield yourself
to the Lamb of God, and wash in His precious blood, and you shall be
whiter than snow! The Communion Table is just now covered with a white
cloth, but when it is uncovered, and you see the bread and the wine,
they will say to you, "The Atonement is still existing, it is still
efficacious, it is still full of power." We celebrate the ordinance
because Christ's death is still available for all who trust to it.

The next thing is, dear Friends, that by saying that we will partake of
this Supper till Christ comes, we set forth our belief in the
perpetuity of this ordinance until the influence of Christ's death
shall have been infallibly secured. We are now in a world where men
forget and, as long as we are in such a world, we must keep this
signpost, this direction to those who want to journey to Heaven! We
must never take this signpost down till there will be no need of it
because Christ will have come–and when He shall have come, Beloved, we
shall not, even then, forget His death! When He shall come, do not
think that we shall give up the Lord's Supper because we give up
thinking of Him. No, we shall give it up because we shall, then, never
give up thinking of Him! He will be present with us and He, being
present with us, we shall not need the help which now our weakness
requires!

So then, in closing, I say to you that this Supper is a window, a
window of agate, and the outlook of this Supper is the Second Coming of
the lord from Heaven. This Supper is also a gate of carbuncle and
through this gate we are to watch for the return of the Lord Jesus
Christ from the Throne of His Glory to this earth. The Lord shall come.
As surely as we are sitting here in this house, so surely will He,
before long, appear a second time on earth, "without sin, unto
salvation!" And we mean to keep up this feast "till He comes."–

"See, the feast of love is spread.

Drink the wine, and break the bread–

Sweet memorials, till the Lord

Calls us round His hea venly board.

Some from earth, from Glory some,

Severed only 'Till He come!'"

Could you keep on feasting "till He comes," my unsaved Hearer? I think
that you had better weep and mourn, repent and believe, and so get
ready for His appearance! But those who are ready may just keep on
feasting upon Him and rejoicing in Him, till He puts in His last and
glorious appearance! God help us to continue so, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON. JOHN161-20.

This chapter contains some of the most precious Words that the Lord
Jesus uttered before He died upon the Cross.

Verse 1. These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be
offended. Or, as the Revised Version translates it, "be made to
stumble." Christ would not have His children stumble. There is an
offense of the Cross, but He would not have us needlessly offended. How
careful is our dear Savior not to give us offense! We ought to be very
careful not to offend Him, but what condescension it is on His part
that He should be careful of offending us, or of permitting us to be
offended, or made to stumble!

2. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yes, the time comes that
whoever kills you will think that he dose God service. Can you remain
faithful to your Master, then, when you lose your position, or your
character, or men put you out of the synagogue? When you nearly lose
life, itself, and when they shall think they are doing God's service by
seeking to kill you, can you stand true to Christ, then? The Master
knew that days of bitter persecution would soon come upon His
followers, so He strengthened them against those evil times that were
approaching.

3. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known
the Father, nor Me. It is ignorance that makes men hate God's people
and His Son–"They have not known the Father, nor Me." Truly did Paul
say, "I did it igno-rantly in unbelief," and for such persecutors there
is full and free forgiveness. When they turn unto the Lord, even this
sin shall be forgiven them. But they will not forgive themselves for
having committed it and, like Paul, they will count themselves the
chief of sinners because they persecuted the Church of God.

4. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you
may remember that I told you of them. "You will then see My foresight,
My care for you, My prophetic power. To be forewarned is to be
forearmed. You will not be taken by surprise." If any of you who have
lately been converted should meet with great opposition, do not be
surprised–Jesus has told you to expect it–and if the fire should get
seven times hotter, count it no strange thing that the fiery trial has
happened to you. It has happened unto others before you and will happen
to others after you! Therefore be prepared for it.

4. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was
with you. "While I was with you, you could run to Me and tell Me all
about your trials and difficulties. If anybody was hard with you, I
could come to your help and comfort you. You did not need to know these
things, before, so I did not tell you of them. You need to know them,
now, and now I tell you of them."

5. But now I go My way to Him that sent Me. Christ was going to the
Cross and to the grave, and afterwards to Heaven.

5. And none of you asked Me, Where go you? For lack of asking that
question, Christ's disciples were full of grief. Sometimes we do not
ask enough questions. We ask too many questions of doubt–it would be
well if we were to ask a few more questions of believing curiosity!
There are some things that we ought to wish to know and Christ
encourages His people to come to Him for information.

6. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow has filled
your heart. When a poor Christian friend is dying, you are full of
sorrow because he is going away from you. Why do you not ask where he
is going? If he is going Home to Heaven and to Glory, why, then, be
comforted about him! You have no cause for distress on his account.

7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go
away. "It is better for yon that I should be absent than that I should
be present." Their Lord was their joy, their Leader, their Teacher,
their Comforter. He is going away and He tells them that His absence
will be a gain to them! "It is expedient for you that I go away."

7. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I
depart, I will send Him unto you. Now, it is better for us to have the
Comforter than to have Christ here in bodily Presence, for if Christ
were here, tonight, in this Tabernacle, where could we put Him so as to
be equally near, each one of us? I should certainly want Him up here on
the platform! And you, up there in the top gallery, would say, "Well,
we are a long way off–why should He not come up here?" You see, if it
is bodily Presence that is enjoyed, some must be near, and some must be
far off. But now that Christ has gone up to Heaven, His Spirit is here.
Where is that Spirit? On the platform, I hope, and everywhere else! Any
of you who desire Him, may have the Holy Spirit's Presence. The Lord
says," I will put My Spirit within you." Better than the bodily
Presence of Christ is the real, though spiritual, Presence of the Holy
Spirit.

8. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and ofjudgement. What? A Comforter reprove? Yes. The
Holy Spirit never comforts till He has reproved. There must be a
reproof of sin before there can be comfort in Christ! And while the
Spirit comforts saints, He reproves the world.

9. Of sin, because they believe not on Me. The greatest sin in all the
world is not believing on Jesus. Our Lord did not say, "Of sin, because
of the evil of drunkenness." That is a great sin, a cursed sin and
there are other great sins, but Christ said, "Of sin, because they
believe not on Me." That is the root sin, the foundation sin–the sin
that keeps a man in his sin.

10. Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you see Me no
more. It is God's Righteousness that takes Christ up to Heaven. He has
been here. He has lived a perfect life. He has died a Sacrificial death
and God has shown His acceptance of Him, for He has gone to His reward.

11. Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. When
Christ came here, there was a crisis, a judgement. And sin was judged
and condemned and the Prince of the world, the chief sinner in the
world, received his deathblow– "the Prince of this world is judged."

12. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them,
now. See how Christ teaches us slowly, wisely, prudently? There are
some things which some of you young Christians do not know–you could
not bear them if you did know them. You shall know them when you can
bear them. A man with a doctrine that he cannot handle is often like a
child with a tough piece of meat which he cannot bite. Give the child
milk, or the crumb of the loaf! Do not put crusts into his mouth till
he has teeth to bite them. Do not give him meat till he can digest it.
See the gentle Savior's way of imparting instruction? He teaches us
much, but not too much at a time.

13. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide yon
into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He
shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.
See, my dear Brothers in the ministry, how little store the Holy Spirit
sets by originality? We have men, nowadays, straining to be original!
Strain the other way, for listen, "He shall not speak of Himself–not
even the Holy Spirit–"He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He
shall hear, that shall He speak." He is the Repeater of the Father's
message, not the inventor of His own! So let it be with us ministers.
We are not to make up a Gospel as we go along, as I have heard some
say. We are not to shape it to the times in which we live, and suit it
to the congregations to which we speak. God forbid! Let this be true of
every one of us, "He shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall
hear, that shall he speak"

14. He shall glorify Me. The Holy Spirit does that. Therefore, surely
we, who are the preachers of the Gospel, should aim at the same
objective–"He shall glorify Me." It should be our one desire to
magnify and glorify our Lord Jesus

Christ!

14-16. For He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All
things that the Father has are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall
take of Mine, and shall show it unto you. A little while, and you shall
not see Me; and again, a little while, and you shall see Me, because I
go to the Father. That was a very simple statement! Every Sunday
scholar understands it, now, but the 12 Apostles did not understand it
when they heard it.

17, 18. Then said some of His disciples among themselves, What is this
that He says unto us, A little while, and you shall not see Me: and
again, a little while, and you shall see Me: and, Because I go to the
Father? They said therefore, What is this that He says, A little while?
we cannot tell what He says. They said this "among themselves." This
was not a wise course, for what can ignorance learn from ignorance?
Here were disciples questioning one another–none of them knew
anything–and yet they were trying to teach one another. If they had
all gone to their Master, how much more quickly would they have
understood His words! Take everything to Jesus! Try everything by the
Word of God. Do not believe what you hear because I say it, or because
somebody else says it. Go to the Word of God to learn what you need to
know, and to the Spirit of God to teach you the meaning of what you
read!

19, 20. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him, and said
unto them, Do you enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little
while, and you shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and you
shall see Me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That you shall weep and
lament. Christ would die. He would go away and be unseen. On the Cross
He would depart out of this life. In the tomb He would be hidden from
His disciples–"You shall weep and lament."

20. But the world shall rejoice. But not for long–the world's joy at
Christ's death was soon over.

20. And you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. I think we may leave off our reading at this verse, with these
words to flavor our mouth all this week–"Your sorrow shall be turned
into joy." God grant that it may be so with many here present, for
Christ's sake! Amen.