045. The Gospel Looking-Glass

The Gospel Looking-Glass

Exo_38:8 : ’93And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women assembling.’94

We often hear about the Gospel in John and the Gospel in Luke and the Gospel in Matthew; but there is just as surely a Gospel of Moses and a Gospel of Jeremiah and a Gospel of David. In other words, Christ is as certainly to be found in the Old Testament as in the New.

When the Israelites were marching through the wilderness, they carried their church with them. They called it the tabernacle. It was a pitched tent, very costly, very beautiful. The frame-work was made of forty-eight boards of acacia-wood set in sockets of silver. The curtains between these boards were purple and scarlet and blue and fine linen and were hung with most artistic loops. The candlestick of that tabernacle had shaft and branch and bowl of solid gold and the figures of cherubim that stood there had wings of gold; and there were lamps of gold and snuffers of gold and tongs of gold and rings of gold, so that skepticism has sometimes asked, Where did all that precious material come from? It is not my place to furnish the precious stones; it is only to tell that they were there.

I wish now more especially to speak of the laver that was built in the midst of that ancient tabernacle. It was a great basin in which the priests washed their hands and feet. The water came down from the basin in spouts and passed away after the cleansing. This laver or basin was made out of the looking-glasses of the women who had frequented the tabernacle and who had made these their contribution to the furniture. These looking-glasses were not made of glass, but they were brazen. The brass was of a very superior quality and polished until it reflected easily the features of those who looked into it. So that this laver of looking-glasses spoken of in my text did double work; it not only furnished the water in which the priests washed themselves, but it also, on its shining, polished surface, pointed out the spots of pollution on the face which needed ablution. Now, my friends, as every thing in that ancient tabernacle was suggestive of religious truth, and for the most part positively symbolical of truth, I shall take that laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text as all-suggestive of the Gospel, which first shows us our sins as in a mirror, and then washes them away by divine ablution.

Oh happy day, happy day,

When Jesus washed my sins away!

I have to say that this is the only looking-glass in which a man can see himself as he is. There are some mirrors that flatter the features and make you look better than you are. Then there are other mirrors that distort your features and make you look worse than you are; but I want to tell you that this looking-glass of the Gospel shows a man just as he is. When the priests entered the ancient tabernacle, one glance at the burnished side of this laver showed them their need of cleansing; so this Gospel shows the soul its need of divine washing. ’93All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’94 That is one showing. ’93All we, like sheep, have gone astray.’94 That is another showing. ’93From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot there is no health in us.’94 That is another showing. The world calls these, defects, imperfections or eccentricities or erratic behavior or ’93wild oats’94 or ’93high living’94; but the Gospel calls them sin, transgression, filth’97the abominable thing that God hates. It was just one glance at that mirror that made Paul cry out: ’93O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’94 and that made David cry out: ’93Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;’94 and that made Martin Luther cry out: ’93Oh, my sins, my sins!’94 I am not talking about bad habits. You and I do not need any Bible to tell us that bad habits are wrong, that blasphemy and evil-speaking are wrong. But I am talking of a sinful nature, the source of all bad thoughts, as well as of all bad actions. The Apostle Paul calls their roll in the first chapter of Romans. They are a regiment of death encamping around every heart, holding it in a tyranny from which nothing but the grace of God can deliver it.

Here for instance, is ingratitude. Who has not been guilty of that sin? It a man hand us a glass of water, we say: ’93Thank you;’94 but for the ten thousand mercies that we are every day receiving from the hand of God, how little expression of gratitude’97for thirst slaked, for hunger fed, for shelter and sunshine and sound sleep and clothes to wear’97how little thanks! I suppose there are men fifty years of age who have never yet been down on their knees in thanksgiving to God for his goodness. Besides that ingratitude of our hearts, there is pride (who has not felt it?)’97pride that will not submit to God, that wants its own way’97a nature that prefers wrong sometimes instead of right’97that prefers to wallow instead of to rise up. I do not care what you call that; I am not going to quarrel with any theologian, or any man who makes any pretensions to theology. I do not care whether you call it ’93total depravity,’94 or something else; I simply make the announcement of God’92s word, affirmed and confirmed by the experience of hundreds of people in this house; the imagination of the heart of man is evil from youth. ’93There is none that doeth good; no, not one.’94 We have a bad nature. We were born with it. We got it from our parents; they got it from their parents. Our thoughts are wrong; our action is wrong; our whole life is obnoxious to God before conversion; and after conversion, not one good thing in us but that which the grace of God has planted and fostered. ’93Well,’94 you say, ’93I can’92t believe that to be so.’94 Ah! my dear brother, that is because you have never looked into this laver of looking-glasses.

If you could catch a glimpse of your natural heart before God, you would cry out in amazement and alarm. The very first thing this Gospel does is to cut down our pride and self-sufficiency. If a man does not feel his lost and ruined condition before God, he does not want any Gospel. I think the reason that there are so few conversions in this day is because the tendency of the preaching is to make men believe that they are pretty good anyhow’97quite clever, only wanting a little fixing up’97a few touches of divine grace, and then you will be all right; instead of proclaiming the broad, deep truth that Payson and Baxter and Whitefield thundered to a race trembling on the verge of infinite and eternal disaster.

’93Now,’94 says some one, ’93can this really be true? Have we all gone astray? Is there no good in us?’94 In Hampton Court I saw a room where the four walls were covered with looking-glasses; and it made no difference which way you looked, you saw yourself. And so it is in this Gospel of Christ. If you once step within its full precincts, you will find your whole character reflected; every feature of moral deformity, every spot of moral taint. If I understand the Word of God, its first announcement is that we are lost. I care not, my brother, how magnificently you may have been born, or what may have been your heritage or ancestry, you are lost by reason of sin. ’93But,’94 you say, ’93what is the use of all this’97of showing a man’92s faults when he can’92t get rid of them?’94 None! ’93What was the use of that burnished surface to this laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text, if it only showed the spots on the countenance and the need of washing, and there was nothing to wash with?’94 Glory be to God, I find that this laver of looking-glasses was filled with fresh water every morning, and the priest no sooner looked on its burnished side and saw his need of cleansing than he washed and was clean’97glorious type of the Gospel of my Lord Jesus, that first shows a man his sin, and then washes it all away!’94

1 want you to notice that this laver in which the priest washed’97the laver of looking-glasses’97was filled with fresh water every morning. The servants of the tabernacle brought the water in buckets and poured it into this laver. So it is with the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it has a fresh salvation every day. It is not a stagnant pool filled with accumulated corruptions. It is living water, which is brought from the eternal rock to wash away the sins of yesterday’97of one moment ago. ’93Oh,’94 says some one, ’93I was a Christian twenty years ago!’94 That does not mean anything to me. What are you now? We are not talking, my brother, about pardon ten years ago, but about pardon now’97a fresh salvation. Suppose a time of war should come and I could show the Government that I had been loyal to it twelve years ago, would that excuse me from taking an oath of allegiance now? Suppose you ask me about my physical health and I should say I was well fifteen years ago’97that does not say how I am now. The Gospel of Jesus Christ comes and demands present allegiance, present fealty, present moral health; and yet how many Christians there are seeking to live entirely in past experience, who seem to have no experience of present mercy and pardon! When I was on the sea and there came up a great storm and officers and crew and passengers all thought we must go down, I began to think of my life insurance, and whether, if I were taken away, my family would be cared for; and then I thought, Is the premium paid up? and I said, Yes. Then I felt comfortable. Yet there are men who in religious matters are looking back to past insurance. They have let it run out, and they have nothing for the present, no hope nor pardon’97falling back on the old insurance policy of ten, twenty, thirty years ago. If I want to find out how a friend feels toward me, do I go to the drawer and find some old yellow letters written to me ten or twelve years ago? No; I go to the letter that was stamped the day before yesterday in the post office, and I find how he feels toward me. It is not in regard to old communications we had with Jesus Christ, it is communications we have now. Are we not in sympathy with him this morning and is he not in sympathy with us? Do not spend so much of your time in hunting in the wardrobe for the old, worn-out shoes of Christian profession. Come this morning and take the glittering robe of Christ’92s righteousness from the Saviour’92s hand. You say you were plunged in the fountain of the Saviour’92s mercy a quarter of a century ago. That is nothing to me; I tell you to wash now in this laver of looking-glasses and have your soul made clean.

I notice, also, in regard to this laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text, that the priests always washed both hands and feet. The water came down in spouts, so that, without leaving any filth in the basin, the priests washed both hands and feet. So the Gospel of Jesus Christ must touch the very extremities of our moral nature. A man cannot fence off a small part of his soul, and say, ’93Now this is to be a garden in which I will have all the fruits and flowers of Christian character, while outside it shall be the devil’92s commons.’94 No, no; it will be all garden or none. I sometimes hear people say, ’93He is a very good man except in politics.’94 Then he is not a good man. A religion that will not take a man through an autumn election will not be worth anything to him in June, July, and August. They say he is a useful sort of a man, but he overreaches in a bargain. I deny the statement. If he is a Christian anywhere, he will be in his business. It is very easy to be good in the prayer-meeting, with surroundings kindly and blessed, but not so easy to be a Christian behind the counter, when by one skilful twitch of the goods you can hide a flaw in the silk so that the customer cannot see it. It is very easy to be a Christian with a psalm-book in your hand and a Bible in your lap, but not so easy when you can go into a shop, and falsely tell the merchant you can get those goods at a cheaper rate in another store, so that he will sell them to you cheaper than he can afford to sell them. The fact is, the religion of Christ is all-pervasive. If you rent a house, you expect full possession of it. You say: ’93Where are the keys of those rooms? If I pay for this whole house, I want possession of those rooms.’94 And the grace of God when it comes to a soul takes full possession of a man, or goes away and takes no possession. It will ransack every room in the heart, every room in the life, from cellar to attic, touching the very extremities of his nature. The priests washed hands and feet.

I remark, further, that this laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text was a very large laver. I always thought, from the fact that so many washed there that it needed to be large, and also from the fact that Solomon afterward, when he copied that laver in the Temple, built it on a very large scale; and so suggestive of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and salvation by him’97vast in its provisions. The whole world may come and wash in this laver and be clean.

When the last war had ended, the Government of the United States made proclamation of pardon to the common soldiery in the Confederate army, but not to the chief soldiers. The Gospel of Christ does not act in that way. It says pardon for all, but especially for the chief of sinners. I do not now think of a single passage that says a small sinner may be saved, but I do think of passages that say a great sinner may be saved. If there be sins only faintly hued, just a little tinged, so faintly colored that you can hardly see them, there is no special pardon promised in the Bible for those sins; but if they be glaring, red like crimson, then they shall be as snow. Now, my brother, I do not state this to put a premium upon great iniquity. I merely say this to encourage that man in this house who feels he is so far gone from God that there is no mercy for him. I want to tell him there is a good chance. Why, Paul was a murderer; he assisted at the execution of Stephen; and yet Paul was saved. The dying thief did everything bad. The dying thief was saved. Richard Baxter swore dreadfully; but the grace of God met him, and Richard Baxter was saved. It is a vast laver. Go and tell everybody to come and wash in it. Let them come up from the penitentiaries and wash away their crimes. Let them come up from the almshouses and wash away their poverty. Let them come up from their graves and wash away their death. If there be anyone so worn out in sin that he cannot get up to the laver, you will take hold of his head and put your arms around him and I will take hold of his feet and we will plunge him in this glorious Bethesda, the vast laver of God’92s mercy and salvation.

In Solomon’92s Temple there were ten lavers and one molten sea’97this great reservoir in the midst of the temple filled with water’97these lavers and this molten sea adorned with figures of palm branch and oxen and lions and cherubim. This fountain of God’92s mercy is a vaster molten sea than that. It is adorned, not with palm branches, but with the wood of the cross; not with cherubim, but with the wings of the Holy Ghost; and around its great rim all the race may come and wash in the molten sea. I was reading the other day of Alexander the Great, who, when he was very thirsty and standing at the head of his army, had brought to him a cup of water. He looked off upon his host and said, ’93I cannot drink this, my men are all thirsty’94; and he dashed it to the ground. Blessed be God! there is enough water for all the host’97enough for captains and host. ’93Whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely’94’97a laver broad as the earth, high as the heavens, and deep as hell.

But I notice, also, in regard to this laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text, that the washing in it was imperative and not optional. When the priests come into the tabernacle (you will find this in the thirtieth chapter of Exodus), God tells them that they must wash in that laver or die. The priest might have said, ’93Can’92t I wash elsewhere? I washed in the laver at home, and now you want me to wash here.’94 God says, ’93No matter whether or not you have washed before. Wash in this laver or die.’94 ’93But,’94 says the priest, ’93there is water just as clean as this’97why won’92t that do?’94 ’93Wash here,’94 says God, ’93or die.’94 So it is with the Gospel of Christ’97it is imperative. There is only this alternative: keep our sins and perish, or wash them away and live. But says some one, ’93Why could not God have made more ways to heaven than one?’94 I do not know but he could have made half a dozen. I know he made but one. You say, ’93Why not have a long line of boats running from here to heaven?’94 I cannot say, but I simply know that there is only one boat. You say, ’93Are there not trees as luxuriant as that on Calvary?’97more luxuriant, for that had neither buds nor blossoms; it was stripped and barked!’94 Yes, yes; there have been taller trees than that and more luxuriant; but the only path to heaven is under that one tree. Instead of quarreling because there are not more ways, let us be thankful to God there is one’97one name given unto men whereby we can be saved’97one laver in which all the world may wash. So you see what a radiant Gospel this is I preach. I do not know how a man can stand stolidly and present it, for it is such an exhilarant Gospel. It is not a mere whim or caprice; it is life or death; it is heaven or hell. You come before your child, and you have a present in your hand. You put your hands behind your back and say, ’93Which hand will you take? In one hand there is a treasure, in the other there is not.’94 The child blindly chooses. But God our Father does not do that way with us. He spreads out both hands, and says, ’93Now this shall be very plain. In that hand are pardon and peace and life and the treasures of heaven; in that hand are punishment and sorrow and woe. Choose, choose for yourselves!’94 ’93He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.’94

Oh, my dear friends, I wish I could this morning coax you to accept this Gospel. If you could just take one look in this laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text, you would begin now spiritual ablution. You will not feel insulted, will you, when I tell you that you are a lost soul without pardon? Christ offers all the generosity of his nature to you this morning. The love of Christ I dare not, toward the close of my sermon, begin to tell about it. The love of Christ! Do not talk to me about a mountain; it is higher than that Do not talk to me about a sea; it is deeper than that.

An artist in his dreams had such a splendid vision of the transfiguration of Christ that he awoke and seized his pencil, and said, ’93Let me paint this and die.’94 Oh, I have seen the glories of Christ! I have beheld something of the beauty of that great sacrifice on Calvary, and I have sometimes felt I would be willing to give anything if I might just sketch before you the wonders of that sacrifice. I would like to do it while I live, and I would like to do it when I die. ’93Let me paint this and die!’94 He comes along, weary and worn, his face wet with tears, his brow crimson with blood, and he lies down on Calvary for you. No; I mistake. Nothing was as comfortable as that. A stone on Calvary would have made a soft pillow for the dying head of Christ. Nothing so comfortable as that. He does not lie down to die; he stands up to die; his spiked hands outspread as if to embrace a world. Oh, what a hard end for these feet that had traveled all over Judea on ministries of mercy! What a hard end for those hands that had wiped away tears and bound up broken hearts! Very hard, O dying Lamb of God! and yet there are those here this morning who do not love thee. They say, ’93What is all that to me? What if he does weep and groan and die, I don’92t want him.’94 Lord Jesus Christ, they will not help thee down from the cross! The soldiers will come and they will tear thee down from the cross and put their arms around thee and lower thee into the tomb; but they will not help. They see nothing to move them. O dying Christ! turn on them thine eyes of affection now, and see if they will not change their minds!

I saw One hanging on a tree,

In agony and blood,

Who fixed his languid eyes on me,

As near his cross I stood.

Oh, never till my latest breath

Will I forget that look!

He seemed to change me with his death,

Though not a word he spoke.

And that is all for you! Oh, can you not love him? Come around this laver, old and young. It is so burnished, you can see your sins; and so deep, you can wash them all away. O mourner, here bathe your bruised soul; and, sick one, here cool your hot temples in this laver. Peace! Do not cry any more, dear soul! Pardon for all thy sins, comfort for all thy afflictions. The black cloud that hung thundering over Sinai has floated above Calvary, and burst into the shower of a Saviour’92s tears.

I saw in Kensington Garden, London, a picture of Waterloo a good while after the battle had passed, and the grass had grown all over the field. There was a dismounted cannon, and a lamb had come up from the pasture and lay sleeping in the mouth of that cannon. So the artist had represented it’97a most suggestive thing. Then I thought how the war between God and the soul had ended; and instead of the announcement, ’93The wages of sin is death,’94 there came the words, ’93My peace I give unto thee’94; and amidst the batteries of the law that had once quaked with the fiery hail of death, I beheld the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

I went to Jesus as I was,

Weary, and worn, and sad:

I found in him a resting-place,

And he has made me glad.

Autor: T. De Witt Talmage