NO. 3436<\/b><\/p>\n
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10TH, 1914.<\/b><\/p>\n
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.<\/b><\/p>\n
ON THURSDAY EVENING FEBRUARY 4TH, 1869.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hath glorified thee.\u201d \u2014 Isaiah 55:5.<\/i><\/p>\n
GOD hath glorified his Son. How deeply we ought to regret that we glorify Christ so little, bought with his precious blood, owing all we have to him. We make but a very poor return, and even when we are helped by the Spirit of God to glorify Christ, yet I am sure we should always feel an insatiable desire to do it yet more. To glorify Christ is so sweet a thing, that when a man hath once tasted of it, he pants and pants within his spirit for a greater capacity to glorify Christ; and this is one of his griefs, that he cannot praise his Savior as he would, hence it is that oftentimes the prophet and the Psalmist, when they were most full of praise, would bid the earth, the sea, the heavens, and the heaven of heavens, help to praise the King in whom they saw such ravishing beauties and delights. Hence it is that godly men whenever they are stirred up themselves, and feel that they could magnify and bless the Lord, always want their fellow creatures to join them; and their sorrow is that Jesus does not reign in every heart, and that he has not a throne in every soul.<\/p>\n
Now it must be a great comfort to lovers of Christ, who mourn that he is not honored as he should be, that God has taken care of his Son\u2019s honor. \u201cHe hath glorified thee,\u201d and you know when God glorifies he does the work perfectly, he does it after his own Spirit, and that an infinite one, so that the glory of Christ, after all, is safe, and though he is blasphemed by rebels, dishonored by apostates, and grieved by ourselves, yet God, after all, shall not suffer Christ\u2019s fame to be tarnished for a single moment by all this, for he has said, \u201cHe hath glorified thee.\u201d I don\u2019t know that I can preach from the text, but I do know what I can do. I can feel thrice happy at the thoughts which it raises in my mind; it is so delightful to, think that the crown is safe upon his head, though the nations rebel, and the kings take counsel against him, that his escutcheon is for ever glorified, untarnished, let men do what they may. Him hath God the Father exalted, and given him a name which is above every name, which is first and chief, and never shall be second, but shall for ever reign, and must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet.<\/p>\n
Now glancing across the subject, as some skiff flies over the sea, we will talk about what God hath done by way of glorifying his son Jesus: \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>God Has Glorified Him In The Entire Economy Of Salvation.<\/p>\n
From first to last, Christ glorifies his Father, and the Father glorifies him. Begin with that which hath no beginning, namely, everlasting love, and we find that we are chosen in Christ Jesus from before the foundation of the world. The love of God which comes to us through Jesus Christ always is the channel, and it is connected with Jesus Christ before the heavens were stretched abroad. He was glorified in our election. Now with Christ Jesus in the mind of the eternal Father, there is no election to eternal love, except through Jesus Christ, and if you and I be chosen, it is: \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Christ be my first elect, he said,
He chose our souls in Christ our head.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
We dare not look into that council-chamber unless we knew that Christ was there. We dare not think of the infinite wisdom of God in the arrangements of all things from the beginning, if we did not recollect that Christ was the center of these arrangements, and that as many as have believed on him were represented in him in those allays before the day-star knew its place, or planets ran their round. God has been pleased to glorify Christ afterwards in all the promises, which one by one revealed the glorious grace of God, from that first promise at the gates of Eden, concerning the seed of the woman, right on until he appeared, the hand that drew back the black curtain that hid the face of God was always the hand of the Crucified, and whenever men come to see anything of the marvellous love and goodness of God, they always behold it in connection with the Messiah, the anointed One yet to come.<\/p>\n
God has glorified his son in the matter of redemption<\/i>. There is no redemption out of Christ, and there is none to help Christ in the matter of redemption. Albeit that Calvary seems to have a black cloud of shame hanging over it, yet is there no spot on earth or heaven more glorious, for there it was that God permitted his Son to bear without assistance the wrath divine which was due to our sins, suffered him to tread the wine-press alone, and would not permit that of the people there should be one with him, lest the glory should in any way be divided. Christ, and Christ alone, must pay the price of our souls with his own soul.<\/p>\n
So onward, if you come to the matter of our justification<\/i> or our acceptance, which sprang out of redemption, God glorified his Son. We are if pardoned, only forgiven through his blood; if justified, entirely by virtue of his righteousness; if accepted, it is always in the Beloved; if perfected, we are completed in him, perfect in Christ Jesus. There is not a single covenanted blessing \u2014 as I begin at the beginning so may I continue to the close, there is not a single blessing in the economy of Christ which comes to us apart from Christ, and as we receive these gifts one by one, the Holy Spirit takes care to make us know this: he empties of self that we may see the fullness of Christ: he kills our pride that we may see the excellency of Christ: he takes away our strength that we may behold the power of Christ. In the operations of the Holy Ghost within our soul, while they aim at destroying sin, and at many other blessed results, yet have for their first and chief purpose the making Christ glorified, in the heart of all his people, in every gift that comes from the hand; of the Most High. Brethren, our preservation, our final perseverance, and every other blessing which is secured to us, and about which we have no doubt? all this comes to us in him; we are preserved in Christ Jesus. Because he lives, we live also, and only because he lives, and by virtue of our union with him; we who are the branches continue to bring forth fruit, but if we were separated from him, we should be only fit to cast into the fire to be burned. Right away from the gates of hell, up to the pearly gates of heaven, it is Christ Jesus that is glorified. In every step the believer takes, right out of the slough of my despondency, up to the Beulah hill-top of my full assurance, and onward still, beyond the clouds, and beyond the stars in the palace of my eternal glory, it will be Christ, and Christ Jesus alone, that shall have all the praise. God hath taken care in the planning if the whole economy of Christ, that Jesus Christ should have the pre-eminence. There is much to talk of there, but think of it; that will be better than my speaking. Turn it over: as Abrabam Booth wrote a book, showing the grace of God in all the ways of salvation, so somebody else might write a book showing the glory of Christ in every single part of the way, and if we cannot write such a book, yet at least we must feel precious emotions as we contemplate the whole. In the next place, God has glorified his Son: \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
II. <\/b>In The Midst Of The Church.<\/p>\n
The Church is to Christ what Eve was to Adam. She was taken out of Christ: she is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. As the apostle says, \u201cFor this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.\u201d This is a great mystery, but, I speak concerning what? Concerning matrimony? Yes, in one sense, but not in another sense. Concerning Christ and his Church; for thy cause did Christ leave his Father and he came into thy world that he might be one flesh with his Church: she owes all to him here; her very existence is owing to Christ; as Eve springs from Adam, the Church springs out of the loins of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Now, beloved, it is meet that, seeing this is the case, Christ should have no second place in his Church<\/i>, and certainly no such place has been allotted to him by the eternal Father. As I can now but speak of the Church of God at large, I think I am guided for a moment by an evil spirit standing at my left hand, who points with black fingers over to the city of the Seven Hills, and he says to me, \u201cThere is one great supreme ruler, the Vicar of God on earth; behold his splendors; see how they bear him through the streets of Rome upon the shoulders of men, with canopies of silk, smothered with jewels, and with peacock and ostrich feathers. Mark how they swing their censers, and how the multitudes fall down before him, for him hath God exalted, for him hath God glorified.\u201d Ah! but this is a vain and idle boast, far we read not in any page of this Book of any such exaltation to any being, and where will be found the being that shall dare to take it, unless he shall first become the victim of Satan? Satan said to Christ, \u201cAll this will I give you if you will fall down and worship me,\u201d and he that hath it must have first fallen down and worshipped Satan, or he hath no such power among the sons of men. Now, beloved, Christ did not redeem his Church with his blood that the Pope might come in and steal away the glory. He never came from heaven to earth, and poured out his very heart that he might purchase his people that a poor sinner, a mere man, should be set upon high to be admired by all the nations, and to call himself God\u2019s representative on earth. Christ has always been the head of his Church. Why! we have read in history that kings at different times have wished to play the head of the Church, and that we owe our Protestantism, as we call it over here, that we owe much of that to the desire of a certain crowned head to become a little Pope over certain dominions. This is very true, but not Henry the Eighth, nor his successor, nor any of those who now live, are more the head of the Church than he is God himself. It is not possible for any to he head in the Church of Christ, but Jesus; him hath God exalted, and made him to be the head over all things, and it is usurping the prerogative of Christ for any to suppose they can he head of the Church of Christ, for Jesus Christ is the head, and he alone herds power over ecclesiastical organisations. Over the sacred mystical, blood-bought, redeemed, regenerated Church of Christ there never can be any possibility be any other head but Jesus Christ, the Lord himself. Now mark, God has exalted the Lord Jesus Christ in the government of his Church<\/i>. All authority, all authoritative rules in Zion come through Jesus Christ; all true teachings in Zion come from his lips. We call no man master upon earth, for one is our Master, and that one is Christ. No man is Rabbi in the Church, but he is our Rabboni, our teacher, and all other teachers are thieves and robbers if they teach on their own authority. They only are accepted as the Lord\u2019s shepherds, who speak Christ\u2019s truth in Christ\u2019s name, and in the power of his own Spirit. God has made Christ to rule supremely throughout the Church, and in this he has glorified him. He has made him the head of the Church in another respect; he is the head of all light in the Church<\/i>. There is no true light in the Christian Church, not a single spark of it, but what comes from Christ. All life comes to us from him. There may be energy in the Church of a carnal and fleshly sort; she may have force and power which she derives from men, but this will die and perish, like the grass and the flower of the field. Vital godliness proceeds always from Jesus Christ, as the branches\u2019 life comes from the vine. \u201cWithout me, ye can do nothing, but because I live, ye shall live also.\u201d He is the life of men: he quickeneth whom he will, and it is not possible that there should exist even a grain of spiritual life in any human heart, but that which comes to that heart through Jesus Christ. He is also the head over all things in the Church; all spiritual things<\/i>. The Spirit of God resides in Christ without measure, and he sends forth the Spirit, he gives a Comforter to us. \u201cIt pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell,\u201d and the continuance of the Church, and the growth of the Church, and the edification of the Church, all sorts of beneficial influences which come to the Church, proceed to us through Jesus Christ, the Church\u2019s covenanted head.<\/p>\n
Now I wish that we should form parts of the true Church of Christ, to whatever denominations we may belong. Let us cling closer and closer to our blessed Master, for the secret of union in the Church is union with Christ. It is utterly hopeless, brethren, for us to expect, as the world now is and as men now are, that we shall ever all of us agree in our opinions about all things. God never made us such creatures that we could agree in all things. He has so constituted us, and wisely so, that we, some of us, catch one angle of truth, and others another. To me one doctrine, perhaps, will always stand out much more clearly than certain others. I wish it were not so. I should like to have a mind comprehensive enough to grasp all truth, to attain the completed picture of truth without ever caricaturing a single feature, but I am deeply conscious I am far from being able to do that, and I think, without being censorious, I may say I do not know any of my fellow-creatures; but there is in them a warp somewhere or other in the judgment of good men, some mistake of some man which is not an offensive mistake at all. This is rather an infirmity than a sin, for he follows what he thinks is truth; his eyes are not right, he has got a little squint, and he thinks truth is a thing that it is not; he shoots well, mark you, if the mark were where he thinks it is, but it is not just there, and therefore his arrow does not quite hit the center of the target. The true place of union will be, mark you never in the greed but in him who is the truth. If we believe in him, love him, cling to him, follow him, imitate him, glorify him, we shall get nearer each other than ever we were, closer to the common center; we must be closer to one another. \u201cI would preach up nothing but Christ, and preach nothing down but sin,\u201d said a good old divine, and the good man was right there. Some old lady who heard of certain high Calvinistic preachers coming to a certain place did not know who they were, or what they were, but she said she thought she liked them because of their names. She misunderstood the words, and she thought they were high Calvary preachers, and anybody who preached high Calvary would suit her if they lifted up the cross of Jesus, and preached up the Master, and glorified his name. If in doubt, this should be the test of the doctrine: Does it glorify Christ? This should be the test of all our opinions: Do they glorify Christ? For nothing is fit to be within the walls of Zion but that which bows down before Zion\u2019s King.<\/p>\n
To change the tone, again ringing the same peal of bells, in the third place: \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
III. <\/b>God Has Highly Exalted His Dear Son In The Achievement Of The Cross.<\/p>\n
Oh! for a poet\u2019s mind and seraph\u2019s tongue to speak of the wonders of the cross, where Christ the Savior hung and died, he died in shame!; this never dimmed his glory; it reveals it to the admiring eyes of all the aged saints, who delight to look thereon. What did Jesus, by his dying a painful death, do for us? Why, first, as you all know, he put away all his people\u2019s sins<\/i>. There are some that think that Christ died to make all men salvable. They may keep their doctrine: it has no charms for me: that Christ died, some think, for all men, and it is a death for every man, I know the Word of God declares; but there is a redemption, there is a redemption far other than that which is universal. He laid down his life for his sheep: he loved his Church and gave himself for it, and there is a people spoken of who are redeemed from among men in quite another sense, in which any redemption was ever made for all men. Now, beloved, as many as Christ stood for as a substitute, for so many did he take their sins, and although it is written, \u201cThe Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all,\u201d for \u201che was made sin for us,\u201d saith the apostle, and the sin of his people was actually laid upon him, imputed to him, though it was not his, yet he took it for his people, and here is the glory, that all that mass of sin no longer exists; it is gone; he hath vanquished the tyrant and \u201cmade an end of sin.\u201d What a wonderful word \u2014 made an end of it, and brought in everlasting righteousness; he hath cast our iniquities into the depths of the sea. The blood of Christ our sins exterminated when he stood in the stead of his people; he suffered an equivalent for all that was due by them and from them to God, and the debts have ceased to be, for they are all paid and disposed of, no charge being brought against Christ\u2019s elect, for, saith the apostle, \u201cIt is Christ that died; yea, rather that hath risen again.\u201d In the morning when the Father raised his Son from the dead, and Jesus stood once more upon earth, no more to die, in that day the sentence went forth, \u201cNone shall lay anything to the charge of God\u2019s elect.\u201d Oh! what a blessed work was this to do: to take sin away where it never can be found again: to make it to cease to be: to cover it over for ever: to blot it out. But this was not all; our Lord by his death destroyed death, and him that hath the power over it, and that is the devil.<\/p>\n
But let us think: he disposed of death<\/i> first of all. He slept in the tomb: when the morning came the prison door was opened, and he rose the first-born from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep, and the harvest-sheaf of all who shall come henceforth from the sepulcher; and so now the tomb is no more a charnel house, a place of ruin; the big imprisoning stone is rolled away. \u201cHe that liveth and believeth in Christ shall never die, and he that believeth in him, though he were dead, yet shall he live.\u201d Over yonder cemetery with its holy memories and long lamented departed, I hear a voice ringing \u201cBlessed are the dead that die in the Lord; yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.\u201d And in another case, beloved, \u201cI am the resurrection and the life; death is dead.\u201d Jesus Christ has accomplished this, and the Father hath glorified him.<\/p>\n
And now he hath also vanquished, once for all, for his people, all the hosts of hell<\/i>. Satan is a cruel enemy to the Lord\u2019s people; he molests them, he worries whom he cannot devour; but here is our consolation, that he has an invincible enemy. Christ gave Satan every advantage; he met him as an old divine saith, \u201con his own dunghill\u201d; he bearded the lion in his den; nay, he bearded him on his own hill. \u201cThis is thine own hour,\u201d saith he; Satan\u2019s own hour, and the hour of darkness; but Jesus triumphed, triumphed when the whole artillery of hell was discharged against him, when all the floods out of the mouth of the dragon were vented forth upon him; he vanquished all the hosts, and bears the banner of a glorious triumph this day, \u201chaving led captivity captive, and ascended up on high.\u201d<\/p>\n
To tell of all the wonders of the cross of Calvary would take far longer than the time we can allot to it now, but we may sum it all up in the words of the text, \u201cHe hath glorified thee.\u201d The Father hath put many crowns upon the head of him that wore the crown of thorns.<\/p>\n
I wish to as: a minute\u2019s attention to the next, namely, that the Father hath glorified Christ in his present power<\/i>: the Father sustains him in the highest heavens amongst, the saints. It is no small glory that Christ should sit at the right hand of the Father, as he now does. He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, but now is crowned with glory and honor, and the loftiest, created beings delight to, do his commands. He reigns in heaven with scepter undisputed. He saith to this one, \u201cGo, and he goeth; to another, come, and he cometh.\u201d His intercession in heaven is part of the glory he has received; as he pleads there like a high priest, he pleads with authority, with a power that is always felt. The broad of Jesus Christ speaks to the heart of God, and no desire of Christ\u2019s is ungranted when heard. A case put into Christ\u2019s hands always speeds; if we ask the Father in Christ\u2019s name, he will do it for us. I am sure very few of us know this, that if we ask in Christ\u2019s name, we ask for Christ\u2019s sake, and that is right and good, and that is as far as we get; but do you know the difference, if you go to a man and say, \u201cGive me so-and-so, for the sake of such a friend, he deserves it of you,\u201d that is a good plea; but suppose that friend arms you with this power, and he says, \u201cNow you may go, and ask for it in my name; say I sent you; use my name,\u201d why, that is more powerful by far, and when each Christian becomes clothed, as it were, with that power from Christ, so that he asks God in Christ\u2019s name as though Christ asked, what power is here! And it is part of the glory of Christ that his intercession should thus be so powerful for his people this day.<\/p>\n
And, brethren, think how the Father has exalted Christ, in that at this time he is receiving every hour some of the purchase of his blood<\/i>. I have sometimes tried to picture in my eye the delight of Christ, the gleaming of his eyes of love, as his blood-bought tones come home one by one. You know it is his prayer, \u201cFather, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.\u201d Here they come, one after another; some from this church; one yesterday; two or three a week usually, they come up into the bosom of Christ. You know how the husbandman rejoices as he sees the loaded wagons coming one by one to the barn; but he has sowed, not with blood, though he may have sowed with tears. You know how you and I rejoice as we think we have been the means of the conversion of someone, but what is the joy of Christ as he sees the perfection of his goodness. Christ is exalted, fresh crowns are laid at his feet; the eternal Spirit, as he brings and conducts the chosen spirit up to Christ, glorifies him. And here below, brethren, let us add, as we leave this point, Jesus Christ is glorified in the power which he possesses in the conversion of souls<\/i>. Wherever his name is preached, it becomes like ointment poured forth. I have no belief in the preaching of Christ unsuccessfully. I think a dear brother may preach the gospel for years and see no conversions, and perhaps there may be none just then, but they will come. I won\u2019t say this to myself to comfort myself. I should be afraid I was on the wrong tack if I did not see them, and I would say to those who preach the Master\u2019s Word faithfully, \u201cIt shall not return unto me void.\u201d Christ is greatly glorified when his gospel becomes a heart-breaker, like a hammer; when it dashes the rock in pieces and becomes like a fire. Christ is glorified when a harlot gives up her evil trade; when the thief casts down the tools of his infamy; when the drunkard lifts his last dram to his lips; when the blasphemer washes out his mouth, and resolves to drink no more of the wine of cursing. God grant us that we may ever pray that God will glorify Christ in marvellous and manifest conversions: extraordinary sinners, being snatched from between the teeth of the old lion, and made to dedicate the rest of their days to King Jesus. Now to close: \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
IV. <\/b>God Has Glorified Christ In His Kingdom.<\/p>\n
We have already said that Christ is glorified in his spiritual kingdom in the midst of Zion. One is tempted to enlarge on that. The King is always glorious when he rules his people by good laws, when he has a happy and prosperous people. But our Lord Jesus Christ rules us with the best of laws, and happy are the citizens of the new Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe King is glorious
When in war he is victorious.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
And when he is beloved of his subjects, he certainly is victorious in war. The spoils belong to him; all the virgins love him, and the saintly sons consecrate their purest affections to him. Jesus Christ is exalted in his Church, then, as a King upon his throne, and there God gives him glory for the present among the nations. Christ\u2019s glory is not revealed as we desire it, though he rules by moral influence, and the government is upon his shoulders; perhaps, if our eyes were opened, we should see in the progress of civilisation and the various changes which have taken place in this world, much more of the influences of Christianity, and certainly of the power of Christ than we have been able to perceive at all times. Perhaps God is writing now, and has been during this last six thousand years, a wonderful drama, at the clearing up of which it will be seen from the first stroke of his pen to the last, God has glorified Christ. It may be so that the shaking of the nations, the revolutions, and even the bloody wars, shall all be compassed, and the one great whole of which it might be said at the commencement, as Virgil doth in song: \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cArms and the man I sing.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
It may be that he has written a great epic concerning the warfare of the righteous against evil, and the conquest of the mighty men. He has yet to restore this world, and make it brighter than it was before, and, beloved, that God will exalt Christ in the latter days<\/i>, let us never doubt that for a moment, and though men prophesy, making a profit by their prophecies, and are for everlasting muddling and unsettling weak minds by their silly predictions, let us still hold to it that this world belongs to Christ, who bought it with his precious blood, and he will have it, every inch, and there is not a corner where the dark places of cruelty shall remain, not a spot where an idol shall hold its throne, not a hill or valley where superstition shall be permitted to linger. We have but to wait; may be we shall be gathered to our Father to wait in serener places than this, for it is ordained, and none shall stay its coming, when Christ shall reign upon earth with his ancient glory, and the whole earth, once an Augean stable, shall be cleansed by its Hercules, who shall make the stream of his blood to run through it, and make it pure, glorified, and consecrated. And in that day the sceptres shall be gathered with them that remain, and crowns of kings shall be joyfully laid at his feet, and we shall understand the full meaning of the title, \u201cKing of Kings and Lord of Lords.\u201d Oh! how we will salute him in that day when we shall rise to participate in the splendours with those that are alive and remain. Dear friends, those that are asleep shall rise to participate in all the splendor of that blessed land of King Jesus. My Father hath exalted thee; to thee, thy Master\u2019s children bow. The sun and the moon bow down before thee; thou shalt reign, and we shall reign with thee; our reign being to behold thy reign; our glory being to participate in thy glory. We shall be like thee, for we shall see thee as thou art. May God grant us grace to have our share in that blessed advent, and he shall be blessed.<\/p>\n
But now just one word more. God will glorify Christ, mark you, as he has done. Are we prepared to do the same, my dear brother and sister? Let us aim to glorify Christ, and shall I tell you how you may do it, for there are many small ways of doing it, not small in themselves, but only small comparatively. You can glorify Christ by your holy living, by your labors for his kingdom, by your liberality; or, if you want to do the greatest work to glorify Christ, you know what it is. Why, it is to trust him altogether with-all your concerns. Nothing glorifies Christ more than that. Now just lean your whole weight on him, and, with a faith that does not stagger, rely on the efficacy of his blood, the power of his arm, the love of his heart, and the immutability of his affections, and the divinity of his presence; lean on him, rest on him. A poor dependent creature cannot glorify God anyhow better than by trusting him. This is the work of God, you know; this is a Hebraism, for the greatest work of all, this is the<\/i> work of God, the god-like work, the work. But what a mercy there is such a way for poor creatures like us, of glorifying Christ by trusting him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best return for one like me
So wretched and so poor
Is from his gifts to draw a plea,
And ask him still for more.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
One other remark, and that is, if you don\u2019t glorify Jesus Christ willingly and cheerfully by such a trust, he will be glorified even in your condemnation. In the day of his appearing, you that have heard the gospel, for I speak to you only, if you reject him, you will have yet to minister to his honor. \u201cKiss the son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way, if his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.\u201d But if you trust him not, here is the alternative: he shall \u201cbreak the nations with a rod of iron, he shall dash them in pieces like a potter\u2019s vessel.\u201d How stands it with you? Will you be able to endure that iron rod? Will you be able to endure the breaking, when first the body shall be broken, and then the soul to shivers, like a potter\u2019s vessels? Be wise, therefore, oh! ye kings and ye men, sons of the earth, be wise, bow before him, accept him as your King. God will thus be glorified by the work of Christ, and if it be not so, he will be glorified by the aid off justice, which may the Lord forbid in the case of any one of us. Amen.<\/p>\n
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON.<\/p>\n
ISAIAH 53.<\/b><\/p>\n
Verse 1. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?<\/i><\/p>\n
The prophet seems to speak in the name of all the prophets, lamenting the general unbelief concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The report concerning him is very clear. It comes from God: it is for our salvation. And yet how many disbelieve it! In fact, all do. Until the arm of the Lord is revealed, until he works upon the hearts of men, and they are led to believe in Jesus. And here is the difficulty of belief.<\/p>\n
2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.<\/i><\/p>\n
There was nothing about Jesus Christ to attract the attention of those who look for pomp and splendor. His religion is all simplicity it is plain truth; there is nothing about it that is gorgeous to attract those who look after ritualistic vanities. To the most of men there is no beauty in him that they should desire him.<\/p>\n
3. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.<\/i><\/p>\n
It was so with Jesus when he was here. He was the greatest of all sufferers: there were few that followed him; some of those who did betrayed him. There were few who would stand up for him he met everywhere with a repulse, and yet he came on an errand of love. He needed not to have come at all. Heaven surely was large enough for him; but such was his pity for the dying sons of men that he must needs strip off his royal robes and put on the robes of our mortal flesh.<\/p>\n
4, 5. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for out transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.<\/i><\/p>\n
He had not a pang to suffer on his own account, nothing to cause him grief in anything he had done: \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cFor sins not his own, he died to atone;
Was love or was sorrow like this ever known?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet, peradventure, for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.<\/p>\n
6. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.<\/i><\/p>\n
Taken the full load of sin, the whole mass of human guilt, and placed it upon him. He was perfectly innocent, and yet was the sin of man heaped upon him. He was our substitute, standing in our stead: a wondrous truth was this!<\/p>\n
7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth,<\/i><\/p>\n
And you know right well that our Master would not speak when he was charged before Pilate and Herod: he was eloquent \u2014 more eloquent in his silence than if he had used his ordinary language, which was wonderful, for \u201cnever man spake like this man,\u201d and yet never man was silent as he for our sake.<\/p>\n
8-10. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.<\/i><\/p>\n
Our blessed Lord and Master is to have a full reward for all his griefs, and an earnest of that reward is here to-night. He will receive this very night some born unto him by the new birth, who shall henceforth be his children, and who shall gladly say, \u201cHere, Lord, I come myself to thee, for thou hast bought me by thy precious blood.\u201d It is the joy of some of us that we belong altogether to Christ. We would not have another honor: we wish to live to him, loving him and serving him, as long as we have any being. And there are some here to-night who have not felt this, whom God, nevertheless, will make to feel it, for so runs the promise: \u2014 <\/p>\n
11. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.<\/i><\/p>\n
That is the way he justifies them \u2014 takes their iniquities upon himself; and since a thing cannot be in two places at one time, when Christ takes our iniquities, they are gone, and we are just in the sight of God. He takes the burden, and we are unloaded, blessed be his name! \u201cHe shall bear their iniquities.\u201d<\/p>\n
12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong:<\/i><\/p>\n
The dying Christ has risen again, and he is a great conqueror now, and divided the spoil. Those spoils are human hearts, and the true love and deep devotion of those he has redeemed. He shall have this: \u2014 <\/p>\n
12. Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors: and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors,<\/i><\/p>\n
And he is doing it now; pleading this very night that old prayer of his, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d Oh! let you and I be pardoned with that plea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 3436 A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10TH, 1914. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON THURSDAY EVENING FEBRUARY 4TH, 1869. \u201cHe hath glorified thee.\u201d \u2014 Isaiah 55:5. GOD hath glorified his Son. How deeply we ought to regret that we glorify Christ so little, bought with his precious blood, … Continue reading “CHRIST GLORIFIED.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}