Love Stronger Than Death

On Thursday Evening July 5th, 1888.

“When Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world’ anto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” — John xiii. 1.

This is a kind of preface to the story of the foot-washing, and a very wonderful preface it is, when coupled with the third and fourth verses, upon which I commented, “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from Grod, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.” This is the frame of the picture that is here presented to us. To what shall I compare it? It is like unto a gate of the golden city; each gate is one several pearl, and surely this verse is a jewel of inestimable price. The foot-washing picture is set within this precious frame.

This memorable and symbolical act took place at the end of our Lord’s sojourn here below. The Passion was the end of his life, and we may consider that the Passion was about to begin. That same night he would go to Gethsemane, and in less than four-and-twenty hours, the dear hands that washed the disciples’ feet would be nailed to the accursed wood, and he who spoke so tenderly to his little band of followers would be in his death agonies.

It is an important thing to know how a man feels when he comes to the real crisis of his life. He has cultivated a great variety of feelings during his career; but what has been his ruling passion? You will see it now. It has passed into a proverb that, “The ruling passion is strong in death;” and there is great truth in the saying. In the light of the man’s departure, we shall see what power really ruled him. It was precisely so with our Divine Master. He had almost reached the end of his earthly life; he had come to a season of awful agony; he was about to endure the great and terrible death of the cross, by which he was to purchase eternal redemption for all hi?

14 METKOPOLITAN TABEBNACLE PtTLPIT.

people. What will be uppermost in his mind now? What will he think of his disciples now that he has so many other things to think of, now that the thought of his approaching death comes over him, now that the agony and bloody sweat of Gethsemane are so near? What will Jesus think of his disciples at such a time as this, and under such circumstances as these? Our text is the answer to that question: “When Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” His love was burning as brightly at the Paschal supper as ever it burned before. Ay, and it seemed as if, in that wondrous prayer that is recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, and in the wonderful discourse which accompanied it, the love of Jesus had never Hamed out so clearly before! Then were the great beacon fires lit, and the fierce winds that blew around the Saviour fanned them to their full force of flame. Now can you say of Jesus, “Behold how he loved his disciples!” for even at the end of his life he still loved those whom he had loved aforetime.

With that thought in your minds, will you follow me while I take the text to pieces, and dwell upon almost every word of it?

I. First, then, concerning our blessed Master, let us consider with WHOM HE ASSOCIATED, and of whom this verse now speaks. They are called, “his own.” It is a brief description, but it is wonderfully full: “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”

“His own.” There was a circle — sometimes a wide circle — round the Saviour, made up of publicaus and sinners, and he had a measure of love to all of them, a benevolent desire to bless them; but there was an inner circle, containing the twelve apostles and some godly women, who had joined themselves unto him. These were “his own.” To them he often expounded the hidden meaning of a parable which he left unexplained to the crowd. To them he often brought many a dainty dish which was specially reserved for their table, and not intended for the multitude. Bread and fish would do for the crowd; but Jesus had choicer fare for ‘’ his own.” They were a special people; many knew them, many despised theji, but Jesus loved them, and this was the main thing which made them “his own.”

You know how they came to be “his own.” Ife chose them or ever the earth was. A man may surely choose his own wife, and Christ chose his own spouse, he chose his own Church; and while the Scripture stands, that doctrine can never be eradicated from it. Before the day-star knew its place, or planets ran their rounds, Christ had made his choice; and, having made it, he stood to it. He chose them for his love; and he loved them for his choice.

Having loved them, and chosen them, he espoused them unto himself, “They shall be mine,” said he; “I will be married to them, I will bo bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh.” Consequently, in the fulness of time, he came here, made one with our humanity, that he might be seen to be a true Husband to “his own” — “his own” by choice, “his own” by espousal.

They were “his own” also, for his Father gave them to him. The Father committed them into his hands. “Thine they were,” said

Jesus, “and thou gavest them me.” The Father loved the Son, and committed all things into his hand; but he made a special committal of his own chosen people. He gave them to him, and entered with him into surety engagements on their behalf, that as they were his sheep, committed to his charge, he would deliver them up, and not one of them should be torn by the wolf, or die of the frost or the heat, but that all should pass again under the rod of him that telleth them. That great Shepherd of the sheep will take care of the whole flock that was entrusted to his care; he will not lose one of his sheep or lambs. At the last, Jesus will say, “Here am I, Father, and the children that thou hast given me; of all that thou gavest me I have lost none.” Thus, they are “his own “by his own choice, “his own” by espousal, and ‘< his own” by his Father’s gift.

But these whom- he called “his own” were soon to be his by a wondrom purchase. He looked upon their redemption as being already accomplished, for in his prayer he said to his Father, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Beloved friends, have you ever thought how dearly we are Christ’s by his redemption of us? “Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price.” Have you ever realized the price that was paid for you? I sometimes think that, if I could have been there, I would have said, “0 thou great and glorious Lord, I beseech thee not to pay such a price for me; it is too great a sacrifice that thou shouldst be made sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in thee!” But he would do it. He loved us better than he loved himself. He would do it; and he has paid the purchase price for us, and we are his; and we will not run back from the glad confession. Well may he call us “his own” when it cost him so much to redeem us.

But we have become” his own” by his conquest of us. He had called his disciples by his grace; he had drawn each one of them by cords of love, and they had run after him: and it is just so with you and me. You remember when he drew you; do you not? Can you ever forget when, at last, you yielded to the power of those bands of love, those cords of a man? Often since then have you sung, —

“Oh, happy day, that fix’d my choice
On thee, my Saviour, and my God;
Well may this glowing heart rejoice.
And tell its raptures all abroad!

“‘Tis done! the great transaction’s done;
I am my Lord’s, and he is mine:
He drew me, and I followed on,
Charm’d to confess the voice divine.”

Beloved, you are “his own” now because you have yielded yourselves to him. You delight to think that you are his. There is no greater joy to you than to feel that you belong to Christ. The fact that you are truly Christ’s is the fountain of innumerable pleasures and blessings to your heart. Jesus calls us “his own” — his own sheep, his own disciples, his own friends, his own brethren, the members of his body. What a title for us to wear, “His own “! I have heard of some who have felt it an honour to be called, “The Devil’s Own. ‘I trust that you have escaped from such a title as that; and now you are Christ’s own. How many regiments have felt pleasure in being called the King’s Own, the Queen’s Own, the Prince’s Own! Oh, but we are His own! He owns us; he calls us “his own.” Thus he distinguishes us from the rest of mankind, and sets us apart unto himself. “My name shall be named on them,” says he. They are ‘’his own.” Surely, this is the highest honour that can be put upon us even in the last great day. “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.”

Now I trust we can say that we desire to serve Christ in our Yocation. I feel happy to be amongst the favoured few whose vocation it is to serve Christ, those who are permitted to spend all their time, and all their strength, in that dear service. We are *’ his own “; but 80 are you “his own” if you believe in him, you also are Christ’s own, up in a garret; Christ’s own, at the washtub; Christ’s own, in the fields at the plough; Christ’s own, making the hay. I am not wandering from my subject when I say this, for Christ has “his own” among all these classes. “His own “were fishermen,” his own “cast the net into the Sea of Galilee, “his own” drew it to shore, “his own” were the poor of this world. His own, his very own, his choicest and his best friends and followers, were just such. They were unlearned and ignorant men, yet they were ‘* his own.” So the apostle saith, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.” Oh, the wondrous sovereignty of divine love! I trust that there are some here to-night whom Christ calls “his own” although they do not yet know that it is so. Bought with his blood, and they are not aware of it? Chosen before the foundation of the world, and yet they have not discovered it? May the Lord reveal to you his everlasting love, and help you to make your calling and election sure from this time forth!

I have said as much as time will permit me to say about our Lord’s dear associates, the disciples, whom he calls “his own.”

II. Now, in the second place, you have a full description of how Jesus had felt towards them up to that moment: “Having loved his own.”

How much can be done with one stroke of a pen! I have sometimes marvelled to see how much a great artist can do by a singlt touch; his work has seemed unfinished, but he has come with a brush, and just thrown in a few strokes, and the canvas that was dead ha& seemed to live before you. Now, John is a great master of the art of word-painting, and he gives you the whole history of Christ’s dealings with his disciples in these few words, “Having loved his own.”

For, remember, that is how he began with them. They were poor and inconsiderable; but he loved them, and he showed his love to them by calling them to be his disciples. That love wrought upon their hearts, and made them obedient to his call. He began by lovinp:

LOVE STRO^^GER T^AN DEATH. 17

them. David says,” Thou hast loved my soul out of the pit.’* I do not know a more beautiful description of conversion and salvation. The love of God loves us up out of the pit, and loves us to Christ. Thus Christ loved his people from the beginning, and proved his love by drawing them to himself, and the cords he used to draw them were the bands of his love.

Having begun by loving them, he went on teaching them; but all his teaching was love, for they were such dull scholars, quick to forget, yet slow to remember, that he had to keep on loving them, or he would have been tired of trying to train them. “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” There is a mass of love in that question. So was it when he was dealing with Thomas; in his tenderness he submitted without question to the doubting disciple’s test. He said to him, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” All his teaching was uttered with lips of love, and all his instruction consisted of lessons of love.

The Lord kept on loving his disciples, although their statures were wonderfully imperfect, all of them. There was not one among them who had what one would call an all-round nature, unless it was John, and even he was hasty in temper, and would have called down fire from heaven upon certain Samaritans. Yet the Master kept on loving them. He had made up his mind to love them, and he never ceased to love them as long as he was with them, and he has gone on loving them ever since. At the time when ho was about to depart out of the world unto the Father, they still needed to have their feet washed, and he loved them enough to render even that lowly service for them. All the infirmities, the imperfections, the carnality, the dulness, and the slowness of their nature, which he saw much more clearly than they saw it, did not make him cease to love them: “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”

Strangest of all, when he opened his eyes, and looked into the future and saw that they tvould soon he cowardly and faithless he loved them all the same. He said, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night,” and so it came to pass, for “they all forsook him, and fled.” He told Peter that he would deny him thrice; and so it was, yet it was true all the while, ‘’ Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” That sums it all up. There was never a touch of hate, there was never any anger, there was never any weariness, there was never any lukewarmness in Jesus towards his disciples; but it was always just this, “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.’’ That is the love of Christ to his chosen, and that is the love of Christ to nie. I do not think that those gentlemen who have written a “Life of Christ” could write this part of it. This is a portion of the life of Christ that wants not so much to be written as to be known in the heart, and in the soul.

How have you found Christ, my brother? If you have known him, what has been his conduct towards you? You answer, “Love.” As tor me, I never knew, I never heard of such a lover as he is; I never dreamed that he could be such as he has been to me. Oh, how I must have vexed and grieved his gracious heart, and caused hina pain; but never, never, never once have I had anything from him but love! “Having loved his own.” That expression sums up the whole of Christ’s conduct towards his chosen people. It is like a miniature painting; it has every feature of his character. There it is, all of it. You may apply a microscope, and look as long as you like, but you will find that it is all there. “Having loved his own.”

So then, you have seen your Lord associated with his disciples up to this point, and you have learned that he has manifested nothing else towards them but love.

III. But now, thirdly, what a change was coming over him! “Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father.”

Dear friends, it was a wonderful change that was coming over him, for, in the first place, though it is so tenderly described here, yet he knew that he had to die. You do not wish me, I am sure, to tell you of all the surroundings of the cross, of all the bitterness and woe that culminated in that cup of mingled wormwood and gall. Your heart can never fail to remember the wounds he endured when suffering for you. Well, now, if you and I had to bear all that Christ had to suffer, it would engross our thoughts, we should not be able to think of anything else but that; but it did not engross our Lord’s thoughts. He still thought of “his own.” He loved ‘’ his own “unto the end. He went on with that same calm, solid, resolute love which he had shown towards them aforetime. He set his face like a flint to go up to Jerusalem; but there was no flint in his heart, it had all gone into his face. He had undertaken the work of his people’s redemption, and he must go through with it. Death itself could not change his love. You know the love of which Solomon sings at the end of the Canticles: “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it;” and he says, ‘’Love is strong as death.” Truly, in our Lord’s case, love was stronger than that death of deaths which he deigned to die that he might make us live. Now is his great “hour “of trial; but he is true to ‘’ his own” even in this dread hour. He is about to die; but he still loves “his own.”

Dear brethren, that is not all. Jesus was about to depart out of this world, to go away from his disciples. After a while, he would see them no more with his bodily eyes; neither would they hear his voice leading them and teaching them. It may be true that” Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” but, alas, we have met with many instances in which mortal men have quite forgotten those whom they professed to love when once the sea has rolled between them. Many hearts are dependent upon eyesight. It is a pity that it should be so; but it was not so with Christ. All the distance between earth and heaven was soon to intervene between our Lord and his disciples; but vet he loved them, and he loves them still. No distance uiakes any “difference between Jesus and “his own”: “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loted them unto the end.”

Yet, remember, that the Saviour was about to unde.;10 a very wonderful change in another respect, he was going unto the Father.

Have any of us the slightest idea of what he is now with the Father? I will not attempt to describe the supernal splendours of his throne, the glories which his redeemed delight to lay at his feet, the songs which angels and cherubim and seraphim continually present before him; but this verse we love, and we can truly sing, —

‘’ Now though he reigns exalted high,
His love is still as great;
Well he remembers Calvary,
Nor lets his saints forget.”

I cannot describe these wonderful changes of our Lord, from life to death, from death to resurrection, from resurrection to ascension, from ascension to the glories of his Father’s throne. Would all these changes make any alteration in him? No, none of them. “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”

I shall try to speak of that presently, that will be my last point; but before we come to that theme, we must see what would be the condition of “his own.” I have shown you what would be Christ’s condition, and the change that would take place in him.

IV. Now, fourthly, what would be their coxdition?

Why, they would remain where they were:” His own which were in the world.” To me, there seems to be a great abyss of meaning in that expression, “in the world.” Some of you know more about what this means than others of us do. The Church of God in Loudon is nothing but a camp in the midst of heathendom. The sooner we believe that terrible truth the better, because it is really so; and the Church of God in the world is nothing but a travelling tent in the midst of a world that lieth in the wicked one. We are “in the world,” Now, some of you know what it is to be “in the world.’’ When you get home to-night, there will be little but oaths and cursing. Some of God’s dear people, whom he loves with all his heart, are still in the world, seeing that which vexes them as much as Lot was vexed by the filthy conversation of the men of Sodom. “In the world!” Now, those whom Christ was about to leave in the world would be left in the midst of all the abounding wickedness, and idolatry, and blasphemy, in about as ungodly an age as men could live in; yet he left them “in the world.”

Being in the world, you see, they began to be persecuted. They were stoned; they were shut up in prison; they were dragged into the amphitheatre to be torn of lions; but “he loved them unto the end.” You know how that blessed eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans concludes. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In addition to being persecuted, they were liable to be severely tempted. All kinds of bribes were put in their way, and all sorts of pleasures and lusts were presented to them; they were men of like passions with ourselves, so these temptations were very real to them. They were “in the world,” and Jesus was gone to heaven. They were “in the world” also in affliction. All, dear friends, we find that we, too are in this sense, “in the world.” However closely we live to God, we have pains of body, and we have to grieve as we see our dear relatives suffering We have losses and crosses because we are ‘’in the world.” God’s curse still rests upon the earth: “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” You may do what you like with it, but you cannot make it stop bringing forth thorns and thistles. They will continue to spring up as surely as the dust will return to the dust from whence it was taken.

In the world, of course, they were in great labour, for they were leit in the world to seek to convert it, or, at least, to caU out the redeemed of Christ from among men by preaching the gospel to every creature. And, being “in the world,” they were surrounded hymuch weakness, weakness of body and weakness of mind, always needing to call to their Lord for help. He was up there upon the throne, and they were down in the dungeon. He was up there, clothed with all power, and they were down here in all weakness.

V. Now, HOW WILL Jesus behave towards them? That is our last ‘question. We began with it, and we will finish with it. Well, here is the answer. “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end;” and we may rest sure that he always will love them, and that he will never change from the tenderness of his heart towards them. “He loved them unto the end. ‘What does that sentence mean? mi -n- v

I think it means, first, that he loved them right on. The Hebrew, “His mercy endureth for ever,” might be rendered, “His mercy endureth to the end.” That is, to the end which has no end, for there never will be an end to his mercy; and his love is continual, everlasting love, it will never come to an end. Christ himself, m his Passion, may be said to have come to an end, and he loved his disciples until his death; but it means that he loves them without any end, for ever and ever. Having loved them while he was in the wona with them, he loves them right straight on, and always will love them when time shall be no more. o tx a

I am sure, dear friends, you believe in the everlasting love o± God towards his people. If any of you do not, you are robbing yourselves of one of the greatest comforts that are to be found m the Scriptures. If the Lord can change, where are we? Everything has gone when his everlasting love is gone. I delight to believe that the mountains hall depart, and the hills be removed; but his kindness shall not depart from us, neither shall the covenant of his peace be removed; it -standeth fast for ever and ever. /..•«»’

But the sentence may be rendered, ‘’ m loved them to perfection. “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to perfection.” He could not love them any better; that was impossible. He could not love them more wisely; that would be out of the question. He could not love them more intensely; that is not supposable.

Wiiateyer the perfection of love may be, that Jesus Christ bestows upon his people. There is no such love in all the world as the love of Christ to his people; and if you were to gather up all the loves that ever were, of men and women, of mothers and children, of friends and friends, and heap up all these loves, the love of Jesus is of superior quality to them all, for none of those loves are absolutely perfect, but Jesus Christ loves to perfection.

Those of you who have the Kevised Version will find in the margin the following words, “o the uttermost ‘’Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the uttermost,” to that which is uttermost, farthest, and most distant; or, if I turn the word in another way, “He loved them utterly,” unutterably, in such a way that you cannot tell, or conceive, or describe, or imagine, how much he loved his people. He loved his people to the utmost stretch of love. So is it, there is no love like his, and, as I said just now, all the loves in the world, compressed into one, would not equal it. “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the uttermost.”

Now, it does seem to me that this truth ought to tempt some poor soul to wish to enjoy Christ’s love. “Oh!” says one, “if I did but get that love, I should never lose it. He would love me to the uttermost. Oh, if I could but creep in among his people! “The way to discover Christ’s love to thee is that thou shouldst begin by trusting him; and surely he will help thee to do this. He is so true, 80 good, so able to save unto the uttermost, that if thou wilt come and trust him, trust him wholly, trust him now, trust him just as thou art, then he will save thee to the uttermost, and show his love to thee to the uttermost. I have been preaching what I trust will comfort God’s people; but I wish that some poor soul would come to Christ through it. I believe that is the right way to preach the gospel. Have you not noticed, in the story of the Prodigal Son, that the father said, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet,” and so on, but he did not go on to say, “Feed him,” do you notice what he said? It was, “Let us eat, and be merry.” “Well, but I thought he was thinking about his son.” Yes, and he says, “Let us eat.” So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us eat, and then sinners will begin to feel their mouths watering, and they also will want to eat, and to have a share of the feast. This is the only way to make them eat; you can bring a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink; but you are very likely to do so if you set another horse a-drinking. So, if you and I enjoy the sweetness of the love of Christ, there may be some in the gallery, and some downstairs who will say, “We wish that we knew it, too,” and they will be wanting it; that is the way to make them eat. I pray the Lord, by his Spirit, to lead them to put their trust in this loving Saviour, and each one to say, —

“Jesu, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly.”

He will let you fly to his bosom; therefore, —

‘* Come, and welcome; sinner, come/*

Exposition Ijg ((T. ^. ^purgron.

JOHN XIII. 1 — 19.

Verse 1. Now be/ore the feast of the paasover, tuhen Jeaus knew that hit hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which luere in the world, he loved them unto the end.

Our Lord Jesus Christ had a clear foresight of all he had to endure. Future things are happily hiddon from our eyes. We do not even know the moment when we shall <fie, nor how it will be. It is well that it is so; but our Lord was able to anticipate his sufferings, by knowing all about them: “Jesus knew that his hour was come.” It was all appointed; and nothing happens to any of us by accident, chance is banished from the believer’s creed. There is an appointed “hour” for each one of us, and it will come in due season.

“Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of the world unto the Father.” What a beautiful way of describing death! Christ’s death was certainly a more trying one than ours will be, so that this description may apply to ours as well as to his.

2. And supper being ended,

I suppose that was the Paschal supper.

2. The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simmies son, to betray him;

What a horrible purpose for Satan to put into the heart of Judas even in the presence of Jesus! I hope that the devil will not put any such purpose into your hearts or into mine while we are in this house of prayer; but no place is sacred from his intrusion, he will come in anywhere. Evea where Christ himself is at the head of the table, Judas may be sitting at that same table, and Satan may then and there put into his heart the horrible purpose of betraying his Master.

3, 4. Jeaus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to Qod; he ri-seth from supper, and laid aside his garments y and took a towel,, and girded himself.

Notice those words, “Jesus knowing, ... he took a towel, and girded himself.” If he had not known how great he was, there ‘would not have been such condescension in his action; but he knew who he was, and what the Father had entrusted to him: “The Father had given all things into his hands.” You might suppose that he would rise up, in a very dignified manner, and put on a purple robe and a golden girdle; but, instead of that, he rose from the supper table, laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. He knew that he had come forth from Qod, and that he was going back to God, and he performed this action on the way home to his Father. O dear brothers and sisters, if Christ thus stooped, how humble ought we to be! No office should be counted too lowly, no work for his servants should seem to be too humiliating, since Jesus “took a towel, and girded himself.”

o. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciple feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

You see that Jesus does his work well. He omits none of the details of it. He puts himself in the place of a slave, and he performs a slave’s duty very thoroughly. I am afraid that, sometimes, we do our work for him in a slovenly way; but Jesus was not satiified with simply washing his disciples’ feet, he must do the wiping, too. I do bless him that he did so, for this is a picture of what he has done for us. He has washed our feet; and he often repeats the gracious act. The feet that Jesus washes he will wipe; he has not begun his task without intendins: to finish it. I know that he will complete in my soul the work which he has undertaken, for he fulfilled on the feet of his disciples the office he had undertaken: “He began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”

6. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

I do not wonder that he said that; would not you have been equally astonished had you been there? Peter had some faint idea who Christ was; he had confessed him in such a way that Jesus had said to him, ‘■ Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Knowing so much about Christ, Peter did marvel at his action; he felt so astonished that he asked ‘’ Dost thou wash my feet?”

7. Jesus answered and said unto him, What T do thou hnowest not now; but thou shult know hereafter.

I have heard this saying of our Lord applied to affliction; and it is very true that what Jesus does we do not at present understand, but we shall know by-and-by. I do not think, however, that this sentence is very applicable that way, for there was no affliction in having the feet washed. The fact is, brethren, though it is a very humbling thing to say, we do not understand that which Jesus does, even his simplest actions are a mystery to us, we have never gone into the very depths of them so as to comprehend them. “What I do, — even though I only wash thy feet, plain and simple operation as that is, — thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” Our knowing times, dear friends, are to come. We need not be so very anxious to know at present; this is the time of love, I would forego the filling of my head for a while if I could have my heart full; but, alas, we are generally so busy trying to attain merely head knowledge! My most intense longing is for a growing heart, a heart that truly loves the Saviour. That is the way for the head to learn, for knowledge that comes by the way of the heart, and so enters the head, is the best of knowledge. Jesus said to Peter, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”

8. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.

That is j list like Peter; if John had not told us who it was that said this, we should have known that it was Peter. He was always in such a hurry, and he spoke so quickly, that he made many mistakes; yet he was always so honest and so true that his Master forgave his faults, and helped him to correct them.

8. Jesus answered him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part luith me.

If Christ does not cleanse us, we do not belong to him. If he does not, day by day, exercise a purifying influence over us, we are not his.

9. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, hut also my hands and my head.

How that pendulum swings to and fro! It went this way just now: “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Now it goes right away to the other extreme: “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Go more gently, Peter, be more quiet. Why do you go so far in one direction, and then rush off so far in another way? Thy Master knows better than thou knowest what is right for thee.

10. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

Dear friends, when we believe in Christ, we are washed in the fountain filled with blood, and we are clean; but this world is such a sinful place that WG cannot walk through it for even a day without some of its mire an4 dust clinging to us. Besides, God’s lilies are so pure that they are hardly fit to bloom in such a defiling atmosphere. Oh, how we need that the dew should wash the lily when the night comes on! How greatly we need to have the foot- washing administered to us every day! We need not repeat the first great washing, the bath by which our sins were cleansed; when that was done, it was done once for all. Our sin was pardoned as before a Judge; but we want it to be taken away as before our Father, for we are Qow under his loving discipline.

Christ further said to his disciples, “Ye are clean, but not all.” Does he say that to us at this time? ‘’ Ye are clean, but not all.” Where sits the man, in this house of prayer, who is not clean, the sinner who has not yet been washed by Jesus Christ? Where sits the woman who is not clean? The Lord have mercy upon you, dear friends! You know that, in the olden days, they put a red cross on the door of the house where the plague was. We cannot put a cross upon you; but I pray you to consider yourselves as marked men and marked women in the sight of God, and I pray the Lord to take that mark away by causing you to be washed, that you may be clean every whit. How quickly he can wash the foulest sinners! He that believeth in Jesus is washed in the precious blood, and he is clean. God cleanse us all for his great name’s sake 1

11 — 15. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he. Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his fjarments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say welly for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

Christ’s actions are the pattern for us to imitate! Oh, that we followed them more closely!

16. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

Sometimes, we think that we are a deal too great to wash anybody’s feet; we should like to see a person propose it to us, such big people as we are I If we talk like that, there is great need that we should be taken down. That would be the true way to rise in the likeness of Jesus. Oh, that we were lowlier in humility! We should be higher in grace if we were.

17. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Peter wanted to know them; Jesus would have us do them.

18. I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen;

Christ has a chosen people, though some will not believe it. Yet it is so, for he says, “I know whom I have chosen.”

18, 19. But that the scripture may he fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.

That I am.” So, you see, even the great trouble of the early Church, the betrayal by Judas, was used by Christ for the strengthening of his disciples’ faith. He foretold that it would be as it came to pass. So, dear friends, in these latter days, many forsake the gospel, but Jesus told us that it would be so. He taught his servants to write that there would bo a falling away, and that in these last days there would be scoffers; and as we read the prophecies, and compare them with the fulfilment, even the doleful fact itself confirms our faith in our Lord.

God bless to us this brief reading of his own Word! Amen.

Hymns from *’0ur Own Hymn Book” — 731, 815, 377.

“AFTER TWO DAYS IS THE PASSOVEE.”

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Intended for Reading on Lord’s-day, June 20th, 1897,
delivered by
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,
On Lords-day Evening November lst, 18S5.

“Ye know that after two days is... the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” — Matthew xxvi. 2.

One likes to know how a great commander feels before a battle. What is his state of mind, and how does he look forward to to-morrow’s struggle? While yet the balances are trembling, how does he act? How does he bear himself? One likes to know the condition of heart of one’s fellow in the prospect of a great trial. There is a serious operation to be performed; how is the sufferer sujtported in the prospect of the surgeon’s knife and of the danger that will attend it? Or, perhaps, death itself is rapidly approaching; in what condition of heart is our departing friend? How does he anticipate the great change? I take it that it is sometimes much harder to look upon a battle than to fight one, — more difficult to foresee an ill than it is to bear it; and, peradvenlure, the foresight even of death is much more trying than death itself ever proves to be to a Christian man. Can we he confident before the battle begins? Can we be calm before the clouds burst in the time of storm? Can we rest in God before the iron gate is opened, and we pass through it into the unknown world? These are questions well worth asking.

I thought that it would be very profitable to us if we tried to look at our Master in this condition, — the great Captain of our salvation before the battle, — the great Sacrifice led to the altar where his blood is about to be shed. How does he behave himself? May there not be something specially instructive in this last word of his, when he seems, as it were, to take off the robes of the teacher and prophet, and to put on his priestly garments? May there not be something for us to learn from the state of his mind and spirit, and from his language, just before his Passion? It is a small window, but a great deal of

light may come through it. The Master said to his disciples, “Ye know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

I. The first thing I would say upon these words to you, beloved in Christ Jesus, is, admire your ISaviour. Hear him speak, and regard him in holy contemplation, on purpose that admiration of him may be greatly excited.

Admire his calmness. There is no token of any disturbance of mind, there are no evidences of dismay, there is not even a quiver of fear, nor the least degree of anxiety about him. He speaks not boastfully; else we should suspect that he was not brave. He speaks very solemnly, for it was a terrible ordeal that lay before him, look at it as he might; but still, with what true peace of mind, in what tones of quiet serenity, does he say to his little band of followers, “Ye know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

This calmness is very wonderful, because there was so much that was bitter and cruel about his approaching death: *’ The Son of niau is betrayed. “The Saviour felt that betrayal most keenly; it was a very bitter part of the deadly potion which he had to drink. “He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me,” was a venomous drop that went right into his soul. David, in his great sorrow, had to say, “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him; but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked into the house of God in company.” And it was a very, very, very bitter thing to Christ to be betrayed by Judas; yet he talks of it calmly, and speaks of it when it was not absolutely necessary, one would think, to mention that incidental circumstance. He might have eaid, “In two days I shall be crucified;” but he did say, “In two days the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

Do not forget, also, the extraordinary bitterness that is concentrated in that word “crucified.” Somehow, we have got to be used to the cross, and the glory which surrounds our Lord has taken away from our minds much of the shame which is and should ever be associated with the gibbet. The cross was the hangman’s gibbet of those days, it implied all the shame that the gallows could imply with us to-day, and more, for a freeman may be hanged, but crucifixion was a death reserved for slaves. Nor was it merely the shame of crucifixion, but it was the great pain of it. It was an exquisitely cruel death, in which the body was tormented for a considerable length of time to the very highest degree, and the nails passing through the flesh just where the nerves are most plentiful, and tearing and rending through those parts of the body by the weight which had to be sustained on hands and feet, caused torture of a kind which I will not attempt to describe. Beside that, remember, veiled beneath the words “to be crucified” lay our Saviour’s inward and spiritual crucifixion, for his Father’s forsaking of him was the essence, the extreme gall, of the bitterness that he endured. He meant that he had to die upon the “AFTER TWO DAYS IS THE PASSOVEB.” 27

accursed tree, deserted even by his Father; yet he talked of it, truly with all solemnity, but yet without the slightest trace of trembling. “Ye know,” said he to his disciples, “that in two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

Admire, then, the calm, brave heart of your Divine Lord, conscious — far more conscious than you and I can be, — of what was meant by being betrayed and being crucified, cognisant of every pang that should ever come upon him, — the bloody sweat, the scourge, the thorn-crown, the fevered thirst, the tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth, and all the dust of death that would surround and choke him; yet he speaks of it as though it were no more an unusual event than the passover itself: “Ye know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

I want you to admire, next, your Saviour’s strong resolve, his resolute purpose to go through all this suffering that he might effect our redemption. If he had willed it, he might have paused, he might have gone back, he might have given up the enterprise. You know how the flesh, in sight of all that pain and grief, cried, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me;” but here we see, before the Passion came, that strong and firm and brave resolve which, when the Passion did come, would not, could not, and did not flinch or hesitate, much less turn back. He could sweat great drops of blood, but lie could not give up the work he came to do. He could bow his head to death, but he could not, and would not, cease to love his people whom he loved so much as to end his life for their sakes upon the accursed tree. Here are no regrets, and no faltering. Our Lord speaks as you and I would speak of something about which our mind is quite made up, concerning which there is no room for argument or debate: “Ye know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” If he had said, “After two years,” I could imderstand something of his purpose concerning an event that was so distant; but within two days to be betrayed, within forty-eight hours to be betrayed for crucifixion, and yet to talk of it so, 0 my Lord, truly thy love for us is strong as death, thy jealousy o’ercomes even the grave itself!

Admire him, then, dear friends; let your inmost heart adore and love him. But I want you to notice also how absorbed he teas in his approaching betrayal’ and death; that truth comes out in the words of our text: “Ye know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” Ah, dear Lord, thou didst speak the truth! They did know it, and yet thou didst speak to them with loving partiality, for they did not really know it. They did not as yet understand that their Master must die, and that he would rise again from the dead. He had often repeated to them the assurance that it would be so; but, somehow, they had not truly believed it, realized it, grasped it. Ah, but he had! He had; and, you know, it is the way of men who have realized a great truth to talk to others as if it was as real to them as to themselves. You remember how the spouse asks the watchmen of the city, “Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? “She does not tell them any name, but she talks of her Beloved as if there were no other “him” in all the world; and the Lord here so well knew, and was so wholly absorbed in the great work before him, that he said to these forgetful, these ignorant disciples, “Ye know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” Why, they had only a little while before walked with him through the streets of Jerusalem! The people had strewn the road with their garments and with branches of palm trees; scarcely had the sound of their hosannas died away out of the disciples’ ears, yet Jesus says to them, “Ye know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified; you have not forgotten that, have you?” Ah, but they had! They were still dreaming of an earthly sovereignty, and he was dreaming of nothing, but sternly, solemnly setting his face like a flint to go to prison and to death for ‘their redemption, and for yours, and for mine, sacredly resolved to go through with it, and even “straitened” till his baptism of blood should be accomplished, and he should be immersed in unknown deeps of grief and suffering. Having all his thought taken up with that subject, our Lord therefore talked to his disciples as if they were taken up with it, too. This is the language of One who is altogether absorbed with this gigantic enterprise which he has made to be the very summit of his ambition, though he knows that it will involve him in shame and death. Admire him, brothers and sisters, that he should be so taken up with the passion of winning souls as to forget everything else, and have this only upon his mind, and upon his lips: “After two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

I cannot help adding one other thing in which I admire the Saviour; and that is, how wise he was to tell his disciples this! You see, all he cared for was their good. He was not mentioning his suffering that he might ask for their sympathy. There is no trace of his crying, like Job, “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, 0 ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.” No, our Lord told his disciples this for their sakes; first, that they might not be surprised when it came to pass, as though some strange thing had happened unto them, — that, when he was betrayed and crucified, it might not be quite so dire a blighting of all their hopes since he had prepared them for it beforehand. And, moreover, it was intended to strengthen them when they should come into the trial, so that they should say, “It is all just as he told us it would be; how true he is I He told us about this sorrow beforehand; and, therefore, if he spake the truth then, we will believe that all the rest that he said is also true. And did he not say that he would rise again from the dead? Then, depend upon it, he will do so. He died when he said he would die, and he will rise again when he said he would rise again.” This saying of our Lord was well and wisely uttered, that the crucifixion should not come upon them as a thing unknown to him; but that, when they were in the midst of the trial, they should remember that he told them all about it, and so they would be comforted.

I ask you, then, dear friends, to think with reverent affection of this calm speech of your Divine Master, this resolved and determined utterance, this all-absorbing thought of his concerning the purchase of his people by his blood, and this generous wisdom of his in making it all known beforehand to those who were round about him, and who “AFTER TWO DAYS IS THE PASSOYER.” 29

truly loved him. I do not like to turn from that thought until you have in your own heart felt this intense admiration of your Lord.

II. But, secondly, I want to take your thoughts a little way — not from the text, — but from that particular line of meditation, and now to ask you to consider your Sacrifice.

The Master says, “Ye know that after two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” I cannot help reading it like this, — “Ye know that after two days is the Passover. All the other passovers have been passovers only in name, passovers m type, passovers in emblem, passovers foreshadowing the Passover; but after two days is the real Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” At any rate, I want you to notice how true it is that our Lord Jesus Christ is our Passover: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” What the paschal lamb was to Israel in Egypt, that the Lord Jesus Christ is to us. Let us think of that for a few minutes. Put the passover and the cross together, for indeed they are one.

And, first, here is a laml. Was there another man who ever lived who was so worthy to be called a lamb, as was Jesus Christ? I have never heard or read of any character that so fully realizes what must be meant by “the Lamb of God.” Other men have been like lambs, but there is a touch of the tiger about us all at times. There was none about him; he was the Lamb of all lambs, — the Lamb of God, — the most lamb-like of all men who ever lived or died, for there was no trace of anything about him that was contrary to tenderness, and love, and gentleness. There were other qualities, of course, but none that were contrary to these; there were some that were as necessary to a complete character as even gentleness was, and he failed in nothing; but, still, if you only view him from that one side of his gentleness, there was none so worthy to be called a Lamb as he.

The lamb of the passover, however, had to he perfect; it must be without spot or blemish. And where can you find the like of Jesus for spotlessness and perfection in every respect? There is nothing in him redundant, there is nothing in him deficient; the character of the Christ is absolutely perfect, insomuch that his very enemies, who have denied his Deity, have been charmed with his humanity; and those who have even tried to undermine his teaching, have, nevertheless, reverently bowed before his example. He is the Lamb of God “without blemish and without spot.”

The paschal lamb also had to he slain. You know how Christ was slain; there is no need to dwell upon the sufferings and death of our Well-beloved. The lamb had to he roast with Jire. That was the method by which it was prepared; and, truly, Christ our Passover was roast with fire. Through what fiery sufferings, through what consuming griefs, did he pass! There was nought about him that was sodden at all with water; but every bit of him was roast with the fire of human hatred, and also with the divine and righteous ire of the thrice-holy God.

You remember, too, that in the paschal lamb not a hone was to he hrohen. Our Lord stood in imminent jeopardy of having his bones broken, for with iron bars the Roman soldiers went to break the legs of the three crucified persons, that they might die the more quickly; but John tells us, “When they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a apear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced.” In all this is Christ our true Paschal Lamb.

But you know, dear friends, that the chief point about the paschal lamb lay in the sprinkling of the blood. The blood of the lamb was caught in a basin; and then, the father of the family took a bunch of hyssop, dipped it in the blood, and struck the lintel and the two side posts of the house, outside the door; then, when the destroying angel flew through the land of Egypt to smite the firstborn of men and of cattle, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that was on the throne to the firstborn of one that was in the dungeon, he passed by every house that was sprinkled with the blood; and these are the Lord’s memorable words concerning that ordinance, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” God’s sight of the blood was the reason for his passing over his people, and not smiting them. And you know, beloved, that the reason why God does not smite you on account of sin is that he sees the sprinkled blood of Jesus under which you are sheltering. That blood is sprinkled upon you; and as God sees it, he knows that expiation has been made, the substitutionary sacrifice has been slain, and he passes you by. Thus is Christ, the true Passover, accepted in your stead, and you are saved through him.

Remember, too, that the paschal lomh furnished food for a swpptr. It was both a security and a least for the people. The whole family stood round the table that night, and ate of the roasted lamb. With bitter herbs did they eat it, as if to remind them of the bitterness of their bondage in Egypt; with their loins girt, and with their walking staves in their hands, as men who were about to quit their homes, and go on along journey never to return, — thus they stood and ate the paschal lamb. They all ate it, and they ate it all; for not a relic of it must be left until the morning. If there was too much for one family, then others must come in to share it; and if any was left, it must be destroyed by fire. Is not this, dear friends, just what Christ is to us, — our spiritual meat, the food of our souls? We receive a whole Christ, and feed upon a whole Christ, — often with bitter herbs of repentance and humiliation; t)Ut still we feed on him, and we all eat of the same spiritual meat, even as we are all sprinkled with the one precious blood, if indeed we be the true Israel of God.

0 beloved, let us bless our Lord for the true Passover! It was a night to be remembered when Israel came out of Egypt; but it is a night to be remembered even more when you and I, by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, are once for all passed over by the angel of avenging justice, and we live when others die; — a night to be remembered when our eager lips begin to feed on him whose flesh is meat indeed, and we eat and live for ever. Is not that the teaching of this text? Did not the Saviour mean this when he said, *’ Ye know that after “AFTER TWO DAYS IS THE PASSOVEE.” 31

two days is the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified “? These two things are bracketed together; as in mathematics, there is a sort of mark of “equals” put between them to signify that the one is equal to the other, — the feast of the Passover, and the fact that the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

III. Now I turn to a third point, and I think I shall have your earnest attention upon that, because there is something in it which very deeply interests all of us who belong to Christ. I have already asked you to admire your Saviour, and to consider your sacrifice; now, dear friends, adore your Lord.

I ask you to adore your Lord, first, for his foresight. “After two days..”,. the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” We cannot prophesy concerning the future. The man who can tell me what will happen in two days must be something more than man. As to many events, it is as difiicult to foresee two minutes as to foresee two centuries, unless there be some causes operating which must produce certain effects. In our Lord’s case, the influences seemed all to point away from betrayal and crucifixion. He was extremely popular; to all appearance he was beloved by the mass of the people; and even the scribes and Pharisees, who sought his death, were thoroughly afraid of him; yet, with that clear foresight of the eye which shines in no head but that which is Divine, Jesus says, “After two days the Son of man is betrayed.’* He sees it all as if it had already happened; he does not say,” shall he,’’ but he so fully sees it, he is such a true Seer, that he says, “The Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

Now, beloved, if he thus foresaw his own betrayal and death, let us adore him, for he can foresee our trials and death. He knows all that is going to happen to us; he knows what will happen to me within two days. I bless him that I do not; I would far rather that the eyes which see into the future should be in his head than in mine, they are safer there. But, brother, if within two days, or two months,^ or two years, you are to pass through some bitter agony, some scourging and buffeting, which looks very improbable now, you may not see that it may be so, but there is One who sees it. The sheep’s best eyes are in the shepherd’s head, the sheep will do well enough if he can see what is just before him, especially if he can see his shepherd; that is all he wants to see. But the shepherd can see into the cold winter, the shepherd can see into the wild wood where lurks the wolf, the shepherd can see everything. And I want you, dear friends, to adore your Lord because, if in his humiliation he foresaw his betrayal and death, from the vantage ground of his glory he can now see your griefs and your woes that are yet in reserve; and it ought to be enough for you that he knows all about you. He knows what your difficulty will be, and he will pray for you that your faith fail not. Adore your Lord, then, for his foresight.

I want you next to adore him for his wonderful providence. There was a providence which surrounded the Christ of God at that time; it was according to the divine purpose and will that he should die at the passover, and at that particular passover, and that he should die by being betrayed, and by being crucified.. Without entering into the question of the responsibility and free will of men, I am sure

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that the providence of their Lord and Master wrought this all out. I wonder that they did not take up stones to stone him; but they could not, for he must be crucified. I wonder that they did not hire an assassin, for there were plenty in those days who would have stabbed him for a shilling. But no; he must be crucified. I marvel that they had not slain him long ago, for they did take up stones again and again to stone him; but his hour was not then come. There was a providence working all the while, and shaping his end as it shapes ours. He was immortal till his work was done. But when the two days of which he spake should be over, he must die. With cruel and wicked hands, and of their own voluntary and evil will, they crucified and slew the Christ; yet it was all according to “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” I never yet pretended to explain how free agency and absolute predestination can both be true; but I am sure that they are both true, both written in Scripture, and both facts. To reconcile them, is no business of mine or yours; but to admire how they are reconciled in fact, is a business of yours .and mine, and therefore let us do so now.

I want you, next, to admire your Lord by recognizing his exfraordinary correctnesa as a Prophet. Let me read on beyond our text: “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, into the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day,” — mark that, — ‘’ Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.” Now, note this. It must be on the feast day, and it shall be on the feast day; yet they said, “Not on the feast day.” But what does it matter what they say? Do you not observe how they were checkmated all round, how their purpose was like the whistling wind, and the eternal purpose stood firm in every particular? They said, “We will take him by subtilty, and kill him;” but they did not, they took him by force. They said, We will kill him; “but they did not, for he died by the hands of the Romans. They meant to slay him privately, but they could not, for he must be hung up before high noon in the midst of the people. And, above all, they said,” Not on the feast day. Not on the feast day.” I think I hear old Caiaphas there, with all his wisdom and all his cunning, saying, “Not on the feast day,” and Annas and all the priests join in the chorus, “Not on the feast day. Postpone it a little till the million have departed, the vulgar throng who, perhaps, would make a riot in his favour.” There they stood with their broad-bordered garments and their phylacteries, and they were of opinion that what Caiaphas had proposed, and Annas had seconded, should be carried unanimously: “Not on the feast day.” But Christ had said, “After two days is the feast day, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” We do not know how it all came to be hurried on against their deliberate will; but Judas ran to them in hot haste, and said, “What will ye give me?” and they were so eager for Christ’s death that they overleaped themselves. “We will give you thirty pieces of silver,” safd they; and they weighed them out to him, little “after two days is the passovbr.” 33

thinking how quick he would be about his accursed business. Soon he comes back, and says, “He is in the garden; you can easily take him there while he is in prayer with a few of his disciples; I will conduct you thither; “and ere long the deed of darkness is done. These crafty, cruel men had said, /’Not on the feast day;” but it was on the feast day, as Jesus had foretold that it would be.

Now, beloved, when our Lord tells us anything, let us always believe it. Whatever may appear to be against his statements, let us make nothing of it all. A man in Jerusalem at that time might have said, ‘’The Christ cannot be put to death unless these scribes and elders of the people agree to it; and you can see that they have resolved not to have it on the feast day. He will not be crucified on the passover, the whole type will break down, and it will be shown that he is not what he professed to be.” Ah, but they may say, “Not on the feast day,” till they are hoarse; but he has said, “After two days is the feast day, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified;” and so it came to pass.

Our Lord has said that he will come again; yet men ask, “Where is the promise of his coming? “Brothers, be you sure that he will come. He has always kept his word, and he will come, as he said. Ah, but they say that he will not come to punish the ungodly who have defied him; but he will! The Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations; he shall separate them the one from the other as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats, and he will say to those on his left hand,” Depart, ye cursed,’’ as surely as he will say to those on his right hand, “Come, ye blessed.” Every jot and tittle that has ever fallen from the lips of Christ is sure to come to pass, for you know that he said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Rest you upon the eternal purpose of Q-od, and the faithful promise of Christ, which shall never fail; for not one of Christ’s words shall fall to the ground unfulfilled. Let us adore him, then, as our true Prophet. “Yery God of very God,” “the faithful and true Witness,” “the Prince of the kings of the earth,” we do adore thee this very hour!

lY. Now, fourthly, and lastly, dear friends, I want you to imitate Youu Ex-;m:plar.

I will not detain you more than a minute or two upon this point; but I want you, as far as your Lord is imitable, to imitate him in the spirit of this verse. I have told you that there was no boasting in him, but that there was a deep calm and a firm resolve even in the immediate prospect of a cruel and shameful death; and I think that you should imitate your Lord in this respect. Suppose that, in two days, there shall come a “post “from the New Jerusalem to tell you that the silver cord is about to be loosed, and the golden bowl to be broken, and that your spirit must return to God who gave it. In such a case, it behoves you, dear follower of Christ, to receive that message with as much calmness as Christ delivered his own death-warrant, though it had to be spoken in such language as this;” Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” It will not run like that with you; but it may be that in two days consumption will end in hemorrhage, or that old age will bring down the frail tent of your mortality, or that the disease which is now upon you will drag you to the grave. Well, if it be so in twa days, — ah, if it were so in two hours, or two minutes! — it is for the child of God to say, “Thy will be done,” just as the Master did. Happy was that woman who said, “Every morning, before I come downstairs, I dip my foot in the river of death, and I shall not be afraid to plunge into it for the last time.” They who die daily, as we all should, are always ready to die. I like Bengel’s notion concerning death. He says, “I do not think that a Christian should make any fuss about dying. When I am in company, and somebody comes to the door, and says, ‘Mr. Bengel is wanted,’ I let the company go on with their talk, and I just slip out, and I am gone. Perhaps, after a little while, they say, * Mr. Bengel is gone.’ Yes, that is all; and that i» how I would like to die, for God to knock at my door, and for me to be gone, without making any ado about it.”

“Strangers into life we come,
And dying is but going home.”

I do not think that there ought to be any jerk on the metals when we arrive at the heavenly terminus; we just run straight on into th& shed where the engine stops, — nay, into the glory, where we shall rest for ever and ever. I think I have heard of a captain, who was so skilled that, when he had arranged all the steering gear, he had not to alter a point for thousands of miles; and when he came to the harbour, he had so guided the vessel that he sailed straight in. If you get the Lord Jesus Christ on board the vessel of your life, you will find that he is such a skilful Steersman that you will never have to alter your course. He will so set your ship’s head that, between here and heaven, there will be nothing to do but to go right on; and then, on a sudden, you will hear a voice saying, “Furl sail! Let go the anchor!” You will hear a little rattle of the chain, and the vessel will be still for ever in that port which is truly called, the Fair Havens.

That is how it should be, and I am going to finish by saying that I believe that is how it will be. If I say to you that it ought to bo so, you will perhaps say to me, “Ah, sir, but I am often subject to bondage through fear of death!” Yes, but you will not be when you come to die. 0 poor Little-faith, you want to have strength now to die with! But God knows that you are not going to die for some time yet; so what would you do with dying grace if he were to give it to you now? Where would you pack it up, and lay it by? It will be quite time to get dying grace when you come to e. Have I not seen some fidgety old folk who have been really a trouble to other people through their getting so worried and anxious? But all of a sudden there has come upon them such a beautiful quiet. It has been said, “Oh, grandma is so different! Something is going to happen, we feel sure.” One day, she had not anything to trouble her. Everybody could see that she was seriously unwell; but the dear old eyes sparkled with unusual brightness, and there was an almost unearthly smUe upon her face, and she said at night, “I don’t feel quite as well as usual; I think, to-morrow morning, I shall lie a little later.” And she did j

SO they went up to her. She said that she had had a blessed night; she did not know whether she had slept, but she had seen in the night such a wondrous sight, though she could not describe what it was like. They all gathered round the bed, for they perceived that something very mysterious had happened to her; and she blessed them all, and said, “Good-bye; meet me in heaven; “and she was gone. And they have said to me afterwards,” Our dear old grandma used always to be afraid of dying; but it did not come to much when she really came to die, did it? “I have often seen it so; it is no strange story that I am telling you now. A Christian man has been so unwise as to be always fearing that he would play the fool when he came to die; and yet, when it has come to the time of night, the dear child of God, who had long been in the dark, has received his candle; his Lord has given him his bed-room candle, and he has gone upstairs, and by its light he has passed away into the land where they need no candle, neither light of the sun, but the Lord God giveth them light. I believe that many of us will die just like that; I believe that you will, my dear sister. I believe that you will, my dear brother. As your days, your strength shall be; and as your last day is, so shall your strength be. And I should not wonder if, one of these days, you or I will be heard saying, ‘< Now, dear friends, the doctor has told me that I cannot live long. I asked him how long, and he said, ‘Perhaps, a week,’ and I was a little disappointed that I had to wait so long.” I should not wonder if those around us should hear us say, “Well, it is only two days according to their reckoning, and perhaps it will not be two days. I think that I shall go next Sunday morning, just when the bells are ringing the people into the house of prayer on earth. Just then, I shall hear heaven’s bells ringing, and I shall say, ‘Good-bye,’ and be where I have often longed to be, where my treasure is, where my Best-beloved is.” So may it be with you all, for Christ’s sake! Amen.

IBxpositions tig €. 3g. Spurgeon.

LUKE IV. 16 — 30; akd JOHN VIII. 37 — 59. (R.V.)

We will read, from the Revised Version, two passages which record attempts made to kill our Lord before his time had come. You will see,, from the sermon, why we read them.

Luke iv. Verses 16 — 2 L And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, ‘into the syn/igogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: he hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and gave it bach to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears.

Alas, not in their hearts I They had heard Christ read the prophecy that related to himself, but they had not accepted its message.

JJb METRO POLITAK TABERNACLE PULPIT.

22 — 27. And all bare himwitnesa, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth: and they said, Is not this Joseph* s son f And he said unto them, Doubtless ye will say unto me this parable, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever toe have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in thine own country. And he said. Verily I say unto you. No prophet is acceptable in his own country. But of a truth I say unto you. There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and unto none of them was Elijah sent, bat only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon unto a woman that was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet y and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian,

Thus the Saviour taught God’s absolute right to deal out his mercies as he pleases. To that great doctrine of divine sovereignty, Christ’s hearers would not submit, even as meiny in the present day will not yield.

28. And they were all filed with wrath in the synagogue, —

They admired Christ’s style of speech, but when he came to that manhumbling and God- glorifying doctrine, they were filled with wrath, —

28 — 30. As they heard these things y and they rose up, and cast him forth otit of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way.

John viii. 37 — 59. I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; yet ye seek to kill me, because my word hath not free course in you. I speak the things which 1 have seen with my Father: and ye also do the things which ye heard from your father. They answered and said unto him. Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them. If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. Bat now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from Ood: this did not Abraham. Ye do the works of your father. They said unto him. We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even Ood. Jesus said unto them. If Ood were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth and am come from Ood; for neither have 1 come oj myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech f Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts oJ your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof But because I say the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convicteth me of sin? If 1 say truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of Ood heareth the words of Ood: for this caue ye hear them not, because ye are not of Ood. The Jews answered and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye dishonour me. But I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death. The Jews said unto him. Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest. If a man keep my word, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead f and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father that

Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto him. Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham f Jesus said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Before Abraham was, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.