Jesus, the King of Truth
“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I horn, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should hear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” — John xviii. 37.
The season is almost arrived when by the custom of our fellowcitizens we are led to remember the birth of the holy child Jesus, who was born “king of the Jews.” I shall not, however, conduct you to Bethlehem, but to the foot of Calvary; there we shall learn, from the Lord’s own lips, something concerning the kingdom over which he rules, and thus we shall be led to prize more highly the joyous event of his nativity.
We are told, by the apostle Paul, that our Lord Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. It was a good confession fis to the manner of it, for our Lord was truthful, gentle, prudent, patient, meek, and yet, withal, uncompromising, and courageous. His spirit was not cowed by Pilate’s power, nor exasperated by his sneers. In his patience he possessed his soul, and remained the model witness for the truth — both in his silence and in his speech. He witnessed a confession also, as to the matter of it; for, though he said but little, that little was all that was needful. He claimed his crown rights, and, at the same time, declared that his kingdom was not of this world, nor to be sustained by force. He vindicated both the spirituality and the essential truthfulness of his sovereignty. If ever we should be placed in like circumstances, may we be able to witness a good confession too 1 We may never, like Paul, be made to plead before Nero; but, if we should, may the Lord stand by us, and help us to play the man before the lion! In our families, or among our business acquaintances, we may have to meet some little Nero, and answer to some petty Pilate; may we then also be true witnesses. 0 that we may have grace to be prudently silent or meekly outspoken, as the matter may require, in either case being faithful to our conscience and our God! May the sorrowful viaage of Jesus, the faithful and true witness, the Prince of the kings of the earth, be often before our eye, to check the first sign of flinching, and to inspire us with dauntless cournce!
We have before us, in the words of the text, a part of our Saviour’s good confession touchinor his kingdom.
I. Note, first of all, that our Lord claimed to be a king. Pilnte said, “Art thou a king, then?” asking the question with a sneering surprise that so poor a being should put forth a claim to royalty. Do you wonder that he should have marvelled greatly to find kingly claims associated with such a sorrowful condition? The Savi(pur answered, in effect, “It is even as thou sayest, I am a king.” The question was but half earnest; the answer was altogether solemn: “I am a king.” Nothing was ever nttered by our Lord with greater certainty and earnestness.
Now, notice, that our Lord’s claim to be a king was made without the slightest ostentation or desire to be advantaged thereby. There were other times when, if he had said “I am a king,” he might have been carried upon the shoulders of the people, and crowned amid general acclamations. His fanatical fellow countrymen would gladly have made him their leader at one time; and we read that they would have “taken him by force and made him a king.” At such times he «aid but little about his kingdom, and what he did say was uttered in parables, and explained only to his disciples when they were alone. Little enough did he say in his preaching concerning his birthright as the Son of David and a scion of the royal house of Judah; for he shrank from worldly honours, and disdained the vain glories of a temporal diadem. He who came in love to redeem men, had no ambition for the gewgaws of human sovereignty. But now, when he is betrayed by his disciple, accused by his countrymen, and in the hands of an unjust ruler; when no good can come of it to himself; when it will bring him derision rather than honour; he speaks out plainly and replies to his interrogator, “Thou sayest that I am a king.”
Note well the clearness of our Lord’s avowal; there was no mistaking his words: ‘* I am a king.” When the time has come for the tnith to be spoken, our Lord is not backward in declaring it. Truth has her times most meet for speech, and her seasons for silence. We are not to cast our pearls before swine, but when the hour has come for speech we must not hesitate, but speak as with the voice of a trumpet, giving forth a certain sound, that no man may mistake us. So, though a prisoner given up to die, the Lord boldly declares his royalty, though Pilate would pour derision upon him in consequence thereof. 0, for the Master’s prudence to speak the truth at the right time, and for the Master’s courage to speak it when the right time has come. Soldiers of the cross, learn of your Captain.
Our Lord’s claim to royalty must have sounded very singularly in Pilate’s ear. Jesus was, doubtless, very much careworn, sad, and emaciated in appearance. He had spent the first part of the night in the garden in an agony; in the midnight hours he had been dragged from Annas to Caiaphas, and from Caiaphas to Herod; neither at daybreak had he been permitted to rest, bO that, from sheer weariness, he must have looked vei’y unlike a king. If you had taken some poor ragged creature in the street, and paid to him, Art thou a king,
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then? “the question could scarcely have been more sarcastic. Pilatep in his heart, despised the Jews as such, but here was a poor Jew, poreecuted by his own people, helpless and friendless; it sounded like mockery to talk of a kingdom in connection with him. Yet never earth saw truer kinc! None of the line of Pharaoh, the family of Nimrod, or the race of the Csesars, was so intrinsically imperial in himself as he, or so deservedly reckoned a king among men by virtue of his descent, his achievements, or his superior character. The carnal €ye could not see this, but to the spiritual eye it is clear as noonday. To this day, pure Christianity, in its outward appearance, is an equally unattractive object, and wears upon its surface few royal tokens. It is without form or comeliness, and when men see it, there is no beauty that they should desire it. True, there is a nominal Christtianity which is accepted and approved of men, but the pure gospel is still despised and rejected. The real Christ of to-day, among men, is unknown and unrecognised as much as he was among his own nation eighteen hundred years ago. Evangelical doctrine is at a discount, holy living is censured, and spiritual-mindedness is derided. “What,” gay they, “This evangelical doctrine, call you it the royal truth? Who believes it now-a-days? Science has exploded it. There is nothing great about it; it may afford comfort to old women, and to those who have not capacity enough fur free thought, but its reign is over, never to return.” As to living in separation from the world, it is called Puritanism, or worse. Christ in doctrine, Christ in spirit, Christ in life — the world cannot endure as king. Christ chanted in cathedrals, Christ personified in lordly prelates, Christ surrounded by such as are in king’s houses, he is well enough; but Christ honestly obeyed, followed, and worshipped in simplicity, without pomp or form, they will not allow to reign over them. Few now-a-days will side with the truth their fathers bled for. The day for covenanting to follow Jesus through evil report and shame appears to have gone by. Yet, though men turn round upon us, and say, “Do you call your gospel divine? Are you so preposterous as to believe that your religion comes from God and is to subdue the world?” — we boldly answer; “Yes!” Even as beneath the peasant’s garb and the wan visage of the Son of Mary we can discern the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty Ood, the Everlasting Father I so beneath the simple form of a despised gospel we perceive the royal lineaments of truth divine. We care nothing about the outward apparel or the external housing of truth; we love it for its own sake. To us, the marble halls and the alabaster columns are nothing, we see more in the manger and the cross. We are satisfied that Christ is the king still where he was wont to be king, and that is nob among the great ones of the earth, nor among the mighty and the learned, but amongst the base things of the world and the things which are not, which shall bring to nought the things that are, for these hath God from the beginning chosen to be his own.
Let us add, that our Lord’s claim to be a king shall be acknowledged one day by all mankind. When Christ said to Pilate, according to our version, “Thou sayest that I am a king,” he virtually prophesied the future confession of all men. Some, taught by his grace, shall in tliia
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life rejoice ia him as their altocrether lovely Kino:. Blessed be God, tb(v Lord Jesus might look into the eyes of many of us, and say, “Thop gayest that I am a kin,” and we would reply, “We do say it joyfully.” But the day slall come when he shall sit upon his great white throne, and then, when the multitudes shall tremble in the presence of hisawlul majesty, even such as Pontius Pilate, and Herod, and the chief priests, shall own that he is a king! Then to each of his astounded and overwhelmingly convinced enemies he mijrht say, “Now, O despiser, thou sayest that I am a king,” for to him every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that lie is TiOrd I
Let us remember, here, that when our Lord said to Pilate, “Tho» sayest that I am king,” he was not referring to his divine dominion. Pilate was not thinking of that at all, nor did our Lord, I think,, refer to it: yet, forget not that, as divine, he is the King of kings ani Lord of lords. We must never forget that, though he died in weaknessas man, yet he ever lives and rules as God. Nor do I think he referred* to his mediatorial sovereignty, which he possesses over the earth for hispeople’s sake; for the iiord has all power committed unto him in heaven and in earth, and the Father has given him power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to as many as are given him. Pilate was not alluding to that, nor our Lord either, in the first place; but he was speaking of that rule which he personally exercises over the minds of the faithful,, by means of the truth. You remember Napoleon’s saying, “I havefounded an em])ire by force, and it has melted away; Jesus Christ, established his kingdom by love, and it stands to this day, and will stand.” That is the kingdom to which our Lord’s word refers, thip kingdom of spiritual truth in which Jesus reigns as Lord over those who are of the truth. He claimed to be a king, nnd the truth which he: revealed, and of which he was the personification, is, therefore, the-Bceptre of his empire. He rules by the force of truth over those hearts which feel the power of right and truth, and therefore willingly yield) themselves to his guidance, believe his word, and are governed by liiswill. It is as a spiritual Lord that Christ claims sovereignty among men; he is king over minds that love him, trust him, and obey him,, because they see in him the truth which their souls; pine for. Other kings rule our bodies, but Christ our souls, they govern by force, but he by the attractions of righteousness; theirs is, to a great extent, ap fictitious royalty, but his is true, and finda its force in truth.
So much, then, upon Christ’s claims to be a king.
IL Now, observe, secondly, that OUE Lord declared this king-DOM TO BE HIS MAIN OBJECT IN LIFE. “To this end was I born, an(f for this cause came I into the world.” To set up his kingdom was the reason why he was born of the virgin. To be King ot men, it was necessary for him to be born. He was always the Lord of all; he needed not to be born to be a king in that sense, but to be king through the power of truth, it was essential that he should be born in: our nature. Why so? I answer, first, because it seems unnatural that a ruler should be alien in nature to the people over whom he rules. An angelic king of men would be unsuitable; there could not exist the sympathy which is the cement of a spiritual empire. Jesus, that he might govern by force of love and truth alone, became of one nature
JESUS, THE KliUy OF TRUTH. with mankind; he was a man among men, a real mtn — but a right noble and kingly man, and so a King of men.
Bnt, oiain, the Lord was born that he might be able to save hia people! ‘Subjects are essential to a kingdom; a king cannot be a kmg if there be none to govern. But all men must have perished through sin had not Christ come into the world and been born to save. Hia birth was a necessary step to his redeeming death; his mcarnation waa necessary to the atonement., u j- a
Moreover, truth never exerts such power as when it is embodiecf. Truth spol<en may be defeated, but truth acted out in the life of a man is omnipotent, throuih the Spirit of God. Now, Christ did not merely speak the truth, but he was truth. Had he been truth embodied in an angelic form, he had possessed small power over our hearts and lives but perfect truth in a human form has royal power over renewed humanity. Truth embodied in flesh and blood has power over flesh and blood. Hence, for this purpose was he born. So when ye hear th& bells rinring out at Christmas, think of the reason why Jesus was born; dream not that he came to load your tables and fill your cups; but in your mirth look higher than all earth-born things. When you hear that in certain churches there are pompous celebrations and ecclesiastical displays, think not for this purpose was Jesus born. No; bub look within your hearts, and say, for this purpose was he born: that he might be a King, that he might rule through the truth m the souls of a people who are by grace made to love the truth of God.
And then he added, “For this cause came I into the world;” that is,, he came out of the bosom of the Father that he might set up his kingdom, by unveiling the mvsteries which were hid from the foundation of the world. No man can “reveal the counsel of God, but one who has been with God; and the Son who has come forth of the ivory palaces of gladness, announces to us tidings of great joy! For this cause also came he into the world, from the obscure retirement of Joseph’s workshop, where, for many years he was hidden like a pearl in its shell. It was needful that he should be made known, and that the truth to which he witnessed should be sounded in the ears of the crowd. Since he was to be a King, he must leave seclusion, and come forth to do battle for his throne; he must address the multitudes on the hill-side; he must speak by the sea-shore; he must gather disciples, and send them forth by two and two to publish on the housetops the secrets of mightytruth! He came not forth because he loved to be seen of men, or courted popularity; but for this purpose — that, the truth being published, he might set up his kingdom. It was needful that he should come out into the world and teach, or truth would not be known, and consequently could not operate. The sun must come forth, like a bridegroom out of his chamber, or the kingdom of light will never be established; the breath must come forth from the hiding-place of the winds, or life will never reign in the valley of dry bones. During three years our Lord lived conspicuously, and emphatically “came into the world.” He was seen of men so closely as to be beheld, looked upon, touched, and handled. He was intended to be a pattern, and therelore, it was needful that he should be seen. The Ure of a man who lives in absoluteretirement may be admirable for himself and acceptable with (jlod, but it cannot be exemplary to men: for this cause the Lord came forth into the world, that all he did might influence mankind. His enemies were permitted to watch his every action, and to endeavour to entrap him in his speech, by way of test; his friends saw him in privacy, and knew what he did in solitude; thus his whole life was reported — he was observed on the cold mountain-side at midnight, as well as in the midst of the great congregation. This was permitted to make the truth known, for every action of his life was truth, and tended to set up the kingdom of truth in the world.
Let us pause here. Christ is a king, a king by force of truth in a spiritual kingdom; for this purpose was he born; for this cause came he into the world. My soul, ask thyself this question: — Has this purpose of Christ’s birth and life been answered in thee? If not, what avails Christmas to thee? The choristers will sing, “Unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given.” Is that true to thee? How can it be unless Jesus reigns in thee, and is thy Saviour and thy Lord? Those who can in truth rejoice in his birth are those who know him as their bosom’s Lord, ruling their understanding by the truth of his doctrine; their admiration by the truth of his life; their affections by the truth of his person. To such he is not a personage to be pourtrayed with a crown of gold and a robe of purple, like the common theatrical kings of men; but one brighter and more heavenly, whope crown is real, whose dominion is unquestionable, who rules by truth and love! Do we know this King?
This question may well come home to us, for, beloved, there are many who say, “Christ is my King,” who know not what they say, for they do not obey him. He is the servant of Christ who trusts in Christ, who walks according to Christ’s mind, and loves the truth which Jesus has revealed; all others are mere pretenders.
III. But now I must pass on. Our Lord, in the third place, revealed THE NATURE OF HIS ROYAL POWER. I have already spoken on that, but I must do so again. We should have thought the text would have run thus: “Thou sayest that I am a king; to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should establish my kingdom.” It is not so in words, but so it must mean, for Jesus was not incoherent in his speech. We conclude that the words employed have the same meaning as that which the context sufrgests, only it is differently expressed. If our Lord had said, “That I might establish a kingdom,” he might have misled Pilate; but when he availed himself of the flpiritual explanation, and said that his kingdom was truth, and that the establishment of his kingdom was by bearing witness to the truth, then, though Pilate did not understand him — for it was far above his comprehension — yet, at any rate, he was not misled.
Our Lord, in effect, tells us that truth is the pre-eminent characteristic of his kingdom, and that his royal power over men’s hearts is through the truth. Now, the witness of our Lord among men was emphatically upon real and vital matters. He dealt not with fiction, but with facts; not with trifles, but with infinite realities. He speaks not of opinions, views, or speculations, but of infallible verities. How many preachers waste time over what may be or may not be! Our Lord’s testimony was pre-eminently practical and matter-of-fact, full of
▼erities and certainties. I have sometimes, when hearing sermons, wished the preacher would come to the point, and would deal with something that really concerned our soul’s welfare. What concern have dying men with the thousand trivial questions which are flitting around us? We have heaven or hell before us, and death within a stone’sthrow; for God’s sake do not trifle with us, but tell us the truth at once! Jesus is king in his people’s souls, because his preaching has blessed us in the grandest and most real manner, and set us at rest upon points of boundless importance. He has not given us well-chiselled stones, but real bread. There are a thousand things which you may not know, and you shall be very little the worse for not knowing them; but 0, if you do not know that which Jesus has taught, it shall go ill with you. If you are taught of the Lord Jesus, you shall have rest for your cares, balm for your sorrows, and satisfaction for your desires. Jesus gives sinners who believe in him the truth which they need to know; the assurance of sin forgiven through his blood, favour ensured by his righteousness, and heaven secured by his eternal life.
Moreover, Jesus has power over his people because he testifies not to symbols, but to the very substance of truth. The Scribes and Pharisees were very fluent upon sacrifices, offerings, oblations, tithes, fastings, and the like; but what influence could all that exert over aching hearts? Jesus has imperial power over contrite spirits, because he tells them of his one real sacrifice s.nd of the perfection which he has secured to all believers. The priests lost their power over the people because they went no further than the shadow, and sooner or later all will do so who rest in the symbol. The Lord Jesus retains his power over his saints because he reveals the substance, for grace and truth are by Jesus Christ. What a loss of time it is to debate upon the fashion of a cope, or the manner of celebrating communion, or the colour suitable for the clergyman’s robes in Advent, or the precise date of Easter. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity! Such trifles will never aid in getting up an everlasting kingdom in men’s hearts. Let us take care lest we also set great store by externals, and miss the essential, spiritual life of our holy faith. Christ’s kingdom is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost!
The power of King Jesus in the hearts of his people lies much in the fact that he brings forth unalloyed truth, without mixture of error. He has delivered to us pure light and no darkness; his teaching is no combination of God’s word and man’s inventions; no mixture of inspiration and philosophy; silver without dross is the wealth which he gives his servants. Men taught of his Holy Spirit to love the truth, recognise this fact and surrender their souls to the royal sway of the Lord’s truth, and it makes them free, and sanctifies them; nor can anything make them disown such a sovereign, for as the truth lives and abides in their hearts, so Jesus, who is the truth, abides also. If you know what truth is, you will as naturally submit yourselves to the teachings of Christ as ever children yield to a father’s rule.
The Lord Jesus taught that worship must be true, spiritual, and of the heart, or else it would be nothing worth. He would not take sides with the temple atGerizim or that on Zion, but he declared that the time was come when thosis who worshipped God would worship kim i!> spirit and in trnt h. Now, regenerate hearts feel the power of this, anc rejoice that it emancipntes them from the begg:arly elements of carnHl ritualism. They accept eladly the truth that pious words of prayer or praise are vanity, unless the heart has living worship within it. In the great truth of spiritual worship, believers possess a Magna Charta, dear as life itself. We refuse to be again subject to the yoke of bondage, and cleave to our emancipating king.
Our Lord taught, also, that all false livinc: was base and loathsome. He poured contempt on the phylacteries of hypocrites and the broad borders of the garments of oppressors of the poor. With him, ostentatious’ alms, long prayers, frequent fasts, and the tithe of mint and cummin, were all nothing when practised by those who devoured widows* houses. He cared nothing for white-washed sepulchres and platters with outsides made clean, he judged the thoughts and intents of the heart. What woes were those which he denounced upon the formalists of his day! It must have been a grand sight to have seen the lowly Jesus roused to indignation, thundering forth peal on peal his denunciations of hypocrisy. Elias never called fire from heaven one half so grandly. ‘* Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,” is the loudest roll of heaven’s artillery! See how, like another Samson, Jesus slays the shams of his age, and»piles them heaps upon heaps to rot for ever. Shall not he who teaches us true living be king of all the sons of truth? Let us even now salute him as Lord and King.
Besides, beloved, our Lord came not only to teach us the truth, but a mysterious power goes forth from him, through that Spirit which rests on him without measure — which subdues chosen hearts to truthfulness, and then guides truthful hearts into fulness of peace and joy. Have you never felt when you have been with Jesus, that a sense of his purity has made you yearn to be purged of all hypocrisy and every false way? Have you not been ashamed of yourself when you have come forth from hearing his word, from watching his life, and, above all, from enjoying his fellowship — quite ashamed that you have not been more real, more sincere, more true, more upright, and so a more loyal subject of the truthful King? I know you have. Nothing: about Jesus is false or even dubious; he is transparent — from head to foot he is truth in public, truth in private, truth in word, and truth in deed. Hence it is that he has a kingdom over the pure in heart, and is vehemently extolled by all those whose hearts are set upon righteousness.
IV. And now, in the fourth place, our Lord disclorf.d the method OP HIS CONQUEST. “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear tvitness for the truth:’ Christ never yet set up his kingdom by force of arms. Mahomet drew the sword, and converted men by giving them the choice of death or conversion; but Christ said to Peter, “Put up thy sword into its sheath.” No compulsion ought to be used with any man to lead him to receive any opinion, much less to induce him to espouse the truth. Falsehood requires the rack of the Inquisition, but truth needs not such unworthy aid; her own beauty, and the Spirit of God, are her strength. Moreover, Jesus used no arts of priestcraft, or tricks of superstition. Ihe foolish are persuaded of a dogma, by the fact that it is promulgated by a learned doctor of hih degree, but our Rabboni wears no sounding titles of honour; the vulgar imagine that a statement must be correct if it emanates from a person who wears lawn sleeves, or from a place where the banners are of costly workmanship, and the music of the sweetest kind: these things are arguments with those who are amenable to no other; but Jesus owes nothing to his apparel, and influences none by artistic arrangements. None can say that he reigns over men by the glitter of pomp, or the fascination of sensuous ceremonies. His battle-axe is the truth; truth is both his arrow and his bow, his sword and his buckler. Believe me, no kingdom is worthy of the Lord Jesus but that which has its foundations laid in indisputable verities; Jesus would scorn to reign by the help of a lie.
True Christianity was never promoted by policy or guile, by doing a wrong thing, or saying a false thing. Even to exaggerate truth is to beget error, and so to pull down the truth we would set up. There are some who say, “Bring out one line of teaching, and nothing else, lest you should seem inconsistent.” What have I to do with that? If it be God’s truth, I am bound to deliver it all, and to keep back none of it. Policy, like a sailing vessel, dependant on the wind, tacks about hither and thither; but the true man, like a vessel having its motive power within, goes straight onward in the very teeth of the hurricane. When God puts truth into men’s souls, he teaches them never to tack or trim, but to hold to truth at all hazards. This is what Jesus always did. He bore witness to the truth, and there left the matter; being guileless as a lamb.
Here it will be fit to answer the question, “What truth did he witness to?” Ah, my brethren, what truth did he not witness to? Did he not mirror all truth in his life? See how clearly he set forth the truth that God is love. How melodious, how like a peal of Christmas bells, was his witness to the truth that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life.” He also bore witness that God is just. How solemnly he proclaimed that fact! His flowing wounds, his dying agonies rang out that solemn truth, as with a knell which even the dead might hear. He bore witness to God’s demand fur truth in the inward parts; for he often dissected men and laid them bare, and opened up their secret thoughts and discovered them to themselves, and made them see that only sincerity could bear the eye or God. Did he not bear witness to the truth that God had resolved to make for himself a new people and a true people? Was he not always telling of his sheep who heard his voice, of the wheat which would be gathered into the gamer, and of the precious things which would be treasured up when the bad would be thrown away? Therein he was bearing witness that the false must die, that the unreal must be consumed, that the lie must rust and rot; but that the true, the sincere, the gracious, the vital, shall stand every test, and outlast the sun. In an age of shams, he was always sweeping away pretences and establishing truth and right by his witness. And now, beloved, this is the way in which Christ’s kingdom is to be set up in the world. For this cause was the church born, and for this end came she into the world, that she might set up Christ’s kingdom by bearing witness to the truth. I long, my beloved, to see you all witnessbearers. If you love the Lord, bear witness to the truth. You must do it personally; you must also do it collectively. Never join any chuich whose creed you do not entirely and unfeignedly believe, for if you do you act a lie, and are, moreover, a partaker in the error of other men’s testimonies. I would not for a moment say anything to retard Christian unity, but there is something before- unity, and that is, truth in the inward parts “and honesty before God. I dare not be a member of a church whose teaching I knew to be false in vital points. I would sooner go to heaven alone than belie my conscience for the sake of company. You may say, “But I protest against the error of my church.” Dear friends, how can you consistently protest against it when you profess to agree with it, by being a member of the church which avows it? If you are a minister of a church, you do in effect say before the world, “I believe and teach the doctrines of this church;” and if you go into the pulpit and say you do not believe them, what will people conclude? I leave you to judge that. I saw a church tower the other day, with a clock upon it, which startled me by pointing to half-past ten when I thought it was only nine; I was, however, quite relieved when I saw that another face of the clock indicated a quarter past eight. “Well,” thought I, “whatever time it may be, that clock is wrong, for it contradicts itself.” So if I hear a man say one thing by°his church-membership and another by his private protest, why, whatever may be right, he certainly is not consistent with himself.
Let us bear witness to the truth, since there is great need of doing BO just now, for witnessing is in ill repute. The age extols no virtue BO much as “liberality,” and condemns no vice so fiercely as bigotry, alias honesty. If you believe anything and hold it firmly, all the doga will bark at you. Let them bark: they will have done when they are tired! You are responsible to God, and not to mortal men. Christ came into the world to bear witness to the truth, and he has sent you to do the same; take care that you do it, offend or please; for it is only by this process that the kingdom of Christ is to be set up in the world.
Now, the last thing is this. Our Saviour, having spoken of his kingdom and the way of establishing it, described his sdbjects: “Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.” That is to say, wherever the Holy Spirit has made a man a lover of truth, he always recognises Christ’s voice and yields himself to it. Where are the people who love the truth? Well, we need not enquire long. We need not Diogenes’ lantern to find them, they will come to the light; and where is light but in Jesus? Where are those that would not seem to be what they are not? Where are the men who desire to be true in secret and before the Lord? They may be discovered where Christ’s people are discovered; they will be found listening: to those who bear witness to the truth. Those who love pure truth, and know what Christ is, will be sure to fall in love with him and hear his voice. Judge ye, then, this day, brethren and sisters, whether ye are of the truth or not; for if you love the truth, you know and obey the voice which calls you away from your old sins, from false refuges, from evil habits, from everthing which is not after the Lord’s mind. You have heard him in your conscience rebuking you for that of the false which remains in you; encouraging in you that of the true which is struggling there. I have done, when I have urged on you one or two reflections.
The first is, beloved, Dare we avow ourselves on the side of truth at this hour of its humiliation? Do we own the royalty of Christ’s truth when we see it every day dishonoured. If gospel truth were honoured everywhere, it would be an easy thing to say “I believe it;” but now, in these days, when it has no honour among men, dare we cleave to it at all costs? Are you willing to walk with the truth through the mire and through the slough? Have you the courage to profess unfashionable truth? Are you willing to believe the truth against which science, falsely so-called, has vented her spleen? Are you willing to accept the truth although it is said that only the poor and uneducated -will receive it? Are you willing to be the disciple of the Galilean, whose apostles were fishermen? Verily, verily, I say unto you, in that day in which the truth in the person of Christ shall come forth in all its glory, it shall go ill with those who were ashamed to own it and its Master.
In the next place, if we have heard Christ’s voice, do’we recognise our life-object? Do we feel, “For this end were we born, and for this cause came we into the world, that we might bear witness to the truth?” I do not believe that you, my dear brother, came into the world to be a linendraper, or an auctioneer, and nothing else. I do not believe that God created you, my sister, to be merely and only a sempstress, a nurse, or a housekeeper. Immortal souls were not created for merely mortal ends. For this purpose was I born, that, with my voice in this place, and everywhere else, I might bear witness to the truth. You acknowledge that: then I beg you, each one, to acknowledge that you have a similar mission. ‘* I could not occupy the pulpit,” says one. Never mind that: bear witness for the truth where yeu are, and in your own sphere. 0 waste no time or energy, but at once testify for Jesus.
And now, last of all, do you own Christ’s superlative dignity, beloved? Do you see what a King, Christ is? Is he such a King to you as none other could be? It was but yesterday .a prince entered one of our great towns, and they crowded all their streetb to welcome him — yet he was but a mortal man. And then at night they illuminated their city, and made the heavens low as though the avm had risen before his appointed hour. Yet what had this prince <lone for them? Loyal subjects were they, and that was the reason of their joy. But 0, beloved, we need not ask, “What has Christ done for us?” — we will ask, ‘* “What has he not done for us?” Emmanuel, we owe all to thee! Thou art our new creator, our Redeemer from the lowest pit of hell 1 In thyself resplendent and altogether lovely, thy beauties command our adoration 1 Thou hast lived for us, thou hast bled for us, thou hast died for us; and thou art preparing a kingdom for us, and thou art coming again to take us to be with thee where thon art I All this commands our love. All hail! all hail 1 Thou art our King, and we worship thee with all our soul!
Beloved, I beseech you love Christ, and live for him while you can. Work while opportunity serves. While I have been laid aside, and able to do nothing, the great sorrow of my heart has been my inability to do him service. 1 heard my brethren shouting in the battle-field, and I saw my comrades marching to the fight, and I lay like a wounded soldier in the ditch, and could not stir, save that I breathed a prayer that you might all be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. This was my thought: “Oh, that I had preached better while I could preach, and lived more for the Master while I could serve him!” Don’t incur such regrets in the future by present sluggishness, but live now for him who died for you!
If any present in this assembly have never obeyed our King, m;iy they come to trust in him to-night; for he is a tender Saviour, and is willing to receive the biggest and blackest sinner who will come to hi.n. Whosoever trusts in him, will never find him fail; for he will save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. May he bring you co his feet, and reign over you in love. Amen.
VoRTioN OF Scripture read before Sermon — Psalm lxxx?.
Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, February 12th, 1882, by
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“Pilate saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.” — John xviii. 38.
I SHOULD like, if God spares us, to present to you on Sabbath mornings the full story of our Saviour’s sufferings. We began last Lord’s-day by going with him to the hall of Caiaphas, and it was a sadly solemn time when we beheld the Prince of Peace a prisoner, heard hini falsely accused and unjustly condemned, and then saw him abused, till servants and abjects did spit in his face and make a mockery of him. I hope that you will not be wearied with this subject. If so, it will be the fault of the preacher, for the subject is ever full and fresh: or if the preacher be not to blame, there will be something of censure due to his hearers. If we do grow tired of the story of the cross it will be a sad indication of secret soul-sickness, and it will be well to observe the symptom and hasten to the great Physician for healing. To true saints in a healthy condition there is no place more attractive than the place of our Lord’s passion where he accomplished the glorious work of our redemption. They love to linger along that Via Dolorosa which leads from Gethsemane tO’ Golgotha; let us linger with them.
When I stand and view my Lord, like the bush in Horeb, burning but not consumed, I hear a voice saying unto me, “The place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Nothing is more holy than the person of our divine Master; it is, therefore, well to be with him. The anguish which he endured when he devoted his person as a sacrifice for us is holy too, and so it is well to be with him in his sufferings. His sorrows have a most sanctifying influence upon all who consider them with believing love. lam persuaded that if we lived more in the atmosphere of the cross sin would lose its power, and every grace would flourish. When we draw very near to him and have fellowship with him in his sufferings we raise a hue and cry against the sin which slew him, and resolve to be revenged upon it by departing from it ourselves, and by warring against it whenever we see it in others. The cross is that holy implement with which we make war with sin till it be utterly destroyed. Blessed and holy, then, are the thoughts which are aroused by qui- great sacrifice.
No. 1,644,.. 22
Nor is it only so; but the medicine which brings us health is in itself a joy.
“Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,
Which bpfore the cross I spend,
Lite, and health, and peace possessing,
In the sinner’s dying Friend.”
Here is no noise as of them that make merry over their wine, no shout of them that triumph, no song of them that feast; but here is a grnve, sweet melody as of hearts that have foCind rest. At the cross we find a substantial joy, a far-reaching satisfaction, “the peace of God, which passe th all understanding.” Here, ye restless ones, is the cure of restlessness: here shall you say, “0 God, my heart is fixed, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise.” I shall not, therefore, make any excuse, even if for weeks to come I should lead you to the place of dragons where your Lord was sore broken, and help you to drink of his €up, and to be baptized with his baptism. May the Spirit of God come upon and open our eyes to read the sacred heart of him whose sorrows are unrivalled, — sorrows borne for love of us.
Let us go to the narrative at once with loving and lowly carefulness. Our Lord was condemned by the chief priests for blasphemy, because he declared himself to be the Son of God, and told them that they should hereafter see him coming in the clouds of heaven to be their judge. Rending his garments, the high priest said, “AVhat need have we of any further witness? Ye have heard his blasphemy.” When the morning light had come, and they had gone through the formality of a set trial by daylight, having really condemned him in the night, they led Jesus away to Pilate. According to tradition, he was led with a rope about his neck, and his hands bound; and I can fully believe in the tradition when I remember the words of Isaiah: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.” It was a strangely sad procession which moved through Jerusalem a little after six in the morning. Those men of the Sanhedrim in all their pomp and power surrounding this one poor victim, whom they were about to deliver to the Gentiles with the one design that he might be put to death! Those wicked men of pride were as the dogs of whom the Psalmist sang when the hind of the morning was his tender theme.
When they came to the house of the Roman governor, they would not themselves enter within its doors. It is said to have been one of the many magnificent palaces which Herod the Great built for himself; the architecture was gorgeous, the floors were inlaid with choice marbles, and all the chambers were richly gilded and furnished with Oriental splendour. Into the great hall these scrupulous hypocrites would not enter because they must by no means be defiled by the touch of a Gentile, for they had already commenced to keep the Passover. So they waited in the courtyard, and Pilate condescended to come out to them and learn the pressing business which brought them there so early in the morning. The Roman governor was proud, and cruel, and abhorred the Jews; but still, knowing their fanaticism and the readiness with which they broke loose at Passover times, he stood at his palace-gate and heard their demands. He soon ascertained that they had brought him a prisoner, evidently a poor man, and in personal
OUR lord’s first appearance before PILATE. 339
appearance emaciated, weary, and suffering. About hina there was a mysterious dignity combined with singular gentleness, and Pilate for this and other reasons evidently took a singular interest in him. Fixing his gaze first upon the extraordinary prisoner, he turned to the angry priests and demanded, “What accusation bring ye against this man?”
The one object of the priests in bringing Jesus to Pilate was to get him put to death; for when Pilate told them to go and judge him according to their law, they replied that they would gladly do so, but that the power of life and death had been taken from them, implying that nothing but his death would content them. They were, however, very anxious at this stage to lay the responsibility of his death upon the Romans, for the fear of the people was still upon them, and if they could secure his death by Pilate, then they might in after days protest that they merely handed him over to the Roman governor and could not foresee that he would be handled so roughly. They had not yet bribed the populace to cry, “Crucify him,” and they were willing to be on the safe side should the people make an uproar on his behalf. Humanly speaking, they could have put him to death themselves, for he was entirely in their power, and they frequently forgot the Roman law and slew men in riotous fury, as when they stoned Stephen. They had frequently attempted to stone our Lord himself, so that they were not always so mindful of Roman law. They might have taken his life on this occasion, but they were led by a mysterious impulse to desire that the actual responsibility of the deed should rest on Pilate. Further on they were willing to join with the fickle throng in sharing the guilt of his blood, but as yet they would fain throw it upon others. During their great festivals if they took innocent blood, their hypocrisy made them wish to do it by forms of law and by an alien hand. To do this they must bring an accusation, for no Roman ruler would condemn a man till an accusation had been made.
We shall, this morning, consider the hvo accusations that they brought, and after that we shall hear the verdict of acquittal which Pilate gave in the language of the text: “I find in him no fault at all.”
I. The first accusation, if you will turn to the chapter and read the thirtieth verse, was that he was A malefactor. “They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.” He was said to be a factor, or doer of that which is evil; a person of such a mischievous life that he ought not to live.
Upon which we remark, first, that it was a novel charge. It was hot ^.from their mint; for when he stood before Caiaphas nothing was said ’ of any evil that he had done, but only of evil that he had spoken. They charged him with saying this and that, but not with doing any evil deed. The accusation of evil speaking had broken down, and they did not venture upon it a second time, because they knew very well that Pilate did not care what the man had said; all he would attend to would be some actual breach of law by act and deed. The Romans were a practical people, and so when Pilate led our Lord into the audience chamber he said to him, “What hast thou done?” He did not say to him, “What hast thou taught or preached?” but, “What hast thou done?” For this reason, the priests brought forward this newly-inTented accusation and totally unfounded charge that he was t bad doer, which might mean little or much, as the hearer chose to interpret it, — malice is seldom specific in its charges. The accusation of being a malefactor grew out of their malevolence, and not out of any action of our Lord’s perfect life. One is surprised that even hateshould be 80 blind as to assail his perfections. Whatever men may think of our Lord as a teacher, candour demands that they admire his. example and award it the highest meed of honour.
Observe, the priests herein brought against our Lord a charge which ihey did not attempt to sustain. How craftily they evaded the task of supplying proof! They brought no witnesses, their suborned perjurer* were left behind; they even forbore from specific charges but the general statement that he was a malefactor was supported only by their reputation. “If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee,” as much as to say, “You must take it for granted that, he is guilty, or we would not say so. Here is our high priest: can it be supposed that such a gem of an individual would bring a false accusation? We also are the chief priests and the scribes, and teachers of Israel: can it be imagined that persons of our station and sanctity could by any possibility have brought an innocent person before you to be condemned!” This style of argument I have heard even in thesedays: we are expected to give up the faith because scientists condemn: it, and they are such eminent persons that we ought to accept their dicta, without further delay. I confess I am not prepared to accept their infallibility any more than that which hails from Rome. The Roman governor was not to be overriden by priests, neither are we to be led by the nose by pretendedly learned men. “If he were not a malefactor,, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.” Oh, the hypocrisy of this speech! They had tried to bring witnesses, and no witness had been found. They had suborned false witnesses, but these had so differed in their testimony that the whole thing broke down. They, therefore, go upon another tack, and put their own names at the back of the indictment, as if that were quite enough, and enquiry need go no further. I think I see the scornful glance of Pilate as he bade them judge him themselves if that was their style of justice; as for him, he must hear an accusation or dismiss them to do their own pleasure if they dare* He knew that through envy they had brought Jesus unto him, and h& loathed the hypocrites as he heard the wretched syllables sibillating from their sanctimonious lips.
They could not have sustained the charge, and so far they were wise in not attempting the impossible. They might be foolhardy enough to wrest his words, but they hesitated before the task of attacking his deeds. Before his awful holiness they were for the moment out.of heart, and knew not what slander to invent.. 0 Lord, we marvel that any men should find fault with thee, for thou art altogether lovely, and there is in thee no spot for falsehood to light upon. But I want to call your attention to this remarkable fact, that although this charge of being a malefactor was a grievous one, a trumped up one, and unsustained by any evidence, yet it was never denied by the Lord Jesus Christ. It was useless to deny it before the priests. He had already challenged them to find fault with his life, saying, “I spake openly to the
OUE LORD’S FIKST APPEiRANOB BEFORE PUATB. 841
^orld- I ever taught in the synagogue and in the te^P’^; «’’’^’«’
ing, for t was as useless to aigue with them as loi a i
.controversy with a pack of -° -,^,-f VX’Vnswerfng to pLte Ibr
fan What have I done? Certainly nothing wherefore they could itr-tolat’rut everything why they should accej,t me as er
■The death ordained for b”n;vascruc,hx,on John ajs .n
chapter at the thuty-second verse, y’f “”■ ‘X = luld die.” What fulflVd, wl,ich l-;P”ke, ^’g);;;^ lyin” th ttlfth chapter of was that suy mg.’ Is it not tue saym u. i i
John’s gospel at the thirty-second TS!; ‘,,/;,’ 5, Kl at deatl. arth will d-w all men mUo m. In pe ‘^,.,^’8 „ y,^”^,„,, „..,,
^:atr:lf.ch’:ou,d7l|»^^ - — -s/rconVeri l’tl^rrr ro^4tr4^^^^^^^^^ He had sea even more expressly in a passage recorded by Matthew, in the twentieth chapter at the seventeenth verse, where he had declared how he shoulri die. “And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him r and the third day he shall rise again.” In order that the word which he had spoken might be fufiUed, our blessed Master refused to plead before Pilate anything in answer to the question, “What hast thou done?” He stands as a transgressor, to die a transgressor’s death; wherefore for ever blessed be his adorable name for his voluntary endurance of penalty for our sakes.
When I think of that word “malefactor,” another word leaps to my lips directly. Cull him not malefactor, but benefactor. What a benefactor must he be who in order to benefit us allows himself to be branded &% a “malefactor “! Only think that he who at this moment sits in the centre of adoring angels should have been called “malefactor;” that he from whose inexhaustible store of goodness all the saints in heaven and on earth are fed should yet be called “malefactor;” that he who never thought of harm to men, but whose very soul is love, whose every word and thought has been kindness towards this fallen race, should yet be called “malefactor.” 0 earth, how couldst thou bear so grave a lie against the infinite goodness of the Son of God! And yet, for ever blessed be his name, he does not hurl back the charge, for that would have been to ruin us. He meekly bears the scandal for our sakes.
Should not this sweeten every title of reproach that can ever fall upon us? What if they call us ill names! They called the Master of the home “malefactor,” can they call us anything worse? Shall we look for honour where our Captain found nothing but shame? Wherefore let it be our glory to bear shame and reproach for Jesus’ sake. So much for the first accusation.
II. Secondly, when the priests and scribes found that merely calling him a malefactor was not sufficient, these wretched men changed their tactics, and, according to Luke, they charged him with setting up to be A KING. They said that he wrought sedition, that he forbade to pay tribute unto Caisar, and made himself out to be a king. These were three great lies, for Jesus had preached peace, and not sedition; his example was submission, not rebellion; his spirit was that of a sersant,. not that of a turbulent party l(;ader. Ue had never said that mea were not to pay tribute to Cicsar; on the contrary, he had said,. “Render unto Ciosar the things that are Ctcsar’s,” and submittei himself to every ordinance of authority. He had never in their sense set himself up to be a king; if he had done so, many who were no.yhis accusers might have been his partisans. The charge against Jesus of setting up to be a king in the sense in which they desired Pilate to understand them was uliedij false, lor when the multitude had been fed, they would have taken him and made him a king, bu: he hid himself. Nay, so far from wishing to be a king, when one said to him, “Master, speak to my brother that he divide the ijiheritance’ with me,” he said, “Who made me a judge or a divider over you.” H^.
OUR lord’s first ArPKARANCE BEFORE PILATE. 343
pnt aside any approach to interference with the reigning powers. IIU accusers must have known that if he had willed he had power at his back to have supported his claims, even as he said to Pilate that if he had been a kino- of a worldly dominion, his servants would have tought tor him. His followers had been brave and courageous, and enthusiastic, and they would, no doubt, have given no end of trouble both to the Jews atid to the Romans if their leader had claimed a temporal sovereignty But our Lord had made Peter put up his sword into its sheath, and healed the wound which he had given. All his life long he had preached peace and love, and a kingdom which is righteousness and peace, lie was no rival to Caesar, and they knew it..,. - ^-^
And please to notice that this charge of Christ being a king dta not come from the governing power. When Pilate asked our Lord, “Art thou the King of the Jews?” our Saviour wisely replied, “Sayest thou this of thyself, or did another tell thee it of me? Have you any reason to think that I am a leader of sedition? As the governor of this nation you have to watch carefully, for the people are seditious; have you ever seen or heard anything of me that looks like au attack on your authority? Have you anything of your own knowledge that would lead you to bring a charge against me r; Pilate, knowing nothing whatever against him, and indeed scorning the idea that he knew anything about the Jewish people, whom he detested, replied haughtily, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and your own rulers have brought this charge against you, not L” A great point was gained when Pilate said this; the charge was shown to be a mere invention, since the eagle eye of the Roman procurator had never seen the slightest ground for it. ., tt u tu j.
// was a frivolous charge on the very face of it. How could that harmless, forsaken man be a peril to Caesar? What had the Roman leo-ions to fear from that solitary sufferer? He was too meek and pure to tlfreaten warfare and strife in the domain of Tiberius. Look at him, and realize the absurdity of the situation. Moreover, it would seem a strange thing that the Jewish people should bring before the Roman governor their own king. Is this the way that subjects treat their monarehs? If he be a leader of sedition he does not seem to have succeeded with his countrymen, for the heads of the people are seeking his death. There could be upon the face of it no chance of danger whatever from rebellion which was so summarily put down by the Jews themselves if they had not been besotted by their rage, they would themselves have shrunk from so absurd a position. „,, .. r 7
But yet I want you to note very carefully that the Lord never amied this cha.qe in the sense in which he chose to understand it. He lirst explained what he meant by his being a king, and when he had explained it then he openly confessed that it was even so.
First, I say, he explained tvhat he meant hg being a king, and notice carefully that he did not explain it away. He said, “My kingdom, and also when Pilate said,” Art thou a king then? he said, “Ihou sayest that I am a king.” He was there and then a real king, and he avowed it without reserve. We are constantly told that the kingdom of Christ is a spiritual kingdom, and this saying is true; but 1 would have you take heed that you do not spirit away his kingdom as il it
i IIETROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT.
were only a pious dream. Spiritual or not, the kingdom of Christ on earth is real and powerful. It is real none the less, but all the more, because it may fitly be called spiritual. Jesus is even now a king. He said, “I am a king.” Some say that his kingdom is not yet, but is reserved for the latter days; but I aver that he is a king to-day, and that even now Jehovah hath set him as king upon the holy hill of Zion. I bless God that he hath translated us “Into the kingdom of his dear Son.” ‘’Thou art the king of glory, 0 Christ.” When I say, “Thy kingdom come,” I do not mean that it may begin to be set up on earth, but that it may continue to be set up in new places, may be extended and grow, for Jesus has at this very moment a kingdom upon the face of the earth, and they that know the truth belong to it, and recognise him as the royal witness by whom the kingdom of truth has been founded and maintained. You remember the remarkable saying which is attributed to Napoleon Buonaparte in his later days at St. Helena: “I have founded a kingdom by force, and it has passed away; but Jesus founded his empire upon love, and therefore it will last for ever.” Verily, Napoleon spoke the truth — Jesus, the right royal Jesus, is Master of innumerable hearts to-day. The world knoweth him not, but yet he has a kingdom in it which shall ere long break in pieces all other kingdoms. True and loyal hearts are to be found among the sons of men, and in them his name still wakes enthusiasm, so that for him they are prepared to live and die. Our Lord is every inch a king, he has his throne of grace, has his sceptre of truth, his officers who, like himself, witness to the truth, and his armies of warriors who wrestle not with flesh and blood, and use no carnal weapons, but yet go forth conquering and to conquer. Our Lord has his palace wherein he dwells, his chariot in which he rides, his revenues, though they be not treasures of gold and silver, and his proclamations, which are law in his church. His reigning power affects the destiny of the world at this present moment far more than the counsels of the five great powers: by the preaching of the truth his servants shape the ages, and set up and cast down the thrones of earth. There is no prince so powerful as Jesus, and no empire so mighty as the kingdom of heaven.
Our Lord also said that his kingdom came not from this world; for that, I take it, is the more correct translation of the passage: “My kingdom is not of this world.” It came not from this world; it is a substantial kingdom, but it did not spring from the same sources as the kingdoms of the world, neither is it supported, maintained, or increased by the same power as that which the kingdoms of the world depend upon. Christ’s kingdom does not depend upon the force of arms: he would have his followers lay these weapons all aside. Christ’s kingdom does not depend, as earthly kingdoms too often do, upon craft, policy, and duplicity. It used to be said that an ambassador was a gentleman who was sent abroad to lie for the good of his country, and I fear it might still describe full many an ambassador. What is the science of diplomacy but the art of deceit? When statesmen are thoroughly honest, and are guided by principle, they are generally suspected, and an outcry is raised that the interests of the country will be sacrificed. But there is no diplomacy in Christ’s rule; everything like crooked policy is of the devil, aid not of Christ. He comes to
OUR lord’s first appearance before PITiATE. 345
bear witness to the truth, and it is by the truth, not by force nor by craft, that his throne is established among the sons of men, and therefore it is not from this world.
To be a king is indeed so little wrong in the sight of Jesus that it is the ultimate purpose of his coming to earth. He came to save men, did he not? Yes, but still he says, “For this purpose was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth”; which is another way of saying, “that I might be a king.” jThis is his ultimatum. Christ is a teacher that he may be a king; Christ is an exemplar that he may be a king; Christ is a Saviour that he may be a king; this is the great end and object that he hath in his fife, his death, his resurrection, and his second coming, — that he may set up a kingdom among the sons of men to the glory of God. Oh that this great object of his mission might be furthered in our time, and consummated speedily in the long-promised age of gold.
The Master tells us that the main force and power of his kingdom lies in the truth. He came to be a King, but where is his sceptre? The truth. Where is his sword? It cometh out of his mouth: he bears witness to the truth. Where are his soldiers? They are men of truth, Jesus Christ leads on a band of whom he says, “And ye are my witnesses.” His kingdom consists in witnessing to the truth, and who are they that become his subjects? AVhy, those that are of the truth, men who, hearing the truth, know the joyful sound and accept it, and feel its power.
Dear hearers, let each one of us ask himself,” Do I belong to his kingdom? Will I have this man to reign over me? Do I desire to get rid of everything in myself that is not true? Am I anxious to put down around me everything that is false and wicked? Do I wish to uphold God’s laws, for they are truth? Do I desire to spread the principles of love and kindness, for they are truth? Am 1 willing to learn, and so become the disciple of the greatest of all teachers, and then, am I willing to bear witness to what I have learned, and so spread the sway of truth? If so, then I am of his kingdom. I know that I address many who desire in their hearts to-day that Christ and his truth may triumph, and they little mind what becomes of themselves. Let but his gospel spread and the principles of righteousness prevail; and as for us, let us live or die, it shall be a matter of small concern. 0 King, live for ever, and we shall find our life in thy life, and glory in promoting thy glory, world without end. Such a spirit is of the truth, and we may assure ourselves that Jesus is our King.
Our Lord having explained his meaning, confessed that he was a King. This is that to which Paul refers when he says, “The Lord Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.” He did not draw back and say, “lam no King.” Pilate might have delivered him then; but he spake boldly concerning his blessed, mysterious, and wonderful kingdom, and therefore it was not possible that he should be set free. This, indeed, was his accusation written over his cross, “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.”
Poor Pilate, he did not understand our Lord, even as the men of this world understand not the kingdom of Christ. He said to him, “What is truth?” and without waiting for a reply he went out to the Jews.
Ah, brethren, let US never onrsekes deny that Jesus is a king; but we shall deny it if we do not live according to his bidding. Oh you that claim to be Christ’s, but do not live according to Christ’s laws, you practically deny that he is a king. I dread the men who say, “We believe, and therefore we are saved,” and then do not live in holiness; for these divide our Lord’s offices, setting up his priesthood and denying his kingship. Half a Christ is no Christ — a Christ who is a priest but never a king is not the Christ of God. Oh brethren, live as those who feel that every word of Jesus is law, and that you must do what he bids you, as he bids you, and because he bids you; and BO let all men know that unto you Jesus is both Lord and God.
in. I conclude by noticing the acquittal which Pilate gave to our Lord Jesus. He had heard the charge of being a malefactor, to which the prisoner pleaded, nothing; he had heard the charge of his being a king, which the prisoner had most satisfactorily explained; and now Pilate coming out to the people said, ^’I find in him no fault at all.” Pilate, thou hast well spok —. Thy verdict is typical of the verdict of all who have ever examined Christ. Some have examined him with an unfriendly eye, but in proportion as they have been candid in the observation of facts, they have been struck with his life and spirit. It is a very rare thing to hear even the infidel rail at the character of Jesus; in fact, some of the foremost sceptics as to our Lord’s teaching have been remarkably impressed with admiration of his life. No character like that of Jesus is to be seen in history, nay not even in romance. If anyone says the four gospel are forgeries, let him try to write a fifth, which shall be like the other four. Why, you cannot add an incident to the life of Christ; its details are unique; the fancy cannot imagine a fresh incident which could be safely joined on to that which is recorded. Every critic would cry out, “This is not genuine.” The life of Jesus is a roll of cloth of gold, of the manufacture of which the art is utterly lost. His spotless character stands alone and by itself, and all true critics are compelled to say they find no fault at all in him.
Let me add that this verdict of Pilate is the verdict of all that have ever associated with Christ. One disciple who was with Christ betrayed him, but he spoke nothing against him. Nay, the last witness of Judas before he hanged himself was this, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.” If there had been a fault in Jesus, the traitor would have spied it out; his unquiet conscience would have been glad enough to find therein a sedative, but even he was compelled to say, “I have betrayed the innocent blood.” “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” is the challenge of Jesus, to which there is no reply.
Some of us have- lived ivilh Christ spiritually. In the course of his providence he has brought some of us very low by sickness, or by bereavement, or loss. Everyone saved by our Lord has come under the discipline of his house, for “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Now, what is the verdict of all here present who know Jesus, our king? For my part, I find no fault at all in him. He is everything that is lovely. He is all my salvation and all my desire., Do you not think that out of the millions of Christians who have lived hoping in Christ some one
OUR LOKD’S first appearance before PILATE. 347
would have told us if it is his habit to disappoint his people? Out of so many believers who dwell with him surely some one or other of them, when they came to die, would have told us if he is not all that he professes to be. Would not some one or other have confessed, “I trusted in Christ and he has not delivered me; it is all a delusion”? Surely, out of the many we have seen depart we should have found some one or two that would have let out the secret, and have said, “He is a deceiver. He cannot save, he cannot help, he cannot deliver.” But never one dying believer throughout the ages has spoken ill of him, but all have said, “We find no fault at all in him.”
Mark you, that will be the verdict of everyone among you all. If any of you reject Christ, when you shall stand at his judgment-seat to be condemned because you believe not on him, and when that withering word, “Depart, ye cursed!” shall consign you to your everlasting portion, you shall then be obliged to say, “I find no fault at all in him:’ There was no failure in his blood, the failure was in my want of faith; no failure in his Spirit — the failure was in my obstinate will; no failure in his promise — the failure was that I would not receive him; there was. no fault at all in him. He never spurned me. He never refused to hear my ])rayers. If my Sabbaths were wasted, it was no fault of his; if I defied the gospel, it was no fault of his; if I have perished, my blood is at my own door. I find no fault at all in him.” From all parts of creation shall go up one general attestation to his perfection. Heaven and earth and hell shall all join the common verdict, “We find no fault at all in him.”
I will send you away when I give you three practical words to think of. The first is this: — Beware of an external religion, for the men that called Jesus malefactor and falsely accused him were very religious people, and would not gp into Pilate’s hall for fear of polluting themselves. They were strong in rituals, but weak in morals. None are soinveterate against the principles pf the gospel as those whose rcligioit. consists in form and ceremony but does not affect thqir hearts. I charge you rend your hearts and not your garments. Follow Christ. spiritually; follow Christ in your very souls, or else sacraments will be your ruin, and even in trying to keep yourselves from ceremonial defilement you will be defiling yourselves ith hypocrisy.
The next thing is to charge you, dear friends, and to charge myself also, to shun all proud worldliness like that of Pilate. Pilate treats the whole matter cavalierly; he is a proud and haughty Roman; he hates the people whom he governs, and ‘though he has a conscience, and at the first he shows a tenderness towards his prisoner, yet his chief end and aim was to keep his office and amass money, and therefore innocent, blood must be spilt He must please the Jews, even if he murder the “Just One.” This selfish worldliness in which a man makes hisgold and himself his god always treats religion with contempt. The man minds the main chance, and sneeringly cries, “AVhat is truth?” He knows what money is and what power is, but vlhat iip truth? It is a dream, a folly to him, and he despises it. There are persons around us now, clever time-serving men, with grand notions of their own abilities, and to them Jesus and his gospel are matters for old women, servant girls, and what they call a Puritan crew. Such topics
METROPOLITAN TABERNAOT.K PULPIT.
nro not for gentlemen of thoujjhfc, culture, and understnu’^linc, like fholt hioh and mighty selves. “What is truth?” say they. They are rather favourably inclined to religion, that is to say, they do not persecute, but they despise, which in some respects is worse. They say,” We are agnostics; we have no particular views; we are large-hearted, and let €very man think as he chooses, but still there is nothing in it; it is all matter of opinion. One man says this is the truth, and another says that is the truth, and how are we to know? The fact is, there is no fsuch thing as fixed truth at all.
“For differing creeds let graceless zealots fight;
He can’t be wrong whose life is in the right.”
This is this great man’s conclusion of the matter, and yet it so happens that this gentleman’s life is not in the right at all, and therefore on his own showing he has not much joy of his pretty rhyme. I think I see him as he turns on his heel with, “What is truth? “Let him be a warning to you. Gome not near to such arrogant trifling. Be always foolish enough to be willing to judge candidly. Be so little clever as to be willing still to learn. Be so little certain of your own infallibility that you will at least hear reason, and will enquire whether these things be so. Alas, I fear that through worldly pride many will have it said of them, as it is said of the Roman governor every day in the creed: “Suffered under Pontius Pilate.” Oh, how many times has Christ suffered under just such people as Pontius Pilate!
Last of all, let us all submit ourselves to Jesus our King. Wayworn and weary, emaciated and broken down, with his face more marred than that of any man, yet let us bow before him and say, “A11 hail, thou King of the Jews. Thou art our King for ever and ever.” If we are willing thus to acknowledge him as our King in his shame and derision, iie will by-and-by honour us when he cometh in the glory of the Father, and all his holy angels with him. Then shall he cause it to be seen that he hath made us who follow him to be kings and priests unto Ood, and we shall reign with him for ever and ever. Amen.
Portions of Scripture Read before Sermon — John xviii. 28 — 40j
Psalm ii.
Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book” — 414, 431, 360.
i)BLIVERED ON SUNDAT MORNING, OCTOBER 16TH, 1864, BT
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbai was a robber.” — John xviii. 40.
The custom of delivering a prisoner upon the day of the passover was intended no doubt as an act of grace on the part of the Roman authorities towards the Jews, and by the Jews it may have been accepted as a significant compliment to their passover. Since on that day they themselves were delivered out of the land of Egypt, they may have thought it to be most fitting that some imprisoned person should obtain his liberty. There was no warrant however in Scripture for this, it was never commanded by God, and it must have had a very injurious effect upon public justice, that the ruling authority should discharge a criminal, some one quite irrespective o his crimes or of his repentance; letting him loose upon society, simply and only because a certain day must be celebrated in a peculiar manner. Since some one prisoner must be delivered on the paschal day, Pilate thinks that he has now an opportunity of allowing the Saviour to escape without at all compromising his character with the authorities at Rome. He asks the people which of the two they will prefer, a notorious thief then in custody, or the Saviour. It is probable that Barabbas had been up, till that moment, obnoxious to the crowd; and yet, notwithstanding his former unpopularity — the multitude, instigated by the priests, forget all his faults, and prefer him to the Saviour. “Who Barabbas was, we cannot exactly tell. His name, as you in a moment will understand, even if you have not the slightest acquaintance with Hebrew, signifies “his father’s son,” ‘’Bar’’ signifying “son,” as when Peter is called Simon Bar-jonas, son of Jonas; the other part of his name ‘’Abbas,’’ signifying “father” — “abbas” being the word which we use iD ’ our filial aspirations, “Abba Father.” Barabbas, then, is the “son of his father;” and some mysticists think that there is an imputation here, that he was particularly and specially a son of Satan. Others conjecture that it was an endearing name, and was given him because he was his father’s darling, an indulged child; his father’s boy, as we say; and these writers add that indulged children often turn out to be imitators of Barabbas, and are the most likely persons to become injurious to their country, griefs to their parents, and curses to all
350 MBTROPOLTTAN TABERNACLE FtJLPIT.
about them. If it be so, taken in connection with the case of Absalom, and especially of Eli’s sons, it is a warning to parents that they err not in excessive indulgence of their children. Barabbas appears to have committed three crimes at the least: he was imprisoned for murder, for sedition, and for felony — a sorry combination of offences, certainly; we may well pity the sire of such a son. This wretch is brought out and set in competition with Christ. The multitude are appealed to. Pilate thinks that from the sense of shame they really cannot possibly prefer Barabbas; but they are so bloodthirsty against the Saviour, and are so moved by the priests, that with one consent — there does not appear to have been a single objecting voice, nor one hand held up to the contrary — with a marvellous unanimity of vice, they cry, “Not this man, but Barabbas,” though they must have known, since he was a notable well-known offender, that Barabbas was a murderer, a felon, and a traitor.
This fact is very significant. There is more teaching in it than at first sight we might imagine. Have we not here, first of all, in this act of the deliverance of the sinner and the binding of the innocent, a sort of type of that great work which is accomplished by the death of our Saviour? You and I may fairly take our stand by the side of Barabbaj. We have robbed God of his glory; weTiave been seditious traitors against the government of heaven: if he who hateth his brother be a murderer, we also have been guilty of that sin. Here we stand before the judgment-seat; the Prince of Life is bound for us and we are suffered to go free. The Lord delivers us and acquits us, while the Saviour, without spot or blemish, or shadow of a fault, is led forth to crucifixion. Two birds were taken in the rite of the cleansing of a leper. The one bird was killed, and its blood was poured into a basin; the other bird was dipped in this blood, and then, with its wings all crimson, it was set free to fly into the open field. The bird slain well pictures the Saviour, and every soul that has by faith been dipped in his blood, flies upward towards heaven singing sweetly in joyous liberty, owing its life and its liberty entirely to him who was slain. It comes to this, Barabbas must die or Christ must die; you the sinner must perish, or Christ Immanuel, the Immaculate, must die. He dies that we may be delivered. Oh! have we all a participation in such a deliverance to-day? and though we have been robbers, traitors, and murderers yet we can rejoice that Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us?.,
The transaction has yet another voice. This episode in the Saviours history shows that in the judgment of the people, Jesus Christ was a greater offender than Barabbas; and, for once, I may venture to say, that voxpopuli (the voice of the people), which in itself was a most infamous injustice, if it be read in the light of the imputation of our sins to Christ, was vox Dei (the voice of God). Christ, as he stood covered with his people’s sins, had more sin laid upon him than that which rested upon Barabbas. In him was no sin; he was altogether incapable of becoming a sinner: holy, harmless, and undefiled is Christ Jesus, but he tekes the whole load of his people’s guilt upon himself by imputation, and as Jehovah looks upon him, he sees more guilt lying upon the Saviour, than even upon this atrocious sinner, Barabbas. Barabbas ijoes free — innocent — in comparison with the tremendous weight which rests upon the Saviour. Think, beloved, then, how low your Lord and Master stooped to be thus numbered with the transgressors. Watts has put it strongly, but, I think, none too strongly —” His honour and his breath
Were taken both away,
Join’d with the wicked in his death,
And made as vile as they.”
He was so in the estimation of the people, and before the bar of justice, for the sins of the whole company of the faithful were made to meet upon him. “The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all.” What that iniquity must have been, no heart can conceive, much less can any tongue tell. Measure it by the griefs he bore, and then, if you caa guess what these were, you can form some idea of what must have been the guilt which sunk him lower before the bar of justice than even Barabbas himself. Oh! what condescension is here! The just One dies tor the unjust. He bears the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Yet, again, there seems to me to be a third lesson, before I come to that which I want to enforce from the text. Our Saviour knew that his disciples would in all ages be hated by the world far more than outward sinners. Full often the world has been more willing to put up with murderers, thieves, and drunkards, than with Christians; and it has fallen to the lot of some of the best and most holy of men to be so slandered and abused that their names have been cast out as evil, scarcelv worthy to be written in the same list with criminals. Now, Christ “has sanctified these sufferings of his people from the slander of their enemies, by bearing just such sufferings himself, so that, my brethren, if you or I should find ourselves charged with crimes which we abhor, if our heart should be ready to burst under the accumulation of slanderous venom, let us lift up our head and feel that in all this we have a comrade who has true fellowship with us, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who was rejected when Barabbas was selected. Expect no better treatment than your Master. Remember that the disciple is not above “Fis” Lory~if theyTiave called the Master of the house Beelzebub, much more will they call them of his household; and if they prefer the murderer to Christ, the day may not be distant when they will prefer even a murderer to you.
These things seem to me to lie upon the surface; I now come to our more immediate subject. First, we shall consider the sin as it stands in the Evangelical history; secondly, we shall observe that this is the sin of the whole world; thirdly, that this sin we ourselves were guilty of before conversion; and fourthly, that this is, we fear, tlm sin of very many persons who are here this morning: we shall talk with them and expostulate, praying that the Spirit of God may change their hearts and lead them to accept the Saviour.
L A few minutes may be profitably spent in considering, then,
THE sin as we find IT IN THIS HISTORY.
They preferred Barabbas to Christ. The sin will be more clearly seen if we remember that the Saviour had done no ill. No law, either of God or man, had he broken. He might truly have used the words of Samuel — “Behold, here I am: witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.” Out of that whole assembled crowd there was not one who would have had the presumption to accuse the Saviour of having done him damaoe. So far from this, they could but acknowledge that he had even conferred great temporal blessings upon them. 0 ravening multitude, has he not fed you when you were hungry? Did he not multiply the loaves and fishes for you? Did he not heal your lepers with his touch? cast out devils from your sons and daughters? raise up you paralytics? give sight to your blind, and open the ears of your deaf? For which of these good works do ye conspire to kill him? Among that assembled multitude, there were doubtless some who owed to him priceless boons, and yet, though all of them his debtors if they had known it, they clamour against him as though he were the worst trouble of their lives, a pest and a pestilence to the place where he dwelt. Was it his teaching that they complained of? Wherein did his teaching offend against morality? Wherein against the best interests of man? If you observe the teaching of Christ there was never any like it, even judged of by how far it would subserve human welfare. Here was the sum and substance of his doctrine, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.’* His precepts were of the mildest form. Did he bid them draw the sword and expel the Roman, or ride on in a ruthless career of carnage, and rapine? Did he stimulate them to let loose their unbridled passions? Did he tell them to seek first of all their own advantage and not to care for their neighbour’s weal? Nay, every righteous state must own him to be its best pillar, and the commonwealth of manhood must icknowledge him to be its conservator; and yet, for all this, there they are, hounded on by their priests, seeking his blood, and crying, “Let him be crucified! let him be crucified!” His tvJwle iitent evidently was their good. What did he preach for? No selfish motive could have been urged. Foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but he had not where to lay his head. The charity of a few of his disciples alone kept him from absolute starvation. Cold mountains, and the midnight air, witnessed the fervour of his lonely prayers for the multitudes who now are hating him. He lived for others: they could see this; they could not have observed him during the three years of his ministry without saying, “Never lived there such an unselfish soul as this;” they must have known, the most of them, and the rest might have known, had they enquired ever so little, that he had no object whatever in being here on earth, except that of seeking the good of men. For which of these things do they clamour that he may be crucified? For which of his good works, for which of his generous words, for which of his holy deeds will they fasten his hands to the wood, and his feet to the tree? With unreasonable hatred, with senseless cruelty, they only answer to the question of Pilate, “Why, what evil hath he done?” “Let him be crucified! let him be crucified!” The true reason of their hate, no doubt, lay in the natural hatred of all men to perfect goodness. Man feels that the presence of goodness is a silent witness against his own sin, and therefore he longs to get rid of it. To be too holy in the judgment of men is a great crime, for it rebukes their sin. If the holy man has not the power of words, yet his life is one loud
I witness-bearing for God again it the sins of his creatures. This inconvenient protesting led the wicked to desire the death of the holy and just One. Besides, the priests were at their backs. It is a sad and lamentable thing, but it is often the case that the people are better than their religious teachers. At the present moment the laity of the Church of England, as a whole, have honest consciences, and would have their Prayer Book revised to-morrow if their voices could be heard. But their clerics care far too little about truth, and are not very particular how they swear, or with whom they associate. So long as their Church can be kept together, Father Ignatius shall be heard in their assemblies, although Christ’s call to the Church to purify herself, awakens only resentment and ill-will. No matter that the throats of certain clergymen were exercised in hissing for a moment at the apparition of the bold Anglican monk, he is one of themselves, a brother of their own order, and their Church is responsible for all that he does. Let them come out and separate themselves, and then we shall know that they abhor this modern popery; but so long as they sit in the same assembly and are members of the same Church, the sin is theirs, and we shall not cease to denounce both it and them. If Evangelical clergymen remain in communion with Papists, now that they come out in their full colours, I will cease to say that they violate their consciences, but I shall doubt whether they have any consciences at all. Brethren, it is still the case that the people are better than their teachers. This people would not have crucified Christ had not the clergy of the day, the priests, the endowed ministers, cried out, “Let him be crucified! “He was the Dissenter, the heretic, schismatic, the troubler in Israel. He it was who cried aloud against the faults of their Establishment. He it was who could not be put down, the ignorant man from Galilee, who would continue to clamour against them, the mischief-maker, and therefore “Let him be crucified! Let him be crucified!” Anything is good enough for the man who talks about reform, and advocates changes in established rules.” No doubt bribery also was used in this case. Had not Rabbi Simon paid the multitude? Was there not a hope of some feast after the passover was over to those who would use their throats against the Saviour? Beside, there was the multitude going that way; and so if any had compassion they held their tongue. Often they say that “Discretion is the better part of valour;” and truly there must be many valorous men, for they hare much of valour’s better part, discretion. If they did not join in the shout, yet at least they would not incommode the others, and so there was but one cry, “Away with him! away with him! It is not fit that he should live.” What concentrated scorn there is this fortieth verse. It is not “this Jesus,” they would not foul their mouths with his name, but 19, fellow — “this devil,” if you will. To Barabbas they give the respect of mentioning his name; but “this —” whom they hate so much, they will not even stoop to mention. We have looked, then, at this gi’eat sin as it stands in the history.
II. But now let us look, in the second place, at this incident as
SETTING FORTH THE SIN WHICH HAS BEEN THE GUILT OF THE WORLD [N ALL AGES, AND WHICH IS THE WORLD’S GUILT NOW.
When the apostles went forth to preach the gospel, and the truth had spread through many countries, there were severe edicts passed hj the Roman Emperors. Against whom were these edicts framed? Against the foul oifenders of that day? It is well known that the whole Roman Empire was infested with vices such as the cheek of modesty would blush to hear named. The first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is a most graphic picture of the state of society throughout the entire Roman dominions. When severe laws were framed, why were they not proclaimed against these atrocious vices? It is scarcely fit that men should go unpunished who are guilty of crimes such as the apostle Paul has mentioned, but I find no edicts against these things — I find that they were borne with and scarcely mentioned with censure;, but burning, dragging at the heels of wild horses, the sword, imprisonment, tortures of every kind, were used against whom think you? Against the innocent, humble followers of Christ, who, so far from defending themselves, were willing to suffer all these things, and presented themselves like sheep at the shambles, willing to endure the butcher’s knife. The cry of the world, under the persecutions of Imperial Rome, was “Not Christ, but Sodomites, and murderers, andthieves — we will bear with any of these, but not with Christ; away with his followers from the earth.” Then the world changed itstactics; it became nominally Christian, and Antichrist came forth in all its blasphemous glory. The Pope of Rome put on the triple crown,andcalledhimself the Vicar of Christ; then came in the abomination of the worship of saints, angels, images, and pictures; then came the mass, and I know not what, of detestable error; and what did the world say? “Popery for ever!*’ Down went every knee, and every head bowed before the sovereign representative of Peter at Rome. The Church of Rome was equal in sin to Barabbas; nay, I do but compliment Barabbas when 1 mention him in the same breath with many of the popes, for their character was foul and black right through and through, till even those who superstitiously looked upon them asinfallible in their office, could not defend their personal characters. The world chose the harlot of Rome, and she who was drunk with the wine of her abominations had every eye to gaze upon her with admiration, while Christ’s gospel was forgotten, buried in a few old books, and almost extinguished in darkness. Since that day the world has changed its tactics yet again; in many parts of the earth Protestantism is openly acknowledged, and the gospel is preached, but what then? Then comes in Satan, and another Barabbas, the Barabbas of mere ceremonialism, and mere attendance at a place of worship is set up. “Yes, we are orthodox; so orthodox, so sound. Yes, we are religious, strictly religious; we attend our meeting-house, or go to our Church. We are never absent. We attend every form, but we have no vital godliness; we have not been born again; we have not passed from death unto life.” However, this will do; so long as we are as good as our neighbours, and keep the outward rite, the inward does not matter. This which is a foul robbery of God’s glory, this which murders men’s souls, is the Barabbas of the present age. An outward name to live is set up, and is received by those who are dead; and many of you now present are quite easy and content, though you have never felt the quickening Spirit of God: though you have never been washed in the atoning blood, yet you are satisfied because you take a seat in some place of worship; you give:
your guinea, your donation to an hospital, or your subscription to a good object, forgetting and not caring to remember that all the making clean of the outside of the cup and the platter will never avail, unless the inward nature be renewed by the Spirit of the living God. This is the great Barabbas of the present age, and men prefer it before the Saviour.
That this is true, that the world really loves sin better than Christ, I think I could prove clearly enough by one simple fact. You have observed sometimes Christian men inconsistent, have you not? The inconsistency was nothing very great, if you had judged them according to ordinary rules of conduct. But you are well aware that a worldly man might commit any sin he liked, without much censure; but if the Christian man commits ever so little, then hands are held up, and the whole world cries, “Shame!” I do not want to have that altered, but I do want just to say this: “There is Mr. So-and-So, who is known to live a fast, wicked, gay life; well, I do not see that he is universally avoided and reprobated, but on the contrary, he is tolerated by most, and admired by some.” But suppose a Christian man, a well-known professor, to have committed some fault which, compared with this, were not worth mentioning, and what is done? “Oh! publish it! publish it! Have you heard what Mr. So-and-So did? Have you heard of this hypocrite’s transgression?” “Well, what was it?” You look at it: “Well, it is wrong, it is very wrong, but compared with what you say about it is nothing at all.” The world therefore shows by the difference between the way in which it judges the professedly religious man, and that with which it judges its own, that it really can tolerate the most abandoned, but cannot tolerate the Christian. Of course, the Christian never will be altogether free from imperfections; the world’s enmity is not against the Christian’s imperfections evidently, because they will tolerate greater imperfections in others; the objection must therefore be against the man, against the profession which he has taken up, and the course which he desires to follow. Watch carefully, beloved, that ye give them no opportunity; but when ye see that the slightest mistake is laid hold of and exaggerated, in this you see a clear evidence that the world prefers Barabbas to the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the world will change its various modes of dealing, but it will never love the Church better than it does now. We do not expect to see the world lifted up to become more and more absorbed into the Church. The union of the world with the Church was never the object of our religion. The object of Christ is to gather to himself a people from among men; it is not the lifting up of all, but the calling out of the some, the making of men to differ, the manifestation of his special and discriminating grace, the gathering together of a people whom he has formed for himself. In this process morality is promoted, men are civilised and improved, but this is only indirectly God’s object, and not his immediate end; the immediate end of the gospel being the salvation of the people whom he has ordained unto eternal life, and who, therefore, in due season are led to believe in him. The world, to the end of the chapter, will be as much at enmity with true believers as ever it was. Because “ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you,” this will be as true when Christ shall come as at the present moment. Let us expect it; and when we meet with gljg METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT.
scorn and persecution, let us not be surprised as though some strange thing had happened unto us.
III. I come in the third plae, and 0 for some assistance from on high, to observe that the sin op preferring Barabbas to Christ
WAS THE SIN OF EVERY ONE OF US BEFORE OUR CONVERSION.
Will you turn over the leaves of your diary, now, dear friends, or fly upon the wings of memory to the hole of the pit whence you were digged. Did you not, 0 you who live close to Christ, did you not once despise him? What company did you like best? Was it not that of the frivolous, if not that of the profane? When you sat with God’s people, their talk was very tedious; if they spoke of divine realities, and of experimental subjects, you did not understand them, you felt them to be troublesome. I can look back upon some whom I know now to be most venerable believers, whom I thought to be a gross nuisance when I heard them talk of the things of God. What were our thoughts about? When we had time for thinking, what were our favourite themes? Not much did we meditate upon eternity; not much upon him who came to deliver us from the misery of hell’s torments. Brethren, his great love wherewith he loved us was never laid to heart by us as it should have been; nay, if we read the story of the crucifixion, it had no more effect upon our mind than a common tale. We knew not the beauties of Christ; we thought of any trifle sooner than of him. And what were our pleasures? When we had what we called a day’s enjoyment, where did we seek it? At the foot of the cross? In the service of the Saviour? In communion with him? Far from it; the further we could remove from .^odly associations the better pleased we were. Some of us have to <5onfess with shame that we were never more in our element than when we were without a conscience, when conscience ceased to accuse us and we could plunge into sin with riot. What was our reading then? any book sooner than the Bible: and if there had lain in our way anything that would have exalted Christ and extolled him in our understandings, we should have put by the book as much too dry to please tis. Any three-volume heap of nonsense, any light literature; nay, perhaps, even worse would have delighted our eye and our heart; but thoughts of his eternal delight towards us — thoughts of his matchless passion and his glory now in heaven, never came across our minds, nor would we endure those who would have led us to such meditations. What were our aspirations then? We were looking after business, aiming at growing rich, famous for learning or admired for ability. Self was what we lived for. If we had some regard for others, and some desire to benefit our race, yet self was at the bottom of it all. We did not live for God — we could not honestly say, as we woke in the morning, “I hope to live for God to-day;” at night, we cou d not look back upon the day, and say, *’ We have this day served God. Me was not in all our thoughts. Where did we spend our best praise? Did we praise Christ? No; we praised cleverness, and when it was in association with sin, we praised it none the less. We admired those who could most fully minister to our own fleshly delights, and felt the greatest love to those who did us the worst injury. Is not this our confession as we review the past? Have I not read the very histoij of your life? I know I have of my own. Alas! for those dark days, in which our besotted soul went after any evil, but would not lollow after Christ. It would have been the same to-day with us, if almighty grace had not made the difference. We may as well expect the river to cease to run to the sea, as expect the natural man to turn from the current of his sins. As well might we expect fire to become water, or water to become fire, as for the unrenewed heart ever to love Christ. It was mighty grace which made us to seek the Saviour. And as we look back upon our past lives, it must be with mingled feelings of gratitude for the change, and of sorrow that we should have been so grossly foolish as to have chosen Barabbas, and have said of the Saviour, “Let him be crucified!”
IV. And now I shall come to the closing part of the sermon, which is, that there are doubtless many here who this day prefer Barabbas to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me first state your case, dear friends. I would describe it honestly, but at the same time so describe it that you will see your sin in it; and while I am doing so, my object will be to expostulate with you, if haply the Lord may change your will. There are many here, I fear, who prefer sin to Christ. I may say, without making a guess, I know that there are those here who would long ago have been followers of Christ, but that they preferred drunkenness. It is not often, it is not every day, it is not even every week, but there are occasions when they feel as if they must go into company, and as a sure result they return home intoxicated. They are ashamed of themselves — they have expressed as much as that; they have even gone so far as to pray to Cod for grace to overcome their habit; but after being the subject of convictions for years, they have hitherto made no advance. It did seem once as if they had conquered it. For a long time there was an abstinence from the fault, but they have gone back to their folly. They have preferred the bestial degrading vice — shall I say bestial? I insult the beasts, for they are not guilty of such a vice as this — they prefer this degrading vice to Christ Jesus. There stands drunkenness, I see it mirrored before me with all its folly, its witlessness, its greed and filth; but the man chooses all that, and though he has known by head knowledge something concerning the beauty and excellency of Christ, he virtually says of Jesus, “Not this man, but drunkenness.”
Then there are other cases, where a favourite lust reigns supreme in their hearts. The men know the evil of the sin, and they have good cause to know it; they knowalso something of the sweetness of religion, for they are never happier than when they come up with Cod’s people; and they go home sometimes from a solemn sermon, especially if it touches their vice, and they feel, “God has spoken to my soul to-day, and I am brought to a standstill.” But for all that, the temptation comes again, and they fall as they have fallen before. I am afraid there are some ol you whom no arguments will ever move; you have become so set on this mischief, that it will be your eternal ruin. But oh! think you, how will this look when you are in hell — “I preferred that foul Barabbas of lust to the beauties and perfections of the Saviour, who came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost!” and yet this is the case, not of some, but of a great multitude who listen to the gosoel, and yet prefer sin to its saving power.
There may be some here, too, of another class, who prefer gain. It has come to this: if they become truly the Lord’s people, they cannot do in trade what they now think their trade requires them to do; if they become really and g:enuinely believers, they must of course become honest, mi their trade would not pay, they say, if it were conducted upon honest principles; or it is such a trade, and there are some few such, as ought not to be conducted at all, much less by Christians. Here comes the turning-point. Shall I take the gold, or shall I take Christ? True, it is cankered gold, and gold on which a curse musi come. It is the fool’s pence, may be it is gain that is extorted from the miseries of the poor; is money that would not ever stand the light because it is not fairly come by; money that will bum its way right through your souls when you et upon your death-beds; but yet men who love the world, say, “No, not Christ, give me a full purse, and away with Christ.” Others, less base or less honest, cry, “We know his excellence, we wish we could have him, but we cannot have him on terms which involve the renunciation of our dearly-beloved gain.” “Not this man, but Barabbas.”
Others say, “I fain would be a Christian, but then I should lose so many of my acquaintances and friends. For the matter of what it comes to, my friends are not much good to me; they are such friends as are fondest when I have most money to spend with them; they are friends who praise me most when I am oftenest at the ale-house, when I am seen plunging deepest into their vices. I know they do me mischief, but,” says the man,” I could not venture to oppose them. One of them has such a glib tongue, and he can make such telling jokes, I could not bear to have him down upon me; and there is another, I have heard him give Christians such stinging names, and point at their faults in such a sarcastic manner, I could not run the gauntlet of bis tongue; and therefore, though I fain would be a Christian, yet I will not.’* That is the way you prefer to be a serf, a slave to the tongue of the scomer, sooner than be a free man, and take up the cross and follow Christ. You prefer, I say, not merely by way of allegory, but as matter of fact, you prefer Barabbas to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I might thus multiply instances, but the same principle runs through them all. If anything whatever keeps you back from giving your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are guilty of setting up an opposition candidate to Christ in your soul, and you are choosing “not this man, but Barabbas.”
Let me occupy a few minutes with pleading Christ’s cause with you. Why is it that you reject Christ? Are you not conscious of the many good things which you receive from him? You would have been dead if it had not been for him; nay, worse than that, you would have been in hell. God has sharpened the great axe; justice, like a stern woodman, stood with the axe uplifted, ready to cut you down as a cumberer of the ground. A hand was seen stopping the arm of the avenger, and a voice was heard saying, “Let it alone, till I dig about it and dung it.” Who was it that appeared just then in your moment of extremity? It was no other than that Christ, of whom you think so little that you prefer drunkenness or vice to him! You are this day in the house of God, listening to a discourse which I hope is sent from him. You might have been in hell — think one moment of that — shut out from hope, enduring in body and soul unutterable pangs. That you are not there, should make you love and bless him, who has said.
^’ Deliver him from going down into the pit.” Why will you prefer your own gain and self-indulgence to that blessed One to whom you owe so .much. Common gratitude should make you deny yourself something ifor him who denied himself so much that he might bless you. Do I hear you say that you cannot follow Christ, because his precepts are too severe? In what respect are they too severe? It you yourself were set to judge them, what is the point with which you would find fault? They deny you your sins — say, they deny you your miseries. They do not permit you, in fact, to ruin yourself. There is no precept of Christ which is not for your good, and there is nothing which he forbids you which he does not forbid on the principle that it would harm you to indulge in it. But suppose Christ’s precepts to be ever so stern, is it not better that you should put up with them than be ruined? The soldier submits implicitly to the captain’s command, because he knows that without discipline there can be no victory, and the whole army may be cut in pieces if there be a want of order. When the sailor has risked his life to penetrate through the thick ice of the north, we find him consenting to all the orders and regulations of authority, and bearing all the hardships of the adventure, because he is prompted by the desire of assisting in a great discovery, or stimulated by a large reward. And surely the little self-denials which Christ calls us to will be abundantly recompensed by the reward he offers; and when the soul and its eternal interests are at stake, we may well put up with these temporary inconveniences if we may inherit eternal life. I think I hear you say that you would be a Christian, but there is no happiness in it. I would not tell you a falsehood on this point, I would speak the truth if it were so, but I do solemnly declare that there is more joy in the Christian life than there is in any other form of life; that if I had to die like a dog, and there were no hereafter, I would prefer to be a Christian. You shall appeal to the very poorest among us, to those who are most sick and most despised, and they will tell you the same. There is not an old country woman shivering in her old ragged red cloak over a handful of fire, full of rheumatism, with an empty cupboard and an aged body, who would change with the very highest and greatest of you if she had to give up her religion; no, she would tell you that her Redeemer was a greater comfort to her than all the luxuries which could be heaped upon the table of Dives. You make a mistake when you dream that my Master does not make his disciples blessed; they are a blessed people who put their trust in Christ. Still I think I hear you say, “Yes, this is all very well, but still I ipvefeY present pleasure.” Dost thou not in this talk like a child; nay, like a fool, for what is present pleasure? How long does that word “present” last? If thou couldst have ten thousand vears of merriment I might agree with thee in a measure, but even there I should have but short patience with thee, for what would be ten thousand years of sin’s merriment compared with millions upon millions of vears of sin’s penalty. Why, at the longest, your life will be but very ‘short. Are you not conscious that time flies more hurriedly every (lay? As you grow older, do you not seem as if you had iived a shorter time instead of longer? till, perhaps, if you could live to be as old as Jacob, you would say, “Few and evil have my days been, for they iippear fewer as they grow more numerous.” You know that this life is but a span, and is soon over. Look to the graveyards, see bow they are crowded with green mounds. Remember your own companions, how one by one they have passed away. They were as firm and strong as you, but they
have gone like a shadow that declineth. Is it worth while to have this snatch space of pleasure, and then to lie down in eternal pain? I pray you to answer this question. Is it worth while to choose Barabbas for the sake of the temporary gain he may give you, and give up Christ, and so renounce the eternal treasures of joy and happiness which are at his right hand for evermore? I wish that I could put these questions before you as they ought to be put. It needs the earnest seraphic voice of Whitfield, or the pleading tongue of Richard Baxter, to plead with you, but yet I think I talk to rational men; and if it be a matter of arithmetic, it shall need no words of mine. I will not ask you to take your life at the longest that you expect it to be — at eighty, say — crowd it full of all the pleasures you can imagine; suppose yourself in good health; dream yourself to be without business cares, with all that heart can wish; go and sit upon the throne of Solomon if you will, and et what will you have to say when it is all over? Looking back upon it, can you make more of it than Solomon did, when he said, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity “—” All is vanity and vexation of spirit”? When you have cast up that sum, may I ask you to calculate how much you will have gained, if, in order to possess this vanity, you have renounced eternal happiness, and have incurred everlasting woe? Do you believe the Bible? You say, “Yes.” Well, then, it must be so. Many men profess to be believers in Scripture, and yet, when you come to the point as to whether they do believe in eternal woe and eternal joy, there is a kind of something inside which whispers, “That is in the Book — but still it is not real, it is not true to us.” Make it true to yourselves, and when you have so done it, and have clearly proved that you must be in happiness or woe, and that you must here either have Barabbas for your master, or have Christ for your Lord, then, I say, like sane men, judge which is the better choice, and may God’s mighty grace give you spiritual sanity to make the right choice; but this I know, you never will unless that mighty Spirit who alone leads us to choose the right, and reject the wrong, shall come upon you and lead you to fly to a Saviour’s wounds.
I need not, I think, prolong the service now, but I hope you will prolong it at your own houses by thinking of the matter. And may I put the question personally to all as you separate, whose are you? On whoiAe side are you? There are no neuters; there are no betweenitest you either serve Christ or Belial; you are either with the Lord or with his enemies. Who is on the Lord’s side this day? Who? Who is lor Christ and for his cross; for his blood, and for his throne? Who,, on the other hand, are his foes? As many as are not for Christ, are numbered with his enemies. Be not so numbered any longer, for th<> gospel comes to you with an inviting voice — “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and’thou shalt be saved.” God help thee to believe and cast thyself upon him now; and if thou trustest him, thou art saved now, and thou shalt be saved for ever. Amen.