The Gracious Lips of Jesus
“Grace is poured into thy lips.” — Psalm, xlv. 2.
It is marvellous what a never-ending theme there is in the name and person of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The poets of Scripture never mention his person but they fall into rhapsodies at once; they never sing of his name or of hig glories but at once they seem to be so enchanted by the spirit of poetry, that they soar up with ecstasies of joy, and their love scarcely knows how to find language to express itself Love sometimes ovei’leapeth language among sensitive men; and so it does more palpably in sacred Scripture. Take, for instance, the Canticles. There love hath strained language to the uttermost, hi order to embody its vehement passion: yea, so strained it, that some of us not so filled with love to God can scarcely appreciate its gloioiny utterance. -Hei-e, too, you see our Psalmist no sooner begins to meditate on the person of the Messiah, with harp in hand, than he cries, “My heart bubbleth up with a good matter; I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips.” We shall have no time for preface this morning, but we must jsroceed at once to the discussion of our text.
Grace is poured into the lips of Christ. Let us consider, First, the plenitude of this grace; Secondly, the nature of this grace; and Thirdly, endeavor to show you 17i vthat offices Jesus Christ proves that ‘•’•grace is poured into his lips
1. We commence with the word “poured,” as suggesting THE PLENrruDE OF “GiiACE.” “Grace is poured into thy liy8.” Otlicrs among the children of men have had “grace;’’
THE GIlAaOUS LIPS OF JESUS. 93
mighty poets have spoken gracious words; and prophets of old have uttered woudrous sayings, which were divinely ins])ired; so that it might be said, their doctrine “dropped” as the rain, and that their speech “distilled” Uke the dew Such imagery, however, is too iliint to describe our Lord Jesus. Not merely as the dew did he speak, nor did hia voice simply drop as the small rain: it was “pouiied” from his lips. “Whenever lie spoke, a copious stream of gracious words flowed from hira like a very cataract of eloquence. Jesus Christ had not a little grace, but it was “poured into” hira; not a phial of oil on his head, but he had a cruse and a horn of oil emptied’upon him. “Grace was poured into his lips.” I would remark that Calvin translates this: “Grace is shed from thy lips.” Not only did God give to his Son grace on his lips, but the Son, whenever he speaks, whether he addresses the peoi)le in doctrine and exhortation, or whether he pleads with his Father on their behalf — whenever his lij)3 are open to speak to God for men, or from God to men, he always has “grace shed from his lips.” And when 1 turn to the Scptuagint translation of this passage, I find that it has the idea of the very exhaustion of grace: “Grace is poured from thy lips,” as though emptied out till theie is none left. Jesus Christ had grace exhausted in his person. In him “dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” All grace M-as given to him; the very exhaustion of the inexhaustible store: as much as to say that God could give no more, and that Jesus Christ himself covdd not receive or i)0ssess moi-e grace. It was all poure into his person; and when he speaks, he seems to exhaust grace itself. Imagination’s utmost stretch cannot conceive of anything more gracious; and the contemplation of the most devoted Christian cannot think of any words more majestic in goodness, more tender In sympathy, more full of honey, and more luscious in their Bweetness, than the gracious words that proceeded out of the lips of Jesus Christ. “Grace is poured into his lips.” Ah! Christian, you may have some grace on your lips, but you have not got it “pom-ed” into them; you may have some grace in y our heart, but it is dropped there like small rain
94 TUK GRACIOUS LirS OP JESUS.
from licavcn — you have not got it “poured” thei e, you may be ever so full of grace, but Christ is more fall than you are; and when you are ever so reduced in grace, it is a consolation that “with him is plenteous grace — plenty that knows no lack, for “grace is poured into his lips.” Be not afraid to go to him in every time of need, nor think he will fail to comfort you; his comforts are not like water spilled on the eaith, that cannot be gathered up; they will yield perpetual streams, for “grace is poured into his lips.” He has no stinted supply, no short allowance to give you; but ask what you will, you shall have as much as your faith can desire, and youj- heart can hold, for “grace is poured into his lips” with the richest plenitude.
II, Not to expatiate further on this, let us pa to the second thought — the kind of grace that Jesus Christ has, WHICH IS thus poured into his lips, and shed fopth from his lips. It is important to remark that Jesus Christ has what none of the sons of men ever had — he has inherent grace. Adam, when he was created of God, had some inherent grace, which God gave to him; yet not so much of God’s grace as to preserve the uprightness of his charater. He had but the grace of purity, as it could be displayed in the innocence of his intellisrent nature. There must have been much ffrace in the constitution of the man, seeing he was originally created in the likeness of God; yet there could not have been perfect grace in him, for he did not keep his first estate But Jesus Christ had all the grace that Adam had, and all the grace that any innocent man could have had, in the most sublime perfection; and that grace was born in him. You and I have none of that; it is all passed away and gone. As for inherent grace, whei-e is it to be discovered? We have heard men sny that children are not born in sin, nor shapen in iniquity, but that they have inherent grace; albeit we have not yet met with the man who has found so wonderful a child. At any rate, the children have been mightily spoiled in growing to maturity, for they have not given much proof of grace afterwards. No, beloved; we are naturally graceless — a seed of eviJ-dotjrs; all our inherent grace was spoiled by Adam.
THE GRACIOUS LIPS OF .rESlTS. 95
However full llie pitcher might have been originally, it has been emptied out by the foil. Adam broke the earthen vessel, and spilt every drop of its contents, and we have none left. Jesus was born, not a sinful man, but begotten of the Holy Ghost, made of a pure virgin. In the conception of “that holy thing,” there was no hereditary sin; his body was without taint or pollution, and his soul was impeccable. It was not possible he should sin, for in him there was no sin: he had inherent grace in himself
And next, he had grace which he derived from the constitution of his pe7-so/i, being God as xoell as ma?i. The manhood of Christ derived grace from the Godhead of Christ. I do not doubt but the two natures, though the distinction was not superseded, were so miited in such wonderful union, that what the man did the God confirmed, and what the Go(7 willed, that the man did. Nor did the man Christ Jesus evet act without the God Christ Jesus. Nor did he ever speai without the God — the God within him — the God whom he ii as truly as he is man. Wv: speak but as men, save when the Spirit of God speaks through us. The greatest and mightiest of all prophets have but spoken as men insi)ired; but Jesuij spoke as man and God conjoined. “Grace” this unutterably Divine grace — his own grace of Godhead, “was poured into his li])S,” and “shed forth t’vom his lips.”
But more. I conceive that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he spoke, had also, as well as his ministers, the assistance of God the Ilijhj Spirit. In fact, we are told that God gave the Si)irit unto him without measure. It is a most remarkable liict, atid I believe it is put in Scripture on purpose to make us honor the Holy Spii’it, that Jesus Christ as a preachei- — so far as wo can judge from the Word of God — was not so successful in conversion as some of his followers have been. Now, if you turn over the life of Paul, you will notice how many thousands were brought through his preaching to know the Lord; and if you read the account of Peter’s sermon, you will see that three thousand were converted in one day. You never hear of such an instance in the life of Christ. When he died, litf left but thj’ce or four hundred discijjles behind him; or if
96 TIIS GUACIOU.S LirS of JKStlS.
there were others, his success was not so manifest as that of many of his disciples. The reason was this, says Jesus: I will honor the Holy Spirit; I will let the world know that it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord And though I speak as never man spake, and have more ?Ioqucnce than mortal ever again can attain, yet I will in my sovereignty restrain myself from the exercise of that Spirit. The people’s eyes shall be dull, and they shall slumber, their hearts shall wax fat, and they shall be gross. Then, in after years, I will speak more through an humble fisherman than 1 did myself. I will honor more the weakest instrument than I have done even my own self as a preacher. Ah! is it wonderful how God doth magnify the ministry of the Holy Ghost. We are so apt to forget his essential offices in the covenant, that God, as it were, says. Here is my own Son; although he preaches, I will show you that the preacher must rest on the Holy Spirit, and I will give him a congregation who shall take him to the brow of the hill to cast him down headlong; while Paul, who is but a stammerer, I will clothe with such majesty,- that wherever he goes his testimony shall be with the power of the Spirit to abase the gods of the heathens, and make their idols totter to the dust. But yet Jesus Christ has the Spirit without measure, for every sentence of his was instinct with energy Divine. “The words,” said Jesus, “that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.” Thus you see his words are not merely of the Spirit, but they are Spirit. It seems to me that, as “he that hath seen Christ hath seen the Father,” so he that hath heard Christ hath heard the Holy Ghost. Still, the fruits of his ministry, like the homage due to his person, lay beyond the brief toj-m of his sojourn on earth. He was rejected of his geuerawon, but afterward “declared to be the Son of God, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.” In like manner his words, though not seemingly productive at the time, were BO full of the Spirit’s quickening power, that they were afterwards the means of conversion to millions of millions, beyond the capacity of mortals to count. All conversions under I’eter, Paul, and the other apostles, were by Christ Jesus. The yna ghacious lips of jehvb. 97
n’ords that 1 e spake in secret, they published far atul wide. All conversions /loic are in his name, and by his word. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. If an apostle 6ji:ike of himself, it fell to the ground, but what their Master toid them was rendered successful. Jesus Christ has the Spirit without measure; and herein is another kind of grace, of which It can be said, “Grace is poured into thy lips,”
III. We have very hastily passed over these two divisions, that we may dUate on the third. We are now to consider
THE VARIOUS OFFICES IN WHICH WE MAY DISCERN “GRACE” AS B!:iXG “POL’KED INTO THE I.IPS” OF ClIRIST, AND SUED AGAIN FKOM HIS LIPS.
First, let us regard our Saviour as the eternal Surety of the covenant, and we shall see that “grace was poured into his lips.” When God the Father originally made the covenant, ‘“i stood somewhat in this form; “My Son, thou desirest, and I also agree with thee, to save a number, that no man can number, whom I have elected in thee. But in order to their salvation, that I may be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly, it is necessary that some one should be their representative, to stand responsible for their obedience to my laws anti their substitute to sufler whatever penalties they incur. If thou, my Son, wilt stipulate to bear their punishment, and endure the penalty of their crimes, I on my part will stipulate that thou shalt see thy seed, shalt prolong thy days, and that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in thy hands. If thou to-day art prepared to promise that thou wilt bear the exact punishment of all the people whom thou wouldst save, I on my part am prepared to swear by myself because I can swear by no greater, that all for whom thou shalt atone shall infallibly be deUvered from death and hell, and that all for whom thou bearcat the punishment shall hence go free, nor shall my wrath rise against them, however great may bo their sins.” Jesua spake the word, and he said, “My Father! lo, I come In the volume of the Book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God.” Now, that was spoken in eternity, far back as faith on eagle wing» can soar, and such grace waa poured into the lips of Christ when ho made that simple decl* ration, that tens of thousands of saints entered heaven, simply on the ground of his solemn pledge. Long before our Saviour did corae into the world and pay the penalty, God the Father rested on the words of Jesus, for “he sware to his own licart and changed not.” Such grace truly was there shed from the lipi of Jesus, that from the days of Adam, when one transgression involved the race in ruhi, down to the times when the second Adam made reconciliation for iniquity, the saints all entered heaven upon the faith of Christ’s promise alone. Not one drop of blood had been shed, not one agony suffered, the contract was not performed, the stipulation not yet fulfilled; but the Surety’s oath was quite enough; in the Father’s ears there needed no other coniirmatiou. His heart was satisfied. Yea, more; in that self-same moment, when Jesus spake that word in his Father’s ear, all the saints were in him justified and rendered complete; their salvation was secure. As soon as ever Jesus Clnist said, “My Father, I will pay the penalty, they shall have my righteousness, and I will have their sm,” theii’ acceptance was an eternal fact.
“In union •wilh tho Lamb,
From coudemiiation free,
Tho saints of God forever were
And shall for ever be.“”
Oh! was not grace poured into those lips! that one single promise could redeem all the people of God, and carry thousands to heaven, even without a single performance — because God the Father could so rely on him 1 He would never go back fi’om his agreement, nor ever turn aside from his covenant. This is the first aspect in which we behold grace shed forth from Christ’s lips.
Secondly, “Grace is poured into his lips” as the greatest .#/ all 2orophets and teachers. The law was given by Moses, and there was some grace on his lips; for Moses, even when he preached tho law, preached the gospel, privileged as ho was to look steadlastly to the end of that which is abolished, When he taught the olfering of the Lamb, the bullock, and the Uirtle-dove, there was gosj)el couched in the law itself, in th*
THK GRACIOUS 1,1 PS OF .IKStH. 98
law of levltical ceremonies. But JvLoses had but little grace. The beams that shone on the face of Moses were not the beams of grace, they were not “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth;” they were the glory of justice, but not the glory of grace. And when other |)roi)hets rose at different periods of the first dispensation of the law, they each had some measure of grace. Whether wo consider the heroic Elijah, or the plaintive Jeremiah, or Isaiah, that seraphic seer, who spoke more of Christ than all the rest — let us turn to any one of the prophets and we iind that each and all had some grace in their lips; what they preached was gracious doctrine, and well worthy to be received; but who ever taught such doctrines as those of Jesus? Where among the writings of the prophets and sages of antiquity, can we find such words as those which Jesus uttered? Who ever taught the people that they should love all men, that God made of one flesh all nations that dwelt upon the face of the earth? Who ever taught the people before Ilini that the poor were to have the gospel, while God would bring down the mighty from their seats, and would exalt the humble and the meek? Who taught such wondrous doctrines as those which you will find in all his sermons? Who could have been so great a teacher? Who could so blessedly have prophesied to his people but Jesus Christ himself? My soul, contemplate Jesus as the only rabbi of the Church; view him as the only Lord and Master; take thy doctrines and articles of faith from his lips, and his lips alone; study his word and make that alone thy guide; interpret all the rest by his light. When thou hast done so, thou wilt say, “O prophet of my salvation, thou teacher of Israel! verily grace is poured into thy lips. No books afford me such instruction as thine, no ministers address me in such words as my Shepherd speaks. No learning hath in it such depths of wisdom as the wisdom of Christ. “More to be desired are his words than gold; yea, than much fine gold.” “Grace was poured into his lips” as the greatest of ail projihets.
Thirdly, Christ had grace poured into his lips as the ?nost eloquent of ‘all prsachers. One of lhe joys I anticipate in heavet is to hear Christ speak to his people. I conceive that there was a majesty about Jesus Christ when he syake on earth — such a majesty as not Demosthenes, Cicero, nor Pericles, — not all the orators of ancient or modern times could ever approach. He had a voice, I suppose, more sweet than e’en the songs which came from the harps of angels. He had an eye expressive of sympathy with those whom he addressed. He had a heart which animated every feature of his counter nance. His was pathos which could break the stony heart; his was sublimity which could elevate the sensual mind; each word of his was a pearl, each sentence was of pure gold. “Never man spake like this man,” No poet in his most rapt ecstacy could have grasped such conceptions as those the Saviour delivered to his hearers; and when, stooping from his flights, he condescends to speak in plain and simple words to his fellows, there is naked, ungarnished simplicity in the familiar discourse of Christ to Avliich man can not in the least approach. Jesus Christ was the greatest and the plainest of all preachers. We could put aside every other in compai’ison with him. “We have known men who could curb the restless multitude, and hold them spell-bound. Some of us have listened to some mighty man of God who chained our ears, held ua flxst, and consti’ained our attention all the while he spoke. Justice, sin, righteousness, and judgment to come have absorbed us while they enlisted our sympathies. But had you heard the Saviour, you would, have heard more wondrous thhigs than any man else could have spoken. Methinks if the wild wuids could have heard him, they would have ceased their blustering; if the waves could have listened to him, they would have hushed their tumult, and the rough back of ocean would have been smoothed; if the stars could have heard him, they would have stopped their hurried march; if the sun and moon had heard Him whose voice is more potent than that of Joshua, they would have stood still: if creation could have heard hhn, then charmed, it would have stepped its ceaseless motions, and the wheels of the universe would have stood still, that all ears might listen, that all hearts might beat, and that all eyes might glisten, and that so souls might Ji)e elevated, while Jesus Christ spoke. It was fabled of Hercules, that he had golden chains in his mouth with which he chained the eara of men; it is true of Jesua that he had golden chains in hia mouth, that chained men’s ears and hearts too. He had no need to ask attention, for “grace was poured into his Iijps.” Happy day! happy day 1 when I shall sit down at the feet of Jesus Christ and hear him preach. O beloved I what we shall think of our poor preaching I can not tell. It is a mercy that Jesus Christ does not preach here now, for after hearing him, none of us would preach again, so ashamed should we be of ourselves. Sometimes when we try to preach, and afterward hear a more able minister, we feel so outdone that our preaching seems nothing, — we hardly dare try again. It is a mercy there is a veil between us and Christ. We can not hear him preach, or else we should all vacate our pulpits. But in heaven I hope to sit enchanted at his feet; and if he will speak a million years, I would ask him to speak yet another million. And if he will still pursue, e’en then for the sweet redundance of that grace which is poured into his lips, my raptured soul would sit and love and smile itself away in ecstacies of joy to hear my Saviour speak. “Grace was poured into his Ups” as the most eloquent of preachers.
Fourthly, “Gi-ace was poured into the lips” of Christ as the faithful Promiser. I look upon all the promises of God’s word as being the promises of Jesus as well as the promises of the Father and of the Holy Ghost. Every word that is spoken here to the Christian is spoken by Jesus Christ. All the promises, we are told, are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God; and as the promises are all made in him, so they are all spoken by him. Now, will you not concur with me when I say, that verily grace is poured into his lips as the faithful Promiser? We have sometimes read his promises, we have heard them with our ears, and oh! what grace there is in them! Take, for instance, that great honeycomb promise, ‘’The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, nt’ither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” Turn to another: “When thou passest through tb«
102 TIIK GUxVCIOUS LirS OF .IKSC8.
rivers 1 “will be with thee: the Hoods shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the lire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel: I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” Listen to such sweet words as these: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke u|)on yon, and Team of me, for I am meuk and lowly in heart.” “Whosoever cometh imto me I will in no wise cast out.” “He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him.” Beloved, you do not need that I tell you how beautiful these things are. The best way to preach of the faithful Promiser is to tell you some of the promises. I will not tell you what gold and silver there are in Christ’s cabinet; I will break the door open, and let you look at some of the treasures for yourselves. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget; yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” “I will never leave thee, I will never forsake thee.” “Even to old age I am with thee, r*nd even to hoar hairs will I carry thee.” “He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.” “He shall save thee from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and from the destruction that wastcth at noonday.”
“He that hath made his refuge God
Shall find a most secure abode;
Shall walk all day beneath his shade,
And there at night shall rest his head.”
“All that my Father hath given me shall come to me.” “Having loved his own, he loveth them unto the end.” “All his saints are in thy hand;” “No man shall pluck them out of ray Father’s hand.” And then there is that great masterpromise — “Whosoever believeth ou the Son of God shall be saved.” Is he not indeed full of grace, as the faithful Promiser? You who ijavib been drinking from he wells of promise welf
TUE GllAClOUS LirS OF JESUS. 103
know Ills faithlulness and the grace therein. Poor souls! ye nave come sick and weary oftentimes to this well, and your Btrcngth has been renewed till you were like giants refreshed with new wine. Your spirits have been de2)rossed, and your souls have been melancholy; but when you have come here, you have tasted that wine which maketh glad the heart of man. O! did ever man speak like this man, when he speaks as the faithful Promiser? “Grace is poured into his hps.”
Fifthly, “Grace is poured into his lips,” as the wooer and the winner of his ‘peoples hearts. O beloved, Christ hath hard work to win his people’s love! He sendeth out his messengers, but the messengers can not compel the people of God to love Jesus. He prepares his feast, the fatlings are killed, and those that are bidden will not come unless he says to his messengers, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” But what a hard matter it is to bring poor souls to be in love with Jesus! In vain does the minister dilate upon his charms; in vain does he try to paint his features as well as he can. We are poor daubers, and we mar the beauty which we attempt to portray. Poor sinners say, “Is that Jesus? there is no beauty that we should desire him.” They turn away and hide as it were their faces from him. With tears streaming from our eyes, we “seek to find out acceptable words,” and we use the best language our hearts can dictate, but we can not win your souls. Sometim’es we address you with rough word? that we have borrowed from some ancient Boanerges; at other times, with smooth words such as a Chrysostom might approve, and they are alike in vain: the Lord is not there. But oh! when Jesus pleads his own cause, how sweetly does he plead it! Have you never watched the heart when Jesus Christ began to woo it — when he opens the ear and says, “Poor soul! I love thee, and because I love thee I will tell thee wha thou art. Thou art cast out into the open field; thou ar lying in thy blood; thou art dead in trespasses and sins. Yet I love thee. Wilt thou love me?” “Nay,“saith the heart,” I will not.” “But,” saith Jesus,” my love is deep aa hell; it is insatiable as the grave;. will be thine, and thou
104 THE (iUACIOUS LIPS OF JESUS.
sha’t bo mine,” And have you noted how soon the soul bogins to yield and the hard rock begins to flow like Niobe’a tears, till at length the heart says, “O Jesus! love thee? Yea I do, because thou didst first love me.” Why is it that some here have not given their hearts to Jesus? It is because ])erhaps Jesus has not revealed himself to them in pei’son. Bui when he does, you can not deny him! I challenge any man tcliold his heart back when Jesus comes for it: when he displays himself, when he takes the veil off our eyes and lets us look at his lovely flice, shows us his wounded hands and his bleeding »5ide, metlihiks there is no heart but must be drawn forth to him. Ah! Chiistian, do you not remember the hour when he pleaded with you? He knocked at the door, and you would not let him in; but your beloved put his hand at the hole of the door, and your bowels were moved toward him, and how sweetly did he tell you your sinnership, and with tlif! next word made known your redemption; then told you of your death, and with the next word made you alive; then told you that you were powerless, and with the next woi’d mad<3 you strong; then told you of your unbelief, and with the next sentence gave you faith. O! is he not filled with grace as he whis the hearts and affections of his people?
Sixthly, Jesus Christ hath his lips filled with grace, as tJie great consolation of Israel, the comfort of all his people. There if no comfort except that which cometh from the Lord Jesus. At no brook can ye slake the thirst of the soul, but at that stream of grace which floweth from Christ, and, never can run diy. Let us rehearse his. mighty acts; let us go back our lifelong and see the various Ebenezers we have raised to his sovereign grace and mercy. Dost thou not remember how he appeared to thee in the solitude of the wilderness and said, “Yea, I hav(> loved thee with an everlasting love?” Dost thou not remember, when, torn with the thoins and briars of ihis world, thou wast despairing and ready to die, how he came and touched thee and said, “Live?” — when he bid thee turn thine eye upward, and thou couldst then say, “Since Jesuh 1.8 mine, I will fear nothing?” O ye who have tasted that the Lord is graci<^us, go ye to the banqueting house again, where
Tim r.RAcious lips of .iicsra. 105
the Saviour comforted you with llagous, aiul fed you with ajiplcs; where he gave you the sweet fruits of the kingdom, and took of the chisters of Eschol and squeezed them into your mouth. Do you not remember when he gave you some thing better than angels’ food at the Lord’s table, or how he manifested himself to you in the use of the moans while you were waituig upon him? And will you not say, “0 Jesus! verily grace was poured into thy lips?” Desponding soul, il Jesus sy)eak9 to thee to-day, thou wilt not be desi)onding any longer. There is such a potency in the word “Jesus,” that mcthiuks it ought to be sung in all hospitals to charm away diseases; at least, in every lazar-house for souls. Wherever there are diseased hearts and troubled spirits, I would always go and sing, “Jesus!” There is no medicine able to heal melancholy like the body and blood of Jesus. When he draws near to comfort his people, midnight becomes noon, the thickest darkness becomes a blaze of meridian splendor; for “grace is poured into his lips.”
Seventhly, Grace is poured into Christ’s lips as the gi’eat Intercessor for his people before the throne. Before Jesus ascended up on high, and led captivity captive, as Toplady says, “with prayers and groans he offered up his humble suit below;” but now Jesus Christ has gone up on high, “with authoiity he pleads before his Father.” It must have been wonderful to hear the prayer of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemanc, and especially to hear that sentence whei-e he prayed for his peoi)le, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am;” but oh, if we might see our blessed Lord this morning pleading in heaven! He stands before his Father’s throne, points to his breast, and shows hia bleeding hands. When our prayers rise to heaven, they always ask to be introduced by Jesus. They are broken prayers, but Jesus knows how to mend them. There are thmgs in them that should not be — he corrects them, and so he takes an emended edition of our prayers, and says, “My Father! another petition I have come to lay before thee.” Says the Father, “Who is it from?” “From one of my people,” And should the Father hesitate a moment, Jesus
Chi’ist says: “Father, I will — it must be done. Look here 1 here is the price!” And he holds up his hands, and shows his side; and then the Father says: “My Son! it shall be done. Whatsoever thou askest in prayer, for thy sake it shall be bestowed.” Do you see yon poor man? his name is Peter. At no great distance is Satan, who wants to destroy his soul. He has got a large sieve, in which he desires to sift Peter. Can you imagine Satan presenting himself before the Lord, as in days of yore? He says, “O Lord, let me have Peter in my sieve that I may sift him.” Down goes Jesus before the throne, and says: “My Father! I beseech thee let not this grain of wheat fall to the ground.” Now Satan goes and catches Peter, and begins to sift him up and down. When Peter goes up the first time, he is a little frightened; the second time he says, “Man, I know not what thou sayest;” the third time he says, “I know not the Man;” and at length he begins to curse and swear. How terrible that sieve! But Christ looks at him, and out goes Peter: the prayer of Jesua availed for him — the look of Jesus prevailed with him: “he went out and wept bitterly,” and his soul was saved. Oh! the mighty power of intercession! I do not think our prayers would ever be heard in heaven if it were not for Jesus Christ, He is the great Mediator by whom our prayers must be presented.
Eighthly, Jesus Christ Ims grace poured into his lips as tJie Counsellor for his people. You may have seen a special pleader rise with a brief in his hand: he shows the case against the prisoner to be a very bad one. Then witnesses are called. Afterwards another advocate gets up to plead the prisoner’s cause — to rebut, if possible, the accusation, or to set forth extenuating circumstances in mitigation of punishment. Now, when we stand before the judgment bar of God, Satan will rise up — that old accuser of the brethren, and will gather logoirher the evidences of our guilt, and the reasons why we must be condemned. Methinks I hear him say that we were born in sin and shapen in iniquity, and, therefore, w« deserve to be lost; that we have a corrupt nature, that we had the sin of Adam laid to us: and then, with malicious
TOE GRACIOUS LirS OF JESUS. 107
spleen, he will allege that we transgressecl at such and such a time, A-hen we were young; following up our career from youth to nianhojd, and even down to hour hairs; clenching all his arguments by an appeal to our unbelief — that though we have j)rofossed to believe, we have doubted the promises, and could not, therefore, bo children of God. Well might We, as transgressors, tremble when with a “bad case ’ the grounds of judgment against us are so maliciously stated. put there stands Ibrth on our behalf “the Wonderful, the Counsellor;” he takes his brief in hand and begins to plead. Ilark what he says, and see how all opinion is turned at once! “I confess,” says he, “that every word is true that the last accuser has said. My client pleads guilty to every charge; but I have a full pardon signed by God’s own hand, purchased by my own blood;” and, stripping himself, he shows his breast, and bares his arm, and s:iys, “These were given to me of my Father before the foimdation of the world. I bare their sins in my o^ti body on the tree. My Father justified them; I pardoned them.” And then, mounting to the highest point, he reaches the climax of grace as he exclaims, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Canst thou, O God? Hast thou not justified? I cannot, for I died.” Then he sits down, in triumph, saying, “Whom ho justified, them he also glorified. Nothing shall be able to separate them from the love of God.” Shall not each ransomed sinner shout with joy? Oh! righteous Advocate, grace is poured into thy lips!
And now, lastly, Grace is poured into the lips of Jesus as the great Judge of all at last. That will be a gracious judgment which Jesus Christ shall dispense; it vail bo gracious, because it will be at once merciful and just. Sinners, ungodly men and women, now in this house of prayer, ye have never heard the voice of Jesus, and ye have never known what it is to confess that “grace was poured into his lips;” but let me tell you, in a few short years you will be made to confess that “grace is poured into his lips.” You will stand there and hear him say to his own people,” Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prej)arcd for you from the fouiv
108 TUB GRAorous lips of jesus.
datiou of the world.” When you hear it you will think with. in yourselves, “Never did such music break on our ears before. Oh! what precious words.” Ay, but you will fall down and ask rocks to hide you, and mountains to cover you, because the words were not spoken to you. You will treiublo as one by one the faithfid soldiers of Jesus Christ come before him. He will say to one, “Verily, thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will make thee ruler over many thing?.” To another he will say, “Thou hast fought a good fight, thou hast kept the faith: receive the crown laid up for thee from the foundation of the world.” You will then stand and say, “Oh, what grace was poured into his lips! how graciously he speaks!” And you all the while will feel that he is not speaking to you; you will stand there and know that your turn will never come when he shall speak gracious words to you. Oh! how you will stand fixed to the spot petrified as you Usteu while you hear those matchless syllables. You laugh at the saints now; you will envy them then. You despise them now; but you will be ready to kiss the dust of their feet if you might but get into heaven. You would not ask to sit on a throne with them; but to lie at their feet would be enough for you, if you might but hear Christ say to you, “Come, yo olessed.” But in a moment, instead of gracious words, my hearers — 1 am not telling you a dream, but a reality -in a moment — O believe me 1 for God speaketh it — instead of words of grace there shall come words of terror, before the sound of which heaven and earth shall liee away, and there shall be found no blessed place for thee. These be the words: “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire in hell, prepared for the devil and his angels.” You would not wish to hear those gracious lips utter such a sentence as that to you. I am sure you are none of you anxious to make your bed in hell, and iind your abode in damnation; but, my hearers, I must warn you faithfully. There are some of you who, if you die as you are, will never go to heaven; there are many of you, ray regular attendants, and some of you who have just sti-ayed in here this morning, who know, and your heart confesses it that you are “hi the gall of bil tei-u’iss, and in the bonds of iniq-.nty. ‘Weeping Chiistians! Weep for thcra. Let your tears tiow in rivers. It were a misery if they were sick, bur this is worse, for they are sick unto the second death; it were painful if they were condemned to die by the law, but they are “condemned already.” My beloved brethren and sisters, there are some of you now — start net — there are some sitting side by side with you in the pews, who are condemned criminals. How would you feel this morning if, as you sat in your pew, there was a m:ui beside you who was to be hanged to-morrow? You would say, “O that God might bless the word to that poor creature’s soul! O that God might send it into his heart, for he is a condemned man!” Do you not know it is so? There is a saint of God, and sitting by his side is a black child of hell; here is an heir of glory and immortaUty, and the neighbor who touches his arm this morning is dead in sins, and condemned to die! What! will ye not weep and feel for them? Will your hearts be like stone and steel? and will ye be worse than brutes, and let them peiish Avithont a sigh,without a prayer, without a tear? No; if we can pray, we will pray for them, that God in his mercy may yet give them grace to save them from the wrath to come. Poor sinners! do not despise my blessed Master, I beseech yon. If you knew him you would love liini, I know. O poor wicked sinner! thou who feelest self-condemned, conscience-stricken, hast thou no love to Jesus? Ah! if thou didst but know how much Jesus Christ loves thee, thou wouldst love him at once. I know a man who said he never was so struck by anythinr; in
all his life as when he heard — “Josua, lover of my soul I”;
“Oh!” said he,” I did not recollect any thing ii lua *^; /» but those words at the bcgimiing of a hymn —
“‘Jesus, lover of my soul I’”
He then went to a friend of mine, and he said —
* ‘Jeaofl, lover of my soul!’”
Do yo 1 think Jesus Christ is the ’ lover of my soul?’ If 1 thought ho was I think I could love him at once.” The friend” said, “Ah, well! if you feel like that, Jesus is the lover of your soul.” Oh! beloved, what would you give if you might but call Jesus Christ your lover and your friend — if you could but know he loved you! Do you sigh for an interest in his love? Ah! then he does love you, for you would not have wanted him to love you if he had not set his heart upon you. Have you a desire for Jesus? then Jesus has a thousand times as much desire for you. I tell you Christ is more pleased to save poor sinners than poor sinners are to be saved. The shepherd is more ready to reclaim the lost sheep than the sheep is to be reclaimed. So let me tell thee, poor soul, Jesus has no ])leasure in the death of him that dieth; but he has a pleasure deep as the sea, high as heaven, wide as the east is from the west, and as unsearchable as his own divinity, in saving souls. Only believe in his name, thou sinner — to thee I preach, thou sinner; thou actual, bond fide sinner; thou real sinner — to thee I preach: Jesus Christ says, “Whosoever liyeth and believeth in me shall never die.” lielievest thou this? Wilt thou put thy trust in him? Wilt thou —
“Renounce thy ways and works with griefj
And fly to this most sure rehol’?”
Wilt thou drop into his arms, and let him carry thee? Wilt thou fall ujDon the Rock of Ages, and let that sustain thee? If thou dost it now, this moment, thou shalt become in this happy moment a changed man. Thou shalt be no longer an hen’ of wrath, but a child of grace; and thy salvation shall become as inevitably secure as if thou wast even now amoui the glorified.