His Imperturbable Peace, Constant Joyfulness and Unconquerable Optimism

<Tiet all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.’’ — Acts 2:36. ‘*T will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.’’ — Isa. 61:10. ‘*These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.’’ — John 15:11. ‘*Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.’’ — John 14:27.

**He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for His law.’’ — Isa. 42:4.

‘*He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk as he walked.’’ — 1 John 2:6.

Thus far we have considered eight features in the picture which God has given us in His Word of His own Christ. The one we studied last week was in striking contrast, indeed, at the first glance, in apparent opposition to the three we had studied the three weeks preceding. To-day we shall study three features in the portrait together; because they are so closely related that it is al-

151 most impossible to altogether separate them: though they really are distinct. Furthermore, to be fully apprehended and understood they must be studied together. They are in some respects closely related to that feature we studied last week, ‘‘His Manliness,’’? but in other respects they are in striking contrast to it. Our subject this morning is ‘‘The Real Christ: His Imperturbable Peace, Constant Joyfulness and Unconquerable Optimism.’’ I have six texts:

Acts 2:36: “‘Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye cructfied.’’

Isa. 61:10: ‘‘I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.’’

John 15:11: ‘“‘These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.’’

John 14:27: ‘‘Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you: not as the world gweth, give I wnto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let at be fearful.’’

Isa. 42:4: ‘‘He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for His law.’’

1 John 2:6: ‘‘He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked.’’

I, His Imperturbable Peace

We shall consider first the Imperturbable Peace of The Real Christ, the Christ of God’s own appointment, Christ Jesus. The whole life of our Lord was characterized by a composure, a calm, a self-possession, a Divine serenity, and an abiding and abounding Peace that nothing could in the least disturb. He was always sure of Himself and of the happy outcome of whatever events occurred, no matter how disturbing they might appear to be.

1. In the first place, the Imperturbable Peace of the Christ of God was manifested by Hts perfect calm and confidence in an hour of apparently great peril. This we see in Mark 4:37-40: ‘‘ And there ariseth a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. (388) And He Himself was m the stern, asleep on the cushion: and they awake Him, and say unto Hum, teacher, carest Thou not that we perish? (39) And He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (40) And He said unto them, why are ye fearful? Have ye not yet faith?’’ (Cf. Luke 8 :22-25; Matt. 8 :23-26.) We see from parallel accounts in Matthew and Luke that His disciples were almost beside themselves with fear. Our Lord Jesus Himself was not only perfectly calm and fearless, He was even surprised at their fearfulness and gently rebuked it, exclaiming, ‘‘Why are ye fearful? Have ye not yet faith?’’ ‘‘The great calm’’ that lay upon the bosom of the so recently storm wrought Galilee was nothing to the great calm that possessed His own heart during all that wild and tempestuous scene.

2. In the second place, the Imperturbable Peace of Christ Jesus was manifested in His calm confidence in the face of the crushing calamity and overwhelming sorrow of others whom He loved and wished to help. This we see illustrated in the case of the death of the daughter of Jairus as recorded in Mark 5 and Luke 8. Let me read Mark’s account recorded in Mark 5:30-42: ‘“‘While He yet spake, they come from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Teacher any further? (36) But Jesus, not heeding the word spoken, sath unto the ruler of the synagogue, Fear not, only belteve. (387) And he suffered no man to follow with Him, save Peter, and James, and John, the brother of James. (88) And they come to the house of the ruler of the synagogue; and He beholdeth a tumult, and many weeping and wailing greatly. (389) And when He was entered in, He saith unto them, Why make ye a tumult, and weep? the child is not dead, but sleepeth. (40) And they laughed Hum to scorn. But

He, having put them all forth, taketh the father of the child and her mother and them that were with Him, and goeth in where the child was. (41) And taking the child by the hand, He saith unto her, Talitha cum; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say wnto thee, arise. (42) And straightway the damsel rose up, and walked; for she was twelve years old. And they were amazed straightway with a great amazement.’’ Notice the excitement, the tumult, the excessive grief of the others on the one hand and the perfect calm, and peace and confidence of the Lord Jesus on the other hand.

3. In the third place, the Imperturbable Peace of the Christ of God was manifested by His serene and exultant Peace in contemplation of His own death, a death of unparalleled and wmconcewable sorrow, shame and agony. His soul was ‘‘exceeding sorrowful, even unto death’’ (Matt. 26:38), His heart was breaking with the weight of man’s reproach (Psa. 69:20), but underneath all the sorrow and agony that were His as the sinbearer of the whole race, was the deep, harmonious undertone of perfect peace. This we see, for example, in John 14:1, where He says to His disciples who were crushed with the revelation of His coming death which He has just made, ‘‘Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me.’’ We see it again in the twenty-seventh verse of the same chapter, where with a wondrous smile of perfect serenity, He gently whispers, ‘‘Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you: not as the world gweth, gwe I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.’’

4. In the fourth place, the Imperturbable Peace of the Lord Jesus was manifested by His perfect rest in God even when, hanging on the cross, the miquity of us all was laid upon Him and the Father Himself hid His face from Him because He was our sin-bearer. It is true, He cried with breaking heart in unutterable mental and spiritual agony, “‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’’ (Matt. 27:46), and then there came welling up from the deeper depths of His innermost spirit that other cry of perfect trust and peace, “‘Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit’? (Matt. 27:50; Cf. Luke 23:46). And as He uttered that last ery of perfect peace and hope and handed His spirit over to the Father, His earthly life ended in a glorious sunburst of Peace triumphant to the very end.

In this Peace that nothing can disturb it is our privilege to follow Him. What perils, what losses, what agonies we may be called upon to face, what real persecutions and crosses we may be called upon to bear, no one can tell in this day when there is so loud a call for sacrifice for others and as the end so rapidly draweth nigh, but we know that they cannot by any possibility match the sorrow and agony and shame He bore for us, and He has said, ‘‘ Peace I leave with you;

My peace I gwe unto you: not as the world gweth, gwe I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”’

II. His Constant Joyfulness

Now let us turn to look at another feature God has portrayed in His picture of The Real Christ, His crucified Son: His Constant Joyfulness.

Isaiah tells us that the coming Christ of God was to be “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief’’ (Isa. 53:3), and he goes on to give us a very detailed and vivid description of the appalling sorrows and griefs that would overtake the suffering Messiah as He made full atonement for our transgressions and iniquities, but in the eleventh verse of the very same chapter he adds, immediately after telling us all these griefs that the Messiah should suffer for us, ‘‘He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.’’ It is a figure taken from the terrible birth pangs of the mother succeeded by that wondrous joy that only a mother can know as she looks into the face of her new-born babe, to her the most beautiful and entrancing sight her eyes have ever gazed upon. Our Lord uses the same figure in speaking to His disciples of the transporting joy that was to be theirs at His resurrection as the outcome of the heart-rending pangs they were to experience at His crucifixion. (John 16:20-22.)

This is not all: on the night before His ecrucifixion, with the cross and all its associated agonies fully in view, Jesus, our Lord and Christ, said to His disciples, ‘‘ These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain im you, and that your joy might be full.’’? ‘*My joy,’’ mind you, ‘‘the joy that now fills and thrills My heart.’’ In substance, then, our Lord says, ‘‘when My joy, the joy that now fills and thrills my heart, shall be yours, your joy shall be full’’ — ‘‘made full’’ the American Revision reads, ‘‘fulfilled,’’ the English revisers translate. Turn that word ‘‘fulfilled’’ around and you will get just what Jesus actually said, ‘‘Willed full’’ (See Greek and R. V. of Matt. 13:48.). When you get the joy that our Lord Jesus had even when contemplating His own crucifixion, your joy will be ‘‘filled full’’: then and not until then. His joy was fullness of joy, joy filled to the brim. ‘‘Man of sorrows,’’ though He was as our sin-bearer, He was, at the same time, the gladdest man that ever walked this earth.

What were the sources of His joy?

1. The first source of His joy was that of obeying God and bearing frmt for Him. This appears in the verse just quoted taken in its connection. He says, ‘‘These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be m you, and that your joy may be made full.’’. What were the things about which He had just ‘‘spoken unto’’ them and to which He here refers? Obedience and fruit-bearing. Note the verse immediately preceding, v. 10, “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide m His love.’’ Krom these words it is evident that His joy was in doing the Father’s will. The same thought comes out again in John 4:34: ‘‘My meat is to do the will of Hum that sent me, and to accomplish His work.’’ Now look at the other words He had just spoken inv. 8: ‘‘Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be My discuples.’’ His joy was the joy of bearing fruit for God. These two joys (or this one two-fold joy), the joy of obedience to God and the joy of bearing fruit for God are two of the greatest joys possible to man and they are both open to us also.,

2. The second source of the joy of Christ Jesus was closely connected with the first. It was the joy of saving souls. This comes out in one of our texts, in a prophetic preview of the coming Christ, Isa. 53:11: ‘‘He shall see of the travail of His soul, and-shall be satisfied.’’ The fruit of the travail of His soul, the pangs of spiritual parturition, which the Messiah should see and in which He would be satisfied and far more than compensated for all He had suffered would beyond question be the new-born souls that would be the outcome of His sufferings unto death. Our Lord feels more than compensated for all the agonies He has endured when He sees men born again and thus saved. He exultantly cries to the assembled hosts of Heaven: ‘‘ Rejoice with Me, for

I have found My sheep which was lost.’’? (Luke 15:6.) Ah, there are few greater joys to a true heart than the joy of seeing others saved and this joy too can be ours. It can be ours if we are willing to pay the price, and that price is ‘‘soul travail.”’

3. The third source of Christ’s joy was joy im the contemplation of the Father’s will. This comes out in Luke 10:21, ‘‘In that same hour He rejowced mm the Holy Spirit, and sad, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that

Thou didst hide these things from the wise and —

understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes; yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing mm Thy sight.’’ The word translated ‘‘rejoiced’’ in this passage is a peculiarly expressive word. It

means ‘‘to exult’’ or ‘‘to rejoice exceedingly.’’ —

It is translated ‘‘be exceeding glad’’ in Matt. 5:12, and ‘‘rejoice greatly’? in the Revised Version of 1 Pet. 1:8, where it is accompanied with the very suggestive descriptive phrase, ‘‘with joy unspeakable and full of glory.’’ It may seem at the first glance as if this joy were the same as that spoken of under our first head but they are really quite different. That was the joy of dowmg the Father’s will: this is the joy of the glad contemplating of the Father’s will in its wisdom and all its infinite excellence. This joy too can be and should be ours and it is a very great joy.

4. The fourth source of Christ’s joy was God Himself. This comes out in another prophetie

picture of the coming Christ of God, in Isa. 61:10, ““I will greatly rejoice mw Jehovah, My soul shall be joyful in M y God.’’ The picture is of the coming Messiah. Our Lord Himself said that the opening verses of this same chapter referred to Himself. (Luke 4:17-21, Cf. Isa. 61:1, 2). This was the deepest source of Christ’s joy, God Himself. Joy in God was His supreme joy. Joy in God is joy unchangeable and inexhaustible. This joy too is open to us, and when we know it nothing can mar our joy; for, however circumstances may change, God is ever the same and He is infinite and the joy that is rooted in Him partakes of His own infinitude. Whether we hang upon a cross or sit upon a throne, our joy, if it is in the infinite God, will be ‘‘unspeakable and full of glory,’’ as was our Lord’s. When Polycarp at the age of ninety-five was writhing in physical agony as he burned at the stake he was at the same time thrilling with unutterable joy and shouted: ‘‘Welcome cross of Christ, welcome eternal life,’’ because like his Master’s, his joy was in God.

Ill. His Unconquerable Optumism

Let us now look at one more feature of His — Christ that God portrays in His Word, 2. e., His Unconquerable Optimism. We shall see that our Lord Jesus was not only the world’s greatest

Saint and greatest Saviour and greatest Teacher and greatest Lord and Master, but that He was also the world’s greatest Optimist and sanest Optimist. His optimism was not of the shallow kind so common, so ostentatious, so blatant to-day, the optimism that comes from closing one’s eyes to clearly evident facts. His optimism was the optimism that comes by seeing with the clear eye of faith in an infinitely wise, and infinitely loving and infinitely powerful God, the ultimate bearing of facts in the wise and loving and far-seeing purpose of God. We have a striking portrayal of the Unconquerable Optimism of The Real Christ in another preview of the coming Messiah eranted to Isaiah, recorded in Isaiah 42:4: “He wil not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set justice m the earth; and the isles shall wait for His law.’’ There would indeed be much to discourage Him. He would find Himself opposed by all the ecclesiastical, political and military forces of the day. He would be betrayed by one of His own chosen disciples and denied by another, and every one of them would forsake Him and flee. He would be subjected to such losses and agonies and suffering and shame as no other man ever endured on this earth; but in the face of it all, He would refuse to be in the least ‘‘discouraged,’’ knowing that God reigns and He would at last ‘set justice in the earth’’ and that ‘‘the isles’’ should ‘‘wait for His law,’’ though it would take His own ignominious death to accomplish it. He saw the God-ward side and therefore the bright side of everything.

1. In the first place, the Unconquerable Optimism of The Real Christ was manifested m His seeing the bright side of fierce persecution. This we see in Matt. 5:10-12: ‘“‘Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (11) Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute - you, and say all manner of evil agamst you falsely, for My sake. (12) Rejotce, and be eaxceeding glad: for great ts your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.’’ To the average mind harsh persecution does not seem a bright thing, but it did to the mind of Christ; because He saw the Godward side of it and, therefore, the glorious outcome of it: and so should we. We should not whine over our persecutions, but shout over them even as the Lord Jesus commanded us: ‘‘Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. (23) Rejoiwe m that day, and leap for joy: for behold, your reward ts great im heaven; for in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets,’’ (Luke 6:22, 23.), knowing that ‘‘the sufferings of thts present tume are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shalt be revealed to us-ward’’ (Rom. 8:18), and that “four light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,’’ (2 Cor. 4:17) and that ‘af we suffer, we shall also reign with Hum’’ (2 Tim, 2:12), and that if ‘‘we suffer with hum, that we’’ shall ‘‘ba@ also glorified with Him.’’ (Rom. 8:17).

2. In the second place, the Unconquerable Op- ‘timism of Christ Jesus manifested itself mm His — seeing the blessed outcome for others of His own ignominious death. This we see in John 12 :31-33: ‘Now is the judgment of this world: now shalt the prince of this world be cast out. (32) And I, uf I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself. (33) But this He said, sigmfymg by what manner of death He should die.’’ Our Lord was facing the cross when He uttered these words. The cross was drawing very nigh. He saw clearly all the agony of the cross for Himself, but there was something He saw still more clearly, and upon that gloriously bright view of the cross, He fastened His whole attention. He saw the cross as the mighty magnet that would draw all races, kinds and conditions of men unto Himself, and He saw the cross as the judgment of the Prince of this world, as the end of Satan’s power. He saw that through His own death He would ““bring to nought him that had the power of death, that es, the devil.’’? (Heb. 2:4.) So we also should see in whatever appalling sufferings we may be called upon to endure for Christ, the good to other men and the glory to God that is to come through our suffering. Then we can become optimistie even in a fiery furnace. We see the same thing illustrated again in our Lord’s words in the twelfth chapter of John, twenty-fourth verse: ‘‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall nto the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but af rt die, tt beareth much frwit’’ (John 12:24.), and here again He bids us to follow Him; for He goes on to say: (25) ‘‘He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life m this world shall keep vt unto life eternal. (26) If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve Me, him will the Father honor.”’ (John 12:25, 26.)

3. In the third place, the Unconquerable Optimism of Jesus, the Christ of God, manifested itself in His seeing the blessing to Himself that was to come from His death of agony. This we see in John 14:28, where He says to His disciples in view of His fast approaching death, the thought of which had filled them with such dismay, ‘‘Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved Me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father.’’ In his death, as terrible as it was to be, He saw simply the door through which He must pass to be with the eternal Father, the object of His eternal and infinite love. In the same way at a later time Paul regarded his own death, as terrible as it was to be, as the greater good for him; for “‘to depart and be with Christ (was) very far better.”’ (Phil. 1:23:)

4, In the fourth place, the Unconquerable Optimism of our Lord manifested itself m Hts seeing ignominious death swallowed up in glorious resurrection. This we see in several places, for example, in John 2:19: ‘‘ Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’’ We see it again in John 16:20-22, where our Lord says to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion, “‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. (21) A woman when she is mn travail hath sorrow, because her hour 1s come: but when she rs delwered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born wmto the world. (22) And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you.”’

5. In the fifth place, the Unconquerable Optumism of the Christ manifested itself when on trial for His life before Caiaphas, with the certainty of condemnation to death confronting Hun, m His looking forward to the time when He should sit “‘at the right hand of Power, and come on the clouds of heaven.’’ This we see in Matt. 26: 62-64, ‘‘And the high priest stood up, and said unto Him, Answerest Thou nothing? what ts at which these witness against Thee? (63) But

Jesus held His peace. And the high priest said unto Him, I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. (64) Jesus saith unto Him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, henceforth ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and commg on the clouds of heaven.’’ Recall the scene: they had arrested Him, they had smitten Him (John 18:22), He knew they were soon to spit in His face, tear the beard from His face, scourge Him and nail Him to the cross. But He looked beyond it all to the day when He should be seated at the right hand of God and then come back to this earth in God’s own chariot, ‘‘on the clouds of heaven,’’ and all heaven’s glorious armies following in His train. So we too should look beyond the present loss and suffering and shame involved in true discipleship to the day when having overcome, we shall sit down with Christ on His throne even as He overcame and sat down with His Father on His throne. (Rev. 3:21.)

6. In the sixth place, the Unconquerable Optimism of the true Christ, Christ Jesus, mantfested itself iv seeing wn all the turmoil and discord and chaos and Bolshevik anarchy and desolation that are surely coming upon this world as the logical and wmevitable outcome of having rejected and crucified its rightful King, but the prophecy and precursor of the glad and glorious day of that King’s return for the salvation of this wrecked and ruined human society of ours and ts transformation wmto the fit and eternal abode of God. This comes out in a very striking way in» Luke 21: 25-28, ‘‘ And there shall be signs m sw% and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, in perpleasty for the roaring of the sea and the billows; (26) men faintmg for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. (27) And then shall they see the Son of Man coming m a cloud with power and great glory. (28) But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lft up your heads; because your redemption draweth nigh.’’ So we, too, as the night of the present dispensation of this old earth’s history darkens, should have hearts that are becoming more and more buoyant with high hopes built upon God’s sure word of prophecy. Listen again, ‘‘When these things begin to come to pass,’’ what things? the things just described, ‘“upon the earth distress of nations, mn perpleaty for the roarmg of the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,’’ the thing’s that cause the hearts of thoughtful statesmen to ‘“‘faint for fear and for expectation of the things that are coming upon’’ human society. What shall we do then? Hang our heads? No. Tremble? No. Get frightened? No. ‘‘Look up, and lift wp your heads; because your redemption draweth nigh.”’

Men and women, listen! The world’s golden age lies in the future, not in the past; the near future, not the remote future. These prophesied things that are happening to-day in Russia, in Poland, in Germany, in Italy, in France, in England, in America, all shout aloud, ‘‘ Your redemption draweth nigh.’’ We have waited long, but it is coming, coming fast. These are great days in which we are living. Great, not because of men’s braggart boasting of ‘‘big’’ drives for money, ‘‘the biggest thing the Church has ever undertaken,’’ which is a lie, an outrageous and infamous lie, but great because the trumpets of God’s fast accumulating providences proclaim, “the King cometh, God’s King.’’