strain of the Evangelical Prophet:—“Is my hand shortened at all, that I
cannot redeem; or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry
up the sea, and make the rivers a wilderness; I clothe the heavens with
blackness, and make sackcloth their covering. Though ye see me in human
flesh, I am still Lord of all, and can save unto the uttermost. Though
ye do not hear me, I have the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in
season to him that is weary. I have taken upon myself your nature, that
I may be able to sympathize in your sufferings, and make satisfaction for
your sins. For you will I give my back to the smiters, and my cheek to
them that pluck off the hair; and I will not hide my face from shame and
spitting. Calvary and Joseph’s grave shall manifest my benevolence, and
it shall be seen that my mercy is mightier than death. Who will contend
with me? Let him come near! Let us stand together! I challenge all the
powers of darkness to defeat the purposes of my grace. I will triumph by
suffering. I will dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. Hell shall
tremble at the report; and on every gate and door-post, in all my journey
from this place to Golgotha, and thence home to my Father’s house, shall
be inscribed the record of my good will toward men!”
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Behold him pressing the wine
of eternal life for us from the cup of his own mortality; demolishing the
kingdom of darkness on earth, and establishing in its stead the kingdom
of heaven; destroying the works of the devil, delivering the captives
from his iron yoke, and uniting sinners to himself in everlasting
fellowship and love. The whole economy of Divine grace, based on the
incarnation of the Son of God, is like a complicated piece of machinery,
consisting of many wheels, all revolving in harmony, and impelled by the
same power. Salvation is a river, flowing from the manger in Bethlehem,
conveying eternal life to millions, and bearing away many a precious gem
from the dominions of death and hell. It has already swept from the
earth more false gods than would have filled the Roman Pantheon; and
carried multitudes of human souls, pardoned and purified, to Abraham’s
bosom. No opposition of men or devils can stand before “the glorious
gospel of the blessed God.” O that its light may shine into the heart
and the conscience of every hearer! May the goodness of God lead you all
to repentance, and fill you with peace in believing! Then will you go
forth with joy, and publish his “good will toward men;” and when the
purposes of his mercy are accomplished in your hearts, you shall be
removed from grace to glory—from peace to perfect love—and sin and sorrow
shall be shut out for ever! Amen.
SERMON XVIII.
THE STONE OF ISRAEL.
“_Behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua_. _Upon one stone
shall be seven eyes_. _Behold_, _I will engrave the graving
thereof_, _saith the Lord of hosts_, _and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day_.”—Zech. iii. 9.
AMID all the tribulations which the church has suffered, she has ever
been preserved and sustained by the gracious providence of God; like the
bush in Horeb—burning, yet unconsumed.
In the days of this prophet, the church was feeble and afflicted. Having
just returned from the captivity in Babylon, by which she had been
greatly reduced, she resembled the myrtle among the oaks, the firs, and
the cedars. But the Messiah appears to the prophet, standing among the
myrtle-trees, and encouraging the children of Israel to proceed in
rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple. The good success of Zerubbabel is
represented by a golden candlestick, with a bowl at the top, and seven
lamps for the light, and seven pipes to convey the oil to the lamps, and
two olive-trees—one on each side—pouring the oil into the pipes. This
was intended also to set forth the relation of Christ to his church, as
her head, and the fountain whence she derives strength and nourishment,
enabling her to grow in grace, and the saving knowledge of God. As they
bring forth the foundation and the corner-stones with joy, wondering at
the Divine goodness and mercy, Jehovah shows them that he is about to lay
in Zion the foundation and chief corner-stone of a spiritual temple:
“Behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua. Upon one stone shall
be seven eyes. Behold I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord
of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.”
Let us consider the important truths taught us in this metaphorical
description of Christ and his mediatorial work.
I. Christ is the foundation and chief corner-stone of his church. This
figure is often used in the Holy Scriptures. “From hence is the
Shepherd, the Stone of Israel”—said Jacob in the blessing of Joseph.
“The stone which the builders refused,” said the Psalmist, “is become the
head-stone of the corner.” And Isaiah said—“Thus saith the Lord God:
Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner-stone, a sure foundation.” All these predictions were
appropriated by Messiah, to whom they were intended to apply. Christ is
the foundation and chief corner-stone. “Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” “Ye are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets”—that is, the foundation which
they recognized and recommended—“Jesus Christ himself being the chief
corner-stone.” He is indeed the foundation of the world; and in the
fulness of time, was declared the foundation of the church. All the
buildings of mercy that have ever been erected stand firm and immovable
on this Rock of Ages.
In the architecture of the first covenant in Eden, there was a Stone
under one end, and earth under the other. “The first man was of the
earth, earthy.” And when the storm and the flood came, the earth gave
way, and the building fell. But in the architecture of the second
covenant upon Calvary, God laid help upon one that was mighty. “The
second man is the Lord from heaven.” A stone suitable for the foundation
of a royal palace is very valuable, because the safety of the building
depends upon the firmness of the foundation. This Stone is “chosen of
God and precious.” It is long and broad enough for the whole edifice,
stretching from eternity to eternity; and sufficiently strong to sustain
it, though millions of living stones be built into the spiritual temple;
and such is its firmness, that time, with all its storms, shall never
destroy it, or injure its beauty. It is a tried and precious stone,
composed of all that is excellent on earth, and all that is glorious in
heaven—a sinless specimen of humanity, possessing “all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily.” As a foundation, it is laid deep in the earth; as a
corner-stone, it rises above the stars, and binds the whole building in
heaven and earth together.
II. This Stone is “laid before Joshua.” God has revealed his Son, as
the only foundation, and chief corner-stone, to the wise master-builders
of his church, in every age of the world. The seed was promised in Eden.
Holy men of old beheld the promises afar off. Abraham desired to see his
day; he saw it, and was glad. This was the foundation of the prophets
and apostles. As Moses found so much of God in the rod that was in his
hand, that he could think of no other means for working a miracle; so the
prophets and apostles saw and felt so much of Christ in the revelations
of which they were made the media, that they could never think of
salvation from sin and hell but through his meritorious death; and the
most dreadful tortures, and even martyrdom itself, lost their terrors in
“the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ.”
This Stone was laid also before Wickliff and Luther. The office and work
of Christ had been lost sight of, in the intercession of saints, and the
merit of human works. But “the foundation of God standeth sure;” and all
the rubbish which Roman monks had heaped upon it could not hide it from
the reformers, whose vision had been cleared and quickened by light from
heaven. And it was laid before Wesley and Whitefield in England, who
built upon it “gold, silver, and precious stones;” and before Powell,
Erbery, and Wroth—before Rowlands, Harris, Jones, Evans, Thomas, and
Francis—as the foundation of that wonderful revival in Wales, the blessed
effects of which we feel to this day.
We are now endeavoring to exhibit the glory and excellency of this Stone,
as the foundation of your hopes. Will you build upon Christ? Can you
venture your eternal salvation upon the merit of his sacrifice? “He that
believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”
III. It is said that “upon one stone shall be seven eyes;” by which we
may understand, either seven eyes of others, looking upon the stone; or
seven eyes in the stone, looking upon others.
If we take the former idea, there are many eyes looking upon this “One
Stone;” some from envy, malice, and wrath; others from astonishment,
gratitude, and love. It attracts the gaze of heaven, earth, and hell.
The eternal Lawgiver looks to Messiah for satisfaction on behalf of
guilty man. Mercy and Truth look upon him as the foundation of their
palaces. Righteousness and Peace look upon him as the only place where
they can salute each other with a kiss. The devil and his angels, sin,
death, and the grave, look upon him with eyes of anger and revenge;
determined, if possible, to bruise him with their weapons, and cast him
among the rubbish, into the pit of corruption. Celestial spirits look
upon him with eyes of wonder and delight; announce his coming to Joseph
and Mary, sing his advent to the shepherds of Judea, accompany him
through all his pilgrimage of sorrow, minister to him after the
temptation in the wilderness, talk with him on the mount of
transfiguration, sustain him in the agony of the garden, gather unseen
around his cross, roll away the rock from the entrance of his tomb, and
attend him with songs as he ascends to glory. And believers look upon
him with eyes of faith and love, as the foundation of all their hopes, in
this world, and that which is to come—as their “wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption.”
The other interpretation refers these “seven eyes” to the perfection of
our Lord’s mediatorial character. The priest under the law was to
sprinkle the blood seven times upon the mercy-seat, and seven times upon
the leper; the first to typify a perfect atonement for sin; the second, a
perfect application of its benefits to the believer. When the Lamb of
God revived from the ashes on the altar of Calvary, he appeared “in the
midst of the throne,” having seven horns and seven eyes, to denote the
completeness of his prophetic wisdom, and the fulness of his regal
authority. He sustains to his people the threefold relation of
high-priest, prophet, and king. He is our high-priest, not after the
order of Aaron, whom death robbed of his sacerdotal vesture; but “a
high-priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec.” He is our
prophet, speaking with the tongue of the learned, and as one having
authority—speaking to the conscience and the heart, and the dead hear his
voice and live. He is our king, according to the decree, “on the holy
hill of Zion;” exalted by the right-hand of the Father, and “declared to
be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.”
Methinks I hear the Father speaking to Caiaphas:—“Have you a law, and do
you say that by your law he ought to die? I will read to you the law on
the morning of the third day, and you shall see that he is the
resurrection and the life—that I have made him both Lord and Christ!”
And methinks I hear the voice of the risen Messiah:—“I have travelled
through the forest of the world’s temptations, through the dens of lions,
the mountains of leopards, the dark haunts of devils, and the dominions
of death and the grave; and have opened, through all the desert, a new
and living way to my Father’s house. The powers of darkness thought to
strip me of my official regalia, and bind me for ever in the grave; but I
have broken Cæsar’s seal, and rent the rocks of Joseph’s sepulchre, and
am alive for evermore—the high-priest, prophet, and king of Israel.
Though I gave myself up to death upon the cross, death could not deprive
me of my threefold office. I died with my vesture on, my miter and
breastplate, as high-priest over the house of God. I died with the book
of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in my hand, as a prophet to
instruct my people, and lead them into all truth. I died with the crown
upon my head, and all my enemies beneath my feet, as a king, whose
dominion is everlasting, and whose glory shall never end. Death and hell
could not take from me my triple diadem; and I came forth from the place
of the dead in the power of an endless life; and will continue to wear my
robes unspotted, till I have finished my mediatorial work, and gathered
all the saints unto myself!”
IV. This stone is fitted and prepared by God himself. “I will engrave
the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts.”
This figure evidently refers to the sufferings of Christ, by which he was
made perfect for his mediatorial work. Many hammers and chisels were
upon him from Bethlehem to Calvary; but they were all appointed of God,
as the instruments of his preparation to be the sure foundation and chief
corner-stone of the church. The Scribes and the Pharisees, Caiaphas,
Judas, Pilate, the Jewish populace, and the Roman soldiery, whatever
their malicious designs, only accomplished “the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God” upon his well-beloved Son. All was appointed by
the Father; all was understood by the Messiah; all was necessary to
secure the great objects of his advent. It pleased the Father to bruise
him, and put him to grief; and he cheerfully submitted to suffer, that we
might be spared. O, wonder of wonders! Emmanuel wounded, that sinners
might be healed! the Golden Vessel marred, that the earthen vessels might
be saved! the Green Tree dried up, that the dry tree might grow as the
lily, and cast forth its roots like Lebanon! According to another
metaphor, “the plowers plowed upon his back; they made long their
furrows.” And they were deep as well as long. They plowed into his very
heart, and his body was covered with blood, and his cry of agony pierced
the supernatural gloom of Golgotha, and soured the wine of dragons
throughout the region of Gehenna!
Thus the foundation was fitted and prepared; and wicked men and devils
but blindly did the work which God had before determined to be done. It
is fixed in its place, firm and immovable; and the chief Architect is
raising other stones from the quarry, and building them thereon, “for a
habitation of God through the Spirit.” Brethren, “look unto the rock
whence ye are hewn, and the hole of the pit whence ye are digged”—even
the flinty rock of impenitence, and the horrible pit of corruption. I
have known men relinquish the hewing of stones from the quarry, because
it was more expense than profit; and I have known men abandon the digging
of ore from the mine, because it was too deep in the mountain. But
Christ “descended into the lower parts of the earth,” and imbibed the gas
of death. He carried in his hand the hammer of the word, which breaketh
the flinty rock in pieces. He expelled the deadly vapor, blasted the
solid adamant, and prepared the way for the workmen; and when he
ascended, he sent down the apostles, to gather stones for his spiritual
temple; while he stands at the top of the shaft, and turns the windlass
of intercession, by which he draws up all to himself.
The work was gloriously begun on the day of Pentecost, and men and demons
have never yet been able entirely to stop its progress. The pope and the
devil tried their best, for a long time, to keep the digging and hewing
tools of the twelve wise master-builders concealed in the vaults of the
monasteries; but Luther, with the lamp of God in his hand, discovered
them, brought them forth, and set them at work; and millions of lively
stones have since been dug out, and sent up from the pit, to be placed in
the walls of “God’s building.”
And still the gospel is mighty in the salvation of souls, of which we
have abundant evidence in the principality. What multitudes were
converted at Langeiththo in the days of Rowlands and Williams; when two
thousand communicants in the winter, and three thousand in the summer,
met every month in the same place around the table of the Lord! And
there are now in Wales hundreds of large and flourishing churches among
the Baptists and Independents. Glory to God, that I have in my own
possession the register of hundreds, who have been hewn from the flinty
rock, and raised from the horrible pit, to a place in the Lord’s holy
temple—from drunkenness to sobriety, from unbelief to faith in Christ,
from enmity to reconciliation to God, from persecution to patient
suffering for righteousness’ sake, from disobedience to the filial temper
of “sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty;” and many of them I have
seen going home, rejoicing, to their Father’s house above!
Hark! what do I hear? The hammers and chisels of mercy all over the
mountain of the militant church. The great Architect is building up
Zion. He is gathering his materials from Europe, and Asia, and Africa,
and America. Glory to God! I hear his footsteps to-day in this
mountain; I see his hand in this congregation. Brethren in the ministry,
we are workers together with him. Delightful work! How easy it is to
preach, when the hand of God is with us! Let us labour on! The topstone
will soon be brought forth with shouting, the sound of the building shall
cease, and we shall receive our reward!
V. The gracious design for which this Divine Foundation is prepared, is
the justification and sanctification of sinners. “I will remove the
iniquity of that land in one day.”
Christ came to destroy the works of the devil—to take away sin by the
offering of himself. As the moon is illuminated by the sun, so the rites
and ceremonies of the old testament are illustrated by the facts and
doctrines of the new. The priesthood of Jesus explains the priesthood of
Aaron. The one sacrifice of Calvary explains all the sacrifices that
went before. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ enters the
windows of Solomon’s temple, and penetrates the Holy of Holies within the
vail. All the bloody offerings of the Mosaic ritual were intended only
as types of him who “removed the iniquity of that land in one day.”
What land? Emmanuel’s land—a garden enclosed, and measured by the line
of God’s eternal purpose; including all the redeemed of the Lord, who
will ultimately be brought to glory. The map of “that land” was in the
mind of Jehovah, when he made this promise through the prophet. He
remembered his covenant engagement before the foundation of the world in
reference to its redemption. He saw it encumbered by mountains of sin,
and blasted by the fiery curse of the law; and in the fulness of time, he
sent his Son to deliver it.
To remove iniquity is to remove its penalty and its pollution. Christ
hath accomplished both for believers. He “bore our sins in his own body
on the tree!” He carried upon his own shoulder the burden which must
have sunk the whole human race to eternal perdition. By enduring our
punishment, he provided for our purification. In his own wounds a
fountain was opened wherein we may wash and be clean. From his own heart
the balm was extracted whereby our moral leprosy may be cured. “Behold
the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” See how our
great High-priest removes the iniquity of his people; not, like Aaron, by
many sacrifices; but by the single offering of himself, “in one day.”
The word which is here rendered “remove” is in the original the same as
that which is used to express the translation of Enoch. As Enoch was
removed from the earth, beyond the sight of man, and the power of death;
so sin is removed by the Mediator—removed for ever from the believer’s
heart and conscience—blotted out—cast into the depth of the sea—carried
away into the land of forgetfulness. The removal is perfect and
everlasting.
This was a work which Jewish sacrifices were too weak to accomplish. For
two thousand years the victims bled upon the altar, and not a single sin
was actually removed. Every year the goat of the burnt-offering must
bleed afresh, and the scape-goat must be sent away into the wilderness.
But Jesus, the great ante-type of all these emblems, removed in one day,
by a single offering, the iniquities of all who believe in him, from the
fall to the end of time.
All the sacrifices that preceded his coming were intended only to remind
men that they were sinners, that they needed an atonement, and that
justification and eternal life could flow only from the meritorious
sufferings of the future Christ. But when the substance came, the
shadows passed away, and the promised work was at once accomplished; and
all our iniquities were lost in the sea of mercy, which rose to a full
tide in the Mediator’s merit.
Sinners, do you expect ever to be made free from sin? Would you have
your leprosy cured, your impurity cleansed, and the curse removed? Come
to our great High-priest! Lo, he stands by the altar, and the blood is
on his hands! He waits to be gracious! Come, for he has virtually
removed your iniquity, and it requires in you but a simple act of faith
to realize the benefit! “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved!”
SERMON XIX.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.
“_But how should man be just with God_?”—Job ix. 2.
THE Almighty proclaimed himself to Moses, “the Lord, merciful and
gracious;” and in the New Testament, he is called “the God of all grace.”
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal
life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” God is determined to glorify the
unsearchable riches of his grace in the salvation of sinners. But how
can this be done, without casting a cloud over the Divine throne, and
bringing into contempt the Divine law? How can the guilty be considered
and treated as innocent, without an apparent indifference to the evil of
sin, and a total disregard of the claims of eternal justice? How can the
rebel be acquitted in the court of Heaven, with honor to the character of
God, and safety to the interests of his moral government? This is a
question which angels could not answer; but it has been answered by the
God of angels. The light of nature and reason is too feeble to afford us
any aid in this inquiry; “but we have a more sure word of prophecy,
whereunto we do well that we take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a
dark place;” for “God hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Following, then, the guidance of the New Testament, let us consider the
nature and the ground of a sinner’s justification with God.
I. To justify is the public act of a judge, declaring a person innocent,
not liable to punishment. “It is God that justifieth” the ungodly.
Justification, in its strict sense, and remission of sins, are two very
different things. Job could forgive his friends; but he could not
justify them. But in the gracious economy of the gospel, these are
always immediately connected; nor these alone, but other and superior
mercies—mercies infinite and unspeakable. Those whom God justifieth are
not only forgiven, but also purified and renewed—not only delivered from
condemnation, but also entitled to eternal life—not only redeemed from
the curse of the law, but also blessed with the spirit and the privilege
of adoption—not only liberated from bondage and imprisonment, but also
constituted heirs “to an inheritance that fadeth not away.” They are
“heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” They are kings and priests,
and shall reign for ever and ever. God having given his Son as our
surety, and published “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,”
and taken his seat upon the throne of grace in the character of a
merciful judge, he proclaims the believer free from condemnation, and
“accepted in the Beloved.”