III–THE KINGDOM OF GOD<\/p>\n
THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT.<\/p>\n
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to
\npreach good tidings to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the
\nbroken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
\nof the prison to them that are bound.–ISAIAH lxi. 1.<\/p>\n
My friends, I do entreat those of you who wish to get any real good
\nfrom this sermon, to listen to me carefully all through it. Not that
\nI have to complain of you in general for not attending to me. I
\nthank God, and thank you, that you do listen to what is said in this
\npulpit. But there are many people who have a bad trick of minding
\nthe preacher carefully enough for a minute or two, and then letting
\ntheir wits wander, and think about something else; and then if any
\nword in the sermon strikes them, waking up suddenly, and thinking
\nagain for a little, and then letting their thoughts run wild again;
\nand so on. Whereby it happens that they only recollect a few scraps
\nof the sermon, a word here, and a sentence there, and get into their
\nheads all sorts of mistakes and false notions about the preacher’s
\nmeaning.<\/p>\n
That is not right; that is not worthy of reasonable grown men: that
\nis only pardonable in little scatter-brained children. Men and women
\nshould listen steadily, reverently throughout; so, and so only, will
\nthey be able to judge of the message which the preacher brings them.
\nListen to me, therefore, all through this sermon, and may God give
\nyou grace to understand it and lay it to heart, for it is the good
\nnews of the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n
You recollect, I hope, that I have often told you, that the Lord
\nJesus Christ’s words would never pass away; that His prophecies are
\ncontinually coming true, and being fulfilled over and over again.
\nNow this text is not one of His prophecies, but it is a prophecy
\nabout Him; one which He fulfilled, and which He has been fulfilling
\nagain and again. He is fulfilling it, as I believe, more than ever,
\nnow in these very days.<\/p>\n
If you will look at the 61st chapter of Isaiah, you will find this
\nprophecy; and you will find, too, what will surprise you at first,
\nthat Isaiah was speaking of himself. He says, “That the Spirit of
\nthe Lord was upon HIM”–Isaiah–“because the Lord had appointed HIM
\nto preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted,
\nand deliverance to the captives, to preach the acceptable year of the
\nLord.” Isaiah must have spoken truly about himself. He could not
\nhave meant to tell a falsehood, to say a thing was true of himself
\nwhich was only true of Jesus, who did not come till 800 years
\nafterwards. And he did speak the truth: you cannot read his
\nprophecies without seeing that the Spirit of the Lord was indeed upon
\nhim; that the words which he spoke must have comforted all those who
\nwere sorrowing for their sins and the sins of the nation in their
\ntime. We know, for a fact, that his prophecies came true; that the
\nJewish captives were delivered and brought back out of Judaea to
\nJerusalem again, and that Jerusalem was rebuilt as Isaiah prophesied,
\nand the Jewish nation raised to far greater holiness, and prosperity,
\nand happiness than it had ever been in before. And yet 800 years
\nafterwards the Lord took those very same words to Himself, and said,
\nthat HE fulfilled them. He read them aloud once in a Jewish
\nsynagogue, out of the book of the prophet Isaiah; and then told the
\ncongregation, “This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
\nAnd again, as we read in the Gospel for this day, when John the
\nBaptist sent to ask Him if He was really the Christ, He made use of
\nanother prophecy of Isaiah, and told John’s disciples that He WAS the
\nChrist, because He was fulfilling that prophecy; because He WAS
\nmaking the deaf hear, and the blind see, and preaching the gospel to
\nthe poor. Now, how is that? Could Isaiah be right in applying those
\nwords to himself, and yet Christ be right in applying them to
\nHimself? Can a prophecy be fulfilled twice over?<\/p>\n
No doubt it can, my friends, and two hundred times over. No prophecy
\nof Scripture is of private interpretation, says St. Peter. That is,
\nit does not apply to any one private, particular thing that is to
\nhappen. Every prophecy of Scripture goes on fulfilling itself more
\nand more, as time rolls on and the world grows older. St. Peter
\ntells us the reason why. No prophecy of Scripture is of private
\ninterpretation; because it does not come from the will of man, from
\nany invention or discovery of poor short-sighted human beings, who
\ncan only judge by what they see around them in their own times: but
\nholy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And who
\nis the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God; the everlasting Spirit; the
\nSpirit who cannot change, for He IS God. The Spirit who searcheth
\nthe deep things of God, and teaches them to men. And what are the
\ndeep things of God? They are eternal as God is. Eternal laws;
\neverlasting rules which cannot alter. That is the meaning of it all.
\nThe Spirit of God is the Spirit which teaches men the laws of God;
\nthe unchangeable rules and ordinances by which He governs all heaven
\nand earth, and men, and nations; the laws which come into force, not
\nonce only, but always; the laws of God which are working round us
\nnow, just as much as they were eighteen hundred years ago, just as
\nmuch as they were in Isaiah’s time. Therefore it is, that I said
\nthat these old Jewish prophecies, which were inspired by the Holy
\nSpirit, are coming true now, and will keep on coming true, time after
\ntime, in their proper place and order, and whensoever the times are
\nfit for them, even to the end of the world.<\/p>\n
But again, we read that the Spirit of God takes of the things of
\nChrist, and shows them unto us. And what are the things of Christ?
\nThey must be eternal things, unchangeable things, for Christ is
\nunchangeable–Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
\nHe is over all, God blessed for ever. To Him all power is given in
\nheaven and earth. He reigns, and He will reign. Do you think He is
\nless a Saviour now, than He was when He spoke those things to John’s
\ndisciples? Do you think He is less able to hear and to help than He
\nwas in John’s time? Do you think He used to care about people’s
\nbodies then, but that He only cares about their souls now? Do you
\nthink that He is less compassionate, and less merciful, as well as
\nless powerful, than He was when He made the blind see, and the lame
\nwalk, and the deaf hear, in Judaea of old?<\/p>\n
Less powerful! less compassionate! One would have expected that
\nChrist was MORE powerful, MORE compassionate, if that were possible.
\nAt least one would expect that His power and compassion would show
\nitself more and more, and make itself felt more and more, year by
\nyear, and age by age; more and more healing disease; more and more
\ncomforting sorrow; more and still more casting out cunning and evil
\nspirits, till He had put all under His feet. He Himself said it
\nshould be so. He always spoke of His own kingdom as a thing which
\nwas to grow and increase by laws of its own, men knew not how, but He
\nknew. Like seed cast into the ground, His kingdom was, He said, at
\nfirst the smallest of all seeds; but it was to grow, and take root,
\nand spread into a mighty tree, He said, till the very birds in the
\nair lodged in the branches of it; and David’s words should be
\nfulfilled, “Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast.” And does not
\nSt. Paul speak of His kingdom in the same way, as a kingdom which
\nshould grow? that He was to reign till He had put all enemies under
\nHis feet? that He would deliver at last the whole creation? the earth
\non which we stand, the dumb animals around us? For, as St. Paul
\nsays, the whole creation is groaning in labour-pangs, waiting to be
\nraised into a higher state. And it shall be raised. The whole
\ncreation shall be set free into the glorious liberty of the children
\nof God.<\/p>\n
What does that mean? How can I tell you?<\/p>\n
This I can tell you, that it cannot mean that Jesus Christ was
\nmerciful enough to heal people’s bodies at first, but that He has
\ngiven up doing it now, and will never do it again. “Well, but,” some
\nwould say, “what does all this come to? You are merely telling us
\nwhat we knew before–that if any of us are cured from disease, or
\nraised up from a sick bed, it is all the Lord’s doing.” If you do
\nbelieve that, really, my friends, happy are you! Many of you, I
\nthink, do believe it. The poor are more inclined to believe it, I
\nthink, than the rich. But even in the mouths of the poor one often
\nhears words which make one suspect that they do NOT believe it. I am
\nvery much afraid that a great many have got into the trick of saying
\nthat it was God’s mercy that they were cured, and that it pleased the
\nLord to raise them up from a sick bed, very much as a piece of cant.
\nThey say the words by rote, because they have been accustomed to hear
\nthem said by others, without thinking of the meaning of them; just
\nas, on the other hand, a great many people curse and swear without
\nthinking of the awful oaths they use. Ay, and often enough the very
\nsame persons will say that it was the Lord’s mercy they were cured of
\ntheir sickness; and then, if they get into a passion, pray the very
\nsame Lord to do that to the bodies and souls of their neighbours
\nwhich it is a shame to speak of here. Out of the same mouth proceed
\nblessings and cursings: showing that whether or not they are in
\nearnest in cursing, they are not earnest in blessing.<\/p>\n
Again: If people really believed that it was the Lord Jesus Christ
\nwho cured their sicknesses for them, they would behave, when they got
\nwell, more as the Lord Jesus Christ would wish them to behave. They
\nwould show forth their thankfulness not only with their lips, but in
\ntheir lives. You who believe–you who say–that Christ has cured
\nyour sicknesses, show your faith by your works. Live like those who
\nare alive again from the dead; who are not your own, but bought with
\na price, and bound to work for God with your bodies and your spirits,
\nwhich are His–then, and then only, can either God or man believe
\nyou.<\/p>\n
Again: There is a third reason which makes one suspect that people
\ndo not mean what they say about this matter. I think too many say,
\n“It has pleased God,” merely as an empty form of words, when all they
\nmean is, “What must be, must, and it cannot be helped.” Else, why do
\nthey say, “It has pleased the Lord to send me sickness?” What is the
\nuse of saying, “It has pleased the Lord to cure me,” when you say in
\nthe same breath, “It has pleased the Lord to make me ill?” I know
\nyou will say that, “Of course, whatever happens must be the Lord’s
\nwill; if it did not please Him it would not happen.” I do not care
\nfor such words; I will have nothing to do with them. I will neither
\nentangle you nor myself in those endless disputings and questions
\nabout freewill and necessity, which never yet have come to any
\nconclusion, and never will, because they are too deep for poor short-
\nsighted human beings like us. “To the law and to the testimony,” say
\nI. I will hold to the words of the Bible; what it says, I will say;
\nwhat it does not say I will not say, to please any man’s system of
\ndoctrines. And I say from the Bible that we have no more right to
\nsay, “It has pleased the Lord to make me sick,” than, “It has pleased
\nthe Lord to make me a sinner.” Scripture everywhere speaks of
\nsickness as a real evil and a curse–a breaking of the health, and
\norder, and strength, and harmony of God’s creation. It speaks of
\nmadmen as possessed with evil spirits; did THAT please God? The
\nwoman who was bowed with a spirit of infirmity, and could not lift
\nherself up–did our Lord say that it had pleased God to make her a
\nwretched cripple? No; he spoke of her as this daughter of Israel,
\nwhom Satan had bound, and not God, this eighteen years; and that was
\nHis reason for healing her, even on the sabbath-day, because her
\ndisease was not the work of God, but of the cruel, disordering,
\ndestroying evil spirit which is at enmity with God. That was why
\nChrist cured her. And THAT–for this is the point I have been coming
\nto, step by step–that was the reason why, when John the Baptist sent
\nto ask if Jesus was the Christ, our Lord answered: “Go and show John
\nagain those things which ye do see and hear: the blind receive their
\nsight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
\nthe dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to
\nthem.”<\/p>\n
Do not be in a hurry, my friends, and suppose that our Lord meant
\nmerely: “Tell John what wonderful miracles I am working.” If He had
\nmeant that why would He have put in as the last proof that He was the
\nChrist, that He was preaching the gospel to the poor? What wonderful
\nmiracle was there in THAT? No: it was as if He had said: “Go and
\ntell John that I am the Christ, because I am the great physician, the
\nhealer and deliverer of body and soul: one who will and can cure the
\nloathsome diseases, the uselessness, the misery, the ignorance of the
\npoorest and meanest.” He has proved Himself the Christ by showing
\nnot only His boundless power, but His boundless love and mercy; and
\nTHAT, not only to men’s souls, but to their bodies also. To prove
\nHimself the Christ by wonderful and astonishing miracles was exactly
\nwhat He would not do. He refused, when the Scribes and Pharisees
\ncame and asked of Him a sign from heaven to prove that He was Christ–
\nwanting Him, I suppose, to bring some apparition, or fiery comet, or
\ngreat voice out of the sky, to astonish them with His power; He told
\nthem peremptorily that He would give them no such thing: and yet He
\nsaid that His mighty works did prove Him to be Christ; He pronounced
\nwoe against Chorazin and Bethsaida for not believing Him on account
\nof His mighty works: He told the Scribes and Pharisees that they
\nought to believe on Him merely for His works’ sake. And why would
\nthey not believe on Him? Just because they could not see that God’s
\npower was shown more in healing and delivering sufferers, than in
\nastonishing and destroying. They could not see that God’s perfect
\nlikeness shone out in Christ–that He was the express image of the
\nFather, just because He went about doing good, and healing all manner
\nof sicknesses and all manner of infirmities among the people. But so
\nit is, my friends! Jesus is the Saviour, the deliverer, the great
\nphysician, the healer of soul and body. Not a pang is felt or a tear
\nshed on earth, but He sorrows over it. Not a human being on earth
\ndies young, but He, as I believe, sorrows over it. What it is which
\nprevents Him healing every sickness, soothing every sorrow, wiping
\naway every tear NOW, we cannot tell. But this we can tell, that it
\nis His will that none should perish. This we CAN tell; that He is
\nwilling as ever to heal the sick, to cleanse the leper, to cast out
\ndevils, to teach the ignorant, to bind up the broken-hearted. This
\nwe CAN tell; that He will go on doing so more and more, year by year,
\nand age by age. This we CAN tell, from Scripture, that Christ is
\nstronger than the devil. This we can tell; that Christ, and all good
\nmen, the spirits of just men made perfect, the wise and the great in
\nGod’s sight, who have left us their books, their sayings, their
\nwritings, as precious health-giving heirlooms–have been fighting,
\nand are fighting, and will fight to the end against the devil, and
\nsin, and oppression, and misery, and disease, and everything which
\nspoils and darkens the face of God’s good earth. And this we CAN
\ntell; that they will conquer at the last, because Christ is stronger
\nthan the devil; good is stronger than evil; light is stronger than
\ndarkness; God’s Spirit, the giver of life, and health, and order, is
\nstronger than all the evil customs, and ignorance, and carelessness,
\nand cruelty, and superstition, which makes miserable the lives and,
\nas far as we can see, destroys the souls of thousands. Yes, I say,
\nChrist’s kingdom is a kingdom of health and deliverance for body and
\nsoul; and it will conquer, and it will spread, and it will grow, till
\nthe nations of the world have become the kingdoms of God and of His
\nChrist. Christ reigns, and Christ will reign till He has put all His
\nenemies under His feet; and the last of His enemies which shall be
\ndestroyed is DEATH. Death is His enemy. He has conquered death by
\nrising from the dead. And the day will come when death will be no
\nmore–when sickness and sorrow shall be unknown, and God shall wipe
\naway tears from all eyes. I say it again–never forget it–Christ is
\nKing, and His kingdom is a kingdom of health, and life, and
\ndeliverance from all evil. It always has been so, from the first
\ntime our Lord cured the leper in Galilee; it will be so to the end of
\nthe world. And, therefore–to come back to the very place from which
\nI started at the beginning of my sermon–therefore, whenever one of
\nthe days of the Lord is at hand, whenever God’s kingdom makes a great
\nstep forward, this same prophecy in our text is fulfilled in some
\nstriking and wonderful way. And I say it is fulfilled now in these
\ndays more than it ever has been. Christ is healing the sick,
\ncleansing the leper, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, and
\npreaching the gospel to the poor, seven times more in these days in
\nwhich we live than He did when He walked upon earth in Judaea.<\/p>\n
Do you doubt my words? At all events you confess that the cure of
\nall diseases comes from Christ. Then consider, I beseech you, how
\nmany more diseases are cured now than were formerly. One may say
\nthat the knowledge of medicine is not one hundred years old.
\nNothing, my friends, makes me feel more strongly what a wonderful and
\nblessed time we live in, and how Christ is showing forth mighty works
\namong us, than this same sudden miraculous improvement in the art of
\nhealing, which has taken place within the memory of man. Any country
\ndoctor now knows more, thank God, or ought to know, than the greatest
\nLondon physicians did two generations ago. New cures for deafness,
\nblindness, lameness, every disease that flesh is heir to, are being
\ndiscovered year by year. Oh, my friends! you little know what Christ
\nis doing among you, for your bodies as well as for your souls. There
\nis not a parish in England now in which the poorest as well as the
\nrichest are not cured yearly of diseases, which, if they had lived a
\nhundred years ago, would have killed them without hope or help. And
\nthen, when one looks at these great and blessed plans for what is
\ncalled sanitary reform, at the sickness and the misery which has been
\ndone away with already by attending to them, even though they have
\nonly just begun to be put in practice–our hearts must be hard indeed
\nif we do not feel that Christ is revealing to us the gifts of healing
\nfar more bountifully and mercifully than even He did to the first
\napostles.<\/p>\n
But you will say, perhaps, the dead are not raised in these days.
\nOh, my friends! which shows Christ’s mercy most, to raise those who
\nare already dead, or to save those alive who are about to die? Those
\nin this church who have read history know as well as I, how in our
\nforefathers’ time people died in England by thousands of diseases
\nwhich are scarcely ever deadly now; ay, of diseases which have now
\nactually vanished out of the land, before the new light of medicine
\nand of civilisation which Christ has revealed to us in these days.
\nFor one child who lived and grew up in old times, two live and grow
\nup now. In London alone there are not half as many deaths in
\nproportion to the number of people as there were a hundred years ago.
\nAnd is not that a mightier work of Christ’s power and love than if He
\nhad raised a few dead persons to life?<\/p>\n
And now for the last part of our Lord’s witness about Himself. To
\nthe poor the gospel is preached. Oh! my friends, is not THAT coming
\ntrue in our days as it never came true before? Look back only fifty
\nyears, and consider the difference between the doctrines which were
\npreached to the poor and the doctrines which are preached to them
\nnow. Look round you and see how everywhere earnest and godly
\nministers have sprung up, of all sects and opinions, as well as of
\nthe Church of England, not only to preach the gospel in the pulpit,
\nbut to carry it to the sick bedside of the lonely cottage, to the
\nprison, and to those fearful sties, worse than prisons, where in our
\ngreat cities the heathen poor live crowded together. Look at the
\nteaching which the poor man can get now, compared to what he used to–
\nthe sermons, the Bibles, the tracts, the lending libraries, the
\nschools–just consider the hundreds of thousands of pounds which are
\nsubscribed every year to educate the children of the poor, and then
\nsay whether Christ is not working a mighty work among us in these
\ndays. I know that not half as much is done as ought to be done in
\nthat way; not half as much as will be done; and what is done will
\nhave to be done better than it has been done yet; but still, can
\nanyone in this church who is fifty years old deny that there is a
\nmost enormous and blessed improvement which is growing and spreading
\nevery year? Can anyone deny that the gospel is preached to the poor
\nnow in a way that it never was before within the memory of man?<\/p>\n
Now, recollect that this is an Advent sermon–a sermon which
\nproclaims to you that Christ is COME; yes, He is come–come never to
\nleave mankind again! Christ reigns over the earth, and will reign
\nfor ever. At certain great and important times in the world’s
\nhistory, like this present time, times which He Himself calls “days
\nof the Lord,” He shows forth His power, and the mightiness and mercy
\nof His kingdom, more than at others. But still He is always with us;
\nwe have no need to run up and down to look for Christ: to say, Who
\nshall ascend into heaven to bring Him down? Who shall descend into
\nthe deep to bring Him up? For the kingdom of God, as He told us
\nHimself, is among us, and within us. Yes, within us. All these
\nwonderful improvements and discoveries, all things beneficial to men
\nwhich are found out year by year, though they seem to be of men’s
\ninvention, are really of Christ’s revealing, the fruits of the
\nkingdom of God within us, of the Spirit of God, who is teaching men,
\nthough they too often will not believe it; though they disclaim God’s
\nSpirit and take all the glory to themselves. Truly Christ is among
\nus; and our eyes are held, and we see Him not. That is our English
\nsin–the sin of unbelief, the root of every other sin. Christ works
\namong us, and we will not own Him. Truly, Jesus Christ may well say
\nof us English at this day, There were ten cleansed, but where are the
\nnine? How few are there, who return to give glory to God! Oh,
\nconsider what I say; the kingdom of God is among us now; its
\nblessings are growing richer, fuller among us every day. Beware,
\nlest if we refuse to acknowledge that kingdom and Christ the King of
\nit, it be taken away from us, and given to some other nation, who
\nwill bring forth the fruits of it, fellow-help and brotherly
\nkindness, purity and sobriety, and all the fruits of the Spirit of
\nGod.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
III–THE KINGDOM OF GOD THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.–ISAIAH…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}