CHRIST CRUCIFIED
(continued)
"Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth crucified."
Gal. 3:1
"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."- 1 Cor. 5:7
Reader, before your eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth
crucified. You have followed him to Gethsemane; from Gethsemane to the
judgment hall; from the judgment hall to Calvary. You have seen him extended
on the cross, bathed in blood. You have heard his dying groans, and seen him
bow his head and expire. Before your intellectual vision Calvary's mournful
scene has been arrayed.
Now let us inquire into the CAUSE of the sufferings and death of Christ. Why
does the Lord of life and glory suffer? Why does he endure that piercing
agony and that bloody sweat in gloomy Gethsemane? Why is he condemned to the
death of Calvary? Look at the crucified Jesus. Why does he hang on that
bloody cross? Why are those blessed hands and feet nailed to the accursed
tree? Why is that dear side pierced with the soldier's spear? Why does the
immaculate Lamb of God thus bleed?
Ah! believing sinner, it is for you! For you, Christ endured that
indescribable agony in Gethsemane, and those excruciating pains on Calvary.
For you, the blood trickles down those pale cheeks, and streams from that
pierced side. For you, the Son of God endures the hidings of his Father's
face, until he is led to exclaim in the bitterness of his soul, "My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?" For you, his last breath is drawn, and his
last cry uttered, "It is finished." O could you but see with faith's vision,
what Christ has done for you, surely your whole heart would burn with love
to such a Savior, who, to ransom your precious soul from eternal woe, shed
his own blood!
That precious blood was not shed in vain; it was poured out to cleanse you
from the guilt of sin. It streamed down that cross to wash away the moral
stains of a polluted world. Not all the blood that flowed from the Jewish
altars could do this. But that vicarious sacrifice offered on Calvary,
expiates the greatest guilt. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all
sin. The meritorious obedience, sufferings, and death of the incarnate Son
of God, afford an ample satisfaction for sin. God's holy, but violated law
requires nothing more.
Now, there is nothing to condemn believers in Christ. "There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit." In the 8th chapter of Romans- a chapter that
ought to be written in golden letters- the Apostle boldly exclaims, "Who
shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies?
Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died." This is the only plea that
a guilty sinner can make before a just God. "It is Christ who died."
Precious truth!
Blessed Jesus! it is from your death that we derive our life, our immortal
life. It is from your bleeding side that we drink of the living waters of
life, that we draw our purest joys and our highest felicities. We thank you,
Almighty Savior, for your precious death, which confers such unspeakable
blessings on sinners. Christ died that we might live. He died for us. The
decease which he accomplished at Jerusalem was for our sins, "Christ died
for our sins, according to the Scriptures." "He was manifested to take away
our sins." "Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that
we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you
were healed." "Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God."
Sin, then, was the procuring cause of the sufferings and death of God's dear
Son. Ah! sinner, you have slain the innocent Lamb of God. You have caused
those wounds on Immanuel's glorious person. Your sins pierced him to the
very heart. Will you not then look on Him whom you have pierced, and mourn?
O look and live, for in that look there is life. Look to Him who is lifted
up on the cross for you. Have you looked to Christ for salvation? Looking to
Christ is nothing more than believing on his glorious name. Have you faith
in Him, in his atoning blood? Saving faith in a crucified Christ is all that
is required to fit the vilest sinner for glory. "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved."
We entreat you again to look to a dying Savior. Let your eyes turn to that
bloody tree, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations; for the
healing of your soul. Listen to the Savior's own gracious call. Hark! from
the top of Calvary, I hear the blessed invitation fall from the lips of the
dying Man, "Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth." From
heaven's high throne I hear it still proclaimed by the glorious Redeemer,
"Look unto me and be saved." It is the voice of Immanuel calling sinners
home to glory. It is the voice of God speaking in the tenderest accents of
redeeming love.
"The God who once to Israel spoke
From Sinai's top, in fire and smoke,
In gentler strains of gospel grace,
Invites us now to seek his face.
He wears no terrors on his brow,
He speaks in love, from Zion, now,
It is the voice of Jesus' blood,
Calling poor wanderers home to God.
The holy Moses quaked and feared
When Sinai's thundering law he heard;
But reigning grace, with accent mild,
Speaks to the sinner as a child.
Hark! how from Calvary it sounds;
From the Redeemer's bleeding wounds;
Pardon and grace I freely give,
Poor sinner, look to me and live.
What other arguments can move
The heart that slights a Savior's love!
Yet till Almighty power constrain,
This matchless love is preached in vain.
O Savior, let the power be felt,
And cause each stony heart to melt!
Deeply impress upon our youth,
The light and force of gospel truth."
When Christ was crucified the veil of the temple was torn in two, thus
showing that the way into the holiest of all- even into heaven, was now
opened by the blood that flowed from Immanuel's veins. No more sacrifices
were required. The great Antitype- the bleeding Lamb of God had been
offered. Sinner, heaven is now opened to receive you. Vile as you are, you
will be accepted if you only look to a crucified Jesus- if you only trust in
him for your whole salvation. O will you not embrace that Savior, who will
lead you to glory? Are not the joys of a blissful eternity worth striving
for? Then "Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your
calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,
and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ."
Seek an interest in Christ now. Then all the glories of heaven will be
yours. If a crucified Christ is yours, blessings innumerable will flow
around your path to immortality, and through the merits of Immanuel you will
at length gain the happy shores of that blessed world, where the wicked
cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. Glorious rest! Who would
not strive to obtain it? Christ endured the painful death of the cross to
purchase this rest for his people. Christ died, a sacrifice for their sins,
thus paving the way for their eternal salvation. He died, a sacrifice for
the sins of a lost world. "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of
many." He was crucified for a "multitude which no man can number, of all
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues."
Sinner, repair to the foot of the cross, and roll your burden of guilt on
its bleeding victim– the Lord Jesus. There your burden will become light;
and there is room for you also to stand and receive the balm which drops
from the top of that bloody tree for the healing of a diseased world. Though
you may be the chief of sinners, yet you are invited to come to that cross.
He who once, in his infinite love for you, bled on it, himself calls you.
"Come unto me," says the Savior, in language as compassionate as ever flowed
from human lips. "Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest."
Go, heavy-laden sinners, and find rest in Christ. Enter into rest now by
believing in him. Remember that your iniquities were laid on the head of a
bleeding Savior. "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." "He was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement of our peace was laid upon him; and with his stripes we are
healed." "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." His death is our life;
his dear wounds and bleeding side, our soundness and health. Now God is
pacified, and the sinner saved by the death of Jesus.
To those who are looking to a crucified Redeemer, and relying entirely on
the merits of his blood for life and salvation, the sweet language of a
reconciled God now is, "Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. "Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins
are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her in full for all her sins."
'Christ's dying for us is as much in God's account as if we had twice over
borne the eternal agonies of hell.' (McCheyne)
Blessed consolation! This is the language of our gracious Heavenly Father,
and oh! how reviving is it to the poor penitent sinner, who is often
oppressed with a sense of guilt and borne down with the apprehension of
impending wrath. He is now enabled to shout with the adoring prophet in that
sweet song, "Praise the Lord! He was angry with me, but now he comforts me.
See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The
Lord God is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy
you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!"
You may well trust a crucified Redeemer with your soul and its immortal
concerns, for he has, by his obedience and death, effected a complete
salvation for you. He breathed out his precious life for you; but he rose
again for your justification. He "was delivered for our offences, and raised
again for our justification." "I lay down my life for the sheep. I have
other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also,
and they will listen to my voice; and there will be one flock with one
shepherd. The Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may have it
back again. No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily.
For I have the right to lay it down when I want to and also the power to
take it again. For my Father has given me this command."
Christ was indeed laid in the cold and silent tomb; but God did not allow
his Holy One to see corruption. The sepulcher could not hold him. He
triumphed over the grave. He burst the fetters of death, and in a glorious
form, ascended to heaven. There he ever lives to intercede for sinners;
there he stands with open arms to receive the vilest of the vile. "Therefore
he is able, once and forever, to save everyone who comes to God through him.
He lives forever to plead with God on their behalf."
Christ is not only able, but willing to save sinners; yes, he rejoices in
their salvation. He delights to pluck them as brands from the burning- to
make them monuments of his victorious grace- trophies of his redeeming love-
pillars in his glorious temple above, where they shall sing the song of
redemption through all eternity. "He shall see of the travail of his soul,
and shall be satisfied." "For the joy that was set before him (the joy of
saving sinners,) endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God." A crucified Redeemer is still carrying
on his blessed work of saving sinners. His salvation is to the uttermost;
none need despair.
Come to Christ, and salvation is yours. Before closing this chapter, we
would just glance at the amazing love exhibited in the death of Christ.
Would you see the highest manifestation of eternal love? Then contemplate
Christ crucified. Here is the grand exhibition of infinite love. In the
crucifixion of the glorious Redeemer, the brightest love that ever shone on
earth is displayed. What boundless love is seen here! The infinite love of
Christ, shining in all its glory! What but infinite love brought him from
the height of bliss, to the depths of sufferings, from the throne of heaven
to the cross of Calvary! What but infinite love made him a suffering man,
and a dying Savior! What but infinite love made him hasten to Jerusalem, to
suffer for sinners! What but infinite love led him to Gethsemane, to endure
those agonies for sinners, where his blessed form was covered with bloody
sweat! What but infinite love nailed him to the cross, there to bleed and
die for sinners!
"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends." But oh! the greatest wonder in the universe is, that "while we
were yet SINNERS, Christ died for us!" Think of this, wonder at it, be
amazed at it! Christ, the glorious Son of God, dying for you a vile sinner,
a rebel worm! O admire that love which pitied you in your lost condition,
visited your world, and raised you from the depths of sin and suffering, to
become an heir of eternal life, and of eternal glory! "When we were utterly
helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now,
no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing
to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love
for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And
since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will
certainly save us from God's judgment. For since we were restored to
friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies,
we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life."
How vast is this love! The all surpassing love of a dying Savior! your
breadths and lengths have never been compassed by a human thought; your
depths never fathomed by a created intelligence; your heights never scanned
by a seraph's gaze! Dear believer, may you, the object of divine love, be
strengthened with might by the spirit of God in the inner man, "And may you
have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how
long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love
of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it."
Stupendous love! A length which reaches from everlasting to everlasting; a
breadth that encompasses every intelligence and every interest; a depth
which reaches the lowest state of human degradation and misery; and a height
that throws floods of glory on the throne and crown of Jehovah!
What a theme! the dying love of the crucified Son of God! Well may angels
desire to dwell on this mystery! Well may saints be enraptured with this
profound subject! What heart is so obdurate as not to be melted by its
touching exhibition, or so benighted as not to be dazzled by its glory! How
wonderful! That he who kindled up the stars of heaven, should take upon him
our nature, and die in our room and stead! Amazing love! This is the wonder
of wonders, the unsearchable riches of Christ!
"Not to be thought of, but with tides of joy;
Not to be mentioned, but with shouts of praise."
Truly, the love of Christ passes knowledge. Those, and those alone, who have
stood by the cross and viewed Immanuel in agonies and death, bleeding and
dying for their sins; and have felt that healing balm applied to their
diseased souls; have seen all their sins washed away with the blood of God,
their ransom paid, and their pardon sealed, will realize the following very
appropriate and beautiful lines–
"In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.
Surely, never to my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.
My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.
Alas! I knew not what I did,
But now my tears are vain;
Where shall my trembling soul be hid
For I the Lord have slain.
A second look He gave, which said,
'I freely all forgive;
This blood is for your ransom paid;
I die that you may live.'
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too!
With pleasing grief and mournful joy,
My spirit now is filled;
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by him I killed." (John Newton)