CHRIST, AND HIM
CRUCIFIED, THE SUM AND SUBSTANCE OF THE GOSPEL
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum" Hebrews 8:1
The gospel is glad tidings of great joy to a lost world. It brings
immortality within the reach of dying sinners. It opens untold glories to
them. It brings life and immortality to light. Dispelling the moral darkness
of a fallen world, it points to an eternal day of light and glory.
Delivering from eternal misery the condemned sinner, it reveals to him the
way of salvation; leads him in the path of righteousness; and finally brings
him to the enjoyment of endless felicity in the heavenly world. Blessed
gospel! Well may you be styled "good tidings of great joy."
What blessings flow in the gospel channel to exhilarate a thirsty world! It
is the gospel that makes the wilderness and the solitary place to be glad,
and the desert to rejoice, and blossom as the rose; that makes the parched
ground to become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. "Even the
wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers.
Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts
will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount
Carmel's pastures and the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his
glory, the splendor of our God."
How refreshing to the weary child of God, to he down in green pastures; to
be led beside the still waters of gospel grace! How cheering to say, in a
world of sin and sorrow and disappointment, with the sweet Psalmist, "Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever." Who can describe the blessedness and the
glory, that are contained in this single verse! Who can enumerate the
blessings that flow from the gospel of God! In this blessed gospel, "mercy
and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."
The blood of Jesus, through the gospel, proclaims peace on earth and glory
in heaven- such peace as passes all understanding, and such glory as the
human heart has never conceived.
We now turn to notice the SOURCE from where all gospel blessings flow. It is
in Christ and him crucified that they originate. This is the blessed origin
of all goodness; the inexhaustible fountain of love to guilty, rebellious
man. In the gospel, a bleeding Savior is held up in a planner so conspicuous
as to attract the attention, and excite the admiration of all anxious
inquirers after salvation. They look to him and are relieved of the burden
of sin and guilt. His grace is so free, and his love so un bounded, that all
may look and be saved. And all that look to Jesus and renounce their own
righteousness shall be saved. A bleeding Jesus is the sum of Christianity,
and the only hope of a lost world. In him all fullness dwells, around him
all blessings flow, from him all glories emanate.
"Dear Jesus, fill my soul
With holiness and peace;
Arise with healing in your wings,
Oh, Sun of Righteousness.
May all beneath the sky
Usurp my heart no more;
Oh, be my first, my chief delight,
My soul's unbounded store.
In you all treasures lie,
From you all blessings flow;
You are the bliss of saints above,
The joy of saints below.
Oh, come, and make me yours,
A sinner saved by grace;
Then shall I sing with loudest strains,
In heaven, your dwelling-place.
When standing round the throne,
Amid the ransomed throng,
Your praise shall be my sweet employ,
While love inspires my song. "
Christ, and him crucified, is the sum and substance of the gospel. What is
the gospel but a glorious revelation of Christ crucified, a gracious plan of
salvation through the merits of Immanuel's blood! It is only through a
crucified Redeemer that we can be admitted into heaven. Our salvation is
intimately connected with him. Take away Christ, and you bury our immortal
hopes in the dust; you demolish the glorious superstructure of gospel truth.
If there had been no Savior proclaimed, there would have been no salvation
for perishing men- no gospel of the grace of God.
But Christ is revealed in the gospel as the great object of our faith. There
he stands as the great center of all holy attractions- as the sum of all our
happiness. In the gospel revelation, Christ is all. The Bible is full of
him. From Genesis to Revelation, he is set forth in all the loveliness of
his character, and in all the richness of his grace to dying men. Enraptured
prophets dwell on him, inspired poets sing of him, and ardent, zealous
apostles blaze his name abroad.
The grand design of a divine revelation is to exhibit Christ and him
crucified as the only hope or a lost world. Christ is the glory of the
Scriptures, as the sun is the glory of the sky. "To take Christ from the
Bible," says a writer of other days, "would be like blotting the sun from
the firmament." It will avail nothing whatever discoveries we make, if we
find not, to our present and eternal welfare, him of whom Moses and the
prophets wrote. The key of knowledge will be of little use, unless it opens
to us the unsearchable riches of Christ. "These things are written that you
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God; and that believing,
you might have life through his name." The sum and substance of all
evangelical preaching is, Christ and him crucified.
"We preach Christ crucified, "says one of the greatest ministers of Jesus
Christ. Christ crucified was the substance of Paul's preaching. With ardent,
burning eloquence he dwelt on this glorious theme. This was the brand topic
of all his writing and preaching. He set nothing else before the people but
Christ crucified. He desired to know nothing more, for he knew that nothing
more was essential to salvation than the saving knowledge of Christ, and him
crucified. He caught this glorious truth, and published it to a dying world.
He summoned all his energies to understand this deep mystery. This was his
study– "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus
Christ and him crucified."
Christ and him crucified, is the very life of the gospel. Here all the lines
of evangelical truth meet in one central point. Blessed be God, for a
crucified Savior! O my soul, put your trust in him. Study Christ, and him
crucified. He is the life of the soul; the salvation of the sinner. Search
the Scriptures; for they testify of him; yes, "the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy." Prophets speak of him as the bleeding sacrifice for
sin. The Old Testament points to him as the Lamb of God that takes away the
sin of the world. The New Testament is replete with the history of the
crucified Savior.
"Of gospel history, what is the sum? Christ crucified! What do the four
evangelists relate? They all, for substance, tell the same story; and that
story is rightly termed the gospel. It is the history of the cross. In the
mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established. God has
graciously given us four, all inspired by his Holy Spirit, to relate the
birth, the life, the labors, the preaching, the miracles, the sufferings,
and the death of Jesus. They tell us what he said; what he did; and what he
endured from the powers, from the hands of men, and from the sword of
justice. They inform us how he was at last, condemned, and nailed to the
tree, for the testimony which he bore to the truth, that he was the only
begotten Son of God, and that the same divine honors were due to him as to
the Father."
What a long series of prophecies was accomplished in Christ, and him
crucified! The Spirit of God in all the prophets, testified "beforehand the
sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." Christ is the sum
of prophecy. To the two disciples going to Emmaus, he explained the
prophecies relating to himself. "Then Jesus said to them, 'You are such
foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote
in the Scriptures. Wasn't it clearly predicted by the prophets that the
Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of
glory?' Then Jesus quoted passages from the writings of Moses and all the
prophets, explaining what all the Scriptures said about himself." And again,
"When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me by
Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true." Then he opened
their minds to understand these many Scriptures. And he said, "Yes, it was
written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from
the dead on the third day."
The life, the sufferings, and the death of Messiah were all foretold in
glowing language, by the prophets of God. Moses wrote of him. Job knew that
his Redeemer lived. Abraham got a glimpse of Christ's day, and it gladdened
his heart. Jacob spoke of the coming of Shiloh, the Prince of Peace. Isaiah,
transported into future times, cries: "For a child is born to us, a son is
given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be
his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace. His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He
will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor
David." Micah foretells the place of his birth, "But you, O Bethlehem
Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will
come from you, one whose origins are from everlasting."
To Daniel the time was revealed, when Messiah should be cut off, to finish
transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy. The Psalmist foretold the sufferings and death of Jesus on the
cross as if he had actually witnessed them. The 53d chapter of Isaiah, and
the 22nd Psalm are full of Christ and him crucified. Thus, all the prophets
highly extol him, who is the great and glorious Deliverer of lost man.
Christ and him crucified is the sum of all these good things that God
promised to his ancient people; the substance of all those types, and
shadows, and emblems, which prefigured good things to come.
The whole ceremonial law was a shadow of good things to come; but "the
substance is about Christ." The paschal lamb bled on Jewish altars, as the
emblem of a bleeding Savior. Hence Christ is styled, "the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world." "The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world." His precious blood is represented to be like that of "a lamb
without blemish and without spot." All the Jewish sacrifices, rites and
ceremonies were full of Christ crucified. They pointed to this one great
sacrifice for sin. They referred directly to him, whose death as truly an
atoning sacrifice.
"The death of atonement, then, which the Son of God died for our
reconciliation, was that to which all sacrifices, from the earliest times,
had respect, as their great termination, and without which they would have
been destitute of reason as they were, in their very nature, of all actual
value in the very sight of heaven. If holy men of old made an acceptable use
of them, in drawing near to God, it was only by looking through them to this
all-perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice which they prefigured. This great
sacrifice, accordingly, being offered up in due time; all that were before
it were completely done away; and all that ancient sort of worship went
forever out of use''
Christ crucified is now proclaimed in the everlasting gospel as the
substance of all our holy religion. Whoever has faith in him, has true
religion in his soul. Whoever believes on a crucified Christ, shall be
admitted into the Paradise of God, to eat of the fruits of "the tree of
life," and to drink of the crystal streams of living water, which flow from
the throne of the Deity. O then, give your heart to Jesus, and he will fit
you for glory.
Of the ordinances of divine grace, what is the sum? Christ crucified. Their
grand design is to set Him forth as an offering of atonement, through faith
in his blood. Of the sacramental supper, what is the substance? Christ
crucified. This sweet ordinance is full of Christ and his whole glorious
work for the salvation of sinners. In the broken bread and poured out wine,
we see nothing but the crucifixion of the blessed Son of God. Here, he is
presented to us as the glorious Savior dying for sinners. Here, we get a
glimpse of his matchless perfections- of his transcendent glory. Here, all
his sufferings rise up to our view- the sufferings of his holy soul- the
agonies of his cruel death. Here is nothing but Christ and him crucified.
How the love and grace of the Lord Jesus kindle into a glorious blaze, in
this ordinance.
Would you see a lively exhibition of a crucified Savior? Then go to the
Lord's table; sit down there and meditate on his death, his dying love, his
glorious atonement; so will you grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
How highly should we esteem our divine Savior. With what entire confidence
should we rely on him for salvation! Blessed Jesus! You are the source of
all happiness- the spring of all joy. You are all in all to your people. O
satisfy me with your goodness, that I also may rejoice in your precious
salvation. "Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that you bear unto your
people; visit me with your salvation." Refresh my soul, blessed Lord, with
the manifestation of your grace, and prepare me for beholding your glory in
heaven- for enjoying endless pleasures at your right hand.
May we all be daily feeding by faith, on Christ and him crucified, while we
sojourn as strangers and pilgrims here, until we "enter in through the gates
into the city," sit down beneath the shadow of the tree of life, feed upon
the hidden manna, and drink of the "pure river of water of life, clear as
crystal, that proceed out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."
In a little while we shall see our Redeemer's face, and his name shall be
upon our foreheads. We shall soon see a crucified Christ- the print of the
nails, and of the wound in his side. How lovely and attractive will Christ
appear in glory, as our crucified Savior! When we look on his dear wounds
and bleeding side, our souls will be lost in wonder, love, and praise. Then
we shall be filled with his goodness, and taste through eternal ages the
sweetness of redeeming love. Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. Come quickly!