Sermons of Christmas Evans

Verily, “the misery of man is great upon him!” Behold the wretched fallen creature! The pestilence pursues him. The leprosy cleaves to him. Consumption is wasting him. Inflammation is devouring his vitals. Burning fever has seized upon the very springs of life. The destroying angel has overtaken the sinner in his sins. The hand of God is upon him. The fires of wrath are kindling about him, drying up every well of comfort, and scorching all his hopes to ashes. Conscience is chastising him with scorpions. See how he writhes! Hear how he shrieks for help! Mark what agony and terror are in his soul, and on his brow! Death stares him in the face, and shakes at him his iron spear. He trembles, he turns pale, as a culprit at the bar, as a convict on the scaffold. He is condemned already. Conscience has pronounced the sentence. Anguish has taken hold upon him. Terrors gather in battle-array about him. He looks back, and the storms of Sinai pursue him; forward, and hell is moved to meet him; above, and the heavens are on fire; beneath, and the world is burning. He listens, and the judgment trump is calling; again, and the brazen chariots of vengeance are thundering from afar; yet again, and the sentence penetrates his soul with anguish unspeakable – “Depart! ye accursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!”

Thus, “by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” They are “dead in trespasses and sins;” spiritually dead, and legally dead; dead by the mortal power of sin, and dead by the condemnatory sentence of the law; and helpless as sheep to the slaughter, they are driven fiercely on by the ministers of wrath to the all-devouring grave, and the lake of fire!

But is there no mercy? Is there no means of salvation? Hark! amidst all this prelude of wrath and ruin, comes a still small voice, saying: “much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

II. This brings us to our second topic, man’s gracious recovery to the favor of his offended God.

I know not how to represent to you this glorious work, better than by the following figure. Suppose a vast graveyard, surrounded by a lofty wall, with only one entrance, which is by a massive iron gate, and that is fast bolted. Within are thousands and millions of human beings, of all ages and classes, by one epidemic disease bending to the grave. The graves yawn to swallow them, and they must all perish. There is no balm to relieve, no physician there. Such is the condition of man as a sinner. All have sinned; and it is written, “The soul that sinneth shall die.” But while the unhappy race lay in that dismal prison, Mercy came and stood at the gate, and wept over the melancholy scene, exclaiming – “O that I might enter! I would bind up their wounds; I would relieve their sorrows; I would save their souls!” An embassy of angels, commissioned from the court of Heaven to some other world, paused at the sight, and Heaven forgave that pause. Seeing Mercy standing there, they cried: – “Mercy! canst thou not enter? Canst thou look upon that scene and not pity? Canst thou pity, and not relieve?” Mercy replied: “I can see!” and in her tears she added, “I can pity, but I cannot relieve!” “Why canst thou not enter?” inquired the heavenly host. “Oh!” said Mercy, “Justice has barred the gate against me, and I must not – cannot unbar it!” At this moment, Justice himself appeared, as if to watch the gate. The angels asked, “Why wilt thou not suffer Mercy to enter?” He sternly replied: “The law is broken, and it must be honored! Die they or Justice must!” Then appeared a form among the angelic band like unto the Son of God. Addressing himself to Justice, he said: “What are thy demands?” Justice replied: “My demands are rigid; I must have ignominy for their honor, sickness for their health, death for their life. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission!” “Justice,” said the Son of God, “I accept thy terms! On me be this wrong! Let Mercy enter, and stay the carnival of death!” “What pledge dost thou give for the performance of these conditions?” “My word; my oath!” “When wilt thou perform them?” “Four thousand years hence, on the hill of Calvary, without the walls of Jerusalem!” The bond was prepared, and signed and sealed in the presence of attendant angels. Justice was satisfied, the gate was opened, and Mercy entered, preaching salvation in the name of Jesus. The bond was committed to patriarchs and prophets. A long series of rites and ceremonies, sacrifices and oblations, was instituted to perpetuate the memory of that solemn deed. At the close of the four-thousandth year, when Daniel’s “seventy weeks” were accomplished, Justice and Mercy appeared on the hill of Calvary. “Where,” said Justice, “is the Son of God?” “Behold him,” answered Mercy, “at the foot of the hill!” And there he came, bearing his own cross, and followed by his weeping church. Mercy retired, and stood aloof from the scene. Jesus ascended the hill, like a lamb for the sacrifice. Justice presented the dreadful bond, saying, “This is the day on which this article must be cancelled.” The Redeemer took it. What did he do with it? Tear it in pieces, and scatter it to the winds? No! he nailed it to his cross, crying, “It is finished!” The Victim ascended the altar. Justice called on holy fire to come down and consume the sacrifice. Holy fire replied: “I come! I will consume the sacrifice, and then I will burn up the world!” It fell upon the Son of God, and rapidly consumed his humanity; but when it touched his Deity, it expired. Then was there darkness over the whole land, and an earthquake shook the mountain; but the heavenly host broke forth in rapturous song – “Glory to God in the highest! on earth peace! good will to man!” 14

Thus grace has abounded, and the free gift has come upon all, and the gospel has gone forth proclaiming redemption to every creature. “By grace ye are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, least any man should boast.” By grace ye are loved, redeemed and justified. By grace ye are called, converted, reconciled and sanctified. Salvation is wholly of grace. The plan, the process, the consummation, are all of grace.

“Grace all the work shall crown,Through everlasting days;It lays in heaven the topmost stone,And well deserves the praise!”

“Where sin abounded, grace hath much more abounded.” “Through the offence of one, many were dead.” And as men multiplied, the offence abounded. The waters deluged the world, but could not wash away the dreadful stain. The fire fell from heaven, but could not burn out the accursed plague. The earth opened her mouth, but could not swallow up the monster sin. The law thundered forth its threat from the thick darkness on Sinai; but could not restrain, by all its terrors, the children of disobedience. Still the offence abounded, and multiplied as the sands on the sea-shore. It waxed bold, and pitched its tents on Calvary, and nailed the Lawgiver to a tree. But in that conflict sin received its mortal wound. The Victim was the Victor. He fell, but in his fall he crushed the foe. He died unto sin, but sin and death were crucified upon his cross. Where sin abounded to condemn, grace hath much more abounded to justify. Where sin abounded to corrupt, grace hath much more abounded to purify. Where sin abounded to harden, grace hath much more abounded to soften and subdue. Where sin abounded to imprison men, grace hath much more abounded to proclaim liberty to the captives. Where sin abounded to break the law and dishonor the Lawgiver, grace hath much more abounded to repair the breach and efface the stain. Where sin abounded to consume the soul as with unquenchable fire and a gnawing worm, grace hath much more abounded to extinguish the flame and heal the wound. Grace hath abounded! It hath established its throne on the merit of the Redeemer’s sufferings. It hath put on the crown, and laid hold of the golden scepter, and spoiled the dominion of the prince of darkness, and the gates of the great cemetery are thrown open, and there is the beating of a new life-pulse throughout its wretched population, and Immortality is walking among the tombs!

This abounding grace is manifested in the gift of Jesus Christ, by whose mediation our reconciliation and salvation are effected. With him, believers are dead unto sin, and alive unto God. Our sins were slain at his cross, and buried in his tomb. His resurrection hath opened our graves, and given us an assurance of immortality. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more, then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him; for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

“The carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Glory to God, for the death of his Son, by which this enmity is slain, and reconciliation is effected between the rebel and the law! This was the unspeakable gift that saved us from ruin; that wrestled with the storm, and turned it away from the devoted head of the sinner. Had all the angels of God attempted to stand between these two conflicting seas, they would have been swept to the gulf of destruction. “The blood of bulls and goats, on Jewish altars slain,” could not take away sin, could not pacify the conscience. But Christ, the gift of Divine Grace, “Pascal Lamb by God appointed,” “a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they,” bore our sins, and carried our sorrows, and obtained for us the boon of eternal redemption. He met the fury of the tempest, and the floods went over his head; but his offering was an offering of peace, calming the storms and the waves, magnifying the law, glorifying its Author, and rescuing its violator from wrath and rain. Justice hath laid down his sword at the foot of the cross, and amity is restored between heaven and earth.

Hither, O ye guilty! come and cast away your weapons of rebellion! Come with your bad principles, and wicked actions; your unbelief, and enmity, and pride; and throw them off at the Redeemer’s feet! God is here, waiting to be gracious. He will receive you; he will cast all your sins behind his back, into the depths of the sea; and they shall be remembered against you no more for ever. By Heaven’s “Unspeakable Gift,” by Christ’s invaluable atonement, by the free and infinite grace of the Father and the Son, we persuade you, we beseech you, we entreat you, “be ye reconciled to God!”

It is by the work of the Holy Spirit within us, that we obtain a personal interest in the work wrought on Calvary for us. If our sins are cancelled, they are also crucified. If we are reconciled in Christ, we fight against our God no more. This is the fruit of faith. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” May the Lord inspire in every one of us that saving principle!

But those who have been restored to the Divine favor may sometimes be cast down and dejected. They have passed through the sea, and sung praises on the shore of deliverance; but there is yet between them and Canaan “a waste howling wilderness,” a long and weary pilgrimage, hostile nations, fiery serpents, scarcity of food, and the river Jordan. Fears within and fightings without, they may grow discouraged, and yield to temptation, and murmur against God, and desire to return to Egypt. But fear not, thou worm Jacob! Reconciled by the death of Christ; much more, being reconciled, thou shalt be saved by his life. His death was the price of our redemption; his life insures liberty to the believer. If by his death he brought you through the Red Sea in the night, by his life he can lead you through the river Jordan in the day. If by his death he delivered you from the iron furnace in Egypt, by his life he can save you from all the perils of the wilderness. If by his death he conquered Pharaoh, the chief foe, by his life he can subdue Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan. “We shall be saved by his life.” “Because he liveth, we shall live also.” “Be of good cheer!” The work is finished; the ransom is effected; the kingdom of heaven is opened to all believers. “Lift up your heads and rejoice,” “ye prisoners of hope!” There is no debt unpaid, no devil unconquered, no enemy within your own hearts that has not received a mortal wound! “Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

SERMON V.

ONE GOD AND ONE MEDIATOR

“For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” – 1 Tim. ii. 5.

The apostle Paul urges the propriety, and importance of praying for all men, in the several conditions and relations of life, from a consideration of God’s merciful intentions toward all men, as exhibited in the sufficiency of the gospel provision for their salvation. But if any are saved, it must be through the medium which God has ordained, and in the manner which God has prescribed. Therefore the apostle adds: “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” “There is one God,” to whom sinners have to be reconciled; “and one Mediator,” through whom that reconciliation is to be effected. We have a nearly parallel passage in another epistle: “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” The unity of God, and the mediation of Christ, are the two great topics of the text, to which we solicit your attention.

I. “For there is one God.” Two infinite beings cannot co-exist, unless they are one in essence and in operation. The God of Israel pervades the universe of matter, and fills the immensity of space. There is no room for another God, possessing the same ubiquity. “There is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” In him alone, all things live, move, and have their being.

This doctrine is stamped on all the works of nature. They all exhibit unity of design, and must have been contrived by the same infinite wisdom, and executed by the same infinite power. The hand which created and arranged them is constantly seen in their preservation. The Maker of all things continues to uphold all things by the word of his power. The great Architect still presides over the immense fabric which he has reared. The universe, from age to age, is governed by the same unvarying laws. All things remain as they were from the beginning. The earth, the air, and the sea, sustain the same mutual relations, and answer the same important ends; and the sun, the moon, and the stars, shine on for ever. The same order and regularity everywhere prevail, as when the chorus of the morning stars welcomed the new creation into being. Nature proclaims aloud: “There is one God.”

The same doctrine is impressed upon the Bible. It is not only the book of God, but evidently the book of “one God.” It is a series of Divine Revelations, reaching from Eden to Calvary, and from Calvary onward to the end of the world. It is a golden chain, passing through all time, and uniting the two eternities; and all its links are similar, and depend upon each other. Its several parts are perfectly harmonious, proving them to have emanated from the same infinite mind. Everywhere we find the same character of God and of man; the same description of the law and of sin; the same way of pardon, and holiness, and immortal life. The same Eternal Spirit, that inspired the Historian of Creation, speaks in the Apocalypse of St. John, and in all the intervenient books of the Bible. It was the same Sun of Righteousness, that rose in Eden, and set on Calvary; and thence rose again the third day, to set no more for ever.

“The world by wisdom knew not God.” The heathen lost the doctrine of the unity of God; not because it was difficult to preserve, but because they did not love the character of God, “did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” The pride of the carnal mind led them to turn away from the light of heaven, to walk amid sparks of their own kindling. They boasted of their wisdom; they boasted of their philosophy. And what gained they by the exchange? The most absurd and stupid notions of the Great First Cause; almost total ignorance of his attributes. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools; and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made with hands, like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” Shame to philosophic Greece and Rome!

No nation, having once lost the doctrine of the unity of God, ever regained it by the light of nature. If the light of nature is sufficient to preserve it in possession, it is not sufficient to restore it lost. It is restored only by the gospel. The gospel has restored it in India, in Otaheite, and other heathen lands. It has done more; it has revealed to the savage the only way of salvation; it has “brought life and immortality to light.”

“Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel!

Win and conquer! never cease!”

Lift up thy voice with strength, and proclaim to Greece and Rome, and to all the ends of the earth, as well as to the cities of Judah, that the Son of Mary is the God of Israel, “God manifest in the flesh,” “God blessed forever!” “The man Christ Jesus” is “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;” “in whom also we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

II. But this leads us to our second topic: “And one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” The two doctrines, you perceive, are intimately related to each other. “One God” – “One Mediator.” As we have but “one God,” we need but “one Mediator.” As that Mediator is himself God, the merit of his mediation is sufficient for the salvation of all them that believe.

The office of a Mediator supposes two parties at variance, between whom he interposes to produce a reconciliation. It is thus “between God and man.” God gave man a law, “holy, and just, and good;” man revolted, and “there is wrath.” Reconciliation is impossible, without the intervention of a mediator. Let us look at the parties engaged in this dreadful controversy.

On one side we see Jehovah, possessed of infinite perfections, and clothed with uncreated excellence and glory. He is self-existent, independent and eternal. Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Almightiness are his. He is great in wisdom, full of goodness, slow to anger, and ready to pardon. His love is ineffable, and “his mercy endureth for ever.” He is “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.” These perfections are the pearls and diamonds in his crown. “With him also is terrible majesty.” Life and joy are in his smile, but the angel of destruction waits upon his frown. One beam of his love can raise thousands of men to heaven: one glance of his anger, sink myriads of angels to hell. “He sitteth upon the circles of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.” “All nations before him are as nothing; they are counted less than nothing and vanity.” “He doeth according to his will among the children of men, and ruleth the armies of heaven.” “At his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” O what majesty and power belong unto the Lord our God!

With this imperfect view, contrast the impotence and insignificance of sinful man. What is he? A being of yesterday, “whose breath is in his nostrils,” and “whose foundation is in the dust.” A frail, helpless, perishing thing; dependent upon God, the Creator, for all his comforts, for life itself. What is man? A fool; an alien from all good; an embodiment of all evil. His understanding is dark; his will perverse; his affections carnal. His “throat is an open sepulchre;” swallowing up “whatsoever things are true, pure, lovely, or of good report;” emitting a pestilential vapor, which withers every green herb, and sweet flower, and delicious fruit, of honor to God, and happiness to man. “The poison of asps is under his tongue;” an inflaming poison, affecting all the members, and “setting on fire the whole course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell.” “His heart is fully set in him to do evil;” “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” He is an enemy to his Maker; a rebel against Jehovah; a blank – nay, worse – a blot in God’s creation; dead to every virtue, dead to every thing but sin; lost to every gracious purpose of his being; a withered branch, fit only to be plucked off, and cast into the fire; stubble, ready for the burning. “Let him alone!” said Reason. “Cut him down!” cried Justice. “I hate the workers of iniquity!” added Holiness. “He or I must perish!” exclaimed Truth. “Spare him! Spare him! Spare him!” pleaded weeping Mercy. And Wisdom came forth, leading the Son of God, and said: “I have found a ransom! Behold the Mediator!” And all the attributes met and embraced at the manger, and kissed each other at the cross!

It was man’s place, as the offender, to seek a reconciliation. God was under no obligation. But, alas! man had neither the means nor the inclination. What could be done? Hear, O ye heavens! and be astonished! Listen, O earth! and wonder and adore! While man was far from God, an enemy in his heart by wicked works, rushing on in determined hostility to his Maker’s government, and there was no sacrifice found for his sin, and no disposition in him to seek a sacrifice, God sought within himself the adequate and only means of pardon and peace. He found in his own bosom the Lamb for the altar; exhibited him to Israel in the predictions and promises of the Old Testament; and in the fulness of time, sent him forth to expiate sin, by the offering of himself, once for all. “For the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.”

God provided a Mediator. Why? Did he fear that the deserved ruin of the human race would dethrone eternal Justice? No. Eternal Justice would have been honored as much in their destruction as in their salvation. The law would have been as fully vindicated in the infliction of its penalty upon the transgressor, as in the reparation of its breach by a vicarious atonement. The glory of the Divine government would have been untarnished, as when the rebel angels were cast down from heaven, and locked up in everlasting darkness. This wondrous provision was not the result of necessity, but the prompting of Infinite Love. Divine Mercy sought to remove the barrier interposed by Divine Justice. The sinner cannot be pardoned, till his Great Substitute has met the demands of the law. There must be a full satisfaction and settlement of its claims, as the only ground on which the rebel can be acquitted.

Love is the “Alpha and Omega” of redemption, the love of God to man. Read it in the journey of the Mediator from heaven to earth! Read it in his pilgrimage through the land of sorrow! Behold him “nailed to the shameful tree!” See the blood and water gushing from his side! Hear the sound of the water-spouts, as the floods of wrath rollover him! Then ask the reason. The answer is: “God is love.” “He is not willing that any should perish.” It seemed good in his sight to save his rebel children, whatever it might cost him. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God” – no; we hated him; we were his sworn, inveterate foes; “but that he loved us” – loved us while we were yet enemies – loved us with an ineffable love; “and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Wonderful must be the qualifications of such a Mediator. He fills with his own merit the gap between two worlds. He bows the heavens, and lifts up the earth to meet them. He takes hold of God and man, and brings them together in himself. He reconciles the rebel and the law, glorifies the Father by humbling himself, and his cross becomes our life, and his tomb the birthplace of our immortality.

England and Wales could not be united till the son of the king of England was born in Wales, and became Prince of Wales. The English regarded him as heir to the throne of England; while the Welsh claimed him as their brother, a native of their own country, born in the castle of Caernarvon. Behold “the well beloved” – “the only begotten of the Father,” “heir of all things,” “Lord of lords, and King of kings,” born “in Bethlehem of Judea;” “the Son of God – the Son of man;” partaking of both natures, and representing both parties in the great controversy. He is “the Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father;” yet he is our near kinsman – bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. In his person, heaven and earth are joined; by his blood, God and man are reconciled. Heaven is his throne, for God is his father; earth is his principality, for it is the land of his nativity. In him angels recognise their King, and men behold their brother.