"Till He Come" -- The Memorable Hymn.
"TILL HE COME"
Communion Meditations And Addresses by C.H. Spurgeon, 1896
The Memorable Hymn
"And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount
of Olives." -- Matthew xxvi. 30.
The occasion on which these words were spoken was the last meal of
which Jesus partook in company with His disciples before He went
from them to His shameful trial and His ignominious death. It was
His farewell supper before a bitter parting, and yet they needs
must sing. He was on the brink of that great depth of misery into
which He was about to plunge, and yet He would have them sing "an
hymn." It is wonderful that He sang, and in a second degree it is
remarkable that they sang. We will consider both singular facts.
I. Let us dwell a while on the fact that Jesus sang at such a
time as this. What does He teach us by it? Does He not say to each
of us, His followers "My religion is one of happiness and joy;
I, your Master, by My example would instruct you to sing even when
the last solemn hour is come, and all the glooms of death are
gathering around you? Here, at the table, I am your Singing-master,
and set you lessons in music, in which My dying voice
shall lead you: notwithstanding all the griefs which overwhelm My
heart, I will be to you the Chief Musician, and the Sweet Singer
of Israel"? If ever there was a time when it would have been
natural and consistent with the solemnities of the occasion for
the Saviour to have bowed His head upon the table, bursting into a
flood of tears; or, if ever there was a season when He might have
fittingly retired from all company, and have bewailed His coming
conflict in sighs and groans, it was just then. But no; that brave
heart will sing "an hymn." Our glorious Jesus plays the man beyond
all other men. Boldest of the sons of men, He quails not in the
hour of battle, but tunes His voice to loftiest psalmody. The
genius of that Christianity of which Jesus is the Head and
Founder, its object, spirit, and design, are happiness and joy,
and they who receive it are able to sing in the very jaws of
death.
This remark, however, is quite a secondary one to the next:
our Lord's complete fulfilment of the law is even more worthy of
our attention. It was customary, when the Passover was held, to
sing, and this is the main reason why the Saviour did so. During
the Passover, it was usual to sing the hundred and thirteenth, and
five following Psalms, which were called the "Hallel." The first
commences, you will observe, in our version, with "Praise ye the
Lord!" or, "Hallelujah!" The hundred and fifteenth, and the three
following, were usually sung as the closing song of the Passover.
Now, our Saviour would not diminish the splendour of the great
Jewish rite, although it was the last time that He would celebrate
it. No; there shall be the holy beauty and delight of psalmody;
none of it shall be stinted; the "Hallel" shall be full and
complete. We may safely believe that the Saviour sang through, or
probably chanted, the whole of these six Psalms; and my heart
tells me that there was no one at the table who sang more devoutly
or more cheerfully than did our blessed Lord. There are some parts
of the hundred and eighteenth Psalm, especially, which strike us
as having sounded singularly grand, as they flowed from His
blessed lips. Note verses 22, 23, 24. Particularly observe those
words, near the end of the Psalm, and think you hear the Lord
Himself singing them, "God is the Lord, which hath shewed us
light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the
altar. Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee: Thou art my God, I
will exalt Thee. O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for
His mercy endureth for ever."
Because, then, it was the settled custom of Israel to recite
or sing these Psalms, our Lord Jesus Christ did the same; for He
would leave nothing unfinished. Just as, when He went down into
the waters of baptism, He said, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness," so He seemed to say, when sitting at the table,
"Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness; therefore let us
sing unto the Lord, as God's, people in past ages have done."
Beloved, let us view with holy wonder the strictness of the
Saviour's obedience to His Father's will, and let us endeavour to
follow in His steps, in all things, seeking to be obedient to the
Lord's Word in the little matters as well as in the great ones.
May we not venture to suggest another and deeper reason? Did
not the singing of "an hymn" at the supper show the holy
absorption of the Saviour's soul in His Father's will? If,
beloved, you knew that at -- say ten o'clock to-night -- you would be
led away to be mocked, and despised, and scourged, and that tomorrow's
sun would see you falsely accused, hanging, a convicted
criminal, to die upon a cross, do you think that you could sing
tonight, after your last meal? I am sure you could not, unless
with more than earth born courage and resignation your soul could
say, "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the
altar." You would sing if your spirit were like the Saviour's
spirit; if, like Him, you could exclaim, "Not as I will, but as
Thou wilt;" but if there should remain in you any selfishness, any
desire to be spared the bitterness of death, you would not be able
to chant the "Hallel" with the Master. Blessed Jesus, how wholly
wert Thou given up! how perfectly consecrated! so that, whereas
other men sing when they are marching to their joys, Thou didst
sing on the way to death; whereas other men lift up their cheerful
voices when honour awaits them, Thou hadst a brave and holy sonnet
on Thy lips when shame, and spitting, and death were to be Thy
portion.
This singing of the Saviour also teaches us the wholeheartedness
of the Master in the work which He was about to do.
The patriot-warrior sings as he hastens to battle; to the strains
of martial music he advances to meet the foeman; and even thus the
heart of our all-glorious Champion supplies Him with song even in
the dreadful hour of His solitary agony. He views the battle, but
He dreads it not; though in the contest His soul will be
"exceeding sorrowful even unto death," yet before it, He is like
Job's war-horse, "he saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he
smelleth the battle afar off." He has a baptism to be baptized
with, and He is straitened until it be accomplished. The Master
does not go forth to the agony in the garden with a cowed and
trembling spirit, all bowed and crushed in the dust; but He
advances to the conflict like a man who has his full strength
about him -- taken out to be a victim (if I may use such a figure),
not as a worn-out ox that has long borne the yoke, but as the
firstling of the bullock, in the fulness of His strength. He goes
forth to the slaughter, with His glorious undaunted spirit fast
and firm within Him, glad to suffer for His people's sake and for
His Father's glory.
"For as at first Thine all-pervading look
Saw from Thy Father's bosom to th' abyss,
Measuring in calm presage
The infinite descent;
So to the end, though now of mortal pangs
Made heir, and emptied of Thy glory a while,
With unaverted eye
Thou meetest all the storm."
Let us, O fellow-heirs of salvation, learn to sing when our
suffering time comes, when our season for stern labour approaches;
ay, let us pour forth a canticle of deep, mysterious, melody of
bliss, when our dying hour is near at hand! Courage, brother! The
waters are chilly; but fear will not by any means diminish the
terrors of the river. Courage, brother! Death is solemn work; but
playing the coward will not make it less so. Bring out the silver
trumpet; let thy lips remember the long-loved music, and let the
notes be clear and shrill as thou dippest thy feet in the Jordan:
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff
they comfort me." Dear friends, let the remembrance of the
melodies of that upper room go with you tomorrow into business;
and if you expect a great trial, and are afraid you will not be
able to sing after it, then sing before it comes. Get your holy
praise-work done before affliction mars the tune. Fill the air
with music while you can. While yet there is bread upon the table,
sing, though famine may threaten; while yet the child runs
laughing about the house, while yet the flush of health is in your
own cheek, while yet your goods are spared, while yet your heart
is whole and sound, lift up your song of praise to the Most High
God; and let your Master, the singing Saviour, be in this your
goodly and comfortable example.
There is much more that might be said concerning our Lord's
sweet swan-song, but there is no need to crowd one thought out
with another; your leisure will be well spent in meditation upon
so fruitful a theme.
II. We will now consider the singing of the disciples. They
united in the "Hallel" -- like true Jews, they joined in the
national song. Israel had good cause to sing at the Passover, for
God had wrought for His people what He had done for no other
nation on the face of the earth. Every Hebrew must have felt his
soul elevated and rejoiced on the Paschal night. He was "a citizen
of no mean city", and the pedigree which he could look back upon
was one, compared with which kings and princes were but of
yesterday.
Remembering the fact commemorated by the Paschal supper,
Israel might well rejoice. They sang of their nation in bondage,
trodden beneath the tyrannical foot of Pharaoh; they began the
Psalm right sorrowfully, as they thought of the bricks made
without straw, and of the iron furnace; but the strain soon
mounted from the deep bass, and began to climb the scale, as they
sang of Moses the servant of God, and of the Lord appearing to him
in the burning bush. They remembered the mystic rod, which became
a serpent, and which swallowed up the rods of the magicians; their
music told of the plagues and wonders which God had wrought upon
Zoan; and of that dread night when the first-born of Egypt fell
before the avenging sword of the angel of death, while they
themselves, feeding on the lamb which had been slain for them, and
whose blood was sprinkled upon the lintel and upon the side-posts
of the door, had been graciously preserved. Then the song went up
concerning the hour in which all Egypt was humbled at the feet of
Jehovah, whilst as for His people, He led them forth like sheep,
by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and they went by the way of the
sea, even of the Red Sea. The strain rose higher still as they
tuned the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb.
Jubilantly they sang of the Red Sea, and of the chariots of
Pharaoh which went down into the midst thereof, and the depths
covered them till there was not one of them left. It was a
glorious chant indeed when they sang of Rahab cut in pieces, and
of the dragon wounded at the sea, by the right hand of the Most
High, for the deliverance of the chosen people.
But, beloved, if I have said that Israel could so properly
sing, what shall I say of those of us who are the Lord's
spiritually redeemed? We have been emancipated from a slavery
worse than that of Egypt: "with a high hand and with an
outstretched arm," hath God delivered us. The blood of Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God's Passover, has been sprinkled on our
hearts and consciences. By faith we keep the Passover, for we have
been spared; we have been brought out of Egypt; and though our
sins did once oppose us, they have all been drowned in the Red Sea
of the atoning blood of Jesus: "the depths have covered them,
there is not one of them left." If the Jew could sing a "great
Hallel", our "Hallel" ought to be more glowing still; and if every
house in "Judea's happy land" was full of music when the people
ate the Paschal feast, much more reason have we for filling every
heart with sacred harmony tonight, while we feast upon Jesus
Christ, who was slain, and has redeemed us to God by His blood.
III. The time has now come for me to say how earnestly I
desire you to "sing an hymn."
I do not mean to ask you to use your voices, but let your
hearts be brimming with the essence of praise. Whenever we repair
to the Lord's table, which represents to us the Passover, we ought
not to come to it as to a funeral. Let us select solemn hymns, but
not dirges. Let us sing softly, but none the less joyfully. These
are no burial feasts; those are not funeral cakes which lie upon
this table, and yonder fair white linen cloth is no winding-sheet.
"This is My body," said Jesus, but the body so represented was no
corpse, we feed upon a living Christ. The blood set forth by
yonder wine is the fresh life-blood of our immortal King. We view
not our Lord's body as clay-cold flesh, pierced with wounds, but
as glorified at the right hand of the Father. We hold a happy
festival when we break bread on the first day of the week. We come
not hither trembling like bondsmen, cringing on our knees as
wretched serfs condemned to eat on their knees; we approach as
freemen to our Lord's banquet, like His apostles, to recline at
length or sit at ease; not merely to eat bread which may belong to
the most sorrowful, but to drink wine which belongs to men whose
souls are glad. Let us recognize the rightness, yea, the duty of
cheerfulness at this commemorative supper; and, therefore, let us
"sing an hymn."
Being satisfied on this point, perhaps you ask, "What hymn
shall we sing?" Many sorts of hymns were sung in the olden time:
look down the list, and you will scarcely find one which may not
suit us now.
One of the earliest of earthly songs was the war-song. They
sang of old a song to the conqueror, when he returned from the
battle. "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten
thousands." Women took their timbrels, and rejoiced in the dance
when the hero returned from the war. Even thus of old did the
people of God extol Him for His mighty acts, singing aloud with
the high-sounding cymbals: "Sing unto the Lord, for He hath
triumphed gloriously . . . The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is
His name." My brethren, let us lift up a war-song to-night! Why
not? "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from
Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the
greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty
to save." Come, let us praise our Emmanuel, as we see the head of
our foe in His right hand; as we behold Him leading captivity
captive, ascending up on high, with trumpets' joyful sound, let us
chant the paean; let us shout the war-song, "Io Triumphe!"
Behold, He comes, all glorious from the war: as we gather at this
festive table, which reminds us both of His conflict and of His
victory, let us salute Him with a psalm of gladsome triumph, which
shall be but the prelude of the song we expect to sing when we get
up --
"Where all the singers meet."
Another early, form of song was the pastoral. When he
shepherds sat down amongst the sheep, they tuned their pipes, and
warbled forth soft and sweet airs in harmony with rustic quietude.
All around was calm and still; the sun was brightly shining, and
the birds were making melody among the leafy branches. Shall I
seem fanciful if I say, let us unite in a pastoral to-night?
Sitting round the table, why should we not sing, "The Lord is my
Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters"? If there be a
place beneath the stars where one might feel perfectly at rest and
ease, surely it is at the table of the Lord. Here, then, let us
sing to our great Shepherd a pastoral of delight. Let the bleating
of sheep be in our ears as we remember the Good Shepherd who laid
down His life for His flock.
You need not to be reminded that the ancients were very fond
of festive songs. When they assembled at their great festivals,
led by their chosen minstrels, they sang right joyously, with
boisterous mirth. Let those who will speak to the praise of wine,
my soul shall extol the precious blood of Jesus; let who will laud
corn and oil, the rich produce of the harvest, my heart shall sing
of the Bread which came down from heaven, whereof, if a man
eateth, he shall never hunger. Speak ye of royal banquets, and
minstrelsy fit for a monarch's ear? Ours is a nobler festival, and
our song is sweeter far. Here is room at this table tonight for
all earth's poesy and music, for the place deserves songs more
lustrous with delight, more sparkling with gems of holy mirth,
than any of which the ancients could conceive.
"Now for a tune of lofty praise
To great Jehovah's equal Son!
Awake, my voice, in heavenly lays
Tell the loud wonders He hath done!"
The love-song we must not forget, for that is peculiarly
the song of this evening. "Now will I sing unto my Well-beloved a
song." His love to us is an immortal theme; and as our love,
fanned by the breath of heaven, bursts into a vehement flame, we
may sing, yea, and we will sing among the lilies, a song of loves.
In the Old Testament, we find many Psalms called by the
title, "A Song of Degrees." This "Song of Degrees" is supposed
by some to have been sung as the people ascended the temple steps,
or made pilgrimages to the holy place. The strain often changes,
sometimes it is dolorous, and anon it is gladsome; at one season,
the notes are long drawn out and heavy, at another, they are
cheerful and jubilant. We will sing a "Song of Degrees" to-night.
We will mourn that we pierced the Lord, and we wilt rejoice in
pardon bought with blood. Our strain must vary as we talk of sin,
feeling its bitterness, and lamenting it, and then of pardon,
rejoicing in its glorious fulness.
David wrote a considerable number of Psalms which he
entitled, "Maschil," which may be called in English,
"instructive Psalms." Where, beloved, can we find richer
instruction than at the table of our Lord? He who understands the
mystery of incarnation and of substitution, is a master in
Scriptural theology. There is more teaching in the Saviour's body
and in the Saviour's blood than in all the world besides. O ye who
wish to learn the way to comfort, and how to tread the royal road
to heavenly wisdom, come ye to the cross, and see the Saviour
suffer, and pour out His heart's blood for human sin!
Some of David's Psalms are called, "Michtam," which means
"golden Psalm." Surely we must sing one of these. Our psalms must
be golden when we sing of the Head of the Church, who is as much
fine gold. More precious than silver or gold is the inestimable
price which He has paid for our ransom. Yes, ye sons of harmony,
bring your most melodious anthems here, and let your Saviour have
your golden psalms!
Certain Psalms in the Old Testament are entitled, "Upon
Shoshannim," that is, "Upon the lilies." O ye virgin souls, whose
hearts have been washed in blood, and have been made white and
pure, bring forth your instruments of song: --
"Hither, then, your music bring,
Strike aloud each cheerful string!"
Let your hearts, when they are in their best state, when they
are purest, and most cleansed from earthly dross, give to Jesus
their glory and their excellence.
Then there are other Psalms which are dedicated "To the sons
of Korah." If the guess be right, the reason why we get the title,
"To the sons of Korah" -- "a song of loves" -- must be this: that
when Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were swallowed up, the sons of
Dathan and Abiram were swallowed up, too; but the sons of Korah
perished not. Why they were not destroyed, we cannot tell. Perhaps
it was that sovereign grace spared those whom justice might have
doomed; and "the sons of Korah" were ever after made the sweet
singers of the sanctuary; and whenever there was a special "song
of loves", it was always dedicated to them. Ah! we will have one
of those songs of love to-night, around the table, for we, too,
are saved by distinguishing grace. We will sing of the heavenly
Lover, and the many waters which could not quench His love.
"Love, so vast that nought can bound;
Love, too deep for thought to sound
Love, which made the Lord of all
Drink the wormwood and the gall.
"Love, which led Him to the cross,
Bearing there unutter'd loss;
Love, which brought Him to the gloom
Of the cold and darksome tomb.
"Love, which made Him hence arise
Far above the starry skies,
There with tender, loving care,
All His people's griefs to share.
"Love, which will not let Him rest
Till His chosen all are blest;
Till they all for whom He died
Live rejoicing by His side."
We have not half exhausted the list, but it is clear that,
sitting at the Lord's table, we shall have no lack of suitable
psalmody. Perhaps no one hymn will quite meet the sentiments of
all; and while we would not write a hymn for you, we would pray
the Holy Spirit to write now the spirit of praise upon your
hearts, that, sitting here, you may "after supper" sing "an hymn."
IV. For one or two minutes let us ask -- "what shall the tune
be?" It must be a strange one, for if we are to sing "an hymn" tonight,
around the table, the tune must have all the parts of
music. Yonder believer is heavy of heart through manifold sorrows,
bereavements, and watchings by the sick. He loves his Lord, and
would fain praise Him, but his soul refuses to use her wings.
Brother, we will have a tune in which you can join, and you shall
lead the bass. You shall sing of your fellowship with your Beloved
in His sufferings; how He, too, lost a friend; how He spent whole
nights in sleeplessness; how His soul was exceeding sorrowful. But
the tune must not be all bass, or it would not suit some of us tonight,
for we can reach the highest note. We have seen the Lord,
and our spirit has rejoiced in God our Saviour. We want to lift
the chorus high; yea, there are some true hearts here who are at
times so full of joy that they will want special music written for
them. "Whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the
body, I cannot tell:" said Paul, and so have said others since,
when Christ has been with them. Ah! then they have been obliged to
mount to the highest notes, to the very loftiest range of song.
Remember, beloved, that the same Saviour who will accept the
joyful shoutings of the strong, will also receive the plaintive
notes of the weak and weeping. You little ones, you babes in
grace, may cry, "Hosanna," and the King will not silence you; and
you strong men, with all your power of faith, may shout,
"Hallelujah!" and your notes shall be accepted, too.
Come, then, let us have a tune in which we can all unite; but
ah! we cannot make one which will suit the dead -- the dead, I mean,
"in trespasses and sins" -- and there are some such here. Oh, may
God open their mouths, and unloose their tongues; but as for those
of us who are alive unto God, let us, as we come to the table, all
contribute our own share of the music, and so make up a song of
blended harmony, with many parts, one great united song of praise
to Jesus our Lord!
We should not choose a tune for the communion table which is
not very soft. These are no boisterous themes with which we have
to deal when we tarry here. A bleeding Saviour, robed in a vesture
dyed with blood -- this is a theme which you must treat with loving
gentleness, for everything that is coarse is out of place. While
the tune is soft, it must also be sweet. Silence, ye doubts; be
dumb, ye fears; be hushed, ye cares! Why come ye here? My music
must be sweet and soft when I sing of Him. But oh! it must also be
strong; there must be a full swell in my praise. Draw out the
stops, and let the organ swell the diapason! In fulness let its
roll of thundering harmony go up to heaven; let every note be
sounded at its loudest. "Praise ye Him upon the cymbals, upon the
high-sounding cymbals; upon the harp with a solemn sound." Soft,
sweet, and strong, let the music be.
Alas! you complain that your soul is out of tune. Then ask
the Master to tune the heart-strings. Those "Selahs" which we find
so often in the Psalms, are supposed by many scholars to mean,
"Put the harpstrings in tune:" truly we require many "Selahs", for
our hearts are constantly unstrung. Oh, that to-night the Master
would enable each one of us to offer that tuneful prayer which we
so often sing, --
"Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above:
Praise the mount -- oh, fix me on it,
Mount of God's unchanging love!"
V. We close by enquiring, -- who shall sing this hymn?
Sitting around the Father's board, we will raise a joyful
song, but who shall do it? "I will," saith one; "and we will," say
others. What is the reason why so many are willing to join? The
reason is to be found in the verse we were singing just now, --
"When He's the subject of the song,
Who can refuse to sing?"
What! a Christian silent when others are praising his Master?
No; he must join in the song. Satan tries to make God's people
dumb, but he cannot, for the Lord has not a tongue-tied child in
all His family. They can all speak, and they can all cry, even if
they cannot all sing, and I think there are times when they can
all sing; yea, they must, for you know the promise, "Then shall
the tongue of the dumb sing." Surely, when Jesus leads the tune,
if there should be any silent ones in the Lord's family, they must
begin to praise the name of the Lord. After Giant Despair's head
had been cut off, Christiana and Mr. Greatheart, and all the rest
of them, brought out the best of their provisions, and made a
feast, and Mr. Bunyan says that, after they had feasted, they
danced. In the dance there was one remarkable dancer, namely, Mr.
Ready-to-Halt. Now, Mr. Ready-to-Halt usually went upon crutches,
but for once he laid them aside. "And," says Bunyan, "I warrant
you he footed it well!" This is quaintly showing us that,
sometimes, the very sorrowful ones, the Ready-to-Halts, when they
see Giant Despair's head cut off, when they see death, hell, and
sin led in triumphant captivity at the wheels of Christ's
victorious chariot, feel that even they must for once indulge in a
song of gladness. So, when I put the question to-night, "Who will
sing?" I trust that Ready-to-Halt will promise, "I will."
You have not much comfort at home, perhaps; by very hard work
you earn that little. Sunday is to you a day of true rest, for you
are worked very cruelly all the week. Those cheeks of yours, poor
girl, are getting very pale, and who knows but what Hood's
pathetic lines may be true of you? --
"Stitch, stitch, stitch,
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
Sewing at once, with a double thread,
A shroud as well as a shirt."
But, my sister, you may surely rejoice to-night in spite of
all this. There may be little on earth, but there is much in
heaven. There may be but small comfort for you here apart from
Christ; but oh! when, by faith, you mount into His glory, your
soul is glad. You shall be as rich as the richest to-night if the
Holy Spirit shall but bring you to the table, and enable you to
feed upon your Lord and Master. Perhaps you have come here
tonight when you ought not to have done so. The physician would have
told you to keep to your bed, but you persisted in coming up to
the house where the Lord has so often met with you. I trust that
we shall hear your voice in the song. There appear to have been in
David's day many things to silence the praise of God, but David
was one who would sing. I like that expression of his, where the
devil seems to come up, and put his hand on his mouth, and say,
"Be quiet." "No," says David, "I will sing." Again the devil tries
to quiet him, but David is not to be silenced, for three times he
puts it, "I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord."
May the Lord make you resolve this night that you will praise the
Lord Jesus with all your heart!
Alas! there are many of you here to-night whom I could not
invite to this feast of song, and who could not truly come if you
were invited. Your sins are not forgiven; your souls are not
saved; you have not trusted Christ; you are still in nature's
darkness, still in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of
iniquity. Must it always be so? Will you destroy yourselves? Have
you made a league with death, and a covenant with hell? Mercy
lingers! Longsuffering continues! Jesus waits! Remember that He
hung upon the cross for sinners such as you are, and that if you
believe in Him now, you shall be saved. One act of faith, and all
the sin you have committed is blotted out. A single glance of
faith's eye to the wounds of the Messiah, and your load of
iniquity is rolled into the depths of the sea, and you are
forgiven in a moment!
"Oh!" says one, "would God I could believe!" Poor soul, may
God help thee to believe now! God took upon Himself our flesh;
Christ was born among men, and suffered on account of human guilt,
being made to suffer "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring
us to God." Christ was punished in the room, place, and stead of
every man and woman who will believe on Him. If you believe on
Him, He was punished for you; and you will never be punished. Your
debts are paid, your sins are forgiven. God cannot punish you, for
He has punished Christ instead of you, and He will never punish
twice for one offence. To believe is to trust. If you will now
trust your soul entirely with Him, you are saved, for He loved
you, and gave Himself for you. When you know this, and feel it to
be true, then come to the Lord's table, and join with us, when,
after supper we sing our hymn, --
"'It is finished!' -- Oh, what pleasure
Do these charming words afford!
Heavenly blessings without measure
Flow to us from Christ the Lord:
'It is finished!'
Saints, the dying words record.
"Tune your harps anew, ye seraphs,
Join to sing the pleasing theme;
All on earth, and all in heaven,
Join to praise Immanuel's name!
Hallelujah!
Glory to the bleeding Lamb!"
Next Sermon: Jesus Asleep on a Pillow.
Previous Sermon: "I Will Give You Rest."
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