Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 370
“Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.” Philippians 1:18. HOW Paul would have rejoiced had he been living now! Judging from the effect that was produced upon his mind by the evangelical labors at Rome, what do you think, Brothers and Sisters, would have been the effect produced upon his mind by the evangelical labors in London? Because the Brethren there were waxing bold in the name of Christ, he was glad. The fact that in the metropolis of the empire the glad tidings were proclaimed filled him with the most profound satisfaction. His heart was, and his heart still would be, joyful in the Lord! And yet I take it that the ministry of the Gospel in Rome must have been comparatively on a small and insignificant scale. I suppose that in proportion to the population, and in proportion to the size of that city, the preaching must have been very circumscribed, and all things considered, considerably obscure. No preacher had lifted his voice from the terrace of the Capitol, no congregation had been gathered into the great area of the Coliseum, no public announcement had been made over all Rome, that if the people would flock to the Pantheon, they might hear about the Incarnation of the Son of God. Anything like that would have kindled Paul’s gladness into rapture! Christ preached out on the Campus Martius, or in the Hall of Minerva, or on the platform of the Athenaeum at Rome would have left him nothing this side of Paradise to desire! As it was, his cup was running over. Men were told in honest speech about the One who had come down from Heaven, who had come at the Father’s bidding to proclaim His will and to accomplish His purposes. They had been told of a Friend that “sticks closer than a brother;” of the Advocate and the Mediator between God and man. And, the Spirit of all Grace concurring with that which had been preached, the Apostle was fully persuaded in his own mind that they had heard words whereby they would be saved, and that the promise of the life that now is, and the promise of the life that is to come, would by them be personally enjoyed. Hence he said, “I do rejoice,” and then emphatically again, “Yes, and will rejoice.”
But how he would have rejoiced, or how he would rejoice if he were living now! Why, for every one man who preached the Gospel in his time, there are thousands who are preaching it now; for every hundred hearers of that day, there are thousands upon thousands now; and for every one place into which the citizens of Rome might go to hear about Christ and Him Crucified, I need not say that there are many and ever multiplying places now. And you, my Brothers and Sisters—the pastor of this Church, and those connected with him—you have added to the number, thank God, of those places, and we are tonight to celebrate the completion of one, I suppose, of the best places that has ever been raised for the honor and for the Glory of Christ! From the first day until now, from its foundation to its top stone, you have begun and continued and ended—your desire, your prayer, your purpose, your ambition having been just simply this—that here the Redeemer’s name may be magnified, that here His great salvation in all simplicity may be proclaimed! And we have come here tonight to assure you of our sympathy, to give to you the pledges of our brotherly affection, and in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to bid you heartily God speed—
“Peace be within this sacred place, And joy a constant guest; With holy gifts and heavenly Grace, Be our attendance blessed.”
Well, the Apostle rejoiced, and would have rejoiced a great deal more had he occupied the place which I am occupying now! My purpose is to show to you tonight why there should be such rejoicing in connection with the preaching of Christ Crucified.
Various reasons, of course, could be assigned—at least several reasons could be thrown into various forms. I throw my idea of the matter into this form—by the preaching of Christ, the renovation of mankind is intelligently proposed, and not only so, but it is graciously guaranteed. Given—a ministry that shall speak out openly what Christ is, what Christ has done, what Christ is doing, what Christ requires, what Christ administers, and the renovation of our fellow man is not only intelligently proposed but is thereby on God’s part graciously guaranteed. I rejoice that the very first text from which my Brother has preached in this noble edifice was, though unfeignedly, so singularly coincident with my own—“They ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ.” The preaching and the teaching of Christ was the very first message with which he opened his service here, and I take that among other things to be a token for good.
I. In the first place, we rejoice in the preaching of Christ because thereby THE RENOVATION OF FALLEN MAN is intelligently proposed.