Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 671
Delivered on Sunday Morning, January 21, 1866
“When the Son of Mian shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit upon the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He willset the sheep on His righthand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to them on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you ga ve Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; I was naked, and you clothed Me; was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” Matthew 25:31-36.
IT is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to mount above this present evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud, carnal. It is well for us to cut down these thorns and briars, for heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest. I do not know a better sickle with which to cut them down than thoughts of the kingdom to come.
In the valleys in Switzerland many of the inhabitants are deformed and dwarfish, and the whole of them wear a sickly appearance for the atmosphere is noxious, and is close and stagnant. You traverse those valleys as rapidly as you can and are glad to escape from them. Up yonder on the mountain you will find a hardy race who breathe the clear fresh air as it blows from the virgin snows of the Alpine summits. It would be well for their frames if the dwellers in the valley could frequently leave their abodes among the marshes and the fever mists and get themselves up into the clear atmosphere above.
It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you this morning! May the Spirit of God bear us as upon eagles’ wings that we may leave the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety and all the ills which gather in this valley of earth, and get ourselves up to the mountains of future joy and blessedness where it is to be our delight to dwell world without end! Oh may God disentangle us now for a little while, cut the cords that keep us here below, and permit us to mount! We sit, some of us, like chained eagles fastened to the rock, only that, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain, and would, perhaps, if it came really to the test, loath to have it snapped.
May God now grant us Divine Grace if we cannot at once escape from the chain of mortal life as to our bodies, yet to do so as to our spirits—and leaving the body like a servant at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, go to the top of the mountain—and there may we have communion with the Most High! While expounding my text, I shall ask your attention this morning, first, to the circumstances which surround the rewarding of the righteous. Secondly, to their portion. And thirdly, to the persons themselves.
I. There is MUCH OF TEACHING IN THE SURROUNDING CIRCUMSTANCES. We read, “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory.” It appears, then, that we must not expect to receive our reward till by-and-by. Like the hireling we must fulfill our day, and then at evening we shall have our penny. Too many Christians look for a present reward for their labors. And if they meet with success, they begin doting upon it as though they had received their recompense.
Like the disciples who returned saying, “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us,” they rejoice too exclusively in present prosperity—whereas the Master bade them not to look upon miraculous success as being their reward, since that might not always be the case. “Nevertheless,” said He, “rejoice not in this, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.” Success in the ministry is not the Christian minister’s true reward—it is an earnest—but the wages still are in the future. You must not look upon the praise from your fellow men as being the reward of excellence, for often you will meet with the reverse—you will find your best actions misconstrued, and your motives ill interpreted.
If you are looking for your reward here I may warn you of the Apostle’s words, “If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable.” Because other men get their reward—even the Pharisee gets his—“Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward”—but we have none here. To be despised and rejected of men is the Christian’s lot! Among his fellow Christians he will not always stand in good repute. It is not unmitigated kindness nor unmingled love that we receive even from the saints.
I tell you, if you look for your reward from Christ’s bride, herself, you will miss it! If you expect to receive your crown from the hand, even of your Brethren in the ministry who know your labors, and who ought to sympathize with your trials, you will be mistaken! “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory,” then is your time of recompense—not today, nor tomorrow, nor at any time in this world! Reckon nothing which you acquire, no honor which you gain to be the reward of your service to your Master! That is reserved for the time “when the Son of Man shall come in His glory.”