Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 952
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Evening, September 18, 1870
“Preaching peace by Jesus Christ; (He is Lord of all).” Acts 10:36.
THESE words were addressed to an admirable congregation, all met with an earnest purpose, all conscious that they were in the Presence of God, all like good soil that had been plowed and prepared for the good seed. Happy preacher to have such a congregation! God make this congregation to be of the same sort. The preacher, also, was a right faithful messenger from Heaven. No sooner did Peter know that he was commissioned to the Gentile centurion and his household, than he came to his house. And when he found himself surrounded by the family and their friends, he girt up his loins for his work and gave his whole soul to his subject. Peter goes straight to his business. There is no beating about the bush, no prefatory apology—he begins to preach.
Jesus Christ, spoken of by Prophets, seen by Apostles, hanged on a tree, and risen again on the third day. It is well when the preacher feels that preaching is no mere display, and is not intended to be an opportunity for him to show how excellent an orator he can be. The true ambassador for Christ feels that he himself stands before God, and has to deal with souls in God’s place as God’s servant. He therefore has no time for considering the graces of oratory and the tricks of rhetoric—but must speak from his inmost soul the Word of the Lord.
Every preacher stands in a solemn place—a place in which unfaithfulness is inhumanity to man as well as treason to God. To be false to our charge will cast us into the deepest condemnation—to be hurled from a pulpit into Hell will be to perish, indeed! See to it, then, that both the congregation and the preacher are peculiarly in God’s Presence in their solemn assemblies and feeling and acting accordingly. Pray for us and for yourselves that we both may so behave before the Lord that our assembling together may not increase our sin, but may prove to be a rich and lasting blessing.
We have in the text before us the subject upon which Peter treated in his sermon to Cornelius and his friends. He seems to have taken it for granted that men are at war with God, that even the attentive congregation before him, though consisting of the best of men, were by nature at enmity with their Maker. He speaks, therefore, as an ambassador desirous of establishing a better state of things and tells them that he has come to preach peace by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
I shall, this evening, try to follow his example, and though I cannot do so with equal steps, yet have I in my bosom the same earnest desire for the souls of my hearers as the Apostle had. I pray that all of you may be brought to peace with God through Jesus Christ.
First, this evening, I shall give some reasons why those of you who are not reconciled to God should desire peace with Him. When we have weighed these I shall, secondly, endeavor to negotiate the terms of peace, and then, thirdly, we shall lay before you a claim or proclamation which is publicly asserted, and to be universally maintained, namely, that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
I. To begin, then, I shall endeavor to offer to the unconverted REASONS WHY THEY SHOULD DESIRE TO BE AT PEACE. May I not urge as the first reason that it is not commendable to be at enmity with any of the wise and good? It is best to be at peace with all men, but it is incumbent upon us to be in friendship with holy men. I should deeply regret to have any one for my enemy, but if he were a godly person I should consider it a calamity. If the angels of Heaven were opposed to us it would have an ill look, even those holy beings would not needlessly take offense.
But when it comes to opposition to the infinitely good, just, and holy God, who in his right mind can do other than bewail it, and desire to see it ended by a gracious peace? Strife against evil, injustice, and tyranny is honorable, but to contend with uprightness, goodness, and holiness is deplorable. No possible benefit can arise from a conflict in which we
are on the wrong side. If God is for us, none can successfully fight against us. But to have God opposed to us is, in itself, the chief of evils. My hearer, “Acquaint yourself with God, and be at peace, for thereby good shall come unto you.”
The second reason ought to have weight with every honest man. It is this: that the war in which you are engaged is an unjust one. It never ought to have been begun. There was never any justifiable cause for its outbreak. God was unjustly and wickedly assailed by His ungrateful creature. What ought never to have been begun had better be dropped as soon as possible. Sin is war against right, against love, against happiness. Transgression of God’s Law is a transgression of commands most equitable and beneficent.