Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1038
Delivered on Lord’s Day Morning, 3rd, 1872, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
‘Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”Matthew 21:5.
IT IS NOT OUR INTENTION to preach alone from this verse, but from the combined narrative of our Savior’s triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, as contained in the four evangelists.
When our Lord was here on earth, he was a humble man before his foes, a weary man and full of woes, and only now and then did some glimpses of his native royalty burst forth from him; he had now and then a day in which his regal rights were assumed and his royal position was claimed. He is gone from us now as to his actual presence, but he is with us spiritually, and his spiritual presence here is not unlike what his bodily presence was in the days of his flesh. For the most part, the glory of his gospel presence is unobserved, except among his own disciples, and when perceived by others he is still despised and rejected of men. He moves up and down among our assemblies, hearing our prayers and accepting our praises, but still his honor as a prince lies concealed from the eyes of the many who know him not as king by right divine. Yet, as in those days, he had his times of clearer display and his hours of partial manifestation, even so he has now. He gives to his church her glory periods, her days of thanksgiving, her court days, and her times of exultation; and I pray God that he may grant such times as these to his church now, that in the midst of these dull years he may gird his sword upon his thigh, and ride forth gloriously in his majesty. Oh, that the streets of his Jerusalem could be gladdened by the holy pomp and sacred splendor of his gracious and triumphal presence, beloved, the world doth well to salute righteous kings with all homage; our nation doth well to honor their well-beloved queen, whom may God long preserve! but shall Christ the King of kings be without his homage? I must confess I am jealous for him, jealous with a burning jealousy that the streets should blaze with splendor for the Queen of Britain, and that so little should be done in honor of the King immortal, eternal. Lo, the shouts of the multitude rend the skies for earthly princes, and I grudge them not; but, should there be no upliftings of joyful voices for the Prince of Peace? Why this lethargy in his church? Why such slender zeal for the Chief among, ten thousand? Why should not earth and heaven ring with His praises? If I might say so much as a sentence to-day that should lead the tribes to speak a word to bring the King back again to his own; if I might excite in any soul a fervent desire that Christ’s kingdom should more speedily come, and his throne should be exalted more on high in the midst of his people, I should be thrice happy. To that end shall I endeavor to speak this day. Oh, for the anointing of the Holy Ghost to aid me therein.
Our points of consideration this morning will he, first, that Christ hath even now his glorious days among men; and secondly, that when those glorious days come honors are paid to him similar to those described by the evangelists on the occasion of his entrance into Jerusalem. In the third place I shall remind you that he is wont on such occasions to perform the same mighty deeds; and in the close of our discourse we shall have to observe that even on those brilliant occasions, ‘all is not gold that glitters.’
I. First, then, here is a very pleasant consideration, that THE LORD JESUS HAS, EVEN NOW, BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS DAYS OF SPECIAL MANIFESTATION IN HIS CHURCH. He has ridden into his Jerusalem again and again in the history of the gospel. We call these times revivals; and in yet more scriptural language they are known as ‘times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.’ They usually occur’(and I shall try to follow the narrative in all the remarks I make), they usually occur after the Lord has visited his beloved and quickened them. He came into Jerusalem after he had raised Lazarus from the dead. His omnipotent voice had said, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ and Lazarus came forth, and the grave clothes were loosed from him; then and for that cause did the people come to meet our Lord with palm branches. First doth the Lord speak to his Church and he saith to her, ‘Come forth out of the grave of thy sloth and thine indifference.’ He saith, ‘Loose her, take away the bands of her sloth and her conventionalism, and set her free,’ and then when he hath restored among his church a people whom he loves, and granted to them renewed vigor of spiritual life in the power of his resurrection, then it is that the sign of the glory of the Son of Man is revealed. I despair, beloved, of any revival being of the slightest value which does not begin with the church of God. It never can originate outside and work into the interior, this is not the rule of spiritual life; it must commence with the spiritual in the midst of the church, it must next quicken the mass of the discipleship, and then it shall spread to those who are without, and in ever widening circles its power shall be felt. But, revival must begin at home. Hear ye this ye professors, and take heed lest ye hinder Christ of his glory. Hear this ye who profess to be members of his church, and beware lest ye be like the damp wood which will not kindle, and therefore no fire burneth among the sons of men. Oh, let not the Well-beloved find his worst hindrances in his own household; let not the glory of Christ be obscured most by those who stand nearest to him, and ought therefore to be most jealous for his holy name. Yet so I fear full often it is; the children Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turn back in the day of battle, and so Israel’s God is dishonored. Lazarus must arise; our death must be shaken off, and then shall the Lord Jesus greatly triumph.