Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1172
“Andbeing made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.” Hebrews 5:9.
THE great folly of awakened sinners lies in looking to themselves when they are convinced that they are lost. When the Law condemns them—when they have the sentence of death ringing with its dolorous knell through their consciences—they nevertheless turn to themselves for help. As well might they search for life within the ribs of death, or dig for light in the dreary vaults of outer darkness! First, they try what outward reformation can do and they are amazed when they discover their own impotence. Then they turn their eyes towards their feelings and either they labor after tears and mental tortures till they grow conceitedly miserable, or else they yield to hopelessness, because they find their heart to be as an adamant stone. They frequently fly to ceremonies and go far in formalism but find no peace.
And often they turn to the belief of orthodox doctrines and seek salvation in mere head knowledge of the Word of God, forgetting that Jesus once said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; but you will not come unto Me that you might have eternal life.” In some shape or other, all natural men seek refuge in self and fly there, again and again and again, though often driven from it. Their so doing is useless and foolish, dishonoring to God and defiling to themselves. If men would but believe the Truth of God they would know that they can no more save themselves than they can turn evil into good, or Hell into Heaven!
It would be a grand thing if they could be made to understand that they have abundant power to destroy themselves, but that all their help for salvation lies wholly in Jesus Christ! When they are convinced of this, they will cast themselves upon the Redeemer, and peace and joy will fill their spirits. This is the stern labor which utterly baffles the preacher—it is a work which only the Holy Spirit can accomplish. To wean the sinner from the breasts of self, to rescue him from his proud delusions, to make him see that salvation must come from above as the pure gift of Divine Grace—this, though it appears simple enough, requires a miracle of Divine Grace! God the Holy Spirit generally uses as a cure for this foolish looking to self the exhibition of Christ Jesus. Christ supplants self. Looking unto Jesus puts an end to looking to self and feelings and works.
I shall now endeavor to preach Jesus Christ in the fullness of His perfection as a Savior, that poor sinners may not look for perfection in themselves, nor search for any fitness or strength in themselves, but may flee to Jesus, in whom everything requisite for their salvation is so richly provided.
I. Five thoughts grow out of the text and the first is this—beloved seeker after peace, believe in THE UNDOUBTED WILLINGNESS OF JESUS CHRIST TO SAVE. Where do I find this in the text? I find it just below its surface and here it is. As God, the Lord Jesus is and always was perfect in the most emphatic sense. As Man, Christ’s Character is also perfect from the first, having in it neither deficiency nor excess. But as Mediator, High Priest and Savior, He had to undergo a process to make Him perfectly qualified, for the text says, “Being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation.” Now, if we find that He was willing to undergo the process which made Him completely fit for the office of a Savior, we may certainly conclude that He is willing enough to exercise the qualifications which He has obtained!
Suppose that we have before us a person who is anxious to wait upon the sick. She is a woman of most excellent character, in all respects, faultless, but not yet fitted for a nurse till she shall have walked the hospitals. To do this she must give up the comforts of home, undertake a world of drudgery and see much that will cause her pain, for she must, herself, see and understand what sickness means or she will be of no use. Now, if this person is willing, for the sake of becoming a nurse, to undergo personal discomfort and physical weariness—to put herself to much self-denial and to
exercise much anxious thought. And if, indeed, all the preparatory process has been already undergone, who doubts her willingness, afterwards, to exercise the office of a nurse for which she has taken so much pains to fit herself? Does not the case speak for itself?
Then transfer it to the Lord Jesus. He has undergone all that was necessary to make Him a complete Savior, in all points qualified for His work and none may dare insult Him by saying that He is unwilling to exercise His office and save the sons of men. Remember that what the Son of God underwent to fit Him for a Savior was extremely humiliating and painful. He left the Throne for the Cross, the adoration of angels for the mockery of menials. He came from yonder bright world, where they need not the light of the sun, to visit those who sit in darkness and in the valley of the shadow of death. He was so poor that He had not where to lay His head, so despised that even His own received Him not, but hid, as it were, their faces from Him. He endured death, itself, in the most cruel circumstances of ignominy and pain.