Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1991
“And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the Law sitting by.” Luke 5:17.
A CONGREGATION is a strange aggregate—it is like the gatherings of a net, or the collections of a dredge. If it is a very large one, it is especially remarkable. What strange varieties of creatures meet in the Noah’s ark of a crowded House of Prayer! If anybody could write the histories of all gathered here, the result would be a library of singular stories.
You, my dear Friends, who usually worship here, have probably no idea of the strange medley of nations, ranks, professions, conditions and religions which are represented in one of the great congregations of this Tabernacle. I am often myself greatly startled when I come across the tracks of people quite unknown to me, except by the newspapers, who have mingled in these vast assemblies. I could not have imagined that they would ever have entered a place where the Gospel is preached! It is noteworthy that God always selects our congregations for us—and His arrangements are always wise. I have frequently said to myself, “I shall have a picked congregation tonight,” and in some instances this has been very singularly the case. Persons have come here who had, themselves, no thought of coming, till some special matter drew them—and then the Word of God spoken has been so manifestly suited to their case that it made them marvel! If they had sent notice of their coming and the preacher had known all about them, he might not have ventured to be quite so personal, for he has unwittingly entered into minute details and secret items which, knowingly, he would never have revealed! The Lord who knows what is done in the closet, knows how to direct His ministering servant so that he shall speak to the point and speak to the heart.
In the present congregation we have a large company of people who have long known the Lord and have, for years, rejoiced in His name. We have another company of persons who do not know the Lord savingly, but yet are well acquainted with the Gospel and are not far from the Kingdom of God. They are almost persuaded. They tarry in the border land. Oh, that they would cross the frontier and become dwellers in Immanuel’s Land! We have also among us some who are far removed from Divine life—a people about whom we have little or no hope. Yet it is from among these that we reap the richest spoils for Christ, for He has compassion on the ignorant and on those that are out-of-the-way. I am fond of that word, “out-of-the-way.” The Lord save all of you who are out-of-the-way ones!
In every congregation we have a fourth class who would decline to be classed at all—they may be said to be here and not here! They are spectators rather than hearers. Like the gentlemen mentioned in our text, they are “sitting by.” They are too respectable to be numbered with the vulgar crowd. No, no—they are only callers, sitting by. They would not like to have it supposed that they are regular hearers, much less converts—they are “sitting by.” They are not repenting. They are not believing. They are not entering into the Truth of God at all. But, they are, “sitting by.” They have come to look on, take notes and make remarks. They are on the outskirts of the battle, but they are not combatants at all—they are “sitting by”—where they hope they are out the range of gunshot!
It is about these who are “sitting by “that I shall now speak, for I am afraid they are becoming by far too easy in the seats which they have chosen. They are sitting as God’s people sit and yet they are not truly among them, but only, “sitting by.” They are a very irritating and disappointing part of our assemblies, but, at the same time, there they are and we would not turn them out if we could! We are glad to have these persons to quarry from, for who knows but that out of
them, God, in infinite mercy, may select individuals who will never again “sit by,” but who will be heart and soul with Christ and His people—and even become leaders of the host of God?
Let me freely speak to you concerning certain of those who sat by. They were by no means to be despised, for some of them were eminent persons. They were Pharisees, members of the separate sect, who kept themselves to themselves, and were punctilious about the externals of religion. Very superior, indeed, were these Pharisees—and you could see by their faces that they felt themselves to be persons of importance. With these were doctors of the Law of God, the learned men who had studied the Scriptures very carefully, counted the words of each Holy Book and found out the middle letter of it. These doctors of the Law had come to hear the unlettered peasant from Nazareth, concerning whom they had a very strong, but by no means favorable opinion. They had heard about Him and they condescended to give Him a hearing, half blushing at their own modesty in doing so. Not, of course, that He could teach them anything—they were merely, “sitting by,” and nothing more. We do not see many of these great folk among our crowds and, perhaps, there are none such here on this occasion, but we cannot be sure. I do not much care to know whether the learned and profound are here, but they do come among us at times, though it is only to sit by. I will say no more about these remarkable people just now, for many others come into congregations merely to sit by. They have not come with any wish to learn, or understand, or feel, or be saved—they are only “sitting by.”