Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2635
“His Son, whom He has appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His Glory, and the express image of His Person and upholding all things by the word ofHispower, when He had, by Himself, purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:2.
I HAVE nothing to do tonight but to preach Jesus Christ. This was the old subject of the first Christian ministers— “Daily in the Temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” When Philip went down to the city of Samaria, he “preached Christ unto them.” When he sat with the Ethiopian eunuch in his chariot, he, “preached unto him, Jesus.” As soon as Paul was converted, “straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues.” For once we count the venerableness of our subject well worthy of mentioning, we shall not be ashamed to preach what the Apostles preached and what martyrs and confessors preached! We hope to proclaim this glorious Gospel of the blessed God as long as we live! And we hope that when this generation of preachers shall have passed away, unless the Lord shall come, there will always be found a succession of men who shall determine to preach nothing “save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
For, after all, this is the subject which men most of all need. They may have cravings after other things, but nothing can satisfy the deep real need of their nature but Jesus Christ and salvation by His precious blood! He is the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven! He is the Water of Life of which, if a man drinks, he shall never thirst again! Hence, it becomes us to be often dwelling upon this theme, for it is most necessary to the sons of men. This is the subject which God the Holy Spirit delights to bless. I am sure that, other things being equal, He honors preaching in proportion to the savor of Christ that is in it! I may preach a great deal about the Church, but the Holy Spirit does not take of the things of Christ to glorify the Church. I may preach doctrine or practice apart from Christ—that would be giving the husk without the kernel—but where Jesus Christ sweetens all and savors all, there will the Holy Spirit delight to rest upon the ministry and make it quick and powerful to the conversion of men! And I am sure, dear Friends, that the preaching of Christ is always sweet in the ears of His own people. “Your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love You.” And this theme is most pleasing to God the Father, who loves to hear His Son extolled and exalted. He delights in His Son—and those who delight in Him are friends of God. When Jesus Christ is lifted up, it is as God the Father would have it! It is as the Holy Spirit would have it and, where this is the case, we may expect to have seals to our ministry and souls for our hire!
I want, at this time, as it were, to let Jesus Christ speak for Himself. I cannot speak for Him as He can speak for Himself. Shall I hold my candle to the sun, as if it needed it in order to reveal its light? No, certainly not! And, therefore, I shall, with studied plainness, try to set the text, itself, before you and so to speak of it that you may not so much remember what I have said of it as that you may remember the Subject, Himself. My theme is to be the Savior—the only Savior—the Savior who must save you or else you must perish, “for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” I am about to speak of Him and I think that all who are aware of the necessity of being saved will only want to hear about Him—and to know how they may get to Him and how He may be made their Savior. And if they can but be told this, they will be only too glad to listen!
So, first, I shall speak of who the Savior is. Let me read the text to you again. “His Son”—God’s Son—“whom He has appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His Glory, and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.” That is who Jesus is! Then, in the second place, I shall speak of what Jesus did. “When He had by Himself purged our sins.” Then, thirdly, I want to tell you what He enjoys. After He had finished His great work of salvation, He “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
I. It is not possible that any language can fully express WHO JESUS IS. Yet, by the Holy Spirit’s gracious teaching, I must tell you what I know of Him.
First, Jesus is God’s own Son. What do I know about that wondrous Truth of God? If I were to try to explain it and to talk about the Eternal Sonship, I should but conduct you where I should soon be entirely out of my depth and, very likely, I would drown all that I could tell you in floods of words. Deity is not to be explained, but to be adored—and the Sonship of Christ is to be accepted as a Truth of Revelation and to be apprehended by faith, though it cannot be comprehended by the understanding. There have been many attempts made by the fathers of the Church to explain the relationship between the two Divine Persons, the Father and the Son. But the explanations had better never have been given, for the figures used are liable to lead into mistakes. Suffice it for us to say that in the most appropriate language of the Ni-cene Creed, Christ is “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.” He is co-equal with the Father, though how that is, we know not. He stands in the nearest possible relationship to the Father—a relationship of intense love and delight, so that the Father says of Him, “This is My beloved Son.” Yes, He is One with the Father, so that there is no separating them, as He, Himself, said, in reply to Philip’s request, “Show us the Father,” “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.”