Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3333
“His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon Himself shall His crown flourish.” Psalm 132:18.
THE Lord Jesus Christ communicates much to men with whom He comes in contact and has a mighty influence upon them. He is blessed and He is made a blessing. To those who love Him, Jesus Christ becomes a savor of life unto life. To those who are rebellious and continue to despise Him, He becomes a savor of death unto death. Our Savior, then, has an influence upon all those with whom He comes in contact and association. If I compare His Human Nature with clay, I must compare it with the scented clay which yields a perfume on all sides. You cannot hear of Jesus Christ without either getting a blessing or involving the responsibility of rejecting a blessing. I repeat it—He becomes a blessing to all those who are round about Him, or else, if that blessing is not received, it brings guilt upon the souls of those who reject Him. He is either the stone on which we build our hope and our trust, or else He becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to those who stumble at His Word, being disobedient.
You see the text teaches very definitely this Truth of God, for it not only speaks of Christ, Himself, but of what will become of those who are His enemies. No doubt we may also very properly draw from the text what shall become of His friends, for that same hand which is sure to clothe His enemies with confusion, will be certain yet to clothe His friends with honor and with glory. He who uses the left hand so powerfully to smite His foes, uses His right hand with equal force to bless His friends.
The text, therefore, divides itself very easily and naturally into the two great declarations. We see the clothing of the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ with shame, but then, again, the crowning of the Lord with a flourishing diadem of eternal Glory. Let us look, then, at—
I. The Enemies of Christ Whom God Says He Will Clothe with Shame
Who are these enemies of Christ? In the days of His flesh, you could very easily have discovered them. Some slandered Him, calling Him friend of sinners, gluttonous and a wine-bibber, having a devil and even being a blasphemer. Some took up stones to kill Him. Some cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” And others bribed the multitude that they might thus hound Him to His shameful and cruel death. Enemies He had on all sides! But there are many who think today that had they lived in that age they would have been numbered with His friends. If it is so, is it not strange that they are not among His friends now? If they would have behaved so well 1800 years ago, it is amazing they should behave so badly now. Our belief is—and the common actions of mankind justify it—that had the sinners of this present day who pretend to have so much affection for the Person of Christ, lived in that age, they, too, alas, would have helped to crucify the Lord of Life and Glory, for they do, in effect, crucify Him now!
Who are His enemies, then, today? We will not think about those Scribes and Pharisees, and so on, who are all dead and gone, but let us ask who are His enemies NOW? Of course, everybody says that open sinners are the enemies of Christ Do they not, by their actions, say, “we will not have this Man to reign over us?” His Book they will not read. His day of rest they do not care to keep. To the messages of His ministers they will not listen. His word, “Believe and live,” they cast behind their backs—and having done this, they destroy their own souls and do everything that must grieve His Holy Spirit. Are there any such here, now—lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God—some who would even use the word of blasphemy and indulge in the sins of the flesh? We are not harsh if we put you down among the enemies of Christ! You are evidently not with Him and He, Himself, has said, “He that is not with Me is against Me.” You are not on the Lord’s side—there can be no “betweenites”—you are on the side of His enemies! He Himself declares that it must be so. “If God is God,” said Elijah, “serve Him, but if Baal is God, serve him.” You do in effect say, “The world is my god—myself, my
own soul, my own pleasures, my own opinions—these are my gods! As for Jehovah and His Christ, I know nothing concerning Them.” Well, you must be put among His enemies and I would ask you, then, just to take this text and taste the bitterness of it. And I pray that may save you from knowing its bitterness in another world! “His enemies will I clothe with shame.”
But Christ has other enemies, namely, those who are outwardly moral and excellent in conversation and conduct, but who deny the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some very excellent people in all other respects who doubt His Deity, or say they do—who will even say hard things of Him as the Son of God. They say they much revere His Character as a Man, and conceive Him to be, in fact, a very model of what manhood should be, but they will not accept Him in His true Character as the anointed Son of God and the Savior of the world! Now, the Lord Jesus Christ will most certainly consider such to be His enemies. It is no use for a man to say concerning a monarch, “I have a great respect for the monarch in his private character. I would not do anything to injure him—I would even hold him up to respect in his private character—but as a king I will never yield him loyal homage, I will never obey him. Indeed, I will do all I can to pluck the crown from off his head.” Could the king do otherwise than reckon such a person to be his enemy? It would be in vain for the man to say, “I am privately your friend.” The king would say, “Oh, but I esteem my crown to be as precious as my life.” So the Lord Jesus Christ cannot have the crown-rights of His true Deity touched. He “counts it not robbery to be equal with God,” and He is called, “God Over All, Blessed Forevermore.” He who trod the waves of Galilee’s Lake, whose voice Death heard and gave up its prey—He who opened the gates of Paradise to the dying robber—claims to be none other than equal with the Eternal Father, and like He, “God Over All.” And it is in vain for you to say you respect His Character as a Man, if you do not accept Him in His Deity and accept Him in His official Character as the Savior of sinners! You cannot be otherwise than numbered among His enemies! Well, now, if this should seem to be uncharitable, let me say that I cannot help telling you what I solemnly believe to be the truth and I must, therefore, my Friend, leave with you this text, “His enemies will I clothe with shame.”