3478. Go Back? Never!

A Sermon Published On Thursday, September 23, 1915.

This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. {1Ch 22:1}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1808, “Threshingfloor of Ornan, The” 1809}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3477, “Araunah’s Threshing Floor” 3479}

   Exposition on 1Ch 21:25-22:19 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2261, “One Worker Preparing for Another” 2262 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on 1Ch 21:26-22:19 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3496, “Our Glorious Transforming” 3498 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on 1Ch 21:7-22:19 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2471, “Best of All Is, God Is With Us, The” 2472 @@ "Exposition"}

1. It will be fresh in your memory that David had committed a great sin against the Lord. In truth, all the people of Israel had, for some years, gone astray from God, and when he determined to punish them he made the sin of their ruler an occasion for visiting their iniquities on their head. David had determined to number the people. He carried out his purpose in the teeth of precept, precedent, and protest. It would seem that by it he trespassed on the prerogative of the priests, and violated the Levitical law. Hence Gad, the prophet, came to him with the choice of three punishments. He selected, as the lesser evil, and preferable to famine or the sword of the foe, the pestilence, saying, “It is better to fall into the hand of God than into the hand of man.” Jerusalem was, therefore, for three days ravaged by a terrible plague. The strong men fell down in the streets, and the women died at the mill; the little children perished from the breast, and the aged were struck down with a stroke. For three days the fatal disease had proceeded with its ravages, when suddenly the angel of the Lord, who had caused this slaughter, appeared before David. He beheld the messenger of judgment standing in bodily form on the threshing-floor of a man called Araunah. David was summoned by God to meet this angel, and when he approached he saw him with the sword drawn in his hand, as though he were about to strike even until the going down of the sun. David, moved by the Spirit of God, slays a young bull, erects an altar, kindles a fire, and, as the smoke of the young bull ascends to heaven, the angel who was visible before their eyes, to the joy of every one of them, thrusts back the sword into its scabbard, saying, “It is enough.” Now, David seemed to have been moved by an inward impulse to consider that this place, though nothing but a piece of ground beaten hard for the threshing of grain by the feet of young bulls, must be from now on a sacred place, and he said, “This is the house of the Lord God; this is the altar of sacrifice for Israel.”

2. I scarcely need remind you of a coincidence which may probably have been known to David, that on this very place Abraham had, many generations before, drawn the knife to slay his son Isaac. So the mountain was doubly typical of that sacrifice of Christ which marks the place where God founds his temple, and where all sacrifice rendered by the saints of God to their God must be offered. At first the Lord only showed the fact that he would give his Son. That hoary patriarch, with his only-begotten, dearly beloved child of promise all bound and lying on the wood, unsheathing the knife to slay his son, was a graphic picture of the Eternal Father, who did not spare his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all. Abraham taught the fact of the sacrifice, while to David the reason for that sacrifice of Christ was explained. He was sacrificed to stop the plague—the plague of sin, the punishment of our iniquities. Just as the young bull at Araunah’s threshing-floor, when hewn in pieces and laid smoking on the altar, stopped the pestilence, so Christ bleeding on Calvary, the Lamb of God’s passover, the sacred firstling of Jehovah’s choice and dedication, makes atonement, and the plague is stopped. David then selected this spot as henceforward the place of the temple, and the spot where the one altar should stand.

3. To me this looks very significant. I hope, in a few words, to make you think it interesting and instructive. First, I shall try to explain the occurrence itself spiritually, and then to explain the consecration of the floor mystically.

4. I. Our first point is:—THE OCCURRENCE ITSELF, AND THE VARIED SYMBOLS IT UNFOLDS.

5. David sins, and an angel strikes; David offers sacrifice, and the angel stops. Four lessons are suggested. First, there is such a thing as sin. Men fight hard to try and prove that there is not. In vain they strive: for as long as the inspired book is extant, and as long as there is one man on the face of the earth with a conscience clear, healthy, and undrugged, to bear witness with that book, sin will be found to be extremely sinful. A breach of the divine law, though it is committed by a man after God’s heart, is not overlooked or considered venial. {a} Sin cannot be winked at by the Most High. Though it receives the sanction of the very best of men, it has as much virus as when committed by the most debased. The sin of ignorance is as disastrous as the sin of wilfulness. The wrong act performed with a right motive would still be deadly. Sin is extremely sinful. When I see David and the elders of Israel with sackcloth on their loins and ashes on their heads, bowing before this angel, I discern that there is something in sin which ought to make us hide our heads and weep, and wail, and humble ourselves before the Most High. Let us wake up to a sense of the dire reality of transgression; it is a frightful fact, not a foolish fantasy. In the presence of the angel, this fact is certain.

6. That sin must be punished is taught here with equal clarity. This looks like a platitude, but it is so often disputed, that we are constrained to assert it, and to reassert it. Yes, we sound it out as with a trumpet, that wherever there is an iniquity there must be a penalty, for sin must be punished. The good order of the universe requires it; the justice of God demands it; the Book of God threatens it; the hand of God continually executes it. The supposition that because God is merciful he will, therefore, overlook sin is as delusive as it is dangerous. It is one of Satan’s lies. In the same way, the theory that God is a Universal Father, and that the punishments he metes out are not judicial, but corrective; the mild chastenings of a gentle discipline impose only with a view of winning back his erring children, and not the terrible, denunciation of an angry Sovereign, or the inevitable curses of a violated law. That theory, palatable though it may be to the fallen creature, is only a poisonous drought by which Satan would drug the souls of men who are bent on indulging their lusts until they are drowned in perdition. Ah! no. Though God is merciful, he is just; though he can pardon the sinner, sin must be punished. The two facts are made consistent in the cross of Christ, where the sin was expiated, where the sinner was represented. But be assured, oh sinner, that if you build your hope on any theory which denies that debt must be paid, that crime must be avenged, that sin must be punished—you are misjudging the law by which you must be judged; you are arguing on premises which have no basis but a dream; you are dallying with disappointment and death.

7. I remember a poor man interrogating me like this: “Sir,” he said, “I want to know how my sin can be forgiven.” “By the blood of Christ,” was my answer. “Yes,” he said, “but I do not understand that; what I want to know is this”—and he put it plainly—“if God does not punish me for what I have done, all I have to say is, he ought to have.” I explained to him how he could punish Christ instead of us, and so be just, and, by finding a substitute, provide a pardon. He understood the plan of grace and rejoiced in the gospel. That way of putting it—which I am sure the conscience of every man must make him feel to be true—struck me as forcible. The Judge of all the earth, the Author of the law, must vindicate his own prerogative. In order to do this, every transgression, must receive its punishment: as the sin, so the penalty. It is not appropriate and fitting that I should enjoy the sweets of sin without partaking of its bitters. As I gaze on that bright angel, with flaming sword, I hear God say to me—addressing my eyes rather than my ears—“Sin must be punished.” As he strikes right and left, as dead corpses lie in his awful pathway, as he passes on and his breath is pestilence, and before him burn hot coals of fire, I see in that dreadful vision the tremendous fact that vengeance pursues crime, that vindictive punishment follows vicious practices. God will by no means spare the guilty. Cursed is everyone who has broken the law of God.

8. Yet, were this all, we could only see in this vision an increase of our miseries; but, blessed be God, we discern in the vision which David beheld a sacrifice for sin. The sword will not return to the scabbard through the force of prayer. Not the pleadings of David combined with the humiliation of the elders of Israel, though sackcloth and ashes are on their loins, can prevail to avert the vengeance or appease the wrath. Sin had unsheathed the sword, and without a sin offering there was no sheathing it again. Had David and those elders wept until their eyes were dry, had they lacerated their flesh until the wounds began to mortify, it would have availed nothing. Or had they brought out all the priests with smoking incense and paraded the ark with solemn pomp, yet the angel would not have stirred. Nothing sufficed until the guileless victim appears on the scene, the warrant of death is carried into execution, and the life-blood is shed on the threshing-floor. Not until the young bull, cleft in pieces, was laid high on the altar, and the wood was heaped on the offering, and the fire coming straight from heaven in a mass of flame arose before the Most High, were the signals reversed, and the message announced, “It is enough; sheathe your sword.” Call this type, parable, or illustration, but know, oh sinner, that nothing can ever prevent God from punishing your sins. Your reformation, your prayers, your tears will not do it; though your penitence is ever so humiliating, though your resolutions for the future are ever so determined, though your zeal for all universal reformation is ever so glowing, the outlook would be hopeless.

9. Could you give rivers of oil or ten thousand of the fattest of fatted beasts, your property or your profits would be of no account. Should you give your children for your transgression, the fruit of your body for the sin of your soul, still the inexorable decree stands firm. Sin must have punishment. There is only one method by which the sword can be sheathed; truly, by Christ’s suffering in your room, and place, and stead. The Son of the Virgin, who was also the Son of God, must go to Calvary. You nails, you must pierce him; wood, you must lift him up; soldiers, you must bruise him; Death, you must strike him. There, sinner! there! there is what can make the angel sheath his sword. In Gethsemane and on Calvary rest your eye; there God is teaching you—see! He must punish sin. How dreadfully he punishes it in Christ! Listen to the groans that come from his heart. Hear his death-shriek and his awful cry, “Lama Sabachthani?” God is just, for he is punishing Christ. Believe in Christ, trust him; then you shall know that God has punished your Saviour instead of you; by his chastisement you are made free. He cannot punish two for one offence. He will not first strike your Surety, and then strike you.

10. Rejoice in this, that if Jesus died for you, he released you from condemnation, and he secured for you eternal redemption. Christ has paid the whole penalty; he has discharged your utmost liability. The wrath of God, retribution in full, or its equivalent, Christ has endured for you, and absolved you from sin, and delivered you from the curse of the law by his vicarious sacrifice. He has robed you in his righteousness, and washed you in his blood. Such grace you have received who have believed in his name, and taken shelter beneath his cross. Such truth was David taught concerning sin, punishment, and substitution.

11. And notice that, beloved, so soon as the young bull smoked, and the angel put back his sword, the plague was stopped; no one else died in Jerusalem—no, not one. They might be sick, but the fever left them. Some might be on their beds given up by the physician, but the sheathing of the sword restored them to health. It was not the physician’s healing art, it was the mystical virtue of the sacrifice that saved their life. Consider this, oh guilty, terror-stricken sinner. When Jesus died, from that day forward no sinner who believed in him ever did perish, or ever could. The redeemed are distinguished by their faith in the Redeemer. Disciples may be recognised by their allegiance to the Lord. Christians are identified by their conformity to Christ. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Hell does not hold a soul that ever trusted Christ. You might as well expect to find a rebellious apostate in heaven, as a penitent believer in hell. It cannot be. The moment you trust Christ, at that moment for you the sword is sheathed. Cast yourself on Jesus; it is a simple, but a saving act. As soon as you have come to rest on him alone, without another prop or pillar, you are surely saved. Even if you were already on the plains of glory, with the white robe on you, and the golden harp in your hand, your salvation would not be more certain. Cheer up, beloved; let gladness fire your heart, and rapture flame your tongue. Be of good courage, you timid, downcast seeker. If Jesus died for you, you have no reason for fear. Believe in him, you have the witness in yourself. Your faith is the key of your fellowship. Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven. No angel can strike you; you are exempt from the commission of the destroyer; you are saved. Such, I think, was the teaching which God communicated to David.

12. II. Now grant us a moment’s pause, and we turn to:—THE REASON FOR DAVID’S CONSECRATING THE SPOT TO BE THE SITE OF THE TEMPLE.

13. The temple, remember, was the designated meeting-place between God and man. It is highly suggestive, therefore, that David consecrated the floor of sacrifice, for there the sword was sheathed, the anger appeased, and the grace made conspicuous; therefore the sanctuary should be raised there. Is there a piece of ground, or is there a ground of reconciliation where you or I can safely meet God, except where the atonement of Christ has prevailed to avert the penalty of our transgressions? We often meet people who neglect our solemn assemblies, accounting church or chapel equally objectionable, while they profess to find in their private gardens, or on the open heath, a nobler temple. They prefer the songs of the birds to the psalms of the saints, and the murmur of the river to the melody of worship. Their love of nature is so absorbing, that the spiritual has no charms for them. They tread the clods, and gaze on the clouds with a gratification akin to the beasts that perish. On their Sabbath they are like a horse turned out into the meadow; they cease from labour, and enjoy the interval of repose. Do they tell you that they worship the God of nature? Their self-deception is too transparent. You are not stupid enough to believe them. If you followed them, I expect you would find that their idol was Bacchus, {b} and the god they honoured on these days was their own belly. So far from really seeking quiet retirement to worship the Almighty, they spend the Lord’s day in unruly pleasure and sensual riots. We do not believe in such worship as these professed votaries of nature affect to offer. We hear of the piety, but we have never seen anything but the profanity.

14. Besides, could we give a man credit for his sincerity in worship, we should be disposed to ask what kind of a divinity it is they accredit, admire, and adore. The God of nature, they tell us, is all benevolence without alloy, and they flatter themselves that he does not punish sin, avenge guilt, or condemn the evildoer. Pardon me, with your permission, I would correct your misapprehensions. What law of nature do you think you can violate with impunity? When of old our forefathers sinned against sanitary laws, did not God punish them? What do you think of the plague of London, and the multitudes dying in every house, until Aldgate pit was crammed, and there was scarcely a place to bury the bodies? The God of nature did that, remember men violated his laws, and immediately he struck them. Can you trespass against what are called natural laws without fear? I cannot. Have you forgotten the terrible experiences of America when she denied to the black population its natural rights, and sinned against the slaves? How did God strike that vast continent? Do you not remember the Northern and Southern States in deadly conflict, and the battle-fields red with blood? Even though a brother’s hand was lifted against his brother, it was no less God’s punishment of sin. Among yourselves, when a man defiles himself with vice, does not the penalty he incurs make you shudder to think of? Indeed, and will it not be visited on his children? Shall they not feel it to the third and fourth generation? Surely it is the God of nature who so openly punishes sin. “The God of nature,” as Byron puts it, “mirrors himself in tempests as well as in green fields, and is as much to be seen riding the whirlwind, and making the clouds his chariot amid the storm, as he is in the fair flowers and the sweetly singing birds.” If you will make your appeals to the God of nature, look what kind of God he is. I affirm that the God of nature is a God of judgment, nor is there a meeting-place between a conscious, reasonable, awakened rebellious man and the God who rules the universe, except through a sacrifice—that sacrifice the cross. Assuredly I know that my soul could never experience a possibility of communion with my Creator except at the foot of the cross, where justice was honoured and mercy revealed.

   Till God in human flesh I see

   My thoughts no comfort find.

15. Young men, members of this church, I want you to be thoroughly initiated into this doctrine of redemption. Understand it clearly, and then please contend for it manfully. If you once give up this fortress, you will be exposed to the most dismal scepticism; indeed, you will be open to stark atheism. Should you discredit the atonement of Christ, young man, you will have pulled up your anchors, and you must drift before the wind. You cannot draw near to God without the cross. Only an Araunah’s threshing-floor can furnish the site of a temple. If you forsake the altar and the sacrifice, you will be forsaken by God; and before long you will relinquish truth and righteousness. From holiness and happiness you will then be estranged. In any pulpit where the doctrine of atonement is kept back, the tide of teaching drifts to Socinianism, {c} and there is little room left, only a narrow line to separate the Unitarian {d} from the infidel. The temple is not only the meeting-place for man with his God—no less is it the meeting-place for man with his fellow man.

16. There is never such unity as what comes through the cross. The baptismal pool is not the rallying place for all believers, as very many are baptized there into the waters of controversy. Oh! my soul, do not come into their secret! Certainly no doctrinal confession or orthodox creed supplies a locus standi {place to stand} where everyone sees eye to eye, for good people hold very different views; yet the children of God are of one family, notwithstanding their diversity of opinions. Whenever we come to talk about the cross, we sheath our swords. There is no fighting there. John Wesley sings:—

   Jesus, lover of my soul,

   Let me to thy bosom fly.

And Toplady sings:—

   Rock of ages cleft for me,

   Let me hide myself in thee.

Wesley denounces Toplady in the pulpit; Toplady calls John Wesley “the old fox, tarred and feathered” but when they come here to Christ Jesus, their bitterness is all laid aside; they meet, as you clearly see, in harmony, for their sentiments are the same. Lift high the cross, then, preacher; lift high the cross, Sunday School teacher. Here, and here only, righteousness meets with peace, God embraces man, and man embraces his brother, and we become one with each other, and then, one in Christ Jesus.

17. We shall now turn to a second reason for his dedication. The temple was the revealing place. The Jew never dreamed of seeing God anywhere but in the temple. He went up to its sacred courts so that in the various services of God’s house he might behold the beauty of the Lord. The high priest, on the day of atonement, saw God in the mysterious light which glistened between the wings of the Cherubim, the light called the Shechaniah, the only revealed indwelling of deity, the only light of God which human eye could clearly behold. The temple, I say, was God’s unrobing place. To every high priest a favour, akin to that accorded to Moses, was given. Moses was put into the clefts of the rock so that he might see the skirts of Jehovah’s robe; so every high priest of the Jews, and every Jew in his high priest, saw in the temple as much of God as could be seen under that old covenant.

18. See then, friends, it is fitting that the place where Christ makes the sacrifice should be the place of revealing God to man. We declare, without fear of controversy, that there is more divinity in the wounded body of Christ than in the whole round world beside. If any man would see God to perfection, let him behold that bleeding man! If he would see God’s love, let him behold the Son of God, incarnate, suffering in the sinner’s place. If he would see God’s justice, let him behold the Only Begotten of the Father, pierced with every arrow out of heaven’s quiver, wounded in every part and particle of his spirit and his body, so that he may bear the curse for guilty men. If he would see God’s omnipotence, let him behold it in Christ, bearing the sin of the world, and yet with unbroken bones. If he would see the wisdom of God, let him discover it in the ignominious gibbet, where the Saviour expiates the sin of man. There is no attribute of God which is not clearly seen there. It is not one solitary star, but it is like the Pleiades, a constellation of the brightest stars in Christ; I do not see the stars, but the sun in Christ; I do not see the robes of deity, but deity itself. Here I do not see heaven’s pearly gates, but heaven unfolded to each eye. Here I do not merely see God’s works, but truly God’s heart—not so much the attributes of the Almighty, as Almighty God himself. Turning aside from the burning bush of Calvary, where Jesus burns with fire and is not consumed, I say, “We have seen God! We have seen him face to face.” I must repeat it—that nowhere else is God to be so clearly seen as in the cross. Those who refuse to see God in Christ, soon become callous to the evidence of the eternal power and Godhead anywhere.

19. “Charity” is the cry I hear. “Charity” is lauded everywhere. Yes, truly, more charitable than Christ, I suppose, some would have us to be in our toleration of heresy. But what does the Scripture say? It says, “Other foundation can no man lay than what is laid.” What does it say? “There is no other name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved.” Do you remember the emphatic saying of the apostle Paul? “If any man preaches any other gospel than what you have received, let him be anathema maranatha.” This new charity I know nothing about, nor did our fathers before us. The Puritans and the Covenanters could bleed and die, but they could not yield the blood-red flag of the cross of Christ. Our blessed ancestors, the Albigenses and Waldenses, from whom, in a direct line, we sprang, could dare the snows of the mountains and stain them crimson with their bloody feet, but they could not surrender the truth. Those early confessors of the faith, from whom we have sprung, could suffer at the harlot’s hand—the prostitute of Rome—and shed their blood like water for the Lord God of hosts. This was the rallying cry, from which they could never depart. “We can see in Christ the only way of salvation.” Without controversy God was revealed in the flesh. He has worked out an atonement for his people. By that blood-sprinkled path we enter into heaven. Yes, dear friend’s, the doctrine of the atonement, or rather the atonement itself, is God’s only meeting-place with man, and it is God’s only place of revelation to man, if man would see him correctly and distinctly.

20. Now thirdly, the temple was the home of joy. Oh! what song, what sacred harmony went up to heaven from Mount Zion! I have sometimes been in this house when my willing soul was glad to stay and sing herself away to the celestial plains. When I have heard the songs of the thousands of God’s saints here, I have thought no rapture could exceed it; but our songs, I consider, were poor compared with the multitudes of Israel coming from the north, south, east, and west, from Dan, from Beersheba, and from beyond Jordan—they came up like rivers of harmony, and when they caught sight of the golden roof of the temple, their hearts beat high, and their voices grew jubilant. With golden trumpets and silver trumpets they sounded out volumes of melody, and then, with various instruments and vocal notes, sent up their joyful sound of grateful praises to the Most High. Priest and elders led the tune, and, ten thousand times ten thousand of all the tribes cried, “Hosanna!” or chanted some of the glorious strains of David. Oh! how good and pleasant a thing it must have been in those days to go up to the house of the Lord! And oh! how marvellous was that threshing-floor, where an atonement was first made for Jerusalem, should be the place where all this song should gather. The music abounds where the blood freely flowed; where wrath was stopped, there sacred mirth begins. Beloved, the richest joy that earth and heaven could know springs from the crystal fount of Jesus’ side. Heaven was never so glad as when he ascended up on high. Then they tuned their harps anew:—

   They brought the chariot from on high

      To bear him to his throne,

   Clapped their triumphant wings, and cried,

      The glorious work is done.

21. You and I are never so happy as when we see our pardon, our full redemption there. Then I think we can sing:—

   Oh! for such love, let rocks and hills

      Their lasting silence break,

   And all harmonious human tongues

      The Saviour’s praises speak.

If you want to be very happy, sit down under the shadow of the cross. Would you be supremely blest, remember the threshing-floor of Araunah. There the pestilence raged, the angel stood, the young bull smoked, and the plague was stayed. That is the place where song finds its focus; remain there, and be glad all your days.

22. Yet a fourth thought may be worthy of your attention. The temple was a type of the Church; therefore, the temple must be built where the sacrifice stopped the plague. The foundation-stone of the Church is the person of Christ. The doctrine of atonement is the interpretation of his work on the earth. If any man believes in the atonement of Christ, and trusts himself to its fact and its issues, he is a Christian. He who does not believe in our Redeemer’s wondrous passion, and his complete satisfaction to the justice of God, may call himself whatever he likes, and assert his profession by whatever name he pleases—a Christian he is not. Where two or three are gathered together in Christ’s name, there is a church. But the richest corporation, with the highest dignities that a nation can confer, will never make a church, unless the doctrine of the atonement is strongly maintained and clearly taught. I would not judge harshly or speak rashly. But most solemnly I do believe there are hundreds of pulpits in London that never give a certain sound about the atonement of Christ. That Christ did something on the cross they admit; what he did they cannot determine. Popular books published by learned divines tell us we ought not to enquire, nor need we wish to know. A certain mythical reconciliation was accomplished, but as to his really suffering vicariously for sinners, the just for the unjust, this is left to such weak intellects as popular evangelists may possess. As for these refined gentry, so learned that no one can understand them, and so attractive that they have more spiders than hearers in their places of worship, they are far too philosophical to preach an atonement. Oh! no; it just suits the common mind, they say.

23. Do you know, sirs, I have heard that at a college, where young men are being trained to preach, after a discussion held on the question, “Has the modern revival of Puritan doctrine done more good than harm?” the affirmative was carried by a majority of one—of barely one! Well now, as Puritan doctrine is neither more nor less than a consistent exposition of the gospel, with a corresponding demand for simplicity and sincerity of life, we are prone to ask what is to be expected of the instructors of the rising generation? Are these the gentlemen in training to teach the sons of toil? What kind of spiritual food will they dispense to those who attend their ministry? Will these gentlemen preach Christ crucified, or will they strain and dilute the gospel until their sermons echo nothing but the sentiments of the age, and the utilitarian morals that pass current in their times? Rather may this house be utterly consumed with fire, and not so much as one stone be left upon another that shall not be cast down, than the day should come when here there should be given an uncertain sound about the atonement. This is not merely a doctrine of the Church; it is the doctrine of the Church. Leave this out, and you have no truth; you have no Saviour, no Church. Just as Luther said of the doctrine of justification by faith, that it was the article of a standing or falling Church, so we affirm concerning the atonement, the complete efficacious atonement, the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ for the sins of men. Cling to it you who would build up the saints on their most holy faith. For life, or for death, cling to it. Make this your corner-stone; make this your vermilion cement with which you bind your members to each other. Make this your trowel; make this your hammer; and make this your sword; make this your one essential; consider it your indispensable implement, if you would honour God, and if you wish to build up his Church.

24. And finally, just as this was to be the place for the foundation of sacred fellowship, so it must be the altar on which all the offerings were to be made to Jehovah. Brethren, it was fitting that the place where Christ died—the place, I mean, where the sacrifice stopped the devastating sword of judgment—that this Mount Zion should be the place where the people of God offered their sacrifices and peace offerings. Mere exhortations to propriety are of no avail. You may preach ever so eloquently on sobriety without rescuing a single drunkard. You may eulogise chastity to the admiration of the lascivious. You may extol honesty in the midst of knaves and rogues, who will praise your fair speech. Precept has no regenerative power. People do not become good by having goodness preached at them. Pure Christianity is not propagated by the law. And in the community of saints, legality is of no avail. Whips are for the backs of fools. Saints need more sacred stimulus. Threats may keep simpletons in check, but for Christian men promises are of more account.

25. If I want to stir you to action, and to promote among you some good work, I must preach Christ, feed your souls with the bread of heaven, and then, after that, the grace will work in you effectively, and the goodness will flow out of you spontaneously. Behold the place where Jesus shed his blood! Here, then, bring your offerings: dedicate yourselves as whole burnt offerings to God, your time, your talents, your substance. No man brings his offering to Sinai, but thousands bring their sacrifices to Calvary. No man goes for a missionary, I hope, from stress of duty, except it is the man who found Zulu Kaffirs {e} too much for him. We go as missionaries not from a sense of duty, but from a sense of love for Christ. Love will make a man do and dare. He will carry his life in his hands; he will go to savages, among them to endure deprivations, or to die. Not from duty’s imperious call. That is a spur that Christians do not always feel. But love—love for Jesus, love for men, gratitude to God for what he has done for them, zeal for man, and desire to benefit his race, will prompt action devout and heroic. Preach the cross, minister, and you never need doubt that your sermons will be practical. The atonement is the most practical of all doctrines. Those who preach up works, play with projects, and produce no profits, while those who preach up Christ cultivate holiness, and reap fruits of righteousness to life eternal.

26. Ask yourself, good friend, have you ever found Christ to be a place for you to meet God? If you have not, if you wish to meet God, go straight to Christ, trust him, and so you shall find God. “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” is his own declaration. Go to the cross, oh you who feel your burden of sin! There, all is done for you. The site of the cross is the place where the temple of joy is built. Do you want to be at peace with your neighbour? Both of you go to the altar where Jesus died; there your peace shall be cemented. Do any of you want to build up a church in your neighbourhood? Go to Christ, and lean on his promise. He is the Rock on which you shall be made strong. No one but Jesus—no one but Jesus! Do not strive to make yourselves better; do not seek to get to heaven by merit; give up your foolish reasons and resolves. You may work on the treadmill, but you will get no higher—not an inch nearer to the stars will you be with all your efforts. Cast yourself flat before the cross, sinner—rags and all, hard heart and all.

   Just as I am, and waiting not

   To rid myself of one foul blot,

   To him whose blood can cleanse each spot,

   Oh! Lamb of God, I come, I come.

And coming like this to Christ you have come to happiness, to safety, to heaven. So may your heart incline you; so may the Spirit lead you; so may Jesus save you; so may God, even the Father, accept you; and to the triune Jehovah shall be the praise for ever. Amen.

{a} Venial: Worthy or admitting of pardon, forgiveness, or remission; not grave or heinous; pardonable, light:—of sin; spec. in Theology. as opposed to deadly or mortal. OED.
{b} Bacchus: The god of wine. OED.
{c} Socinianism: A sect founded by Laelius and Faustus Socinus, two Italian theologians of the 16th century, who denied the divinity of Christ. OED.
{d} Unitarian: One who affirms the unipersonality of the Godhead, especially as opposed to an orthodox Trinitarian. OED.
{e} Zulu Kaffir (alternatively kaffer; originally cafri) is an ethnic slur used to refer to a black person. In the form of cafri, it evolved during the pre-colonial period as an equivalent of “negro.” In Southern Africa, the term was later used as an exonym for Bantu peoples. The designation came to be considered a pejorative by the 20th century. See Explorer "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffir_(racial_term)"

My Sermon Notes. A Selection from Outlines of Discourses delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Part I. Genesis to Proverbs I. to LXIV. Part II. Ecclesiastes to Malachi. LXV. to CXXIX. Published at 2/6 each, offered at 2/- each. Parts I. and II. bound together in one volume. Cloth 4/-. Part III. Matthew to Acts. CXXX. to CXCV. Part IV. Romans to Revelations. CXCVI. to CCLXIV. 2/- each. Parts 3 and 4., bound together in one volume, 4/-

When a preacher whether he is a lay or regular preacher, finds himself severely pressed for a subject, he will find here an outline clearly drawn, a good deal of filling up, and a little lot of stories or pithy bits to season the whole.

An All-Round Ministry. Addresses to Ministers and Students, Cloth guilt, 2/6.