The Suffering Christ
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
When Christ came down to this earth; He who was holy, who knew no sin, suffered all the sorrows that sin brought into a world of shame and of wickedness.
The conception of the ancients, was that suffering was the result of sin. When Job sat in all of his agony and pain, his three false friends came to him and said, in substance, "The reason you suffer is because you have sinned. There is something wrong in your life." God, however, said concerning those three false friends, "[They] have not spoken of Me the thing that is right."
Saints may suffer as much as sinners suffer, and sometimes more. As long as we are down here in this vale of tears, we must weep. When Heaven dawns, God will take away all tears from off all faces; then there will be no more sorrow, nor sickness. There will be no hearses in Heaven; no cares, no troubles, no difficulties, no disappointments in the Glory. He maketh all things new.
I want you therefore to watch your Saviour as He goes forth to suffer for us. First of all, we have Jesus Christ as a sorrowing Saviour. The sorrows that Christ bore were imputed sorrows, put upon Him for our sakes. They were our tears, our pains, our heartaches, borne substitutionally.
May I say, that we have, also, imputed sorrows and heartaches; sorrows that we never would have known, had we not been compelled to bear the sorrows of others. There is many a woman just as pure and true to her children and to husband, as a mother and wife can be, yet how her heart aches because of the profligacy of her boy, or of her husband. She is suffering for their sins. So the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on this earth. You cannot live among men without anguish and without pain.
The Lord Jesus Christ suffered the more because He was God, holy and righteous. This, however, we would emphasize. While we suffer because of others, Christ suffered a substitutionary death, far beyond any we could ever know. Let us consider this carefully:
1. Christ could suffer for a world of sinners because He was God. We suffer for a small group of those who touch us. He suffered for all.
2. Christ suffered, the Just for the unjust, a vicarious death: we suffer, who are, ourselves, sinful.
3. Christ came to earth purposefully to suffer, we suffer because we cannot avoid it.
4. Christ suffered not only for others but in His suffering He brought to the one who believes absolute and final freedom from all suffering. This of course is impossible to us.
5. Christ, in His suffering, went deep into the dregs of all human anguish and settled the sin question in all of its varied entails this our sufferings never touch.
I. CHRIST WAS CALLED BEELZEBUB (Matthew 10:24-25)
1. The Lord Jesus Christ was maligned. If He had been unholy or unclean, it would have been another matter. He was maligned because He was holy. They said of Him, "This Fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub." Consider how Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who wrought by the power of His inherent godhead, was accused of working by the power of demons.
2. Saints are maligned. There are plenty of people in the pew who will criticize the minister who stands and preaches the Word of God. No matter how innocent, or true, or faithful the preacher may be, he will always, have his accusers. The closer the minister walks with God, the more mightily he preaches, the more powerfully he testifies, the more the enemy will oppose him. If you say, "I know a minister whom nobody criticizes"; he is a nonentity; he is doing nothing vital in the battle against sin and Satan. If you are going forth as God's servant, in the power of a Risen Christ, you will be maligned, as your Lord was maligned.
3. We suffer not FOR Him, so much, as WITH Him. What we mean is this: "In all of our afflictions, He is afflicted." He never asks us to bear what He does not bear. In fact, He so deeply shares our persecutions, that when Paul persecuted the saints, He could say "Why persecutest thou Me?" Therefore let us patiently suffer and never give up.
It is easy to quit and to lose all your grit
When burdens begin to enthrall;
Just to yield to despair, and to wish you weren't there,
When sorrows hang low like a pall:
But why not believe, trust God, and receive?
He'll help to the end of the fray,
Just trust your way through, your strength He'll renew,
And help to the end of the way.
It is easy to pout and to whine and to doubt
When sorrows and trials oppress;
Just to mope and to moan, and to grunt and to groan,
And be overwhelmed with distress:
'Tis better to smile and your sighings beguile,
God lives and He careth for you;
He will make your loss gain; turn to sunshine your rain,
And make all your sky to be blue.
II. CHRIST WAS MISREPRESENTED (Luke 15:1-2)
1. Christ was misrepresented. The Pharisees said of the Son of God, "This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." They said, because Christ did not fast, that He was a glutton and a wine-bibber. They misrepresented Him from every angle. There was nothing too vile to speak of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2. Saints are misrepresented. A true minister of the Gospel has not time to hold up umbrellas seeking to shed off the imputations that ungodly or thoughtless men and women heap upon him. He must go ahead and preach his Gospel and stand for his Lord, let the chips fall where they may. He must move on undaunted, while the world mocks, and scoffs, and scorns.
3. Saints should rejoice when they are lied against. The Lord Jesus said: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake." Then comes the striking statement, "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for * * so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you."
What then did Christ do to those who maligned Him?
Made manifest in flesh, He went
Along His pilgrim way,
Both doing good, and healing all
He met from day to day;
Their grief He made His own, He thought
Of others, saw their need;
He bore their burdens shared their pains
And proved a Friend in deed;
When to His Cross at last He trod
He took their sins and died,
In sacrifice He shed His Blood,
For men was crucified;
And now He lives in Heav'n above
For all to intercede,
And soon He'll come in power and love
To bless the "chosen seed."
The Lord Jesus will ever stand before us as the supreme example of good will to men. He went about doing good. His life was laid down as a willing sacrifice for those among whom He lived and moved. He never sought His own, but another's welfare.
May the Spirit which guided our Master, guide us. Let us serve others serve them not merely for their earthly welfare, but for their soul's eternal good.
III. CHRIST WAS CAST OUT (Luke 4:28-29)
1. The Lord Jesus Christ was a cast out. When He was born, there was no room for Him at the inn; when He went into the city of Nazareth, they led Him to the brow of the hill and would have cast Him down. There was no room for Him in His Father's House, no room on the earth. He was Lord of all, and yet was outlawed by all.
How strange that the One who owned the silver and the gold and the cattle on a thousand hills had no where to lay His head!
2. Saints are cast out. When a minister, or any Christian, is, for Christ's sake, or for an honest testimony, set aside and cast out, and spurned, let him put his head over on the Lord Jesus Christ, and pillow it there, for his own Saviour was cast out as evil. He was repulsed and rejected and abased. Think of it, Christ was despised and rejected. They crucified Him and put over Him the accusation, written in Roman, Greek and Latin, "This is Jesus the King of the Jews."
It is true we are not of the world, even as He is not of the world. If He was hated, we will be hated; if He was cast out, we will be cast out.
Christ even said: "Blessed are ye, when men shall * * separate you from their company." Why discuss whether we should give up the world? It will give us up if we walk with Him.
3. Sometimes we are not cast out, but we are shut in. You may not be cast into the inner dungeon of some Roman prison, yet you may feel like singing yourself, "The prisoner of the Lord," shut in the confines of your room, and home.
It is not easy to be sick. It is less easy to be a "shut in," always sick. The passing throngs, as they wend their way to the call of the big outdoors, the laughter of the children at their play, the throngs turning their faces toward the house of prayer all has a tremendous appeal to you. You would join them if you could, but you are left alone at home.
How beautifully did Madam Guyon sing her ode, about "A little bird am I, shut in from fields of air." Yet, how much more beautifully did she voice her contentment when she sang, "Yet, here I sit and sing my song to Him who placed me there."
Shut in from dale and glen,
Shut in from blooming bowers,
Shut in your lonesome den,
Through trying, weary hours.
The world goes on its way
Unmindful of your gloom;
Alone, you sit and pray,
Shut in your little room.
Yet, not shut in, alone,
The Lord is with you there,
He fills your heart with song,
He takes away your care.
Shut in you see His face,
His glories you explore;
You roam in realms of grace,
And pleasures evermore.
IV. CHRIST WAS ISOLATED BY HIS MOTHER'S CHILDREN (Psalms 69:7-8)
1. One of the deepest thorns Christ had to bear was this: "I am become a stranger unto My brethren, and an alien unto My mother's children." Oh, beloved, it is bad enough to be trampled down under the feet of those whom you know but little, but when it comes into your own home and father or mother, brother or sister, stand against you and malign you; when they are unsympathetic to your testimony and your Christ; when they repulse you, oh, that is a sorrow as bitter as death!
This is what Christ endured as a lad. He was isolated not by Mary, but by Mary's children. They shelved Him because they understood not the How, the Who, or the Why of His presence in the house.
2. Saints may be isolated at home. How many there are who have allowed themselves to be driven out of the ministry, or of a vital Christian testimony by their wives. Their wives would give them no rest, no peace; they wanted to dress in finery; they did not want the cares and deprivations that come to the pastor's home. Christians have often felt as strangers and aliens in their own home. How I thank God that in my home we are all born again; my children are just as much filled with the Holy Ghost as I am, and my own, dear wife has always been sympathetic in my work.
How many young women have found no sympathy whatsoever among their own people. They have been isolated for the faith. Other young people call them "queer" and "different," simply because they run not with them to the same excess of riot.
One thing I know He who suffered so much will give us grace.
He giveth more grace, when the day groweth long,
When darkening shadows ne'er turn into dawn,
He giveth more grace;
Amid all the anguish and sorrow and pain,
Amid all the burdens, the mist, and the rain,
He showeth His face:
He's with you to strengthen and carry your care,
He's with you to lighten the burden you bear,
Your grief He'll displace.
V. CHRIST WAS IMPOVERISHED (2 Corinthians 8:9)
1. Christ suffered being poor. Jesus Christ was impoverished. He had nowhere to lay His head. He who created worlds and flung them into space, He who possessed all things, became poor for our sakes. The birds of the air had their nests in the trees of the forests, "but Thy couch was sod, O Thou Son of God, in the deserts of Galilee."
2. Saints are often poor. If you feel unhappy because you have not more of this world's goods, remember that your Saviour, though rich above, yet laid aside His wealth in love; left the bright glories of the skies, for an estate which men despise. Can't you be poor for Jesus' sake? God has not asked of you a thing that He did not ask of His Son. God has not put upon you anything that He did not place upon His Son. And so, please stop your pouting, and your whining, and stop saying, "God does not treat me right." He has treated you far better than His Son was treated.
3. The call of God is to become poor for His sake. They who will be rich pierce themselves through with many sorrows. Saints are told to flee these things.
Saints should lay their treasures up on high. God chooses the poor in this world, but rich in faith, to follow Him. Thus we, through His poverty, may be made rich.
One thing we must not set our affections on the things down here. The love of money is the root of all evil.
Another thing we need to know God's paradoxes though poor, we are rich, etc.
They startle at the first, and yet how true they are! It was the Lord who said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." And yet that very truth is seen everywhere. Life out of death, is a common sight. We too must die, to self and to sin, that we may truly live to God.
How can we become strong, by becoming weak? Paul said, "When I am weak, then am I strong." In our weakness He becomes our strength.
And am I wise when I become a fool? Yes, that is also true. The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God: and the Cross is foolishness to the unbeliever. If we would truly be wise, we must renounce that wisdom which knows not God. And, so it is along many lines. The way to get up, is to get down, for, when we humble ourselves He will exalt us. The way to be rich is to become poor. To some who were rich, Christ said, "Thou knowest not that thou art * * poor." Then, to some who were poor in this world, He said, "But ye are rich."
When am I strong? 'Tis when I'm weak,
And God my native pow'r doth break,
'Tis then I'm strong,
And all God's strength becomes my song,
When am I wise? 'Tis when a fool,
Willing to suffer ridicule,
'Tis then I'm wise
With wisdom giv'n from the skies.
When lifted up? 'Tis when abased,
And for Him humbled and disgraced,
That God lifts me up,
Exalts me, as with Him I sup.
When am I rich? 'Tis when I'm poor,
When all my riches I abjure,
'Tis then I'm rich,
How rich is He whom God makes rich!
VI. CHRIST WAS INSULTED BY MEN (Matthew 26:67)
1. Christ was spit upon. Christ was shamefully beaten, spit upon. It is difficult for us to conceive of Christ, the One altogether lovely, as being spat upon and buffeted. He was the One altogether lovely and the Fairest among ten thousand, and yet He was so bruised that He ceased to appear as human. The Prophet wrote: "His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men."
2. Saints may expect to be spit upon. Sometimes preachers come to me and say, "I have been pretty badly treated by my people, I want to tell you about it." They say, 'They have done this and that to me, they do not pay my salary, they do not co-operate in my leadership, and so on. I say, "Have any of them spit on you yet?" They reply, "No, sir, do you think I would allow it?" "Well," I said, "my dear sir, you need not be huffy about it, your Lord and Saviour was spit upon. His back was bruised, His brow was pierced with the thorns; and, until you have been trampled on more than He was, why do you whine and why do you cry? Why not bend your head, take your cross and graciously bear it, even as He bore it for you?" He went forth weeping, He was ignominiously slain. Let us go out and meet Him without the camp and bear His reproach.
3. Christ forgave, let us forgive. "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
"How oft shall * * I forgive?" said Peter, "Till seven times?" Christ said, "I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven,"
What great forgiveness was proffered by the Lord as He hung upon the tree? How tender was that love, how great was that compassion which cried, "Father, forgive them!"
And whom would Christ forgive? Even those who hated Him without a cause. Such a spirit of grace staggers our conception.
VII. CHRIST WAS UNGRATEFULLY REQUITED (Luke 17:17)
1. Christ knew ingratitude. Christ was ungratefully requited. "Were there not ten (lepers) cleansed? but where are the nine?" He went about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead, feeding the poor and hungry, and yet, how many times they followed Him only for the loaves and fishes. When the scribes and Pharisees began to cry out against Him, the populace fell in line and the very men who had tasted His bread and eaten His fishes; the very ones who had felt the power of His healing hand, were the very ones who cried out the loudest around Pilate's hall, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him."
2. Saints will meet ingratitude. We, too, have become accustomed to ingratitude. Remember that we are not above our Master. If they did not appreciate Him, they may fail to appreciate us. Just go once more and pillow your head upon His bosom, for He knew your sorrow.
3. Saints will have their reward by and by. God is not unmindful of all our work and labor of love. Men may forget us, He will not. Men may leave us, He will not.
AN ILLUSTRATION
When Mr. Alexander and I were holding our meetings in the Royal Albert Hall in London, some one took away one of our hymn-books and went through it and cut out every reference to the Blood; and then sent it back to me through the mail, saying, "I have gone through your hymnbook and cut out every reference to the Blood. Now sing your hymns with the Blood left out and there will be some sense in them." If any of you should take your Bible and go through it in that way and cut out of the New Testament and the Old Testament every passage that referred to the death of Christ, or to His atoning Blood, you would have only a sadly torn and tattered Bible left, a Bible without a heart and a Gospel without saving power. The death of Jesus Christ is mentioned more than 175 times in the New Testament. Besides this there are very many prophetic and typical references to the death of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Dr. R. A. Torrey, in Sermon on the Atonement.