SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6572, 9 December 1882, Page 3 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

JESUS AT A STAND,

ABRIDGED SERMON" BV O. H. SPUROEOK.

" And Jesuj stood still."—Mark i. 49. A friend inquired of me yesterday, "Will you preach on Sunday morning to saints or to sinners?" I could not at the moment answer him; but I afterwards thought within myself—lf I preach concerning Jesus Christ, onr Lord and Saviour, I shall kill two birds with one stone, and give both saints and sinners a profitable theme for thought. There is but one me-sage of the Gospel, and it has a voice to all. Saints know no sweeter music than the name of Jesus, and sinners know no richer comfort than His person and His work. We preach to all when we preach Him who is all in all. Christ comes as life to the dead, and He is equally lite to the living. I trust there will at this time be a word in season both to those who fear God aud to those who fear Him not, while I speak of the Saviour from these three words, "Jesus stood still.'"

Our Divine Lord has chaimed His position, but He is Himself the same as ever, and therefore every truth which we learn concernin_' Him "in the past becomes all the more valuable since it is still true of Him. Our Lord's name is "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." What Mis character was on earth such it is .still ; His pursuits on earth are His pursuits still; His main object when He was here is His chief aim oven in the glory. We have not to say, "This is what Jesus was,'" and then to mourn that He has changed ; for He is without variableness. His transit from the tree to the throne has not afiected His nature so as to make Him other than Ho was when here below.

I. First, let us answer this question. What means this pause iu the Saviour's progress —"Jesus stood still?"' 'Ibis was not His frequent posture, for He was ever on the move. "He went about doing tood." He mi-lit have done much among men if He had taken up His station and remained in one place, so that the crowds could have rtsorted to Him to listen to His voice, or to be healed by His power. But Jesus was not an immovable statue of benevolence. He was active aud energetic, an itinerant preacher who never weaned in His circuit. One does not often see Jesus standing still. His was the love which does not wait to be sought after by men. for it has come to seek as well as to save that which was lost.

In the Gospel wo read that our Lord was going up to Jerusalem, with His face steadily set to accomplish His great work. His own words were, "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles, and they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and

shall spit upon Him, and shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again." (Mark x. 33, 34.) Ho had a baptism to be baptised with, and He was straitened until it was accomplished ; therefore with brave resolve He forced His way to the city. Kvery pause to Him would have been untimely, unless there had been some weighty reason to arrest Him. His great work pressed upon His soul, and lie longed to bo fully engaged in it, as one who lias a cup to drink, and thirsts to set it to his lips. Yet, though ilis thoughts were thus urgently preoccupied, and His whole heart engrossed, we find Him pausing m His steady progress to the desired end; "Jesus stood still." There was, doubtless, somewhat special about this recorded pause. What was it which fastened Him to the spot? It was not hesitancy—His resolve was too firm ; it was nut fear—the thought of drawing back never passed the Redeemer's mind. Onward, onward, was Ilis fixed resolve. He stood still from no unworthy motive; all His movements and His pauses have a nobility about them, and n fulness of meaning whi-jh no personal motive can account for. "Jesus stood still:" He was all there : ready, willing, able, too, to do for the poor man whatsoever he needed. He asked him, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ?" iis if He stood at his beck and call, and could not take a step onward until lie hail answered the prayer. "Jesus stood still." I have heard of Joshua who said, ".Sun, stand thou still upon Gibcon ; and thou. Moon, in the valley ol Ajalon ;" hut I rank the blind beggar above Joshua, for he causes tho Sun of righteousness to stand still. Yes, He wlio created both sun and moon stood still, and the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man. Jericho had produced in a ties long gone by a prodigy of faith among her harlots, and now she shows us a wonder of grace among her beggars. How marvellous was the power which dwelt in that poor man's cry ! Iμ such power to be found among men at this hour! Ah, there is tho point. The Saviour is tho same to-day as ever, and 1 believe, my brethren, that you and I have the power at this time to make Him stand still if we act as did. Many a poor sirncr here this morning, if God shall help him to cry after the style of the blind man, can command tho Saviour's full attention, can command Ilia power, and got from Him the grace which He is so willing and able to bestow. As for you who know ami love Him, be well assured that no blind beggar can have such power with Him as you have who are His friends. lam sure that the voices of tho.-c who have laid their heads in His bosom must have great power over Him, and if our brethren will but use their influence with their Well-beloved they may ask what they will, and it si all be done unto them.

11. Wo will now enter upon a practical inquiry : Who and what was this whi'.-h arrested the Saviour? What made Him stand still V lleiod could not have done it, I'ilatc, nor chief priests, nor scribes, nor the foresight of thu bloody sweat, nor a vision of the cross. These would have but quickened His steps to enter upon the conflict, and achieve redemption. What made Mini stand still ?

First, as I have already said, it was a blind beggar. I am afraid there are very few here this morning who are literally beggars ; for now-a-days we wear good clothes, and are so very respectable, that abjectly poor people do not like to come and sit with us. The inore's the pity. Christ sees the man himself and not his raiment; he looks not at the mans possessions, but at his heart. In mercy He beholds not the excellence of the man, but his wants, bis sorrows, and his property. No man here shall ever be able to say, " It was no use for mo to think about religion ; my circumstances were too low." "I was depressed," says one, "1 should have thought about better things, but really the grind of poverty was so dreadful that 1 could not rise from the dust." This is not true, for you are not poorer than the blind beggar of .Jericho, and the sharp tooth of penury has not bitten yon more severely than many of the Lord's sull'ering saints. j?ut what was the art by which Uartimanis stayed the Lord ? That which stopped the Saviour was a blind beggar's cry. The man did not sing a touching hymn to a melting tune, he wnly cried. The voice came from a heart burdened with misery, breaking with de.-ive, weary of long years of darkness, pining for (lie light, and hopeful of obtaining it. "Son of David, have mercy online," again the crv arose above nil the huljbubot the throng.

I suppose the main tiling which brought our gracious Master to a stand was the fact th:it"Hc had now* an opportunity for doing good, .lesns lias come to setdc ilis lost sheep, and when His eyes light upon one all torn and lame He stops to deal tenderly with it. Certain people in His day boasted that they could see : our Lord did not tarry to argue with them ; they did not want Him, and He therefore pas = ed them hy ; but here was a blind man, and whs it not said of the Messiah that He should open the eyes of the blind? Here is the opportunity for Him, and before that opportunity He stands still until His illuminating work shall ho done. You good people who imagine that you will go to Heaven by your own works, my Lord does not wait on you; but you poor sinners who have no merits, you guilty ones who need His mercy, Jesus stops for you. You who have so much strength that you can believe when you like, can repent when you like, can be saved when you like, can be quite independent of the Holy Spirit and the sovereign grace of God, Jesus does not look at you ; but oh, you that are blind and cannot see, you that wish you could see, you who groan because you have 110 strength, you are the men for my Master. Believe me, the Loril of mercy looks not at merit, but at misery. The necessity cf the case is its claim upon Ilis tender heart. Thus I have tried to show what was the power which rivetted the Saviour to the spot so that the Gospel saith, "Jesus stood still." Uuder our third heail we shall inquire— 111. What was there special about this blind man and his prayer ? An answer lies on the surface—there was this special about

it, first, that the man was full of need. He had two loads to carry. He was poor—that was bad enough ; but he was also blind that is worse. Here was a man with double need—without bread and without light; and therefore his crie3 had a double loudness in the ears of the sinners friend. Do I speak to one whose need is doubly pressing, so that his heart breaks for immediate relief '' All, thou doubly lost one, Josus will stand still for thee. You who are blind and poverty-stricken, too, shall have spcedy audience. You that have nothing, and can see no hope of ever having anything, you are the favoured ones, whose pleading voices Jesus neve:' Cry mightily to Him at once. He waits at this moment. " Why," says one. " you are preaching np our poverty, our beggary, our iankruptcy." Exactly so.

1 TVit^ 0 -'- a -l°°!r-p • D.it let .i::r d- i.t -1> ■ v.h.t -.; py :::;.y Il.iw-v.rrrc- • s.m.i'l. A.- 50.,.: a. we 1:.. •'-•!■•- til piiv, (Jur 1.nr.1 tir.i;i- ;- •!'."'

That, after all. which fastest bound the Saviour w:is the man's faith, fr.r He said to him. '"Ti.y faith hath i:'*de thee whole."' What kind of faith was ii V It «-,-,. the best faith as to origin, i'or it was tl.e fail!, of a blind man. and therefore was not adulti rated |.y tilt- eor.tidi.-ncv which conn :- :.f Mght. Faith t-cm-'th not l>y seeing, or else it never could have c»:ne to this £ i it coinetii by hearing, and he cou'.d hear. If Jesus Christ iaised the dead, this man .lid not see the miracle ; if J.->us healed the leper, this man did not see the -vender ; and if the lame man leaped like a harr, this man

in- : his faith wa* solely born of hearing, and this is faith's best pedigree. Dear friends, be attentive htari-rs of the gosp'-l. Thank God that you are privileged to be hearers. You need not sigh for ceremonials or architecture or processions. If you are a hearer of the gospel you have sum'cient means of grace. V>y Kurgate King Jesus ridjs into the town of Mansoul. Hcs.iith,

'• Incline your ear and come unto Me ; hear, and your'soul shall live.' , What '. though U'.j dream, or vision, or rapturous experience be as a sign for your :ye to Rf, believe iu Jesus, and you shall iind in Him more than all signs and wonders. IV. Tims have we thought over the peculiar forces which made the Saviour stand ; may we know how to use them. Does any one inquire, " What lias this to do with us?" This is my last point: "What is there special for you, my hearers?" I think there may be "much for you, for it contains much for me. 1 was a blind beggar once, as blind as the heathen's gods, of which we read, "eyes have they, l.ut they see not ;'' .-.nd 1 was a bcgg.ir t ■«•, so penniless as not t'> possess a pennyworth of merits to Ikss myself with. 1 thought 1 had some gooil wot ks once, quite a little cupboard full, but they bred worms and stauU, and I had to sweep them all out and sweeten the place which they had detiled. 1 found myself worse than having nothing, for, like Egyptians when the plague of frogs was removed, I had heaps of rubbish to get rid of. My former good works became, in my judgment, like forged bank-notes or counterfeit money : I was"" afraid of being charged with the attempt to utter them. Alas, my base good works, my proud good works, my do uiitful good works pressed h-avily on my conscience. By putting these into the place of Christ I had made tlu-in worse than my sins. 1 was in a worse state than a man who owns nothing, for 1 was over head and ears in debt, and'l knew it. Then it was 1 heard of One who would deli\ er me, and I cried to Him. and He •.U-livered m« speedily. Oil, how I wish that many others would feel that they too need the divine Saviour. O, that men knew that they are poor, and blind, and that Jesus can give them eyes, and can supply all their wants.

It is a. very curious thing—a very curious thin" to m"o — that so uuicli uncertainty lianas over this narrative. lam not so sure as to speak positively, but I believe that this story which Mark tills us is no', the whole of what happened, f.>r Matthew is c.-ituin that there were two blind men. Hunr what Matthew says abulia it. Purely it is the Kinifi iuciiloht, or nnc f:traiij,'ely similar. Mar.hew xx. ■-'.) :— '' And as they departed Ironi Jericho :i uvvat multitude followed Him. And, liehohi, two blind men sitlini; by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Thou Sou of David. And the multitue rebuked them, because they should hold their peace : but they eried the more. s-ayiiiL'.-Have mercy on us,*O, Lord, Thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto" Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened." There were two blind bengal-*, though M:\rk only sees it needful to mention the prineip.il one. Hero, then, is the mercy of it, that though we do not know the man's name he had his eyes opened quite as surely as Kartinweus, and though ho could not make a prayer of his own, and only followed Jxirtimn-us, lie had sijjht of his own, and a word of comfort for himself from .fesii-s.

Those of. us on whom the Saviour !i;is wrought :i good work would speak well of Him for the encouragement of the fearing ones. 1 War my witness to the eye-opening power of tlie gospel. " One thing I know— whereas I was blind, now I see ;" and no one opened my eyes but .Jesus. I went to Him just aa I was, I triioted Him, and He saved me. May there not lie two more blind men or women sitting somewhere about who v ill follow our example? Just do -is we have done —pray and trust, cry and beheve. Say. "Lord, '1 'lion Son of Davul, have mercy on me !" Kemember, Hu that hath s,;ived one can save two; lie that hath saved two can save three ; ay, it stops not at three ; if there were three thousand here, who all cried for mercy, they should all have it, and as many millions more as could be found to follow in the same track.