You will notice, if you read the narrative attentively, that the two sisters and the brother, who made up the favoured household at Bethany, though all most truly loving Jesus, had each one a different way of showing that love. Even so, true children of God do not always feel moved to serve the Lord Jesus in the same fashion, or to express their love to him in precisely the same manner.

Martha served: she was the housekeeper, and with much diligence made him a supper. It would have been a sad omission had there been no table spread for so blessed a guest, and who could prepare it so well as Martha? Sometimes we have heard people speak disparagingly of Martha, but truly they mistake the Lord, who never chided her for serving, but for being on one occasion so cumbered by it as to think hardly of her sister. Martha in this instance did not fall into the fault which her Lord once so gently chided; she did her part quietly and well, and thereby set forth her attachment to Jesus in the most commendable manner. We have sisters in the church whose way of serving Christ is in the household, or by caring for the sick and the poor; like Dorcas, they make garments’ for them, or like holy women of old, they minister to the Lord of their substance. Their work is with things temporal, but they are none the less approved of their loving Master. Brethren, too, as deacons, may better honour the Lord by serving tables than they could by attempting to edify saints when the gifts suitable for that work are denied them. Each man and woman must labour according to his or her ability and calling.

As for Lazarus, he was “one of them that sat at the table.” We might hastily imagine that by sitting there he did nothing: but, my brethren, the people had come together very much to see Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead; and for him to sit there, and to show himself, and especially to eat and to drink, was to do the best thing to convince onlookers that he was indeed alive. Our blessed Lord himself, when he rose from the dead, found it needful to convince his disciples that he was really alive and in a real body, and therefore he took a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb, and did eat before them all. When they saw him eat, then they were sure that he lived. So, when Lazarus ate at the table, sceptics could not say, “It is merely his corpse set upright to look like life, or a mere phantom to deceive.” Lazarus eating and drinking was a testimony for Jesus, and I would that we all knew how even to eat and drink to the glory of God. There are some Christians who cannot do much or say much; but their godly lives, their patient suffering, their quiet holiness, are good witnesses to Jesus. I have looked at the lilies and the roses in the garden, and I have thought, “You toil not, neither do you spin, you preach not, neither do you sing, and yet you praise my Lord, simply by being beautiful, and by unconsciously shedding abroad the perfume which ho gives you.” May not some saints be glorifying God most truly though they can do no more than this? Besides, some one of the family was needed to keep the Master company, and preside as host at the table, and who could do this but Lazarus, the master of the house? Anywhere else Lazarus might have been out of place, but to me it appears most seemly that Lazarus should sit at the table; and if he modestly declined to take the head of it, and sat with others, still he was bound to be there.

But what shall Mary do? She need not be at the table, Lazarus is there; she is, perhaps, of small use in the kitchen, her abilities are slender in that direction: what shall Mary do? Her heart was very warm, and she felt she must do something. She did not ask anybody, however, for her own mind was inventive. She knew that it was a usual custom with honoured guests to anoint them with ointment; she perceived that this had not yet been done, or, if done, not in the royal style which her love suggested. Perhaps ho was very lovely, and had been somewhat fond of adorning her person, her long hair may have been much cherished, and she may have been profuse in the use of perfume upon it; the thought strikes her, she will consecrate that hair to Jesus, and that pound of flagrant unguent which she had stored up for the beautifying of herself shall be spent upon him. It was very costly, but it had not cost a penny too much now that it could be used upon him. There was a pound of it, but there was none too much for him. It was very sweet, but none too sweet for him. She brings the pound of ointment, and pours it on his feet as he lies reclining at the table, and then begins to wipe his feet with the hairs of her head, consecrating her personal beauty as well as her valued treasure to him whom she both loved and adored. She had found something to do, and that something not the least of the three works of love.

The service of the three members of that elect family made up a complete feast; Martha prepared the supper, Lazarus conversed with their honoured guest, and Mary anointed the Master’s feet. Judge you not one another, my brothers and sisters; do each one what you feel you can do, and what the Lord expects of you, and look not on another’s work with ungenerous eyes. Neither Martha, nor Lazarus, nor Mary, complained of each other, but together they made the service complete. All members have not the same office, but each one must lovingly supplement the office of the rest, and emulation and jealousy must never enter among us.

We will now forget the others, and look alone at Mary. We are struck with the service which she performed for Christ. It was somewhat singular, it was very demonstrative, and it proved her love to be of no common kind. Other women besides Martha had made him a supper; other hosts besides Lazarus had sat at the table with him; but no other had anointed his feet exactly in her fashion, though perhaps some may have come near to it. Mary was inventive, demonstrative, patient, ardent, enthusiastic. What she did was the deed of a soul all on fire, the deed of a woman filled with deep devotion and reverent love. There is an old proverb that “still waters run deep.” Mary had these still waters within her heart; she sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his words; she was a woman of few words, but of many thoughts; she considered, she pondered, and she adored. Mary among women is the counterpart of John among men, and perhaps, at this time, she had even outrun the beloved disciple in quick discernment of the Lord’s true nature. It seems to me that she had perceived his Godhead, and understood more of what he was and what he was about to do than any other of the disciples did; at least, I can on that theory better understand her deed of love. She devised a homage for him which she would not have dreamed of presenting to any other than such an one as she perceived the Lord to be. Pondering many things within her soul, and withal remembering what he had done for her personally, and for her dear brother Lazarus, whom she loved so well, she determined that a special mark of reverential homage should be paid him, and she carried out the resolve. Deep thought led to burning love, and burning love led to immediate action.

Beloved friends, the Church of Christ needs a band of men and women full of enthusiasm, who will go beyond others in devotion to the Lord Jesus. We need missionaries who will dare to die to carry the gospel to regions beyond; we need ministers who will defy public opinion, and with flaming zeal burn a way into men’s hearts; we need men and women who will consecrate all that they have by daring deeds of heroic self-sacrifice. Oh, that all Christians were like this; but we must at least have some. We need a body-guard of loving champions to rally around the Saviour, the bravest of the brave, Immortals, and Invincibles, who shall lead the van of the armies of the Lord. Where are we to get them? How are they to be produced? The Holy Spirit’s way to train men and women who shall greatly serve Christ is to lead them to deep thought and quiet contemplation; thence they obtain the knowledge and vital principle, which are the fuel of true zeal. You cannot leap into high devotion, neither can you be preached into it, nor dream yourself into it, or be electrified into it by revivalism. It must, through the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, arise out of hard, stern dealing with your soul, and near and dear communion with your Saviour. You must sit at his feet, or you will never anoint them; he must pour his divine teaching into you, or you will never pour out a precious ointment upon him.

This is a rather long introduction, but we will now leave it all, and crave your attention for a little time to a short parable which appears to me to grow out of this incident.

Mary took a pound of ointment, and poured it all on Christ’s feet; that is concentration. When she had poured it all out on Christ’s feet, the whole house was filled with the odour of the ointment; that is diffusion, and the surest way to effective diffusion is perfect concentration.

Let us speak a little first upon this concentration.

You want, my friend, to do something before you die, which may prove a blessing to your family connections. The desire is good, but do not begin with diffusion; commence with concentration, and let Mary be your model. She brought out all her ointment, the whole pound without reserve. Even so, consecrate to the Saviour all that you have: every faculty, power, possession, and ability. Half the pound of spikenard would not have sufficed. That half-pound in reserve would have spoiled the deed. Perhaps we should never have heard of it at all if it had been less complete. Half a heart given to Christ? Tell it not in Gath, whisper it not in the streets of Askelon. Half a, life given to Christ? Half your faculties, half your powers given to Christ? It is an unworthy gift; he gave you all, and he claims all of you. O dear soul, if thou wouldst fill the house with sweet odour, bring in thy whole self, and pour at thy heart at his feet!

Note that, as she brought all, so she poured it all upon Jesus. She had no fear of the black looks of Judas, for the act was not meant for Judas; it was all for Jesus. I do not think she gave a thought to Martha, or Lazarus, or to any of them. The whole pound was for Jesus. The highest way of living is to live for Jesus, and altogether for Jesus, not caring what this man saith or how the other judgeth, but feeling that as he hath bought us with his blood, and we are his from the crown of our head to the sole of our foot, we therefore own no master but our Redeemer. Brothers and sisters, do you live for Jesus in that fashion? Do we not perform many actions under the impulse of secondary motives? I like, for my part, sometimes to do an act of which I feel, “I do not consider whether this will benefit my fellow-men. I aim doing it alone for Jesus. What comes of it,-whether a soul shall be saved or not, is not my main care; but I am speaking this good word in his honour, and if God accepts it, and it glorifies Jesus, my end is served.” Oh, it is a, blesed thing to feel that you are living, not as a servant of man, nor of the church, nor of a sect or party, but of him whose precious blood has bought you!

Concentrate all your faculties upon the Lord himself, and then consult not with flesh and blood. Mary did not wait for any advice about the matter. There is Jesus, and there are his blessed feet, inviting her to anoint them. She will not stop to enquire what Martha thinks, much less what Judas murmurs, but her heart tells her to do it. All her powers of love say to her, “Do it,” and she brings out the costly perfume, and pours it all on him. When the criticism is given about the wasteful deed, she cares not to make an apology, and she needs not to do so. If for the moment the grumbling grated harshly upon her ear, her Master’s look of love and that kind word, “Let her alone; against the day of my burying hath she kept this,” are quite enough for her. She did not aim at pleasing Judas; and so, if Judas is not pleased, she is not disappointed; she did it for Jesus, and Jesus being pleased, she has gained all that she sought for. Ah, brethren, this is what we must try to do; we must not always remain in leading-strings, asking other people what they think about our actions; if we know that a certain course is right, let us follow it, and let others think and say what they choose.

This concentration of everything upon Jesus is the only way of worthily serving him. When we give him all, we do not give him a thousandth part of what he deserves; but to give him half,-to give him a tithe, to give him what we can easily spare,-is a poor way of expressing our love to him. Who else deserves a, part of your service? If you have been redeemed from death and hell, who else can claim a portion of your heart? Look at him in his life of labour, look at him on the cross, and look at him remembering you still before the throne of God. Does he not engross your affections? Say, does he not throw another cord of love around you, and bind you as a sacrifice to the horns of the altar?

I will not linger longer on that point. Enough is as good as a, feast. Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate, concentrate all on Jesus.

Now, consider what will come of it; namely, diffusion: “The house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”

Mark that the house was not filled with the odour of the ointment through Mary’s seeking. She did not run into every chamber, and drop a little on the floor, so that every room might smell of it; she did not care whether the house was perfumed or not, she only wanted to anoint her Lord, and therefore she poured all the ointment on his feet. The result was that the rooms were perfumed, but that was not her main object. She did not tell everybody that she had precious ointment in store, but they knew it by her pouring it out. Whenever you hear a man boast that he is holy, remember that good scent needs no proclaiming. The only cart I ever meet with that rings a bell is the dust cart. If jewels and diamonds, or the bullion of the Bank of England, are carried through, the streets, no bell is rung. “Great cry and little wool” is a proverb which has had a new exposition in this country of late; a wonderful cry about holiness and wonderful little holiness to cry about, but a great deal to be wept over and lamented before the living God. To stand in every room, and cry, “Spikenard! Spikenard! Wonderful spikenard!” would have been idle. Pour it on Jesus’ feet, and you will not have to say anything about it, for every room will be sweet with the smell thereof. We need, nowadays, dear friends, to have a little less talk about what men are and much more actual living unto Jesus. The Lord work it in us by his Spirit!

Why was it that Mary’s spikenard did perfume all the house, and how is it that, if there is true grace in a man’s life, it is sure to be felt and recognized without his saying much about it? We reply, because it is real. Real religion is always influential: sham religion has but sham power. You cannot get influence by saying, “I mean to influence So-and-so;” as well hope to stop the sun and moon without Joshua’s miraculous power. The power of religion within yourself will be very much the measure of the power which you exercise over others. Artificial flowers may be made so exactly like the real plants that you can scarcely detect them, but they lack the perfume of our garden favourites; and so also the mere professor has not the fragrance of real grace, and consequently no attractive and sweetening influence upon others; but where religion is real, true, heartfelt, deep,-where there is strong, all-absorbing love to Christ,-the sweet perfume of grace will give the man influence over his fellow-men. I cannot tell you how it is that a man who lives near to God has this influence, but I know he has it. The camphor tree is full of camphor in all parts of it, branch, bark, root, and flower are all full of camphor; and the man who really lives for Jesus is full of gracious influence in all places and times. May you and I be so!

How was it that the rooms became filled with the odour? There is a law of nature which chemists call the law of transfusion. If two gases of an entirely different nature are brought into contact, they commence at once to mix with one another, and continue to unite till they are thoroughly intermingled. Thus flavours and odours diffuse themselves in the air. It is so with good and evil in the world. Insensibly, every man is the worse for coming in contact with a vicious example; and consciously or unconsciously, every man is swayed to some degree for good by the presence of a virtuous life. The law of transfusion enters into moral and spiritual matters, as well as into the realm of chemistry; and if you walk with God, and endeavour to preserve a blameless life, and glorify Christ, influence will be yours without your seeking it. How far it will extend, God alone knows. It may reach far beyond what you suppose to be its sphere, and may even teach some who are yet unborn, who shall hear from others how you lived, and how you glorified Christ.

Besides, dear friends, true piety is a very powerful essence, and possesses great energy. There are perfumes in nature, like the otto of roses, of which the smallest drop will make a chamber smell for many a day: true holiness is such a mighty, pervading essence that, if you possess it, it cannot be bidden, it will make itself known as a sweet savour even as fax as heaven. The life of God is in it, and it must operate. In everything that is good, God lieth hidden. The Spirit of God dwells in every gracious word, and godly thought, and holy deed, and he is sweetness itself. The name of Jesus is as ointment poured forth, what must his Spirit be? Yet that Spirit is to be found in every true believer.

I want to close by asking you, dear friends, how far, as yet, you have concentrated your love upon Christ, and thus have influenced those who dwell in your house? I will only ask about your own house. Has your house been filled with the odour of the ointment? You do pray, but have your prayers been so mighty with God that they have brought down a blessing upon your family? You seek to avoid sin, you try to make your conversation, pure, gracious, kind, cheerful, loving, and Christlike; do you think that some in your house have been blessed thereby? I do not ask, “Have all been converted?” for, though all the house was the better for Mary’s ointment, yet Judas remained a traitor. I should not wander if some in your house may have even disliked you the more for your piety; but, still, the Lord frequently blesses godliness, and makes it the means of conversion. O woman, thou mayest gain thy husband by thy piety; if he will not hear sermons, he will hear that quiet, loving life of thine! O sister, thou mayest win thy brother by thy love; he will not read pious books, but those letters of thine, those sweet words of lender rebuke and invitation, he does read them, and he feels them too, though you fear he does not! Father, those, boys of yours are not yet what you could wish, but they must feel your godly example. Perhaps, when you lie beneath the sod, they will recollect what you used to be. Fill the house with the odour of true religion. Fill the parlour and the drawing-room, the bed-chamber and the kitchen, with hallowed conversation. I say again, not with mere talk and Pharisaic pretence, but with real holy living and true godly communion; and, depend upon it, you are doing for your children and your servants the best thing in your power to do. Give them teaching, give them warning and entreaty; but, still, the actual perfuming with godliness must arise from your own holy living, it must be begotten of the ointment poured on Jesus’ feet.

Ah, dear friends, I wish that, not only the house in which we may happen to dwell, but the workshop where we labour, the shop where we trade, the place of business where we associate with others, might all be perfumed with grace. Christian men are not to glide out of the way of their fellow-creatures, and shut themselves up in order to be pious, any more than a soldier may hope to win the battle by running away. No, mix with your fellow-men. If there are offices of trust to discharge, do not leave them to the lowest of the low to discharge them, but be willing to do public service for your country; but so do this that you shall spread abroad in every office the savour of honesty and integrity, and make the rogue and the cheat ashamed of themselves. I would to God that every Christian church were a living protest against all the wrong-doing of the times, a gracious disinfectant to stay the abounding corruption. There is an evil smell of sin perpetually reeking towards heaven, and it needs that you Christian men should live Christlike lives in public as well as in private until you fill this country with a healthier savour, and until England shall became a Christian country in fact as well as in name. Would to God that the example of Christians might yet become so potent that all nations might feel its power, that wars might cease, that cruelties of every kind might come to an end, and that the sweet savour of Jesus’ name, manifested through his people, might perfume the whole world as though God had showered upon it ambrosial essences and fragrances from the flowers of heaven to sweeten it against the time when Christ himself shall come, and make it a marriage-chamber for his chosen bride! God grant that the perfume of your holiness may reach the stars; that your lives may be so sweet that, beyond these fogs and clouds, the sweet aroma of your grace may rise acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, for we are ever a sweet savour unto him if we live unto the Lord.

I fear me, however, that I may be addressing some whose lives are not a sweet perfume at all. Ah, take heed to yourselves! If you are living without God and without Christ,-if you are living in any secret sin,-take heed to yourselves. You may think that you will be able to conceal the ill savour of your sin, but you will not. How wonderfully does evil tell its own secret! The intolerable effluvium of many a secret sin has forced its way to notice. Beware thou who wouldst cover thy sin! Beware, I pray thee! For the task is hopeless. Dig, dig, dig, dig deep, and in the dead of night cover up the sin; but, like the blood of Abel, it crieth from the ground. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” If you are living now in sin, and yet pretend to be virtuous, remember that, if your hypocrisy is never found out in this life, it will confront you at the last great day. How terrible will be the resurrection of buried sins to men who know not Christ! They will wake up in the next world, and find their sins howling around them like grim wolves, insatiable, fierce, and terrible. Any one sin is able to destroy the soul; but what must it be to be surrounded by thousands, howling with terrible voices, and eager to drag you down, and tear you in pieces? It will be so with you, sirs, it must be so with many of you, unless you lay hold now upon the great salvation. Jesus Christ can drive away these wolves, can stay the ill savour of your sins. If you will trust him,, if you will yield your hearts to him, he will deliver you; but if you will not, on your own heads be your blood.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

JOHN 12:1-43

Verse 1. Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

The days Christ was to spend upon the earth were getting to be very few, so he paid another visit to that Bethany home where he was always so welcome, and more so than ever since he had raised Lazarus from the dead.

2, 3. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

All the members of the re-united family were present, Martha busy as usual with the domestic duties which fell to her share, Lazarus in close attendance upon the Master who had wrought so great a miracle upon him, and Mary in her own sweet and gracious way pouring out the wealth of her affection in honour of the Master.

4-6. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which, should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

The question of Judas was a most unworthy one, but the motive that prompted the question was worse still. Little did he care for the poor; but if he could have had the selling of that very costly ointment of spikenard, he would have made that an opportunity of enriching himself.

7, 8. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you: but me ye have not always.

Christ was himself ever caring for the poor, so he would not discourage any effort on their behalf; but just then, one of his most devoted disciples desired to render to him special honour, and he would not let her be rebuked; but, on the contrary, he pointed out the deep symbolical meaning of her loving action.

9. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

Their curiosity was but natural, for few of them could have seen anyone who had been raised from the dead. It is well when a saved soul, who has been spiritually raised from the dead, becomes a centre of attraction together with the Lord who has wrought such a miracle of mercy upon him.

10, 11. But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

They would have committed u double murder if it had been possible, and would have put to death both Jesus and Lazarus, who was a living witness to the wonder-working power of the Christ whom they would not receive as the promised Messiah. When men hate Christ, they also hate those whom he has blessed, and will go to any lengths in seeking to silence their testimony.

12, 13. On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

It is significant that John is the only one of the four Evangelists who mentions the palm fronds that were carried by the people in this triumphal procession in honour of Christ, and it was to John that the vision was given of the “great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” who “stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”

14-16. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

It is strange that Christ’s own disciples did not at once remember this plain prophecy when it was so literally fulfilled; yet, before we condemn them, let us recollect how “slow of heart” we also have been “to believe all that the prophets have spoken.”

17. The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

They could not help testifying in his favour after they had seen him work such a notable miracle as the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

18, 19. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

When they saw our Lord riding in state through the streets, and the people waving palm branches and shouting in his honour, they said, “The world is gone after him.” That was only very partially true, and for a very short time; but the day will come when the whole world shall go after him. Christ’s divine attractions shall be felt throughout the earth, and all the Pharisees then in the world will not be able to prevent the people from going after him; and-

“Come what may

To stand in the way,

That day the world shall see.”

20, 21. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: the same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

They were proselytes, who had learned to worship Jehovah. Something more than mere curiosity must have moved them to want to see Jesus. Having heard of his raising the dead, they had a desire, and a very proper desire, to know more of him; so they asked to be introduced to him by one who, though not a Greek, had a Greek name, and who may therefore have served as a kind of bridge for these Greeks to reach the Saviour.

22, 23. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Christ’s passion and death were getting very near when these Gentiles came to him, and he saw, in that company of Greeks, the vanguard of that great army that shall yet come to him out of every nation under heaven. In the prospect of that great ingathering, he looked beyond the impending shame and suffering, and spoke even of the hour of his death as the time when he should be glorified.

24. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.*

This was Christ’s way to glory, and it must be our way to glory too. The grain of wheat must fall into the ground, and die, or else it cannot bring forth fruit. Just so must it be with you and with me; and in proportion as we learn to die to self we shall live to the glory of God.

25. He that loveth his life shall lose it;

If you keep yourself to yourself, you will lose yourself.

25. And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Brethren and sisters in Christ, if we are really to glorify Christ on the earth, we must be willing to lose our reputation, our good name, our comfort, and indeed everything that we have, for Christ’s sake. This is the only way truly to live. It, for your own sake, you begin to keep back anything from Christ, that is the way to die. You would then be like the grain of wheat that is laid by, and preserved, and which, therefore, can never grow or multiply. Surrender yourself; be willing to be nothing; be willing to die if only the truth may live. Care nothing about honour and glory for yourself; care only about the honour and glory of your Master. Learn the meaning of the Master’s paradox. As you bury yourself, you will multiply yourself. As you are put out of sight, like a grain of wheat that is sown in the ground, you have your only opportunity of growth and increase; heavily-laden ears of corn shall spring up from the grain which has been buried in the earth.

26-28. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.*

In the 27th verse, our Saviour asked himself the question, “What shall I say?” here he gives his own answer, “Father, glorify thy name.” When you know not what to pray for, you can always safely pray, “Father, glorify thy name.” As you stand where the cross-roads meet, and you ask, “Which way shall I choose?” pray, “Father, glorify thy name.”

This incident seems like a rehearsal of Christ’s passion. Here we see that natural fear of death which came across the Saviour’s mind because he was so really and truly man. If his pains had not been real pains, but had been pleasant and congenial to him, there would have been no self-sacrifice in his suffering; but the fact that they cast upon his spirit the dark shadow of death only proves to us what sharp pains they were; but, instead of asking for a way of escape from them, he surrendered himself to them, gave himself up as a willing victim with this prayer upon his lips, “Father, glorify thy name.”

And now see what happened.

28, 29. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

This was one of the three occasions on which testimony was openly borne to Christ by his Father; first at his baptism, then at his transfiguration, and now here at the rehearsal of his great sacrifice.† Verily, he is the Son of God, and he is ever well-pleasing to God; and God has glorified his name, and will continue to glorify it, through Jesus Christ his Son.

We learn, from this narrative, that the voice of God is not understood by everybody. Some of those that stood by said that it thundered, and others said that an angel spake to him. It is necessary that you should be a child of God if you are to know your Father’s voice. Though God is speaking, at this moment, in the clearest tones, none will recognize his voice, or understand his words, but those who are taught by his Holy Spirit.

30, 31. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world;‡ now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

See how the eye of faith reads things differently from the eye of sense. You and I would have said, “Now is Christ coming to his lowest point; now is his name to be cast out from among men, and his cause to be crushed as the result of his death.” But Christ reads the signs of the times very differently. “Now,” saith he, “in the hour of my shame, and suffering, and death, is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” It was only by Christ being apparently conquered that Satan could be really vanquished, and there is often no way of victory for a saint except through defeat. When self is slain, then do we truly live.

32, 33. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.*

The Pharisees said, “The world is gone after him; “but Jesus says, “No, not while I am riding in state through the streets of Jerusalem; but when I am lifted up, and hung upon the cross, then shall it indeed be true, ‘I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.’ ” The crucified Christ of Calvary is the mighty magnet that is to attract multitudes of trembling, doubting, ruined sinners, who by grace shall be drawn unto him, and find eternal life in him.

34, 35. The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

What a sad condition to be in, not to know where you are going! Are there not some of you, whom I am now addressing, who do not know where you are going? Yet, if you would but take the trouble to look, you might easily know that, so long as you continue in the paths of sin, you are going down to the chambers of death. Oh, that God’s Holy Spirit would give you sufficient light to enable you to see where you are going! You surely do not want to take “a leap in the dark.” Oh, that you may have the grace to turn from the downward way, and to seek the heavenward road!

36-41. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.†

You know that wonderful sixth chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy, and you know how wonderfully he has spoken there of the glory of Christ; but what a terrible thing it is that even Christ should be driven to blind men’s eyes, to take the light away from them because they proved themselves unworthy of it! May that never be the case with any of us; but while we may see, let us see; and may God give us more light!

42, 43. Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

What a shameful thing that was! Yet you will still find that there are many persons who, even though they believe the truth, dare not own it, but must hide in obscurity until the times grow easier. However, Christ’s death fetched out many who had been his disciples in secret. Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus could not keep in the background any longer; and, doubtless, the thoughts of many other hearts were then revealed.

“PEACE! PERFECT PEACE!”

An Address*

Published on Thursday, December 16th, 1909,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

in a sick-room at mentone.

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, (Margin: peace, peace,) whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”-Isaiah 26:3.†

As we have met together in this sick-chamber, and you all wish me to talk with you, we will thoughtfully run over the hymn which you have just been singing. It is No. 730 in Sacred Songs and Solos, or No. 7 in The Christian Choir, May the Divine Teacher lead us into mines of truth, and show us the deep things of God!

“Peace! Perfect peace! in this dark world of sin?

The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.”

Peace, yea, perfect peace. What a heaven lies within! Peace gleaming with a heavenly light even in the midnight of this world of care. We cannot enjoy true peace as long as sin remains upon the conscience. As well might the ocean be quiet while tempest is raging, or the sea bird rest on the wave when the storm is mixing earth and sky. The more the conscience is enlightened, the more surely will it forbid peace so long as sin remains; for its honest verdict is, that sin deserves God’s wrath, and must be punished. Every upright understanding assents to the justice of that dispensation by which “every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward.” To me, when convinced of sin, it seemed that God could not be God if he did not punish me for my sins. Because of this deep-seated conviction, that great gospel truth, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin,” became a heavenly message, sweeter than the music of angels’ harps. Then I saw, with glad surprise, that God in Christ Jesus is “just, and the Justifier of him which believeth.” To me, the glorious doctrine of substitution was a well in the desert; and it is so still. I believe it with my whole soul. An honest man, if he be in debt, will always be in trouble until the liability is removed; but when his debt is paid he leaps into liberty and gladness. When I learned that my enormous debt of sin had been fully discharged by the Lord Jesus Christ, who did this for all believers, then was my heart at peace. How much I wish that all of you may join me and Bishop Bickersteth in singing with emphasis,-

“Peace perfect peace! in this dark world of sin?

The blood of Jesus whispers peace within!”

The second verse goes on to speak of-

“Peace! perfect peace! by thronging duties press’d?

To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.”

This peace is a present possession, and may be enjoyed in the ordinary circumstances of life. Everyone who keeps house, every busy housewife, every man who is much occupied with his business, needs this verse.

“Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties press’d.”

To be closely pressed by a crowd of duties does not tend to peace of spirit. You do not know how to get through all you have to do, and there seems so much to be done all at once. If the duties would come in regular order, and you could take them as they come, you might be at peace, even though incessantly occupied; but when they come rushing in, helter-skelter,-not only one thing, but twenty other things, all claiming to be done at once,-then is the anxious soul apt to be disquieted. We are first wearied, and then worried. To be perfectly at peace amid the hurly-burly of invading cares is a very blessed condition of soul; and the only way to reach it is described in the next line of the hymn,-

“To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.”

To be sure that what you are doing is what Jesus would have yon do is peace. Happy soul, that is doing what Jesus would have it do! I put up this little question in the Orphanage, for the children to read,-“What would Jesus do?” This, if we have spiritual minds, will be one of the best guides for us when we are in difficulty as to what is the next thing for us to do. We would do good, but too many good things are present with us, and which is to be first? To know the will of Jesus, and to do it, is to abide in the peace of God. What we cannot do we shall leave to him, being assured that our duty does not lie in the region of the absolutely impossible.

“When obstacles and trials seem

Like prison walls to be,

I do the little I can do,

And leave the rest to thee.”

God comes in with his grace where the impossible shuts us out. There are two things we need never worry about,-what we can do, and what we cannot do. What remaineth?

The next verse is very sweet,-

“Peace! perfect peace! with sorrows surging round?

On Jesus’ bosom nought but calm is found”

Oh, those sorrows!-sorrows of sickness in ourselves and others; bereavements, losses and crosses in daily life; inabilities to succour, and depressions of spirit. These last are at times the worst of all; for then the sorrow gets right into the heart, and becomes sorrow indeed! All the waters in the ocean are as nothing to the vessel so long as they are kept outside; but when they break into the cabin of the heart’s assurance, and begin to fill the hold of the heart, then are we in peril.

“Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round.”

This is the finger of God. It is not according to nature for a man to be just as happy when he is in adversity as in prosperity. Even when “sorrowful” to be “always rejoicing” is a paradox realized only by one who knows that next line,-

“On Jesus’ bosom nought but calm is found.”

Wonderful position! We cease to marvel at the deep calm which comes of it. I have sometimes noticed very little chicks nestling under their mother’s wings, thrusting out their little heads from under her feathers, looking so warm and cosy that they did not seem to know that it was cold in the big world outside. Near their mother’s bosom they chirped quite happily, and were altogether unaffected by the frosts of the night or the chills of the day. So we read, “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” We get to Jesus, and we find shelter and safety in him, even as the little chicks beneath their mother’s wings. Is it so with each one of you? A present salvation should yield you present consolation, and it will do so if you act up to your position and privilege. Tell your sorrow to Jesus; leave your sorrow with Jesus. Bear your sorrow for him; bear your sorrow with him; and then see what peace, what perfect peace, you will enjoy, even “with sorrows surging round.”

The next verse will suit us who are, for a while, a thousand miles from home.

“Peace! perfect peace! with loved ones far away?

In Jesus’ keeping we are safe, and they.”

Yes, the dear wife is at home. We do not know how things are going there with the children, and the servants, and the work-people. All sorts of things are left as burdens upon the beloved ones at home. We leave our beloved with our God, and commend the household far away to God, who is present everywhere. A wandering son, a wayward daughter; we leave them all with Jesus. It is ordained by the providence of God that these loved ones should be far away, and therefore it is right it should be so. Yes, that which God appoints is right, and must be right. Distance ordained of heaven is better than nearness of our own choosing. How sweet that line,-

“In Jesus’ keeping we are safe, and they”!

They are safe, too. It is all well with them; we cannot see them, but they are under the eye of Jesus. They are as near to him as we are, and in his keeping they are as safe as we are. When I was a very little child, I lived so long with my grandfather that he became everything to me; and when I left him, it seemed like going among strangers; and I remember that grandfather tried to comfort me by saying, “Ah, child! you are going away from Stambourne; but the same moon will shine where you are going. It will always be the same moon.” Often I looked at the moon, and remembered that grandfather was looking at it too, and we were not so very far away from one another. It is a sweet comfort to think that there is the same providence watching over the loved ones far away on the other side of the globe, in Australia, as there is watching over us who are gathered here. The absence of friends must not break our inward peace.

Some are naturally anxious and fretful; and this comes out most in their thoughts of those who are away. I was just now talking to a friend who tries to leave her troubles with the Saviour, but very soon takes them up again, and bears them on her own back. She casts her burden on the Lord, and then bows her own weary shoulders to the load. This she confessed she had done many times. I said to her, “Do you keep your money in a bank?” “Yes,” she replied. “Then,” said I, “it is well for both of us that I am not your banker.” “Why?” she asked. “Why,” I replied, “if you were to place £100 with me, and then come back in five minutes, and ask whether your money was safe, I should have to assure you that it could not be safer. Then you would probably want to see it, and I should say, ‘There is your money. You can draw it out at once.’ I should not be best pleased if the next day you came again, and repeated your question, and made a personal inspection. I am afraid I should say to you, ‘You had better take away your money, and look after it yourself, for it is evident that you have little or no confidence in me.’ ” At any rate, however I might take it, it would be very provoking conduct. We must not talk of confidence in our Lord Jesus, and then withdraw at the first sign of trouble or difficulty. “We are safe, and they.” Will not an assured conviction of this truth bathe us in seas of heavenly peace? The Lord make it so with us all!

Now for verse five,-

“Peace! perfect peace! our future all unknown?

Jesus we know, and he is on the throne.”

That is the end of all doubts about the future, “He is on the throne.” His hand is on the helm, to steer the ship. He is in the place of sovereign government; nothing can happen but what he ordains or permits. Ah, dear friends! some of us have need to remember such a verse as this. We went home one year from this place, two of us, as happy as birds could be; and within a very few days one had lost his wife, and the other one dear friend, and then another. We will not try to peer through that telescope which would unveil the future. It may be that dark scenes will startle us before we reach the eternal light. We do not know, and need not wish to know, what is appointed for us; but this great and comfortable truth meets it all,-

“Jesus we know, and he is on the throne.”

We can very well leave all things with our crowned Head. I suppose none of us would wish to contradict him, nor to have anything arranged otherwise than his loving mind appoints. If he stood by us this afternoon, and said to any one of us, “My child, I have arranged thy way in tender love and wisdom;” no one of us would wish it to be otherwise. If he said to us, “I have appointed so-and-so,” should we say to him, as Joseph said to Jacob, “Not so, my father,” and would we wish him to uncross the hands which he guides so wittingly? Would we not ask for the cross-handed blessing? Let the King be a king, and do what seemeth him good! May we not only say that, but stand to it in the trying hour.

“Peace! perfect peace! death shadowing us and ours?

Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.”

Death is the last enemy; but more, he is “the last enemy that shall be destroyed.” He cannot touch a child of God: only his shadow may fall upon us. How small a thing is this! The shadow of a sword cannot kill, the shadow of a dog cannot bite, the shadow of a lion cannot rend, and the shadow of death cannot destroy.

“Death shadowing us and ours.”

Well, well, we are not silly babes, that can be frightened at a shadow; for-

“Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.”

He did it by his own death and resurrection. That resurrection transformed death into quite another thing from what it was before. Death used to be as a black cavern in the mountains. Men said that many were the footsteps into it, but that there were none from it. It was an awful, all-devouring cavern; but Jesus has, by passing through it, turned the cavern into a tunnel. He went in at the gloomy side, but he remained not in the heart of the earth; he re-appeared at the other side. So that, now, death is all on the way to heaven and immortality.

I have heard of an aged Christian sister at Plymouth, who had been for many years troubled with the fear of death, but she got over it, and was very happy and very cheerful when speaking about her departure. She lived in a room of her own, and one night she said to the friends in the house, “I believe I shall see the Lord to-morrow.” It was on a Saturday night she spoke thus, and, according to her wish, they did not disturb her in the morning; but as they did not hear anything of her as the day passed on, they went to her room about mid-day, and sure enough she was with her Lord. On a piece of paper, which lay on her bed, they found these lines written,-

“Since Jesus is mine, I’ll not fear undressing,

But gladly put off these garments of clay;

To die in the Lord is a covenant blessing,

Since Jesus to glory through death led the way.”

That is the way to look at it.

“Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours?

Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.”

Then comes the last verse,-

“It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease,

And Jesus call us to heaven’s perfect peace.”

Dear friends, it is very essential that we, as Christian people, should not only talk about this peace, and believe in it, but that we should enjoy it, and exhibit it. I believe that, to some of you, the best way in which you can honour God, and win others to Christ, is by exhibiting a quiet, cheerful frame of mind, especially in sickness. Nothing is so convincing to ungodly men as to see Christians very calm in time of danger, very resigned in the hour of affliction, very patient under provocation, and taking things altogether, as Christian men should take them, as from the hand of God. They are struck with it, for it is so different from what they feel within themselves. When their earth shakes, when their foundations are removed, when their health is gone, when their earthly comforts are taken away; what have they left? But you and I have just as much left when all these things are gone as we had before. While we have earthly comforts, we have learned to see God in them all; and when they are taken away, we see them, all in God. But the ungodly have not that wonderful sense of the full possession of all things, which is the peculiar delight of the heirs of salvation. You and I are like Jacob; the Lord said to him, “The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it;” you have only to lie down upon a promise, and you may claim it for yourself, and it is yours by the Magna Charta of faith. Go to the Bible, and whatever promise you find there addressed to a child of God, stretch yourself upon it, and so make it your own, and it will be so. Remember how the Lord spake unto Abraham, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it.” Let us believe that God has given us all things in giving us his Son.

“This world is ours, and worlds to come,

Earth is our lodge, and heaven our home.”

We must get this perfect peace of which we have now been singing and speaking. I admire in certain of the saints their self-command, their great quiet and deep restfulness of spirit. It is not everything; but it is a very great deal. It is all the more needful just now, because the world is in such a hurry. It is needful to us when we are weak, and suffering, and when we are surrounded by cares and sorrows. Yet it is quite as valuable when we are strong and young, and comforts would tempt us aside. Oh, that the world may see that we have a peace that cannot be taken away from us by force or fraud! I do not quite like that saying of Addison, “Come here, young man, and see how a Christian can die,” it looks too theatrical; but I should like it to be so with us, that men might turn aside to see how a Christian can live. O Lord and Giver of peace, grant us thy peace, and grace to keep it, even to the end!

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

HOSEA 14

Verse 1. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God;*-

“Bless his name that he is still thy God; however much thou mayest have backslidden, thou hast not lost thy right to claim him as thy God, for he is thine eternally by a fixed entail; and because he is still thy God, let his everlasting kindness entice thee to come back to him.”

1. For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

“Thou hast lost thy comforts, thou hast become a poor despicable creature; ‘thou hast fallen by thine iniquity,’ this is the core of all the mischief; thy sin is the seed of all thy ruin; get rid of that, and thou shalt soon have thy comforts back again.”

2. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him,-

See, he puts the words into your mouth; as it he felt persuaded that you would say, “Lord, I cannot pray an acceptable prayer,” he makes one for you, so that you, who have backslidden the most, and have gone the farthest astray, may have no excuse: “Turn to the Lord: say unto him,”-

2. Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

“Our thankfulness shall give thee such hearty praise that it shall not be like the Jew’s slender sacrifice, when he offered the turtle-doves or the young pigeons, but we will give thee of our praise as hearty a sacrifice as when the devout Israelite brought the young bullock, the very best of his beasts, to be offered upon the altar of his God; so we will offer to thee the calves of our lips.”

3. Asshur shall not save us;-

Backslider, hast thou been putting thy trust anywhere but in God, hoping to find comfort in the world and in sin? Then make this confession: “Asshur shall not save us;”-

3. We will not ride upon horses:

These were the confidence of the Egyptians, and the Israelites vainly tried to imitate their powerful and rich neighbours, so we will not put our confidence in the strength of cavalry.

3. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods:-

Happy is that man who turns aside from every idol, and trusts in God alone. It is a mark of very black backsliding when we begin to make our business, our families, our pleasures, and our bodily health the objects of such tender consideration that we virtually say to them, “Ye are our gods.”

3, 4. For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. I will heal their backs’iding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.*

Everlastingly turned away through the complete and satisfactory atonement of Jesus Christ.

5. I will be as the dew unto Israel:-

The dew is God’s gift, and so is grace; the dew falls silently, yet copiously, and bedews both the leaf and the root sufficiently. “I will be as the dew unto Israel,” is a promise to the man of faith, the man of prayer, the man who can endure trial: “I will be as the dew unto Israel;”-

5. He shall grow as the lily,

It is “the daffodil” in the original; the yellow daffodil, in the East, springs up after a shower where you could not have perceived anything before; yet there is the idea of frailness in that simile, so it is balanced by the next one:-

5. And cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

After you have grown upward, you must grow downward; and growing downward, though it may not be so pleasant, is quite as excellent as growing upward; so the promise to you is, “He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.”

6. His branches shall spread,

This is growing sideways; so the believer spreads his branches by public profession and testimony; after having become deeply rooted in the faith, and having grown up in love to God, then he begins to spread his shadow over the sons of men by telling-

“To sinners round,

What a dear Saviour he has found.”

6. And his beauty shall be as the olive tree,

Which largely consists in its fruitfulness. That is always the most beautiful olive which bears the most fruit; so the fruitful Christian shall have the beauty of the olive tree. Besides, the olive is an evergreen, and the Christian’s beauty is of a kind that shall never fade. There is an old saying, “Beauty soon fades;” but that does not mean the Christian’s beauty, for that shall never fade, neither in life, nor in death, nor in eternity.

6. And his smell as Lebanon.

That is, the holy influence of his life and conversation shall be as fragrant to God and man as are the perfumes exhaled by the sweet flowers upon the side of Mount Lebanon.

7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return:

His children, his servants, his congregation shall be blessed by his gracious influence. As the Upas tree droppeth with deadly poison, so the tree of grace in a Christian droppeth living drops to fall on dead souls.

7. They shall revive as the corn,

Which suddenly springs up in the East after rain falls,-

7. And grow as the vine:

The branches shall in their turn become fruitful.

7. The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

Our families and households should be so well-ordered that, not only we ourselves personally, but all in our household, should have a heavenly influence, a blessed savour upon all around us.

8. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?*

Let that question also go round our ranks, “What have I to do any more with idols; I, who am bought with the precious blood of Jesus; I, who am named by the name of Jesus; I, who have been baptized into the Sacred Trinity; what have I to do any more with idols?” You may make an idol of that boy or girl of yours; you may make an idol of that house or garden of yours; you may make an idol of that business or profession of yours. Do not so, I entreat you, but rather say, “What have I to do any more with idols?”

8. I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree.

That is what Ephraim says, and this is what God says:-

8. From me is thy fruit found:†

We are never so fruitful as when we get all our fruit from God. We always shine in borrowed light, and we are always fruitful in borrowed fruitfulness.

9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right,-

Did your murmuring spirit say that they were not right? Because you have had some sore trial, did your repining spirit say that they were not right? They are certainly right, and you shall see that it is so one day: “The ways of the Lord are right,”-

9. And the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

Even in God’s good ways, transgressors cannot stand; they fall even when they try to praise God, or to pray to him; and this is a sad proof of man’s deep depravity, that, even when he is engaged in the worship of God, the thing which is in itself good becomes obnoxious to God by reason of the sin which is certain to be mingled with it.