The World's Great Sermons, Volume 07: Hale to Farrar
Religion
The World's Great Sermons, Volume 07: Hale to Farrar
Sermons
The work of our Lord was not merely in meeting the wants of men, but
in creating the wants; not in gratifying their great desires, but in
making their desires great. His own work in the world was twofold:
to teach men how much more there was which they could enjoy, and how
much more there was which He was eager to impart. The greater the
desire, the surer it was that it would be met by His desire. Indeed,
a large desire is necessary to wealth. We must look out toward that
wherein our riches lie. "He who would bring home the wealth of the
Indies must send out the wealth of the Indies." To him whose desires
are allowed liberty there comes the answer of fulfillment from "the
unsearchable riches of Christ." In all His life and in all His
teachings we see vastly more than men ever asked, much more than
they are willing to take even to-day. It has often been, as it was
at the first, that "he came unto his own, and his own received him
not"; but to those who received Him He gave all they wished, and
more than they had thought; He gave the right to become the sons of
God. They would have been content with a greater prophet, a bolder
leader, a stronger king, a Messiah who should enthrone Israel and
bring the nations in homage to its feet. He came bringing God to the
world, giving an eternal liberty, erecting an everlasting kingdom.
They wanted manna; He gave the bread of life. They wanted wells of
water; He gave the well that should be within them, springing up
for evermore. They wanted a leader; He gave a Savior. They wanted
man; and He was God. This has continued even to our time. Many
admire Christ because He was a teacher, neglecting that wherein He
was infinitely more than teacher. They are glad of an example; He
was that, but, far beyond it, He was the life whereby righteousness
became possible. There are those who would be content with His
beautiful spirit, His blameless life, His deeds of charity, His
patience, His submission, His consent to a death which He could not
avoid. He offers to the world the spirit of the Eternal, the life of
God to be lived upon the earth; He lays down the life which no man
could take from Him; and, with all the roads leading from Jerusalem
open before Him, walks with determined step to Calvary and the
cross. Beyond that which has contented many in the world, He gave
Himself, the world's Redeemer, the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd
giving His life for the sheep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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