The World's Great Sermons, Volume 07: Hale to Farrar
Religion
The World's Great Sermons, Volume 07: Hale to Farrar
Sermons
during the last thirty or forty years would make in themselves a
very respectable library; and the cry even of the sceptic is, "I
could get on very well with unbelief, if I only knew what to make
of Christ." Yes, that is just the difficulty. Christ is here in
the Scriptures a character portrayed in literature; He was in the
world for thirty-three years, and lived a life exceptional in every
respect, but most of all in the moral and spiritual departments, so
that of Him alone perfection can be predicated; He has been ever
since a most potent factor in history, for through His influence
all that is pure, and noble, and exalted, and lovely and of good
report, has come into our civilization. Now, these things have to
be accounted for. If He was only a man, how shall we explain them?
And if He was more than a man shall we not take His own testimony
as to His dignity and mission? If we are to be unbelievers, we must
account for Christ on natural principles; but if we cannot do that,
then we must conceive Him as He claims to be conceived. There is no
alternative. Those in the age who have the spirit and disposition of
Pilate will anew reject Him! but those who are sincere and earnest
in their inquiries will come ultimately out into the light, for "if
any man be willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine
whether it be of God."
And what is true of the age, as a whole, is true also of every
individual to whom the gospel is proclaimed. For each of us, my
hearers, this is the question of questions, "What shall I do with
Jesus which is called Christ?" Shall I reject Him and live precisely
as if I had never heard His name? or shall I accept Him as the Lord
from heaven in human nature, trust in Him as my Savior, and obey Him
as my King? I must do the one or the other; and yet how many are
seeking, like Pilate, to evade the question? They try to escape the
responsibility of dealing with it as a direct alternative of yes
or no. But as one has well said, "necessity is laid upon us. The
adversaries of Christ press upon us to give our verdict against Him.
We are troubled and perplexed, for we have long heard about Him,
and have had each of us his own convictions. We would still remain
neutral. We try--and try in vain--to escape from the spirit, the
conversation, the literature, the question of the times. Again and
again we wash our hands. But neither our silence nor our actions are
of any avail; and so we are found sitting, conscious of the presence
and the claims of our Savior, and, like Pilate, not daring to look
at Him, as we puzzle over the answer which we must give to the
question that is being forced upon us--Who is this Jesus Christ?"
Perhaps this description accurately portrays some one here this
morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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