The Christ of Calvary

The Christ of Calvary THE CHRIST OF CALVARY.
By E. W. MCMILLAN.
Our study at this time is concerning the Christ of Calvary. The very wording of this subject intimates, at least, that there are other beings called gods who are trusted as saviors, and there are such beings. No attempt will be made in this lecture to discuss at length the religions of the world nor even to classify them, but our study will lead us occasionally to touch upon some of the beliefs of foreign religions that the religion of Christ may become more pre­cious to us. The adherents of ethnic religions have their respective objects of worship, hut a savior does not mean to them what our Savior means to us. In all of them there is the lack of unqualified faith in their savior to save. Their abiding place is far removed from suffering, needy men and they can not he reached always by prayers. In the fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah the writer was answering this conviction in the hearts of the Hebrews about Jehovah when he said: "The Lord's hand is not shortened, that he can not save; neither his ear heavy, that he can not hear." For our Savior is "not very far from every one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being." And, "He can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities." More­over, "His ears are opened unto their prayers." And again, "Shall not God avenge his elect, that cry unto him day and night?" Elijah was taunting the heathen at this point when he said: "Cry aloud; for he is a God: either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he is asleep and must be awaked." The religion of Christ satisfies. In every normal being there are constant yearnings. The soul reaches out for a place of anchor, for a rock of refuge, for consolation— for complete satisfaction. These yearnings, when unmet, are like love drowning of sorrow, they return wounded without a halm, discouraged, despondent. At the well of Jacob, Jesus taught the woman that his religion will satisfy. Yes, it will even meet the needs and desires of a polluted, adulterous Samaritan woman. The ideals and the promises of other religions come far short at this point. Well might it be said of them: "He that drinks of these shall thirst again." He that drinks of the Christian religion will "thirst no more." for the Lord Jesus Christ meets the needs and satisfies the longings of every spiritual in­stinct. He has consolation for the poor and relief for the rich, food for the hungry, clothes for the naked. His word puts justice into the state. The home is made happy by his counsel. With Jesus near, death becomes a lighted vale with an escort for the soul. Awaiting this soul is all that makes up the goodness and the love of God. The ideals and the perfection of Jesus Christ are ele­ments in the satisfying influence of his religion. The ab­sence of these in the ethnic religions contributes to their limitations. The favorite deity of India is Krishna. His character is described by a series of murders and adul­teries. The attributes of love, holiness and virtue are not ascribed to him; yet men are urged to the "imitations of Krishna." Other heathen deities, we are told, do not far surpass Krishna. But there is not a reflection on the life of Jesus Christ; not the least indiscretion about any of his conduct; not a shadow of immorality about even one of his words or deeds. Christ permits and encourages the doing of all that is good and forbids that anything evil be done. His religion is a religion of service, and, in his mind, the man of highest honor is he who serves most. The humble servant is the more worthy servant.

Christianity, which is but Christ in action, is intensely a religion of holiness. The God of Islam has the seven attributes: Life, Knowledge, Will, Power, Hearing, Speech, Vision; he has neither love nor holiness. But God says: "Be ye holy; for I the Lord your God am holy." Jesus Christ was lmnumuel—"God with us." He said: "The kingdom of God is within you." Ritualism and ceremon­ialism have a small place in Christianity, for the larger room is given for the spirit side. "The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life." "This law of holiness is a positive force and it is re­sponsible for two activities; it sets itself against all that is unholy and it has the power of self-impartation. by which it changes all that it does not destroy into its own kind." This fact makes the Cross of Jesus a symbol of holiness to all Christian believers. The holiest life is the life that lives the nearest to Christ. The realization of the Lord's true character in our own life makes us fit to sit down with Abraham. Moses, Job, John, and Paul in the kingdom of heaven; hence the prayer: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," and the beatitude: "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." This life of holiness makes of all a new man in Christ. It is the mystic union between God and man in Christ, being made possible by the two extremes, divine sacrifice on the one hand and human redemption on the other. In this restored fellow­ship with God in Christ there are peace, joy, perfection, glory, and blessedness.

Let us now study for a while the life beyond. Budd­hism offers the painful process of transmigration, from which there may he final relief in Nirvana. In one form of this religion there is a possibility of becoming a uni­versal Buddha; but this attainment is only for the few; there is none for the masses. The eschatology of Islam has varying shades, being colored alike by Zoroastrianism and corrupted forms of Christian teachings. But the highest conception the Moslem has of a future life is an existence of unrestrained indulgence in sensual desires. But Christ comes humbly and meekly casting his spell of revelation over the souls of men. Void of all tyranny, without worldly ambition, unselfish, he came to reveal the love of God unto us. As God with us, the whole of his teaching was to lead us finally into Heaven. Jesus wins not alone by what he taught us to be, but also by what h himself was. He is the greatest argument for Christianity. The next strongest argument is a faithful Christian. In the light of Christian teachings, the end and the aim of all living is the final release from human limitations and Sa­tanic temptations, and the attainment of perfection with God forever. The Christ of Calvary is Truth as well as the Way and the Life. Because of this fact the Christian should gladly and thankfully welcome truth wherever and when­ever he finds it, remembering that it belongs to his Lord, and that the Lord by that truth may have planned the com­plete redemption of that one's soul. If that jewel he mixed in the mire of error let us remove it thence and never lose sight of it as a part of God's plan of grace. Untruths must not be accepted merely because they have a connec­tion with some form of belief the large portion of which we accept as true. Neither can any Christian afford to be blind to any truth however it may be interwoven in the fibre of error All truth is from God and all error is from the evil one. Therefore the Christian can not but thrust from him every false teaching however fondly he may once have cherished it as a part of the truth. Nor can he do otherwise than accept truth wherever found, though he may detest the forms of belief with which it is connected.

We have studied thus far Christ as a savior and have found him to be incomparable. As an object of worship he is the nearest and most sympathetic of all. His ideals are without an equal and his character was perfect. Our next step will be a study of Christ as the savior of the world. Is he willing to save? Is he able to save? If so, what is his plan of salvation? The willingness of Christ to save is evident from only a brief study. He said plainly that his mission here was to call sinners to repentance. To illustrate his eager de­sire that every one shall enjoy salvation he said in one of his parable: Go out and compel them to come in. Heaven also is intensely interested in this work of saving for there is rejoicing in heaven over the repentance of one sinner. The Lord's offer is to "all who labor and are heavy laden." and his commission includes "every creature" in "all the world." And through the Apostle John the Lord said: "Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely." Because of the many who rejected his offer of mercy Jesus said: "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings and you would not." "You would not!" At another time Jesus said: "You will not come to me that you might have life." Their condemnation was due wholly to the fact that they would not come.

Just how willing the Lord is to save and just how far he will go in his effort to save is shown in the account of the Prodigal Son. Originally, and by right, every soul of man belongs to God, and salvation is only the buying back of these, God's treasures, whom Satan has won to himself. To appreciate the lesson fully let us feel the lesson of ownership. No child can thrill my heart quite so much as "my child", and the Lord felt that thrill when he said: "this my son and is alive: he was lost and is found"—is saved. "My sheep", said Jesus, "hear my voice and follow me." This pastoral touch has couched in it the Lord's feeling of intimacy for "his own.
This story is told of a shepherd lad in Mexico: On a day of moderate temperature a snowstorm suddenly came while the shepherd was guarding his sheep in the south pasture. The sheep slowly drifted southward and away from home. The snow fell thick and fast and soon the ground was covered deep: but the shepherd remained with his sheep. Two days later the ranchman went in search of his lambs and their shepherd. lie found them buried in a grave of snow,—the shepherd with his sheep,—and in the shepherd's arms a little lamb was drawn close down to his bosom. The savior of Calvary said: "I give my life for my sheep". This willingness of Christ is without respect of per­sons. His commission to Paul was to carry the Gospel to kings and Gentiles alike. His lesson on giving feasts and inviting the poor, the halt, the blind, has in it a beautiful symbol of his own gospel invitation to these same people. And when he answered the query of the Baptist about his Messiahship he offered as the final proof of his divinity "that the poor have the gospel preached to them". This lesson of willingness so permeates his teaching that he has not promised to receive one service rendered him nor one gift made to him if the willing spirit does not prompt the deed. Now that we have found Jesus Christ a savior who is ever present, sympathetic, and true, and that he is a willing savior, our next question is this: Is he able to save? Can be save to the uttermost all who call upon his name? Here is the balance that weighs the Christian hope. If Christ cannot save from every pardonable sin, he cannot save from one pardonable sin. If he cannot save every lost sinner, he cannot save one lost sinner. Either he can save from every pardonable sin every person of all the ages of the world or he cannot save one person from one sin in any age of the world. He is an all sufficient savior or he is no savior at all. Again, if Christ can save from one pardonable sin, he can save from every sin that God forgives, and if he can save one being from all the sins that Heaven forgives, he can save to the uttermost all that call upon him. Many and brilliant minds have fallen unwittingly into pits of doubt at tins point, from which the majority never recovered themselves. But we believe today that Christ can save the whole world and will now pursue a brief line of reason why we thus believe.

It must be admitted, in the first place, that the man called Jesus Christ lived. This is only a fact of history. Not only did such a man live but be was an unusual char­acter, and he did many marvelous things. The contem­poraries of Jesus never denied that he raised Lazarus from the dead; nor that he caused a man, who was blind from his birth, to see; nor that he caste out "evil spirits" —"demons" from those who were possessed of them. His accusers complained that he did it by means of some evil power or that he did the deed on the wrong day—the Sabbath day. The cures themselves seemed never to have been denied, (hi the other hand, the fact that they were performed is affirmed in the charge that he did it through Satanic power or on the Sabbath day. And, in the matter of his resurrection, no one denied the absence of his body from the grave on the third morning, but the soldiers who guarded his grave to prevent it said that his disciples stole him away "while we slept". But what did the Lord say about himself, his mission on earth and his power? During his earthly life he made a number of claims. Nine times he claimed to have the authority of God. Ninety times it is said that he affirmed to be the Son of God. Thirty-three times he declared that he was sent forth from God. Thirty-one times he said he was the Messiah of whom the prophets wrote. Five times he claimed he will be judge of the nations when the ages shall have been consummated. In the forty-seventh verse of the twelfth chapter of John the Lord said that he came to save the world. More than one hundred times the resurrection of the dead is mentioned directly in the New Testament and seven times Jesus affirmed that he would rise from the dead. If this latter claim came true his other claims cannot be doubted and he can save to the utter­most; for the same power that can change the leper's spot or break the king's seal on the grave stone, liberating the imprisoned body, can purify the soul made crimson of sin. Did Jesus arise from the dead? The Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John affirm that he did and that he is alive again. Did they falsify or did they relate the truth?

We believe these four accounts are true. There is too much internal evidence to admit of reasonable doubt. Beneath the surface in the four Gospels is a beautiful har­mony of testimony related evidently by eye witnesses. With no effort at coloring, the writers, each in his own style and from his individual point of view, gives a sep­arate account of what he believes to be facts. Numerous incidentals also augment our grounds of belief. It is said that his disciples did not know Jesus after he arose; that Thomas doubted that He had arisen; and that the women's report of His resurrection at first seemed as an idle tale. Again, Mary did not even recognize his voice nor his form, but supposing him to be the gardener said: "if you will tell me where you have laid him I will take him away." Each detail and every incidental in fiction is given for a specific purpose, hut if the gospel narratives be fiction these inci­dentals are without a purpose. The only reason that can be assigned for their appearance is the fact that they are true,—they are just what happened. Furthermore, there is no explanation for the faith and devotion of the early disciples except the resurrection of Christ. Fanaticism is no explanation, for never was it known that so many and such a variety of people were fanatical about the same thing and at the same time. More­over, these fanatics have increased in both variety and number for nineteen hundred years. It helps none to say the disciples were ignorant. Some were unlearned, hut many of the priests were obedient unto the faith, Crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue believed and was bap­tized. And certainly Paul, the apostle, was not an un­learned man.

Stubbornness is not the explanation of their supposed faith for it is incredible that so many thousands should die merely because they were stubborn. But, could we believe the men pertinacious, who could believe the thousands of women who suffered martyrdom merely obstinate? Only the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead can explain these devotions. Yes, yes, Jesus arose from the dead and is the first fruits of them that slept. He appeared to Cephas, and to the women; he appeared to the ten when Thomas was ab­sent, and again when Thomas was present. The twelve saw him, and above five hundred brethren in a body were eye witnesses of his resurrection. Then Paul saw him. When the Lord returns to the earth the dead will all rise, the righteous first. With these, the righteous living will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

We now believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and believe, therefore, that he was divine, having all power on earth and in Heaven, he is able to save. As an able and a willing savior he abides with us day and night, he understands us and knows our frames. He guides us in our pleasures and leads us when we pass through the valley of sorrow, He has planned our redemption and our next topic is a study of that plan. Either the doctrine of universalism is true, or Christ is a respecter of persons, or salvation is conditional. If all men will finally be saved our study and our discussion today are useless. And if Christ be partial in the matter of saving, he is not infinitely just and good. Then, whether we are saved or lost depends upon whether we accept or reject the Lord. Receiving the Lord is equiva­lent to absolute trust in him and strict obedience unto him. Rejection is a synonym for the opposite. Unqualified trust in him and unreserved obedience unto him are the two inseparable elements in the human side of the plan of salvation. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was a man of rare faith and obedience. His dreams of the sheaves and of the sun, moon, and the stars indicated that he believed God had a place of supremacy for him somehow, somewhere in the future. Every Bible student remembers the trials of Joseph in Potapher's house and in his prison cell, through all of which he retained his fidelity and his devotion to his God. Because of these virtues in Joseph, God brought him, after several years, into his own as governor of Egypt and as provider of his Hebrew brothers.

Daniel also was tried. In his marvelous trust he faced the den of lions, saying in his heart; "my God will deliver me." He had obeyed God perfectly and now in his help­less state he puts his trust in God. The fight is between Jehovah and the gods made with hands, and the glory of each is in the balance. Daniel in his obedience to God, yet overcome of the heathen worshipers, puts all his trust in God. Will God forsake him? No. The angel of God stopped the mouths of the lions, and Daniel, unhurt through all the night, awaited in peace the break of day and his salvation.

Even the Lord Jesus Christ could not escape this path of trust and obedience. "Though he were a son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." And, "be­ing made perfect through suffering, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him."

There remains yet the beautiful life of Paul. The threats of the Jews in Antioch, the stripes and imprison­ments in Philippi, the shutting of the doors in Corinth, and the "wild beasts" of Ephesus all were not sufficient to daunt him in his Christian work. He was stoned in Lystra and left for dead; he was arrested by his fellow- countrymen; he was "in stripes above measure". Thrice he was "beaten with rods". Three times he suffered "ship­wreck" and he was a "night and day in the deep". Though persecuted by the Gentiles, betrayed by his Hebrew breth­ren, and weighed down of his anxiety for all the saints, he said: "I count it all joy". This compliance with the will of the Lord enabled him to say: "henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, . . . and not for me only but for all them also that love his appearing and his kingdom". These are the words of the prisoner of Koine, but a faith like that of Paul may easily reach the sublime. It enables us to know thai sorrows, in the hand of God, are but the refinery in which the soul is purged of all its dross, and that by them the soul is mellowed and made it to join in the praises of its heavenly home.' The soul that fully trusts God never questions about the need of baptism, nor of attendance at worship, nor at the need of compliance with any other Bible teaching. It complies gladly with each request of the Lord and respects the silence of his Look as well. Yes, Jesus is the savior of the world. His willingness to save is unquestioned. He is ready and able to save. His salvation is for all the world and his religion satisfies. He asks that we trust him then obey him. Have you trusted him? Have you obeyed him?