CHRIST BECAME POOR FOR SINNERS - Robert Murray Mcchene
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”— 2 Cor. viii., 9.
IN these words, there is brought before you the amazing grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the broken bread and poured out wine you will this day see the same thing brought before your eyes. Before your eyes Jesus Christ is this day to be evidently .set forth crucified. It is the most awakening sight in all this world. Oh! pray that many secure sinners may this day be brought to look on Him whom they have pierced, and to mourn. It is the most peacegiving sight in this world. Oh! pray that the Holy Spirit may be poured upon awakened souls, that they may look to a crucified Jesus and be saved. It is the most sanctifying sight in this world. Oh! pray that all God’s children may look upon this gracious Saviour, till they are changed into his image.I. The Lord Jesus was rich.
I. The Lord Jesus was rich.
The riches here spoken of are not the riches which he now possesses as Mediator, but the riches which he had with the Father before the world was. He was full of all riches.
1. He was rich in the love and admiration of all the creatures.— All holy creatures loved and adored him. This is shown in Isa, vi.: “1 saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door, moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” John (xii., 41) tells us; “These things said Esaias when he saw his glory, and spake of him.”
It was from all eternity the will of God that every creature should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. The brightest seraphs bowed down before him. The highest angels found, their chief joy in always beholding his face. He was their Creator: “By him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him.”—Col. i., 16. And, therefore, it was little wonder that they poured out their perpetual adorations before him. Now there is great joy in being loved by one holy creature; it fills the heart with true joy; but every holy creature loved Jesus with their whole heart and strength. This, then, was part of his riches—part of his infinite joy.
2. He was rich in the love of the Father. This is shown in Prov. viii., 22, 30: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” To be loved by God is the truest of all riches. The love of the creatures is but poor love, may soon die; but the Jove of God is undying, unchanging love. The creatures may love us, and yet not be able to help us; but God’s love is a satisfying portion.
But none ever enjoyed the love of God as Jesus did. True, God’s love to the holy angels is infinite; and he says, in John xvii., 26, that he loves believers with the same love with which he loves Christ: “That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them;” still there is this infinite difference between believers and Christ, that they can contain but a few drops of the love of God; they are but vessels, they cannot open their mouth wide enough. But Jesus could contain all the infinite ocean of the love of God. In the Son there was an object worthy of the infinite love of the Father; and if the Father’s love was infinite, so the bosom of the Son was infinite also. From all eternity there was the flowing of infinite love from the bosom of the Father into the bosom of this. Son: “The Father loveth the Son”— “Rejoicing always before him.” This was the greatest riches of the Lord Jesus. This was the infinite treasure of his soul. If a man has the love of God, he can well want all other things. If a man want food and raiment; if he be like Lazarus at the rich man’s gate, full of sores; still, if he be lying in the love of God, he is truly rich. Much more the well-beloved Si n of God, the only begotten of the Father, was rich in the full outpouring of the Father’s love from all eternity.
3. He was rich in power and glory. He was the Creator of all worlds: “Without him was not anything made that was made.” He was the Preserver of all worlds: “By him all things consist,” and hang together. All worlds, therefore, were his domain; he was Lord of all. He could say: “Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.”—Ps. 1., 10-12. All lands sang aloud to him: the sea roared his praise- -the cedars bowed before him in lowly adoration. Nay, he could say: “All things that the Father hath are mine” (John xvi., 15); and he could speak to his Father of the glory which he had with him before the world was. Whatever of power, glory, riches, blessedness, the Father had, dwelt with equal fulness in the Son; for he was in the form of God, and thought It no robbery to be equal with God. This was the riches of the Lord Jesus.
Oh, brethren! can you trust your salvation to such an one? You hear it was he that undertook to be the surety of sinners, and died for them! Can you trust your soul in the hands of such an one? Ah! surely if so rich and glorious a being undertake for us, he will not fail nor be discouraged, “till he have set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.”
II. Christ became poor.
He was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God; but he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He became poor in all those things wherein he had been rich.
1. At his birth, (1.) He laid aside the adoration of the creatures. He left the hallelujahs of the heavenly world for the manger at Bethlehem. No angel bowed before the infant Saviour ; no seraph veiled his face and feet before him. The .world knew him not. A few shepherds from the fields of Bethlehem came and kneeled to him, and the wise men saw and adored the infant King; but the most despised saw him. His mother wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, for there was no room for them in the inn: “He became poor.” (2.) He left the love of God. The moment that babe was born, he became the surety of a guilty world. He was born of a woman, made under the law. The law took hold of him, even in infancy, as our surety. From the cradle to the cross he was bearing the sins of many; and therefore he says: “I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up; while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted.”—Ps. lxxxv., 15. Ah! what a change was here, from the infinite joy of his Father’s love to the misery and terror of his Father’s frown: “He became poor.” (3.) He left the power and glory that he had.—Instead of wanting nothing, he became a helpless baby in want of everything. Instead of saying: “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee,” he needed now the milk of his mother’s breast. Instead of holding up worlds with his arm, he needed now to be supported—to be wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger, watched by a mother’s tender eye: “He was rich, and became poor.”
2. In his life.—He that was adored by the myriads of heaven was lightly esteemed. Few believed on him; they called him glutton, wine bibber, deceiver. Once they sought to cast him over the rocks, often they plotted to kill him. He that before received the full love of God, now received his full frown. The cloud became every day darker over-his soul. Many of the hills ami valleys of this world re- choed with his cries and bitter agony. Gethsemane was watered with his blood. He that had all things as Ins domain, now wanted everything. Certain women ministered 10 him of their substance.—Luke viii., 3. He had no money to pay the tribute, and a fish of the sea had to bring it to him.— Matt. xvii., 27. The creatures of his hand had a warmer bed than he: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.”—Matt, viii. Every man went to his own home—Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And again, we are told, as they sailed, Jesus was asleep on a pillow. Another time he sat wearied at the well, and said: ‘- Give me to drink.” He that was God over all, blessed for ever, could say, “I am a worm, and no man:” “He became poor.”
3. In his death most of all he became poor.
(1.) Once his ear was filled with the holy songs of angels, hymning their pure praises: “Holy, holy, holy;” now his ears are filled with the cry of his creatures: “Not this man, but Barabbas,”—Crucify him, crucify him.” Once every face was veiled before him; now rulers deride him, soldiers mock him, thieves rail on him. They shoot out the lip, they wag the head, they give him vinegar to drink. “Ho became poor” indeed. (2.) Once God loved him without a cloud between; now not a ray of divine love fell upon his soul: but instead of it a stream of infinite wrath, He that once said: “The Lord possessed me: I was daily his delight.” now cried: “Eloi. Eloi, lama sabachthani.” Ah! this was poverty indeed. (3.) Once he gave being to unnumbered worlds, gave Me to all—he was the Prince of life; but now he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. He lay down in the grave among worms. He became a worm, and no man.
Ah! this is what is set before you in bread and wine to-day: The Son of God became poor. He lakes simple bread, to show you it is a poor man that is set before you—broken bread, to show that he is a crucified Saviour. Ah! sinners, whilst you gaze on these simple elements, remember the sufferings of him who was Lord of glory, and who died for sinners. “This do in remembrance of me.”
III. For what end?—”For your sakes, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”
The persons for whom:— “For your sakes.” Corinth was one of the most wicked cities that ever was on the face of the world. It lay between two seas; so that luxury came flowing in from the east and from the west. These Corinthians had been saved from the deepest abominations, as you learn from 1 Cor. vi., 11 : “Such were some of you;” and yet it was for the sake of such that the Lord of glory became poor— “for your sakes.” In like manner, Paul, writing to the Romans, says (v. 6): “When we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Ah! see what names are here given to those for whom Christ died: “Without strength” unable to believe, or to think a right thought; ungodly” living as if there were no God; “sinners,” breaking God’s holy law; “enemies,” hating and opposing a holy God of love.
Oh, brethren! this is good news for the most wicked of men. Are there some of you who feel that you are like a beast before God, or all over sin, like a devil? Some of you have lived in the abominations of Corinth. Some of you are like the Romans— without strength, ungodly, sinners, enemies; yet for your sakes Christ became poor. He left glory for souls as vile as you. He left the songs of angels, the love of his Father, and the glories of heaven, for just such wretches as you and me. He died for the ungodly. Do not be afraid, sinners, to lay hold upon him. It was for your sakes he came. He will not, he cannot cast you out.
Oh, sinners! you are poor indeed; but he will make you rich. All the riches he left he is ready to raise you to. He will make you rich in the love of God—rich in the peace that passeth all understanding, if you truly lay hold on him. The wrath of God will pass away from you, and he will love you freely. The love wherewith God loves Christ shall be on you. He will make you rich in holiness. He will fill you with all the fulness of God. He will make you rich in eternity. You will behold his glory; you will enter into his joy; you will sit with him on his throne.
IV. The grace in all this:— “Ye know the grace.” There is much to be seen in this amazing work. There is deep wisdom— “the wisdom of God—the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory;” there is power, the power of God unto salvation; but most of all, grace is to be seen in it from beginning to end. “Ye know the grace of the Lord Jesus.”
When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, when he came to Peter, Peter said: “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” Three things amazed him: 1. The glorious being that knelt down before him: “Thou.” 2. The lowly action he was going to perform: “Dost thou wash?” 3. The vile wretch whose feet were to be washed: “My feet.” He was amazed at the grace of the Lord Jesus. So in this amazing work you may see a threefold grace:—1. The glorious being that undertook for sinners: “He who was rich.” 2. The depth to which he stooped: “He became poor.” 3. The wretches whose souls were to be washed: “For your sakes.” Ah! well may you be amazed this day, and cry out: “Dost thou wash my soul V
Lastly, The sin and danger of not knowing.
1. I would speak to those who do not know the grace of the Lord Jesus.—I fear the most of you are still ignorant of Christ: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him.” Ah, brethren! think this day who it is you are lightly esteeming. Did you ever see the son of a king lay by his robes, and his glory, and become a poor man, and die in misery; and all this for nothing? Do you think the Lord Jesus left his Father’s love, and the adoration of angels, and became a worm, and died under wrath, and all for no purpose? Is there no wrath lying upon you? Have you no need of Christ? Ah! why, then, .do you not flee unto him f
“Ungrateful sinners! whence this scorn
Of God’s long-suffering grace?
And whence this madness, that insults
Th’ Almighty to his face?”
Ah! remember, as long as you come not to Christ, you are despising the grace of the Lord Jesus, and sinning against the love of God. What though you make a show of coming to Christ? What though you pretend it by coming to his table, and doing honor to the poor bread and wine? The pour Papist adores the bread, while he denies the Saviour; and so you may waste your honor on the bread and wine, while you are all the time rejecting and despising the grace of the Lord Jesus.
2. I would welcome poor sinners to Jesus Christ.—He became poor for such as you. He did not come for those “who are rich and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing.” Do not say you are too vile for such a Saviour. If you have all the pollutions of a Corinthian, all the wicked heart of a Roman, he came on purpose for such as you. You are the very souls he came to. seek and save. His salvation is all of grace. Free favor to those that deserve hell! Do not deny the grace of the Lord Jesus. It is false humility that keeps any back from Christ; for, “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord „ over all is rich unto all that call upon him.” “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money come; let him buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
3. To you that know Jesus, and his grace.—Oh! study him more. You will spend eternity in beholding his glory; spend time in beholding his grace. That you may know your own vileness, that you may abhor yourself, that you may see what a poor helldeserving creature you are, oh! study the grace of the Lord Jesus. That your peace may be like a river, full, deep, and lasting, learn more of the grace of the Lord Jesus. Come and declare with joy at the Lord’s table all that he has done for your soul. Oh! learn more. Few know much of Christ . You have infinitely more to learn than you have ever known.
St. Peter’s, April 18, 1841.—(Action Sermon.)
