LOOK TO A PIERCED CHRIST - Robert Murray Mcchene

” And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”—Zech. xii., 10; xiii., 1.

IN these words you have a description of the conversion of the Jews, which is yet to come; an event that will give life to this dead world. But God’s method is the same in the conversion of any soul. Conversion is the most glorious work of God. The creation of the sun is a very glorious work; when God first rolled him flaming along the sky, scattering out golden blessings on every shore. The change in spring is very wonderful; when God makes the faded grass revive, the dead trees put out green leaves, and the flowers appear on the earth. But far more glorious and wonderful is the conversion of a soul! It is the creation of a sun that is to shine for eternity; it is the spring of the soul that shall know no winter; the planting of a tree that shall bloom with eternal beauty in the paradise of God.

I. The source of conversion. The hand of Christ: “I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” The Holy Spirit comes from the very hand that was pierced by the nail to the accursed tree. Indeed, the innermost source of the Spirit seems to be the heart of the Father. Jesus calls him “the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father;” and in 1 Cor. ii., 11, he is said to be in the heart of God, as the spirit of a man is in the- heart of man. He is the friend that dwelt from eternity in the bosom of the Father and of the Son. But still it is as true that the Father has given the Spirit to Christ: “It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” Jesus has obtained the gift of the Holy Spirit as a reward of his work. It is fitting that he that died for sinners should have the Spirit to dispense to whom he will; and so one of his last words to his disciples was: “I will send him unto you; and when he is come he will convince the world of sin.

1. This teaches awakened souls where their convictions come from. Do any of you feel that you have been awakened to concern about your souls? you have been pierced through with an arrow of conviction. Look at the arrow; it came out of the bow of Christ. It was Christ that took it out of his quiver Christ aimed it at your heart; Christ made it pierce your heart. The feather is marked with the  blood of the pierced hand. That arrow came from the hand of love; from the hand that was nailed to the cross. Ah! then, take it as a proof that Christ wants to save you. He is beginning to deal with you. Ah! do not turn away: do not tear out the arrow; do not heal the wound slightly. Go to himself, and the same hand that pierced you will heal. Lord, if I may not have peace from thee, grant I may get it from nothing else.

2 When you see others sorely wounded, you should acknowledge the hand of Christ. I find that some acknowledge the hand of the minister, but not the hand of Christ. This is a sore dishonor to our glorious Immanuel! It was said of the Erskines, the fathers of the Secession, that God took away great part of the blessing from their labors, because the people could not see Christ over their heads. I find much of this amongst yourselves. The Lord teach you to look above the heads of ministers, to our glorious Redeemer, riding on his white horse; sending out his arrows of conviction !

3. Pray to Christ to do this. If he pours’ out the Spirit, then who can hinder? I have no doubt many of you have come up to day, who would have stayed away if you thought Christ- would this clay convert your soul. I fear there are some among you who have shut your eyes, and stopped your cars, and made your heart gross, lest ye should be converted, and Christ should heal you. You would not like to be made a weeping, praying, lowly believer in Jesus. But, oh! if Christ pours out the Spirit to-day, then even you will be melted; even you will be made to weep and to cry: “What must I do to be saved?”

In a time when Christ is not pouring the Spirit down, ministers speak and strive, but in vain; it is like speaking to the winds, or the wild waves of the sea. But when Christ rises from his throne and pours the Spirit down, then the weakest means are infinitely mighty. The Word does not come in word only. The jaw-bone of an ass was a very weak sword to kill men with; and yet in the hand of Samson it was mighty. He slew a thousand men with it. A sling and a stone was a very weak weapon to oppose an armed giant; and yet when David slung the stone, it sank into the forehead of the giant, and he fell upon his face to the earth. Oh! pray, dear believers, that the sling and the stone may this day be in the hand of our glorious David; that the Word may sink into the hard hearts of this people; that even giants in sin may be brought down to the very dust. Ah! I fear that many of you are armed to the teeth against the Word of God; you are armed capa-pie—armed to all points. You are mocking, perhaps, in your security; yet, look up, dear friends, to the arm of Immanuel; he can bring down the proudest. Pray that he would pour down the Spirit. I believe that the lowly prayers of a single believer may obtain a deep and pure work of God in a town. If there were men among us like Noah, Job, and Daniel, we might expect showers of blessings.

II. The Spirit who converts.

1. The Spirit of Grace—He is so called, because his coming to any soul, and all that he does in the soul, is of free grace. When the Spirit of God first visits a soul, he finds nothing to invite him to come or to stay; he finds the soul like the dry bones in the open valley—without any form or comeliness—without any desire nor life. Every natural man has no more comeliness than a dry skeleto —no more desire for grace than a dead carcass. Nay, more, there is everything to drive the Spirit away. He is a holy Spirit; but he finds the heart a sink of corruptions, full of the most loathsome lusts and passions. He is a loving Spirit; but he finds the man’s heart full of rebellion and horrid enmity against God. He is a jealous Spirit; but he finds the man’s heart a chamber of imagery, full of abominable idols. Oh! I can imagine the Holy Spirit looking into some of your hearts, and saying: “Why should I come to such a soul? He does not want me to convert him. He wants to be let alone. He had rather serve his lusts: why should I disturb him? I will let him alone.” Stay, stay, blessed Spirit of grace! Come, out of free grace. Come, not because he wants thee, but because thou art gracious. Come, and make even these dry bones to rise and call upon the name of Jesus.

Some of you know it was thus he came to you. He found you a rebel, and he has made you an obedient child. Oh, will you ever despair of any, since he turned your heart! There are some among you, dear friends, of whom man would despair—men and women who have lived long in sin—old formalists, to whom betraying the Lord at his table is an old trade. Oh, let us not despair of such! The Spirit is the Spirit of free grace. Invite him to come, poor dead soul.

2. Of supplications.—Because he teaches to pray. A natural man can hardly be said to pray. True, he has often a form— often a cry in the time of distress; but “will he always call upon God?” An anxious soul cannot pray with a form; for he says, None was ever like me. But a man prays in reality when the Spirit comes to his soul. He drove an ungodly Manasseh to his knees. Manasseh had often bowed the knee in youth at his godly father’s knee; he had often prayed to his bloody idols; he had often prayed to the devil; but now, when the Spirit came, he began to pray indeed. He drove a blaspheming Paul to his knees. Often Paul had prayed at the feet of Gamaliel. In the synagogue, and at the corners of streets, he had made long prays, for pretense; but now, awakened by the Spirit of God. “behold, he prayeth.”

Have you been taught to pray by the Spirit of God? You once had a form, or you prayed for a pretence, or you prayed to idols; but have you been driven to pray by the Holy Spirit? Then, you may be sure he has begun a work in your heart. If any of you have not been driven to pray in secret, you may be quite sure that you are in the “gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.” A prayerless soul is an unawakened soul—very near to the burning. Some pieces of wood will burn much more easily than others; some pieces are green, and do not readily catch the blaze, but a dry piece of wood is easily kindled. Prayerless souls are dry pieces of wood—they are ready for the burning.

III. Where the soul looks in conversion:— “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” When the Spirit of God is really working in the heart, he makes the man look to a pierced Christ. Wherever he goes, this is the prominent object in his eye—Christ whom he has pierced. Satan would make a man look anywhere rather than to Christ . There, is such a thing as false conversion. Satan sometimes stirs people up to- care about their souls. He makes them look to ministers, or books, or meetings, or duties—to feelings, enlargement in prayer, &c.; he will let them look to anything in the universe except to one object— “the cross of Christ.” The only thing he hides is the Gospel—the glorious Gospel of Christ. When it is the Spirit of God, he will not let the soul look to anything else but to Christ—a pierced Christ.

What does an awakened soul see there ?

1. That he has pierced the Son of God by his sins.—This give* him an awful sense of the infinite greatness of sin. A natural man thinks nothing of sin. An oath or a lie is as light as a feather on many of your consciences. You feel it no burden, even if there were a million of them lying upon your soul. You can, sleep easily under all your sins. But if your eyes were opened to look at a pierced Christ, you would see that the load is infinite. Ah! see there—God did not spare Christ. Though he had no sin of his own—nothing but imputed sin—yet see what infinite wrath was poured upon him!—sec what arrows pierced his holy soul! The nails pierced his spotless hands and feet; but all the arrows of God were drinking up his spirit. Will God spare you, then, if you die under your own sins, when these sins are your own act and deed ?

Think again: Christ was God. That pale sufferer is the “mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace ;” yet sec how he sinks under the load; see, in Gethsemane, how he lies trembling, sweating great drops of blood; see him on Calvary, how his bones are out of joint—how his head is bowed in dying agony. You are but a worm. Can you bear that wrath? “Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee?” Oh! look to Christ, sinners—look to a pierced Christ, and mourn. Nothing will break your heart but a sight of Christ pierced by your sins.

2. That he has pierced the Son of God by unbelief.—When the Spirit reveals Christ to the soul, this is generally the bitterest pang. An unawakened man thinks nothing of unbelief—he does not care that he has rejected Christ times without number. Ministers have preached till their breath is spent, beseeching him to turn and live; Christ hath stood all the day long with his hands stretched out; God hath wailed upon that man, has delayed casting him into hell; still he is an unmelted rebel. Ah! when the Spirit awakes that man, what a sight he sees in a pierced Christ! Some of you are saying this day: I have despised that glorious One. He would often have gathered me, and I would not. God has been waiting on me for years. Jesus hath been knocking at my door, and I would never let him in; and now I fear he is gone for ever. Yea, some of you may feel that your heart is unwilling to take him, it is so hard and dead. AH the more lovely he appears, the more your heart is pierced, because you have rejected him. Ah, there is no grief like that of looking to a pierced Christ !

(1.) It is a bitter grief.—Did you ever see parents mourning the loss of their only son, or of their first-born? It is an unspeakable sorrow. Such is the anguish of those who look to a pierced Christ. Indeed, some have deeper agony than others; but all who truly look to Christ are in bitterness.

(2.) It is a lonely grief.—Indeed it will not be restrained anywhere; and they are wrong who condemn rashly intense anxiety breaking forth even in public; but this grief seeks the shade— the stricken soul seeks to be alone with God, or with a few likeminded. David Brainerd mentions, that on one occasion, when he was preaching a pierced Christ to his Indians, the power of ‘God came down among them like a mighty rushing wind: “Their concern was so great, each for himself, that none seemed to take any notice of those about him. They were, to their own apprehension, as much retired as if they had been alone in the thickest desert. Every one was praying apart, and yet altogether.”

Oh! dear friends, if you would really look to a pierced Christ, you would be in anguish of soul to obtain an interest in him. Oh! see how you have slighted him in the days gone by. In youth—at the Sabbath school, as little children, how you have refused him! When you first came to the Lord’s table, he stood a pic-reed Saviour before your eyes; yet you neglected him, and trampled him below your feet. And are you coming this day to pierce him over again—to drive the nails again into his hands— the spear into his side—the thorns into his brow? Oh, stop, sinner! you are piercing one who loves you, killing the Prince of Life, neglecting the only Saviour. If you reject him to-day, you may never see him again till you see him in the clouds of heaven, and wail because of him.

Dear believers, remember how you pierced him; let bitter herbs sweeten your passover—let a bitter remembrance of past sin make Christ the more precious.

IV. A fountain is seen in a pierced Christ.

The first look to Christ makes the sinner mourn; the second look to Christ makes the sinner rejoice. When the soul looks first to Christ, he sees half of the truth, he sees the wrath of God against sin, that God is holy, and must avenge sin, that he can by no means clear the guilty, he sees that God’s wrath is infinite. When he looks to Christ again, he sees the other half of the truth, the love of God to the lost, that God has provided a surety free to all. It is this that fills the soul with joy. Oh, it is strange, that the same object should break the heart and heal it! A look to Christ wounds, a look to Christ heals. Many, I fear, have only a half look at Christ, and this causes only grief. Many are slow of heart to believe all that is spoken concerning Jesus. They believe all except that he is free to them. They do not sec this glorious truth, “That a crucified Jesus is free to every sinner in the world”—that Christ’s all is free to all.

When the Spirit is teaching, he gives a full look at Christ, a look to him alone for righteousness. What does the sinner see? The wounds of Christ, a fountain for sin and for uncleanness. Oh, trembling sinners, come and get this look at Christ! come and see a fountain for sin and for uncleanness, opened on Calvary eighteen hundred years ago. “I cannot, for my sins are very great.” Are you all sin and uncleanness, nothing but sin, a lump of sin? in your life, in your heart, are you one bundle of lusts T Here is a fountain opened for you; look to a pierced Christ, and weep; look to a pierced Christ, and be glad. “I cannot wash.” To look is to wash. No sooner is the eye turned than the filthy garments fall.

The fountain is opened up in this house of God today. At the very entrance to the tables, Jesus stands and says, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Are you willing? do you look to him alone for righteousness? Then, come thus washed to the Lord’s table, in the very garment you shall wear in glory. Sit with your eye upon the fountain. Oh, prize it highly! What do you not owe to him who saves you from being cast away!

Some would go past the fountain to the table. Take heed, ungodly man! Will you dare to sit there with unpardoned sin’ upon you? will you venture to touch the bread, and your soul unwashed? Ah, you will bitterly rue it one day! Some, I trust, will remember this day in glory; some, I fear, will remember this day in hell. 

SI Peter’s, April 19,1840.—(Action Sermon.)