THE K I N G ’ S B US I NE S S
450
down his brows at that dead man. Why should anyone be smitten, when we all meant so well, and we were all so en thusiastic, and all so unanimous, and it was in honor of God—why should any body be smitten? And so men have always gathered around our “ dead man in the road” — . Christ Jesus. They have gathered around the Cross, and like David they have pulled down their brows, and said, “Why should anybody be smitten?” Royal brows in philosophy, royal brows in literature, and royal brows in science are pulled down when they meet the Cross— and “ Why should anyone be smitten?” Why can’t God take us any way we like, and why should there be any “ thus saith the Lord?” And why should there be any old fogey preachers like you and me quoting chapter and verse? Well, the matter never was straight ened out until David went back to the Bible for his instructions as to how to handle the ark— chapter and verse in structions as to how to handle the ark. If he had gone to them at first this trouble would not have happened. Now, if God will not allow His dear, delightful David to go on ignoring Exo dus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, will He take it from us, do you think? He will not, and He is not taking it. We are suffering and the blessing of God is being withheld from us. The great talk today is about the Fatherhood of God, and they try to get rid of the Cross, and the stricken Man on it. And do you not know, dear friends, that “ Fatherhood” can be just about the weakest, most sentimental slush that you could dream of? Look at David weeping over Absalom, his handsome, abandoned Absalom — “Would God I had died for thee, Absa lom, my son, my son!” Without the Cross, the Fatherhood of God is little more than the Fatherhood of David, weeping over his son— “ Would God I
man who wrote that verse had no doubt at all about the position of God— and he put it in so plainly that you can’t by any twisting take it out. God is not at the Bar, gentlemen. God is'on the Bench. I think this generation is apt to forget this. He is not at the Bar' and His Word is not at the Bar. This Word shall judge us— judges us now. I weuld not take it off the Bench. “He died before God.” Do you think that we have gone past that in these days - of evolution, and that we have changed everything now that our views have become so much broader? The Cross of Christ has done nothing to re lieve that aspect. It has intensified it. It has awful intensity, and I trust we are going to stand up for it in our preaching and in our lives, for things today are getting very soft and sentl- mental, and there is a general idea of making a God really according to soft, sentimental ideas. As I stand over that dead man, I al ways feel inclined to utter a word from Moses. “ He is the Hock. His work is perfect.” And according to. the text that smitten man is God’s work. God’s ways are perfect and without iniquity— just and right— and I love Him, although His Justice and Righteousness might well consume me into nothing. I was trained to love Him on that side as on the other, and I bless God today for the training. For we are getting very sentimental, and today there is a very soft, sugary jube- jube sort of preaching, and all this sort of thing about smiting is to be left out. Now, let us return to this picture— David is angry—was displeased because the Lord smote Uzza, and then David was frightened and said, “ How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” He had to turn back to the Bible, be cause there was a dead man in the road. 1 Did you ever stop to think that, the whole crux of our Christian religion is the “ dead man in the road?” There is no use in shirking it. David pulled
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker