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Little beginnings have large endings. A man drops a small seed upon the earth, and it starts up and expands into a tree of a thousand arms. The slender rill that leaps from a rock presently increases to a stream, and the stream swells into a river, and the river, gathering as it rolls, becomes the arm of the sea; and then there is a mingling, a sweeping, and a spreading of the waters through the circuit of the broad ocean. And so of the rise and progress of the religion of Jesus. At first there was the utterance of a single voice in the solitudes of the wilderness, and next was the testimony of the Son of God to Himself in the village and in the city; forthwith was the gathering of the twelve, and a declaration from these of the gospel to the surrounding nations. Then arose from the apostles the great company of preachers multiplying and widening their circles of influence abroad the earth unto this present, and looking forward we anticipate the time when the whole world, now lying in darkness, shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the channels of the sea. Yes, whatever is or shall be, the aspect of the globe in the light and beauty of holiness cometh under God of preaching. This is the great lever, which by little and little is lifting the wide universe out of the bondage of ignorance and superstition. It was this which overturned the Mosaical economy, which struck to their centre and shivered the idols of the heathen, which enkindled a light, that the power of the most numerous and mighty of adversaries could not put out, which snatched from the grasp of Satan, which drew as brands from the burning, thousands of souls now ministering before the throne of the Lamb.

I. OUR OBLIGATIONS TO PREACH JESUS CHRIST. It is the solemn object of our ordination, and we should be recreants from our vows, apostate from the articles of our faith, and traitors to the cause we professedly espouse, were we to gainsay the appeal that presses. To teach and preach Jesus is the great business of our days; whatever be the varieties of our talents, if the lines converge not to this centre our talents are abused; whatever be the plenitude of our strength, if it be not consecrated to this, our strength is worse than unprofitable. Our lamp must burn at the altar, our sinews must bear the cross. Our obligations to preach Jesus Christ rest upon the conviction —

1. That sinners have need of Him. In their natural estate they area(1) Blind.

(a) In their ignorance of the true God and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent.

(b) To the interests of their souls, preferring the evil and rejecting the good, and turning their back to the only light which shines from to lead their steps to heaven.

(2) Poor.

(a) As despoiled of the privileges and honours of a happier estate.

(b) As defrauded by an enemy of the birthright of the sons of God.

(c) As cast from the affluence of the garden into the necessities of the wilderness.

(d) As the heirs of bodily sorrows, and as the victims of an inwardly consuming anguish because of guilt and the judgment.

(e) As the slaves of sin and the subjects.to death, temporally and eternally.

(3) Naked.

(a)  As possessing no garment in their own righteousness, nor in that of others, wherewith they might stand clothed in the sight of God.

(b)  As wanting that white raiment which alone Christ can put on.

2. That in all the multifarious wants of man, Christ is the One, the near, the all-sufficient, the ever-living, the inexhaustible supply. The poor wandering and fainting flock lacks a shepherd to guide and cherish — Christ is the true Shepherd. The plague-stricken lack the hand of the physician to bind up and heal — Christ is the wise Physician, The deceived, the forsaken, and the abandoned lack the faithful adviser, the able defender, the counsellor for good — Christ is the unchangeable Friend, and the mighty Advocate, and the Prince of Peace.

3. That without Him everything is nothing, whilst with Him and in Him there is abundantly more than we can either ask or think to satisfy and enrich here, and to bless everlastingly.

II. WHAT IT IS TO PREACH JESUS CHRIST.

1. In substance. Let us analyse the title —

(1) Jesus — a name synonymous with Joshua, and meaning a deliverer — a deliverer from the bondage of sin; from the tyranny of Satan; from sin as a ruling principle and as a destroying violence; from the fears of the valley of the shadow of death and from the terrors of the deeper darkness beyond I A deliverer from these evils, and by what means? At what cost? By the offering up of Himself, the just for the unjust, by the shedding of His blood as the Lamb of atonement for the sins of the world.

(2) Christ, i.e., the anointed. The anointed, the consecrated, through the Spirit. Do you acknowledge Christ in the separate glories of His offices aa having in each the seal and testimony of the Spirit?

2. The manner should be characterised with a spirit of simplicity, decision, faithfulness, affection, and the devotion of a holy zeal. The man should be forgotten in his message, the wise, after the rudiments of this world, should be hidden to himself and others in the office of the minister of Christ.

III. THE POSTURE IN WHICH YOU SHOULD HEAR CHRIST PREACHED.

1. As fully sensible of the value of the privilege of hearing. What gem had not David plucked from his royal crown for one of the opportunities with which you are blessed? How lavish had priests been of their distinctions and prophets of their gifts in exchange for one hour of your sabbaths. And oh, the treasures expended and the blood shed for your present liberty.

2. As men personally concerned and addressed in every appeal and invitation and reproof, in every promise and curse. You should bring the application home, not fancying how well the preacher's word affixes to some one else.

3. With humility, keeping self in subjection, schooling down your natural arrogancy into the dependence and simple credence of the little child.

4. With watchfulness against the sins and temptations that are most prevailing; and with prayer to the Holy Spirit of God that He may impress, and sanctify, and guide you into all truth.

5. With faith receiving the mysteries of Christ as mysteries — as those deeper things of God, whose reception is for an exercise of faith here, and whose solution and discovery shall be amongst the felicities of eternity.

(T. J. Judkin.)

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KJV: And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

WEB: Every day, in the temple and at home, they never stopped teaching and preaching Jesus, the Christ.