Psalm 40:6-7 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears have you opened: burnt offering and sin offering have you not required.… The times when our Lord says, "Lo, I come," have all a family likeness. There are certain crystals which assume a regular shape, and if you break them, each fragment will show the same conformation; if you were to dash them to shivers, every particle of the crystal would be still of the same form. Now, the goings forth of Christ which were of old, and His craning at Calvary, and that great advent when He shall come a second time to judge the earth in righteousness, all these have a likeness the one to the other. But there is a coming of what I may call a lesser sort, when Jesus cries, "Lo, I come "to each individual sinner, and brings a revelation of pardon and salvation; and this has about it much which is similar to the great ones. I. THE LORD CHRIST HAS TIMES OF HIS FIRST COMINGS TO MEN; "Then said I, Lo, I come." What are these times? Mayhap some here have reached this season, and this very day is the time of blessing when the text shall be fulfilled: "Then said I, Lo, I come." Go with me to the first record in the volume of the Book, when it was said that He should come. You will find it in the early chapter of Genesis. 1. Jesus said, "Lo, I come," when man's probation was a failure. "Adam being in honour continued not." At that point we read in the volume of the Book that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Then our Redeemer said, "Lo, I come." Hearken to me; you also have had your probation, as you have thought it to be. 2. When man's clever dealings with the devil had turned out a great failure. 3. When man's covering was a failure. 4. When all man's pleas were failures. 5. When man's religion had proved a failure. II. CHRIST COMES TO SINNERS IN THE GLORY OF HIS PERSON. "Lo, I come." What does HE mean? 1. He means the setting of all else on one side. 2. Before Him there is a setting of self aside. Lo, he comes to clothe you from head to foot with His own seamless robe of righteousness. He annihilates self that He may fill all things. 3. Here is a glorious setting of Himself at our side and in our place. Jesus is now the one pillar on which to lean, the one foundation on which to build, the one and only rest of our weary souls. 4. He sets Himself where we can see Him; for he cries, "Lo, I come"; that is to say, "See Me come." He comes openly, that we may see Him clearly. 5. Our Lord sets Himself to be permanently our all in all. When He came on earth, He did not leave His work till He had finished it. Even when He rose to glory, He continued His service for His chosen, living to intercede for them. Jesus will be a Saviour until all the chosen race shall have been gathered home. III. CHRIST, IN HIS COMING, IS HIS OWN INTRODUCTION. 1. Here our Lord is His own herald. "Lo, I come." He bids you look on Him when you beseech Him to look on you. 2. He comes when quite unsought or sought for in a wrong way. "Lo, I come," is the announcement of majestic grace which waiteth not for man, neither tarrieth for the sons of men. 3. Our Lord Jesus is the way to Himself. 4. He is the blessing which He brings. 5. He is His own spokesman. IV. CHRIST, TO CHEER US REVEALS HIS REASONS FOR COMING. 1. It is His Father's will. 2. His own heart is set on you. 3. You have need, and He has love, and so He comes. V. CHRIST'S COMING IS THE BEST PLEA FOR OUR RECEIVING HIM, AND RECEIVING HIM NOW. Receive Him! If you are in yourself sadly unready, yet He Himself will make everything ready for Himself. Shut not out your own mercy. A pastor in Edinburgh, in going round his district, knocked at the door of a poor woman, for whom he had brought some needed help; but he received no answer. When next he met her, he said to her, "I called on Tuesday at your house." She asked, "At what time? .... About eleven o'clock; I knocked, and you did not answer. I was disappointed, for I called to give you help." "Ah, sir!" said she, "I am very sorry. I thought it was the man coming for the rent, and I could not pay it, and therefore I did not dare to go to the door." Many a troubled soul thinks that Jesus is one who comes to ask of us what we cannot give; but indeed He comes to give us all things. His errand is not to condemn, but to forgive. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. |
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