CHRIST'S HEELS.

A Sermon

PREACHED IN GROVE CHAPEL, CAMBERWELL, ON SUNDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 9TH, 1879, BY

THOMAS BRADBURY.

"Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of My heels shall compass Me about?"-Psa. xlix. 5.

HIS Psalm commences with a call and proclamation to the

great congregation to give ear, to pay attention to statements most solemn, most sacred. The inhabitants of the world who are addressed, are styled in the title of the Psalm, "The sons of Korah." These are sons of want, or, as the learned tell us, "sons of misery, distress, and sorrow." The whole Psalm warrants such an interpretation or explanation. These sons of misery are not confined to any class of men, or position in society. "Both low and high, rich and poor, together," as descendants of Adam the first, carry about with them the entail which he left upon them, sin, sorrow, misery, trouble, anxiety, and care. Nay, we may go further, and declare, that with the increase of the good things of this world, there is oftentimes an increase of cankering care and worrying anxiety. The possession of riches gives no immunity from sorrow and distress. But in the midst of all this a voice is heard. It is the voice of the Son of Man, the voice of the Son of God. His words of counsel and comfort are carried by the power of the Spirit to all those for whom they were intended. "My mouth shall speak of Wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of Understanding." Surely this is concerning God Himself. Who is Wisdom? Who is Understanding? Those of you who are acquainted with Proverbs viii. know well that declaration of the Speaker, " I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions." Now, there is no knowledge in Divine things, or in the ways of the Lord, apart from Christ, the great Expounder of God's Word, the Expositor of God's covenant, and of His covenant dealings

No. 116,-PRICE ONE PENNY.

with His people in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus Himself, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, speaks in the Psalm before us. “I will incline Mine ear to a parable. I will open My dark saying upon the harp." Turn with me to Matt. xiii. Here we have a succession of parables, setting forth the hidden things of the kingdom of heaven, in the midst of which you will find this portion quoted by our Lord Himself. He opened His mouth in parables, and there was a reason and design in it; that those who were without should not understand, and that those within might have a true apprehension of the Father's mind and will. Look at Matt. xiii. 10: " And the disciples came and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." Each one of us is interested in this fact, more or less. We must be interested graciously, feelingly, experimentally, or down to the depths of eternal despair we must go. Eternal ruin must be our lot if we are left without an interest in these things. See! "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance." I love that word, more abundance." It indicates a succession of covenant blessings, and increasing knowledge in Divine truth, and the gracious displayings of it. Have you a desire to fear the Lord? You shall fear Him, and as assuredly as you fear Him, you shall be blessed with a strong confidence in Him. If you have confidence in Him, you shall have blessed association with Him. If you have association, you shall be identified with Him. If you are identified with Him, you shall have complete equality with Him in grace here, and in glory hereafter. Mark the Divine order! "Grace for grace. "From glory to glory." "He

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shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." The naturally religious man may have a natural understanding of the things of the kingdom, his natural reason may grasp Scriptural truths, and he may, like the stony ground hearers, have great delight in the natural reception of Gospel truth: he may come to chapel, or go to church, listen with pleasure to a God-sent minister, and rejoice in what is set forth, yet have no experimental possession of spiritual realites. What have we to-night? Are we in possession of Christ? Have we a desire after these things, or are we in possession of them? We are, or we are not, and everything short of them is vanity and toil.

Psalm lxxviii. 2 is quoted in Matt. xiii. 34, 35: "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitudes in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." What things have been kept secret? It was kept secret until the time appointed

by the Father, that such a poor, puny worm as I am should be interested in covenant verities. It was kept secret that my name was written in the Book of Life. An inveterate enemy of God's truth once said to me, "Can you presume to such a height? Have you entered the skies and seen your name in the Book? Have you?" When these questions were put to me, the Lord had not brought me to that place of spiritual instruction and privilege to which He has brought me now, or I should have answered, "Certainly I have. Again and again I have seen my name in the Book of Life." What, your name, Thomas Bradbury? No, not so; but I see my name, Sinner, saved by sovereign grace, and I know my character when I see it written in the Book, and opened up to my waiting heart. But we will look at the text: "Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of My heels shall compass Me about?" This is altogether another man than David speaking. As in Acts viii. 34, 35, "And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." So from this Scripture I have nothing to preach to you but Jesus. Jesus is the Speaker, the Expounder of God's Word, the Surety of the covenant, the suffering Saviour in the room and stead of His people. Upon the glorious harp of Divine promise He discourses most excellent music for those characters He so faithfully describes, and who are enabled by the Spirit to lay claim to those covenant blessings He has treasured up for them in Himself. We will consider

1. THE SPEAKER-The Lord Jesus Christ in association, companionship, and identification with His own.

II.—HIS HEELS-"The iniquity of My heels."

III. HIS TIMES-"The days of evil, when the iniquity of My heels shall compass Me about."

IV. HIS UNBOUNDED CONFIDENCE in His Father in the midst of the sorrows His sinless soul experienced-"Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquities of My heels shall compass Me about?”

V. THE BLESSED ONENESS OF SPIRIT experienced by the heels with the Head in the confidence expressed in the language of the text.

I. THE SPEAKER-The Lord Jesus Christ in association, companionship, and identification with His own.

The Speaker is interested in the evil and iniquity which should compass Him about. Was this iniquity natural to Him? No. Why not? Because of the immaculate conception and impeccable constitution of His real human body. Well does the Litany of the Church of England express itself thus in reference to the production of the sacred and sinless humanity of Jesus: By the mystery of Thy holy incarnation." As we look at His

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Godhead and Manhood, and the marvellous union of the two natures in the one Person, we are lost in wonder and loving admiration. As to the production of the human body of our Lord, the Holy Ghost by Jeremiah declared, "The LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man" (Jer. xxxi. 22). Is the compassing of a man in the womb of a woman a new thing? Certainly. Were not Cain and Abel compassed by Eve? Here, I would ask, were either of these, according to natural generation, worthy the name of man? Cain would think so, but not Abel. One has well said, and though the saying may appear to border upon profanity, it is not 80, "The Lord Jesus Christ was the only true gentleman that ever lived." We can say feelingly and experimentally, that He was the only true man that ever existed, or ever will exist from the creation to the end of the world. Hart writes truly and sweetly,

"A Man there is, a real Man,

With wounds still gaping wide,

From which rich streams of blood once ran.

In hands, and feet, and side."

Does not this seem to suggest that there is something awfully unreal in every other man? There is not a real man, out of, or apart from, Him. In 2 Cor. xii. 2, the apostle says, "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago. A man out of Christ he did not acknowledge. Jesus Christ was a Man, a real, true, and proper Man. William Mushett thus sang of Him,

And in the contemplation of His ascension-glory and sovereign majesty we can sing with Watts,—

"This is the Man--the exalted Man.

Whom we, unseen, adore;

But when our eyes behold His face,
Our hearts shall love Him more.'

In the first chapter of Luke's Gospel, and at the 35th verse. the angel is recorded saying to Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also THAT HOLY THING which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." The Holy Ghost styles the sacred humanity of Jesus, "THAT HOLY THING." No iniquity to be found there. John speaks of Jesus as He ever appeared in Himself before the face of His Father thus, "IN HIM IS NO SIN" (1 John iii. 5). Peter knew Him as One "WHO DID NO SIN" (1 Peter ii. 22). Paul in 2 Cor. v. 21 declares concerning Him, "WHO KNEW NO SIN" in His nature, by commission, omission, impartation, or infusion. He only knew it by imputation. When I look at the heels of

Christ as a part of His sinless body, His sacred humanity, I see no sin in them. There are no marks of iniquity or of transgression left in His heel-prints on the sands of the desert which the eye of faith can see, and the foot of faith alone can tread. The pathway to glory through a sinful world was trodden by the sinless heels of our adorable Emmanuel as the Forerunner of His pilgrim people. It is a path of purity, holiness, and righteousness, over which the unclean and uncircumcised can never pass (Isa. xxxv. 9). "The lion's whelps," the reprobate, "have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion," the devil, passed by it" (Job xxviii. 8). Yet, marvellous mystery, in these spots of purity, innocency, and righteousness, He identifies, acknowledges, and owns the members of His mystical body whom He styles in the language of the text, "My heels."

This brings us to consider,

II.—HIS HEELS—"The iniquity of My heels." Come with me to 1 Cor. xii. 18-21: "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the Eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the Head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary. And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it: or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." The feet, the heels of the body, are nearest to the earth, and ofttimes soiled with the dust, mud, and mire of earth. Yet they are so near and dear to Him. Just turn with me to Gen. iii. 15, and notice that precious declaration spoken in the hearing of Adam and Eve, but in the very teeth of the serpent: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." What are we to understand by that seed or heel which should be bruised, yet in its bruising should bruise, smash, destroy, and bring to nothing the power of the devil? Commentators see in it the sacred humanity of the Divine Sufferer; but those who are spiritually one with Him can see in the heel the whole Church of the living God in union with Him as it is left in its wilderness state and condition with the experience of Satan's bruisings, temptations, and accursed insinuations.