by Arthur W. Pink
by Arthur W. Pink
Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org
by Arthur W. Pink
September, 1937
Christ Despised.
“He is despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:3). For the special benefit of young preachers we propose to sermonize this text, though in as simple and homely a manner as possible, trusting that it may please the Lord to speak through it to some unsaved readers, for we dare not assume that all who take this magazine have really been born again.
Our text forms part of one of the Messianic predictions, in which God made know long beforehand the treatment which his Son should receive when He became incarnate. The prophecy of Isaiah was in the hands of the Jews seven hundred years before the Lord Jesus was born at Bethlehem, yet so exactly did it describe what befell Him that it might well have been written by one of the Apostles. Therein is supplied one of the incontrovertible proofs of the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures, for only One who knew the end from the beginning could have thus written history beforehand.
It might well have been supposed that the advent to earth of such an One as the Lord of Glory would meet with a warm welcome and reverent reception, the more so in view of His appearing in human form, going about doing good. Since He came not to judge, but to save; since His mission was one of grace and mercy, since He ministered to the needy and healed the sick, will not men gladly receive Him? Many would naturally think so, but in so thinking they overlook the fact that the Lord Jesus is “the Holy One,” and none but those who have in their hearts the principle of holiness can appreciate ineffable Purity. Such an assumption as the one we have just mentioned ignores the solemn fact of human depravity: the heart of fallen man is “desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). How can the Holy One appear attractive to those who are full of sin!?
Nothing so clearly evidences the condition of the human heart, and so solemnly demonstrates its corruption, as its attitude toward the Christ of God. There is much recorded against man in the Old Testament Scriptures, as for example in Psalm 14:1-4; yet dark as is the picture there drawn of fallen human nature, it fades into insignificance before what the New Testament sets before us. “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7), and never was this so frightfully patent as when He was manifested in flesh. “If I had not come,” declared Christ, “and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin” (John 15:22). The appearing of Christ has fully exposed man, bringing to light as nothing else ever has the desperate wickedness of his heart. Now let us ask and supply answer to three questions: Who was (and still is) “despised and rejected of men?” Why is He so grievously slighted? In what way is He scorned?
Who was so unwelcome here? We answer, first, the One who pressed upon men the absolute sovereignty of God. Few things are so distasteful to the proud human heart as the truth that God does as He pleases, without in anywise consulting with the creature; that He dispenses His favours entirely according to His imperial will. Fallen man has no claims upon Him, is destitute of any merit, and can do nothing whatever to win God's esteem. Fallen man is a spiritual pauper, entirely dependent upon Divine charity, and in the bestowal of His mercies God is regulated by naught but His own “good pleasure.” “Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine own?” (Matt. 20:15) is His own unanswerable challenge: yet, as the context there shows, man wickedly murmurs against this.
Now the Lord Jesus came here to glorify His Father, and therefore do we find Him maintaining His crown-rights and emphasising His sovereignty. In His first message, in the Capernaum synagogue, He pointed out that though there were many widows in Israel during the days of Elijah, when there was a great famine throughout all the land, unto none of them was the Prophet sent, save unto one at Zarephath; and that though there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, none of them were healed, yet distinguishing mercy was shown unto Naaman the Syrian. The sequel was, “All they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong” (Luke 4:28, 29). For pressing the truth of God's absolute sovereignty, Christ was “despised and rejected of men.”
Who was so unwelcome here? Second, the One who upheld God's Law. Therein is the Divine authority expressed, and complete subjection thereto is required from the creature; and therefore did Christ press the demands of God's Law upon man. Said He, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matt. 5:17); “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12). But fallen men resent restraints, and want to be a law unto themselves, and their language concerning God and His Christ is “Let us break Their bands asunder, and cast away Their cords from us” (Psa. 2:3). Because the Lord Jesus enforced the requirements of the Decalogue He was “despised and rejected of men.” A solemn illustration of this occurs in John 7. To the Jews He said, “Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you keepeth the Law? Why go ye about to kill Me?” (v. 19). And what was their response? This, “The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil” (v. 20).
Who was so unwelcome here? Third, the One who denounced human tradition in the religious sphere. Despite the Fall, man is essentially a religious creature—the image of God in which he was originally created has not been completely destroyed. The world over, blacks and whites, reds and yellows, pay homage to gods of their own devising, and there are few things on which they are more tender than their sacerdotal superstitions: he who condemns or even criticizes the devotees of any form or order of worship, will be greatly disliked. Now Christ drew upon Himself the hatred of Israel's leaders by His denunciation of their inventions. He charged them with “making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition” (Mark 7:13). When He cleansed the temple, the chief priests and scribes were “sore displeased” (Matt. 21:15).
Who was so unwelcome here? Fourth, the One who repudiated an empty profession. Nothing so infuriated the Jews as Christ's exposure and denunciation of their vain pretensions. Being omniscient, it was impossible to impose upon Him; being inflexibly righteous, He could not accept deceptions; being absolutely holy, He must insist upon sincerity and reality. When they declared “Abraham is our father,” He answered, “If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.” When they added “we have one Father, even God,” He replied, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me . . . ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” This so riled them that they exclaimed, “Say we not well Thou are a Samaritan, and hast a demon” (John 8:39-48).
On another occasion the Jews asked Him, “How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10:24). He at once exposed their hypocrisy by saying, “I told you, and ye believed not . . . . . but ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep . . . My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:25-27). So angered were they at this that they “took stones again to stone Him.” Men will not tolerate One who pierces their religious disguise, exposes their shams, and repudiates their fair but empty profession. It is just the same today.
Who was so unwelcome here? Fifth, the One who exposed and denounced sin. Ah, this explains why Christ was not wanted here. He was a constant thorn in their sides: His holiness condemned their unholiness. Men wish to go their own way, to please themselves, to gratify their lusts. They want to be comfortable in their wickedness: therefore they resent that which searches the heart, pierces the conscience, rebukes their evil. Christ was absolutely uncompromising. He would not wink at wrong doing, but unsparingly denounced it, in whosoever it was found. He boldly affirmed, “For judgment I am come into this world” (John 9:41), that is, to discover men's secret characters, to prove they are blind in spiritual things, to demonstrate they loved darkness rather than light. His Person and preaching tried everything and everyone He came into contact with.
Why was (and is) Christ “despised and rejected of men”? First, because He required inward purity. Herein is the great difference between all human religions and the Divine: the former concern themselves with external performances, but the latter with the source of all conduct. “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). It was Christ's exposition and enforcement of this truth which made Him so unpopular with the leaders. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matt. 23:25-28).
Why was Christ “despised and rejected of men”? Second, because He demanded repentance. “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15) was His claimant call: that order is unchanging, for it is impossible to savingly believe the Gospel till the heart be contrite. Repentance is taking sides with God against ourselves: it is the unsparing judgment of ourselves because of our high-handed rebellion. It is a ceasing to love and tolerate sin and excusing ourselves for the commission of it. It is a mourning before God because of our transgressions of His holy Law. And therefore did Christ teach, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3), for He would not condone evil. He came to save His people from their sins, and not in them.
Why was Christ “despised and rejected of men”? Third, because He insisted on the denial of self, and this at two principal points, namely, the indulging and the exalting of self. All fleshly lusts are to be unsparingly mortified, and self-righteousness is allowed no place under the Gospel scheme. This was made unmistakably plain by our Lord's teaching: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). Yet nothing is more contrary to the desires of the natural man, and Christ's insistence upon these terms of discipleship causes Him to be “despised and rejected of men.”
How is Christ “despised and rejected of men? In different ways and in varying degrees: professedly and practically, in words and in works. It is most important that this should be clearly recognized, for Satan deceives a great many souls at this point. He deludes them into supposing that because they are not guilty of what pertains to the avowed infidel and blatant atheist, therefore they are innocent of the fearful sin of slighting and defying the Lord Jesus. Ah, my reader, the solemn fact remains that there are millions of people in Christendom who though not atheists and infidels, yet despise and reject the Christ of God. “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16). That verse clearly enunciates this principle.
Because of the limited space at our disposal, we are obliged to condense this last division so that the preacher will have to develop it for himself. Christ's authority is “despised” by those who disregard His precepts and commandments. Christ's yoke is “rejected” by those who are determined to be lord over themselves. Christ's glory is “despised” by those who bear His name yet have no concern whether their walk honours Him or no. Christ's Gospel is “rejected” by those who on the one hand affirm that sinners may be saved without repenting of and turning away from their sins, and on the other hand by those who teach that Heaven may be won by our own good works.
There are some who intellectually reject Christ, by repudiating His claims, denying that He is God the Son, assumed a holy and impeccable humanity, and died a vicarious death to save His people from their sins. There are others who virtually and practically reject Christ. Just as there are those who profess to believe in the existence of God, own His power, and talk about His wondrous handiwork, yet who have not His fear upon them and are not in subjection to Him; so there are many who claim to trust in the finished work of Christ, yet their daily walk is no different from that of thousands of respectable worldlings. They profess to be Christian, yet are covetous, unscrupulous, untruthful, proud, self-willed, uncharitable; in a word, utterly unChristlike.—A.W.P.
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