God is a good thing — ah, but we are adopted in Christ Jesus and made joint-heirs with him. Pardon is a good thing — who will not say so? — indeed, but we are pardoned through the precious blood of Jesus. Justification — is that not a noble thing, to be robed about with a perfect righteousness? — indeed, but we are justified in Jesus. To be preserved — is not that a precious thing? — indeed; but we are preserved in Christ Jesus, and kept by his power even to the end. Perfection — who shall say that this is not precious? Well, but we are perfect in Christ Jesus. Resurrection, is not that glorious? We are risen with him. To ascend up on high, is not that precious? But he has raised us up and made us sit together with him in heavenly places in Jesus Christ — so that Christ must be good positively, for he is all the best things in one. And if all these are good, surely he must be good in whom, and by whom, and to whom, and through whom are all these precious things.
15. But Christ is good comparatively. Bring anything here and compare it with him. One of the brightest jewels we can have is liberty. If I am not free, let me die. Put the halter to my neck but do not put the fetter on my wrist — I must be a free man while I live. Will not the patriot say that he would give his blood to buy liberty, and think it to be a cheap price? Indeed, but put liberty side by side with Christ, and I would wear the fetter for Christ and rejoice in the chain. The apostle Paul himself could say, “I wish that you were altogether like me,” — and he might add, “except for these bonds,” but though he excluded bonds for others, he did not exclude them for himself, for he rejoiced in the chain and counted it a mark of honour. Besides liberty, what a precious thing life is! “Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life.” But let a Christian — a true Christian, once have the choice between life and Christ, — “No,” he says, “I can die, but I cannot deny; I can burn, but I cannot turn. I confess Christ and perish in the flame; but I cannot deny Christ, even though you exalt me to a throne.” There would be no choice between the two. And then whatever earthly good there may be in comparison with Christ, the believer’s testimony goes to prove that Christ is precious comparatively, for there is nothing that can match him.
16. And then to go higher still — Christ is good superlatively. The superlative of all things is heaven, and if it could be possible to put Christ in competition with heaven, the Christian would not hesitate for a moment in his choice; he would sooner be on earth with Christ than be in heaven without him. No, I do not know whether he would not go almost as far as Rutherford, who said, “Lord, I would sooner be in hell with you than in heaven without you; for if I were in heaven without you it would be a hell to me; and if I were in hell with you it would be a heaven to me.” We may put it so, and every Christian will subscribe to it. Now, come oh messengers of the world and take on your shoulders all its treasures. Caesar, pour out your gold in one glittering pile; Caesar, lay down your honours here in one gaudy heap; here, Tiberius, bring all the joys of Capri’s lust and vice; Solomon, bring here all the treasures of wisdom; Alexander, bring all your triumphs; Napoleon, bring your wide spread empire and your fame, put them all here, all that earth calls good; and now come, you bleeding Lamb of God, you marred and matchless Saviour, come here and tread these beneath your feet, for what are all these compared with you? I pour contempt on them all. Now I am dead to all the world and all the world is dead to me. The whole realm of nature is small in comparison with you, as a drop in the bucket when compared with a boundless ocean. Jesus Christ, then, is precious superlatively.
17. 2. What more can we say? Still to answer this question again: “Why is Christ precious to the believer more than to any other man?” Why it is the believers’ needs that make Christ precious to him. That is one answer. We have been having a small shower of rain lately, and I dare say there are very few of you who felt grateful for it; since it made you a little wet coming here. But suppose that shower of rain could have fallen on the desert of Arabia, what a precious thing it would have been. Yes, every rain drop would have been worth a pearl; and as for the shower, though it had rained gold dust, the rich deposit would not have been comparable to the flood when it descended from on high. But what is the reason that water is so precious there? Simply because it is so rare. Suppose I am in England; there is abundance of water and I cannot sell it; water is so common, and therefore so cheap. But put a man in the desert and let the water skin be dried up, let him come to the well where he expected to find water, and it has failed him; can you not conceive that that small drop of water might be worth a king’s ransom? No, that a man might hoard it up, and conceal it from all his comrades, because his life depended on that small drop of water? The way to prize water is to value it with a tongue like a firebrand, and with a mouth like an oven. Then I can estimate its value when I know how scarce it is. So with Christ. The worldling does not care for Christ, because he has never hungered and thirsted after him; but the Christian is thirsty for Christ; he is in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, and his heart and his flesh pant after God, yes for the living God; and as the thirsty man dying, cries out water, water, water, so the Christian cries out Christ, Christ, Christ! This is the one thing needful for me, and if I do not have it, this thirst must destroy me.
18. Note too, that the believer may be found in many situations, and you will always find that his needs will endear Christ to him. Here is a man about to be tried for his life. Before he had committed the wrong, he used to say, “Lawyers, attorneys, pleaders, away with them, what is the good of them?” Now that he has been imprisoned, he thinks very differently. He says, “I wish I could get a good special pleader to plead my cause”; and he runs over the list to find the best man to plead for him. At last he says, “Here is a man, if he could plead my cause I might hope to escape, but I have no money with which to engage him”; and he says to his wife — “Wife, we must sell our house”; or, “We must get money somehow, for I am on trial for my life, and I must have an advocate.” And what will a woman not do to get an advocate for her husband? Why, she will pledge the last rag she has to get one. Now, does not the believer feel himself to be in just such a position? He is a poor sinner on trial for his life, and he needs an advocate; and every time he sees Christ pleading his cause before the Father’s throne, he says, “Oh what a precious Christ he is to a poor sin destroyed sinner, for he pleads his cause before the throne.”
19. But imagine another case; that of a man drafted for a soldier. In such times men always looked for substitutes. I remember when the draft was coming for the militia, how every man joined a substitute club in order that if he were drafted he himself might not have to go. Now suppose a man had been drafted, how valuable would a substitute have been — for no man in his senses likes to be food for gunpowder — he would rather a man without brains go and do such work as that, but as for him he estimates himself at too high a price. But suppose he is not only drafted for a soldier, but condemned to die. See that poor wretch coming up the gallows stairs, someone whispers to him, “What would you give for a substitute now? What would you give for someone to come and bear this punishment?” See his eye rolls madness at the thought. “A substitute,” he says, “I could not buy one for the whole world. Who would be a substitute for me, to swing into eternity amidst the yellings of a crowd?” But suppose — and we are only supposing what has actually occurred — suppose this man saw not only the gallows and the drop, but hellfire before him, and it was said to him, “You must burn in that for ever unless you find a substitute,” would that not be a precious one? Now note, that is just our position. The Christian feels that hell is before him, if it were not that he has a glorious substitute. Jesus came forward, and said “I will bear that punishment; pour hell on me, my Father let me drink damnation dry”; and he did it; he endured all those pains, or an equivalent for them; he suffered in the rebel’s place; and now, through him the substitute, we are absolved and free. Oh, must not he be a precious Christ?
20. But think of Christ again, and then think of the believer’s needs. I will try and list a number of them. The believer is a silly sheep. What a precious thing is a shepherd, and how precious are green pastures and still waters. The believer is like a desolate woman. What a precious thing is a husband who shall provide for her, and shall console and cherish her. The believer is a pilgrim, and the hot sun beats on him. What a precious thing is the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The
