spectacle to public executions. The common was in effect the south London equivalent of Tyburn and there are records of executions all through the time of cricket’s tenure. The gallows was located where St. Mark’s Church now stands, not far from Oval tube station. See Explorer “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennington_Common”
Christ — The Power And Wisdom Of God
No. 132-3:201. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, May 17, 1857, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. {1 Corinthians 1:24}
1. Unbelief towards the Gospel of Christ is the most unreasonable thing in all the world, because the reason which the unbeliever gives for his unbelief is fairly answered by the character and constitution of the Gospel of Christ. Notice that before this verse we read, — “The Jews required a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom.” If you met the Jew who did not believe on Christ in the apostle’s day, he said, “I cannot believe, because I want a sign”; and if you met the Greek, he said, “I cannot believe, because I want a philosophic system, one that is full of wisdom.” “Now,” says the apostle, “both these objections are untenable and unreasonable. If you suppose that the Jew requires a sign, that sign is given to him; Christ is the power of God. The miracles that Christ wrought upon earth were signs more than sufficiently abundant; and if the Jewish people had only the will to believe, they would have found abundant signs and reasons for believing in the personal acts of Christ and his apostles.” And let the Greeks say, “I cannot believe because I require a wise system: oh Greek, Christ is the wisdom of God. If you would only investigate the subject, you would find in it profoundness of wisdom — a depth where the most gigantic intellect might be drowned. It is no shallow gospel, but a deep, and a great deep too, a deep which passes all understanding. Your objection is ill founded; for Christ is the wisdom of God, and his gospel is the highest of all sciences. If you wish to find wisdom, you must find it in the word of revelation.”
2. Now, this morning, we shall try to bring out these two thoughts of the gospel; and it may be that God shall bless what we shall say to the removing of the objection of either Jew or Greek; that the one requiring a sign may see it in the power of God in Christ, and that he who requires wisdom may behold it in the wisdom of God in Christ. We shall understand our text in a threefold manner: — Christ, that is, Christ personally, is “the power of God and the wisdom of God”; Christ, that is, Christ’s Gospel, is “the power of God and the wisdom of God”; Christ, that is, Christ in the heart — true religion, is “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
3. I. First, to begin, then, with CHRIST PERSONALLY. Christ considered as God and man, the Son of God equal with his Father, and yet the man, born of the Virgin Mary. Christ, in his complex person, is “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” He is the power of God from all eternity. “By his word were the heavens made, and all the host of them.” “The Word was God, and the Word was with God.” “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” The pillars of the earth were placed in their everlasting sockets by the omnipotent right hand of Christ; the curtains of the heavens were drawn upon their rings of starry light by him who was from everlasting the All Glorious Son of God. The orbs that float aloft in ether, those ponderous planets, and those mighty stars, were placed in their positions, or sent rolling through space by the eternal strength of him who is “the First and the Last,” “the Prince of the kings of the earth.” Christ is the power of God, for he is the Creator of all things, and by him all things exist.
4. But when he came to earth, took upon himself the fashion of a man, tabernacled in the inn, and slept in the manger, he still gave proof that he was the Son of God; not so much so when, as an infant of a span long, the immortal was the mortal, and the infinite became a babe; not so much so in his youth, but afterwards when he began his public ministry, he gave abundant proofs of his power and Godhead. The winds hushed by his finger uplifted, the waves calmed by his voice, so that they became solid as marble beneath his tread; the tempest, cowering at his feet, as before a conqueror whom it knew and obeyed; these things, these stormy elements, the wind, the tempest, and the water, gave full proof of his abundant power. The lame man leaping, the deaf man hearing, the dumb man singing, the dead rising, these, again, were proofs that he was the “power of God.” When the voice of Jesus startled the shades of the Hades, and rent the bonds of death, with “Lazarus come forth!” and when the carcass rotten in the tomb woke up to life, there was proof of his divine power and Godhead. A thousand other proofs he afforded; but we need not stop to mention them to you who have Bibles in your houses, and who can read them every day. At last he yielded up his life, and was buried in the tomb. Not long, however, did he sleep; for he gave another proof of his divine power and Godhead, when springing up from his slumber, he frightened the guards with the majesty of his grandeur, not being held by the bonds of death, they being like green withes before our conquering Samson, who had meanwhile pulled up the gates of hell, and carried them on his shoulders far away.
5. That he is the power of God now, Scripture very positively affirms; for it is written “he sits at the right hand of God.” He has the reins of Providence gathered in his hands; the fleet chargers of time are driven by him who sits in the chariot of the world, and bids its wheels run around; and he shall bid them stop when it shall please him. He is the great umpire of all disputes, the great Sovereign Head of the church, the Lord of heaven, and death, and hell; and by and by we know that he shall come,
On fiery clouds and wings of wind,
Appointed judge of all mankind;
and then the quickened dead, the startled myriads, the divided firmaments, the “Depart you cursed,” and the “Come, you blessed,” shall proclaim him to be the power of God, who has power over all flesh to save or to condemn, as it pleases him.
6. But he is equally “the wisdom of God.” The great things that he did before all worlds were proofs of his wisdom. He planned the way of salvation; he devised the system of atonement and substitution; he laid the foundations of the great plan of salvation. There was wisdom. But he built the heavens by wisdom, and he laid the pillars of light, upon which the firmament is balanced, by his skill and wisdom. See the world; and learn, as you see all its multitudinous proofs of the wisdom of God, that there you have the wisdom of Christ; for he was the Creator of it. And when he became a man, he gave proofs enough of wisdom. Even in childhood, when he made the doctors sit abashed by the questions that he asked, he showed that he was more than mortal. And when Pharisee and Sadducee and Herodian were all at last defeated, and their nets were broken, he proven again the superlative wisdom of the Son of God. And when those who came to take him, stood enchained by his eloquence, spellbound by his marvellous oratory, there again was another proof, that he was the wisdom of God, who could so enchain the minds of men. And now that he intercedes before the throne of God, now that he is our Advocate before the throne, the pledge and surety for the blessed, now that the reins of government are in his hands, and are ever wisely directed, we have abundant proofs that the wisdom of God is in Christ, as well as the power of God. Bow before him, you who love him; bow before him, you who desire him! Crown him, crown him, crown him! He is worthy of it, to him is everlasting might; to him is unswerving wisdom: bless his name; exalt him; clap your wings, you seraphs; cry aloud, you cherubim; shout, shout, shout, to his praise, you ransomed host above. And you, oh men that know his grace, extol him in your songs for ever, for he is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
7. II. But now Christ, that is, Christ’s GOSPEL, is the power and the wisdom of God.
8. 1. Christ’s gospel is a thing of divine power. Do you want proofs of it? You shall not go far. How could Christ’s
