The publicans and harlots would go into the Kingdom—they would go in, Jesus said, ahead of some of those respectable, cold-hearted Pharisees who were scandalized at such talk. He knew the capacity for moral renewal which lies in waiting in every heart, and He knew His own power to call that capacity into effective action. "I am the door," He said, "to newness of life. By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. He shall go in and out and find pasture." Security, liberty, sustenance, they would all be his!
My mind goes back to a man in one of my former parishes. He kept a little store, but he neglected his business in order to get drunk. The wolf was often at his door. He had a good wife and two lovely daughters, but he had broken their hearts by his evil ways. He would become so intoxicated that he would not know his own name nor the street he lived on. When he was coming out of such debauches he would go about dirty, blear-eyed, trembling, asking every man he met to give him money to get another drink.
Then there came a day when that man's heredity was not changed, his environment was not changed, but his heart was changed. He put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and was turned into another man. He became at once sober, reliable, industrious, affectionate, aspiring. He put a smile on his wife's face which is there yet. He began to take care of his store and of his family. He became an honoured and useful citizen, chosen to positions of trust by his fellow men. He has now gone to his reward, but if he hears what I am saying he would tell you that it is all true. He would tell you also that he owed this change to the transforming power of the Son of God, the Saviour of men.
How the world changes and for the better! When Jesus Christ was here they said of Him, "He receiveth sinners and eateth with them." They said it with a sneer. When William Booth, the head of the Salvation Army, did the same thing they said of him, "He receiveth sinners," but they regarded it as the glory of his life. The first century saw the Son of Man scorned and spat upon for receiving sinners and eating with them. The twentieth century saw William Booth received at court by King Edward VII and honoured with a degree from Oxford University for receiving sinners. The world moves; there is sunrise everywhere and the promise of a brighter day! And this great change has been wrought by the One who brought upon the earth a finer form of spiritual energy to renew the hearts of men.
And finally this young man set in the sky of human aspiration a fixed star of hope. You cannot change the world by scolding it. You cannot change the world by petting it. You must set before its eyes a vision of God and in its heart a passion for goodness, and in its will a form of strength that will not accept defeat, and in its sky a star of hope.
"Strong Son of God, Immortal Love
Whom we that have not seen Thy face
By faith and faith alone embrace
Believing where we cannot prove."
Jesus Christ has done that for us all—"Believing where we cannot prove!" He has taught us how to hope and to trust and in that sign to conquer.
He tasted the whole human situation for every man. He was tempted in all points like as we are, and tried by those ordeals which culminated on Calvary. "In this world," He said, "ye shall have tribulation." The word He used means literally "pressure." Life is not all music and refreshments. Every honest life must be lived under pressure. It is compelled to do its work under the steady weight of duty, obligation, responsibility. It is compelled to fight a good fight in order to keep its faith and finish its course.
In the end that is the making of any life. Steam does all its work under pressure. Turn it loose in the air to go where it will and it becomes useless. In this world we must live under pressure. But Jesus bade men face it all undaunted and radiant. He planted in their lives an eternal hope, "Be of good cheer. I have overcome—you can."
He knew that His own purposes were entirely right—"I do always those things that please the Father." He knew that He was strongly entrenched in the love and confidence of those who knew Him best. He knew that the great moral order was on His side and that He could afford to wait for results. In that high confidence He moved ahead as serene as the sun shining in its strength. "Be of good cheer," He cried, when He stood within a hundred yards of Calvary.