Hope shall rise thy soul within.”

Brethren, all the gifts which Jesus Christ came to give, or at least most of them, imply that there is sin. What is his first gift but pardon? How can he pardon a man who has not transgressed? With all reverence do I speak, there can be no such thing as pardon where there is no offence committed. Propitiation for sin and blotting out of iniquity both require that there must be sin to be blotted out, or what is there real about them? Christ comes to bring justification, and this shows that there must be a lack of natural holiness in men, for if not they would be justified by themselves and by their own works. And why all this outcry about justification by the righteousness of the Son of God if men are already justified by a righteousness of their own? Those two blessings, and others of the same kind, are clearly applicable only to sinful men. To no other men can they be of any use.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came girded also with divine power. He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” To what end was he girded with divine power unless it be because sin had taken all power and strength from man, and man was in a condition out of which he could not be lifted except by the energy of the eternal Spirit? And what does this imply but that Christ’s errand bears upon those who through sin are without strength and without merit before God? The Holy Spirit is given because man’s spirit has failed: because sin has taken the life out of man, and made him dead in trespasses and sins, therefore comes the Holy Spirit to quicken him into newness of life, and that Spirit comes by Jesus Christ. Therefore the errand of Jesus Christ is manifestly to the guilty.

I will not omit to say that the great deeds of our Lord, if you look at them carefully, all bear upon sinners. Jesus lives; it is that he may seek and save that which is lost. Jesus dies; it is that he may make a propitiation for the sins of guilty men. Jesus rises; he rises again for our justification, and as I have shown, we should not want justification unless we had been naturally guilty. Jesus ascends on high, and he receives gifts for men; but note that special word, “Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell among them.” Jesus lives in heaven, but he lives there to intercede. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” So take whatever part of his glorious achievements you please you will find that there is a distinct bearing towards those who are immersed in guilt.

And beloved, all the gifts and blessings that Jesus Christ has brought to us derive much of their radiance from their bearing upon sinners. It is in Christ Jesus that we are elect, and to my mind the glory of electing love lies in this, that it pitched upon such undeserving objects. How had there been any election had it been according to merit? Then men would have taken rank by right according to their own deeds, but election’s glories are brilliant with grace, and grace always has for its foil and background the unworthiness of the objects towards whom it is manifested. The election of God is not according to our works, but it is a gracious election of sinners. Adore and wonder.

Turn you to effectual calling, and see how delightful it is to view that calling as a calling from among the dead, as a calling of the things that are not as though they were, as a calling of condemned ones into forgiveness and favour. Turn ye next to adoption. What is the glory of adoption, but that God has adopted those who were strangers and rebels to make them his children? What is the peculiar beauty of regeneration, but that he has been able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham? What is the beauty of sanctification, but that he has taken such unholy creatures as we are to make us kings and priests unto God, and to sanctify us wholly-spirit, soul, and body? To my mind it is the glory of heaven to think that yonder white-robed choristers were once foully defiled; those happy worshippers were once rebels against God. It is a happy sight to see the unfallen angels who have kept their first estate, perfectly pure and for ever praising God; but the vision of fallen men divinely restored is more full of the glory of God. Lift as they may their joyful voices in perpetual chorales the angels can never reach the special sweetness of that song-“We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” They cannot experimentally enter into that truth which is of Jehovah’s name its crowning glory-“Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.”

Thus I have abundantly shown that the further we look the more clear it is that the gospel is aimed at sinners and especially intended for their benefit.

Now, thirdly, it is evident that it is our wisdom to accept the situation. I know that to many this is very unpalatable doctrine. Well, friend, you had better have your palate altered, for you will never be able to alter the doctrine. It is the truth of the everlasting God, and cannot be changed. The very best thing you can do, since the gospel looks towards sinners, is to get where the gospel looks; and I can recommend this to you, not merely on the ground of policy, but on the ground of honesty, because you will be only in your right place when you get there. I think I hear you raising objections. “I do not admire this system. Am I to be saved in the same way as the dying thief?” Precisely so, sir, unless there should happen to be even more grace shown towards you than to him. “But you do not mean to assert that in the matter of salvation I am to be put on a level with the woman that was a sinner? I have been pure and chaste, and am I to owe my salvation just as much to the absolute mercy of God as she did?” Yes, sir, I do say that, exactly as it stands. There is but one principle upon which the Lord saves men, and it is that of pure grace. I want you to understand this. Even if it grinds like grit between your teeth, and makes you angry; I shall not regret it so long as you know what I mean; for the truth may yet find entrance into your soul, and you may yet bow before its power. Oh, you children of godly parents, you young people of excellent morals and delicate consciences, to you I speak, even to you. Rejoice in your privileges, but do not boast in them, for you too have sinned, you have sinned against light and knowledge, you know you have. If you have not plunged into the grosser sins in act and deed, yet in desire and in imagination you have gone far enough astray, and in many things you have offended grievously against God. If, with these considerations before you, you take your place as a sinner you will not be disgraced, but be merely standing where you certainly are.

And then remember, if you get the blessing this way, you will have obtained it in the safest possible way. Suppose there are a number of guest chambers, and I have my seat in one of the best of them, I may have no right to be there. I am eating and drinking of what is provided for superior guests, but my ticket does not mark me out as one of these, and therefore I am ill at ease. Every mouthful that I eat I think to myself, “I do not know whether I shall be allowed to remain here, perhaps the Lord of the feast will come in and say to me, ‘Friend how camest thou in hither?’ and I must begin with shame to take the lowest room.” Brethren, when we begin at the bottom, and sit in the lowest room we feel safe, we are satisfied that what we do get is meant for us, and will not be taken away from us. Perhaps, also, when the king comes he may take us up to a higher room. There is nothing like beginning in the lowliest place. When I lay hold of the promise as a saint I have my doubts about it, but when I grasp it as a sinner I can have no question. If the Lord bid me feed on his mercy as his child I do it, but the devil whispers that I am presuming, for I never was really adopted by grace; but when I come to Jesus as a guilty, undeserving sinner, and take what the Lord freely presents to me upon believing, the devil himself cannot tell me that I am not a sinner, or if he does the lie is too transparent, and causes me no distress. There is nothing like having an indefeasible title, and if the description given to you in the title is that you are a sinner, it is an indisputable one, for depend upon it a sinner you are. So the sinner’s place is your true place and your safest place.

Another blessing is, it is a place into which you can get directly, even at this very moment. If the gospel looks towards men in a certain state of heart in which there are commendable virtues, then how long will it take me to raise my heart to that state? If Jesus Christ comes into the world to save men who have a certain measure of excellence, then how long will it take me to obtain that excellence? I may be taken sick and die within half-an-hour, and hear the sentence of eternal judgment, and it would be poor gospel to tell me that I might possibly obtain salvation if I attained a state which would take me several months to reach. At this hour I, a dying man, do know that I may be gone out of this world and beyond the reach of mercy within an hour; what a comfort it is that the gospel comes to me and gives itself to me just now, even as it finds me! I am already in that position in which grace begins with men, for I am a sinner, and I have only to own that I am so. Now then, poor soul, just sit thee down before the Lord and say, “Lord, does thy Son come to save the guilty? I am such, and I trust him to save me. Did he die for the ungodly? I am such, Lord, I trust in his blood to cleanse me. Was his death for sinners? Lord, I take up the position. I plead guilty. I accept the sentence of thy law as being just, but save me, Lord, for Jesus died.” It is done; you are saved. Go in peace, my son; thy sins, which are many, are forgiven thee. Go, my daughter, go thy way, and rejoice: the Lord hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die, for he that believeth is justified from all sin. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Get, then, into your true position, accept the situation in which grace considers you to be. Do not talk of justice and merit; but appeal to pity and love. A certain man had several times plotted against the first Napoleon, and eventually, being entirely in the emperor’s hands, sentence of death was pronounced upon him. His daughter earnestly pleaded for his life, and at last, having obtained an audience with the emperor, she fell upon her knees before him. “My girl,” said the emperor, “it is of no use to plead for your father, for I have the clearest evidence of his repeated crimes, and it is but justice that he should die.” The girl replied,” Sire, I do not ask for justice, I beg for mercy. It is upon the mercifulness of your heart and not upon the justice of the case that I rely.” She was heard patiently, and her father’s life was spared at her request. Imitate this appeal, and cry, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness.” Justice owes you nothing but death, mercy alone can spare you. Have done with every idea of making out a good case: admit it to be a bad one and plead guilty. Cast yourself upon the mercy of the court and ask for mercy, free mercy, undeserved mercy, gratuitous favour: this is what you must ask for, and as in law they have a form of suing called in formâ pauperis, that is, in the form of a pauper, do you adopt the method, and as a man full of necessities do you beg for favour at the hands of God, in formâ pauperis, and it shall be bestowed upon you.

Now I close this discourse with the next point, which is, this doctrine has a great sanctifying influence. “There,” says one, “I do not believe that. Surely you have been holding out a premium to sin by saying that Christ came to save nobody but sinners, and does not call anybody to repentance but the sinful.” My dear sirs, I have heard all that sort of talk so many times that I know it by heart; the same objections were raised against this doctrine in Luther’s day by the Papists, and since then by workmongers of all classes. There is nothing substantial in their notion that free grace is opposed to morality: it is only their fancy. They dream that the doctrine of justification by faith will lead to sin, but it can be proved by history that whenever this doctrine has been best preached men have become most holy, and whenever this truth has been darkened, all manner of corruption has abounded. Gracious doctrine and gracious living fitly go together, and legal teaching and unlawful living are generally found associated.

Let us show you the sanctifying power of this gospel. Its first operation in that direction is this: when the Holy Spirit brings the truth of free pardon home to a man it completely changes his thoughts concerning God. “What,” says he, “has God freely forgiven me all my offences for Christ’s sake? And does he love me notwithstanding all my sin? I did not know he was such an one as this, so gracious and kind! I thought he was hard; I called him a tyrant, gathering where he had not strewed; but does he feel towards me like this?” “Then,” saith the soul, “I love him in return.” There is a complete revulsion of feeling; the man is turned right round as soon as ever he understands redeeming grace and dying love. Conversion follows on a sight of grace.

Moreover, this grand truth does more than turn a man, it inspires, melts, enlivens, and inflames him. This is a truth which stirs the deeps of the heart, and fills the man with lively emotions. You talked to him about doing good, and about right, and justice, and reward, and punishment, and he heard it all, and it may have it had a measure of influence over him, but he did not deeply feel it. Such teaching is too cold to warm the heart. The truth which comes home to the man appears to him to be new and exciting. It runs like this,-God out of his free mercy forgives the guilty, and he has forgiven you. Why, this awakens him, stirs him up, touches the fountain of his tears, and moves his whole being. Perhaps at the first hearing of the gospel he does not care for it, and even hates it, but when it comes with power it obtains a wonderful mastery over him. When he really receives its message as his own, then his cold heart of stone is turned to flesh; warm emotion, tender love, humble desire, and a sacred longing after the Lord are all excited in his bosom. The quickening power of this divine truth, as well as the converting power of it, can never be too much admired.

Besides, this truth when it enters the heart deals a deadly blow at the man’s self-conceit. Many a man would have become wise only he thought he was so already; and many a man would have been virtuous only he concluded that he had already attained thereto. Behold, this doctrine smites upon the skull all confidence in your own goodness, and makes you feel your guilt; and in so doing it removes the great evil of pride. A sense of sin is the very threshold of mercy. A consciousness of shortcoming, a grief because of past offences, is a necessary preparation for a higher and a nobler life. The gospel digs out the foundation, makes a great vacuum, and so makes room to lay in their places the glorious stones of a noble spiritual character.

Moreover, where this truth is received there is sure to spring up in the soul a sense of gratitude. The man who has had much forgiven will be sure to love much in return. Gratitude to God is a grand mainspring for holy action. Those who do right in order to be rewarded for it are acting selfishly. Selfishness is at the bottom of their character, they abstain from sin only lest self should suffer, and they obey only that self may be safe and happy. The man who does right, not because of heaven or hell, but because God has saved him, and he loves the God who saved him, is the truly right-loving man. He who loves right because God loves it has risen out of the bog of selfishness and is capable of the loftiest virtue, yea, he has in him a living spring, which will well up and flow forth in holy living so long as he exists.

And, dear brethren, I think you will all see that free forgiveness to sinners is very conducive towards one part of a true character, namely, readiness to forgive others, for he who has been forgiven much himself is the very man who finds it easy to pass by the transgressions of others. If be do not so he may well doubt whether he has been himself forgiven; but if the Lord has blotted out his debt of a thousand talents he will readily enough forgive the hundred pence which his brother owes him.

Last of all, some of us know, and we wish that all knew by personal experience, that a sense of undeserved favour and free forgiveness is the very soul of enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is to Christianity what the lifeblood is to the body. Were you ever made enthusiastic by a cold discourse upon the excellence of morality? Did you ever feel your soul stirred within you by listening to a sermon upon the rewards of virtue? Were you ever made enthusiastic by being told of the punishments of the law? No, sirs; but preach up the doctrines of grace, let the free favour of God be extolled, and mark the consequences. There are people who will walk for many miles and stand without weariness by the hour together to hear this. I have known them labour many a weary mile to listen to this doctrine. What for? Because the man was eloquent, or because he put it well? Not so: it has sometimes been badly spoken, and in uncouth language, and yet this doctrine has always aroused the people. There is something in the soul of man that is looking out for the gospel of grace, and when it comes there is a hungering to hear about it. Look at the Reforming times, when death was the penalty of listening to a sermon: how the people crowded at midnight; how they journeyed into the deserts and the caves to listen to the teaching of these grand old truths. There is sweetness about mercy, divine mercy, freely given, which holds the ear of man and stirs his heart. When this truth enters the soul it breeds zealots, martyrs, confessors, missionaries, saints. If any Christians are in earnest, and full of love to God and man, they are those who know what grace has done for them. If any remain under reproaches faithful, under losses and crosses joyful, they are those who are conscious of their indebtedness to divine love. If any delight in God while they live, and rest in him as they die, they are the men who know that they are justified by faith in Jesus Christ who justifieth the ungodly. All glory be to the Lord, who lifteth the beggar from the dunghill and setteth him among princes, even the princes of his people. He takes the very cast-offs of the world and adopts them into his family, and makes them heirs of God by Jesus Christ. The Lord give us all to know the power of the gospel upon our sinful selves. The Lord endear to us the name, work, and person of the Sinner’s Friend. May we never forget the hole of the pit whence we were drawn, nor the hand which rescued us, nor the undeserved kindness which moved that hand. Henceforth let us have more and more to say of infinite grace. “Free grace and dying love.” Well does the negro song say, “Ring those charming bells.” Free grace and dying love-the sinner’s windows of hope! Our hearts exult in the very words. Glory be unto thee, O Lord Jesus, ever full of compassion. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Galatians 3.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-152, 545, 239.