It is worthy of notice that Paul, in the passage before us, as indeed in all his writings, exhibits great sensitiveness with regard to sin. The sin which he had himself committed against the Lord Jesus, looked at from some points of view, might have been greatly extenuated on account of the honest, although mistaken, motive which lay at the bottom of it; but Paul, after allowing for his ignorance, declares that of sinners he had been chief, and that he obtained mercy that in him, first, Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. He describes himself as having been “a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious,” and he is evidently lost in grateful astonishment that he should have been saved. This godly sensitiveness with regard to sin was associated in the apostle’s mind with an equally vivid sense of the freeness and richness of divine grace. That Christ died, not for the righteous, but for the guilty, is the great thought which is upon his mind, and he has no hesitancy whatever in declaring it, and in speaking most boldly concerning the exceedingly abundant grace of God in forgiving sin. The union of these two feelings in Paul is, by no means an unusual occurrence among human minds, for you will generally find that the preacher who is most clear in his witness that salvation is by grace, is also the man to whom sin is exceeding sinful. Indeed, all those who prize grace most are men who feel most sorrow concerning their transgressions. All systems of theology, except that which is founded upon free grace, in some way or other take off the edge of guilt. If they try to compromise the business, and make salvation to be partly a matter of human effort and human merit, and partly a work of divine grace, they are sure in the process to conceal the exceeding iniquity of sin. Man is made out to be a poor, weak creature, victimised by a law too rigid for his frailty. It is represented that he has a right to mercy, and a great uproar is made if we deny him any such right; and much anger is felt if we declare that mercy is the sovereign prerogative of God, and may be exercised at his own absolute discretion. Rebellion against divine election is often founded on the idea that the sinner has a sort of right to be saved, and this is to deny the full desert of sin. You will find that he who sets forth free grace as the sole fountain and source of human salvation, and declares that sin is pardoned and put away freely by the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, is most plain and severe in denouncing sin with all his might, and most tender in sorrowing over his own personal iniquities. I shall preach grace to the chief of sinners at this time without reserve, and without guarding my words in any respect whatever; I shall fling the big net of the gospel right into the sea, let it go where it may; but do not, therefore, conclude that we think little of sin. Far from it; it is to us the sum of all abominations, and the fire of hell; and this I trust shall be apparent all along, though for the present we shall confine our thoughts to the greatness of the grace of God, since to that subject our text summons us.

The apostle Paul had been describing himself and his sin; he confessed that he was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, “but,” saith he, “I obtained mercy.” His was an instance of a sinner saved, and he now declares that his case was a type of all others, for Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The tendency is to set up the apostle as an exceptional convert, but he corrects the idea by asserting the grand doctrine that the Saviour’s errand was to those who are guilty and undeserving, among whom he counted himself to be the chief. This coming of Christ to save sinners as sinners he regards as a truth so well known in the Christian church that it had come to be a saying, “familiar in their mouths as household words.” It had become a sort of proverb with Christians that Christ Jesus came to save sinners, and Paul says that it might justly be received as a proverb among all nations, for it was worthy of universal acceptance from the weight of its meaning, the importance of its subjeet, and the divine authority with which it was sealed. Moreover that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners is so true that it is not merely a saying, but a faithful saying, worthy of all confidence, being as sure as the truth of God himself. Pass it round, ye Christians, repeat it among yourselves without the slightest hesitancy or question; let it be a proverb among you, a fact undoubted, a truth unquestionable. For the salvation of sinners Jesus came into the world. He contemplated the saving of no other sort of persons but those who are sinful.

Our first observation from this statement will be that sinners are in an awful condition. A man who needs saving is evidently in a very undesirable state. Now, every man and woman among you this day who has not been saved by Christ Jesus needs saving. You have kept the law, you say, from your youth up, and what do you lack? My answer is that you need saving, notwithstanding your fine ideas about yourselves. But you have been religious also from your earliest recollection, and you do not know that you have ever committed anything very wrong. Dear friend, despite your morality and outward religiousness, we are compelled to tell you that you need saving just as surely as the unchaste or the profane. Despite all that you say in your own favour, you have broken the law of God, and you are a sinner, and as a sinner you are in a terrible position, from which nothing can save you but the hand of God.

For, first, it is a grave peril to be a sinner. You have broken your Maker’s command: is not that a calamity? You have neglected his will, which is holy and just and good, is not that a crying evil? To have a heart which does not choose the right, but which leans to evil, is not that ruinous? To have a mind which does not love God, but cares for itself more than for its Maker and Lord, is not that to be in a diseased state of soul? You are not in a fit state to judge, but holy beings think it so. The polluting influence of sin upon the soul is the direst of all mischiefs, the worst of all destructions: it is spiritual death. From the defiling presence of sin every man needs to be saved.

Moreover, the thrice holy God hates sin with a hatred scarcely to be conceived by any of us, since we have lost the sensitiveness of perfect purity. Whatsoever things are impure, unchaste, untrue, unloving, unrighteous, God loathes with all the infinity of his perfect nature. Doubtless sin is a grief to godly men, but it is far more obnoxious to the Lord our God. “The wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth.” “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination unto the Lord.” The Lord hath fierce indignation against everything that is evil: this is no arbitrary trait of his character, he does not choose to be angry with this or angry with that without a cause, but from the very necessity of his divine nature he must delight in everything that is good, and he must abhor everything that is evil. O sinner, what a plight you are in since there is in you and upon you the sin which God cannot endure. What must your position be, for it is written concerning the Lord, “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity,” and such are you? Can you bear the thought?

Furthermore, you are condemned, and before long this will be made evident to all intelligent beings. There cometh upon the swift wings of time a day in which the Judge of all the earth will lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and every transgression and iniquity shall receive its just recompense of reward. It is not possible that it should be otherwise, for there must come a reaping to every sowing. Idle thoughts and idle words, and evil deeds must bear their fruit, and hence every sinner is in danger of eternal fire. As surely as the righteous through Christ shall go into everlasting happiness, so shall the ungodly depart into everlasting punishment, where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And this may happen to any unpardoned sinner before he has heard the next word which I am about to utter: he may find himself shut out from all hope, eternally shut out from God ere yonder clock shall strike. This is a perilous condition for an immortal soul! Yet every sinner not saved by Christ is in this condition!

To this may be added the further reflection that the sinner is quite unable of himself to escape either from sin itself or from the wrath which he has aroused, or from the punishment which is appointed for his transgressions. What canst thou do, O Ethiopian, to change thy skin? O leopard, how canst thou remove thy spots? And if, being evil, thou couldst learn to do good, how couldst thou put away the sin of the past? By what process couldst thou take out the stains of former years? Do not the sins of thy youth lie in thy bones even to this day? and they must be there for ever unless the strong hand of Christ shall take them away. One of old cried, “O generation of vipers, how shall ye escape the damnation of hell?” and the question may well be asked of the most cunning and crafty of sinners. If ye neglect the great salvation, which it shall be our joy to preach to you to-day, how shall ye escape from the wrath to come? Shut up, then, as within a wall of fire, with that fire already burning within his soul in the form of evil lustings, and drawing nearer to him from without every day he lives, the sinner is in a terrible position indeed. O unforgiven man, what thinkest thou of this?

Perhaps that position may be all the better defined if I remind you of the way by which a sinner has to be rescued from it. There was no hope for any sinner unless the Son of God himself should save him; you may safely measure the depth of the danger by the glory of the person of him who undertook to deliver us from it. It is the Son of God whom angels worship who has come to save sinners. It must be a deep destruction from which only God himself can rescue man. And though he were the Son of God, yet when he came, observe how he had to be equipped, and from his equipment learn the sternness of the task. He must be Jesus-a Saviour; and then he must also be Christ,-anointed for the work: he must come with a commission from God, with authority divine, and the Spirit of God must rest upon him to qualify him for the great undertaking. For the text saith not that Jesus came into the world, but Christ Jesus, the anointed Saviour, came that he might save. If this equipment was needed, then surely the state of man was a grievous one. Note also that even Christ Jesus could not save men had he stayed in heaven, he came into the world to save sinners. The Fall was so grievous that he must come right down into the place of our ruin; he must come to the dunghill that he might lift us out of it. God sat in heaven and said, “Let there be light,” and the darkness fled before him, but he could not sit in heaven and save sinners: he must needs come into the world to do so; down into this polluted creation the eternal Creator must himself descend. Lo, there in Bethlehem’s manger he sleeps, and on a woman’s breast he hangs! He cannot save sinners, so great is their ruin, unless he becomes incarnate and takes upon himself our nature. And being here, think how dreadful must be the ruin when we see that he cannot return, saying, “It is finished,” until first of all he dies. That sacred head must be crowned with thorns, those eyes must be closed in the darkness of the tomb, that body must be pierced even to its heart, and then must lie a chill, cold corpse in the grave, ere man can be redeemed; and all that shame, and suffering, and death were but the outer shell of what the Saviour suffered, for he passed under divine wrath and bare a load such as would have crushed the whole race of men had they been left to bear it. O sinner, you are awfully lost, you are infinitely lost, since it needs an infinite Saviour to present the atonement of his own body in order to save sinners from their sin. This is the first truth then which is included in this faithful saying, may the Holy Ghost write it on our hearts.

The second observation, which clearly contains the very bowels of the text, is this, that Christ Jesus came to save men as sinners. His salvation is meant for men who are sinners, and for none else. Somebody says, “But is not that a plain matter of fact?” It is, but it is a fact scarcely ever realized: indeed its real meaning is not known until God the Holy Ghost reveals it. A great many persons have a notion that Christ Jesus came into the world to save respectable people, who if they have done any wrong have repented of it, and have made things square. He came, according to them, to save persons who do their very best by attendance at worship, and taking the sacrament, and giving to the poor, and paying their way, and saying their prayers. These are doing all they can to get right, and keep right, and surely they will be saved, so men talk. Their theory of salvation is very mixed, but it comes to this, that the gospel is for good people. They do not quite do without Jesus Christ,-he comes in somewhere or other; but their religion is a kind of mingle-mangle,-partly they save themselves and partly Christ saves them, and between the two they are not saved at all. Their vain fancy is that, though they cannot do quite as much as they ought, Jesus comes in as an excellent make-weight, and turns the scale in their favour. That is the notion of the bulk of mankind, and in many places of worship you may hear something very like it. Too much of the preaching of the present day mingles the old covenant with the new: you do not know whether after all you are going to be saved by merit or mercy, whether Christ came to save sinners or the righteous. The trumpet gives an uncertain sound.

It is far too generally supposed that there must be something to recommend the sinner to God, and that God could not send his Son to save men whom he views in the base and horrible character of sinners. “Surely,” say the enemies of free grace, “he must have regard to their repentance or to something which he either sees or foresees in them.” That he should see man to be evil and only evil, and yet visit him in mercy for mercy’s sake, seems hard for the carnal heart to believe. Therefore, lest we should be misunderstood, we lay down this straight line, that Christ did not come into the world to save anybody but sinners, and he viewed those sinners as sinners and nothing more: he did not view them as repenting sinners, nor as believing sinners, nor as humble sinners, nor as sanctified sinners, nor anything else but sinners, and under that character he contemplated their salvation. The text saith nothing more and nothing less than that “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners”; there is not a qualifying word.

It is clear that sinners only are the objects of salvation, for none but sinners need saving, and if there had been no sinners there would certainly have been no saving and no Saviour. Who wants saving but a lost man? Who wants a Saviour but a man who through his sin has ruined himself? The very term “Saviour” and the very name “Jesus” imply that salvation work is for sinners. We have some sinecure offices in our Government: I have heard of a Master of the Buckhounds, who never mastered a buckhound in his life; but my Lord Jesus holds no sinecure in his office of Saviour, for there are plenty of sinners, and he is always saving them. If sinners are not contemplated by the plan of grace, then the office of Saviour is obsolete; but this can never be, since he is Jesus Christ, the anointed Saviour, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

Nor would the gospel be required for any but sinners, since none but the guilty need glad tidings of pardon and grace. If man can be secure under the law let him keep under the law: if the law can justify, let the law justify. What need of a second system to take away the first unless through the weakness of man the first system shall be found to be of none effect? No, verily the law is glorious; Mount Sinai shineth resplendently, and verily perfection would have been by the law if it could have been kept by mankind. No need for another glory or excellency, for the first would have sufficed if men had not been sinners; for the law is holy, and just, and good. The very sound of that word “gospel” is lost, and its sweetness dissipated in the midnight air unless there be sinners, for they above all men need glad tidings of a Saviour born among men.

Salvation must be for sinners, for to them only can mercy ever come. If I am brought before a court of justice, and I plead “Not guilty,” and the magistrate replies that he will have mercy upon me, I repel his observation with indignation; I want no mercy of him; I am innocent. Let him give me justice, and that is all I ask. It is an insult to the innocent to offer him mercy; and therefore unless man is guilty God cannot show him mercy. Mercy has no room to bestow her blessings of amnesty and pardon till first of all guilt is admitted. To the sinner forgiveness can come, but to none else.

Moreover, the characters whom Jesus came to save are always so described that they must be sinners. Sometimes we read of them as being “dead in trespasses and sins,” and it is written, “And you hath he quickened.” Sometimes they are represented as enemies: “If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” They are called aliens, strangers, wandering sheep, prodigal sons, and so forth; and all these imply distance from God by sin. Sometimes they are represented as debtors, and when they have nothing to pay he freely forgives them all their debt. All the descriptions of persons for whom the mercy of God is intended bear upon their forefront the notion of their being sinners, and our Lord himself saith, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The coming of Christ has no bearing towards the ninety-and-nine that went not astray, except that they are left where they were. The Good Shepherd comes after the lost sheep and only after the lost sheep, and if you can prove that you are not a lost sheep then you have proved that Christ never came to save you. The whole of his errand looks this way, he came to save sinners and only sinners.

Look now at what he did when he was here. I will only ask you to consider the crowning act of his work, when he hung upon the cross. What mean those bruisings of the scourge? What mean those deep furrows on his blessed back? What mean those pierced hands and feet? They mean this, that he is suffering on account of human sin. “The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.” “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Self-righteous men and women, what has the cross to do with you? You carry it on your bosoms, and make an ornament and a plaything of it, and that is all it is to you. None but the guilty can know the true meaning of the cross, and derive benefit therefrom. For them the dreadful tree bears the precious fruit of substitutionary sacrifice, and peace and pardon through the atoning blood; but to those who are not sinners the cross is a barren tree. O Christ of God, only a sinner can know thy worth. A saint may admire thee in thy glory, but a sinner trusts thee in thy shameful death, for thou art meant for sinners. “He gave himself for our sins,”-for what else could he give himself and yield himself unto death?

Besides that, where is Jesus gone now but to heaven? And what is he doing? When he went to heaven he received gifts for men, and, listen to this word!-“Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” He pleads to-day, but for whom is he an advocate? He made intercession for the transgressors. Prove that you are not rebellious nor transgressors, and there are neither gifts nor pleadings for you, for the whole drift of what he is now doing is towards the sinful.

Look you, sirs, at the legacy which our Lord has left us. He has left us the Holy Spirit, and what for? The Holy Spirit is here to convince of sin. Of what use would he be to those who have no sin? He is here to regenerate, but of what use would he be to those who are so good by nature that they do not need a change of heart. He is here that he may work in us repentance and faith, but of what use would those be to persons who have no sin to repent of, and no need to believe in a Saviour? The whole plan and scheme of redemption contains in it marks and evidences clear and palpable that it is meant for sinners, for guilty men, for such and such alone. All else that there is in man beside his sinnership is not truly his. If I were to preach to-day to sinners with some qualification, I should not be preaching the gospel in its fullest reach. If, for instance, I were to say that Christ Jesus came into the world to save humble sinners, that would be a clipping of the truth; for if any sinner be humble, that humility is not natural to him, but already the work of salvation has commenced in his being made humble. Jesus Christ died to give humility to sinners as well as to save them when they are humble. But surely we must believe in Christ? Yes, and there is salvation for believing sinners; but no man believes in Christ until that faith is given to him from above, and Christ came not to save sinners who make themselves believe, but to save sinners by giving them faith. He not only saves sinners when they repent, but he goes lower down, for he is exalted on high to give repentance as well as remission of sins. But did he not die for penitent sinners? Assuredly; but he died for them when they were impenitent, and therefore it is that they come to repentance. He who would come to Jesus must come as a sinner, and never think of pleading any sort of goodness or qualification; for “this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Sinners-write that in capitals, and set it by itself, for it is the whole of the description, and no one may dare to add thereto. Away with your human addition of sensible sinners, and so on; the text is not cumbered and spoiled by any such qualifying words.

This leads me, in the third place, to say that upon this point special clearness is required. That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners as sinners must always be kept clearly before the human mind; because, as I have said, man does not like the notion, and if you put it baldly and boldly he cavils at it, and waxes wrathful. Hear him mutter about immoral doctrine and encouraging sin. Hear it, and marvel at the audacity which makes a guilty rebel express anxiety about the morals of his God. A set of criminals are shut up in a condemned cell to be hanged, and a message comes that the king freely forgives them, and they exclaim that they will not accept mercy because it might encourage immorality. Morality! What have these lawbreakers to do with that? Surely they are repeating the devil’s hypocrisy when he rebuked sin. They are living in sin and yet pretend to be the guardians of universal justice. Vile hypocrisy! When I have known the pens which have written against the gospel under the pretence of advancing morality, I have pitied the paper which they defiled with their black words. Pleaders for morality! Why, men known to be debauched and drunken are often the very loudest talkers against free grace, and the greatest sticklers for morality. Let them go and wash in Jordan seven times and be clean themselves before coming out in that fashion. It is for you and me, being guilty, to get mercy first, and then talk of what we will do in the matter of morality. Know ye not that the man who believeth not in Christ is condemned already? Shall a condemned man cavil at mercy’s freeness? On your knees, sir, and plead guilty before the Most High, for so only shall you find grace.

How often are we told in sermons that we are in a state of probation: as if we had to do something by which we should prove our worthiness, and were still in a position in which we might or might not be condemned. My hearers, you are not in a state of probation, no, not one of you. If you are saved, you are saved, and if you are not saved you are lost. You are forgiven, or else you are “condemned already”; and, unless Jesus Christ saves you, you will abide in condemnation for ever and ever. The die is cast, man, and cast against you! You are condemned, and in the book of God so it stands. Christ Jesus came to save the condemned, and blessed shall you be if you are willing to take up the condemned position at this moment, and accept the grace which he has brought for sinners. I say, then, let the truth be made clear, because man will muddle it if he can.

Mark you, if this doctrine is not made very clear you will not lead sinners to look to Christ. If I preach that Jesus Christ died to save men of tender heart, what will be the result of the sermon? Every thoughtful hearer will look to see whether he has a tender heart. Is that a desirable result?

“There is life for a look at the Crucified One,”

but there is no life by looking into our own hearts. Suppose I preach certain marks and evidences as tokens of the men whom Christ came to save, then each man will look to see whether he has those tokens within himself: and that is precisely the thing which we do not want men to do, for we desire them to look right away from themselves to Christ alone If they should imagine that they find some good thing within themselves they will make it the real basis of their hope, and that will be an error of the gravest kind. Sinner, all the hope you can ever have lies in him who died upon the tree. As for yourself, settle it in your mind that you are as bad as bad can be. Give over all hope from your own doings, willings, feelings, and resolves, and no more expect to obtain comfort from your own nature than to find fire in the midst of a rock of ice. Look right away from self to Christ, and Christ alone, for this is the way of salvation.

When a man comes to Christ as a sinner he has taken the safest way. If I say to myself, “Jesus came to save me because I am a believing sinner, or a repenting sinner, or a humbled sinner,” then I have to ask the question, “How about my repentance, my humbling, are they genuine?” My foundation shakes and my trust fails me, because it rests on myself; but when I trust in Jesus because he is the sinner’s Saviour, and because I am a sinner, then I am beyond doubtful questions.

This also is a constant ground to go upon. Imagine a man who is deeply in debt saying to his creditors, “I am in a terrible fix, but I can promise you ten shillings in the pound.” Very well; they accept it. Is he not at ease? Let me whisper in your ear,-he is not worth twopence in all the world. Is he clear? Oh no. He tries a little trading, and puts off the hour of payment, but again he has to call his creditors together, and he confesses, “I am sorry I cannot manage the ten shillings, but I will try to scrape together two-and-sixpence: will you take that?” Yes, they will take the half-crown. Is he not out of his difficulties now? No, he is not one inch nearer, for he is not worth a penny. Again he summons his creditors, and protests that he has been under a mistake, but he could arrange to pay sixpence. Is he not at rest now? Not a bit of it, because he has not a farthing, and he can no more pay sixpence in the pound than the whole twenty shillings. He is absolutely a pauper. What is the best thing for him to do? Why, to own the truth and say, “Here I am, I have no assets whatever: I am in debt over head and ears, and I have not a single penny to pay with. Do whatever you like with me. Put me in prison if you like: sell these bones and the rags which cover them; but there is the truth, you cannot get anything out of me, because I have nothing.” Now, if the creditors give him a clear discharge, he is safe and at rest, which he never was while he had even a sixpence to pay. Now ye needy sinners, be wise and go to the Lord in that penniless style and you shall have your debt frankly forgiven. Remember the parable of the two debtors, and the truth which it teaches.

“But let our debts be what they may,

However great or small,

As soon as we have nought to pay,

Our Lord forgives us all.”

Assuredly, there is nothing like going to the bottom of a thing, and knowing the worst of your case. I have a friend who had a bad knee, something ailed it, he could not tell what. The doctors blistered, and poulticed, and did a great deal to it, and showed their skill by making bad worse, but they assured him that the knee was not out of joint, but would come all right by outward applications. Under such professional treatment the patient became quite lame. At last he went to a renowned bone-setter; and as soon as he saw the joint, he said, “I tell you, sir, your bone is out.” “Impossible,” said he, “the doctors have never hinted at that.” “Yes, it is; or if it is not so, we will make it so, and then set it right.” With a terrible pull the operator seemed to drag the bone out of its place, and then it flew back again, into its socket, and the man felt that all was right. “Now,” said the bone-setter, “walk across the room,” and he did so at once. There is nothing like knowing that the bone is out, for then it can be set; but while we understate the mischief we shall not find an effectual cure. Reckon on the worst, and you will not be deceived. If there is something good about you, and you begin trusting in it, that something good will grow less and less, like the twenty shillings which came down to sixpence and ended with nothing; but if you throw up all legal hope and say, “I am a sinner, and if I am saved it must be entirely through the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and I accept Christ to save me as a sinner,”-that is a sure and constant foundation to rest upon. Beware of the slippery belief that Christ died for you as long as you are humble, or as long as you are this or that; for, if you talk in that fashion, instead of trusting in Christ you are trusting in your own humility, your own feelings, and there is no soundness in your faith.

Often, beloved, do I feel that this way of coming to Christ, as a sinner, is the only available one for me. I have preached the gospel, not without zeal for the truth, and have tried to consecrate my whole being to my Lord’s service, but times out of mind I would not give a brass farthing for all that I have done or felt or been, but I am glad to sink the whole in oblivion, and come to Christ and say, “Save me, for I have sinned.” What I rejoice to do I feel sure that my brethren have to do also, and it will be your safety to be so doing continually.

Why, brethren, this doctrine must be true because it glorifies Christ. If Christ comes to save men who meet him half way with their prayers and tears and believings and doings, and he only saves them because of these things, then salvation is half of man and half of Christ; but if it be so that Jesus comes to save sinners, and begins a work in them when they are in their nakedness and filthiness and spiritual death, oh, then, free grace doth the more abound, and the crown sits securely on the royal head of him who is anointed to be both a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance as well as remission of sins.

I want to say also that the recognition of the truth that Christ came into the world to save men as sinners is essential to salvation. You ask me, “How so?” I reply, “When a man comes before God simply as a sinner he is then upon the line of truth.” All the while he was claiming to be this and that, which was good, he was on a false tack; but when he says, “Lord, I have broken thy law, I have done the things I ought not to have done, and have left undone the things that I ought to have done; and if I am saved it must be by thy grace alone”; he is now speaking according to truth. It is something to bring a sinner round to the truth. When he has come to that, he will go further in the right direction. Do you not see that he is doing homage to the law of God, for he confesses that he has broken it, and deserves punishment? Thus the man is already honouring the law of God in his heart: his salvation has begun. Now he does honour to God himself, for he bows before the Most High and sues for mercy. He is already saved from presumption. God must be King, and the man is willing that he should be even though he himself should be condemned. And now he reads that God’s salvation “comes to the guilty,” and he cries, “I am guilty; I accept thy mercy.” That done, he loves the Lord God for mercy received. Why, the man is being saved before our eyes. He was the enemy of God before, but now a sense of free mercy causes him to love and fear the Lord. The next thing he says is, “Have I been so freely forgiven all my transgressions, not because of anything I was or felt or did, but out of free mercy? Then, Lord, I will strive to avoid every sin, if thou wilt help me.” See, his mind is becoming pure, and by the operation of the same blessed truth upon him he will ultimately be perfected and stand before the throne complete, and what think you will be his song? He will join with all the saints and sing, “We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” There is nothing like free grace to change the human heart. You may tell a man what he is and what he ought to be, and he will remain unmoved; but tell him that God meets him as a lost, guilty, and condemned sinner, and that simply because he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, he blots out all his sins and transgressions and accepts him through Christ Jesus; why, that makes the man’s heart leap within him for joy, and then he begins to say, “Cleanse me, O God, from this hateful sin, for I love thee because of thy wondrous love to me.” Thus Jesus Christ’s coming to save sinners makes the point of our being sinners a very essential one in the matter of our being saved from the power of sin.

I close by saying, let us, dear friends, feel that it will be wise to accept at once the teaching of the text. Let us on the spot confess our sinnership. Whether you have been saved or not, come over again to Jesus. Take with you words and say unto him, “We have sinned.” Confess your sinnership. Does it trouble you to do so? Have not you abundant evidence of it? Do not confess it with your mouth only, but with your heart. Let me tell you sinners are very rare things: you cannot find them dead or alive. If you go into a cemetery with an intelligent child, the first question it will ask will be, “Papa, where do they bury the sinners? These are all good people who are buried here.” Living sinners are equally scarce. We are all surprisingly good, and though we say we are sinners, that is a part of our goodness, for it shows how very humble we are. If we come to detail, and are questioned as to our sins, how many turn out to be no more sinners than the beggars in the street are really lame, or blind, or sick, or sore; many who say, “Lord, have mercy upon us miserable sinners,” do but sham their sinnership before God. Now, mark, there is nothing but sham salvation for sham sinners. But you real sinners, you who have broken God’s law and know it, and are ready to stand upon the drop of confession beneath the fatal tree of justice, feeling that you could not say a word against divine justice if you were now executed, come and welcome, for Jesus Christ came to save such as you are. Confess your sin, and when you have done so rest on the salvation provided in Christ Jesus.

At this momennt I think I speak the language of every child of God when I say the top and bottom, the beginning and the ending of all my hope lies in this, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I just trust myself as a sinner with him. The devil often tells me, “You are not this, and you are not that,” and I feel bound to own that the accuser of the brethren makes terrible work with my spiritual finery, so that I have to abandon one ground of glorying after another; but I never knew the devil himself dare to say, “You are not a sinner.” He knows I am, and I know it too; and as in due time Christ died for the ungodly, I just rest in him, and I am saved. If I can perish resting in Christ I must do so; but I will tell it throughout the realms of hell that I did trust in Christ, and was lost. I will publish it in the infernal dens that I trusted in Jesus with all my soul, and was confounded. Will it ever be? No, never; for he hath said, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.”

Poor sinner, whoever you may be, surely this is a very simple matter; but do not reject it because it is so simple. It is your life. You shall find it your life at this very instant if you will trust my Lord. Have you any doubt about your being a sinner? Then bid farewell to hope, for Christ did not come to save you; but if you know you are a sinner, cast yourself on Jesus now, even now, just as you are. “Will he save me?” Try it, brother, try it; sink or swim, fling yourself upon Christ. Are you still holding to your prayers or your tears, or somewhat of your own? You will perish if you do. You must be disconnected with all grounds of self-hope and self-trust, or they will prove your ruin. Now cut the hawser; let every rope go; break the last thread, and commit yourself to the tide of free grace. You will never be a wreck if you do so. Well does Dr. Watts put it,-

“A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,

On Christ’s kind arms I fall;

Be thou my strength and righteousness,

My Jesus and my all.”

“You have taken away from us, sir, every hope we ever had, and you make us out to be nothing but sinners.” Yes, that is what I want to do; I long to make all things rock and reel under you, till you feel that you have no place for the sole of your feet, and so fall before the cross. This old house of yours which you have been patching up so often will fall upon you before long. Its walls bulge, its roof drops, its timbers are rotten; however much you try to prop it up it will come down and destroy you. I, as an architect, advise you to sweep it all down. Clear every wall away, stick and stone. Yes, and take out the very foundations, for every stone is ruinous. Clear the ground of the whole concern. You complain that there is a deep and ugly trench where the foundations used to be, and I am glad of it, for, behold, the Lord lays in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, elect, precious, even Christ Jesus, and he that believeth in him shall never be confounded. You must remove all the wood, hay, and stubble, and build with precious stones. None but Jesus, none but Jesus: neither beam, nor stone, nor pin, nor nail, must be our own. We may not take from a thread to a shoe-latchet of self, but Christ must be first, last, midst, and everywhere. What say you, brother sinner? Will you and I have Christ? I will, whether you will or not. Come along. Do not draw back. Take what God freely presents to you, and from this day trust Jesus to be your Saviour, and we will meet in heaven. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Psalms 32 and 51.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-241, 555, 540.

“THY SALVATION”

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, June 2nd, 1878, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington

“Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”-Luke 2:28-30.

Last Lord’s-day morning we used the broad axe to clear the forest of self-righteousness: one after another human hopes were made to fall, for the axe was laid unto the root of the trees. Now let us cultivate the clearing, and sow the good seed therein. We might have had for our motto then, “The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.” We tried to sweep away every vestige of anything like self-trust as we showed that Christ Jesus came to save men as sinners, and that only as sinners could they have any part or lot in him. Our Lord gave himself for our sins, but he never gave himself for our righteousness. We bore witness that human goodness is a mere fiction, and that it is rather a hindrance than a help to the work of salvation, since it opposes itself to the grand principle of grace, by which alone men can be saved. So far our work has been to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and we hope it has been done very thoroughly. Now, there is a time to build up as well as a time to break down, and as we showed on the former occasion where salvation is not and cannot be, so today let us, by the help of God’s Spirit, endeavour to point out where salvation really is; so that those who have learned to look away from themselves may now be taught to look to Christ. May the Holy Spirit grant us this desire of our heart, and may thousands by this sermon find salvation.

Observe that Simeon found Christ in the temple, being conducted thither by the Holy Ghost. There was an ancient promise, “The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple,” and this probably drew the holy man to the courts of the Lord. But the Lord might have come, and Simeon might not have been there, or the good old man might have been occupied in some other court of the holy place; but being led of the Spirit he came to the appointed spot at the very time when the mother of Christ was bringing the babe in her arms to do for him according to the law. In this Simeon is an instance of the truth that they find Christ who are led by the Spirit, and they alone. No man ever comes to Christ by his own wit and wisdom, nor by his own unprompted will: he alone who is drawn of the Spirit cometh unto Christ. We must submit ourselves to divine teaching and divine drawing, or else Christ may come in his temple, but we shall not perceive him. I therefore would earnestly remark at the outset of this discourse, how needful it is that we should submit ourselves to the movements of the Holy Spirit upon our souls; let me rather say what a privilege it is to be moved by the Spirit, and how gladly we should welcome his divine influences. Beloved hearer, as you love your soul, be very tender towards the Holy Ghost, and prize even the least spark of his divine fire. Quench not the Spirit, neither grieve him. Prize the love of the Spirit, and pray to feel his power. When he comes upon you to convince you of sin, be plastic in his hand, yield to his teaching, and humbly confess the faults and follies of which he convicts you. When he comes to lead you gently to the Saviour, be not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, but gladly follow where he draws, according to the prayer of the spouse in the song, “Draw me, we will run after thee.” All your hope of finding Christ, dear seeking friend, lies in the Spirit of God illuminating your understanding, constraining your will, and quickening your affections: therefore never vex him, but be ever ready to obey his faintest monition. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and when you feel its breath be glad to spread your wings that you may be borne upward by its power.

Simeon being thus led of the Spirit, came where Christ was, but mark how quick the old man’s eyes were to see him. How should he know that this babe in swaddling clothes was the Lord’s Christ? Doubtless there were many others in the temple who saw Joseph and Mary and the priest, but they thought that nothing was to be seen but a young peasant woman and her husband bringing their poor offering to redeem their first-born child. The frequenters of the temple passed to and fro and felt no interest in so common a scene, but the watching eyes of Simeon had no sooner lighted upon the infant person of our divine Lord than at once they were held spellbound and filled with tears of joy. The aged saint went immediately to the mother, took up the babe in his arms and without hesitation said, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” Those who have been looking and longing for Christ are usually the first to perceive him. This man had been waiting for the consolation of Israel, and in the process he had gained discernment, so that when Jesus appeared he knew him at once. O soul, if you are longing for Christ you will know when he is near you, even as the thirsting harts of the desert scent the waters from afar. If you have an intense hunger after the Lord Jesus you will not need to be told which is bread; you will not be deceived by a stone, for your hunger will instruct you. In this case an instinct springs out of an appetite, discernment grows out of desire: if you long for Christ you will not readily be deceived by false teachers, for you will know what your soul craves after, and will not be content with anything else. As soon as a truly awakened soul sees Jesus, though it be but the beginnings of him, it recognizes him: it recognizes the hem of his garment, and the print of his feet. Though the Lord be seen only as an infant, and the heart’s idea of him is very incomplete, yet he is perceived to be The Incomparable One, and the soul cries out, “He is all my salvation and all my desire.” May we thus be taught by the Spirit of God, and thus made to long for Christ, and we shall have a quickness of eye to perceive him, and to see infinitely more in him than this blind world hath ever dreamed.

From Simeon we shall try to learn this morning. Should not the aged teach us wisdom? Three things appear to me to be worthy of our attentive observation: first, that Christ is salvation, for that is the pith and marrow of Simeon’s song-“Mine eyes have seen thy salvation”; secondly, that Christ is to be taken up into the arms and looked upon; and thirdly, that when he is thus treated Christ has a wonderful effect upon the soul. May we be led to try all this for ourselves. Personal testing is far better than mere hearing. I may preach to you and it may end in nothing, but if you will now come and take my Lord in your arms, an eternity of good will come of it. O taste and see that the Lord is good.

In the first place we learn from Simeon that Christ is salvation. He is a Saviour, for so the angels sang-“Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”: but he is more than a Saviour, he is salvation itself. Moses sang, “He also hath become my salvation.” David said, “The Lord is my light, and my salvation,” and Isaiah exclaimed, “Behold, God is my salvation.” It is well to see salvation in the work, life, and death of Christ, but we must never forget that the essence of it lies in his person: he himself is salvation. Then took he him up in his arms and said, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” This was before our Lord had begun to preach or to teach, or to suffer for our sins: as a babe he was God’s salvation. The gospel loses very much of its sweetness when the person of Christ is placed in the background, and treated as if it were a mere myth, or as if it was quite a secondary consideration. Why, this is the choicest dainty of the feast, the most substantial food whereon the saints are nourished: his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed. Everything about our Lord is saving, but he himself is salvation. His teaching, his example, his love, his tenderness, his sufferings, his glory-all help us; but it is his own glorious self which puts efficacy into them. Had he not been man he could not have died, and had he not been God his dying could not have availed for our redemption. It is what he is which gives virtue to what he does. We are bidden to come, not to his work, but to himself-“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” To him we do come, and our heart can say, “He only is my rock and my salvation.”

Let us pursue this theme by saying of our Lord that he is the only salvation. Simeon had not found another. We are told of that aged saint that he was just and devout, and assuredly if any man could have seen salvation by the law Simeon would have seen it. Just towards man, devout towards God, he had hit upon the true balance of a perfect character; but he had not seen salvation in his own character, he looked for it to the Lord’s Christ. Neither to his honest actions before his fellow men, nor to his secret prayers and communings with God, did Simeon turn for eternal life, otherwise he would not have been looking for a salvation which he had already found; nor would he at the sight of Jesus have rapturously exclaimed. “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” Not in thyself, O Simeon, not in all that thou hadst done, or felt, or said, hadst thou seen salvation; but there in the babe thou didst behold it with supreme delight.

Simeon, too, had been very familiar with the courts of the Lord’s house. He was one of those who almost lived in the temple. Sacrifices were seen by him every morning and every evening, and upon all high festivals; but in the blood of bullocks and lambs he had never seen salvation. Frequently did he gaze upon the instructive types and symbolic ordinances of the law; but as he looked on them he saw only shadows, and still watched for the substance. Never over the morning lamb, or the paschal supper, had Simeon said, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation”: that exclamation was never uttered till he had seen Christ himself. Beloved, salvation is not to be found in ordinances nor in sacraments. God forbid we should say when we have seen baptism, or the imitation of it, “We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate him in thy holy church.” There are some who wickedly talk so, though we can hardly imagine that they believe what they say. It is in vain to show them their folly, they are wedded to it: but let us pray, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” God forbid we should talk about salvation in connection with the Lord’s supper as the superstitious do, who seem to regard it as a passport to Paradise, and therefore press it upon the dying. Truly we may in the Lord’s supper eat and drink condemnation to ourselves unless we discern the Lord’s body. It is in the Lord himself that there is salvation, and in none other; not even in the outward ordinances of God’s ordaining is salvation to be found, for the Lord has not placed it there. See Jesus and you have seen salvation, and the only salvation. The most moral life and the most attentive remembrance of sacred ceremonies will land you short of the salvation of your soul unless you see Jesus and take him to be your all in all. We must all learn to sing that song which Isaiah has recorded in his twelfth chapter-“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.”

According to Simeon’s song the Lord Jesus is God’s salvation. Dwell on that little word “Thy.” “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” In the person of Christ we see the salvation which God had of old covenanted to bestow upon his people; the salvation which in due season the Lord had prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel. The promised, predestinated, and prepared salvation of God is Christ Jesus. This is the salvation of which the prophets spake, to which all the symbols pointed-the salvation which was hidden from ages and from generations, that it might shine forth like the sun upon this favoured dispensation. It is a salvation devised and provided by God, which manifests and glorifies God; a salvation which is Godlike, being both just and gracious, and beyond conception great; in a word, it is God’s salvation. O beloved, think much of Christ because the Lord God Almighty ordained him for you, and gives him to you. God gave up his own Son for you, even his well-beloved Son; and he himself, by the Holy Ghost, has revealed him to you and in you, teaching you to know him, to trust him, to love him, and to follow him. Therefore value Jesus beyond all price as God’s own salvation. God himself accepts Christ in our stead, and makes him our salvation: will not we accept him? God himself doth rest in Christ, will not we rest in him? God smelleth a sweet savour in the sacrifice which Christ has offered: will not we also rejoice therein and eat the peace offering, and be glad before the Lord? Are any of you seeking salvation at this moment? I pray you do not think of inventing a saviour of your own, but be willing to take God’s salvation; and when you ask what and who that salvation is, our only answer must be-Christ is the salvation of God. If you have seen Jesus by the eye of faith your eyes have seen God’s salvation; you are saved, saved on the spot, saved for ever. Jesus is heaven’s balm for earth’s wounds, God’s remedy for man’s diseases, do not put away this priceless boon of infinite mercy. Receive it heartily: receive it at once. Jesus is set before you, take him up in your arms.

When Simeon said, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation,” he must have meant that in that little babe he saw salvation set forth in its essence. Can you bring yourselves now in fancy and in faith, which may for the once work together, into the courts of the temple? Can you see Mary with the little Christ in her arms? Look upon him and take him up, and put yourself into Simeon’s place and say, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” This little child is salvation, and yet how can it be? By the light of Scripture we can understand what else would seem incredible. For here is, first, God in human flesh: the divine nature in mysterious union with the human. Behold, he who is now in your arms as an infant is also the infinite God; feeble as he is as to his humanity, he is omnipotent as to his deity; he is at once the Son of man and the Son of God. Herein is man’s salvation. When we think of the fact that God came down to our low estate and espoused our nature, we are sure that he means nothing but good to man, and we are ready to burst out with Simeon’s joyous exclamation and cry, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” We are sure that man will be lifted up to heaven now that heaven has come down to man.

Our Lord was not merely a child, but a poor child; so poor that his mother when she had to redeem him could not bring a lamb, which was the sacrifice for all who could afford it, but she presented the poorer offering, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, and so she came as a poor woman, and he was presented to the Lord as a poor woman’s child. Herein also lies rich comfort for lowly hearts, and as they think of it each one may say, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” When I think of the Prince of glory and the Lord of angels stooping so low as this, that a poor woman bears him in her arms and calls him her babe, surely there must be salvation for the lowest, the poorest, and the most sunken. When the all glorious Lord, in order to be incarnate, is born a babe, born of a poor woman, and publicly acknowledged as a poor woman’s child, we feel sure that he will receive the poorest and most despised when they seek his face. Yes, Jesus, the son of the carpenter, means salvation to carpenters and all others of lowly rank.

But why has Mary brought him to the temple? She has brought him to redeem him. He was her firstborn, and therefore he must be redeemed. Was he then under the law? Yes, for our sakes he was under the law; and he who redeemed us had to be himself redeemed. When I think of the twelve and sixpence, or thereabouts, which his mother paid as redemption money, what a contrast rises before me! He hath redeemed us unto God by his blood, and yet as Mary’s firstborn a price was paid in silver for him. “A goodly price that I was priced at of them.” Now, because our Lord Jesus came under the law and obeyed its precepts we see salvation in him. When God himself, incarnate, came under the law, so as to have redemption money paid for him, we understand it all, for it is written, “But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” This wondrous stoop of deity to lowly humanity, and this marvellous honouring of the law in our nature by one who is Immanuel, God with us, has brought salvation to our fallen race. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, for Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

But, to my mind, Simeon did not only see salvation represented in its essence, but his faith saw salvation guaranteed by the appearance of the wondrous child. Incarnation is the beginning of substitution, and the commencement of substitution is the guarantee of the completion and the continuance of it. Our Lord would not have taken upon himself the nature of the seed of Abraham if he had not intended by so doing effectually to redeem and deliver them. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Be ye sure of this, that he will not commence to battle with Satan and then leave the conflict before the enemy is destroyed. In that babe Simeon did well to see all the work of saving men, for the appearing of the Lord in our flesh and blood was the sure pledge of it. He saw there a perfect obedience presented to God, for the babe was brought under the law at the very outset, and its redemption money was paid, a sure sign that to the end the incarnate God would say, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” No jot or tittle of the law would Christ omit, since even as a babe he was both circumcised and presented in the temple according to the law.

Simeon, I doubt not, saw in the presentation of Christ in the temple a foreshadowing of his crucificial death. The time would come when he must be brought to the altar, and no redemption would be offered for him, for he himself must be the price for his people. Simeon saw as he gazed upon the child the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and passion, for he knew that the incarnate God would not shrink from anything which he had undertaken. That fair and lovely face, the most beautiful probably that human eye ever rested upon,-he could, by faith, see it more marred than that of any man, while in our stead he suffered the wrath of God.

Simeon was so well instructed that his faith saw the child in due time dead, dead because the law had carried out its penalty and the sin-bearer had been made to die. And he could see the resurrection too. As he saw the child carried home by the rejoicing mother, because he had been redeemed, he foresaw the hour when Jesus should return unto the Father, having accomplished eternal redemption for all his people. He saw in that child both light and glory, and he felt deep peace suffuse his mind at the sight, and therefore I feel sure that he saw in the infant Christ the pledge and assurance of that perfected work which closed with, “It is finished.” Bethlehem ensures Gethsemane and Calvary, for the Christ of God will not fail nor be discouraged, but having put forth his hand he will finish the work which his Father gave him to do.

So then, beloved, if you see Christ you have seen the sum and total of his work. His person is so intimately connected with all that he has done that he bears within himself all its virtue and efficacy, and by a look at him we receive the result of all that he has accomplished. Trust Jesus as born in our nature, as living a life of holiness, as dying a sacrificial death, as buried, as risen, as interceding, and as by and by to come again, and you have salvation. Jesus anywhere, Jesus everywhere, is salvation. Those who have only a contracted view of him and behold him rather in his infancy than in his glory have nevertheless seen his salvation. Come then ye trembling, tottering, timorous ones and see salvation secured by a Saviour who exactly suits your weakness. Even a feeble old man can lift a babe; come in your feebleness and embrace the Saviour in whose condescending littleness salvation lies secure.

I might say many things here, but I prefer just to keep to that one point, that Jesus Christ is the whole of salvation. Simeon did not say, “Mine eyes have seen a part of thy salvation.” No, but the whole of it. Christ bought by his blood all that was needful for our redemption, and having bought it he brought it down to us, descending to seek and to save the lost. He came on earth to proclaim salvation, and to let all men know that it is treasured up in him. “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” As he contains salvation so doth he dispense it, for he is exalted on high to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins. As he doth dispense it, so out of his fulness hath he made all of us to receive grace for grace. Because he draws us to himself we have come, and are coming to him perpetually. In him we have our life preserved, and by him our steps are upheld, for because he lives we live also, and he is made of God unto us wisdom and sanctification.

Christ has salvation within himself, and he that getteth him has complete salvation. “He that believeth in him hath everlasting life.” Brother, you are saved from the ruin of the fall if you have Christ; the second Adam has repaired the ruins of the first. Brother, you are saved from the guilt of sin if you have Christ, for your sin is yours no longer; it is not imputed unto you,-“The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Brother, you are delivered from the power of original sin if you have Christ; for, behold, the new-born life within you shall be in you a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. Christ has entered into you, and he will bind the strong man armed, and cast him out. In having Christ, my brother, you have obtained victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; for this is the victory which overcometh all these, even our faith. Go forward and grasp what is already your own. Yea, and when death comes it shall not be death to you, for he that liveth and believeth in him shall never die. You shall be more than a conqueror in this thing also, therefore be not in bondage through fear of death.

You have salvation in every aspect of it, and every form of it as soon as you have obtained Christ. Very commonplace teaching, perhaps, you think. Yes, let it be commonplace; let it be the bread you live upon, the air you breathe. I beseech you never forget that the whole of salvation is in Christ. Do not expect to find a portion of it in yourselves, nor in outward ordinances, nor in the works of the law, nor in priestcraft, nor anywhere else; for the body of salvation is Christ, and all its substance is in him. Do you demur to this? Then let me ask you, in what point is Christ deficient? What more do you need? Do you want penances? Hath he not already suffered all that justice requires? What do you want? Would you toil to gain the kingdom of heaven? Lo, he hath opened it to all believers by a toil which covered him with bloody sweat. What more is required? Washing? There is the fountain filled with blood. Clothing? There is the robe of spotless righteousness. Medicine? Truly with his stripes we are healed. Think of aught that can be required to make a man perfect, and you will find it all in Christ. “For ye are complete in him.” “Christ is all.” Suppose, beloved, that our Lord Jesus were not perfect as a Saviour, what then? Could any of us make up the deficiency? What is there of ours that we could bring to him? If his robe of righteousness were not finished, would any of our filthy rags be fit to be joined to his cloth of gold? If that fountain were not full and efficacious for cleansing, what would you pour into it? What could you contribute but your own pollution? What help could that be? Dream of yoking a gnat with an archangel, and then imagine that you can help your Lord in the work of salvation. Shall a creeping worm be needed to complete the work of him who made the world? What wild nonsense is this! Must the Son of God be helped by sinners dead in sin? O man, if Jesus is not able to save you from first to last you are a lost man, for neither yourself, nor priest, nor pope, can bring anything to the Lord but dross and dung, and shall this be added to that most fine gold tried in the fire, with which Christ redeems the souls of men? At this moment I speak personally my own confidence, I have no hope of being saved if Jesus is not the whole of my salvation. I trust him in everything and for everything, and I solemnly warn any here who are trusting a little in Christ, and also somewhat in themselves, that their hope will be vain. Jesus must be everything or nothing. If we take Christ we must take the whole of Christ; there must be no picking or choosing. We must have all of Christ and he must be all our salvation and all our desire. What doth hinder? Surely we delight to do this at once.

We leave our first head for you to think upon and turn to the second. Christ is to be taken up into our arms and to be looked at. I am quite sure that when Simeon took Christ up into his arms, although that was a physical action, yet there was a spiritual action underneath it: it was in his heart that he took up our Lord. And when his natural eyes saw Christ he beheld him also with the eyes of his soul; of this we are sure, for if the mere sight of Christ with his eyes had been so pleasing to Simeon he would have said, “Lord, let thy servant never go away, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation: let me therefore stay here and always see him.” But spiritual was the sight, and therefore he, though he had known Christ after the flesh, henceforth did not desire to know even him any more, but was willing to depart to the realm of pure spirits, for which that sight had prepared him. Now, will you try and picture Simeon taking up Christ that you may do the same? He no sooner saw him than, asking nobody’s leave, he uplifted the blessed babe in his own arms. That was a grasp of faith and its meaning was, “He is mine: I take him to be my salvation.” For himself he embraced the incarnate Lord, and he was not ashamed to avow his faith in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of Jerusalem. It had been revealed to him that he should not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ, and now he openly avows that this is the Christ, the consolation of Israel. Dear hearers, can you not put forth your arms this morning and take up my Lord to be your own for ever. There is nobody to forbid you; nay, many are inviting you. Take him now and happy be. Does your heart say, “Yes, he shall be mine”? Then delay not to claim him. What a mercy it is that Jesus could be taken up in the arms and salvation thus be held in men’s hands! He that in the beginning was with God, and is indeed God himself, nevertheless can be taken up in the arms of faith: a whole Christ can be held in an old man’s feeble arms. O that other aged men would come and take him. Yea, and young men too, and women also. Would God that thousands of every age and sex would now confess the Lord Jesus to be their salvation. God help you so to do at once.

Simeon held that babe in the grasp of love as well as of faith, for I am sure the old man pressed the babe to his bosom and looked most fondly upon him as he said, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” He could not have held it out at arm’s length, that would have been impossible in such a case, but he felt that he at length saw the dearest object of his desires and so he clasped him to his bosom. Come, let us one by one do the same. “My Jesus, my salvation, thou art all mine, and I love thee. The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, and yet I hold thee. Thou fillest all worlds, and yet I have thee, all my own, the beloved of my soul for ever.” What an armful that aged saint had obtained. Did ever human arm hold a burden more precious, a treasure more desirable? Come, then, brothers and sisters, say, “Christ shall be mine this morning, all mine and for ever mine; by faith I take him to be my very own.” God help you by his Holy Spirit to give your Lord such an embrace.

While he was thus holding the child in his arms he gazed upon him with intense delight. I know he did, for he said, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” With what wondering pleasure and reverence he looked into that dear face, and marked those altogether lovely features. Doubtless he looked, and looked, and looked, and looked, and looked again: he could scarcely bear to lift his eyes. So must you do with Christ. First, take him to be yours, and then let your eyes be riveted upon him. Never let your thoughts forsake this choicest of all subjects for godly meditation.

Think much of him who is the whole of your salvation, and embrace him in that respect. Alas, there are some Christians who never think of Jesus in that way. There is a certain creed which tells you you may be saved to-day and lost to-morrow. No believer has obtained eternal salvation according to that theory, but only a temporary and possible salvation. On that theory there is no seeing the whole of God’s salvation as soon as you see Jesus, you only see a bare hope of it; but we know that whosoever believeth in Jesus is saved, and therefore we assert that Christ is salvation, and he that hath him is saved. Christ’s words are, “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand;” and he who knows the meaning of these words rejoices that he has the whole of salvation in his arms, and he may look at it as long as he lives, and never cease to look, for it is worthy of life-long admiration.

I like the thought of Simeon being an old man, and taking the infant Jesus in his arms. I have a hope that one of these days, by God’s mercy, this poor old world of ours, which has come to her dotage and decay, may be led by sovereign grace to embrace Jesus the ever new. Then will the millennium dawn, and the world may then pray for the last conflagration to end her sorrowful history, saying, “Now let this globe depart in peace, for it has seen thy salvation.”

But, to drop all figurative speech, it is a great blessing to the aged man to have Jesus in his arms. Though he shall be compelled by the infirmities of age to ask with Barzillai, “Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink?” Yet he shall find great sweetness in the bread of heaven, and the name of Jesus shall be as wines on the lees well refined. If, through age and infirmity, he can hear no more the voice of singing men and singing women, he that hath Christ hath music in his heart for ever. In old age Solomon tells us that the grasshopper is a burden, but this child is none. Then the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars are darkened, but this child giveth light to all who see him. Then the keepers of the house do tremble, but they are strengthened as they hold the Lord: then they that look out of the windows are darkened, but they are bright when they gaze upon the Saviour. The doors are shut in the streets, but no door shuts out the Lord Jesus; the voice of the bird awakens the light sleeper, but no sound shall break the repose of those who rest in Jesus. With the aged desire fails, but not with the aged saint, for he seeth in Christ Jesus all his desires fulfilled; and though man goeth to his long home, he that hath the holy child Jesus to go with him may even long for the journey, saying, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.” Mourners may go about the streets of earth, but he who has seen in Christ the salvation of God ascendeth to other streets, where sorrow and sighing are fled away. Thrice blessed old age which thus renews its youth with Christ Jesus.

That brings us to our last point, upon which we have no time for more than a few words. When Christ is taken up into the arms and looked upon he has a wonderful effect. Notice the case before us. First, waiting is ended. Simeon had been waiting for the consolation of Israel, but he could now say, “Lord, what wait I for?” We, too, had been waiting, and wishing, and longing, and pining, but when we found our Lord we no longer waited, but we could each one say, “I want nothing, I wish for nothing, I long for nothing, I pine for nothing. ‘Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.’ ” Now, also, Simeon was excited to praise the Lord. He took him up in his arms and blessed God. None can bless God like those who have Christ in their arms. I do not know that Simeon had ever been a poet before, but he began to pour out his swan song, his last, sweetest, and perhaps his only hymn. Every line is full of exultation and delight. Simeon soon had a song in his mouth when he had Christ in his arms. Then shall the tongue of the dumb sing. The very stones would cry out if a man could see God’s salvation and yet be silent. Those who could never speak six words before have grown eloquent when Christ Jesus has been their theme. He is my God, and I will praise him; he is my father’s God, and I will extol him.

And now that he has seen the Lord’s Christ, notice the effect upon his eyes; he desires to close them upon all else. I have heard of some who have looked on the sun unadvisedly till they could not see anything else; but this I know, that he who looks on Christ becomes blind to all rival attractions. If these eyes have once seen the salvation of God it looks like sacrilege to set them upon the base things of time and sense. Let the gate be closed through which Jesus has entered; it seems profane to allow a single object belonging to this traitorous world to enter our mind by eye-gate any more. Having eaten the white bread of heaven, we want no more of the husks of earth: having had a glimpse of the incarnate God, what is there more to see?

His eyes had seen Christ, and what then? Why, now they were prepared to look on death. He had been told he should not see death till he had seen the Lord’s Christ, and now he is ready to see his final hour and all of gloom which may attend departure. He says, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart”; he regards it not as dying, but as going from the present scene to a more glorious country. If you have ever looked Christ in the face the king of terrors has lost his terror, and instead of being a king has become your servant. We may well long for the time when we shall have done with earth, and be shut in with our Beloved. The proverb is, “See Naples and die,” but we may much improve upon it, and say, “See Christ and never die,” but be quite content to depart and to be with him.

Lastly, that sight of course had made Simeon’s eyes ready to behold the glory of God. I suppose if we could be taken up just as we are into heaven, if we were unrenewed men and women, we should not be able to see the glory of God for lack of spiritual eyes. We must first look at Christ, and when our eyes have been brightened and strengthened by the mild splendours of incarnate deity, they will be fitted to behold the King himself as he sits upon the throne. At any rate, when some of us have had a sight of Christ we have wondered what more we could see in heaven. When Solomon’s Song has come to be our everyday talk, and the Beloved has made us to feel that his left hand is under our head while his right hand doth embrace us, we have almost thought we would not give a pin to change earth for heaven, for whether in the body or out of the body we could not tell, but this we knew, we could sing, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his; he feedeth among the lilies.” If your soul once comes there, and if the Lord helps you to continue there, then dying will be nothing more than crossing the threshold, and going from the doorstep of the King’s palace to the interior of its halls. Some believers dwell in the suburbs of the celestial city, and small will be their change when, in a little while, they shall enter the central golden streets thereof, where the sun shall no more go down, neither shall the Lord withdraw himself. The Lord give you to find all your salvation in Christ, and may he teach you a great deal more than these poor stammering lips can ever tell to you. May Christ Jesus our Lord be every day more near and dear to me and to you. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Luke 2:8-52.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-410, 565, 435.