I think we cannot too often explain the meaning of the two great Christian ordinances-baptism and the Supper of the Lord; for it is essential to our profiting by them that we understand them. If we do not know what they mean, they certainly cannot convey to us any blessing whatever. They are not mere channels of grace in themselves, apart from our understanding being exercised, and our hearts being moved by them. Very soon the best ordinance in the world will become a mere form, and will even degenerate into superstitious practice, unless it be understood; and we must not always take it for granted that the meaning of the simplest emblem is understood. Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little, must still be the motto of the Christian minister. We must explain, explain, and explain again, or else men will satisfy themselves with the outward form, and not reach to the teaching which the forms were intended to convey. Our text deals with the supper of our Lord, and we will read it again. “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.”

The first point of the text is what we do-we “show.” Then, what do we show, and how? And then, who show it-“ye do show the Lord’s death.” And then, when?-“as often”-“till he come.” First, then, when we come to the Lord’s table:-

We “show.” That word has two or three meanings. They all melt into one, but we shall get at it better by dividing it. It is meant here by showing Christ’s death that we declare it. When the emblems are placed upon the table-bread and wine-and we gather around it, we declare our firm belief that Jesus, the Son of God, descended into this world and died as a sacrifice for sin upon the cross. It has been found that if a great event is to be kept in mind in succeeding ages, there must be some memorial of it. Men by degrees forget it, and even come to be dubious as to whether such an event did occur. Sometimes a stone has been set up-a monument-but this has not always been most effective. God, when he would have the children of Israel remember that he brought them out of Egypt with a high hand and an outstretched arm, did not bid them set up a monument, but he ordained a ceremony which was to be practised on a certain day. It was called “The Passover,” and the slaughter of the lamb and the eating of it became a yearly declaration by the people of Israel that they believed that God brought their fathers up out of the house of bondage. So effective has this been that men have often used the same device. When the Jewish people escaped from the plot which was laid by Haman, through the wisdom of Mordecai and Esther, they ordained the keeping of the feast of Purim, that they might have in perpetual memory the goodness of God towards his people.

And you know how, in our own English history and in the history of other countries, certain rites and ceremonies have been ordained in order that there might be a perpetual memorial, a declaration made that such and such a thing did occur. Now that more than eighteen hundred years ago Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, died upon Calvary by crucifixion, we do here protest and declare. We set forth again to a world that is sceptical and denies the fact which is its brightest hope-we set forth our confident belief that so it was; and as long as this ordinance shall be celebrated, there shall be a standing proof in the world that that was the case.

But to set forth means more than to declare. It signifies, in the next place, to represent. There is in the Lord’s Supper a representation of the death of Christ. Men, when they have found an event to be interesting and remarkable, have often devised ways of representing it to the people that they might understand it.

With regard to our Lord’s death, there are some who hang up pictures on the wall; they think the use of the crucifix and so on to be proper. I find no teaching of that kind in the Word of God. I do find that too often such things lead to idolatry. And what shall we say of those miracle-plays which, even in these modern times, have been carried out, in which the death of our Lord Jesus Christ is travestied? They seem to be shocking to the Christian mind. But here, in a very simple manner, you have God’s own appointed way of representing to ourselves and to onlookers the death of our Lord This is the Christian’s “show”-we show the death of Christ here by a divine appointment. I shall, farther on, show how it is so, and that the breaking of bread and the pouring forth of wine-the use of those two emblems-is a most telling, most suggestive, most instructive method of representing the death of Christ. There are two other ways of representing it-the one the pencil of the evangelist which has drawn the death of Christ in the Word of God; the other is the preaching of the gospel. It is the preacher’s business to set forth Christ crucified-evidently crucified among you. The three ways that God has ordained of representing the death of Christ are the Word read, the Word preached, and this blessed ordinance of the Supper of the Lord.

To “show.” This means to declare, to testify; and it means also to represent. But it has a third meaning: it means also to hold forth, to make manifest, to publish, to call attention to. Now it has been a matter of fact that when the Jesuit missionaries went to China and converted a great many to what they called the Christian faith, they never mentioned the fact that Christ died. For years they concealed it, lest the people should be shocked. Now we, on the other hand, put that first and foremost. We have no other Christianity than this, that Christ died and rose again, and we cannot come to the Lord’s table without showing it. The Jesuit could, because it would puzzle the wisest man to see the death of Christ in the Mass. He might sit and look at a hundred Masses before he knew what it meant. But the moment we gather around this table and break bread, and pour out wine, whoever asks us, “What mean ye by this ordinance?” the answer is prompt-the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err in this-“We set forth to you that Jesus died.” “God forbid that we should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are not ashamed of a crucified Saviour. We have heard of some in these days who are always preaching a glorified Christ. We wish them such success as their ministry is likely to bring; but for us we preach a crucified Christ-“Christ and him crucified”; for it is here, after all, that the salvation of the sinner lies. Christ glorified is precious enough-oh! how unspeakably precious to a soul that is saved!-but first and foremost to a dying world it is Christ upon the cross that we have to declare. And, therefore, when we come to the Communion table we do three things. We assert the fact that Jesus died; we represent that fact in emblem, and then we thus press it upon the attention of men. We desire them to observe it; we ask them to mark it; we tell them that this is the sum and substance of all the gospel that we were sent to preach, “God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation for our sins.”

Thus I have opened up the meaning of the word to “show.” This is what we do. Now the second point is, my brethren:-

It is said in the text, “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death.” How do we show it? What do we show? Well, first of all, we show that God has set forth Christ for men. The table is spread; there is bread on it; there is the cup upon it. What for? Not for beasts. Here is the food of men. It is set there for men. It is intended that the bread should be eaten, that the wine should be drunk. Everybody who sees a table spread knows at once that there are preparations for a meal or a festival. Now God has set forth Christ for men. There is in Christ what man wants. As bread meets his hunger, as the cup meets his thirst, so Christ meets all the spiritual wants of mankind. And the soul that would live, and the soul that would rejoice, must come to God’s provision for his living and his rejoicing, and that provision is to be found in Jesus Christ crucified. God set forth Christ of old. Even in the garden, he set him forth in the first promise. He continued to set him forth by all the prophets, and in this last day every veil has been taken away by an open Bible inviting all comers. God has set forth the bread of life to the sons of men. And you to-night will show that fact. When you see that table uncovered, you have a representation. God has made a feast of fat things for the sons of men in the person of Jesus Christ. The feast consists of bread and wine. Now in this we represent Christ’s human person, Christ’s humanity. That he is no myth, but real flesh, is taught by the bread being on the table-that he was no phantom, but that real blood coursed through his veins as through ours-that the Lord of life and glory was, like ourselves, a real man, in humanity in all respects like to ourselves, sin alone excepted. There shall be no phantom feast upon the table, and the materialism that is there is meant to show that he was a man, a real man

“Who once on Calvary died,

When streams of blood and water ran

Down from his wounded side.”

But the next thing we show forth is his death. We have his person; then we have his death-observe how. According to the Romish Church, the most of the people are only to participate in the bread-the wafer. Now such persons never show Christ’s death at all, for the text says, “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye show Christ’s death.” It is only by the two that you show his death at all. The bread represents the body, but the cup must represent the blood, or else you have no token of his suffering-no emblem of his death. Cannot the two be mixed together? No, for if the blood and flesh be together, you have the living man. It is when the blood flows-when the life-blood ebbs from the body, and the body is bloodless, that then you have the wine as a token of death; and the separation of the two-the use of the two emblems-is absolutely needful to set forth death. The more you think of this the more you see in it. The emblem is the simplest in the world, but yet the most instructive. Take either one of the elements-the bread, how it typifies Christ’s suffering! Here was the corn bruised beneath the thresher’s flail; then was it cast into the ground. It sprung up and ripened, and had to be cut down with the sickle; then it had to be threshed; then ground in the mill; then was it baked in the oven. A whole series of sufferings, if I may use the term, it had to pass through before it became proper food for us. And so must our Saviour pass through sufferings innumerable before he could become food for our souls, and redeemer of our spirits. As for that which is in the cup, it was trodden beneath the foot in the wine-press-its juice was pressed forth. So in the wine-press of Jehovah’s wrath was Christ pressed before he could become the wine that maketh glad both God and man. Both emblems represent suffering, each one separately, but put together they bring forth the idea of death, “and as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death.”

But more than this; we show that God set forth Christ; we show his person as a real man; we show his sufferings and his death; but next we show our participation in the same, for it is not “as often as ye look at this bread,” or “as ye gaze upon this cup,” but “as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup.” Christ saves us not until we do receive him by an act of faith. The bread satisfies no hunger while it rests upon the table, and a draught from the cup quenches no thirst until it really is drunk. So the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Saviour must be received by our faith. We must believe in him to the saving of our souls. Now how simple a matter is eating! It matters not, unless a man be dead-he wants little teaching to know how to eat. It is as simple as a natural act-he puts food into his mouth. It is just so here. There is the Saviour, and I take him-that is all. It seems to me to be even a more complex act to eat than simply to trust in Jesus, yet is it a very simple thing. The idiot can eat. No matter how guilty a man, he can eat; no matter how dark and despairing his fears, he can eat; and O poor soul, whoever thou mayest be, there shall be no want of wit or merit that shall keep thee back from Christ. If thou art willing to have him, thou mayest have him. The act of trusting Christ makes Christ as much thy own as the eating of the bread. Suppose some difficulty were raised about whether a piece of bread was mine. Well, the legal question would take a long time to decide. I cannot produce the document, nor find the witnesses to prove it is mine. But there is one little fact, I think, which will settle it-I have eaten it. So if the devil himself were to say that Christ is not mine, I have believed on him; and if I have believed on him, he is mine just as surely as when I have eaten a piece of bread there can be no question about its being mine. Now we set forth to-night, by eating bread and drinking of the cup, the fact that Jesus Christ is our Saviour, and we take him by simple faith to be our all in all.

But there is more teaching still. The bread and wine, are being eaten and drunk, are assimilated into the system; they minister strength to bone, sinew, muscle; they build up the man. And herein is teaching. Christ believed in is one with us-“Christ in us the hope of glory.” We have heard persons talk of believers falling from grace and losing Christ. No, sir, a man has eaten bread-he ate it yesterday. Will you separate that bread from the man? Will you trace the drops that came from the cup, and fetch them out of the man’s system? You shall more easily do that than you shall take Christ away from the soul that has once fed upon him. “Who shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?” He is in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life. See then how large a letter Christ has written to us with these pens-how in this bread and this wine, eaten and drunk, he has taught us wondrous mysteries-in fact, the whole Christian faith is, in brief, summed up here upon this table.

And now we must remark upon what it is we show forth, and how we do it. We do this very simply. Certain churches must go about this business in a very mysterious manner-a great deal of machinery is wanted-a plate becomes a paten, and a cup becomes a chalice, and a table, ah! that has vanished and turned into an altar. The whole thing is turned topsy-turvy until it is very questionable in the Church of Rome whether there is any supper at all; for if you introduce the altar, you have put away the table and done away with the whole thing. It is another ordinance, and not the ordinance which Christ established. One would suppose that when the Apostles first went out to preach, if the religion of the Romish Church be that of the Scripture, they would have needed, each of them, a wagon to carry with them the various paraphernalia necessary for the celebration of their services. But here, wherever there is a piece of bread, and wherever there is a cup, we have the plain, but instructive emblems which our Saviour bade us use. “He took bread and break it.” He did drink of the cup, and passed it to his disciples, and said, “Drink ye all of it.”

Let us keep this ordinance in its pure simplicity. Let us never add anything to it by our own devising by way of fancying that we are honouring God by garnishing his table. Let us plainly show Christ’s death, and as we do it plainly we should also do it festively. Is it not delightful to reflect that our Lord has not ordained a mournful ceremony in which to celebrate his death: it is a feast. You would suppose by the way that some come that it is a funeral, but it is a feast, and joy becomes a feast; and when, according to the example of Christ, we recline at our ease in the nearest approach to the posture in which the Oriental lay along at the table, and when we come with joyful heart, blessing the Lord Jesus that though our sins put him to death, yet his death has put to death our sins, then it is that we celebrate his death as he would have us celebrate it-not as an awful tragedy, in which we try to provoke our indignation against the Romans or the Jews, but as a hallowed festival, in which the King himself comes to the table, and his spikenard gives forth a sweet smell, and our spirit is refreshed.

And once more, this way of showing Christ’s death is one of communion. Now one person cannot do it; many must come together. Ye must eat and drink together to celebrate this, your Lord’s death. And is not this delightful, for in this cup we have fellowship with him and with one another? We, being many, have one bread; we, being many, have one cup-one family at one table with one common head, the Lord Jesus, who is all in all to us. Oh! I bless his name that whereas he might have ordained a way of our showing his death which would have been mournful, or a way which would have been solitary, he has selected that which is joyful, and that which is full of good fellowship, so that saints below and himself can meet together in the festival of love and show his death until he come, in the breaking of bread and the pouring forth of wine. Thus I have tried to show what it is we show, and how we show it. Now thirdly:-

Who show it? “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death.” The “ye,” then, includes all the saints of God-all who come to the table, who eat this bread and drink this cup; and truly a very pleasing thought arises from this. Here is a way of showing Christ’s death in which all who love Christ have a share. You cannot all show it from the pulpit; gifts are not equally distributed; but you all alike share in this showing of his death-in this special way, which he himself celebrated for our example, and which he delivered to his servant Paul, expressly that it might stand on record. Now if Paul himself were here, he could not show Christ’s death alone at the Lord’s Supper. He must ask some of his poorer brethren to come with him. If the minister of a church should be full of the Holy Ghost, yet could he not show forth Christ’s death here in this peculiar way. He must say to his brethren, “Come, brethren and sisters; it says ‘ye,’ as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup.” Here we are to-night, as we sit here, all brought into a blessed equality in the act of using the same outward sign, and of performing the Master’s will in the same way.

“But,” says one, “doth every man who comes to the table, and eats and drinks, show Christ’s death?” Notice how the verse which follows my text puts a bar to that. “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread.” It must be taken for granted that the man has examined himself-that he comes there as a true believer in Jesus-that he comes there with the full intent to show Christ’s death; and if he does that, such a man is showing Christ’s death. I am very earnest, dear brethren and sisters, as it has been a long time since I have met with you-having been kept away so long by sickness, though I have been with my brethren below stairs-I am anxious that we should indeed show Christ’s death to night. Let us do it to ourselves. I find that the text may either be read in the indicative or in the imperative mood. It is either “ye show Chrst’s death,” as our version has it, or it may be “show ye Christ’s death”-it is an exhortation. Oh! let us take care that we show it to ourselves. “Show it to ourselves?” says one. Yes, it is meant for you. This is a primary meaning of the text. When you take that bread, don’t think of the bread, and stay there, but say to your own soul, “My soul, think thou of Jesus. My heart, go away now to Gethsemane. Come, ye stray thoughts; Come, ye passing vanities, begone! I must away to where my Saviour bled and died.

“Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,

Which, before his cross, I spend.”

I have come here to show his death; let me see him. I will ask him to permit me in spirit to put my finger into the print of the nails, and to put my hand into his side. Oh! go not from this table satisfied with the outward emblem; press into the inner court-pray the Master to manifest himself to you as he does not unto the world. For here is the main business-show his death to your own heart till your heart bleeds for sin; show it to your own faith till your faith feels it is all sufficient-show it to others. You will be sure to show it to others if you show it to yourself, for as others look on and mark your reverent behaviour, if they cannot enter into your joy, they will be reminded of what they have so long forgotten. Oh! brethren and sisters, let me urge each one of you that no one should be content without sharing this honour. I feel we all have an honour to participate in in showing forth the death of Christ. Let us not, in sharing the honour, bring condemnation on ourselves. But I must hasten on. The fourth point is:-

The text says “often”-“as often as ye eat this bread.” The Holy Spirit might have used the words “when ye eat,” but he did not. He teaches us by implication that we ought to do it often. I do not think there is any positive law about it, but it looks to me as if the first Christians broke bread almost every day-“breaking bread from house to house.” I am not sure that that refers to Communion, but in all probability it does. This much is certain, that in the early Church the custom was to break bread in memory of Christ’s passion on the first day of every week, and it was always a part of the Sabbath’s service when they came together to remember their Lord in this way. How it can be thought right to leave the celebrating of this ordinance to once a year or once a quarter I cannot understand, and it seems to me that if brethren knew the great joy there is in often setting forth Christ’s death they would not be content with even once a month. But I leave that.

The other mark of time in the text is “till he come.” Then this service is to end. There will be no more Lord’s Suppers when Christ appears, because they will be needless. Put out the candle-the sun has risen. Put away the emblem-here comes Christ himself. But until he does come, this will always be a most fitting ordinance. I pleased myself with a thought I met with the other day. Our Lord Jesus Christ sat at the table and ate with his disciples, and he took the cup and he sipped it, and he passed it round. It is being passed round still. It has not got round the table yet, it is being passed on. For 1,800 years it has been passed from hand to hand. They have not all drunk yet; and you remember he said, “Drink ye all of it”-all of you. Did he speak to all his elect that were to be born-to all the countless companies yet to come? I think he did, and it is going round: and by-and-bye, when all the people of God have participated in Christ, it will cease. The cup will never be emptied till then.

“Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransomed Church of God

Be saved, to sin no more.”

When the last has drunk of it, what then? It will come back into the Master’s hands, and then will be fulfilled that word of his, “I say unto you I will not henceforth drink of the juice of the vine till I drink it new in my heavenly Father’s kingdom.” And it is going round, brethren-that cup of glorious Christian fellowship of love to Christ, the cup that is filled with Jesus’ blood-it is passing round, and when it has reached his hand then we shall need no more the outward ordinance. But until then it is clear from the text that it is to be kept up. And I have a little dispute with some of you here present. You love the Lord, but you have never been baptized; you love Jesus, but you have never come to his table. Now let me say you are in opposition to Christ. He says, “Do this till I come”; you don’t do it. “Oh! but I am only one,” say you. To your measure of ability you have helped to make the Lord’s Supper obsolete. Can you see that? If you have a right to neglect it, so have I-if I, so have all my brethren. Then there is an end to it. My dear brother, you are doing the best you can to make Christ forgotten in the world. I pray you by his own dying example and his express command, “This do ye in remembrance of me”-if ye have believed him, keep this, his commandment. If ye have not believed in him, then far hence! Ye have no right to take it. But if you have believed, I beseech you stand not back for shame or fear, but eat and drink at his table till he come.

Time has gone too fast for me, and I must close. There is one lesson, however, that I cannot leave out. Until Christ come. We are taught our interim employment-what is to occupy us until Jesus comes. Beloved brethren, until Jesus comes we have nothing left but to think of him. Till Jesus comes the main thing we have to do is to think of and set him forth a crucified Saviour. There is no food for the Church but Jesus; there is no testimony to the world but Jesus crucified. They have sometimes told us that in this growing age we may expect to have developed a higher form of Christianity. Well, they shall have it that like it; but Christ himself has left us nothing but just this, “Show my death till I come.” The preacher is to go on preaching a dying Saviour; the saint is to go on trusting that dying Saviour, feeding on him and letting his soul be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. There is nothing left us to occupy our thoughts, or to be the subject of our joy, as our dear dying Lord. Oh! let us feed on him. Each one, personally, as a believer-let him feed on his Saviour. If he has come once, come again. Keep on coming till Christ himself shall appear. As long as the invitation stands let us not slight it, but constantly come to Christ himself and feed on him.

In conclusion, let every ungodly person here know that he has no part nor lot in this matter. Thy first business, sinner, is with Christ himself. Go thou and put thy trust in him. Oh! go this night. Thou mayest never have another night to go in. And then when thou hast believed, then obey his command in baptism, and then also come to his table and show his death until he come. The Lord bless you for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

REVELATION 1

Verses 1, 2. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

John was one who was of the same spirit as his Master. He lived in very intimate communion with his Lord, and, therefore, to him the choicest revelations were made. The Lord does not reveal his secrets to uncongenial minds. He that will do his will shall know of the doctrine, and he shall know all secret things. Oh! if we lived nearer to God, if we walked more in the love of Christ, how much more we might know and see; or, if we saw not visions, yet there are inward perceptions to the heart which God would grant us if we lived more in the light of his countenance.

3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep these things which are written therein for the time is at hand.

It is not a book to be put on the shelf. There is practical teaching in it. It is not intended to lead us into vagaries of speculation, but it is meant for practical purposes. We are to keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.

4, 5. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come: and from the seven spirits which are before his throne: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.

Think, dear friends, how this benediction may be fulfilled. “Grace be to you,” he says, “and peace.” And what are to be the fountains and springs of this peace? It is to come from God first, from him which is. All that God is, is a fountain of peace and grace to us. And from him which was-all that he has ever been, the eternal past, the changeless purposes, the divine predestination of the Infinite. There are springs of peace and grace here. And from him which is to come. All that God will ever be, all the manifestations of his power, his justice, his love, which the ages are yet to see-all these are wells of grace and peace to God’s own people. I want you to think of this. And when your minds are disturbed, and you have need of peace, and when your heart is sinking and you have need of grace, come to God for both of these things, regarding him as him which is, which was, and which is to come. And there are seven spirits which are before his throne. The Holy Ghost, in whatever way he operates in any of his divine works-in all these he is the Comforter, the source of grace and peace to us. You need not be afraid of the Holy Spirit, even though he be the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of burning, for he will burn up nothing in us but what ought to be consumed, and will judge nothing but what ought to be judged and to be condemned; so that peace may come to us from the seven spirits which are before the throne; but specially grace and peace from Jesus Christ as the Faithful Witness. Whatever he bears witness to, it is full of grace and peace to believers, and he himself is the first begotten from the dead. Oh! his resurrection! what a wondrous fountain of grace and peace that is to us! And then his divine sovereignty-his rule over all providence and nature, the Prince of the kings of the earth-what grace and peace may every one of you who love him find there! At the thought of this, the divine writer turns from his benediction to a doxology.

5, 6. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father: to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Brethren, the very best work which we ever do on earth is to adore. You are blessed in prayer, but you are seven times blessed in praise. When you get to the doxology, it is the benediction made more sublime. The benediction takes wings and mounts into a celestial atmosphere, when you begin to adore and magnify him that loved you, and washed you from your sins. There is one thing that adoration does: it helps us to see; and when you close your eyes in adoration, you see more than when you have them open in any other way. I am sure of this, for the next line is:-

7. Behold he cometh with clouds;

John sees him. He adored him.

Strong Son of God, Immortal love,

Whom though we have not seen thy face,

Unceasing we adore.

In that adoration we behold thee. “Behold he cometh with clouds.”

7. And every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so. Amen.

What is more, adoration helps us to hear as well as to see. It supplies us with new senses. John hears this voice.

8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Happy man that thus in reverent worship hears God speaking to him in answer to his voice to God.

9. I John, who also am your brother,

How sweetly this sounds. This is a man that has seen and heard God. This is a man who is full of visions, who has beheld the broken seals and the poured out vials; the man that is familiar with the infinite. “I, John, who also am your brother.”

9. And companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

That is a wondrous linking, is it not, in this verse?-“the kingdom and patience.” You must have the cross and the crown together. We get the kingdom of Christ, but not without the passion of Christ. There is the cross marked on all the treasure trove that we find in Christ. It is not genuine if it is not marked with the cross. “The kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.”

10, 11. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:

What evidence we have here of the divinity of Christ, for we shall see, as we read on, that it is Christ that is speaking here; and just now it was the Father which in much the same words said, “I am Alpha and Omega.” We cannot always draw the line between the voice of God and the voice of the God-man, Christ Jesus, and we need not wish to do so, for Holy Scripture does not draw us up rigid, but it would have us believe it, all the same for that. Yet it is always accurate, always true, where it has shades of definition; for, after all, Christ is so truly God that whether it speak of him absolutely as God, or of him as God and man, Mediator, it matters little to us.

11, 12. And, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me.

It is so natural in us to want to see the place from which the voice proceeds.

12-16. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eges were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace: and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

I will not stop to explain those details. The picture is too sacred. Let it stand before you in its glory, and listen to these words.

17. And when I saw him. I fell at his feet as dead.

Oh! how the “I” dies when Christ is manifested! How we sink! And yet our joys shall rise unutterably, immeasurably high. I fell at his feet as dead.

17. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

There is where your comfort comes from-not from what you are, but from what he is. You are the last, but he-here is the point-he is the first and the last.

18, 19. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen,

Come, lay aside thy fears. Thy fears disqualify thee from holding the pen. Thou hast scarcely dared to look. I am sure thou wilt not dare to write until I strengthen thee.

19, 20. And the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches:

The messengers, the ministers of the seven churches.

20. And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

God bless our reading to our rich instruction.

POWERFUL PERSUASIVES

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, March 9th, 1916.

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”-Matthew 11:27, 28.

I have preached to you, dear friends, several times from the words, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is such sweetness in the precept, such solace in the promise, that I could fain hope to preach from it many times more. But I have no intention just now to repeat what I have said in any former discourse, or to follow the same vein of thought that we have previously explored. This kindly and gracious invitation needs only to be held up in different lights to give us different subjects for admiration. That it flowed like an anthem from our Saviour’s lips we perceive; in what connection it was spoken we may properly enquire. He had just made some important disclosures as to the covenant relations that existed between himself and God the Father. This interesting revelation of heavenly truth becomes the basis upon which he offers an invitation to the toiling and oppressed children of men, and assigns it as a reason why they should immediately avail themselves of his succour. Such is the line of discourse I propose now to follow. Kindly understand me that I want to deal with the hearts and consciences of the unconverted, and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to plead with them that they may at once go to Jesus and find rest unto their souls. I shall require no stories or anecdotes, no figures or metaphors, to illustrate the urgent necessity of the sinner and the generous bounty of the Saviour. We will make it as plain as a pikestaff, and as sharp as a sword, with the intention of driving straight at our point. Time is precious, your time especially, for you may not have many days in which to seek the Lord. The matter is urgent. Oh! that every labouring, weary sinner here might at once come to Jesus and find that rest which the Saviour expresses himself as so willing to give! With all simplicity, then, let me explain to you the way of salvation, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.”

The way to be saved is to come to Jesus. To come to Jesus means to pray to him, to trust in him, to rely upon him. Each man who trusts in another may be said to come to that other for help. Thus to trust in Jesus is to come to him. In order to do this I must give up all reliance upon myself, or anything I could do or have done, or anything I do feel or can feel. Nor must I feel the slightest dependence upon anything that anyone else can do for me. I must cease from creature helps and carnal rites, to rest myself upon Jesus. That is what my Saviour means when he says, “Come unto me.” The exhortation is very personal. “Come unto me,” says he. He saith not, come to my ministers to consult them, nor come to my sacraments to observe them, nor come to my Bible to study its teaching-interesting and advantageous as under some circumstances any or all of these counsels might be; but he invites us in the sweetest tone of friendship, saying, “Come to me.” For a poor sinner this is the truest means of succour. Let him resort to the blessed Lord himself. To trust in a crucified Saviour is the way of salvation. Let him leave everything else and fly away to Christ, and look at his dear wounds as he hangs upon the cross. I am afraid many people are detained from Christ by becoming entangled in the meshes of doctrine. Some with heterodox doctrine, others with orthodox doctrine, content themselves. They think that they have advanced far enough. They flatter their souls that they have ascertained the truth! But the fact is, it is not the truth as a letter which saves anybody. It is the truth as a person-it is Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, whom we need to apprehend.

Our confidences must rest entirely upon him. “Come unto me,” saith Jesus; “Come unto me, and I will give you rest.”

The exhortation is in the present tense. “Come” now; do not wait; do not tarry; do not lie at the pool of ordinances, but come unto me; come now at once, immediately, just where you are, just as you are. Wherever the summons finds you, rise without parley, without an instant’s delay. “Come.” I know that the human mind is very ingenious, and it is especially perverse when its own destruction is threatened. By some means or other it will evade this simple call. “Surely,” says one, “there must be something to do besides that.” Nay, nothing else is to be done. No preliminaries are requisite. The whole way of salvation is to trust in Jesus. Trust him now. That done, you are saved. Rely upon his finished work. Know that he has meditated on your behalf. Commit thy sinful self to his saving grace. A change of heart shall be yours. All that you need he will supply.

“There is life in a look at the crucified One;

There is life at this moment for thee.”

So sweet an invitation demands a spontaneous acceptance. Come just as you are. “Come unto me,” saith Christ. He does not say, “Come when you have washed and cleansed yourself.” Rather should you come to be cleansed. He does not say, “Come when you have clothed yourself and made yourself beautiful with good works.” Come to be made beautiful in a better righteousness than you can wear. Come naked, and let him gird thee with fine linen, cover thee with silk, and deck thee with jewels. He does not say, “Come when your conscience is tender, come when your heart is penitent, when your soul is full of loathing for sin, and your mind is enlightened with knowledge and enlivened with joy. But ye that labour, ye that are heavy laden, he bids you to come as you are. Come oppressed with your burdens, begrimed with your labours, dispirited with your toils. If the load that bends you double to the earth be upon your shoulders, just come as you are. Take no plea in your mouth but this-he bids you come. That shall suffice as a warrant for your coming, and a security for your welcome. If Jesus Christ bids you, who shall say you nay?

He puts the matter very exclusively. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” Do nothing else but come to him. Do you want rest? Come to him for it. The old proverb hath it that “betwixt two stools we come to the ground.” Certainly, if we trust partly in Christ and partly in ourselves, we shall fall lower than the ground. We shall sink into hell. “Come unto me” is the whole gospel. “Come unto me.” Mix nothing with it. Acknowledge no other obedience. Obey Christ, and him alone. Come unto me. You cannot go in two opposite directions. Let your tottering footsteps bend their way to him alone. Mix anything with him, and the possibility of your salvation is gone. Yours be the happy resolve:-

“Nothing in my hands I bring:

Simply to thy cross I cling.”

This must be your cry if you are to be accepted at all. Come, then, ye that labour, ye horny-handed sons of toil. Come ye to Jesus. He invites you. Ye that stew and toil for wealth, ye merchants, with your many cares, labourers ye are. He bids you come. Ye students, anxious for knowledge, chary of sleep, burning out the midnight oil. Ye labour with exhausted brains; therefore, come. Come from struggling after fame. Ye pleasure-seekers, come; perhaps there is no harder toil than the toil of the man who courts recreation and thinks he is taking his ease. Come, ye that labour in any form or fashion; come to Jesus-to Jesus alone. And ye that are heavy laden; ye whose official duties are a burden; ye whose domestic cares are a burden; ye whose daily toils are a burden; ye whose shame and degradation are a burden; all ye that are heavy laden, come and welcome. If I attach no exclusive spiritual signification to these terms, it is because there is nothing in the chapter that would warrant such a restriction. Had Christ said, “Some of you that labour and are heavy laden may come,” I would have said “some” too. Howbeit he has not said “some,” but “all” “that labour and are heavy laden.” It is wonderful how people twist this text about. They alter the sense by misquoting the words. They say, “Come ye that are weary and heavy laden.” After this manner some have even intended to define a character rather than to describe condition, so they shut out some of those who labour from the kind invitation. But let the passage stand in its own simplicity. Let any sinner here, who can say, “I labour,” though he cannot say spiritually labour, come on the bare warrant of the word as he finds it written here; he will not be disappointed of the mercy promised. Christ will not reject him. Himself hath said it, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” And any man that is heavy laden, even though it may not be a spiritual burden that oppresses him, yet if he comes heavy laden to Christ, he certainly shall find relief. That were a wonder without precedent or parallel, such as was never witnessed on earth throughout all the generations of men, that a soul should come to Jesus, be rebuffed, and told by him, “I never called you; I never meant you; you are not the character; you may not come.” Hear, O heaven! witness, O earth! such thing was never heard of. No, nor ever shall it be heard of in time or in eternity. That any sinner should come to the Saviour by mistake is preposterous. That Jesus should say to him, “Go your way; I never called for you,” is incredible. How can ye thus libel the sinner’s friend? Come, ye needy-come, ye helpless-come, ye simple-come, ye penitent-come, ye impenitent-come, ye who are the very vilest of the vile. If you do but come, Jesus Christ will receive you, welcome you, rejoice over you, and verify to you his thrice blessed promise, “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.”

Now to the tug of war. It shall be my main endeavour to press the invitation upon you, my good friends, by the arguments which the Saviour used.

Kindly look at the text. Read the words for yourselves. Do you not see that the reason why you are solemnly bidden to come to Christ is because:-

He is the appointed mediator.

“All things are delivered unto me of my Father.” God, even the Father, your Creator, against whom you have transgressed, has appointed our Lord Jesus Christ to be the way of access for a sinner to himself. He is no amateur Saviour. He has not thrust himself into the place officiously. He is officially delegated. In times of distress, every man is at liberty to do his best for the public welfare; but the officer commissioned by his Sovereign is armed with a supreme right to give counsel or to exercise command. Away there in Bengal, if there are any dying of famine, and I have rice, I may distribute it of my own will at my own charge. But the commissioner of the district has a special warranty which I do not posses; he has a function to discharge; it is his business, his vocation; he is authorised by the Government, and responsible to the Government to do it. So the Lord Jesus Christ has not only a deep compassion of heart for the necessities of men, but he has God’s authority to support him. The Father delivered all things into his hands, and appointed him to be a Saviour. All that Christ teaches has this superlative sanction. He teaches you nothing of his own conjecture. “What I have heard of the Father,” he saith, “that reveal I unto you.” The gospel is not a scheme of his suggestion. He reveals it fresh from the heart of God. Remember that the promises Christ makes are not merely his surmises, but they are promises with the stamp of the court of heaven upon them. Their truth is guaranteed by God. It is not possible they should fail. Sooner might heaven and earth pass away than one word of his fall flat to the ground. Your Saviour, O sinner-your only Saviour-is one whose teachings, whose invitations, and whose promises have the seal royal of the King of kings upon them. What more do you want? Moreover, the Father has given all things into his hands in the sense of government. Christ is king everywhere. God has appointed Christ to be a mediatorial prince over all of us-I say over us all-not merely over those who accept his sovereignty, but even over the ungodly. He hath given him power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to as many as he has given him. It is of no use your rebelling against Christ, and saying, “We will not have him”-the old cry, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” How read ye in the second Psalm “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.” Christ is supreme. You will have either to submit to his sceptre willingly, or else to be broken by his iron rod like a potter’s vessel. Which shall it be? Thou must either bow or be broken; make your choice. You must bend or break. God help you wisely to resolve and gratefully relent. Has the Father appointed Christ to stand between him and his sinful creatures? Has he put the government upon his shoulders, and given him a name called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty, the everlasting King? Is he Emmanuel, God with us, in God’s stead? With what reverence are we bound to receive him!

Moreover, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, of mercy and goodness, are laid up in Christ. You recollect when Pharaoh had corn to sell in Egypt, what reply he made to all who applied to him, “Go to Joseph.” It would have been no use saying, “Go to Joseph,” if Joseph had not the keys of the garner; but he had, and there was no garner that could be opened in Egypt unless Joseph lent the key. In like manner, all the garners of mercy are under the lock and key of Jesus Christ, “who openeth, and no man shutteth; who shutteth, and no man openeth.” When you require any bounty or benefit of God, you must repair to Jesus for it. The Father has put all power into his hands. He has committed the entire work of mercy to his Son, that through him as the appointed mediator, all blessings should be dispensed to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Now, sirs, do you want to be saved? I charge you to say whether you do or not; for if you care not for salvation, why should I labour among you? If you choose your own ruin, you need no counsel; you will make sure of it by your own neglect. But if you want salvation, Christ is the only authorised person in heaven and earth who can save you. “There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.” The Father hath delivered all things into his keeping. He is the authorised Saviour. “Come unto me,” then, “all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” This argument is further developed by another consideration: Christ is:-

A well-furnished mediator.

“All things are delivered unto me,” he said, “of my Father.” Sum up all that the sinner wants, and you will find him able to supply you with all. You want pardon; it is delivered unto Christ of the Father. You want change of heart; it is delivered unto Christ of the Father. You want righteousness in which you may be accepted; Christ has it. You want to be purged from the love of sin; Christ can do it. You want wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It is all in Christ. You are afraid that if you start on the road to heaven, you cannot hold on. Persevering grace is in Christ. You think you will never be perfect; but perfection is in Christ, for all believers, being saints of God and servants of Christ, are complete in him. Between hell-gate and heaven-gate there is nothing a sinner can need that is not treasured up in his blessed person. “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” He is “full of grace and truth.” Oh! sinner, I wish I could constrain you to feel as I do now, that had I never come to Christ before, I must come to him now, just now. Directly I understand that:-

“Thou, O Christ, art all I want,

More than all in thee I find.”

Why, then, should I not come? Is it because I want something before I come? Make the question your own. Where are you going to seek it? All things are delivered unto Christ. To whom should you go for ought you crave? Is there another who can aid you when Christ is in possession of all? Do you want a tender conscience? Come to Christ for it. Do you want to feel the guilt of your sin? Come to Christ to be made sensitive to its shame. Are you just what you ought not to be? Come to Christ to be made what you ought to be, for everything is in Christ. Is there anything that can be obtained elsewhere and brought to him? The invitation to you is founded upon the explanation that accompanies it. “All things are delivered unto me of my Father”; therefore, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The argument is so exclusive, that it only wants a willing mind to make it welcome. Only let God the Holy Spirit bless the word, and sinners will come to Christ; for unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Now note the next argument. Come to Christ, ye labouring ones, because:-

He is an inconceivably great mediator.

Where do I get that? Why, from this-that no man knows him but the Father. So great is he, so good, so full of all manner of precious store for needy sinners. No man knows him but the Father. He is too excellent for our puny understanding to estimate his worth. None but the infinite God can comprehend his value as a Saviour. Has anyone here been saying, “Christ cannot save me; I am such a big sinner”? You don’t know him, my friend, you don’t know him. You are measuring him according to your little insignificant notions. High as the heavens are above the earth, so high are his ways above your ways, and his thoughts than your thoughts. You don’t know him, sinner, and no one does know him but his Father. Why, some of us who have been saved by him, thought when we saw the blessed mystery of his substitutionary sacrifice, that we knew all about him; but we have found that he grows upon our view the nearer we approach, and the more we contemplate him. Some of you have now been Christians for thirty or forty years, and you know much more of him than you used to do; but you do not know him yet; your eyes are dazzled by his brightness; you do not know him. And the happy spirits before the throne who have been there, some of them, three or four thousand years, have hardly begun to spell the first letter of his name. He is too grand and too good for them to comprehend. I believe that it will be the growing wonder in eternity to find out how precious a Christ, how powerful, how immutable-in a word, how divine a Christ he is in whom we have trusted. Only the infinite can understand the infinite. “God only knows the love of God,” and only the Father understands the Son. Oh! I wish I had a week in which to talk on this, instead of a few minutes! You want a great Saviour? Well, here he is. Nobody can depict him, or describe him, or even imagine him, except the infinite God himself. Come, then, poor sinner, sunken up to your neck in crime, black as hell-come unto him. Come, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and prove him to be your Saviour. The fact that no one knows how great a Saviour he is except his Father may encourage you. Now for another argument. Come to him because:-

He is an infinitely wise Mediator.

He is a mediator who understands both persons on whose behalf he mediates. He understands you. He has summed and reckoned you up, and he has made you out to be a heap of sin and misery, and nothing else. The glory of it is that he understands God, whom you have offended, for it is written, “Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son,” and he knows the Father. Oh! what a mercy that is to have one to go before God for me who knows him intimately. He knows his Father’s will; he knows his Father’s wrath. No man knows it but himself. He has suffered it. He knows his Father’s love. He alone can feel it-such love as God felt for sinners. He knows how his Father’s wrath has been turned away by his precious blood; he knows the Father as a Judge whose anger no longer burns against those for whom the Atonement has been made. He knows the Father’s heart. He knows the Father’s secret purposes. He knows the Father’s will is that whosoever seeth the Son and believeth on him shall have everlasting life. He knows the decrees of God, and yet he says, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is nothing in that contrary to the decrees of God; for Jesus knows what the decrees are, and he would not speak in contradiction to them. He knows God’s requirements. Sinner, whatever it is God requires of you, Christ knows what they are, and he is ready to meet them. “The law is holy, and just, and good,” and Jesus knows it, for the law is in his heart. Justice is very stern, and Jesus knows it, for Jesus has felt the edge of the sword of justice, and knows all about it. He is fully equipped for the discharge of his mediatorial office, and those that put their trust in him shall find that he will bear them through. Often, when a prisoner at the bar has a barrister who understands his work, and is perfectly competent for the defence, his friends say to him, “Your case is safe, for if there is a man in England who can get you through, it is that man.” But my Master is an advocate who never lost a case. He has a plea at the throne of God that never failed yet. Give him-oh! give him your cause to plead, nor doubt the Father’s grace. Poor sinner, he is so wise an advocate that you may well come to him, and he will give you rest. But I must not weary you, although there is a fulness of matter on which I might enlarge. With one other argument I conclude:-

The only mediator, so the text says. “Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son.” Christ knows the Father; no one else knows him, save the Son. There is none other that can approach unto God. It is Christ for your Saviour, or no Saviour at all. Salvation is in no other; and if you will not have Christ, neither can you have salvation. Observe how that is. It is certain that no man knows God except Christ. It is equally certain that no man can come to God except by Christ. He says it peremptorily; “No man cometh to the Father but by me.” Not less certain is it that no man can please the Father except through Christ, for “without faith it is impossible to please him.” No faith is worth having except the grace that is founded and based upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and him only. Oh! then, souls, since you are shut up to it by a blessed necessity, say at once, “I will to the gracious Prince approach, and take Jesus to be my all in all.” If I might hope you would do this early, I could go back to my home and retire to my bed, praising God for the work that was done, and the result that was achieved. Let us reiterate again and again the gospel we have to declare, the very essence of the gospel it is which we proclaim. Trust your souls with Jesus, and your souls are saved. He suffered in the room, and place, and stead of all that trust him. If you rely upon him by an act of simple faith, the simplest act in all the world, immediately you so rely you are forgiven, your transgressions are blotted out for his name’s sake. He stands in spirit among us at this good hour, and says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden”; and he gives you these arguments, which ought to convince you. I pray they may. He is an authorised Saviour, and a well-furnished Saviour. He is the friend of God, and the friend of man. God grant you may accept him, and find the boon which he alone can bestow. Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

ROMANS 8

Verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

“No condemnation”: that is the beginning of the chapter. No separation: that is the end of the chapter. And all between is full of grace and truth. What a banquet this chapter has often proved to the souls of God’s hungry servants! May it be so now as we read it. No condemnation even now. Many doubts, but no condemnation. Many chastisements, but no condemnation. Even frowns from the Father’s face apparently, but no condemnation. And this is not a bare statement, but an inference from powerful arguments. “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” This is where they are. “Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” This is how they behave themselves, not under the government of the old nature, but under the rule of the divine Spirit of God.

2-4. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

None keep the law so well as those who do not hope to be saved by it, but who, renouncing all confidence in their own works, and accepting the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ Jesus, are moved by gratitude to a height of consecration and a purity of obedience which mere legalism can never know. The child will obey better without desire of reward, than the slave will under the dread of the lash, or in hope of a wage. The most potent motive for holiness is free grace. A dying Saviour is the death of sin. As we have been singing, we strove against its power until we learnt that Christ was the way, and then we conquered it.

5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Everything according to its nature. Water will rise as high as its source, but it will not naturally flow any higher. The great thing, then, is to be brought under the dominion of the Holy Spirit, and of that new nature which is the offspring of the Spirit. Then we try to rise up to our source, and we rise vastly higher than human nature ever can under any force that you can apply to it. The new nature can do what the old nature cannot do.

6. For to be carnally minded

To have the mind of the flesh.

6. Is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Flesh must die. Its tendency is to corruption; but the spirit never dies. Its tendency, its instinct, is growth, advance, immortality.

7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

The old nature is hopelessly bad. There is no mending it. It is enmity, not merely at enmity; but it is absolutely enmity. It is not subject to God’s law, and you cannot make it so.

8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

So long as we are under the dominion of the old nature, the depraved and fallen nature, there is no pleasing God.

9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Oh! this is a very wonderful fact, that the Spirit of God should dwell in us. I have often said to you that I never know which of two mysteries most to admire-God incarnate in Christ, or the Holy Spirit indwelling in man; they are two marvellous things, miracles of miracles.

9, 10. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

The regeneration of the body, so to speak, is not performed in this life. Resurrection is tantamount to that. The body is still under the old law of death, and so we have pain and weakness, and we die; but the spirit, oh! how it triumphs, even in the midst of pain and weakness. “The Spirit is life, because of righteousness.” That will not die.

11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

So there is coming a time for your body to experience the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. He does not say that he will give you a new body. Do not believe this modern doctrine. But he shall quicken your mortal body; that is to say, the same body, which is now subject to death, and so is mortal, is to be quickened at the resurrection.

12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the fle

What do we owe the old nature? Nothing, surely. Give it a decent burial. Let it be buried with Christ in baptism. Let the Spirit of God come and renew it. But we owe it nothing, and we are not debtors to it.

13, 14. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Your “universal fatherhood” is rubbish. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,” and none others. This is the essential to sonship-that we should have the Spirit of God within us.

15, 16. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear: but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

That is, when we have the Spirit, when we are renewed in the Spirit of our minds, when we come into the domain of Spirit, and quit the tyranny of the flesh. Then the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

17. And if children, then heirs;

It is not, of course, so in human families. All children are not heirs; but it is so in the family of God.

17. Heirs of God,

What a heritage! God himself becomes our heritage. We are heirs to all that God has, and all that God is.

17. And joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

The whole chapter is rather too long for our reading, so we will pass on to the 28th verse.

28. And we know

This is not a matter of opinion. This is scarcely a matter of faith. “We know.” We are sure of it. We have proved it.

28. That all things work together for good to them that love God,

They all work. They work in harmony. They work for one purpose. That purpose is for good.

28. To them who are the called according to his purpose.

That is their private character, which God knows, and which he reveals to them in course of time.

29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.

This is their character, which they perceive, which others may in a measure perceive. We are to be like him then, conformed to his image; and if we be joint-heirs with him, what a joy it is that we are to be partakers of his nature, made like to him! Christ will be reflected, and in a measure repeated, in all his people; and this shall be the very glory of heaven, that, look which way you will, you shall see either Christ himself or his likeness in his people. If you have ever stood in a room that was full of mirrors everywhere, how wonderfully your own likeness has been repeated! And heaven shall be a mirror chamber, wherein Christ shall be seen in every one of his people. He did predestinate them to be conformed to the image of his Son.

30. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified?

That glorification we cannot see as yet. It is in the excessive brightness of the future, just as his divine election is in the brightness of the past. These are the two columns on either shore; but the swinging bridge in between is this-calling and justification. These are joined in one, and if thou hast either of these, thou mayest know thy predestination and thy future glorification

31. What shall we then say to these things?

Oh! have you not often said that? When you have studied the plan of grace, the covenant of God, have you not said to yourself, “What can I say to all this? It is passing wonder. It exceeds the power of comprehension, for the greatness of this glory. What shall we then say to these things?” Well, we will say something practical that shall cheer our hearts.

31-33. If God be for us who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

It may be read, “God that justifieth?” and properly may be read as a question.

34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died,

He is the Judge. Will he who died condemn?

34. Yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

He alone is Judge. Has he done all this, and will he condemn us?

35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

These have been tried on the saints for ages.

36. As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

But has this divided them from Christ? Hear them all, as with united voice they answer.

37, 38. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded,

Somebody asked, “Pray, what persuasion may you be?” Well, this is my persuasion.

38. That neither death, nor life, nor angels,

Good or bad.

38. Nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,

Hard and grinding as they may be.

38. Nor things to come.

Unknown mysteries dreaded.

39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.