In the case of some who will be added to us to-night, their joy is the greater, and ours with them, because their convictions of sin were painful. It was my lot in some cases to see them when the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them-when their sin haunted them day and night, and they found no rest; and I thank God I had the privilege in some cases of speaking the word that God had ordained should turn their darkness into day; and I saw the change, the strange and marvellous change, which indicated itself upon their countenances when they said, “We understand it now. We trust the Saviour, and our hearts are glad.” Oh! you that ever felt the gyves and fetters of sin and Satan, do you remember how you leaped when they fell to the ground? Oh! participate then, in the joy of those who have gained deliverance from their cruel sin, and from the bondage of their many fears.
In some cases, too, some of those converted to God have, since their conversion, been partakers of very remarkable peace. I have in my memory now the stories of one or two of them of the exceeding joy they have felt. They have not lost it, I trust; but it was, indeed, a peace of God which passed all understanding which filled their hearts and minds. Now you who have drunk of that sweet cup may sip this honey dropping from the comb. You cannot but rejoice when you think that they should be so full of joy. There were some aged ones, and they thanked God that in the sere and yellow leaf they found him-that though fifty and even sixty years had been spent in the service of sin and Satan, yet they were delivered from going down into the pit. Rejoice with them. Some were young, very, very young; and I may say of some children to whom I spoke, their conversion and their testimony was as clear-indeed, it was more clear than the testimony of many who were in middle life; and what a blessing when the young heart is wedded to the Saviour, when the dawn of the morning has the dew of grace upon it-when the soul comes into the bosom of the Saviour while yet it is a lamb! Oh! bless God for the young, and for the old, that they have come to Jesus, and are resting in him.
Think, dear friends, in the case of some whom God has converted here, and I may say in the case of some who will be added to us to-night, we joy when we remember what they were. I will not enlarge, but some here present could tell their own story of what grace has done. Sitting here to-night, but a few months ago the ale-bench would have suited them far better. Singing songs of Zion now, but unchaste music would have suited their lips far better once. But they are washed; but they are pardoned, sanctified, and changed. And as they rejoice in the change they feel, we cannot but rejoice with them.
And then think of what they would have been still if grace had not interposed, ay, and of what every one of us would have been to-day, and will be, unless the grace of God shall keep its hold upon us, as, glory be to God, we believe it will; for every soul that is saved by grace, if it had not been for that salvation, would have been cast away for ever from the presence of God-another firebrand in the everlasting flame; another, another soul that should gnaw its fire-tormented tongue in vain, and ask a drop of water, to receive no answer of mercy. O sirs, if ye do not praise God for souls snatched from the jaws of hell, and by divine grace taught to walk in the way of heaven, what will ye praise him for? If heaven itself is glad, ye who hope to go to heaven, will ye not participate in the joy? Else, indeed, ye seem to be unfit for that hallowed place, and not to have the capacity which is needful to enter into the joy of your Lord. They are glad. I would like you to have heard some of them at the church meeting here-how they gladly told of what the Lord had done for them. If there were but one I would be glad. When God gives us scores we will be glad, and glad, and yet glad again. I went home very weary one day with seeing so many. The second day there were still more, and I was more weary still. I would like to die with such weariness, for it is such blessed work-this work of bringing in souls that are of the Lord’s planting, and of the Lord’s ripening, to the garner of his Church. Rejoice, then; rejoice again; rejoice with the converts.
I hear here and there a faint voice saying, “Ah! I wish I could! I am glad they are converted, but I wish I were.” Oh! soul, I am glad to hear you say that, for when a heart longs for Christ it will soon have him. If thou desirest him, he is free to thee. Oh! when thou sayest, “I would I were his; I would bow my neck to his gentle yoke; oh! that he would forgive me and have mercy on me”-come and welcome! come and welcome! Thou hast but to trust, and the work is done; thou art saved. God grant that thou mayest do it to-night.
But now advancing a step to-night, dear friends, we ought to rejoice with the friends of the converts, for when souls are saved they do not have the joy all to themselves. There are others concerned in it. There are parents, and in some cases they have brought up their children with much anxiety and godly fear; and they have trembled lest the son and daughter of their love should depart with an evil heart of unbelief from the living God. And there are cases here in which parents have seen all their children coming forward and saying, “We are on the Lord’s side.” I do not think any joy-there may be a greater joy, but I do not think any is sweeter than the joy of parents who see their children walking in the truth. O you who have the same anxieties, enter into the joy of those whose anxieties are turned to confidence. In some cases it was not the parent alone, but other friends-brothers and sisters-in some cases a husband-in more cases still, a godly wife-in some a Christian nurse. Such have had anxieties and turned them into prayers, and the prayers grew into an agony of soul; and they have seen the persons that they prayed for saved. They have heard those who once denied the Saviour confess him. They have seen the proud sinew broken, and the stout heart bowed down in repentance, and they are glad, very glad, to-night. Oh! let us sympathise with them then, and enter into their joy. I think I hear one say, “So I would, but ah! it seems to send a pang into my soul to think I have not been saved.” Well, I will not forbid the pang; it is natural; it is gracious; but at the same time wilt thou not be glad that another has that which thou dost so covet? Be not envious. Thou mayest be, easily. It is natural thou shouldst, but prevent the envy by entering in holy sympathy into the joy. It may be that if you can rejoice with their parents and with all other friends, when you have so done, you will be driven with greater anxiety to the Saviour, and, in answer to a more earnest prayer, the benediction will come to your household too. Oh! they are glad houses in London where husband and wife walk together in the faith. They are not always the rich; they are not always the healthy; but they are always the happy, who unite themselves in the bands of the covenant of grace with each other to the Lord, and walk hand in hand so. We will rejoice to-night with those who do rejoice.
I can only stay a minute where there is plenty of room to enlarge, and notice, in the next place, that we ought to rejoice with those who were the means of bringing those who are added to us to a knowledge of the Saviour. I would not arrogate any honour to myself whatever; still, I have a joy, a joy which no man taketh from me, that there have been many, many, many souls who have been brought to see the Saviour, and put their trust in him, by a simple testimony of the Word. Sometimes I know, indeed, that I could reckon up more than ten thousand souls that profess to have found the Saviour through the hearing of the Word. And the world may say what it will; men may condemn as they will; but while God will seal the Word, we will bate no jot nor tittle of it, but preach still as we have received commission from the Lord of Hosts. But I am very thankful to have to add that in the cases of all the conversions that are wrought here, there is a very large number that are brought to Christ not through the ministry from the platform, but through the ministry of many of my dear brethren and sisters in Christ, who are here working for the Master with heart and soul. How rich has God made us-ah! some of our dear brethren and sisters especially-in the leading young minds to the Saviour. You will thank God for it who have brought hundreds to Christ. The Sabbath school has not been without a blessing; and in your tract distributing we have had cases of conversion, and from individuals obscure and unknown, occupying these pews to-night-from them there has been fruit. There are quiet, gracious women here who have brought in one or two to Jesus by their pious conversation. I am pleased when I hear such a story as this, “We never went to the house of God, sir, but such and such a member of your church became a servant-girl with us, and she was a quiet spirit and seemed so happy that we asked where she went, and we came too; and we have come to join the church of which she is a member, because of that.” That has happened again and again. Yet, alas! there are other members of the church whose conduct would not be the means of the conversion of anybody, but the very reverse. Yet thank I God for not a few whose lives and whose testimonies have, to my knowledge, brought many to the Saviour. None know your names, beloved; none can sound the trumpet before you; but you have been faithful servants in a few things. You will in your turn be made rulers over many things, and you shall enter into the joy of your Lord. Oh! believe me, my heart is full when I think of sinners saved by simply telling the story of the cross. This is a joy that the miser does not know of when he gloats over his treasure-a joy which the warrior knows not of, even when he rides in triumph through the streets-a joy which earth could not produce from all her mines and all her fountains-the joy of bringing souls to Jesus Christ, their Saviour. Rejoice, then, to-night with those that do rejoice. “Oh!” saith one, “I would, but I never was the means of the conversion of a soul.” Do you recollect our brother’s prayer last night, that every member of this church might during the year be the means of the salvation of one soul? As he said, it was not a very large prayer; and yet if it were answered, there would be 4,500 more souls called by your instrumentality in that way. I know I said “Amen” to it, and I do say “Amen” to it; and I do pray that there may not be one barren one among you, but that the Lord may grant grace to everyone to bring one at least to the Saviour in twelve months. God grant it, for his name’s sake! Well, if that be so, then you will be among those who will rejoice, and now you may rejoice in the anticipation of it. I am sure if you have not been useful yourself, you cannot but be thankful to God that others have been, and you will rejoice with them that do rejoice.
Again, we must pass on, but this time our joy must take a higher range; our thought must take a higher sweep. We have spoken of those who are converted, and of their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and of those who were the instruments of their conversion; but there are others that are rejoicing besides those on earth. The angels rejoice. Did we not read just now, “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth”? Angels have more to do with us than we wot of. They are next akin to us, and they have a holy sympathy with us. They watch us when we go astray; and when they perceive us hearing the Word, I do not doubt they hover over us to observe as best as they can how far the Word operates upon the mind. We read in Scripture-and that is the reason why the woman’s head is covered, that she is to have a covering over her head because of the angels; but some read it because they observe the decorum and propriety of the assembly; and even if we do not, they do. Angels, then, we believe, are in the midst of the congregations of the faithful, and when they see a sinner hearing the Word, I doubt not they watch with such anxiety as may be possible to spirits that cannot be unhappy. And when they follow home the hearer, and they mark the expression, and they note the beginning of the prayer, I should not wonder but they whisper it as news in all the golden streets, “Behold, he prayeth.” And when they see the tear of repentance, that first ensign of the grace of God, which, like the snowdrop that comes in spring to be the prophet of the coming summer-when they see this tear of penitence which foretells this change of heart, and is the token of its having come, then they speed their way and tell their fellows up yonder, and they strike their harps anew. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
“And shall not we take up the strain?”
They who are not of our race rejoice when any of our race are saved; and shall we be so flinty-hearted as not to be glad? No, ye spirits, though we see ye not, we hear, and what is done above is done here below. Your joy is participated in to-night.
But now we must go much farther. “Rejoice with them that do rejoice.” There is one (his name be ever blessed!)-the Eternal Father (who is so represented by his own dear Son) is rejoicing; and, therefore, though it be speaking after the manner of men, it is also speaking after the manner of the man Christ Jesus, and we cannot err. We find that the Father, when the prodigal returned, was the chief in all the joy. He called others to rejoice with him, but it was thus, “Rejoice with me, for this my son, which was dead, is alive again; he was lost, but he is found.” In all the festival of that glad day there was joy with the neighbours, and joy in the poor penitent son, but the greatest joy of all was in the glowing heart of the father, who had loved his son, when his son loved not him-had seen his son when his son was afar off, and had run to meet his son when he was returning. Have you ever thought, and will you think to-night, of the joy of God over recovered sinners? The joy of God! He is ever blessed, infinitely blessed, but still he condescends to allow us to describe him as being in this respect of like passions with ourselves-a Father rejoicing over a returning son. Beloved, enter into Jehovah’s joy. Is God joyous-joyous over sinners saved? Let the sacred flame come on your soul. Have sympathy with your Father. Play not the part, the unworthy part, of the elder brother. As ye yourselves were prodigals, and could not say, “These many years do I serve thee,” rejoice with your Father, who, in pressing others to his bosom, is only doing in their case what he has done to you.
“With joy the Father doth approve
The fruit of his eternal love.”
He always loved the soul that he doth save, loved it ere it was created, loved it in the purpose of predestination, loved it when it fell, loved it when he ordained it to eternal life and gave it to his Son, loved it when it hated him. Is it not writen, “His great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins”? And that great love makes him infinitely rejoice when he sees it recovered from its misery and danger, and brought into a state of reconciliation and love to himself. Share ye, then, the Father’s joy.
But now forget not the joy of another, never to be forgotten by us who are named by his name-the joy of the shepherd who has found his sheep, that great Shepherd of the sheep who laid down his life that he might save souls. Jesus is infinitely glad when a sinner repents. Measure, if you can, his joy. I have given you a task which ye can never fulfil. I will give you two plumb lines, but they, like the deep you would measure, are themselves immeasurable. These two plumb lines are, first, the pangs he suffered for those souls, and secondly, the love he bore and bears those souls. His joy in their salvation is proportionate, first, to the pangs he bore. So much the price, so much the value that he puts upon the purchase. By so much as the travail was bitter, by just so much the fruits of that travail are sweet to him. “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied”-only satisfied because he had the travail to obtain it, and he has obtained it. Had not the grief been deep, been infinite, the joy had not been great enough to satisfy-to fill to the brim his soul with joy. I know Jesus was very sad when on earth, but yet I have sometimes thought that, of all the men that ever lived, Jesus was the happiest man, even in his sorrows, for it is not possible for a heart to be so full of love to others-to be so benevolent-and not to be happy. To love, makes even suffering in a certain sense sweet, for the object of love. “The joy that was set before him” made our Saviour “endure the cross,” but not with a common endurance. He so endured it that he “despised the shame”; and though it was shame, and it broke his heart, yet it was shame on which, in the majesty of his love, he trampled with a sacred joy. Now to-day:-
“All his work and warfare done,
He into his heaven is gone;
Now before his Father’s throne,
There is pleading for his own.”
And as his own come to him one by one, and as they come sometimes in larger companies, the Saviour doth rejoice. Measure, I say, his joy by his pangs.
Measure it by his love too, his great love, his boundless love, love which many waters could not quench, and which the flood could not drown. Now I say to every godly heart, Canst thou refuse to be glad when Jesus is glad? If he rejoices over souls saved, will you not rejoice with him? Is there not a sacred infection in that heavenly heart? Do you not catch light from those beaming eyes? If you see him glad, you forget your little sorrows. You think them great, yet you forget them. I pray God you may know the meaning of that verse here, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” May you have his joy, beloved, in you, so that your joy may be full, and so that you may rejoice with Christ who does rejoice.
One other word-there is one other who rejoices too.
“The Spirit takes delight to view
The holy soul he fires anew.”
Do we ever honour the Holy Spirit as we should? I fear we greatly grieve him by our forgetfulness of him. Think you a moment, beloved. The incarnation of Christ among the sons of men was a very, very great marvel of condescension; but I do not know whether the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in men is not, if possible, even a greater mystery of condescending love. Christ took on him flesh, but it was pure. No sin was in his body. But the Holy Spirit dwells in sinful men. These bodies are his temples, but they are impure, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is constantly made to see the depravity of our hearts. Now Jesus Christ walked among the sons of men and saw sin, it is true, and his holy soul was grieved, but in a certain sense he was separate from sinners. But here is the Holy Spirit infinitely pure, tender, jealous for holiness, and yet he comes to dwell in our spirits. In our spirits he dwells, and, perhaps, by the week together we do not even recognise his presence, and every day we rebel against his government. He sees us unholy, and he is grieved at it, for our sakes and for his own holiness sake. He works graces in us, and then we permit Satan to come in and spoil those very graces. He instructs us, and then we forget it. He leads us, and then we start aside; and all the while the dear faithful, gentle, dove-like Spirit does not leave us; he abides with us and in us continually. He hides himself sometimes, and withdraws his condescension, but God does not utterly take his Spirit from us. Now in the case of every soul converted there have been strivings of the Holy Spirit; there have been resistances of the Holy Spirit; there have been grievings of the Holy Spirit; there have been sins against the Holy Spirit of many sorts and in many forms; but at last he has brought to bear omnipotent persuasions upon the heart; at last he has put in his hand through the hole of the door, and the soul has opened to the touch; at last he sees Jesus installed in the heart-Jesus, whom the Holy Ghost delights to honour, for it is his work and office to reveal Christ to the soul; and surely there is as much of joy in the Holy Ghost himself as there is in the heart of Jesus, or in the heart of the Eternal Father, when at last a soul is saved. The triune God is glad; he rests in his love; he rejoices over the converts with singing. Come, brethren, let us rejoice too! Forget your own troubles a while now; forget, I pray, everything that might hamper and hinder, and let us come to the table with our brothers and sisters, many of them who come here for the first time to-night. Let us feel that the fatted calf is killed, and that the dancing and the music are with us, and let each be merry, rejoicing with the joy of our Lord, and with the joy which he has given to his saved ones. Oh! what joy it would be if all this congregation were saved. May we meet in heaven, beloved, every one of us. Now suppose the preacher should receive a message to-night that every soul here would be saved except one, and suppose it were revealed to him who that one would be, and he was expected now to point out that one! Oh! dreadful message! With what trembling would you all sit, each one afraid lest it should be yourself to be left unsaved. I have no such message, thank God. And yet, yet if I could hope that all here would be saved but one, I must confess my heart would be lighter than it is; for except some of you repent, forsake your sins, and fly to Christ, the lost will not be one, but many. Dear hearer, let it not be yourself. While mercy still with silken accents speaks and cries, “Return, return!” while love with bleeding hand beckons and cries with wounded side of Christ, “Oh! believe and come! Whosoever believeth on him shall be saved; for he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned.” May God help you to trust in Christ and live. Amen.
Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon
ROMANS 12:1-16
Verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
Paul is a calm reasoner. He is a bold stater of truth, but here he comes to pleading with us. I think that I see him lift the pen from the paper and look round upon us, as, with the accent of entreaty, he says, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, by God’s great mercy to you, his many mercies, his continued mercies.” What stronger plea could the Apostle have? “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God.”
1. By the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Though he beseeches you to do it, he claims a right to it. It is but your reasonable service. Do we need to be entreated to be reasonable? I am afraid that we do sometimes. And what are we to do? To present our bodies to God, not our souls alone, to make real, practical work of it. Let this flesh and blood in which your body dwells be presented unto God, not to be killed and to be a dead sacrifice, but to live and still to be a sacrifice, a living sacrifice unto God, holy and acceptable to him. This is reasonable. God help us to carry it out.
2. And be not conformed to this world:
Do not live as men of the world do. Do not follow the customs, the fashions, the princples of the world. “Be not conformed to this world.”
2. But be ye transformed.
It is not enough to be nonconformists. Be transformed ones, altogether changed into another form.
2. By the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
It is by holy living, by consecrated bodies, that we are to prove the will of God. We cannot know it, we cannot practically work it out, except by a complete consecration unto God.
3. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Humility is sober thinking. Pride is drunken thinking. He that thinks more of himself than he should is so far intoxicated with conceit; but he that judges aright and is, therefore, humble, thinks soberly. God give us to be very sober in our thoughts of ourselves.
4, 5. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Hence the diversity. If the hand were made exactly like the foot, it would not be a tenth part as useful; and if the eye only had the same faculty as the ear, it would not be able to see, and the whole body would be a loser thereby. Do we begin to compare eyes, and ears, and feet, and hands, and say, “This is the better faculty”? No. They are each one needful. So do not compare yourselves among yourselves, for if you are in the body of Christ, you are each one needful, and the peculiarity which you possess, and the peculiarity which your brother possesses, have their place in the body corporate, and must be precious before God.
6-8. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth on teaching; Or he that exhorted on exhortation;
Keep to your own work; stand in your own niche. If you are only an exhorter, do not pretend to teach. If your work is ministry, and you cannot prophesy, do not attempt to do it. Every man in his own order.
8, 9. He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulution.
Do not pretend to a love that you have not got. Do not lard your speech with “dear” this and “dear” that, when there is no love in your heart; and even if your heart be full of love, show it without spreading molasses over your talk, as some do. “Let love be without dissimulation.”
9. Abhor that which is evil;
Be a good hater. Abhor that which is evil
9. Cleave to that which is good.
Stick to it. Hold it fast. Do not go an inch beyond it.
10. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love;
Hear this, ye members of the church. Endeavour to carry it out by a kindly courtesy and a real sympathy one with another. “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.”
10. In honour preferring one another:
Putting another before yourself, aspiring after the second place, rather than the first.
11. Not slothful in business;
A lazy man is no beauty anyhere.
11. Fervent in spirit;
Burn. Let your very soul get hot.
11, 12. Serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope;
When you have not anything else to rejoice in, rejoice in hope.
12. Patient in tribulation;
The word “tribulation” signifies threshing as with a flail. Be patient when the flail falls heavily.
12, 13. Continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints;
When you have told your own necessity to God, then help the necessities of those who come to you.
13, 14. Given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
A Christian man cursing is a very awkward spectacle. Even the Pope, when he takes to cursing, as at least the former one used to do very liberally, seems as if he could hardly be the vicar of God on earth. Our work is to bless the sons of men. “Bless and curse not.”
15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
Do not be a wet blanket on their joys. If they have good cause for rejoicing, join in it. Help them to sing their hymn of gratitude.
15. And weep with them that weep.
Sympathise with mourners. Take a share of their burden. I really believe that it is easier to weep with them that weep than it is to rejoice with them that do rejoice; for this old flesh of ours begins to envy those who rejoice, whereas it does not so much object to sympathise with those that sorrow. Carry out both commands. “Rejoice with them that do rejoice. Weep with them that weep.”
16. Be of the same mind one toward another.
Agree together, you Christian people. Do not be always arguing and discussing. Be of the same mind one towards another. In church life very much must depend upon our unity in mind as well as in heart. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism”-these help to make a good foundation for Christian fellowship.