DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 28, 1870,
BY C. H. SPURGEON
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away,
reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter
1:3-5.
THE persons whom Peter addressed were in great need of comfort. They
were strangers, strangers scattered far from home. They had in
consequence to suffer manifold trials and therefore needed plenteous
consolations. Such is our position in a spiritual sense. We, too, are
strangers and foreigners. We are pilgrims and sojourners below, and our
citizenship is in Heaven. We also require the Word of comfort, for
while our banishment lasts, we look for tribulations. The persons whom
Peter addressed were God's chosen, "elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father," and one sure result of Divine
election is the world's enmity. "If you were of the world, the world
would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have
chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
So you too, my Brethren, chosen out from among men, to be the peculiar
people of God, must expect to be partakers of the Cross–for the
servant is not greater than his Lord. Since they persecuted Him they
will also persecute you. Therefore to you, as to those of old by Peter,
the Word of consolation is sent this day. The Apostle also addressed
the sanctified. Through the Holy Spirit they had been sanctified and
set apart. To the "obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus" they
had been brought. They were a people who had "purified their souls in
obeying the Truth of God through the Spirit."
And rest assured no man can do this without encountering fiery trials.
He who swims with the stream shall find all things go easily with him
until he reaches the waterfall of destruction. But he who stems the
torrent must expect to breast many a raging billow. And therefore to
such the strong consolations of the Gospel are necessary. Speak we then
this morning to the same characters as those addressed by Peter, even
to you who "are not of the world," but "strangers." To you who are
"chosen of God," and therefore the object of the enmity of man. To you
who maintain the separated life of true holiness, and are therefore
opposed by the profane.
You have need of comfort, and in the Word, and by the Holy Spirit, your
need is more than met. Our Apostle cheers these troubled hearts by
exciting them to a song of praise. I might almost entitle these three
verses a New Testament Psalm. They are stanzas of a majestic song. You
have here a delightful hymn. It scarcely needs to be turned into
verse–it is in itself essential poetry.
Now, my Brethren, to lead the mind to praise God is one of the surest
ways of uplifting it from depression. The wild beasts of anxiety and
discontent which surround our bivouac in the wilderness will be driven
away by the fire of our gratitude and the song of our praise. When the
Psalm recounts with joyous gratitude the mercies which God has given
us, it supplants distress by thankfulness, even as the fir tree and the
myrtle take the place of the thorn and the brier where the Gospel works
its wonders.
In these three verses we have a string of pearls, a necklace of
diamonds, a cabinet of jewels–no, the comparisons are poor–we have
something far better than all the riches of the earth can ever typify.
You have here the heritage of the chosen of God. Your heritage,
Beloved, your own peculiar portion if you belong to Christ this day.
We shall conduct you through this mine of treasure, and ask you to
dwell upon each blessing, that your souls may be comforted, and that
you, lifting up your hearts in blessing, and praising the God of all
Grace, may forget your cares and sorrows, and find a young Heaven begun
below–a Paradise blooming amid the desert. There are seven choice
things in the text, a perfect number of perfect things. One might see
more than seven, but these will exhaust all our time. Therefore we
shall speak briefly upon each one.
First, I see in the text as the source of all the rest, ABUNDANT MERCY.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according
to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope." No
other attribute could have helped us had Mercy refused. As we are by
nature Justice condemns us, Holiness frowns upon us, Power crushes us,
Truth confirms the threat of the Law, and Wrath fulfils it. It is from
the mercy of our God that all our hopes begin.
Mercy is needed for the miserable, and yet more for the sinful. Misery
and sin are fully united in the human race, and Mercy, here, performs
her noble deeds. My Brethren, God has vouchsafed His mercy to us, and
we must thankfully acknowledge that in our case His mercy has been
abundant mercy.
We were defiled with abundant sin, and only the multitude of His loving
kindnesses could have put those sins away. We were infected with an
abundance of evil, and only overflowing mercy can ever cure us of all
our natural disease, and make us meet for Heaven. We have received
abundant Grace up till now. We have made great drafts upon the
Exchequer of God, and of His fullness have all we received Grace for
Grace. Where sin has abounded, Grace has much more abounded. Will you,
my fellow Debtor, stand still awhile and contemplate the abundant mercy
of our blessed God?
A river deep and broad is before you. Track it to its fountain
head–see it welling up in the Covenant of Grace–in the eternal
purposes of Infinite Wisdom. The secret source is no small spring, no
mere bubbling fountain, it is a very geyser, leaping aloft in fullness
of power. The springs of the sea are not comparable with it. Not even
an angel could fathom the springs of eternal love or measure the depths
of Infinite Grace.
Follow now the stream–mark it in all its course. See how it widens and
deepens, how at the foot of the Cross it expands into a measureless
river! Mark how the filthy come and wash. See how each polluted one
comes up milk-white from the washing! Note how the dead are brought to
be bathed in this sacred stream, and mark how they live the moment that
they touch its wave. Mark how the sick are laid upon the bank, and if
but the spray of the river falls upon them they are made whole!
See how on either bank rich verdure clothes the land! Wherever this
stream comes, all is life and happiness. Observe along the margin the
many trees whose leaves never wither, and whose fruits in season are
always brought to maturity. These all draw their life from this flood,
and drink from this river of God, which is full of water. Fail not with
gladsome eye to note the thousand boats of fairest sail which scud
along the mighty river with colors flying, each vessel laden with joy.
Behold how happily they are borne along by the current of mercy to the
ocean of infinite felicity!
Now we reach the mighty main of mercy, dare you attempt with wings of
faith to fly over that glassy sea? No shore gives boundary to that
great deep, no voice proclaims its length and breadth. But from its
lowest deeps and all along its unruffled bosom I hear a voice which
says, "Here is Love." "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out,"
but this we know, that His love towards His elect surpasses all
conception, even–
"Imagination's utmost stretch In wonder dies away."
Turn to the words of the text a moment, for there is great
suggestiveness in them. It is God's great mercy that is spoken of here.
"The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His
abundant mercy." Everything in God is on a grand scale. Great power–He
shakes the world. Great wisdom–He balances the clouds. His mercy is
commensurate with His other attributes, it is Godlike mercy! Infinite
mercy! You must measure His Godhead before you shall compute His mercy.
My Soul, think for awhile–you have drank out of this exceeding great
and wide sea, and it is all yours to drink from forever!
Well may it be called "abundant," if it is infinite. It will always be
abundant, for all that can be drawn from it will be but as the drop of
a bucket to the sea itself. The mercy which deals with us is not man's
mercy, but God's mercy, and therefore boundless mercy. But note again,
it is the mercy of the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is
the mercy of God in Christ. God's mercy is always special, but His
mercy in Christ is especially special.
I know not how else to describe it. His mercy in Nature is bright. His
mercy in Providence is conspicuous. But His mercy in His dear Son, His
mercy in the Incarnate God–His mercy through the perfect
Sacrifice–this is mercy's best wine kept to the last. This is mercy's
"fat things full of marrow." When I see Jesus descending from Heaven to
earth, Jesus bleeding, Jesus paying all the debts of His people, I can
well understand that the mercy of God in Christ must be abundant mercy.
Note carefully another word, it is the mercy of "the Father." You have
read this last week, I dare say, and felt sickened as you read, the
fearful stories of the wounded and their sufferings on the battlefield.
You have read also descriptions of how the wounded, when they are
brought into the many German towns are met by their compatriots, who
re-
joice in their victories, but at the same time lament for the valiant
men who are maimed for life. You stand on the platform of the railway
station, a stranger, and you see a fine young man with an arm shot
away, looking sickly and pale from pain and hardships, and you pity
him.
I know you pity him from your heart, but an elderly man rushes before
you, it is his father. And as he looks upon his son, whom he sent to
the war so manly, so strong, so full of health and vigor–now reduced
to the mere ghost of what he was–he pities as a stranger cannot. His
inmost heart is moved with compassion for his son. The mercy of the
Lord to us is not the mercy of a stranger to a stranger, but the mercy
of a Father towards his own dear children. Such mercy has the Lord had
on me, and I weep for joy as I tell of it.
"Like as a father pities his children," so has He pitied me. I know if
He had not loved me He could not have treated me so tenderly. Such
pity, such mercy has He had on you. And He is still the same. Do you
not rejoice to think that you participate in abundant mercy, Divine
mercy, the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, a Father's mercy, the mercy of
our God and Father? O reach to the height of the text–one more step
will do it.
The Father who is thus tender to us, is also the "Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ." And therefore such a Father as can be found nowhere
else. The Father of Him who is the Perfect and the Ever-Blessed, is
also your Father. And all His mercy belongs to you. Let us congratulate
each other, my Brothers and Sisters in the faith. Let us shake off all
thoughts of our poverty and all trembling because of our trials. We are
rich and abound, for Heaven's "abundant mercy" belongs to us. "Bless
the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name."
II. The next great blessing in the text is that OF INCORRUPTIBLE LIFE.
Mark that, O Believer. "The God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His abundant mercy, has
begotten us again unto a lively hope." One of the first displays of
Divine mercy which we experience is being begotten again. Our first
birth gave us the image of the first Adam–"earthly." Our second birth,
and that alone, gives us the image of the second Adam, which is
"heavenly."
To be begotten once may be a curse–to be begotten again is
everlastingly and assuredly a blessing. To be born once may be a
subject for eternal bewailing–to be born a second time will be the
theme of a joyful and unending song. My Brethren, saints are "begotten
again unto a lively hope" in the hour of their regeneration, when they
are "born again from above."
Have we been so born? If we have, we enjoy a blessing far exceeding
anything which the natural man can dream of. The Holy Spirit comes upon
the chosen in the hour appointed and creates in them a new heart and a
right spirit. In a supernatural manner a new principle is implanted, a
new life is created within the soul. Just as assuredly as our first
birth gives us being from our former nothingness, our new life brings
us from utter death into the world of spirit, and into newness of life.
We are new born by the "incorruptible seed which lives and abides
forever." Ours is not the fancied regeneration of those who impute to a
mere ceremony, invented by men, a change which is altogether of God's
own working. It is not an imaginary charm worked by incantations and
sprinkling over an unconscious baby. It is a real creation, a true
life–not fictitious–but actual and operative, and one which is found
to reveal itself in righteousness and true holiness.
You shall know this new life by the faith and the repentance which
always come with it wherever God Himself is pleased to work it. The new
life of a Christian is Divine in its origin–God has begotten us. The
new life comes not from man–it is worked by the operation of the Holy
Spirit. As certainly as God spoke, and it was done, in the creation of
the world, so He speaks in the heart of man, and it is done–and the
new creature is born. The new life in us, as it has a Divine origin,
has also a Divine Nature. You are made partakers of the Divine Nature.
The life of a Christian is the life of God–God dwells in him. The Holy
Spirit Himself enters the Believer and abides in him, and makes him a
living man. Therefore, from its Divine Nature, the inner life of the
Believer can by no possibility ever be destroyed. You must first
destroy the Godhead before you can quench the spark of the eternal
flame that burns within the Believer's bosom. Has not the Apostle told
us it is a "living and incorruptible seed which lives and abides
forever"?
What a great mystery is this, but at the same time what a blessing! To
be born again, to be born from above, to be born by the power of God
into a discernment of spiritual truths. To hear spiritual voices, to
see spiritual sights, and to be worshippers in spirit and in truth of
God, who is a Spirit. God grant that if we have never known this we yet
may be created anew in Christ Jesus.
Observe, dear Brethren, to be begotten again is a very marvelous thing.
Suppose a man is born into this world, as is too frequently the case,
with a predisposition to some sad hereditary disease. There he is,
filled with disease, and medicine cannot eject the unwelcome tenant
from his body. Suppose that man's body could be altogether new born,
and he could
receive a new body pure from all sickness–it would be a great mercy.
But, O my Brothers and Sisters, it does not approach to regeneration!
Because our supposition only deals with the body, while the new birth
renews the soul, and even implants a higher nature. Regeneration
overcomes not a mere material disease, not an infliction in the flesh,
but the natural depravity of the heart–the deadly disorder of the
soul. We are born again, and by that means we are delivered from the
power of corruption. The new nature having no depravity in it, nor
tendency to sin, "it cannot sin because it is born of God."
The moment the heavenly life is implanted it begins to war with the old
nature, and continues to struggle violently with it–there is a deadly
enmity between the two. The new nature will never be reconciled to the
old, or the old one to the new, but the new will conquer and overcome
the evil. You have smiled at the pleasant fiction of old men being
ground young again in a mill–but that marvel would be nothing compared
with this–the old man made young would still be the same man. And
placed in the same circumstances, he would develop into the same
character.
But here is the old man crucified and a new man created in the Divine
image! Who can estimate the privilege of receiving a Heaven-born
Nature, which, however weak and feeble it may be at the first, is
ever-living, and by the power of God will gain the ultimate victory?
Let us then rejoice and be glad! We may be very poor today, but we are
born from above. We may be much afflicted, but what of that if we are
the twice-born sons of Heaven? We may be despised and rejected, but the
heavenly light has shone upon our eyes. We have been regenerated, we
have "passed from death unto life." Here is ceaseless cause for
gratitude and joy, and if we rightly consider it, we may forget our
griefs.
III. A third blessing strictly connected with this new life, is A
LIVELY HOPE. "He has begotten us again unto a lively hope." Could a man
live without hope? Men manage to survive the worst condition of
distress when they are encouraged by a hope. But is not suicide the
natural result of the death of hope? Yes, we must have a hope, and the
Christian is not left without one. He has "a lively hope," that is to
say, first, he has a hope within him, real, true, and operative.
Some men's hopes of Heaven are not living hopes, for they never stir
them to action. They live as if they were going to Hell, and yet they
coolly talk about hoping that all will be well with them at last! A
Christian's hope purifies him, excites him to diligence, makes him seek
after that which he expects to obtain. A student at the University
hoping to gain a prize uses his best endeavors, burns the midnight oil,
strains all his faculties that he may reach the mark which will ensure
his passing the exams.
Even thus the Christian with a lively hope devotes himself to obtaining
the blessings which God has promised in His Word. The Lord has begotten
us to a "lively hope," that is to say, to a vigorous, active, operating
hope. It is a "lively hope" in another sense, namely, that it cheers
and enlivens. The swimmer who is ready to sink, if he sees a boat
nearing him, plucks up courage and swims with all his strength because
now he expects that his swimming will be of effectual service to him.
The Christian amid the waves and billows of adversity retains his hope,
a glorious hope of future bliss, and therefore he strikes out like a
man towards the heavenly shore. Our hope buoys up the soul, keeps the
head above water, inspires confidence and sustains courage!
It is also called a "living hope," because it is imperishable. Other
hopes fade like withering flowers. The hopes of the rich, the boasts of
the proud–all these will die out as a candle when it flickers in the
socket. The hope of the greatest monarch has been crushed before our
eyes. He set up the standard of victory too soon, and has seen it
trailed in the mire. There is no unwaning hope beneath the changeful
moon–the only imperishable hope is that which climbs above the stars,
and fixes itself upon the Throne of God and the Person of Jesus Christ.
The hope which God has given to His truly quickened people is a lively
hope, however, because it deals with life. Brethren, it may be Christ
will come while yet we live, and then we shall not die but shall be
fitted for Heaven by a change. However, it is probable that we may have
to depart out of this world unto the Father by the usual course of
nature. And in expecting to do so let us not look at death as a gloomy
matter, as though it could at all jeopardize our welfare or ultimately
injure us.
No, my Brethren, we have a living hope, a lively hope. Charles
Borromeo, the famous bishop of Milan, ordered a painter who was about
to draw a skeleton with a scythe over a sepulcher, to substitute for it
the golden key of Paradise. Truly this is a most fitting emblem for a
Believer's tomb–for what is death but the key of Heaven to the
Christian? We notice frequently over cemetery gates, as an emblematic
device, a torch turned over ready to be quenched. Ah, my Brethren, it
is not so, the torch of our life burns the better, and blazes the
brighter for the change of death.
The breaking of the pitcher which now surrounds the lamp and conceals
the glory, will permit our inner life to reveal its lofty nature, and
before long even the pitcher shall be so remodeled as to become an aid
to that light! Its present
breaking is but preparatory to its future refashioning. It is a blessed
thought that the part of us which must most sadly feel the mortal
stroke is secured beyond all fear from permanent destruction. We know
that this very body, though it molders into dust, shall live again!
These weeping eyes shall have all tears wiped from them. These hands
which grasp today the sword of a conflict shall wave the palm branch of
triumph. My Brethren, it were not just that one body should fight and
another body should be crowned–that one body should labor and another
body have the reward. The same identical body shall rise from the dead
at the Lord's coming, marvelously changed, strangely developed as the
seed develops into the full-blown flower– but still the same–in very
deed the same!
This very body shall be resplendent with glory, even the same which now
bears sickness and pain. This is our lively hope–that death has no
dominion over any part of our manhood. There is for awhile a separation
between the soul and the body–it is but for awhile. There is for the
flesh a temporary slumbering in the tomb, it is but a slumber, and the
waking shall be in the likeness of Christ. As for the soul, it shall be
forever with the Lord, waiting for the latter day and the coming of
Christ, when the body itself shall be raised from corruption into the
likeness of the Glory of Him who is the first begotten from the dead.
Thus, I have brought you up from the abundant mercy to the new life,
and onward, to the lively hope.
IV. We cannot tarry, but must notice, in the fourth place, another
delightful possession which ought effectually to chase away from all of
us the glooms of this life, and that is A RISEN SAVIOR. "He has
begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead." Our best Friend is not dead! Our great Patron
and Helper, our Omnipotent Savior, is not lying in the tomb today. He
lives, He ever lives! No sound of greater gladness can be heard in the
Christian Church than this–"The Lord is risen, the Lord is risen
indeed!"
Now, Brethren, observe the connection between a risen Savior and our
living hope. Jesus Christ died, not in appearance, but in reality. In
proof whereof, His heart was pierced by the soldier's spear. He was
laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, truly a corpse. Not a spark of
life remained. The only difference between His dead body and the dead
body of any other was that still the preserving power hovered over Him,
and as His body had been defiled by no sin, so His flesh could not see
corruption as it would have done had it been the body of a sinful man.
Then, at the end of the appointed time, the same Savior who was laid in
the tomb rose from the dead–not in se-crecy–but before the Roman
guards who watched the sepulcher. They fled in terror. He met His
disciples sometimes one by one, sometimes two at a time. On other
occasions, four hundred at once saw Him–credible witnesses–persons
who had no reason for forging a falsehood. Persons who so believed that
they saw Him that many of them died, for their belief, the most painful
deaths.
He rose, not in fantasy and figure, but in reality. One of the
witnesses put his finger into the print of the nails, and thrust his
hand into His side. And in the presence of His assembled disciples, the
Risen One ate a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb. He really
and literally rose from the dead –the selfsame Christ who was born of
the Virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate–and afterwards
ascended into Heaven. That fact is as well proved as any fact in human
history. There never, perhaps, was any incident of human history more
fully verified than the rising of Jesus of Nazareth from the tomb.
Now, note you well the comfort which arises out of this fact, since it
proves that we possess a living Advocate, Mediator and High Priest who
has passed into the heavens. Moreover, since all Believers, being
partakers of the incorruptible life of God are one with Jesus Christ,
that which happens to Him virtually happens to them. They died in His
death, they live in His life, they reign in His Glory. As in Adam all
die who were in Adam, so in Christ shall all be made alive who are in
Christ–the two Adams head up their dispensations–whatever happens to
either of the Adams, happens to those represented by him.
So, then, the resurrection of Jesus is virtually my resurrection. Were
He dead still, then might I fear, no, I would know, that I, dying,
should die. But He, having died, arose again in due season and lives!
Therefore I, dying, shall also rise and live, for as Jesus is, so must
I be. If I have within me the new life, I have the same life in me that
is in Christ, and the same thing happens to me as happens to Christ. If
His life dies, mine, being the same, dies also. But, as He has said,
"Because I live, you shall live also," my life is secure.
Here, then, is the top and bottom of the Christian's hope–"We are
begotten again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead." As we see Him alive, we rejoice that He lives, because
He lives for us, and we live in
Him.
Let me give you an illustration. When Joseph was in Egypt, he was
highly exalted and placed upon the throne. Now, while his brothers did
not know him they were grievously afraid to go down into Egypt–they
thought him to be an Egyptian, a haughty ruler of the land–and that he
treated them roughly. But when once they and their father were
persuaded that Joseph, their brother, was alive and on the throne, then
they cheerfully joined with the old man when he said, "Joseph my son is
yet alive. I will go and see him before I die."
Now, into the unknown land our Elder Brother has gone–where is He and
what? Why, He is King of the country. He sits on a Throne. O Brethren,
with what comfort do we now go down into that Egypt! With what
consolation will we enter the unknown country, which some think to be
shrouded in darkness, but which, now that Jesus reigns on its Throne,
is full of light to us!
Or take another image. When the children of Israel went through the
Jordan, they were told that the Jordan would divide before them, but
they were still more fully assured when the priests went forward with
the ark. For as soon as the feet of the priests touched the edge of the
river, the waters began to divide. As they saw their priests march
through the bed of the stream, and come up on the other side, all
doubts about the security of the passage must have vanished at once!
The priests were the representatives of the people before God, and
where they passed safely all Israel might go.
See you, then, my Brethren, the "Great High Priest of our profession"
has led the van. The ark of the Eternal Covenant has gone before, death
is dried up, so that we can say, "O death, where is your sting? O
grave, where is your victory?" And you and I may, with perfect
confidence, full of a lively hope, march onwards into the Glory land,
for Jesus Christ has safely passed the flood, and even so shall we.
Here, then, is reason for joy. We will not fear the present, we will
not dread the future. For Christ is risen, indeed, and our lively hope
is fixed on Him. Thus we have set before you four out of the seven
precious things.
V. The fifth is exceedingly rich, but we can only give a word where
many sermons would not exhaust–AN INCORRUPTIBLE INHERITANCE–"an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away." God
has been pleased in His abundant mercy to prepare for His people an
inheritance. He has made them sons, and if children, then heirs. He has
given them a new life, and if a new life, then there must be
possessions and a place suitable for that new life.
A heavenly nature requires a heavenly inheritance, Heaven-born children
must have a heavenly portion. Now I shall only ask you to notice that
the inheritance which God has prepared for us has a fourfold
description appended to it. First, as to its substance–it is
"incorruptible." The substance of everything earthly by degrees passes
away. Even solid granite will rot and crumble. The substance of things
seen, I may say in paradox, is devoid of substance.
Empires have grown great, but the inward corruption within their
constitution has at length dissolved them. Dynasties have been wrecked,
and thrones have tottered by internal corruption, but the inheritance
of the saints of God has nothing within it that can make it perish.
Forever and forever shall the blissful portion of the sanctified be
theirs. Heaven, and the streets thereof, are all said to be of precious
stones and pure gold, because they are imperishable.
Next, for purity–it is "undefiled." Earthly inheritances are often
defiled in the getting. Some men have grown rich by fraud, by violence,
by oppression of the poor. How many a heritage is polluted all over
with the slime of the serpent! And he that inherits the goods of such a
one inherits therewith a curse, for God will surely avenge injustice
and wrong doing, even to the third generation.
But our inheritance is undefiled, for it was won by the obedience, the
perfection, and sufferings of Jesus. No thought of wrong was used in
the getting of the portion of the Well-Beloved of God. An inheritance
may be defiled after it is possessed, but Heaven never shall be. Satan
shall never enter there, nor sin of any kind pass through the gate of
pearl. O Brethren, what a joy is this! Defilement is on everything in
this fallen world. We cannot purge ourselves completely– earthly
things all bring a measure of defilement with them. But up yonder our
portion shall not be stained with sin, we shall be perfect, and all
around us perfect, too.
And then it is added for its beauty, "it fades not away." The substance
of a thing might endure after its beauty was gone, but in Heaven there
shall be no declining in the beauty of anything celestial. Milton sings
of the amaranth, which he describes as blossoming at the foot of the
tree of life in the garden of Eden. It was a flower of perpetual
sweetness, whose beauty never faded. But he says —
"Soon for man's offense
To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows And flowers aloft,
shading the fountain of life, And where the river of bliss through
midst of Hea ven Rolls over Elysian flowers her amber stream;
With these, that never fade, the spirits elect Bind their resplendent
locks, wreathed with beams." The amaranthine inheritance is yours. The
garden of Paradise shall never cease to bloom, and the wreath of
victory shall never wither from your brows. Oh, what joy is this for
you! Your inheritance is for substance incorruptible, for purity
undefiled, for beauty unfading. And then for possession, it is
secure–"reserved in Heaven for you." How I delight to dwell upon the
thought that Heaven is not to be scrambled for, that the portion of
each saint in Glory is given to him by lot even as was Canaan of old to
Judah, to Reuben, to Manasseh, and the like.
There is a place in Heaven for me which none of you could fill. There
is a harp which no fingers can strike but mine, and a crown which no
brow can wear but this. And so with each of you–you shall have your
own, your own appointed inheritance. He has begotten each one of you
again–you are as truly begotten as any other Believer. You have the
same hope, and you shall as surely stand in your lot at the end of the
days. O clap your hands, you righteous! Shout for joy! Scanty is your
portion here and hard your lot, it may be, but the undefiled
inheritance will more than make amends. Therefore, lift up your hearts
this day, and let not your hands hang down.
VI. Time fails us, therefore we must mention the sixth blessing at
once, it is INVIOLABLE SECURITY. The inheritance is kept for you, and
you are kept for the inheritance. The word is a military one. It
signifies a city garrisoned and defended. Think of a city
besieged–Strasbourg, if you will–that is an emblem of your condition
in this world. The enemy pour in their shot, they keep up the fire day
and night, and set the city on a blaze, and even thus Satan bombards us
with temptations, and beleaguers us with all the hosts of Hell.
Our great enemy has determined to raze the citadel of our faith even to
the ground. His great guns are drawn up around our bastions. His
sappers and miners are busy with our bulwarks. Even now it may be his
shells are tearing our hearts, and his shot is setting our nature in a
blaze.
Herein is our confidence–our great Captain has walled us around–He
has appointed Salvation for walls and bulwarks. We are safe, though all
the devils of Hell surround us, for we are garrisoned by Omnipotence.
Each Believer is kept by that same power which "bears the earth's huge
pillars up," and sustains the arches of Heaven. Jerusalem, you are
besieged, but you may laugh your enemy to scorn, he shall never break
through your ramparts–
"Munitions of stupendous rock Our dwelling place shall be, There shall
our soul without a shock Our vanquished foemensee."
Our enemies shall assemble, but when they perceive that God is known in
our palaces for a refuge, they shall be troubled and hasten away. Fear
shall take hold upon them, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Every
Believer is kept by the power of God, but the power of God does not
produce in us sloth–but faith. We are commanded to watch, that is what
we are to do. But we are told both to watch and pray, because our
watching is not enough. We need God's watching, also, and we are to
pray for it. Faith is the under captain of the city. God's power
protects it–"the King is in the midst of her." But Faith is the high
constable of the tower. He it is that goes on the walls, arms the
warders, strengthens the bastions, and brings help out of the
sanctuary. While the sword of the Lord and of Gideon is at work, the
Midianites cannot prevail.
This keeping, observe, my Brothers and Sisters, for I must leave the
point–this keeping is complete and continuous–it will never end until
we shall need keeping no longer. We shall be kept "unto salvation ready
to be revealed in the last time." I believe this means that we shall
not only be kept till our souls reach Heaven, but we shall be kept till
the advent. You say, "Why is that necessary?" I reply, only half of our
manhood goes to Heaven at death, the other part, namely, our body,
waits below till the resurrection. Yet our dust is precious in God's
sight, and therefore it is watched over until the day of Christ's
appearing–for that is the appointed hour for the redemption of the
body–
"Sweet Truth to me, I shall arise, And with these eyes, my Savior see."
Wherever my dust may be scattered, though to the four winds of Heaven
it is divided, though it pass through every conceivable change and
combination–yet each atom of my dust shall hear the sound of the
archangel's trump–or if not each earthly particle of this my frame,
yet each essential constituent shall hear the voice of God. And bone to
bone each bone shall come, and the body shall rise intact and perfect,
for it is kept by the power of God unto the salvation ready to be
revealed.
O my Brethren, what a glorious thing it is to know that the salvation
God has given us in Christ is a perfect salvation of our complete
manhood! There shall not a hair of your head perish. You shall go into
the furnace, you shall walk amid the glowing coals of death, but you
shall come forth with not a smell of fire passed upon you. At the
Lord's appearing you shall be none the worse for the fall of Adam. You
shall be none the worse for your own transgressions. You shall be none
the worse for all the scars of battle. You shall be none the worse for
dying–you shall be in Heaven as bright as God Himself could have made
you if you had never fallen, and never sinned!
Do I exaggerate? No, verily, for it is written, "We shall be like He,
for we shall see Him as He is." We shall wake up in His likeness. Oh,
the glory of complete victory over Satan's arts, and Satan's strength!
He shall be defeated all along the line! He shall gain nothing by all
his attacks upon our God, and upon us–but we in the image of Jesus
shall laugh at the complete defeat of evil, and glorify God and the
Lamb forever!
VII. The best I have reserved for the last. Out of the seven treasures
of the Christian the last comprehends all, is better than all, though
what I have already spoken is everything–it is A BLESSED GOD. We left
this to the last, though it comes first–"Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is joy to have Heaven, it is joy to
possess a new life to fit me for Heaven–but the greatest of all is to
have my God, my own Savior's God, my Father, my own Savior's Father, to
be all my own!
God Himself has said, "I will be their God, and they shall be My
people." He has not given you earth and Heaven only, though that were
much. He has given you the Heaven of Heaven–Himself. Herod spoke of
giving the "half of his kingdom." But the Lord has not given you the
half of His kingdom, nor even the whole of His kingdom only–but His
own Self the blessed God has in Covenant made over to you. Will not
this make you rejoice? Methinks you may go forth with those that make
merry and rejoice before God with a joy that knows no bound–"Sing unto
God, sing praise," sing, unto God, sing praises! Rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say, Rejoice."
Brethren, the practical point is, show your gratitude and your joy by
blessing God. You can bless Him with your voices. Sing more than you
do. Singing is Heaven's work, practice it here. At your work, do if you
can, quietly raise a hymn and bless the Lord. But oh, keep the fire on
the altar of your hearts always burning! Praise Him, bless Him. His
mercy endures forever, so let your praises endure.
Bless Him also with your substance. He is a blessed God. Do not give
Him mere words–they are but air–and tongues but clay. Give Him the
best you have. In the old superstitious times the Churches used to be
adorned with the rarest pearls and jewels, with treasures of gold and
silver–for men then gave mines of wealth to what they believed to be
the service of God.
Shall the true faith have less operative power upon us? Shall the
"lively hope" make us do less for God than the mere dead hope of the
followers of Rome? No, let us be generous at all times, and count it
our joy to sacrifice unto our God. Let us give Him our efforts, our
time, our talents. Bless the Lord this afternoon, you Sunday school
teachers. Teach those dear children under a sense of your own
obligations to God. You who go from house to house this afternoon, you
who will preach in the streets and lift up your voices in the corners
of the thoroughfares–preach as those who are begotten unto a lively
hope by the abundant mercy of God.
Preacher, live more intensely and ardently than ever you have done.
Deacons, serve the Church more thoroughly than you have done as yet.
Elders, give your whole souls to the care of Christ's flock, which He
has redeemed with His blood. Each one of you workers for Jesus Christ
work not for Him after an ordinary sort, as men do for a master whose
pay is no larger than he can be compelled to make it–but work with
heart, and soul, and strength for Him who loved you to the death and
poured out His soul to redeem you from going down into Hell.
Thus prove that the Divine Nature is truly in you, and that you possess
the "lively hope" implanted by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead. The Lord bless you all, for Christ's sake. Amen.
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The Unconquerable King