A Timely Expostulation
(No. 3397)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1914.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Why seek you the living among the dead" Luke 24:5.
This question was addressed to certain holy women who came early to the
sepulcher, bringing with them the spices which they had prepared for
embalming the body of our Lord. They were met by angels who reminded
them that their Lord had promised to rise again, that He had so risen
and that it was in vain for them to seek in the sepulcher the living,
the Immortal Christ. "Why seek you the living among the dead?"
The mistake they made was that of seeking for the living Savior where
He could not be found. We have, all of us, made the same mistake. Some
of us are making it now. We are seeking good things in the midst of
evil–hoping to find satisfaction where it was never yet discovered and
never will be! Seeking, but seeking in the wrong place–seeking for the
living among the dead.
To illustrate this, I shall first address myself to the people of God
who sometimes fall into this error. And then I shall have to
expostulate with the unconverted, as well as with those who are
somewhat awakened to spiritual Truth. Say, now–
I. YOU CHILDREN OF GOD, CALLED OUT FROM THE WORLD, do you not sometimes
set your affections upon things on the earth and seek for satisfaction
here below? Have I not observed how some of you have tried to find
comfort in your wealthand how others, in the midst of your successful
efforts to extend your business, have thought to find solace on that
bed of thorns, the cares of this world and the merchandise thereof? Ah,
how grievous it is when the Christian becomes an idolater! Yet just as
the Israelites of old–who, though they knew the true God, were found
in an emergency setting up the golden calf and saying, "These are your
gods, O Israel"–so, in one form or another, we may be making some
created good the object of our search, setting our heart upon it and
indulging expectations of solace from it–forgetting that comfort can
only be found in our Lord Jesus Christ! "Why seek you"–why do you who
know so much better–"why seek YOU the living among the dead?" Why do
you come to the broken cistern which can hold no water, when the well
springing up with crystal streams is always at your feet? Why will you
go to drink of the muddy river, the Sihor, when the clear sparkling
rill of the Water of Life is always accessible to you? You did once try
to fill your belly with the husks which the swine eat, but you failed
to appease the hunger that consumed you. Why return to that
unprofitable employment? Oh, Christian, you have sometimes said to your
fellow man, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which satisfies not?" I may say the same to
you, if you think an immortal mind can be satisfied with mortal joys,
or imagine that one who has been born from on high can ever find
contentment in this poor wilderness world! The pursuit itself is a
folly which is sure to bring you a strong rebuke whenever you thus fall
into the error of seeking the living among the dead. Your solid
comfort, your real happiness and the only joy worth having–you must
find in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit–and not in the things
of time.
It is sadder, still, and this sometimes occurs when the professor tries
to cheer his heart by the silly vanities of worldly amusement. There
are a thousand inlets to happiness which you may look upon as free to
your use–you are as welcome to enjoy them as other men. Whatever it is
that is pure and lovely and uncorrupted with sin is as much yours as it
is the portion of any other people under the sun. Yours are the
beauties of Nature, the wonders of God's handiwork and the vast domain
of Creation wherein are things innumerable to please the eye, to charm
the ear and make the heart to heave with joy! Learn to use without
abusing the bounties which Providence has placed within your reach! And
pray that the delights they are capable of yielding may be sanctified
to your good. But there are sundry amusements, so frivolous
andtrifling, that if they are not, in themselves sinful, they verge
upon that border where diversion is separated from dissipation by only
a faint line. And as the border is always the most infested by thieves
and robbers, it is well to beware of it. If the Christian wants to be
clear from open transgression, let him eschew the place of temptation
and avoid the appearance of evil–for whatever is not of faith is sin.
What you cannot do with a clear conscience that it is right, let that
alone with a wholesome fear of offense. You can peril no mistake by
leaving it! You may cause yourself a thousand sorrows by entering upon
it. Oh, shall you that have once leaned your heads upon the bosom of
Christ profane your hearts with this wanton wicked world? Shall you
that have once eaten angels' food hanker after the diet of fools and
drink the intoxicating wine cup of their pleasures? Shall you be seen
in the assembly where none congregate but the lightest of the light,
and the gayest of the gay? Shame upon you, Christian! You have
disgraced your profession. You have disgraced yourself. You are seeking
the living, not only among the dead, but among the rotten and corrupt!
Do you expect cheer for your passions? You shall find a scourge for
your soul! If you are a child of God, you shall be driven back to the
way you have strayed from with many a smarting sore and many a broken
bone! If you are not a child of God, likely enough you will go from bad
to worse, give up the profession which was but a vapor, and turn as a
dog to his own vomit, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in
the mire! Thus, Christian, while I say to you, do not seek lasting
comfort in earthly things, I am compelled to say to some who bear the
name and wear the profession of Christians–do not seek your joy at all
among the unprofitable sports and gambols in which some men delight! It
is seeking the living among the dead!
Further, my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, there is an evil very
common to the most conscientious of those who avoid all forms of
outward sin. It is the insidious evil of seeking comfort when they are
full of doubts and fears, by looking within yourselves. I should think
that experience might have cured us of this, for when we look into our
own hearts–although I trust the Grace of God is there–so much of
imperfection, of infirmity, yes, and what is worse, of real iniquity is
apparent, that a sight of the inner man is anything but likely to
inspire us with consolation. What a fool is he who tries to fetch fire
out of ice! But he is not much more foolish than those who try to
soothe their anxieties by parleying with their feelings. Brothers and
Sisters, the Christian's comfort is on the Cross. There hangs his hope!
His hope must not be based or bottomed on anything he feels. It is
pleasant to know that Grace reigns in one's breast. Be thankful for it.
But, alas, if that is your confidence, the next day you may doubt
whether there is any Grace within! And where, then, is your confidence?
It is gone! It flees as a shadow. If, however, you live depending upon
the Cross of Jesus, you can walk with equable comfort at all times, for
the Cross never shifts its place, the Atonement never fluctuates, it
never rises or falls in value! Our union with Christ is not subject to
degrees. We are always in Him accepted in the Beloved. Happy is the man
who builds on that solid Rock and not upon the treacherous quicksands
of his own personal emotions! If you endeavor to draw comfort from your
fickle, changeable feelings, you seek for the living among the dead.
You are looking for joy where it can never be found. You will gather
the thorn, but not the rose. You will endure the labor, but not receive
the reward. You will suffer the burning of the fire, but not be
enlivened by its cheerful warmth. "Why seek you the living among the
dead?"
When the Believer feels that Grace is at a very low ebb with him, let
him take care that he does not resort to Sinai for the refreshment of
his evidences. Have you not heard of some Believers whose mournful
sonnet has been–
" Tis a point Ilong to know, Oft it causes anxious thought Do Ilove the
Lord or no, Am I His, or am I not?"
And in order to get out of that state they have said, "Now I will make
a Covenant with God. I will chasten myself with fasting and much
prayer." Or they have had recourse to vows of their own devising,
instead of going straight away to Christ as sinners–with some such
language on their lips as our hymn suggests–
"Just as I am, though tossed about,
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fighting within, and fears without,
Oh, Lamb of God. I come!"
Instead of thus going to Christ, they set to work to be their own
Savior! If Paul were here, he would say to them, "O foolish Galatians,
who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the Truth? Having begun
in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh?" Beloved Brothers
and Sisters, make your Covenant if you like, and fast if you please,
and prayif you can without ceasing–the more you pray the better. But
when a soul is hungry, it will not recover itself by bodily exercises,
but by feeding! So what you need is not so much to give out something
from yourselves as to get something into yourselves through Christ! And
therefore, turn your eyes, as you did at the first, to the wounds, the
glorious wounds, of your Substitute, and say to Him, "My Lord, if I am
not a saint, I am a sinner. If I am not saved, yet will I trust in You,
now, even though I never did before. I now cast myself on You." This
will revive you, this will comfort you! You may set to work as you
please after that, but do not seek for the living among the dead! Do
not go to Moses, who is dead and was buried years ago! Do not bring
yourself under the spirit of bondage, but come as a child who is not
under the Law, but under Grace–and rest at the foot of the Cross! So
shall you have your spiritual vigor restored and rejoice in the Lord
your God!
Once more to the Believer. I do think, dear Friends, we seek for the
living among the dead when we look to our fellow men to find in them
some succor or support t o depend upon, or when, as the case may vary,
we look to our dear children or relatives and think to find a
perpetuity of comfort there. Ah, and it is very easy for some of you to
think too highly of the minister. It is possible when you have received
spiritual quickening and have come to be fed under some godly pastor,
that you may look no higher than the man, instead of looking to his
Master! If so, if your faith stands in the wisdom of man, or in man's
earnestness–you are looking for the living among the dead! Oh, beware
of anything like that! Let us be held in respect by you for our
office's sake, but nothing beyond this do we crave or counsel. To the
Lord Jesus we bid you look, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ
Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake! A more
common evil, however, is for the wife to feel as if her husband could
never be taken from her side. But he is mortal. I would not distress
you with dreary forebodings, but I would have you remember that the
living God is the only living One on whom your trust can be fixed. And
you, Mother, do you think that your child can never be removed? Know,
then, that you are in the land of the dying, and who are you, and what
are you, that they should be beyond the reach of the arrows that fly
abroad, and the diseases that work insidiously, any more than the
children and the friends of others? Oh, if you begin to build your nest
in these trees, which have, every one of them, been marked by the
woodman's axe–and must all come down–you are a silly bird, and your
nest will be lost, and yourself suffer grievous damage! There is one
Immortal Lover who shall never die! There is one Eternal Friend who
shall never depart! There is a Father who always lives! There is a
Brother who sticks close forever! Earthly kinships–value them, but
hold them loosely. Thank God for them, but think not that they are your
freeholds. Your tenure is but on lease and a word shall suffice to
terminate it! Walking through the fields, you might see most of them
still yellow with the king-cups and blushing with all the flowers of
this sweet summer month of June, but do not think these flowers shall
long abide, for already I hear the sound of the sharpening scythe and I
know the mowers will soon be at their task–the flowers will be cut
down and the green grass shall be dry. Set not, then, your love on the
fleeting bounties of kindly Providence as though you could embalm them
and make them last for years! "For all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower
thereof falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." Fix your
love on that which is constant–not on these transient things! I leave
you, my Brothers and Sisters, with the general maxim–having applied it
in various ways, you can apply it to many more in your
meditations–take heed lest you seek for the living among the dead, and
so spend your strength for nothing and reap the bitter fruits of
weariness and disappointment! Are there not, however, among you, my
Hearers, full many of–
II. THOSE WHO ARE NOT THE CHILDREN OF GOD? As the Apostle said in that
10th Chapter of Romans which we just now read to you, "They have not
all obeyed the Gospel." I do not know whether the reading of that
Chapter touched any of your hearts. It did mine. I could scarcely help
weeping as I thought of some of you. "They have not all obeyed the
Gospel"–I mean not all those who sit in these seats regularly, to whom
we preach that Gospel so frequently. Those who come into our classes
are earnestly taught, but they have not all obeyed the Gospel. No,
there is a very large proportion who have not. Oh, grievous fact–fact
which some of you will have to grieve over with terrible remorse in the
Day of Judgment, unless the mercy of God prevents it! It is with you I
want to expostulate. Some of you are seeking for joy in sin and you are
seeking for the living among the dead, indeed!
Be thoughtful for a moment. God who made you has made certain laws, the
observance of which is essential to your well-being. Suppose God had
ordained that the violation of His law should make men happy, would
that be wise? It is too unwise a thought for us to entertain, much less
for God to design! You are disobeying God's command–then depend upon
it that is the way of unhappiness! It must be so. "Oh," you say, "but
it gives me present gratification." That may be. It is quite consistent
with what I have said because the enchantment that allures you is the
very snare that beguiles you–and then for every ounce of joy which sin
can yield to a sinful spirit, there will be a ton of sorrow inflicted!
I forbear in this place to mention the sins of the flesh but who does
not know that for every snap of pleasure derived from indulgence of the
passions, there are racks, tortures and agonies which the physician
could better explain than myself. Such a measure of retribution is
common in this life, but as for the life to come–could you lift for a
moment the thick veil that hides the unseen world from our gaze, or
could a sound pierce through the partition that Infinite Mercy has made
too stout for the wailing and gnashing of teeth to penetrate–I think
the groans, the execrations, the shrieks of madness of those who lived
as votaries and died as victims of the so-called pleasure of sin would
fill you with horror and wild amazement! The transgressor who eats the
fruit of his own ways, fruit that once tempted his appetite–and drinks
the dregs of that wine cup, the first sip of which was so sweet to his
taste–is an appalling spectacle! And this is merely the awakening of a
man's conscience to his folly. The punishment of avenging Justice is in
reserve! Disobedience of God must be punished by God with indignation
that does not relent and pain that knows no abatement! Why seek you,
then, the living among the dead?
A moment's reflection might convince a man that this final scene
inevitably awaits the profligate. Who would think of making his child
happy in the way of constant disobedience, or of encouraging his
waywardness by rewarding it? You take care, as judicious parents, that
your children shall know you govern the house. And if your laws are
constantly broken, you exact the penalty and the rod is put into
use–or at least the chastisement is not spared. And shall not God
stand up for His Sovereign prerogative, enforce His own Law and make
men feel that they cannot violate that Law without suffering the
retribution He has threatened? You shall find it so to your cost if you
will not credit it to your escape! I tell you that if you seek your
pleasure in the theater, or in the saloon of gaiety, or in what is
infinitely worse, though too often in close association–in the house
of shame. If you go to the chamber of the strange woman, or spend your
evenings in the tavern, inflaming yourselves with strong drink, you
court misery while you try to avoid melancholy! You render yourselves
incapable of happiness while you strive to be merry! But ah, you might
as well deliberately make a pilgrimage to the depths of Hell in quest
of the joys of Heaven as to seek true enjoyment in the haunts of vice!
The Lord, the Lord of Hosts will make men see that beneath the fair
skin of the world's pleasures there is a loathsome leprosy that would
make them heart-sick were the latent corruption exposed! Oh, go not
after such pleasures! Remember that God will require these things at
your hands. Seek true pleasure, mental pleasure that never sours! Seek
pure joy which will retain its fragrance, refresh others besides
yourself, haunt you with no hideous ghosts, but bear sweet reflection
when you come to die! Cheer your hearts with draughts from that goblet
which will invigorate you when your soul's pulse is beating–the cup
which flows clear to the last, whereof you may be grateful to sip when
your immortal spirit is about to wing its fight to worlds unknown! Seek
not for living pleasure amidst the graves and charnel houses of sin!
Let me change my tone again, for now I come to address a part of this
company of people–
III. THOSE WHO ARE ANXIOUSLY CONCERNED TO BE FOUND RIGHT WITH GOD.
Some of you, dear Friends, have known the evil of sin and have turned
from its evil ways. But though you are desirous of being saved from the
wrath to come, you are very likely seeking salvation where it is not to
be obtained. A few counsels and cautions may, therefore, be welcome to
you.
Do not seek salvation by rites and ceremonies, for if you do, you are
seeking for the living among the dead! The old Jewish religion was full
of types–hence the forms and ceremonials that abounded in its
observance–but it did not save multitudes who in the wilderness
perished in their sins! And hundreds of thousands more, who had seen it
all their lifetime, but never seen through its externals the realities
it prefigured, died rejecting the Lord Jesus, to whose mediation it
bears witness. Outward pomp and ceremony are of no avail to save the
soul! Would those who are as fond of vestments and rituals try the
experiment of endeavoring to heal a man who was sick by such means,
they would find their medicines have no effect upon the body to restore
its health. And were they to bring in a man who was sick in soul, they
would soon find that all their gaudy trappings and rhythmical
intonations were incapable of supplying balm to a wounded conscience!
They are dead, Sirs. They are dead, every one of them! The whole thing
is death! It is nothing in all its beauty but the festering fungus that
grows upon corruption. The whole system is trickery–a gewgaw to
deceive. It is nothing but imposture, an artifice of Satan to lead the
world astray! Were you baptized with water from the river Jordan,
confirmedwith never so much pomp and took the sacrament, or, as they
say, "went to celebration" on every holy day and every unholy day
likewise–and were you to expire with unction on your face and with the
priest's lying absolution in your ears–you would go down to Hell
despite it all, if you had no truer faith, no brighter hope than these
things could inspire! For other salvation is there none but that which
you can find in Christ, without any priest to mediate, or any minister
to intervene between you and Him. You are a priest, yourself, if you
believe in Jesus. Christ is the one only Priest, the Great High Priest
of our profession! Get pardon from Him and let other men buckle about
their priesthood and vaunt their succession as they may. Beware of
them! To resort to these men for help is to seek the living among the
dead!
Or, perhaps, you will go about to work out your own salvation apart
from Christ. You have got the idea that you must pass through so much
experience, weep so many tears, get into such-and-such a state of
heart–and then that you must reform this habit and perform that
service–and after awhile you will be saved and obtain peace. The top
and bottom of it is, you think you can save yourself! You would be your
own Savior! Do you not know that every man, according to God's own
Word, every man is accursed who does not keep the whole Law, "Cursed is
everyone who continues not in all things that are written in the Book
of the Law to do them." Now, as you have not kept all things, you must
be accursed! And as long as you abide under the Law, you are accursed
in all that you do! If you can be delivered from the Law through
Christ, then, and only then, may you escape from the curse, for Christ
was made a curse for us by hanging upon the Cross for us–and so the
curse is put away and so we are redeemed there from. But so long as you
are trying to be saved by your own works, you are under the Law. And so
long as you are under the Law, you are under the curse. To try to find
a blessing where everything is under God's Law, is seeking for the
living among the dead!
I know not to whom these remarks may pointedly apply, but I dare say I
am speaking to some of you who pant for salvation and you would give
anything to be assured of your soul's acceptance! You have been
praying, it may be, night and day for mercy till your knees seem as
though they would grow to the floor. In your earnest pleadings your
heart has been vehement till the flesh has grown faint. I am glad that
you are pleading and agonizing in prayer, but there is no necessity for
these long delays and for these protracted prayers. Trust Christ, who
hangs on yonder Cross, and you are saved! The moment you depend upon
Jesus, past sin is blotted out, you are a new man as in the sight of
God, your iniquity is forgiven, your transgression is covered and you
are accepted in the Beloved! Hundreds of times have I tried to bring
forward this theme till I sometimes fear lest it should sound flat and
fail to awaken you! Yet some of you have not believed it or received
it! Yet I bear you witness that if you receive not this cardinal Truth
of God, you must perish in your sin! Our Lord did not mince matters. He
offered no three courses, but He said, "He that believes and is
baptized shall be saved." What about those that believe not? He said,
"He that believes not shall be damned." What if the man always goes to
Church, or always comes to a meeting? There is no exemption–if he
believe not, he shall be damned. But what if he always pays twenty
shillings in the pound and is scrupulously honest? "He that believes
not shall be damned." The gentle lips of the Savior spoke these words!
They are not of my coining, they are not my construction. He said it
and will prove it true. Oh, that you might trust Him, for if you trust
Him, you cannot be condemned! But if you go about anywhere else to find
hope and comfort for your soul, you are seeking for the living among
the dead! Why continue this foolish search? Why persevere in this
bootless toil?
Yet it is very possible you are seeking for some good thing in
yourselfby way of feeling and emotion. "If I felt a more broken heart,"
says one, "I could trust Christ." "If," says another, "I felt the
terrors of the Law, I could trust Christ." If! Yes, indeed! Why
multiply your useless "ifs"? They are vain excuses. Do you mean you
cannot trust Christ? That is a sad, though, perhaps, it is an honest
confession. Do you not believe Him to be true? "Ah," says one, "I do
believe that." Is it difficult, then, to trust an honest man? But you
do not believe in the integrity and faithfulness of Christ! "Oh," you
say, "but I do." Well, then, trust Him as the necessary consequence!
Jesus Christ says that He came into the world to save sinners. And
God's witness is that if we trust Christ, we shall be saved. If you
believe that to be true, trust Him! Commit your soul and your soul's
salvation to Him! "Oh, but I am not fit." Is there a word about fitness
in the whole Gospel? As you may have come fresh from the commission of
some new sin, the Gospel does not say to you, "Stand by a while, till
you are prepared." But it says, "Now is the accepted time; now is the
day of salvation." I do not find the Gospel telling you that you must
first be better, but it is said that you are nowto turn to Him. "Let
the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and
let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to
our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Oh, I wish you could take my
Master at His word! I wish, poor guilty One, you would have done with
disputing, cling to the promises and just drop into the arms of the
Promiser! Can you venture thus? You shall never chide yourself for
temerity, or repent of your courage! It may seem a daring thing to do,
but come, and welcome! Jesus casts out none that come!
When I came–and it seems fresh in my memory tonight as I mention it to
you–I came all trembling in my sin. I knew I had not one good thing
that could recommend me to Christ. I thought He would have said, "Go
your way, I have not loved you, nor given Myself for you." But I did
look to Him. I knew I had no other confidence. I did cast myself upon
Him and He has not cast me away. "I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him
against that day." I cannot lead you to Christ–oh, that I could! There
is One far mightier who can and I hope that He will do it tonight! We
spoke this morning about the Holy Spirit. Oh, that the Holy Spirit
might prove His own power to you now! At any rate, this I can say and
this I do say–Give up that seeking your own righteousness! Give up
that struggling after emotions and feeling! It is all seeking the
living among the dead! The idea of your helping Christ to save you is
preposterous! What could you do? As well yoke a snail with a racehorse,
that they might win a prize, as for you to help Christ! You, help
Christ? You, with your rags and Christ with His white linen? You, with
your pollution and Christ with His holiness? You, with your deep
condemnation and Christ with His free forgiveness? He needs no help
from you! He wants your emptiness, not your fullness–your weakness,
not your power– your death, not your life! When a tree is loaded, it
needs baskets, but it does not need full baskets–it needs empty
baskets to hold the fruit. And Jesus Christ wants sinners–not sinners
having merits–a foolish pretense–but sinners who are destitute! There
is a full Christ for empty sinners, an all-bountiful Christ for you,
famished Sinner, now!
Ah, some of you poor people drop in here, sometimes, on an evening, and
I am glad to see you. Never be ashamed to come in your working clothes.
I know you think I am not talking to you, but you are the very people I
am speaking to! Jesus Christ always had a kind word for the laboring
man–"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest." Now, it is likely enough some of you are no better than
you should be, though you have stepped in here in the crowd to hear a
word. Well, it is such as you are, Christ came to save. "Not the
righteous. Sinners, Jesus came to save." Oh, you chief of sinners! Come
to Jesus Christ! This night He will receive every soul that comes to
Him. Eternal Spirit draw them! Eternal Father, now call them by Your
power and let us meet at Your right hand, everyone of us, to see Your
face and rejoice in Your mighty love!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 9:1-5; ROMANS 10.
Verses 1-3. I tell the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit That I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart For I could wish that I, myself, were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the
flesh. The Apostle is evidently about to make an extraordinary
statement–a statement which would probably not be believed and,
therefore, he gives as a preface the most solemn assertions that are
permitted to Christian men declaring that he is speaking the truth, and
also that the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with his conscience that
it is so–that he so loves the souls of his fellow countrymen that,
though the thing could never be, yet in a sort of ecstasy of love, he
could devote himself to anything so long as his countrymen might but be
saved. "My kinsmen according to the flesh."
4, 5. Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory
and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God,
and the promises: Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the
flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God forever
Amen. The Apostle never omits an opportunity of magnifying his Master!
Though it did not seem to be called for by the immediate subject in
hand, yet he must put in a doxology to the name of Jesus. "Who is over
all the eternally blessed God forever. Amen." How any Believers in
Scripture ever get to be disbelievers in the Deity of Christ is
altogether astounding! If there is anything taught in the Word of God,
it is assuredly that Paul comforts himself, in a measure, by the
Doctrine of Election which is fully spoken to in this Chapter. My
subject leads me to read again at the 10th Chapter.
ROMANS 10.
Verse 1. Brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is
that they might be saved. The same thing over again–his deep concern
for his countrymen.
2. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge. Zeal is a good thing, but like the horse
without a bit, it becomes useless and even dangerous. Knowledge is the
bridle in the mouth of zeal. Zeal is like fire which may burn the house
which it was intended to warm unless it is carefully governed. There
must be knowledge in zeal.
3. For they being ignorant ofGod's righteousness, andgoing about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. This is a great evil in the present day.
There are many persons who are evidently zealous for God, but they make
a mistake in supposing that they are to be saved by their own works,
their prayers, their Church attendance, their Chapel attendance, or
something of the sort, instead of accepting the finished righteousness
of Christ, which is the righteousness of God! They are insulting
Christ. They are insulting God by thinking that He would have given His
Son to be our Righteousness if we could have made a righteousness of
our own, or given Him up to die, if we could save ourselves.
4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believes. There is the point–to believe–to have faith. It is that
which gives us the righteousness of which Christ is the sum total.
5. For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law. That the
man which does those things shall live by them. And if any man did, or
could keep the Law of God, he would live by it–but no man has ever
done so, or ever will. There is no hope of life by the Law.
6-9. But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say
not, in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven? (That is, to bring
Christ down from above). Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is,
to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what says it? The word is
near you, even in your mouth, andin your heart that is, the word
offaith which we preach: That if you shall confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, you shall be saved. What a wondrous way of salvation–so
near–so close to us! What an expression that is–"in your mouth." We
must absolutely take it out of our mouths. God has put the Bread of
Life so near to us that it is in our mouth! We must reject it as a man
would reject food, if we perish! But, oh, for Grace to receive it, to
live upon it, to believe Christ, to trust Him and so to be saved!
10, 11. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says,
Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed. If, then, I base my
eternal salvation upon Christ, and am trusting in Him–not in my works,
or prayers, or tears, or alms, or feelings, or even in my own
repentance or faith–but wholly in Him, I shall never be ashamed!
12, 13. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for
the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved What a comforting
text for some of you! You want salvation, but you are afraid you cannot
find it. "Whoever"–what a grand word–"whoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord"–that is to say in prayer, but that prayer the prayer
of faith–he "shall be saved."
14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?That
is the point–the believing is the vital matter!
14, 15. And howshall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without apreach-er? And how shall they preach,
except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good
things. You see all the machinery of salvation here. God provides a
Gospel, He sends a preacher to proclaim it, men hear it–by the Holy
Spirit they believe it and they are saved. It is all in a nutshell, but
oh, how blessedly suited to poor, unworthy sinners like ourselves!
16, 17. But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord,
who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. It does not ever come by seeing. Faith does
not come by looking upon ceremonies–by gazing upon processions and
pompous rituals! It come by the simple hearing of the Word of God. It
is a matter of the understanding and the work of the Holy Spirit upon
that understanding. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of
God."
18, 19. But I say, have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went
into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I
say, Did not Israel know?Were they not taught that God would reject
them if they were disbelievers? And that He would call in the heathen?
Yes, they knew it, for–
19, First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are
no people and by a foolish nation I will anger you.And the heathen
thus, like ourselves, were accounted dogs by the Jews, but the Lord has
brought us in and made us to believe in Christ because they rejected
Him! What a wonderful passage that is about the great supper which the
King made, when we read, because the invited guests did not come, the
King, being angry, said unto His servants, "Go you out into the
highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." Even the anger of
God, you see, works good to some! He was angry with the guests that did
not come, but then He called us in! His anger against the Jewish people
has turned to the salvation of the Gentiles, for which may God be
praised! But, may Israel be gathered, too!
20, 21 But Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that
sought Me not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me.
But to Israel He says, All day long I have stretched forth My hands
unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.