David's Sublime Consolation
(No. 3356)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1913.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 23,
1867.
"Although my house is not so with God; yet He has made with me an
everlasting Covenant, orderedin all things and sure: for this is all my
salvation, and all my desire, although He makes it not to grow." 2
Samuel 23:5.
NO GOLD but pure gold can stand the fire. And if a man's religion has
been a pretentious sham, it is very likely to tumble to pieces under
the rough hand of death. There have been a few hypocrites who have been
able to brazen it out, even in the last solemn article, but these must
always be the few. David, at any rate, was never the man who would play
the hypocrite in the last extremity of death. You can see how true, how
deep, how thorough his faith in God must have been, for his dying bed
was by no means an enviable one. His dying pillow was stuffed with
sharp thorns. His was a life which, although it had much of Divine
Grace about it, yet had much of sinful nature, too. He was dying as we
might not wish to die in some respects, but his faith triumphed as we
may well desire that our faith may triumph, whatever the outward
circumstances of our life or death may be! We shall go at once, and
without further preface, to consider our text and notice in turn the
Psalmist-King's grave lament. And then, blessed compensation, his
glorious comfort. First, then, we shill ponder, and may the Holy Spirit
make it greatly to profit everyone of us–
I. DAVID'S GRAVE LAMENT.
His house, he declares, was "not so" with God. And the numbers and the
power of that house did not grow as he could have wished. Brothers and
Sisters, there are some troubles that a man outgrows. There are some
childish trials connected with our early Christian life which we,
without effort, outlive and which in due course pass away. We shall not
have to feel–thank God!–ever again the special perils of our youth
and of our early manhood. When we have passed into riper years, we
leave these things behind us. But there are some troubles which
accumulate as we grow. For instance, there is the peculiar trouble
alluded to in the text. There are, no doubt, multitudes of cares and
trials connected with a family of little children, but every parent
knows that the trials connected with little children are as nothing
compared with the sorrows of those who have grown-up children that
cause them heartache and heartbreak.
We could better afford to bury them one by one in their infancy, than
that they should live to dishonor their father's name and to blaspheme
their father's God! The mother might be well satisfied to watch over
their sick couches night after night and to weary herself as though she
labored in the very fire for their sakes. We could well put up with the
little mistakes, sturbornesses, follies and even sins of their earliest
days. But the sting is when, having left our roof, they leave our
teaching! When, having gone from our training, they do not abide in it,
but plunge into sin and prove to us most sadly that Divine Grace does
not run in the blood, but that natural depravity most certainly does.
Now, this particular form of trial accumulates as we grow older. Some
of us here have not yet come to it. May God grant that we never may,
but I know there are some here whose hairs are plentifully sprinkled
with gray, who have this as their daily cross to carry and who look
back on all the troubles of their youth and say that they were as
nothing compared with this–the house being amiss with God, the
children being disobedient–the sons and daughters training up their
children, but not in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! This is a
trial which comes when the battle of life, as we think, is almost over
and when we might naturally expect to take a little repose in the
eventide of life, before the dawning of the everlasting morning! This
seems to be one of the last thorns that is thrust into our rest. With
some it has been a thorn which, as in the case of David, has pierced
their heart in its last beats and throbs. I may be addressing some such
tonight. At any rate, I am addressing a great many who have need to
pray against this trial. Oh, it is a dreadful thing–a terrible thing
to look for-
ward to, but what must it be to bear, none can tell but those whose
hearts have been wrung by the iron hand of such an affliction!–
"How sharper than a serpent's teeth it is To have a thankless child."
David had an Absalom and an Amnon, and a Tamar–of whom the less said
the better–and outside his dying chamber door there was an Adonijah
trying to upset his father's last will and testament. And although
Solomon was, in some respects, a great deal better, yet he was not, in
those days, all that might be wished.
The fact is that, taken as a whole, they were a bad set. Was it any
wonder that they should be such? David had himself very much to blame
for it, for polygamy can never by any possibility work well. Jacob's
trouble arose out of that and no doubt David's troubles began there,
too. And this must have been the sting about it to David, that some of
his children could quote their father's example for their sins! Not but
what his life had had in it very many virtues, but children will cover
their eyes and not observe those things when it does not suit their
whim to see them. But if there is a fault in the parent, there is none
more quick than the child to spy it out and to make the fall–the
mistake of the parent which was pardoned, because wept over–to be the
one outstanding mark of that parent's character and in that, alone, to
imitate it.
Now, my Brothers and Sisters, at such a time, when we are stung with
such a trouble so near to us–for the troubles of our own house ought
always to affect us more than any other–there we get our first
comforts around the family hearth and there we must expect to have our
sweetest joys and our deepest pangs! When, I say, we have this
affliction and have in it that drop of gall of knowing that we,
ourselves, are somewhat responsible for the whole matter and that we
cannot throw it upon Divine Sovereignty, but must take some measure of
it to ourselves–oh, it will be glorious faith if still, with all those
pangs and griefs in their utmost bitterness, we can say, "Yet He has
made with me an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure,
for this is all my salvation and all my desire." Believe me, it is one
thing to read that text, but quite another thing to feel it! And it is
one thing to suppose ourselves under these circumstances, rejoicing in
the Lord, but quite another thing to come into these depths–these very
depths–with God's waves and billows going over us and yet, by joyous
faith, to lift our head out of the waves and sing with bravest
confidence in our God!
Now we shall be allowed, since David's is but one case among many, to
show that apart from the family–supposing that to be right–that there
may still be other forms of poignant sorrow under which we may labor
and in which our only relief will be to triumph in God's Covenant
faithfulness to our souls!
The trial to some of us will come possibly from the Church. The
faithful minister makes the Church that he serves his family. The
earnest deacon, the truly-called elder, considers the Church, too, to
be his household. The excellent and devoted conductors of the Bible
classes, and Sunday school classes will come in the faith and love of
sanctified souls to look upon those under their charge as children
committed to them as a sacred trust, to train and nurture in Christian
life and conduct. And some of us can say, who have known it, that it is
a grief that cuts very deep into the soul when the Church, or the
class, or whatever our circle of service, is not so with God as we
could desire! When we think of some who backslide. When we hear of
some, as we have heard time and again, who fall into open sin and,
worst of all, into cruel un-kindness to the very person who was the
means of their conversion, but of whom it is not now possible for them
to say anything too bad or too unkind because they think they have
received further illumination, and have learned something which God
grant they may unlearn–whenever these things occur and they occur very
frequently in a large Church and occur very painfully in a small
one–they throw the minister, they throw the Sunday school teacher,
they throw the earnest worker of any sort flat on his face, and they
make him shed many tears and cry out to God in the bitterness of his
soul, "You do not make my Church grow. You do not make my Church to be
as I would have it to be–like Yourself. You do not give me the sheaves
which I long to reap, nor the souls to be saved which I long to win."
It is a great and deep sorrow and it is a great blessing if, at such
times, we can come back to this, "Yet He has made with me an
everlasting Covenant." You know it is that precious Doctrine which is
meant to keep us quiet when we are succeeding, for the Lord Jesus said
to His Apostles when they came back overjoyed and said, "Lord, even the
devils are subject to us"–"Ah, nevertheless, rejoice not in this. Do
not make this the mainstay of your joy, but rather rejoice that your
names are written in Heaven." Well, when it is not so with us as we
would wish, but we have to experience the very
opposite, I think that then I can hear our Lord saying, "Nevertheless,
be not brokenhearted about this, but rather rejoice that your names are
written in Heaven, that My Covenant with you is everlasting."
Beloved, you may not have either of the two sorrows I have spoken of,
but if you are a child of God, you will have fellowship with a third,
namely, the inward state of your own soul
In a certain very special sense, that is the definite household of
everyone of us. These powers and passions, imaginings and emotions,
thoughts and desires–these are, so to speak, the children of your
house, and I am afraid that most of us will have to say, "Although my
house is not so with God." I read a book the other day written by a
Brother whom I very highly esteem and, indeed, reverence for his
holiness, excellence and usefulness. But when I found him speaking of
himself as living in perfect allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ and
perfect love to Him–and as having continued so for 20 years without
sin–I must confess that I thought he must either use language in a
different way from that in which I use it, or else that he and I must
have very different kinds of hearts, for I do not find it as he said! I
believe I have sincerely strived to serve my Master, and have served
Him so as to have had given me many seals of my service, but I never
did serve Him in such a way as to be satisfied with my service! I never
could dare to feel content with a prayer I ever prayed, or a sermon I
ever preached! I have always cultivated the idea that if I were to feel
satisfied, I would be proud–and that if I did feel content, I would be
doing wrong–and so I have rather strived against the feeling of being
satisfied with anything within me–but have tried to continually feel
that I still have enemies to drive out of the Canaan of my heart and
corruptions still to subdue, glorifying God for anything that I could
see that was gracious, but trying, at any rate, to mourn and lament
over what was my own–and there is a good deal of that–and I find, if
anything, more of it now than ever, not that there is more, but as we
grow in Grace I think we perceive it more clearly! A room is not more
dusty when it is shut up than it is when the sun shines in through the
little crevice in the shutter, where the beam of sunlight comes
through. There is no more dust in that particular part of the room
where the sun shines in than there is anywhere else, and yet how very
full of dust that slanting sunbeam seems to be! The room is not more
dusty there, but there is more light there than anywhere else. So it
seems that the very coming in of light to the soul reveals more and
more of the evil things, the spiritual ugliness that yet lurks there
and which I fear will be there until the Lord takes us Home! It is very
pitiable to see so many persons perfectly content to be so very
imperfect, sitting down as though they–knowing they cannot here be
absolutely perfect–have no desire to "grow in Grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It does such persons
good to hear a sermon on the Doctrine of Scriptural Perfection! If it
does not make them angry with it, it does them good, for it makes them
see that there is something better to be obtained in this world than
they have ever yet dreamed and so stimulates their ambition! But for
all that, I would still like to see a perfect man–and I would like to
see Satan and he have a turn of conflict! And if Satan did not somehow
or other get the better of him, I would be mistaken and surprised!
For this I know, that when we are most watchful and most guarded,
temptations will still overtake us and surely these men must have some
tragically unguarded moments. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, it will not do!
"Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" is as certainly the cry of the Christian as the rest of the
sentence, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." It is, none the
less, a sorrow to a truly sanctified soul, not to be sanctified
perfectly. It is a most bitter grief to conceive that there should be
any sin dwelling in him. It is his cross and his burden and, therefore,
at such times when the burden is heaviest, it is a gracious thing for
faith to be able to say, "Although my heart is not so with God as I
would have it and I do not live so near to Him as I could desire, nor
serve Him as I wish, yet still, for all that, I am a sinner saved by
Grace, and He has made with me, unworthy me, an everlasting Covenant,
ordered in all things and sure."
The beauty of the comfort of the text is that it is set boldly,
strikingly, upon so black a foil! In David's case a sorrow of the
bitterest kind is associated with a joy of the sweetest description!
What I am driving at is this–whether it is family trouble, Church
trouble, or inward spiritual trouble arising from personal experience,
it is the work, boast and glory of faith to be able to see light in the
midst of the darkness, to find a way through the sea and a path through
the desert– and to sing–"Though this is not what I would have it, nor
that, nor the other thing, nor a thousand things, yet has He made with
me an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure"!
I shall not stay to say anything about the latter part of the verse,
namely, about the house not growing. David did not see his family grow
in the estimation of the people, grow in strength, grow in numbers. It
is a great sorrow not to see our families growing up in piety and
advancing in holiness–a great grief not to see our Churches making
steady progress–and a heavy trouble, most of all, not to see our own
hearts growing in love and other Divine Graces, and so going onward
towards ripe maturity of blessed character.
Having thus spoken of David's great lament, we now turn with joyful
relief to speak of–
II. DAVID'S GLORIOUS COMFORT.
As I said before, we will only give you a few plain, practical
thoughts, praying the Holy Spirit to make them of Divine Power. The
glorious comfort which David found lay in the Covenant which God had
made with him. With David it was a Covenant of royalty for himself and
for his seed, but we believed he also had a further vision of the
Covenant of Grace. At any rate, we of the Gospel dispensation must do
so, for though we shall not have earthly thrones, yet under Christ's
Covenant we are made kings and priests unto God!
Now, let us suppose ourselves to be sitting down alone, soliloquizing
over all our griefs. There is a burden upon our mind and this thought
crosses us–"Yet" I have a, "yet," to set over against my "although." I
have a heavy, "although," to mar my prospects, but I have a delightful,
inspiring, "yet," to shed its light upon them–"Yet has He made with me
a Covenant."
Observe, first, that this Covenant made with us is a Covenant of pure
Grace. It would scarcely console Adam to think of the Covenant under
which he was–the Covenant of Works. It would be very sorry consolation
to think of the Covenant of Works now, for we have all broken it and
all that remains to us of its provisions is its curse! But we rejoice
to know that that Covenant of Works is, as far as we are concerned,
fulfilled completely by Jesus Christ–and there remains nothing but
God's side of it to be fulfilled! Christ undertook our side of it and
He declared, "It is finished," when He gave up the ghost. Man's side of
the Covenant of Grace is fulfilled and, therefore, the Covenant stands
now solely and only as a Covenant of pure and unconditional promise on
the part of God towards His elect people! A delightful thought is this,
for on these terms it is truly a Covenant of Grace. "I will and they
shall–I will give them a new heart, and a right spirit, and they shall
walk in My ways. I will purge, and wash, and cleanse them, and they
shall be clean." It is a Covenant without, "ifs," or, "buts," or,
"perhapses," in it because its elements are unalloyed Grace–Grace,
Grace, Grace, and not a single jot or tittle of merit in it! Now,
Believer in Christ, you are under such a Covenant, a Covenant which is
all promise to you and no threats! Ought not this to cheer and comfort
you? These dark afflictions–what are they? You can say, as one of old
said, "Strike now, Lord, if You will, for I am forgiven! Now do what
You will with me, for I am Your child."–
"If sin is pardoned, I'm secure! Death has no sting beside."
Nor has life any, either, for the worst sting is gone, sin is removed
and I am saved! Now, Lord, I leave everything in Your hands, making no
conditions or stipulations, but will be pleased, or strive to be
pleased, with all Your will provides, since I know that the threats are
all gone and there remains for me nothing but promises full of
boundless mercy which then shall be my heritage!"
The next thought is, that this Covenant is made with me. Beloved, I
cannot preach on this as I would, but I pray that the Holy Spirit may
bring home to your souls both the power and sweetness of the thought,
"Yet has he made with me an everlasting Covenant." The Doctrines in
themselves are delightful, but it is the personal interest in and
realization of the Doctrines that give real delight!. The Covenant–oh,
yes, that is the Well of Bethlehem–but it is "within the gate." But a
Covenant made with me. Ah, that is the water from the well rippling at
my very lips! I drink it and am completely refreshed! It would be
pleasant to hear of a Covenant made with ten thousand men, that they
might be saved, and our common humanity might make us rejoice therein.
A Covenant made with countless millions might well make us glad to
overflowing, but, after all, it is not selfish, but only laudable as
the law of self-preservation God has Himself implanted in us, for us
most of all to rejoice in our own personal faith in Christ, our
personal property in the Covenant of which He is the Surety! "Yet He
has made with me." You know, sometimes, when I am thinking of God's
mercy, trying to get a grip of my adoption and my acceptance in the
Beloved, I find myself crying and at other times laughing. It seems
such a wonder that an "heir of wrath" should be made an heir of
Heaven–an enemy of God made to be His own Dear son to whom He has made
absolute promises of Infinite Love and unutterable Grace! Surely this
ought to make our hearts leap like the heart of a warrior when the
battle has come to a close and the victory has been won! How joyous
ought to be the Chris-
tian's life! There ought to be a sacred exhilaration, a holy riot in
our spiritual life at the thought that God has personally made with
us–unworthy, sinful, but pardoned and accepted men and women–"a
Covenant ordered in all things and sure."
There is a very poor man in this place, just come from his labor. He
has not even had time to go home to wash his face. He is very poor. If
you could see his room, there is very little furniture in it and the
wages he earns come to a very little. He has been poor for years and
years. You, perhaps, would scarcely notice him. He is a mere drudge, a
weight lifter, a carrier, one of the despised "masses" and yet God has
made with him an everlasting Covenant! Why, what a contrast between the
parties to this Covenant! Here is the Infinite and Eternal God with all
the blazing splendor of His Deity–and He has made a Covenant with this
poor despised child of poverty and toil! Well, now, if you come to
think of it, there is no difference in spiritual need between the
crossing-sweeper and the millionaire! They are only two frail mortals,
with a little difference in their circumstances and surroundings, but
there is no difference when they go to their last resting place, and
they sleep in the lap of mother earth! And yet, with either or both,
God is ready to make an everlasting Covenant–with such insignificant
ones, with you and me! Oh, dear Christian Brothers and Sisters, here is
the music of it–"with me." Now, may your faith lay her hand on the
dear Savior's head afresh, look to Christ anew, see His blood flowing
for you, wash again and feel that you are clean and then say, "Yet He
has made with me an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and
sure."
It may increase our joy to remember the Person who has made this
Covenant. If the Covenant had been made with men, it might have been
kept, or it might not have been–for the surest treaties have been
broken–and when men have been bound with fetters, the proverb has not
always been proved true, "Fast bind, fast find," but men have slipped
through a thousand nooses and have been untrustworthy even when solemn
oaths and obligations have been used to bind them down! But God is
true, so true that we might take His Word at once, and yet since He
knew our unbelief, He has been pleased to give us "two immutable
things, wherein it is impossible for God to lie that we might have
strong consolation who have fled for refuge to the hope set before us."
He has done this, He who has not twice destroyed the earth with a
flood, notwithstanding all her sins! He who settled the mountains and
fixed the hills in their sockets has said that the mountains shall
depart and the hills be removed, but that His love shall not depart
from us, neither shall His Covenant be removed from us. He has said it
whose power is equal to His Truth, whose love, with golden hands,
encircles both His power and His faithfulness. He has said it who never
knows the shadow of a change, the sun without a parallax and without a
tropic. He has said it, the great I AM has made with us a Covenant of
Grace!
Then comes the thrilling Truth of God–"an everlasting Covenant" We
must not, above all things, leave that out! It is the duration of the
mercy which is always the great theme of joy to the Christian. I do not
know where my brethren get their comfort from, who believe in a
temporary Covenant of Grace. I am not disposed to controvert with them
because if they like it and can get any comfort out of it, I am very
glad that somebody should. But it is a kind of land I should never
think of plowing, nor should I ever wish to add to my farm! I shall
never be tempted to covet that as Ahab covets Naboth's vineyard. That
system of theology seems to me to play fast and loose with Divine
things and make man stronger than God–and so I am content not to
desire its possession. I suppose I am a greater sinner than they and
have more need of Grace and I come back to my Master's power alone to
keep me, rather than depend on my own strength to keep myself. And here
are my comfort and joy, that if God has made a Covenant with me, He has
not done it for today or tomorrow and next week, or even next year, but
for all eternity! When the hair turns gray, the Covenant will still be
young! And when the pulse beats low and the death sweat shall stand on
our brow, the Covenant will be as full of life as in our early days
when first we knew the Lord. It is "an everlasting Covenant," and
everlasting in the respect of its being made with me, not a Covenant
which is everlasting, but which changes with persons and is first with
one and then with another. "He has made with me an everlasting
Covenant.'"
Oh, Christian, rejoice! Do not be afraid of rejoicing in that Doctrine
of the safety of the saints. Depend upon it, though some have used it
to their own destruction and their end shall be terrible for having
perverted the Truth of God to make it a cloak for sin, yet the children
of God have always found that when they are most happy they can be most
active! When they feel most safe they are most grateful and when they
are most grateful they are most courageous and the most
self-sacrificing! Do not be afraid of knowing that you are safe in
Christ, for if your thoughts are troubled about your eternal security,
you will not be able to give the integrity of your manhood and
womanhood to the cause of God. But if you know that you are saved, if
you are sure of it, if you know that your ship can never be driven on
the rocks, if you can give your whole selves, body, soul and spirit
unreservedly to God, out of no legal motives, but under the Divine
constraints of gratitude, gratitude to eternal love–you are the man or
woman who God the Spirit can make into a fine strong Christian! But if
you are forever struggling and striving, now believing, now doubting
and thinking that your safety depends on something you can do, and that
the whole matter may possibly tumble down–you will get no joy out of
your salvation and will forever be a self-seeker of a certain kind. But
grasp the Truth of God that your salvation is finished once and for all
and you can then say, no sing, "Now for the love I bear His name, my
whole spirit, my whole time, talents, substance–all shall be laid upon
the altar of Him who loved me and gave Himself for me."–
"Loved of my God, for Him again,
With love intense I burn–
Chosen of Him ere time began,
I choose Him in return."
And now note, very briefly, indeed, that this everlasting Covenant is
ordered and sure. This, too, should fill us with holy musing and sacred
exultation. It is so ordered that Divine Justice is not infringed,
while Divine Mercy is magnified! It is so ordered that the safety of
the soul is secured, and yet the soul is delivered from its sin–so
ordered that holiness excludes the sinful from Heaven and yet the
sinful are admitted, having been washed in the precious blood of the
Covenant. "Ordered in all things"–its great things and its little
things! Every wheel and every cog of every wheel, was in the mind of
the Divine Artificer and has been placed in its proper position to work
out the Divine result! Ordered with regard to the past, the present and
the future! Ordered with regard to Nature and to Providence–ordered
with regard to my body and my soul–ordered as to the perfection of my
Divine manhood before the Throne of God!
It is ordered in all things and is, therefore, sure. It would not have
been sure had it not been well ordered, but being well ordered and
fixed according to the truest Law of God, there is no fear of any
division of its parts or any dislocation of its members! It will never
be a house divided against itself. You know that when a house has no
order in it, nothing can be relied upon. Wills run contrary to one
another and discord reigns. But there is nothing of the kind in the
Covenant of Grace. There are no conflicting elements. All the elements
are of one kind. Boasting is excluded. Human merit is cast out. It has
Grace for its Alpha and Grace for its Omega. It has Grace for its
foundation and the topstone shall be brought forth with shouts of,
"Grace, Grace," unto it. Infinite Wisdom planned it and so the ideas of
human fallibility and mistake have been excluded from it. "Ordered in
all things and sure."
Let our souls then fall back upon this Truth with the exclamation of
David, "This is all my salvation and all my desire." If, indeed, God
has made such a Covenant with me, then I am saved. I rest upon Christ
whom God has said He has set forth to be a Covenant for the people–a
Leader and Commander to the people. My dear Friends, are you all
trusting in Christ alone? Is He all your salvation? Is He all your
desire? I think that is one of the ways by which to discover the true
sons of Zion from those that are not so–by seeing whether Christ is
all their salvation! There are some who save a little corner for
something else besides Christ. Beloved, it must come to this–if you
and I are ever saved–that Christ as He is revealed in the Covenant of
Grace must be all our salvation! He must be made unto us of God,
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption! Christ is ALL!
Oh, what blessed Truth that is! How it drives all priestcraft out of
the world! How it makes absurd and profane all pretended soul-saying
ceremonies! How it brings us to the Savior, simply and alone to Him,
"This is all my salvation"–what Christ has done for me and what God
promises to give me as the result of what Christ has done in fulfilling
the Covenant of Grace on my behalf–this is all my salvation!
And now, Sinner, you who have never come to Christ, remember that this
must be all your salvation if ever you are saved. And does not this
cheer you? You thought you were to get some good feelings. You need
not. You may come to Christ for them. "Oh," you say, "but I must
repent." He is exalted on high to give you repentance. It is His work
to give you repentance! Come to Him as you are, with nothing of your
own, and rest wholly in Him. And you have then, in your soul, the true
sign of God's electing love. If you rest wholly upon Jesus, do not
trouble your head about either the glorious past or the glorious
future, but rejoice now! To lay hold on Christ is to lay hold on
everlasting love and to find a resting place that shall last you when
the world has melted away like a moment's foam dissolves into the wave
that bears it and is gone forever. Rest in God patiently–with your
whole soul relying upon the merit of Jesus–and the everlasting
Covenant is yours!
And the text closes with saying–"and all my desire." "I do not want
anything else to rest upon. But this one thing do I covet–no other
source of joy than this." So David seems to say. Ah, but some of you
Christian people cannot say, "This is all my desire" Your desire is to
make a great deal of money! Your desire is to dress so that people may
think you a person of great taste and refinement! Or your desire is to
be respectable, or your desire is to be something far away from the
thoughts of God! You smile, but it is really not at all a thing at
which to smile. It is a great pity that so many whom we would hope to
be Christian people do not find their chief delights in God and do not
let their desires end in Him. This is a sad, sad thing. If there were a
wife here who found her greatest pleasure in somebody else's company
rather than her husband's, it would be a very great disgrace to her.
And it is a terrible dishonor to a Christian when, in order to get his
pleasures, he has to get out of the circle of communion with Christ! I
have heard of such Christians. "Oh," they say, "well, we try to be
circumspect and so on, as a matter of duty, but may we not enjoy
ourselves?"
Well, but where–where–where? You do not like to say where and I will
not press the question, but there are some who enjoy themselves most
when they are where Christ would not go–no, where Christ would not
have them go and where they would not like Christ to come and find them
there! Now, question yourselves whether you belong to Christ at all if
that is the case, for our sweetest pleasures, if we are true
Christians, we find when we are most conformed to Christ, doing His
will most conscientiously in His sight, most denying ourselves and most
completely giving up our own wills and wishes, after a carnal sort,
that the will of Christ may reign in our mortal bodies to His Glory!
"This is all my salvation and all my desire." Let others roam through
the world as they may, but the soul of the Christian is satisfied at
home. He can say, in the words of our hymn–
"I need not go abroad for joy,
I have a peace at home!
My sighs are turned into songs,
My heart has ceased to roam.
Down from above the Blessed Dove
Has come into my breast,
To witness there eternal love,
And give my spirit rest."
So may it be with you, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS3:9.
Verses 9, 10. What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for
we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is
none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all
gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is
none that does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher:
with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under
their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet
are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And
the way of peace have they not known.' There is no fear of God before
their eyes. This is a description of man given by Prophets in the olden
times. "Now," says Paul, "we know that what things soever the Law says,
it says to them who are under the Law." So that this is a description
of the Jews, a description of the people who had the Light of God, the
best people that were then upon the face of the earth–and if these are
the good people– where are the Gentiles, the bad ones without the
Light?
19, 22. Now we know that what things soever the Law says, it says to
them who are under the Law; that every mouth may be stopped and all the
world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the Law
there shall no flesh be justified in His sight for by the La w is the
knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the Law is
manifested, being witnessed by the La w and the Prophets–even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto alland upon
all them that believe–for there is no difference. There is no
righteousness of works on the face of the earth. The Law, itself,
describes men as being sinful from their throat to their feet. Almost
every member of the
body is mentioned and described as being foul with sin! But, says Paul,
there is another righteousness on the face of the earth–and that is
the righteousness of God's Grace, which comes through believing in
Christ!
23, 31. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Being
justified freely by His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His
blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time
His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifer of him which
believes in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what Law?
Of works? No, but by the Law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man
is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law. Is He the God of
the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles
also– seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by
faith and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the Law
through faith? God forbid! Yes, we establish the Law.