Justification And Glory
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 30, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Whom He justified, them He also glorified." Romans 8:30.
WELL said the Apostle in another place, "All things are of God." And
here in this passage all works of Divine Grace are evidently so. The
pronoun, "He," is repeated yet again and again, as if to set the Lord
always before us. "Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son." "Moreover, whom He did
predestinate, them He also justified and whom He justified, them He
also glorified." It is of God all the way through. There is not an inch
of ground left to he covered by the creature's foot. The eternal
Creator works all things in the Covenant of Grace according to the
counsel of His own will. Haldane has an admirable note on this passage
which we will quote in full:
"In looking back on this passage we should observe that in all that is
stated man acts no part, but is passive and all is done by God. He is
elected and predestinated and called and justified and glorified by
God. The Apostle was here concluding all that he had said before in
enumerating topics of consolation to Believers. He is now going on to
show that God is 'for us,' or on the part of His people. Could
anything, then, be more consolatory to those who love God, than to be
in this manner assured that the great concern of their salvation is not
left in their own keeping? God, even their Covenant God, has taken the
whole upon Himself. He has undertaken for them. There is no room, then,
for chance or change, He will perfect that which concerns them."
Does not this account for the majestic manner in which these Covenant
mercies follow one another as in a triumphal procession? Foreknowledge
leads the van with eyes beaming with love. Then come predestination,
calling, justification, glorification–all in their proper order. Not
one of these gigantic mercies limps along the road–but marching with
stately tread, adorned in robes of glory, each one keeping its
place–they make up a magnificent procession to the praise of the Glory
of His Grace who has set them all in order and written His own name
upon them all.
Observe, there is no "if," no "but," no "maybe," no "perhaps" here. He
foreknows. He predestinates. No creature lifts up its puny voice to
object to the predestinating decree. Having predestinated, He calls and
it is such an effectual calling, that we hear of no resistance. Having
called, He justifies and "who is he that condemns?" Having justified
without let or hindrance, He achieves His eternal purpose without
impediment and brings forth the top stone of the temple of His Grace
with shouting, as it is written, "Whom He justified, them He also
glorified."
Let our souls be glad as we clearly see the mighty Presence of our God
in every work of Divine Grace. And let us understand from where the
force, the certainty, the immutability, the majesty of the whole matter
comes–namely, from the fact that, "He orders all things according to
the counsel of His own will." "Who shall stay His hand, or say unto
Him, What are you doing?"
This morning, God the Holy Spirit, I trust, will make it to your profit
to weigh these two precious gems of loving-kindness, to count over
these priceless treasures of mercy, to swim in these two seas of love,
justification and glorification. And then we shall need time carefully
to search after the connection between them both, for they are riveted
together by rivets of diamonds. They are fastened together so fast and
firmly that neither death nor Hell can separate them. "Whom He
justified, them He also glorified."
I. Let us begin, then, by considering WHAT IT IS TO BE JUSTIFIED. If
you wish for an answer in a few words, ask your children who have
learned our catechism and you have it–"Justification is an act of
God's free Grace, wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as
righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to
us and received by faith alone."
Perhaps, however, I had better unfold this Truth of God in detail. You
will perceive by reading the connection and by a moment's reflection
that the justification here meant is an act of God passed upon a person
needing it– consequently passed upon a person who could not justify
himself–a person naturally guilty of sin and being in a state of
condemnation naturally and needing to be lifted out of it by an act of
justification of a Divine order. It is not possible that God should
have devised a plan of justification for those who were already
justified by their own actions.
We do not talk with any wonder, or speak with any astonishment of a
justification which a man achieves for himself. The guiltless need no
justification. They have it already. If any man has kept the Law of God
and made it honorable, he is in himself just and needs not to be made
just–he is so already. Justification is an act of Divine Grace passed
upon a sinner. Upon one who has transgressed the Law and cannot be
justified by it and who, therefore, needs to be made just in another
way–a way out of his own reach, above his own coming and going, as in
the text–from God Himself. For it says, "He justifies."
This, though it is a very commonplace observation, is a very sweet
Truth of God to begin with. Oh, Sinner! However black your sins may
have been, you may yet be justified! Though your sins are as scarlet,
they may yet be as wool. And though you are red like crimson, you may
be white as snow! It is written that, "He justifies the ungodly." Yes,
the ungodly–such as you have been! Christ came not into the world as a
physician for those who are whole, but for those who are sick.
Justification is an act of Grace which looks out for a sinner upon whom
to exercise itself. May the eyes of Grace find you out this morning,
poor Transgressor, and make you just!
In the next place, justification is the result of Sovereign Grace and
of Sovereign Grace alone. We are told that, "by the works of the Law
shall no flesh living be justified." And yet again, "justified freely
by His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." I cannot
earn justification. Nothing which I can ever do can merit justification
at the hands of God. I have so offended that all which is due to me is
God's wrath and that forever. If I shall ever be accounted just it must
be because God wills to make me just. It must be because out of His
Divine compassion and for no other reason whatever, He looks upon me in
my sin and misery, lifts me up from the dunghill of my ruin, and
determines to wrap me about with the royal apparel of a righteousness
which He has prepared!
There is no justification, then, as an act of merit. The day for that
was past when Adam fell and when we fell in him. Justification now
comes as a priceless gift from the liberal hand of God's Grace.
Justification has for its matter and means the righteousness of Jesus
Christ set forth in His vicarious obedience both in life and death.
Certain modern heretics, who ought to know better, have denied this and
there were some in older times who, by reason of ignorance said that
there was no such thing as the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.
He who denies this, perhaps unconsciously, cuts at the root of the
Gospel system.
I believe that this doctrine is involved in the whole system of
substitution and sanctification. We all know that substitution and a
vicarious sacrifice are the very marrow of the Gospel of Christ. The
Law, like the God from whom it came, is absolutely immutable and can be
satisfied by nothing else than a complete and perfect righteousness at
once suffering the penalty for guilt incurred already and working out
obedience to the precept which still binds those upon whom penalty has
passed. This was rendered by the Lord Jesus as the representative of
His chosen and is the sole legal ground for the justification of the
elect.
As for me, I can never doubt that Christ's righteousness is mine when I
find that Christ Himself and all that He has belongs to me! If I find
that He gives me everything, surely He gives me His righteousness among
the rest. And what am I to do with that if not to wear it? Am I to lay
it by in a wardrobe and not put it on? Well, Sirs, let others wear what
they will–my soul rejoices in the royal apparel! For me the term, "the
Lord our righteousness" is significant and has a weight of meaning.
Jesus Christ shall be my righteousness so long as I read the language
of the Apostle, "He is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption."
My dear Brothers and Sisters, do not doubt the imputed righteousness of
Jesus Christ whatever cavilers may say. Remember that you must have a
righteousness. It is this which the Law requires. I do not read that
the Law made with our first parents required suffering–it demanded it
as a penalty after its breach–the righteousness of the Law required
not suffering, but obedience. Suffering would not release us from the
duty of obeying. Lost souls in Hell are still under the Law and their
woes and pangs, if completely endured, would never justify them.
Obedience and obedience alone can justify, and where can we have it but
in Jesus our Substitute?
Christ comes to magnify the Law–how does He do it but by obedience? If
I am to enter into life by the keeping of the Commandments, as the Lord
tells me in the nineteenth chapter of Matthew and the seventeenth
verse, how can I, except by Christ having kept them? And how can He
have kept the Law except by obedience to its commands? The promises in
the Word of God are not made to suffering. They are made to
obedience–consequently Christ's sufferings, though they may remove the
penalty, do not, alone, make me the inheritor of the promise.
"If you will enter into life," said Christ, "keep the Commandments." It
is only Christ's keeping the Commandments that entitles me to enter
life. "The Lord is well-pleased for His righteousness' sake. He will
magnify the Law and make it honorable." I do not enter into life by
virtue of His sufferings–those deliver me from death, those purge me
from filthi-ness. But entering the enjoyments of the life eternal must
be the result of obedience. And as it cannot be the result of mine, it
is the result of His which is imputed to me.
We find the Apostle Paul putting Christ's obedience in contrast to the
disobedience of Adam–"As by one man's disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Now
this is not Christ's death merely, but Christ's active obedience which
is here meant and it is by this that we are made righteous. Beloved,
you need not sing with stammering tongues that blessed verse of our
hymn–
"Jesus, Your perfect righteousness, My beauty is, my glorious dress."
In spite of all the outcry of modern times against this doctrine–it is
written in Heaven and is a sure and precious Truth of God to be
received by all the faithful–that we are justified by faith through
the righteousness of Christ Jesus imputed to us.
See what Christ has done in His living and in His dying–His acts
becoming our acts, and His righteousness being imputed to us so that we
are rewarded as if we were righteous–while He was punished as though
He had been guilty. This justification, then, comes to sinners as an
act of pure Grace, the foundation of it being Christ's righteousness.
The practical way of its application is by faith. The sinner believes
God and believes that Christ is sent of God and takes Christ Jesus to
be his only confidence and trust. And by that act he becomes a
justified soul. It is not by repenting, but by believing that we are
justified! It is not by deep experience of the guilt of sin. It is not
by bitter pangs and throes under the temptations of Satan. It is not by
mortification of the body, nor by the renunciation of self. All these
are good, but the act which justifies is a look at Christ!
We, having nothing, being nothing, boasting of nothing and being
utterly emptied, do look to Him whose wounds stream with life-giving
blood. And as we look to Him, we live and are justified by His life.
There is life in a look at the Crucified One and life in the sense of
justification. He who a minute before was in himself a condemned
criminal fit only to be taken to the place from where he came and to
suffer Divine wrath, is at once, by an act of faith, made an heir of
God, joint-heir with Jesus Christ–taken from the place of condemnation
and put into the place of acceptance–so that now he dreads no more the
wrath of God! The curse of God cannot touch him, for Christ was made a
curse for him, as it is written, "Cursed is everyone that hangs on a
tree."
Now concerning this great mercy of justification let us say that it is
instantaneous. Sanctification needs a whole life. Justification is the
work of a second, perhaps it needs no appreciable time. The sinner
looks to Christ. It is all done–his sin is gone in a moment. The
righteousness of Christ is, as in an instant, imputed to the believing
sinner. Sanctification, however, progresses or declines. It is a thing
of changes. The work of the Holy Spirit sometimes ripens swiftly and at
other times, by reason of temptation or trial within, it is but slow in
its advance. But justification is complete in a moment! The dying thief
was as clean one moment after he had trusted in Christ as he was when
he was with Christ in Paradise.
Justification in Heaven is not more complete than it is on earth. No,
listen to me, Child of God. When your soul seems to be a very
pandemonium through the blasphemies of Satan. When your doubts and
fears leap upon you like so many lions. When your sins prevail against
you so that you cannot look up, yet, if you are a Believer you are even
then, in your worst moments, as completely and perfectly justified as
in those happy days when on Tabor's summit you were apt to say, "Let us
build three tabernacles and here abide." Justification never alters in
a child of God. God pronounces him guiltless and guiltless he is!
Jehovah justifies him and neither his holiness can improve his
righteousness, nor his sins diminish it. He stands in Christ Jesus the
same yesterday, today and forever–as accepted one moment as at another
mo- ment–as sure of eternal life at one instant as at another. Oh, how
blessed is this Truth of God–justified in a moment and justified
completely!
And observe, my dear Brothers and Sisters, that he who is thus
justified is justified infallibly. There is no mistake concerning the
transaction. "It is God that justifies." Where, then, can there be a
mistake? If I justify myself, I am a tool and I make God a liar. But if
God justifies me, who is he that condemns? I, a poor sinner, black as
night, fly to the shelter of the great Shield stained with blood which
God holds over my head and there I stand at all times. And though I
know that every lightning of Justice might well dart its force upon me,
as I am in myself, yet as I see my Shield, the Lord's Anointed, I am
not afraid. Standing under that Shield, I defy Heaven, and earth and
Hell! Crying in the language of Paul, "Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that
condemns?"
There is a prisoner at the bar and the jury has just brought in a
verdict of, "Not guilty." The judge bids him go free. There are people
in the court who gnash their teeth at him. There are persons in the
street who hate him–what does he care? "I have been pronounced 'not
guilty' by the proper tribunal. The Judge himself tells me that I am
acquitted. No law officer can touch me. Not the fiercest enemy in the
world can drag me into court again. I have been tried and found 'not
guilty.' And who is he that condemns?"
It is just so with the Christian. Christ's righteousness is put upon
him. Christ takes his sins and when he stands before God's bar, the
eternal Voice seems to say, "I see no sin in that man." How can He? All
that man's sins Christ took away! The eternal Voice sounds forth again,
"I can see righteousness there." And well He may see it, for Christ's
righteousness is there and therefore the man is infallibly, upon
grounds of justice which are not disputable–infallibly, upon grounds
which he himself may realize as being certain–justified through Christ
Jesus! Remember, dear Brethren–and I will not occupy you much longer
over a theme where we might be tempted to say that this justification
is irreversible!
Once justified you shall never be condemned. Jehovah never plays fast
and loose with men. He does not look upon a sinner and say, "I forgive
you," and then afterwards say, "Depart, you cursed!" Arminians may
think so, but the God of Believers will not do so. The God of
Christians says, "I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of
Jacob are not consumed." Having taken the prodigal into the house and
put the ring on his finger and the shoes on his feet, He never turns
that prodigal out of doors. Being married to His people He never sues
for divorce, for the Lord, the God of Israel, says He hates putting
away.
"I, even I, am He that blots out your iniquities for My name's sake and
will not remember them against you anymore forever." "I have cast your
iniquities into the depths of the sea." Pardon and justification are
irreversible and consequently the blessings which justification brings
to us belong to us by a promise that can never be broken, forever and
ever. If I am justified then I have peace with God and that peace shall
be like a river, never dried up, because my righteousness is like the
waves of the sea, never exhausted. If I am justified I can claim
Jehovah's protection. And I shall have it, for He will not suffer the
just man to perish. If I am justified I may come before God and ask for
Heaven as my right, as a reward of righteousness imputed to me. And I
shall have it, for He will never deny to a justified person the
fullness of joy which is at His right hand forevermore. Oh, what a
blessing to be justified!
Once more, before I leave this point, I must ask you to be kind enough
to question yourselves as to whether you have been justified. "Well,"
says one, "perhaps I have been and do not know it." My dear Friend, I
do not think so. The work of justification is generally attended with
such a flood of joy that I think you must know it. Bunyan's pilgrim did
not lose the burden off his back and not know it! As soon as it was
gone, he gave three great leaps for joy and went on his way singing.
You may have doubts about whether you are justified–I hope you will
not be easy under them–but will seek after an assured interest in
Christ.
My dear Brothers and Sisters, if you have any doubt, go to Christ
again! If you are not justified, go to Him to be justified. Just as you
are, with nothing but the plea of His blood in your mouth–go to
Him–for He casts out none that come unto God by Him. Know that the act
of faith justifies and be not afraid to exercise that act of faith,
notwithstanding all your shortcomings and your sins. "Hear me, Jesus!
If I never was a saint, I am a sinner and You did come to save sinners
and I cast myself on You. Your promise is that You will cast out none
that come. Oh, cast me not out! Receive even me, and accept me for Your
love's sake."
II. Thus much upon justification. And now a little upon GLORY. How that
golden word has been debased in the coinage of human speech. It has
come to mean the glitter of war's helmet and the noise of the crowd's
hurrahs. Smollet called it, "the fair child of peril." Johnson
wrote–"Glory, the casual gift of thoughtless crowds. Glory, the bride
of greedy virtue!" It is a far other and higher Glory of which we speak
today. As high as the Heaven is above the earth is God's Glory from all
the poor stuff which mortals dignify with that fair name.
"Whom He justified, them He also glorified." They follow close
together, you see. A little stream divides them, but the Apostle says
nothing about it and you and I need not say much. It is a narrow stream
called Death–there is no Glory without passing through that, or
through the great change when the Lord comes. But there is nothing said
about it and so we will not say anything. It is not worth thinking of,
it is swallowed up in victory. It may be an enemy, but it is an enemy
that is to be destroyed.
Now, while speaking of Glory, I think I must divide the Glory which God
gives to the justified into three parts. There is, first of all, the
Glory which disembodied spirits are enjoying even now. There is,
secondly, the Resurrection Glory, which they will enjoy when the soul
and body shall be reunited and when, through the millennium, they shall
be "forever with the Lord." And then there is "the eternal weight of
Glory," which is to be revealed both in body and soul in the
never-ending state of bliss which God has prepared for His people.
Let us raise our thoughts a little while to the state of disembodied
spirits. The moment that the soul leaves the body, the believing soul,
the justified soul, is in Glory. We know that there is no preparatory
process for it to pass through. Romanism holds that some of the best
saints go to Heaven when they die, but that the great mass of inferior
saints are not qualified for Heaven and must undergo a purgation for a
series of years till they are prepared to enter Glory. They say that
the saints who died under the Old Testament, or at least the most of
them, went to the limbus patrurn–which some wicked Protestants call
Limbo–where they remained without the beatific vision until the Lord
Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison and led them up
afterwards to Heaven with Him.
As for the grossly wicked who have by mortal sin lost the grace of
Baptism, they go to Hell at once. But the better sort of partially
sanctified Christians must suffer more or less intensely till their
sins are atoned for and purged away. It was well said by Hugh Latimer
that the key of Purgatory hangs in the pope's treasury, for, said he,
it has helped to keep it pretty full–and I have no doubt it has. It
has been a very profitable invention! More money has been paid, I
suppose, for getting souls out of Purgatory than people have been
tempted to pay in order to keep them out of Hell. However, we are not
deceived in this matter! Let the Council of Trent say what it may, the
case of the dying thief is to the point.
He was no eminent saint. He had not for many years performed works of
supererogation by which he reached perfection and could claim that the
gates should be opened to him. He was a sinner up to the very last
moment and the only good deed that we ever read of his doing, was, when
he claimed Christ as Lord and rebuked his fellow thief for slandering
the Savior. Yet, hear the words–"Today shall you be with Me in
Paradise." Nor is this the only instance. We find, when Lazarus died,
according to the parable, that he was carried by angels into Abraham's
bosom, a place of unspeakable rest and delight which the rich man
greatly envied.
Stephen expected the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit and the Apostle
Paul was in a strait betwixt two, being willing "to depart and to be
with Christ." He evidently did not anticipate any delay between earth
and Heaven, for he says, "knowing that while we are at home in the
body, we are absent from the Lord." He puts the two as an alternative.
We are not in trouble about them that sleep. We know that they that
sleep in Jesus, He will bring with Him. In Ephesians 3:15, the Apostle
mentions the whole family as being in Heaven and earth, but he speaks
of none of the Lord's people being in Limbo or Purgatory.
Those whom we are bid to follow, in Hebrews 6:12, are now inheriting
the promises. Let the voice of God decide the case forever. Revelation
14:13–"And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord from therefore. Yes, says the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors. And their works do follow
them." Perhaps that word, "Paradise," which Christ uses to describe the
state of disembodied spirits may be a help to us in judging of the
condition of the blessed. Paradise was a place of perfect peace, of
sinlessness, of rest, of enjoyment and freedom from evil.
Eden! Oh, how shall we talk of its glories long since faded? Let us,
however, remember its winding walks among trees loaded with luscious
fruits. Let us remember the glory of its rising and its setting sun.
The immortality, the peace, the joy, the love, the brightness which our
first parents enjoyed in their naked innocence. That happy garden is a
faint picture of the naked spirits, unclothed with bodies, who are now
before the Eternal Throne. They have no pain, nor weariness, no evil,
nor fear of death. They possess everything that can make them blessed
except the resurrection body–
"There fruits that never fade, On trees immortal grow. There, rocks and
hills and floods and vales, With milk and honey flow." I think Dr.
Watts was right when he said–
"There everlasting spring abides, And never-withering flowers."
They are in a blessed state of tranquility and perfection! But the
Savior added, what was the beauty of all–"Today shall you be with Me
in Paradise." The Glory of Paradise was that God walked there in the
cool of the evening with His creatures. And the Glory of Heaven is that
"they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God gives
them light," and the days of their mourning shall be ended. God wipes
away all tears from their eyes and the Lamb leads them to the living
fountains of waters. God is with them to be their God and they are with
Him to be His happy people at His right hand where there are pleasures
forevermore. This is the state of the justified disembodied spirits
now.
If I read the word aright and it is honest to admit that there is much
room for difference of opinion here, the day will come when the Lord
Jesus will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the trump of the
archangel and the voice of God. Some think that this descent of the
Lord will be post-millennial–that is, after the thousand years of His
reign. I cannot think so. I conceive that the advent will be
pre-millennial–that He will come first. And then will come the
millennium as the result of His personal reign upon earth.
But whether or not, this much is fact–Christ will suddenly come, come
to reign and come to judge the earth in righteousness. Now at that time
those of us who are alive and remain shall have no preference over them
that sleep. It is true, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for
the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and
we shall be changed." Christ will bring with Him those who sleep in
Him. Their bodies are now in that state which is called sleep–that is,
a state of hallowed rest, tran-quility and enjoyment–but they shall
come with Him.
Lo, He comes with ten thousands times ten thousands of His saints.
Then, from beds of dust and silent clay their bodies shall wake up. The
very bodies that were put into the tomb shall rise instinct with life.
I say the very bodies. And it is not necessary that that there should
be the very same particles of matter. My body is the same body that it
was ten years ago, yet I am told, and I believe it, that there is not a
particle of matter in my body now that was in it ten years ago! And yet
its identity is not disturbed by that fact! Protect the germ, as God
doubtless will, the life-germ of the seed corn which you sow in the
earth–protect that and you have protected identity.
And though when we rise it will not be as flesh and blood, "for flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither can corruption
inherit incorruption," yet it shall be the same body, for all bodies
are not the same bodies, for there are bodies celestial and bodies
terrestrial. And the glory is not the same–for there is the glory of
the sun, the glory of the moon and of the stars. So I may have the same
body, the same for identity and yet as to its constituent elements and
especially as to its qualities of weakness, mortality and corruption,
it may be as distinct and changed as light is distinct and changed from
darkness.
Oh, my Brethren, let this be an assured Truth of God to us that we do
not put the body into the grave to lose it! Watts is right when he
says–
"Corruption, earth and worms Do but refine this flesh."
We put the body there as the chemist puts gold into the furnace. It
shall come out the same as to its gold, but the dross shall be left
behind. All that was precious in the fabric shall remain–that which
was corruptible, defiled, sinful, shall have passed away. According to
our belief the soul will then return to the body. There will be a
joyful meeting. Soul and body often quarrel here–but they are always
loath to part–which proves how true is the wedlock between them. But
what a happy meeting it will be when there will be no more quarrels
between this husband and wife–when the soul and body shall be merged
together in the perfection of union!
Then, whatever may be the splendor of Christ will be the splendor of
His people. Our bodies shall be like His glorious body and we ourselves
shall be like He–
"It does not yet appear How great we must be made. But when we see our
Savior here, We shall be like our Head."
Will He reign? We shall reign with Him. Will He judge the earth? "Know
you not that you shall judge angels." "The saints shall judge the
world." Will He be ruler over cities? He will make us ruler over many
cities. All the splendor and triumph and victory and shouting–we shall
have a share! And when the grand song of praise shall go up from earth,
and land and sea and from the depths that are under the earth, our
tongue shall swell the tremendous chorus and our ears shall be a
partaker of the ever-blessed harmony! Let us not fear. "Whom He
justified, them He also glorified"–both in the sense of giving their
disembodied spirits joy and giving the soul and body power to reign
with Him.
Well, and what then? Then comes the end–when He shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even the Father. When the mediatorial
dispensation shall be finished, what then? Will the earth be renovated
and fitted up anew as a new Heaven and a new earth? Will that new
Jerusalem that is to come down at the coming of Christ be the future
abode of saints? We do not know and we do not care one whit! This much
we know–that we shall be forever with the Lord! With Christ shall be
the Heaven of Believers forever, according to the Lord's own prayer,
"Father, I will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me
where I am, that they may behold My Glory."
If I might very hastily divide this Glory into its constituent
elements, I think I should say it means perfect rest. "There remains,
therefore, a rest for the people of God." Life in its fullest sense!
Life with emphasis! Eternal life! Nearness to God! Closeness to the
Divine heart! A sense of His love shed abroad in all its fullness!
Likeness to Christ! Fullness of communion with Him! Abundance of the
Spirit of God–being filled with all the fullness of God! An excess of
joy! A perpetual influx of delight! Perfection of holiness! No stain
nor thought of sin! Perfect submission to the Divine will! A delight
and acquiescence in and conformity to that will! Absorption as it were
into God–the creature still the crea-ture–but filled with the Creator
to the brim!
And more–serenity caused by a sense of safety! Continuance of heavenly
service! An intense satisfaction in serving God day and night! Bliss in
the society of perfect spirits and glorified angels! Delight in the
retrospect of the past! Delight in the enjoyment of the present and in
the prospect of the future! Something ever new and forevermore the
same! A delightful variety of satisfaction and a heavenly sameness of
delight! Clear knowledge! Absence of all clouds! Ripeness of
understanding! Excellence of judgment! And, above all, an intense vigor
of heart and the whole of that heart set upon Him whom our eye shall
see to be altogether lovely!
I have looked at the crests of a few of the waves as I see them
breaking over the sea of immortality. I have tried to give you the
names of a few of the peaks of the long alpine range of Glory. But, ah,
what are my words, and what are my thoughts? "Eye has not seen, nor has
ear heard the things which God has prepared for them that love Him."
Our only satisfaction in thinking of it is that, "He has revealed them
unto us by His Spirit." May His Spirit dwell in you and give you
foretastes of the rest which remains–ante pasts of the eternal banquet
where Christ will drink the new wine with us in His heavenly Father's
kingdom.
III. Briefly on the last point–THE BOND OF INTIMATE CONNECTION BETWEEN
JUSTIFICATION AND
GLORY. "Whom He justified, them He glorified." Let me show you why it
must be–in the first place, a justified person has in him the bud of
Glory. What is Glory? It is a state of perfect peace–"Therefore, being
justified, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." What
is Glory? It is a state of rest–"We, which have believed, do enter
into rest." What is Glory? It is a state of safety. When sin is
pardoned I am secure. I am safe–safe now–through being justified.
What is Heaven? It is a place of nearness to God–but He has made us
near by the blood of His Son having justified us. What is Heaven? It is
communion with Christ–but, Beloved, we have already boldness and
access with boldness unto our Lord Jesus, seeing He has made us
accepted in Himself. If you will but look carefully into justification
you may see Heaven hidden within it. They tell us that inside the acorn
there is the whole oak with all its branches and roots. And, certainly,
within justification, there is Heaven with all its light, and life, and
love, and joy, and perpetual serenity and security.
If you are justified, my dear Brothers and Sisters, you are already in
a sense glorified. You notice how the text puts it. It does not say,
"Whom He justified, them He will glorify," but, "them He also
glorified," as if the thing came at the same time. Certainly it does in
embryo, in the germ, in the essence of the thing. He that is justified,
is, in a certain sense, glorified, for, "He has raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Even this
day, the life that we live is, "not I that live, but Christ that lives
in me." Heaven is begun, Glory is begun below.
Note again, justification is a claim to glorification. I speak with
great reverence here and caution, I hope. But it does not strike me
that it could be consistent with the Justice of God to deny eternal
Glory to a justified person. Certainly, justification has its rights. I
am now speaking forensically, using forensic or legal terms.
Justification is a legal term, signifying that the person is right in
the eyes of the Law. Now he that is right in the eyes of the Law has a
claim to the protection and smile of the Law. And if I have a
righteousness to which a promise is appended, I have a right to the
promise appended to the righteousness which I possess.
The promise is, "He that does these things, shall live by them." And I
claim to live by them. I claim to live by virtue of what Christ has
done for me! I come before God with His Son's righteousness in my
hands. And I claim as a matter of justice to His own dear Son that He
should give to me what His Son has merited because the merits of His
dear Son have been by Him willed over in His dying breath to me! Oh,
Christian, God cannot condemn you unless He should cease to be just. He
will not, for He cannot cease to be gracious. Justification would be
but a very sorry gift of God if it did not involve Glory.
Oh, to be justified and then cast into Hell? Brethren, can you suppose
such a thing? If you can so pervert your imaginations and make your
judgments play the acrobat as to conceive a justified soul damned, then
I ask you what greater curse could the infernal Fiend himself confer
upon a mortal than this so-called justification? A spirit pronounced
just and then sent down to Hell, accursed of God, accursed by the same
lips that justified it? Blasphemous thought! To lie in those flames and
to remember that I once had the righteousness of Christ–that I once
was washed in His precious blood–oh, impossible! It shall not, must
not, cannot be while the Deity is immutable and while the strong hand
of God will not suffer the righteousness of Christ thus to be covered
with disgrace!
He did not begin to build and then fail to finish. "Whom He justified,
them He also glorified." Where a man has done the greater, he does not
fail to do the less. Now it is a greater thing to justify a man than it
is to glorify him. I mean this–that justification cost the Savior's
life and the Savior's death–but to glorify a man who is already
justified costs God nothing. The expense is already laid out in the
justification of the soul. And to take a man to Heaven is only to take
him to a prepared place for which he is, himself, prepared. Shall He do
the greater and then neglect the less? "He that spared not His own Son,
but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him,
also freely give us all things?"
The only question is, am I justified? I would say in closing, do not
let that be a question, dear Hearer. But look to Him who freely
justifies every believing soul and trust yourself now in His hands. May
the Spirit of God bring you graciously to do it and you shall find it
true, "Whom He justified, them He also glorified."
["A Catechism with Proofs," compiled by C. H. Spurgeon from the
Assembly's Shorter Catechism and the Baptist Catechism.
London–Passmore & Alabaster, 23, Paternoster Row. Price 1d.; 7s. per
hundred.]