Lessons From Christ's Baptism
(No. 3298)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1912.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
4, 1866.
"And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up immediately out of the water:
and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo, a Voice from
Heaven, saying, This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."
Matthew 3:16,17.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon verse 17 is #2409, Volume 41–A
GREAT SERMON BY THE GREATEST PREACHER.]
I WANT to teach two lessons tonight. The first will be a most necessary
one for the unconverted. The second will be more suitable to believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I. Without any preface, let us at once try to learn the first lesson
from the text which relates to THE CO-WORKING OF THE TRINITY IN THE
MATTER OF OUR SALVATION.
There are some who seem to suppose that Jesus Christ is our Savior to
the exclusion of God the Father and of God the Holy Spirit, but this is
a most erroneous idea. It is true that we are saved by the precious
blood of Christ, but it is equally true that God the Father and God the
Holy Spirit have had their share in the great work of our salvation. In
order that we might not fall into the error in which some have been
entangled, it pleased God to give us, at the very beginning of Christ's
public ministry, a very distinct intimation that He did not come alone
and that He did not undertake the work of our redemption apart from the
other adorable Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity.
Try to picture to yourselves the scene that our text describes. There
is Jesus Christ who has just been baptized in Jordan by John. And John
bears witness that He is the Son of God because the sign from Heaven
for which he had been told to look for had been given. As Jesus comes
up out of the water, the Spirit of God descends upon Him in a visible
shape– in appearance like a dove–and rests upon Him. John says that
"it abode upon Him," as though the Spirit was thenceforth to be His
continual Companion and, truly, it was so. At the same time that the
dove descended and lighted upon Christ, there was heard a Voice from
Heaven, saying, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."
This was the voice of God the Father–He did not reveal Himself in a
bodily shape, but uttered wondrous words such as mortal ears had never
before heard! The Father revealed Himself not to the eyes as the Spirit
did, but to the ears–and the words He spoke clearly indicated that it
was God the Father bearing witness to His beloved Son. So that the
entrance of Christ upon His public ministry on earth was the chosen
opportunity for the public manifestation of the intimate union between
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!
Now, Sinner, from this day forward, if you have never done so before,
think humbly, reverently and lovingly of all the three Persons of the
most blessed Trinity in Unity! Bless the Son of God for becoming Man in
order that He might redeem us from destruction. He left His Glory in
Heaven and was made in the likeness of men that He might suffer in our
place as the Lamb of God's Passover and that we might shelter beneath
His sprinkled blood–and so escape the sword of vengeance. Do you know
that when Christ was baptized, He gave, as it were, a picture of His
great work of Redemption? He said to John, "Thus it becomes us to
fulfill all righteousness," by which I understand not that He fulfilled
all righteousness by being baptized, but that His Baptism was a picture
or emblem of the fulfillment of all righteousness. What was done with
Christ when He was baptized? Why, first, He was regarded as one who was
dead and, therefore, He was buried beneath the waters of Jordan. He
thus set forth, by a most significant symbol, the fact that He had come
to earth
to be obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross–and that in due
time He would actually die and be really bu-ried–as now He was
submerged beneath the yielding wave in a metaphorical burial. But
baptism does not consist of merely plunging the person into the
water–he must be lifted out again–otherwise he would be drowned, not
baptized. So the Savior, when He rose up out of the water, set forth
His own Resurrection. By His Baptism, He figuratively said, "I shall
die for sinners, I shall rise again for sinners and I shall go back to
Heaven to plead for sinners. My death will put away their offenses and
my Resurrection will complete their justification." Go, you who long
for salvation, and by faith look to the Savior dying on the Cross at
Calvary! See Him buried in Joseph's tomb. See Him rise the third day
and after forty days, see Him ascend to Heaven leading captivity
captive! His dying, His burial, His rising, His ascension–these are
the fulfillment of all righteousness–and it is by these that you must
be saved–it is not your being baptized that can save you! It is
Christ's being baptized for you with that Baptism of blood when He
poured out His soul unto death that you might live forever! It is not
your suffering, but His suffering that avails for your salvation! It is
not your being or your doing that is the secret of blessing, but it is
His being and His doing on which you must depend for everything! Trust
in Jesus Christ and you shall find salvation in Him!
Now I want you to look with humbly grateful eyes to God the Holy
Spirit. You remember how Jesus Christ applied to Himself the words He
read in the synagogue at Nazareth–"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has
sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." It was
the Spirit of God who gave success to Jesus Christ's ministry–and if
you, dear Friend, would be saved–it is only the Holy Spirit who can
take away from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh! I
pray you to think with holy reverence of that mighty, mysterious Being
who works in human hearts and molds them according to the will of God.
By nature you are spiritually dead–and only the Spirit of God can give
you spiritual life. By nature you are spiritually blind–and only the
Spirit of God can give you spiritual sight. Even the work of Christ on
the Cross does not avail for you until the Holy Spirit takes of the
things of Christ and reveals them to you. You must look to Christ, or
He will not save you! You must trust in Christ, or His precious blood
will not be applied to you! But you will never look to Him or trust in
Him unless the Father who sent Him, shall draw you to do so by His
Spirit effectually working in you. When we are thinking and speaking of
the Holy Spirit, let us always feel as if we must take off our shoes
for the place whereon we stand is peculiarly holy. You remember how
solemnly Christ warns us as to the consequences of even speaking
against the Holy Spirit? "Whomever speaks a word against the Son of
Man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever speaks against the Holy
Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world, neither in
the world to come." Whenever we mention the name of the Holy Spirit,
let us do it with holy awe and reverence, remembering that it is the
Spirit that quickens, it is the Spirit that instructs, it is the Spirit
that sanctifies, it is the Spirit that preserves, it is the Spirit that
makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light! So unto the ever-blessed Spirit of God as well as unto the
well-beloved Son of God be Glory and honor, praise and power, forever
and ever!
With equal reverence and with equal awe let us also think of God the
Father. What does the Father here say concerning Christ? First, He
calls Him His Son. There has been much disputing about how Christ can
be equal with the Father, and equally eternal, and yet be the Son of
the Father. This is a great deep into which you and I, dear Friends,
will do well not to pry. We usually speak of Christ being the Son of
the Father by what is called "eternal generation." I confess that there
is a mystery here which I can neither understand nor explain, but as
the Father calls Him His Son, I unhesitatingly believe that He is what
the Scripture constantly calls Him, "the Son of God." In our text we
find that the Father not only calls Christ His Son, but He says, "This
is My Beloved Son." What wondrous love there must be in the heart of
each one of the Divine Persons in the sacred Trinity towards each of
the others! How blessedly they must look upon one another with Divine
benignity and complacency! There never could be any diversity in their
interests, for they are one in heart, one in purpose, one in every
respect, even as Jesus said, "I and My Father are One."
Now, Sinner, the point to which I want to especially direct your
thoughts is this–that God not only calls Christ His Son and His
beloved Son, but that He says He is well-pleased with Him. And this
concerns you in that if you are so united to Christ as to be one with
Him, God will also be well-pleased with you for His dear Son's sake!
But can a sinner ever be pleasing to God? Not in himself, apart from
Christ, but all who are in Christ are "accepted in the Beloved." His
Father is so pleased with Him that all whom He represents are pleasing
unto God for His sake! "But," asks one, "how can I be in
Christ?" My dear Friend, if you are one of the Lord's chosen, you are
already in Christin God's eternal purpose. But the way in which you
must experimentally get into Christ is by true faith in Him. To trust
in Jesus is to be in Jesus. To rely upon the atoning Sacrifice of
Christ is to be one with Christ. Faith is the uniting bond which binds
together the Christ in whom we believe and those who believe in Him. If
you are truly trusting in Christ, God looks upon you as a part of
Christ's Mystical Body and He is well-pleased with you for Christ's
sake.
Thus you have the Son suffering for you, the Spirit applying to you the
merit of His atoning Sacrifice and the Father well-pleased with you
because you are trusting in His beloved Son! Or, to put the Truth in
another form, the Father gives the great Gospel feast, the Son is the
feast and the Spirit not only brings the invitations, but He also
gathers the guests around the table. Or, to use another metaphor, God
the Father is the Fountain of Grace, God the Son is the Channel of
Grace and God the Holy Spirit is the Cup from which we drink of the
flowing stream. I wish that I could really make you see Jesus Christ
standing by Jordan's brink as He came up out of the water after He had
been baptized by John–and the Spirit of God descending and lighting
upon Him and that I could make you hear the voice of the Father
saying–"This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." If I could
do this, all I would have to add would be John's message, "Behold the
Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world." There is eternal
life for everyone who truly looks to Him by faith–
"There is life for a look at the Crucified One! There is life at this
moment for thee! Then look, Sinner, look unto Him, and be saved Unto
Him who was nailed to the tree!"
II. In beginning my sermon, I told you that the second lesson I wanted
you to learn tonight would be more suitable to believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ, though at the same time it may also be useful to the
unconverted, just as I hope the first lesson has been helpful to the
people of God though especially intended for those who are not yet
avowedly on the Lord's side. This second lesson, upon which I have now
to speak, relates to THE DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON BELIEVERS, but I
would not have dared to take the text without also calling your
attention to the first lesson upon which I have already spoken.
I want you to clearly understand that as the Holy Spirit rested upon
Christ, so He rests upon all who are in Christ. Indeed, when the Spirit
rested upon Christ, He rested upon the whole Church that was
represented by Christ. You remember that David says the unity of
brethren is "like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down
upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his
garments." So the anointing that Christ received from the Holy Spirit
ran down to the very lowest, least and last of the members of that
Church of which He is the Head!
When the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven like a dove and lighted upon
Christ, that descent was intended to teach us several lessons which we
will now try to learn. Consider, first, the swiftness of that descent.
The heavens were opened–there was no delay, but swiftly as a flash of
lightning the Spirit descended and lighted upon Christ. Beloved
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, do you feel dull and heavy tonight? Are
you depressed in spirit? There is no reason why, within the next
second, you should not be in quite a heavenly frame of mind, for the
Spirit of God can descend upon you like a dove and immediately you
shall be lifted up out of your dullness and despondency! The Spirit
needs no time in which to work. The motions of matter are necessarily
tardy–matter can only move at a certain rate and there are many things
that slow it down. But as you know, the motion of mind is far more
rapid–your thoughts can fly to America and back again more swiftly
than I can describe their flight! In a flash your mind can be soaring
away up among the stars millions and millions and millions of miles
away! Now, the mind of the Spirit is the highest order of mind, for He
is Divine and, therefore, His motions are swift as light–no, they are
incomparably swifter than that! He descended like a dove in order to
set forth the rapidity of His flight. You remember that expression in
the Song of Solomon, "Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the
chariots of Amminadib." So is it when the Spirit comes to us–our soul
is, as it were, borne along in a swiftly-driven chariot! It does not
take the Holy Spirit an hour to convert a soul. The vital spark that
regenerates a soul is kindled in an instant! Instantaneous conversion
is not the exception, it is the rule–there cannot be any conversion
but that which is instantaneous! The growth, the development of the
work of Grace in the heart and life is gradual, but there is a moment
in which the soul passes from death unto life, from slavery to liberty,
from sin to righ-
teousness! And I have already said to you, Christian Friends, that you
can, in a moment, be transported out of a dull, languishing state of
heart into one of holy peace and joy. Breathe the prayer–
"Come, Holy Spirit heavenly Dove, With all Your quickening powers,
Come, shed abroad a Savor's love, And that shall kindle ours"– and
there is no reason why He should not grant your request even before you
have finished your petition!
The figure of a dove also represents softness as well as swiftness.
Speed generally causes some measure of sound–we usually associate
hurry with noise, but it is not so with the Spirit of God. He descended
with silent wings and alighted upon Christ as He came up out of the
river where He had been baptized. If it had been recorded that the
Spirit descended like an eagle, we would have thought of the whirring
of great wings. But the dove's flight is of a far gentler and quieter
order. So, Beloved, the Spirit of God may come down upon some of us in
this house tonight, yet no one may be aware of His coming except those
upon whom He rests as He rested that day upon Christ! Your neighbor may
not perceive what has happened to you–there need be no outcry, no
shouting, no violent contortions as there have been in certain revivals
of which we have heard. No, the blessed Spirit frequently works
invisibly, as the wind blows where it wishes–and sometimes blows so
softly that we are not conscious of the slightest sound from the gentle
zephyrs that fan our cheeks. I pray that in the solemn silence of the
mind, many of you may thus experience the descent of the Holy Spirit
like a dove, so swift yet so soft, so gentle yet so strong!
Besides this, wherever the Spirit comes, He works according to His own
holy Nature. He comes like a dove and He operates in a dove-like
manner. And if He graciously operates upon you, you also will have
dove-like qualities given to you. What are they? Well, I think that the
first thought we associate with a dove is that of purity. You remember
that the spouse in the Song of Solomon says of her Beloved, "His eyes
are as the eyes of doves." And the Bridegroom says to His spouse, "You
are fair, My love; behold, you are fair; you have doves' eyes"–that
is, eyes of purity, bright sparkling eyes that care not to look upon
that which is unclean! The dove is no carrion-loving bird and you will
recollect that it was the only bird that was offered to God in
sacrifice under the old dispensation. Perhaps someone says, "Oh, but it
was written in the Law, "A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons!"
Yes, it was so written. But then I remind you that a pigeon is only one
member of the great dove family and that it was only among the doves,
of all feathered creatures, that there was found a bird that was clean
enough to be offered unto God as a sacrifice! So the selection of a
dove as the emblem of the Holy Spirit is very suggestive, for, wherever
He goes, He breeds purity. If a man shall live a life of uncleanness,
hatred, malice, and then say that he has the Holy Spirit dwelling in
him, he lies, for the Spirit first makes us pure and then peaceable.
Unless you, my dear Hearer, have shaken off from you the love of all
that is evil and have resolved in God's strength to live as becomes the
Gospel of Christ, you prove that you have not experienced the dove-like
influence of the Holy Spirit! In my early days in the country, I was
horribly shocked when I heard of a man standing on a public house table
and saying though at the time he was almost drunk, "I can say what none
of you fellows can say, that I am one of God's elect." All of us who
knew anything of the man used to shudder at the thought of his
blasphemy in pretending to be one of the elect. Why, if the Grace of
God does not make a man holy, what is it worth? My dear Friend, if you
are determined to be damned, leave religion out of it–and do not
pretend to be a child of God and yet live in sin. To profess to be an
heir of Heaven and then to live as an heir of Hell is such detestable
hypocrisy that I pray God that all of you may be preserved from ever
falling into it! Where the Spirit of God dwells, there is sure to be
purity!
And next to purity comes peace. The dove with the olive leaf in its
mouth was the token of peace to Noah and those who were with him in the
Ark. And the dove has long been used as a symbol of peace. If the
Spirit of God, like a dove, shall dwell with you, my dear Friend, you
will have peace in your own conscience, peace with your fellow men,
peace with God. As Paul puts it in writing to the Philippians, "the
peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your heart and
mind through Christ Jesus." Those worrying, distracting thoughts of
yours do not come from the Holy Spirit! Those carking cares, those
disquieting anxieties are not the Spirit's work! Where the Spirit, like
a dove, dwells in a Believer's heart, that ancient assurance is
fulfilled, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
You: because he trusts in You." May you enjoy this perfect peace
through the coming of the Spirit to you!
The dove is, next, the picture of gentleness. You do not expect to see
doves fighting like vultures or ravens. I suppose doves do quarrel
sometimes but, as a rule, their gentle and amiable nature makes them
harmless and lovable. So, Chris-
tians should be the most gentle of all men. We are to be willing to be
struck on one cheek and then to turn the other to the smiter. I know
some professing Christians who, as soon as ever a contrary word is
spoken to them, boil over with rage. Well, it is not their Christianity
that makes such a display as that–and it is a poor excuse to say that
it is their infirmity! "Oh," says one, "but if you tread on a worm, it
will turn." Yes, the poor little creature turns in its agony, but is a
worm to be a model for your conduct? Surely it would be better to ask
the Holy Spirit to give you the Grace to take the Lord Jesus Christ as
your example! Have you never heard of the Christian who killed his
neighbor by kindness? When his oxen got into his neighbor's field, the
cross-grained man put them into the pound and said that if they came
astray again he would deal with them in the same way. By-and-by, his
own oxen wandered into his neighbor's field–and then the Christian man
fed them and sent word that if they came there again, he would treat
them in the same way. That is the style in which we should endeavor to
act towards any who treat us unkindly–by heaping coals of fire upon
their heads, we may in time burn love into their hearts!
I am afraid that all professing Christians are not as gentle as they
should be, though gentleness is one of the prominent characteristics of
true Christians. I am not a Quaker, but I must say that in this
particular quality of gentleness, the Society of Friends has set a good
example to the whole Christian Church. I wish that the spirit of
non-resistance was more generally prevalent among Christians than it
often is. It is certainly in accordance with both the teaching and
example of our Lord Jesus Christ, "who, when He was reviled, reviled
not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself
to Him that judges righteously." These words of the Apostle Peter
follow immediately after his declaration that "Christ also suffered for
us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps." Where the
dove-like Spirit dwells, there will be a gentleness of spirit in
harmony with His own Nature. I am charmed with the change that is often
apparent in the converts who come to join this Church. When I hear of a
man who before his conversion used to rage and rave in such a way as to
be a terror to his family, yet who now, though he is at times greatly
provoked, just walks away and says nothing, I feel that the Grace of
God is really working in his heart. If what you call Grace does not
change your evil tempers, you had better exchange it for the true Grace
of God which will do so! For surely it is one of the first evidences
that the Spirit of God is dwelling within a man when it makes him
"gentle, showing all meekness unto all men."
A dove is also one of the most harmless of all God's creatures. And a
Christian must never intentionally hurt or harm others. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was willing to suffer, but He did not make others suffer–and He
would not have us seek to propagate His Truth in a bitter spirit. If
you are dealing with an infidel, let him see that, however strongly you
disapprove of his principles, you endeavor to win him away from them
not by unkindness, but by love. I doubt if anybody is ever bullied into
accepting the Gospel. Certainly, more flies are caught with honey than
with vinegar–and more sinners are brought to Christ by kindness than
by unkindness. Never let anyone be truthfully able to say of you,
"There is a professed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ who has done me
most serious injury." But rather let it be said concerning you, "There
goes a man whom I grossly injured, yet he bore it patiently and said
nothing against me because he is a Christian."
You know, too, that in Scripture the dove is spoken of as a type of
love. When the turtledove has lost its mate, everybody knows how it
will sit and moan and mourn. "The voice of the turtle is heard in our
land" is the Scriptural description of a spiritual springtime, the
season of love and joy. If the dove-like Spirit has come into your
heart, my Friend, your soul will be full of love to Jesus. But if you
are not conscious of His Presence, you will mourn like the bereaved
dove and will dolefully sing–
"I cannot bear Your absence, Lord. I cannot live without Your smile."
If I cannot rejoice in Christ, the next best thing is to weep because I
cannot enjoy sweet fellowship with Him. If I cannot rest in Christ, it
is a good thing if I cannot rest anywhere else. Ah, Soul, if you have
the Spirit of God within you, you will pine and sigh and cry until
Christ is very near and very dear to you! And when He is both near and
dear to you, then your soul will be like a vessel that is filled to the
brim, yet still remaining under the running stream, and you will
overflow with love and gratitude to your dear Lord who has done such
great things for you!
Time flies, so I must close with just one more thought. You remember
that when this world was created, "the earth was without form, and
void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of
the waters." Everything was in a state of chaos and confusion–there
was neither life nor order! But when the Spirit of God spread His great
wings over the face of the deep and brooded, like a bird upon its nest,
it was not long before the Voice of God was heard and soon disorder
gave place to order, darkness to light, and death to life! The Holy
Spirit comes into our heart now to work the same kind of change as
that. He finds our soul in a state of chaos–formless, empty, dark–but
when He mysteriously spreads His dove-like wings over our soul–life,
light and order soon appear. We then begin to see what we never saw
before! We put God into His rightful place and we realize how great He
is. And we put ourselves into our rightful place and we realize what
nothings we are! We put the Law into its rightful place and recognize
how terribly stern it is. And we put sin into its rightful place and we
tremble before its terrible power! When the Spirit of God broods over
us, one of the first signs of the new life appearing in our soul is the
penitent cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Those sorrow-filled
eyes, those swiftly-falling tears, that brokenhearted sigh–all these
are the result of the brooding of the Spirit of God upon our disordered
nature! And when at last you can truthfully say–
"I rest My soul on Jesus,
This weary soul of mine.
His right hand me embraces
I on His breast recline"–
that also is the result of the brooding of the Spirit! He has quickened
you! He has given you life, for only a living soul can truly say, "I do
believe in Jesus." That is a sure sign of the new creation! It is a
certain proof that Christ has made all things new in you by the
effectual working of His ever-blessed Spirit. To any here who have
never realized the dove-like energy of the Holy Spirit, I commend the
prayer Charles Wesley wrote–
"Expand your wings, celestial Dove,
Brood over our nature's night!
On our disordered spirits move
And let there now be light." Dr. Watts gives us another prayer in which
Christians can heartily unite–
"Descend from Heaven, immortal Dove,
Stoop down and take us on your wings
And mount and bear us far above
The reach of these inferior things!
Beyond, beyond this lower sky
Up where eternal ages roll,
Where solid pleasures never die
And fruits immortal feast the soul!
Oh for a sight, a pleasing sight
Of our Almighty Father's Throne!
There sits our Savior crowned with light,
Clothed in a body like our own!
When shall the day, dear Lord, appear,
That I shall mount to dwell above,
And stand and bow among them there,
And view Your face, and sing, and love?" May the Lord bless everyone of
you, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 6.
Verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that Grace
may abound?f the sinfulness of man has really given an opportunity for
the display of Divine Mercy, then the devil's logic would be, "Let us
commit more sin, that there may be more room for Grace to work!" But
Christians have learned their reasoning in another school–and to such
diabolical arguments they answer in the words of the Apostle —
2. God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?The two terms are exactly opposite to one another. If, through
Grace, we are dead to sin how can we live in it? If, sinners as we are,
we come to Christ to be saved from sin, then it would be a complete
misuse of language to talk of being saved from sin, yet still to
continue in it! Besides, the Apostle goes on to show that the
ordinance, by which believers in Jesus are to be admitted into the
visible Christian Church will not allow them to continue in sin.
3, 4. Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him
by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life. [See Sermons #1627,
Volume 27–BAPTISM–A BURIAL and #2197, Volume 37–CHRIST'S
RESURRECTION AND OUR NEWNESS OF LIFE.] You remember, My Brothers and
Sisters in Christ, that hallowed hour when you went down into the
liquid tomb, when, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit, you were immersed upon profession of your faith in Jesus
Christ? By that solemn act you set forth your death to sin and when you
were raised again out of the opening element, you thereby made a
profession of your faith in Christ's Resurrection. And moreover, you
did then and there, seeing that you had received the Grace of God in
truth, profess to rise unto newness of life! How could you, then, go
back to sin? That would be to make your Baptism a lie! Indeed, you are,
all of you, unbaptized unless you have been baptized into Christ's
death.
5, 6. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His
death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin. [See Sermon #882, Volume15–THE OLD MAN
CRUCIFIED.] God has driven the nails through the active powers of our
sin–both hands and feet are fastened to the Cross of Christ. And
though the heart and the head may sometimes wander, yet our old man is
crucified with Christ that the body of sin may be destroyed–and we are
looking forward to that happy day when the old man shall be dead
altogether, and we shall be made meet to enter into the inheritance of
the saints in light. We believe that our old man will never die until
we die, but we thank God that the death of our body will also be the
death of the body of sin.
7. For he that is dead is freed from sin. He can no longer live in it,
for he is dead. And if we are really dead in Christ, we can no longer
live in sin as we were known to do.
8-11. Nowifwe are dead with Christ, we believe that we shallalso live
with Him: knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no
more; death has no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died
unto sin once: but in that He lives, He lives unto God. Likewise reckon
you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord [See Sermons #503, Volume 9–DEATH AND
LIFE IN CHRIST and #2933, Volume 51–DEAD, YET ALIVE.] If Christ could
die again, then Believers might lose their spiritual life and there
might be such a thing as falling from Grace! But while Jesus lives, no
member of His Mystical Body can die. His own promise is, "Because I
live, you shall live also." He died unto sin once–we do the same. He
lives no more to die– we also do the same. Highly privileged are they
who are dead with Christ! And blessed is that ordinance in which we set
forth our death and burial with Him.
12, 13. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you
should obey it in the lusts thereof Neither yield you your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God,
as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments
of righteousness unto God.Your legs used to carry you to the theater–
compel them now to carry you to the House of God even though you are
weary. Your eyes could look long enough upon wickedness–let not their
lids fall when you are sitting to hear a sermon! Let all the members of
your body which once served Satan now serve God! Consider that your
whole body is a consecrated temple and be not satisfied unless the
whole of it is reserved for the great God Himself!
14, 15. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under
the Law, but under Grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not
under the La w, but under Grace?[See Sermons #1410, Volume
24–believers free from the dominion
OF SIN and #1735, Volume 29–THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE DO NOT LEAD TO
SIN.]
This is another of the Antinomian suggestions that were made in the
Apostle's time–and that are still made now! And how does Paul answer
it? Why, with this solemn adjuration–
15-18. God forbid! Know you not that to whom you yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servantsyou are to whom you obey: whether of sin
unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked,
that you were the servants
of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine which
was delivered you. Being then made free from sin,
you became the servants of righteousness. [See Sermon #1482, Volume
25–OUR CHANGE OF MASTERS.] Is not that a glorious sentence, "Being
then made free from sin"? Yes, the fetters are all gone! We have put up
our feet upon the block and the chains have been knocked off! We have
put our hands down and the irons have been broken in pieces. Free from
sin! 'Tis true that sin still tempts us, but it cannot prevail against
us–it tries to put the bit in our mouth and to ride us as once it did,
but we no longer submit to its sway! Sin is now an enemy to fret and
worry us, but not a king to trample upon us and rule over us.
19, 20. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of
your flesh: for as you have yielded your members servants to
uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your
members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when you were the
servant of sin, you were free from righteousness. You disdained the
silken bonds of pie-ty–you said that you would never wear what you
called the iron fetters of Grace! You were "Free from righteousness."
So, surely, now that you are the servants of righteousness, you should
seek to be free from sin!
21-23. What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now
ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free
from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto
holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of Godis eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord [See
Sermon #1868, Volume 31–DEATH AND LIFE–THE WAGE AND THE GIFT.]