DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 6, 1879,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of
righteousness." Romans 6:18.
MAN was made to rule. In the Divine original he was intended for a king
who should have dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowl of the
air and the fish of the sea. He was designed to be the lord-lieutenant
of this part of creation and the form of his body and the dignity of
his countenance indicated it. He walks erect among the animals, while
they move upon all fours. He subjugates and tames them to perform his
will and the fear and dread of him is upon all creatures, for they know
their sovereign.
Yet is it equally true that man was made to serve. At his beginning he
was placed in the garden to keep it, to dress it and so to serve his
Maker. His natural feebleness, his dependence upon rain, sun and
dew–his instinctive awe of an unseen and Omnipotent Spirit indicate
that he is not the chief of the universe, but a subordinate being whose
lot it is to serve. We find within man various powers and propensities
seeking to get dominion over him so that his mind is also capable of
servitude. The appetites which are essential for the sustenance of his
bodily frame, even such as eating and drinking, endeavor to master
him–and if they can, they will do so–and reduce him below the level
of the swine. Man is in part spirit, but he is also in part animal–and
the animal strives to get dominion over the spiritual–and in many,
many men it does so till they are utterly degraded.
Nothing can be worse than a soul enslaved by such a body as that of
man! The brute nature of man is the worst sort of brute. There is no
beast in wolf, or lion, or serpent that is so brutish as the beast in
man. Did I not tell you last Sunday that whereas, according to the
Levitical Law, he that touched a dead animal was unclean till the
evening, he who touched a dead man was unclean seven days? For man,
when his animal nature rules him, is seven times more a polluting
creature than any of the beasts of the field! If evil aims at ruling
man, the good Spirit also strives with him. When God, in His infinite
mercy, visits man by His Spirit, that Spirit does not come as a neutral
power to dwell quietly within man and to share His heart with the
Prince of Darkness–He enters with full intent to reign!
Therefore there is a conflict which cannot be ended by an armistice,
but must be carried on to the end. And that end will be found either in
the driving out of the evil or in the thrusting out of the good–for
one or the other, either the Prince of Darkness or the King of
Light–will have dominion over man. Man must have a master! He cannot
serve two masters, but he must serve one. Of all sorts of men this has
been true and it has, perhaps, been most clearly seen in those who were
evidently made to lead their fellow men. It is specially seen in such a
man, for instance, as Alexander, a true king of men, so heroic and
great-hearted that one does not wonder that armies were fired with
enthusiasm by his presence and drove everything before them.
Alexander conquered the world and yet on occasions he became the
captive of drunkenness and the slave of his passionate temper. At such
times the king of men, the vanquisher of armies was little better than
a raving maniac! Look for further illustration at the busts of the
emperors of Rome, the masters of the world. Study their faces and mark
what groveling creatures they must have been! Rome had many slaves, but
he who wore her purple was the most in bonds. No slave that ground at
the mill, or died in the amphitheatre, was more in bondage than such
men as Tiberius and Nero who were the bond-slaves of their passions!
High rank does not save a man from being under a master–neither does
learning nor philosophy deliver men from this bondage, for the teachers
of liberty have not, themselves, been free, but it has happened as the
Apostle says, "while they promise them liberty they themselves are the
servants of corruption." Solomon himself, with all his wisdom, played
the fool and though he was the most sagacious ruler of his age, he
became, for a while, completely subject to his fleshly desires. Man is
born to be a servant and a servant he must be!
Who shall be his master? That is the question! Our text proves the
point with which I have started, for it speaks of "being made free from
sin" and in the same breath adds, "You became the servants of
righteousness." There is no in-between–there does not appear to be a
moment left for an independent state, but out of one servitude we pass
into another. Do not think I made a mistake in the use of the word,
servitude! I might have translated the Greek word by that of slave and
have been correct. "Being made free from sin, you were enslaved to
righteousness." The Apostle makes an excuse for using the figure and
says, "I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of
your flesh."
He did not know how else to describe it, for when we go from under the
absolute power of sin, we come at once into a like subjection to
righteousness! As we were governed and swayed by the love of sin, so we
become, in a similar manner, subject to the forces of Grace and the
Truth of God! As sin took possession of us and controlled our acts, so
Grace claims us as its own, takes possession of us and rules us with an
absolute sway. Man passes from one master to another, but he is always
in subjection! I have often heard of free will, but I have never seen
it! I have met with will and plenty of it, but it has either been led
captive by sin or held in blessed bonds of Grace.
The passions drive it here and there like a rolling thing before a
whirlwind. Or the understanding sways it and then, according as the
understanding is darkened or enlightened, the will acts for good or
evil. In any case, the bit is in its mouth and it is guided by a power
beyond itself. However, I leave that question and call attention, this
morning, first of all to our change of masters–"Being made free from
sin, we become the servants of righteousness." Secondly, to the reasons
for that change. And thirdly, to the consequences of that change.
I. We begin with our CHANGE or MASTERS. We must have a master, but some
of us, by Divine Grace, have made a change of masters infinitely to our
advantage! In describing this inward revolution we will begin with a
word or two upon our old master. The Apostle says in the verse
preceding our text, "We were the servants of sin." How true that is!
Those of us who now believe and are free from sin were all, without
exception, the servants of sin! We were not all alike enslaved, but we
were all under bondage. Sin has its uniformed servants. Did you ever
see a man dressed in the full uniform of sin? A fine suit, I guarantee
you!
Sin clothes its slave with rags, with shame and often with disease.
When fully dressed in Satan's uniform the sinner is abominable, even to
his fellow sinners. If you want to see sin's uniformed servants dressed
out in their best or their worst, go to the prisons and you will find
them there. Or go to the dens of infamy in this great city, or to the
liquor bars, or to the places of vicious amusement and you will find
them there. Many of them wear the badge of the devil's drudgery upon
their backs in poverty and rags. Their faces bear the blotches born of
drunkenness and their very bones reveal the consequences of their vice.
Satan has regimentals for his soldiers and they are worthy of the
service!
But great folks have many servants who are out of uniform and so has
sin. We were not all open transgressors before our new birth, though we
were all the servants of sin. There are many slaves of evil whom you
would not know to be such if you only saw the surface of their
characters! They do not swear, or steal, or commit adultery, or even
break the Sabbath outwardly. On the contrary, they are most moral in
their conduct. They are the servants of sin, but they are secretly so,
for fear of rebuke. They are non-professing sinners and yet sincerely
in love with sin. They just now stood up and sung the hymn! They bowed
their heads in prayer and they are now listening to this sermon!
No one can tell the difference between them and the servants of Christ
by their exterior. But at heart they reject the Son of God and refuse
to believe in Him, for they love the pleasures of sin and the wages of
unrighteousness. A kind of selfish caution restrains them from overt
acts of transgression, but their heart loves not God and their desires
are not towards His ways. O, my dear Hearer, if you are setting up your
own righteousness in your soul as an anti-Christ against God's Christ.
If you are kicking against the sway of the Divine Spirit. If you are
secretly living in sin. If you are following out some sweet sin in
secret, even though you dare to appear in the uniform of Christ, you
are still the slave of sin!
Hypocrites are worse slaves than any others because they are laid under
the restraints of religious men without enjoying their
consolations–they practice the sins of the ungodly without their
pleasures! Every hypocrite is a fool and a coward! He has not the will
to serve the Lord and yet he has not the courage to serve the devil out
and out. These go-betweens are, of all sorts of people, the most to be
pitied and the most to be blamed. As long as we are unbelievers we are
the servants of sin, but we are not all outdoor servants of sin. Sin
has its domestic servants who keep quiet, as well as its soldiers who
beat the drum!
Many keep their sin to themselves–nobody hears of them in the street,
they raise no public scandal–and yet at heart they are the faithful
followers of wickedness and rebellion. Their idols are set up in secret
chambers, but they are heartily loved. Their desires and aspirations
are all selfish, but they try to conceal this fact even from
themselves. They will not serve God, they will not bow before His Son
and yet they would shrink from declaring their rebellion! They are
amiable, admirable and excellent in their outward deportment, but they
are the indoor servants of Satan, for all that, and their heart is full
of enmity against God.
Some of us confess that it was so with us. When none found fault with
us we were, nevertheless, rotten in heart. We used to pray, but it was
a mockery of God. We went up to God's house, but we regarded not His
Word and yet, in all this, we prided ourselves that we were righteous!
There are, however, many Believers who were once outdoor servants of
Satan, sinning openly and in defiance of all law. I thank God that
there are some here who are now the servants of Christ, upon whom I can
look with great delight, although they were once the open, overt,
zealous, diligent servants of Satan! Now they are washed, renewed and
sanctified. Glory be to God for it!
Oh that the Lord would take some more great sinners inside this house
and turn them into great saints, for bold offenders make zealous lovers
of Jesus when He puts away their sins! They love much because they have
had much forgiven and, inasmuch as they desperately sinned, so do they
devoutly love. And their surrender to Christ is as entire and
unreserved as their former surrender to the service of evil. In this
let God be praised! Still, let us all humbly bow before the Truth of
God we are now speaking of and admit with great humiliation of spirit
that we were the servants of sin!
In passing on we notice, next, the expression of the Apostle, "Being
then made free from sin." Through Divine Grace we have been led to
trust the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation and, having done so,
we are at this moment free from sin. Come, you who trust the Savior's
name, and rejoice in the words before us, for they describe you! You
are made free from sin–not, you shall be, but you are! In what sense
is this true? First, in the sense of condemnation. The Believer is no
more condemned for sin! Your sin was laid on Christ of old and He, as
your Scapegoat, took it all away. "There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."
You are acquitted and justified through the Lord, your Righteousness.
Clap your hands for joy! It is a mercy worth 10,000 worlds! You are
made free from the damning power of sin now and forever. Next, you are
made free from the guilt of sin. As you cannot be condemned, so does
the Truth go further–you cannot even be accused! Your transgression is
forgiven you! Your sin is covered–"As far as the east is from the
west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." "Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is
he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes, rather, that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes
intercession for us."
You are delivered from sin's guilt at this moment–"made free from
sin." You are in consequence free from the punishment of sin. You shall
never be cast into Hell, for Jesus has suffered in your place and the
justice of God is satisfied. As a believer in Christ, there is no
bottomless pit for you–for you no undying worm, for you no
unquenchable fire! And, guilty as you are by nature, Christ has made
you so completely clean that for you is reserved the, "Come, you
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the
foundation of the world."
Nor is this all. You are made free from sin as to its reigning power
and this is a point in which you greatly delight. Sin once said to you,
"Go," and you went. It says, "Go," now, but you do not go! Sometimes
sin stands in your way when Grace says, "Go," and then you would gladly
run. Sin opposes and hinders, but you will not yield to its demands,
for Grace holds dominion. You push, you struggle, you resolve that sin
shall not be lord of your life, for you are not under the Law but under
Grace. Sin hides itself in holes and corners of your nature, sulks in
the dark about the streets of Mansoul, plots and plans, if it can, to
get the mastery over you, but it never shall–it is cast out of the
throne and the Holy Spirit sits there ruling your nature–and there He
will sit until you shall be perfected in holiness and shall be caught
up to dwell with Christ forever and ever!
"Made free from sin." I wish I could now leave off preaching and get
into a quiet pew and sit down with you and meditate upon that
thought–chewing the cud as you farmers say–and getting the juice out
of this rich pasturage. "Made free from sin." Why, as I pronounce those
blessed words I feel like an escaped American slave in the old slave
days when he leaped upon British soil in Canada! After all his running
through the woods and crossing of hills and rivers, he was free! How he
leaped for joy! How he cried with delight! Even so did we exult in our
liberty when, at the first, our Lord Jesus set us free! You who were
never slaves and never felt the taskmaster's lash–you do not know the
value of
liberty! And so, in spiritual things, if you have never felt the
slavery of sin and have never escaped from it into the good land of
Grace where Christ has made you free, indeed, you do not know the joy
of the redeemed.
I am free! I am free! I am free! I that was once a slave to every evil
desire! I am made free by Omnipotent Love! I have escaped from the
taskmaster's fetters and I am the Lord's free man! Let all the angels
praise my redeeming Lord! Let all the spirits before the Throne of God
praise the Lord who has led His people out of bondage, for He is good,
for His mercy endures forever! Now, how came we to be free? We have
become free in three ways. First, by purchase, for our Savior has paid
the full redemption money for us and there is not a halfpenny due for
us. Blessed be His name, there is no mortgage on His inheritance! The
price is all paid and we are Christ's unencumbered property forever.
Here we stand, at this moment, free because we are ransomed and we know
that our Redeemer lives! Our body, soul and spirit are all bought with
a price and in our complete manhood we are Christ's.
Next, we are free by power as well as by purchase. Just as the
Israelites were the Lord's own people, but He had to bring them out of
Egypt with a high hand and an outstretched arm, so has the Lord, by
power, broken the neck of sin and brought us up from the dominion of
the old Pharaoh of evil and set us free. The Spirit's power–the same
power which raised Christ from the dead–yes, the same power which made
the heavens and the earth, has delivered us and we are the ransomed of
the Lord! And then we are free by privilege. "Unto as many as believed
Him, to them gave He the privilege to become the sons of God." God has
declared us free. His own royal, majestic and Divine decree has bid the
prisoners go forth! The Lord Himself looses the prisoners and declares
that they shall no more be held in captivity. Price and power and
privilege meet together in our liberty!
How came we to be free? I will tell you another story. We are free in a
strange way. According to the chapter in which we find our text, we are
free because we have died. If a slave dies, his master's possession of
him is ended. The tyrant can rule no longer–death has relaxed his
hold. "He that is dead is free from sin." Sin comes to me and asks me
why I do not obey its desires. I have a ready reply. "Ah, Master Sin, I
am dead! I died some 30 years ago and I do not belong to you any more.
What have you to do with me?" Whenever the Lord brings a man to die in
Christ–the blessed, heavenly death unto sin–how has sin any more
dominion over him? He is clear from his old master because he is dead!
Our old master lives to us, but we do not live to him. He may make what
suit he pleases–we will not acknowledge his rights.
Some of us have made a public claim of our freedom by death, for we
have been buried and the Apostle says, "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." We do not trust in the
burial of baptism, for we know that there would have been no truth in
it if we had not been dead first. But it is still a blessed sign to us
that inasmuch as we died, we have also been buried. Whenever the devil
comes to us we can, each one, say to him, "I am no servant of yours. I
died and was buried– did you not see me laid in the liquid tomb?" Oh,
it is a blessed thing when the Lord enables us to feel a clear
assurance that our baptism was not a mere form, but the instructive
token of a work within the soul worked by the Divine Spirit which set
us free from the thralldom of sin!
A third thing has happened to us–we have risen again. According to
Paul's teaching we have risen in the Resurrection of Christ–a new life
has been given to us–we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. We are not
the same people that we once were. Old things have passed away, behold
all things have become new. If some of you were to meet your old selves
you would not know yourselves, would you? My old self does not know me
and cannot make me out. I am dead to him, as to his reigning power, and
buried, too, so that I can never be his subject, nor he ever be the
king of my heart. Yet he struggles to dwell within me and seems to have
as many lives as a cat! Every now and then my old self sneeringly cries
to my true self, "What a fool you are." My true self answers, "No, I
was a fool when you had sway, but now I have come to my right mind."
Sometimes that old self whispers, "There is no reality in faith" and
the new self replies, "There is no reality in the things which are
seen. This world is a shadow but Heaven is eternal." "Ah," says the old
self, "you are a hypocrite!" "No," says the new self, "I was false when
I was under your power, but now I am honest and true." Yes, Brothers
and Sisters, we are risen with Christ! With Him we died and were buried
and with Him we are risen and, therefore, we are free! What slave would
remain under the dominion of a master if he could say, "I died, Sir.
You cannot own me now, for your ownership only extended over one life.
I was buried–did you own me when I was buried? I have risen again and
my
new life is not yours. I am not the same man that I was and you have no
rights over me." We have undergone this wondrous death and resurrection
and so we can say, this morning, with heartfelt joy, "We are made free
from sin!"
We are also free from sin in our hearts–we no longer love sin–in
fact, we loathe the thought of it! We are free from sin as to our new
nature–it cannot sin because it is born of God. We are free from sin
as to God's purpose about us, for He will present us, before long,
blameless and faultless before His Presence with exceedingly great joy!
We do not belong to sin. We refuse to serve sin. By the Grace of God we
are made free from it.
Now, the third part of this change of masters is this–"you became the
servants of righteousness." So we have, by God's Grace, and we are now
in the possession of righteousness and under its rule. A righteous God
has made us die to sin! A righteous God has redeemed us! A new and
righteous life has been infused into us and righteousness now rules and
reigns in us! We do not belong to ourselves, but we yield ourselves up
entirely to the Redeemer's sway through His Spirit and, the more
completely He rules us, the better. The text says we are enslaved to
righteousness and so we wish to be. We wish we were so enslaved that we
could not even will a wrong thing nor wish an evil thing! We desire to
give ourselves up wholly and absolutely to the Divine sway so that the
right, the true and the good may hold us in perpetual bonds.
We abandon ourselves to the supremacy of God and we find our liberty in
being entirely subjected to the will of the Most High. This is a change
of masters with which I know that some of you are well acquainted. I am
afraid, however, that others of you know nothing about it. May the Lord
grant that you may be made to know it before you go to sleep tonight.
May you be delivered from the black tyrant and brought into the service
of the Prince of Peace straightway!
II. Secondly, let us survey the REASONS FOR OUR CHANGE. How do we
justify this change of masters? A man who makes frequent shifts is not
good for much. But we changed our old master because he never had any
right to us and we were illegally detained by him. Why should sin have
dominion over us? Sin did not make us! Sin does not feed us! Sin has no
right to us whatever–we never owed it a moment's homage! We are not
debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh. Our old master cannot
summon us for desertion, for he stole our services.
Besides, our old master was as bad as bad could be. You never saw his
portrait, but he that would paint a picture of sin would have to put
upon the canvas all the monstrosities that ever existed and all the
horrors that were ever imagined! And these would have to be exaggerated
and condensed into one before they could fairly depict the deformity of
sin. Sin is worse than the devil, for sin made the devil a devil–he
would have been an angel if it had not been for sin. Oh, who would
serve the destroying tyrant who of old cast down, even, the stars of
light and turned angels into fiends?
We ran away from our old master because we had never any profit at his
hands. The Apostle says, "What fruit had he then?" Ask the drunkard,
"What did you get by the drink?" Who has woe? Who has redness of the
eyes? Ask the spendthrift what he gained by his debauchery. He would
hardly like to tell you and I certainly should not like to repeat his
tale. Ask any man that lives in sin what he has gained by it and you
will find it is all loss. Sin is evil and only evil and that
continually! We have found that out and, therefore, we have quit the
old master and taken up with the new. Beside that, our old master, Sin,
brought us shame. There was no honor in serving him. His work is called
by Paul, "those things whereof you are now ashamed."
We are, in the sight of God, yes, and in our own sight, ready to blush
scarlet at the very thought of the evil in which we once took delight!
Sin is a groveling, mean, despicable thing and we are ashamed of having
been connected with it. Moreover, its wages are death and this is
dreadful to think upon. Sin at one time was pleasant to us, but when we
found out that sin led its servants down to Hell and plunged them into
unquenchable fire, we renounced its rule and found another lord. But
why did we take up with our new Master? We could not help it for it was
He that set us free! It was He that bought us! It was He that fought
for us! It was He that brought us into liberty! Ah, if you could only
see Him, you would not ask us why we became His servants!
In the first place, we owe ourselves wholly to Him. And in the next
place, if we did not, He is so altogether lovely, so matchless and so
charming, that if we had a free choice of masters we would choose Him a
thousand times over, for He is the crown and glory of mankind! Among
the sons there is none to be compared to Him. If you want us to justify
our service of Him, we tell you that service is perfect freedom and
supreme delight. We have had to suffer a little, sometimes, when His
enemy and ours has barked at us and the ungodly have called us ill
names–but we count it honor to suffer for Jesus' sake, for He is so
sweet and so good, that if we had a thousand lives and could give each
one away by a martyr's death, we count Him worthy of those lives, so
sweet is He to our hearts' love!
Why have we taken our new Master? Why, because He gives us, even now, a
present payment in His service! If there were no hereafter we would be
satisfied with the present delight He gives us, but in addition to that
He has promised us, as a future reward, eternal life at His right hand!
We think, therefore, that we have more than sufficient reason for
becoming the servants of Jesus Christ who is made of God, unto us,
righteousness. Dear Hearers, how I wish that you would all enter my
Lord's service by faith in His name!
III. In the third place and very practically, I want to talk to those
who are servants of God, about THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS CHANGE. You
have become the servants of Righteousness and the first consequence is
that you belong wholly to your Lord. Have you recognized this? I know
numbers of Christian people–I hope they are Christian people, for in
some points they seem as if they were–but if I were asked to look at
their lives and give an opinion as to whom they belong, I should be
compelled to say, "They seem mostly to belong to themselves." To whom
does their property belong? "To themselves." To whom does their time
belong? "To themselves." To whom does their talent belong? "To
themselves."
As far as I can see, they lay all out upon themselves and live for
themselves. And what do they give to God? If they are rather generous
they give Him the candle ends, the parings of the cheese and little
odds and ends–three penny-bits and things they do not want and can
give without missing them. There are hundreds of professors who never
gave God anything that cost them a self-denial–no, not so much as
going without a dish on the table, or a picture on the wall, or a ring
on the finger! There are numbers of professing Christians who spend a
deal more on the soles of their boots than on Christ and many women who
spend more on the feathers and the flowers which deck their bonnets
than on their Savior!
Yes, and I have heard of men who said they were perfect and yet they
were worth half a million of money and were hoarding up more! Sinners
dying and being damned and missionaries without support–and yet these
absolutely perfect men are piling up gold and letting the cause of
Christ suffer for lack of means! It is not my theory of perfection, no,
it does not seem to me to come up to the idea of a common Christian who
says he is not his own! If you are really saved, Brothers and Sisters,
not a hair of your heads belongs to yourselves! Christ's blood has
either bought you or it has not! And if it has, then you are altogether
Christ's, every bit of you–you are neither to eat nor drink, nor sleep
but for Christ–"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Have you
ever got a hold of that? Just as a Negro used to belong to the man that
bought him, every inch of him, so you are the slave of Christ! You bear
in your body the brand of Lord Jesus and your glory and your freedom
are therein. That is the first consequence of being set free from
sin–you became the servants of righteousness.
What next? Why, because you are Christ's, His very name is dear to you!
You are not so His slave that you would escape from His service if you
could–no–you would plunge deeper and deeper into it! You want to be
more and more the Lord's. His very name is sweet to you. If you meet
with the poorest person who belongs to Christ, you love him and though,
perhaps, some who are like Christ in other respects may have awkward
tempers, you put up with their infirmities for His sake. Where there is
anything of Christ–there your love goes forth. I remember when I left
the village where I first preached. I felt that if I had met a dog that
came from Waterbeach I should have petted him–and such is the love we
have for Christ–that the lowest and weakest thing that belongs to Him
we love for His sake! The very sound of His name is music to us and
those who do not love Him, we cannot endure.
Haydn, the great musician, one day walked down a London street. Turning
into a music-seller's shop, he asked the salesman if he had any select
and beautiful music. "Well, Sir," he said, "I have some sublime music
by Mr. Haydn." "Oh," said Haydn, "I'll have nothing to do with that."
"Why, Sir, you come to buy music and will have nothing to do with Mr.
Haydn's composition! What fault can you find with it?" "I can find a
great deal of fault with it, but I will not argue with you: I do not
want any of his music." "Then," said the shopkeeper, "I have other
music, but it is not for such as you," and he turned his back on him!
A thorough enthusiast grows impatient with those who do not appreciate
what he so much admires. If we love Jesus we shall sometimes feel an
impatient desire to get away from those who know Him not. You do not
love Christ? What kind of man can you be to be so blind, so dead? You
can be no friend of mine if you are not a friend of Christ's. I would
do anything for your good, but you cannot yield me delight or be my
bosom friend unless you love my Lord, for He has engrossed my heart and
taken entire possession of my spirit. If you have thus become a servant
of righteousness, you will weary of that which does not help you in His
service and the name of your Master will be as the choicest music to
you.
And now, dear Friends, let me mention another result. All your members
are henceforth reserved for Christ. What does the Apostle say? "When
you were the servants of sin you were free from righteousness." When
Satan was your master you did not care about Christ, did you? You had
no respect for Him and if anybody before you said, "Take them away–I
do not want to hear them." You wholly were in agreement for evil. Now,
in the same way, yield yourself up wholly to Christ, and say, "Now,
Satan, when I was yours I did not yield obedience to Jesus. But now
that I am Christ's, I can yield no obedience to you."
If Satan brings sin before you, say, "I cannot see it–my eyes are
Christ's." And if he would charm you with the sweet sound of temptation
say, "I cannot hear it–my ears are Christ's." "Oh," says Satan, "seize
on this delight." You answer, "I cannot reach it–my hands are
Christ's." "But taste this sweet draught," says he. You say, "I cannot
take it–my lips are Christ's, my mouth is Christ's, ALL my members are
Christ's." "Well, but you can form a judgment, can't you, about this
error?" "My understanding is Christ's." "Oh, but listen to this new
thing!" "No, I do not want to hear. I have found Christ, who is new
enough for me. I do not want your novel discoveries. I am dead to them.
I do not want to be worried with arguments which dishonor my Lord–take
them away. When I was a servant of sin, I would not meddle with the
Truth of God, and now that I am a servant of Christ I will not trifle
in the opposite direction. I have done with all but Jesus."
Think my Brothers and Sisters! When we were servants of sin, in what
way did we serve it? Just as we used to serve sin, so ought we to work
for Jesus! I do not speak to all here present, but I speak to many who
were sinners of an open kind. How did you serve sin? I will answer for
them. They did not require to be egged on to it. They did not need any
messenger of the devil to plead with them and urge them to unholy
pleasures and unclean delights. Far from it! Some of their own
companions thought them too imprudent. Now, dear Friends, you ought not
to need your ministers or Christian friends to stir you up to good
works. You ought to be just as eager after holiness as you were after
sin! Evil was very sweet to you once. You used to watch for the day
when you could indulge in a sweet sin, did you not? When the time was
coming round when you could take a deep draught of iniquity, you took
the almanac and looked for it as a child for his holidays.
Brother, Sister, serve Christ in the same way! May His Holy Spirit help
you to do so. Watch for opportunities of doing good! Do not need
whipping to do your duty. Instead of requiring to be urged forward in
evil, we needed homing back, didn't we? Our parents had to put the rein
upon us! Sometimes Mother would say, "John, stop that." And Father
would cry, "My boy, do not do this evil thing!" We needed a great deal
of restraint. I wish I had a band of Christians round me who needed
holding back in the service of Christ! I have not met with that sort
yet. I am prepared with many kinds of curbs when and if I meet with a
high-mettled Christian who goes at too great a rate in His Lord's
service!
For the most part, my Master's horses are fonder of getting into the
stables than out into the hunting field. I have not met with one who
has done too much for the Lord! I shall never be guilty of too much
work, myself! I wish I could go like the wind in serving Jesus.
Brothers and Sisters, be just as hot to honor Christ as you once were
to dishonor Him! As you have given the devil first-rate service, let
Christ have the same. You remember, in the days of your sin, some of
you, how thoroughly you went in for it, that you never stopped at any
expense–did you? Oh no, if you needed pleasure in sin, away went the
five pounds and the hundreds!
How often do I meet with men, particularly those given to drink, who
get pounds in their pockets and never know where they go–but they will
never leave off till all is spent–be it little or much! Poor fools,
poor fools! Yet I wish we could serve Jesus Christ thus unstintedly. No
expense should be reckoned so long as we can honor Him and bless His
name! Bring forth the alabaster box! Break it–never mind the chips and
pieces–pour out the oil and let Jesus have it all! It was thus I
served Satan and thus would I serve Christ! Yes, and the poor slaves of
sin not only do not stop at expense, but they are not frightened by any
kind of loss. Look at how many lose their characters for the sake of
one short hour of sin!
How many are wringing their hands, now, because none will trust them
and they are cut off from decent society because of one short-lived
sin! They ruin their peace and think nothing of it. A quiet conscience
is the brightest of jewels but they fling it away to enjoy their sin!
They will lose their health, too, for the sake of indulging their
passions. The devil says, "Drink, drink! Drink yourselves blind!" And
they do it as eagerly as if it were for their good! They are martyrs
for Satan. Never did a Zulu fling himself upon death for his king so
recklessly as these servants of Satan yield
themselves for his service. They will do anything! They will destroy
their health and, what is worst of all, destroy their souls, forever,
for the sake of sin's brief delights.
They know that there is a Hell. They know that the wrath of God abides
forever on guilty men, but they risk all and lose all for sin. In that
same way should we serve our Lord! Be willing to lose our character for
Him. Be willing to lose our health for Him. Be willing to lose our life
for Him. Be willing to lose all, if by any means we may glorify Him
whose servant we have become! Oh, who will be my Master's servant? Here
He comes! Do you not see Him? He wears upon His head no diadem but a
crown of thorns! Running down His cheeks you see the spit flowing! His
feet are still rubied with their wounds and His hands are still
bejeweled with the marks of the nails!
This is your Master and these are the signs of His love for you! What
service will you render Him? That of a mere professor who names His
name but loves Him not? That of a cold religionist who renders
unwilling service out of fear? I pray you, Brothers and Sisters, do not
so dishonor Him! I lift the standard this morning to enlist beneath the
banner of Christ those who will be Christ's men and women from head to
foot! And happy shall the Church be! And happy the entire Israel of God
if a chosen number shall enlist and remain true to their colors! We
need no more nominal Christians–lukewarm Christians whom my Master
spues out of His mouth!
We need men and women on fire with love–consecrated all over,
intensely devoted–who, by the slavery from which they have escaped and
by the liberty into which they have entered, are under oath to spend
and be spent for the name of Jesus till they have filled the earth with
His Glory and made all Heaven ring with His praise! The Lord bless you,
Beloved, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Romans 6. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK"–116 (SONG II), 658, 119 (SONG III).
__________________________________________________________________
The Present Crisis