A Sermon
(No. 20)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, April 22, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At Exeter Hall, Strand.
"The carnal mind is enmity against God"–Romans 8:7.
This is a very solemn indictment which the Apostle Paul here prefers
against the carnal mind. He declares it to be enmity against God. When
we consider what man once was, only second to the angels, the companion
of God, who walked with him in the garden of Eden in the cool of the
day; when we think of him as being made in the very image of his
Creator, pure, spotless, and unblemished, we cannot but feel bitterly
grieved to find such an accusation as this preferred against us as a
race. We may well hang our harps upon the willows, while we listen to
the voice of Jehovah solemnly speaking to his rebellious creature. "How
art thou fallen from heaven, thou son of the morning!" "Thou sealest up
the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden,
the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering–the
workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the
day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth;
and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou
hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast
perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity
was found in thee, and thou hast sinned; therefore, I will cast thee as
profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering
cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire."
There is much to sadden us in a view of the ruins of our race. As the
Carthaginian, who might tread the desolate site of his much-loved city,
would shed many tears when he saw it laid in heaps by the Romans; or as
the Jew, wandering through the deserted streets of Jerusalelm, would
lament that the ploughshare had marred the beauty and the glory of that
city which was the joy of the whole earth; so ought we to mourn for
ourselves and our race, when we behold the ruins of that goodly
structure which God had piled, that creature, matchless in symmetry,
second only to angelic intellect, that mighty being, man–when we
behold how he is "fallen, fallen, fallen, from his high estate," and
lies in a mass of destruction. A few years ago a star was seen blazing
out with considerable brilliance, but soon disappeared; it has since
been affirmed that it was a world on fire, thousands of millions of
miles from us, and yet the rays of the conflagration reached us; the
noiseless messenger of light gave to the distant dwellers on this globe
the alarm of "A world on fire!" But what is the conflagration of a
distant planet, what is the destruction of the mere material of the
most ponderous orb, compared with this fall of humanity, this wreck of
all that is holy and sacred in ourselves? To us, indeed, the things are
scarcely comparable, since we are deeply interested in one, though not
in the other. The fall of Adam was OUR fall; we fell in and with him;
we were equal sufferers; it is the ruin of our own house that we
lament, it is the destruction of our own city that we bemoan, when we
stand and see written, in lines too plain for us to mistake their
meaning, "The carnal mind"–that very self-same mind which was once
holiness, and has now become carnal–"is enmity against God." May God
help me, this morning, solemnly to prefer this indictment against all!
Oh! that the Holy Spirit may so convince us of sin, that we may
unanimously plead "guilty" before God.
There is no difficulty in understanding my text; it needs scarcely any
explanation. We all know that the word "carnal" here signifies fleshly.
The old translators rendered the passage thus; "The mind of the flesh
is enmity against God"–that is to say, the natural mind, that soul
which we inherit from our fathers, that which was born within us when
our bodies were fashioned by God. The fleshly mind, the phronema
sarkos, the lusts, the passions of the soul; it is this which has gone
astray from God, and become enmity against him.
But, before we enter upon a discussion of the doctrine of the text,
observe how strongly the Apostle expresses it. "The carnal mind," he
says, "is ENMITY against God." He uses a noun, and not an adjective. He
does not say it is opposed to God merely, but it is positive enmity. It
is not black, but blackness; it is not at enmity, but enmity itself; it
is not corrupt, but corruption; it is not rebellious, it is rebellion;
it is not wicked, it is wickedness itself. The heart, though it be
deceitful, is positively deceit; it is evil in the concrete, sin in the
essence; it is the distillation, the quintessence of all things that
are vile; it is not envious against God, it is envy; it is not at
enmity, it is actual enmity.
Nor need we say a word to explain that it is "enmity against God." It
does not charge manhood with an aversion merely to the dominion, laws,
or doctrines of Jehovah; but it strikes a deeper and surer blow. It
does not strike man upon the head; it penetrates into his heart; it
lays the axe at the root of the tree, and pronounces him "enmity
against God," against the person of the Godhead, against the Deity,
against the mighty Maker of this world; not at enmity against his Bible
or against his gospel, though that were true, but against God himself,
against his essence, his existence, and his person. Let us, then, weigh
the words of the text, for they are solemn words. They are well put
together by that master of eloquence, Paul, and they were moreover,
dictated by the Holy Spirit, who telleth man how to speak aright. May
he help us to expound, as he has already given us the passage to
explain.
We shall be called upon to notice, this morning, first, the
truthfulness of this assertion; secondly, the universality of the evil
here complained of; thirdly, we will still further enter into the
depths of the subject, and press it to your hearts, by showing the
enormity of the evil; and after that, should we have time, we will
deduce one or two doctrines from the general fact.
I. First, we are called upon to speak of the truthfulness of this great
statement. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." It needs no proof,
for since it is written in God's word, we, as Christian men, are bound
to bow before it. The words of the Scriptures are words of infinite
wisdom, and if reason cannot see the ground of a statement of
revelation, it is bound, most reverently, to believe it, since we are
well assured, even should it be above our reason, that it cannot be
contrary thereunto. Here I find it written in the Scriptures, "The
carnal mind is enmity against God;" and that of itself is enough for
me. But did I need witnesses, I would conjure up the nations of
antiquity; I would unroll the volume of ancient history; I would tell
you of the awful deeds of mankind. It may be I might move your souls to
detestation, if I spake of the cruelty of this race to itself, if I
showed you how it made the world an Aceldama, by its wars, and deluged
it with blood by its fightings and murders; if I should recite the
black list of vices in which whole nations have indulged, or even bring
before you the characters of some of the most eminent philosophsers, I
should blush to speak of them, and you would refuse to hear; yea, it
would be impossible for you, as refined inhabitants of a civilized
country, to endure the mention of the crimes that were committed by
those very men who, now-a-days, are held up as being paragons of
perfection. I fear, if all the truth were written, we should rise up
from reading the lives of earth's mightiest heroes and proudest sages,
and would say at once of all of them, "They are clean gone out of the
way; they are altogether become unprofitable; there is none that doeth
good, no, not one.
And, did not that suffice, I would point you to the delusions of the
heathen; I would tell you of their priestcraft, by which their souls
have been enthralled in superstition; I would drag their gods before
you; I would let you witness the horrid obscenities, the diabolical
rites which are to these besotted men most sacred things. Then after
you had heard what the natural religion of man is, I would ask what
must his irreligion be? If this is his devotion, what must be his
impiety? If this be his ardent love of the Godhead, what must his
hatred thereof be? Ye would, I am sure, at once confess, did ye know
what the race is, that the indictment is proven, and that the world
must unreservedly and truthfully exclaim, "guilty."
A further argument I might find in the fact, that the best of men have
been always the readiest to confess their depravity. The holiest men,
the most free from impurity, have always felt it most. He whose
garments are the whitest, will best perceive the spots upon them. He
whose crown shineth the brightest, will know when he hath lost a jewel.
He who giveth the most light to the world, will always be able to
discover his own darkness. The angels of heaven veil their faces; and
the angels of God on earth, his chosen people, must always veil their
faces with humility, when they think of what they were. Hear David: he
was none of those who boast of a holy nature and a pure disposition. He
says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me." Hear all those holy men who have written in the inspired
volume, and ye shall find them all confessing that they were not clean,
no not one; yea, one of them exclaimed, "O wretched man that I am; who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
And more, I will summon one other witness to the truthfulness of this
fact, who shall decide the question; it shall be your conscience.
Conscience, I will put thee in the witness-box, and cross-examine thee
this morning! Conscience, truly answer! Be not drugged with the
laudanum of self-security! Speak the truth! Didst thou never hear the
heart say, "I wish there were no God?" Have not all men, at times,
wished that our religion were not true? Though they could not entirely
rid their souls of the idea of the Godhead, did they not wish that
there might not be a God? Have they not had the desire that it might
turn out that all these divine realities were a delusion, a farce, and
an imposture? "Yea," saith every man; "that has crossed my mind
sometimes. I have wished I might indulge in folly; I have wished there
were no laws to restrain me; I have wished, as the fool, that there
were no God." That passage in the Psalms, "The fool hath said in his
heart, there is no God," is wrongly translated. It should be, "The fool
hath said in his heart, no God." The fool does not say in his heart
there is no God, for he knows there is a God; but he says, "No God–I
don't want any; I wish there were none." And who amongst us has not
been so foolish as to desire that there were no God? Now, conscience,
answer another question! Thou hast confessed that thou hast at times
wished there were no God; now, suppose a man wished another dead, would
not that show that he hated him? Yes, it would. And so, my friends, the
wish that there were no God, proves that we dislike God. When I wish
such a man dead and rotting in his grave; when I desire that he were
non est, I must hate that man; otherwise I should not wish him to be
extinct. So that wish–and I do not think there has been a man in this
world who has not had it–proves that "the carnal mind is enmity
against God."
But, conscience, I have another question! Has not thine heart ever
desired, since there is a God, that he were a little less holy, a
little less pure, so that those things which are now great crimes might
be regarded as venial offences, as peccadillos? Has thy heart never
said, "Would to God these sins were not forbidden! Would that he would
be merciful and pass them by without an atonement! Would that he were
not so severe, so rigorously just, so sternly strict to his integrity."
Hast thou never said that, my heart? Conscience must reply, "Thou
hast." Well, that wish to change God, proves that thou art not in love
with the God that now is, the God of heaven and earth; and though thou
mayest talk of natural religion, and boast that thou dost reverence the
God of the green fields, the grassy meads, the swelling flood, the
rolling thunder, the azure sky, the starry night, and the great
universe–though thou lovest the poetic beau ideal of Deity, it is not
the God of Scripture, for thou hast wished to change his nature, and in
that hast thou proved that thou art at enmity with him. But wherefore,
conscience, should I go thus round about? Thou canst bear faithful
witness, if thou wouldst speak the truth, that each person here has so
transgressed against God, so continually broken his laws, violated his
Sabbath, trampled on his statutes, despised his gospel, that it is
true, aye, most true, that "the carnal mind is enmity against God."
II. Now Secondly, we are called upon to notice the universality of this
evil. What a broad assertion it is. It is not a single carnal mind, or
a certain class of characters, but "the carnal mind." It is an
unqualified statement, including every individual. Whatever mind may
properly be called carnal, not having been spiritualized by the power
of God's Holy Ghost, is "enmity against God."
Observe then, first of all, the universality of this as to all persons.
Every carnal mind in the world is at enmity against God. This does not
exclude even infants at the mothers' breast. We call them innocent, and
so they are of actual transgression, but as the poet says, "Within the
youngest breast there lies a stone." There is in the carnal mind of an
infant, enmity against God; it is not developed, but it lieth there.
Some say that children learn sin by imitation. But no; take a child
away, place it under the most pious influences, let the very air it
breathes be purified by piety; let it constantly drink in draughts of
holiness; let it hear nothing but the voice of prayer and praise; let
its ear be always kept in tune by notes of sacred song; and that child,
notwithstanding, may still become one of the grossest of transgressors;
and though placed apparently on the very road to heaven, it shall, if
not directed by divine grace, march downwards to the pit. Oh! how true
it is that some who have had the best of parents, have been the worst
of sons; that many who have been trained up under the most holy
auspices, in the midst of the most favorable scenes for piety, have
nevertheless, become loose and wanton! So it is not by imitation, but
it is by nature, that the child is evil. Grant me that the child is
carnal, and my text says, "the carnal mind is enmity against God." The
young crocodile, I have heard, when broken from the shell, will in a
moment begin to put itself in a posture of attack, opening its mouth as
if it had been taught and trained. We know that young lions, when tamed
and domesticated, still will have the wild nature of their fellows of
the forest, and were liberty given them, would prey as fiercely as
others. So with the child; you may bind him with the green withes of
education, you may do what you will with him, since you cannot change
his heart, that carnal mind shall still be at enmity against God; and
notwithstanding intellect, talent, and all you may give to boot, it
shall be of the same sinful complexion as every other child, if not as
apparently evil; for "the carnal mind is enmity against God."
And if this applies to children, equally does it include every class of
men. There be some men that are born into this world master-spirits,
who walk about it as giants, wrapped in mantles of light and glory. I
refer to the poets, men who stand aloft like Colossi, mightier than we,
seeming to be descended from celestial spheres. There be others of
acute intellect, who, searching into mysteries of science, discover
things that have been hidden from the creation of the world; men of
keen research, and mighty erudition; and yet of each of these–poet,
philosopher, metaphysician, and great discoverer–it shall be said,
"The carnal mind is enmity against God." Ye may train him up, ye may
make his intellect almost angelic, ye may strengthen his soul until he
shall take what are riddles to us, and unravel them with his fingers in
a moment; ye may make him so mighty, that he can grasp the iron secrets
of the eternal hills and grind them to atoms in his fist; ye may give
him an eye so keen, that he can penetrate the arcana of rocks and
mountains; ye may add a soul so potent, that he may slay the giant
Sphinx, that had for ages troubled the mightiest men of learning; yet,
when ye have done all, his mind shall be a depraved one, and his carnal
heart shall still be in opposition to God. Yea, more, ye shall bring
him to the house of prayer; ye shall make him sit constantly under the
clearest preaching of the word, where he shall hear the doctrines of
grace in all their purity, attended by a holy unction; but if that holy
unction does not rest upon him, all shall be vain; he shall still come
most regularly, but, like the pious door of the chapel, that turneth in
and out, he shall still be the same; having an outside superficial
religion, and his carnal mind shall still be at enmity against God.
Now, this is not my assertion, it is the declaration of God's word, and
you must leave it if you do not believe it; but quarrel not with me, it
is my Master's message; and it is true of every one of you–men, women,
and children, and myself too–that if we have not been regenerated and
converted, if we have not experienced a change of heart, our carnal
mind is still at enmity against God.
Again, notice the universality of this at all times. The carnal mind is
at all times enmity against God. "Oh," say some, "it may be true that
we are at times opposed to God, but surely we are not always so."
"There be moments," says one, "when I feel rebellious; at times my
passions lead me astray; but surely there are other favorable seasons
when I really am friendly to God, and offer true devotion. I have
(continues the objector), stood upon the mountain-top, until my whole
soul has kindled with the scene below, and my lips have uttered the
song of praise,–
"These are thy glorious works, parent of good,
Almighty, thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!"
Yes, but mark, what is true one day is not false another; "the carnal
mind is enmity against God" at all times. The wolf may sleep, but it is
a wolf still. The snake with its azure hues, may slumber amid the
flowers, and the child may stroke its slimy back, but it is a serpent
still; it does not change its nature, though it is dormant. The sea is
the house of storms, even when it is glassy as a lake; the thunder is
still the mighty rolling thunder, when it is so much aloft that we hear
it not. And the heart, when we perceive not its ebullitions, when it
belches not forth its lava, and sendeth not forth the hot stones of its
corruption, is still the same dread volcano. At all times, at all
hours, at every moment, (I speak this as God speaketh it), if ye are
carnal, ye are each one of you enmity against God.
Another thought concerning the universality of this statement. The
whole of the mind is enmity against God. The text says, "The carnal
mind is enmity against God." That is, the entire man, every part of
him–every power, every passion. It is a question often asked, "What
part of man was injured by the fall?" Some think that the fall was only
felt by the affections, and that the intellect was unimpaired; this
they argue from the wisdom of man, and the mighty discoveries he has
made, such as the law of gravitation, the steam-engine, and the
sciences. Now, I consider these things as being a very mean display of
wisdom, compared with what is to come in a hundred years, and very
small compared with what might have been, if man's intellect had
continued in its pristine condition. I believe that the fall crushed
man entirely, albeit, when it rolled like an avalanche upon the mighty
temple of human nature, some shafts were still left undestroyed, and
amidst the ruins you find here and there, a flute, a pedestal, a
cornice, a column, not quite broken, yet the entire structure fell, and
its most glorious relics are fallen ones, levelled in the dust. The
whole of man is defaced. Look at our memory; is it not true that the
memory is fallen? I can recollect evil things far better than those
which savor of piety. I hear a ribald song; that music of hell shall
jar in my ear when gray hairs shall be upon my head. I hear a note of
holy praise; alas! it is forgotten! For memory graspeth with an iron
hand ill things, but the good she holdeth with feeble fingers. She
suffereth the glorious timbers from the forest of Lebanon to swim down
the stream of oblivion, but she stoppeth all the draff that floateth
from the foul city of Sodom. She will retain evil, she will lose good.
Memory is fallen. So are the affections. We love everything earthly
better than we ought; we soon fix our heart upon a creature, but very
seldom on the Creator; and when the heart is given to Jesus, it is
prone to wander. Look at the imagination, too. Oh! how can the
imagination revel, when the body is in an ill condition? Only give man
something that shall well nigh intoxicate him; drug him with opium; and
how will his imagination dance with joy! Like a bird uncaged, how will
it mount with more than eagles' wings! He sees things he had not
dreamed of even in the shades of night. Why did not his imagination
work when his body was in a normal state–when it was healthy? Simply
because it is depraved; and until he had entered a foul element–until
the body had begun to quiver with a kind of intoxication–the fancy
would not hold its carnival. We have some splendid specimens of what
men could write, when they have been under the accursed influence of
ardent spirits. It is because the mind is so depraved that it loves
something which puts the body into an abnormal condition; and here we
have a proof that the imagination itself has gone astray. So with the
judgement–I might prove how ill it decides. So might I accuse the
conscience, and tell you how blind it is, and how it winks at the
greatest follies. I might review all our powers, and write upon the
brow of each one, "Traitor against heaven! traitor against God!" The
whole "carnal mind is enmity against God."
Now, my hearers, "the Bible alone is the religion of Protestants;" but
whenever I find a certain book much held in reverence by our
Episcopalian brethren, entirely on my side, I always feel the greatest
delight in quoting from it. Do you know I am one of the best churchmen
in the world; the very best, if you will judge me by the articles, and
the very worst, if you measure me in any other way. Measure me by the
articles of the Church of England, and I will not stand second to any
man under heaven's blue sky in preaching the gospel contained in them;
for if there be an excellent epitome of the gospel, it is to be found
in the articles of the Church of England. Let me show you that you have
not been hearing strange doctrine. Here is the 9th article, upon
Original or Birth Sin: "Original Sin standeth not in the following of
Adam; (as the Pelagians do vainly talk); but it is the fault and
corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of
the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original
righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the
flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and, therefore, in every
person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation.
And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are
regenerated; whereby the lust of the flesh, called in the Greek,
phronema sarkos, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality,
some the affection, some the desire, of the flesh, is not subject to
the Law of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that
believe and are baptized, yet the apostle doth confess, that
concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin." I want
nothing more. Will any one who believes in the Prayer Book dissent from
the doctrine that "the carnal mind is enmity against God?"
III. I have said that I would endeavor, in the third place, to show the
great enormity of this guilt. I do fear, my brethren, that very often
when we consider our state, we think not so much of the guilt as of the
misery. I have sometimes read sermons upon the inclination of the
sinner to evil, in which it has been very powerfully proved, and
certainly the pride of human nature has been well humbled and brought
low; but one thing always strikes me, if it is left out, as being a
very great omission; viz.–the doctrine that man is guilty in all these
things. If his heart is against God, we ought to tell him it is his
sin; and if he cannot repent, we ought to show him that sin is the sole
cause of his disability–that all his alienation from God is sin–that
as long as he keeps from God it is sin. I fear many of us here must
acknowledge that we do not charge the sin of it to our own consciences.
Yes, say we, we have many corruptions. Oh! yes. But we sit down very
contented. My brethren, we ought not to do so. The having those
corruptions is our crime which should be confessed as an enormous evil;
and if I, as a minister of the gospel, do not press home the sin of the
thing, I have missed what is the very virus of it. I have left out the
very essence, if I have not shown that it is a crime. Now, "The carnal
mind is enmity against God." What a sin it is! This will appear in two
ways. Consider the relation in which we stand to God, and then remember
what God is; and after I have spoken of these two things, I hope you
will see, indeed, that it is a sin to be at enmity with God.
What is God to us? He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth; he
bears up the pillars of the universe; his breath perfumes the flowers;
his pencil paints them; he is the author of this fair creation; "we are
the sheep of his pasture; he hath made us, and not we ourselves." He
stands to us in the relationship of a Maker and Creator; and from that
fact he claims to be our King. He is our legislator, our law-maker; and
then, to make our crime still worse and worse, he is the ruler of
providence; for it is he who keeps up from day to day. He supplys our
wants; he keeps the breath within our nostrils; he bids the blood still
pursue its course through the veins; he holdeth us in life, and
preventeth us from death; he standeth before us, our creator, our king,
our sustainer, our benefactor, and I ask, is it not a sin of enormous
magnitude–is it not high treason against the emperor of heaven–is it
not an awful sin, the depth of which we cannot fathom with the line of
all our judgment–that we, his creatures, dependent upon him, should be
at enmity with God?
But the crime may seem to be worse when we think of what God is. Let me
appeal personally to you in an interrogatory style, for this has weight
with it. Sinner! why art thou at enmity with God? God is the God of
love; he is kind to his creatures; he regards you with his love of
benevolence; for this very day his sun hath shone upon you, this day
you have had food and raiment, and you have come up here in health and
strength. Do you hate God because he loves you? Is that the reason?
Consider how many mercies you have received at his hands all your life
long! You are born with a body not deformed; you have had a tolerable
share of health; you have been recovered many times from sickness; when
lying at the gates of death, his arm has held back your soul from the
last step to destruction. Do you hate God for all this? Do you hate him
because he spared your life by his tender mercy? Behold his goodness
that he hath spread before you! He might have sent you to hell; but you
are here. Now, do you hate God for sparing you? Oh, wherefore art thou
at enmity with him? My fellow creature, dost thou not know that God
sent his Son from his bosom, hung him on the tree, and there suffered
him to die for sinners, the just for the unjust? And dost thou hate God
for that? Oh, sinner! is this the cause of thine enmity? Art thou so
estranged that thou givest enmity for love? And when he surroundeth
thee with favors, girdeth thee with mercies, encircleth thee with
loving kindness, dost thou hate him for this? He might say, as Jesus
did to the Jews, "For which of these works do ye stone me?" For which
of these works do ye hate God? Did an earthly benefactor feed you,
would you hate him? Did he clothe you, would you abuse him to his face?
Did he give you talents, would you turn those powers against him? Oh,
speak! Would you forge the iron and strike the dagger into the heart of
your best friend? Do you hate your mother, who nursed you on her knee?
Do you curse your father, who so wisely watched over you? Nay, ye say,
we have some little gratitude towards earthly relatives. Where are your
hearts, then? Where are your hearts, that ye can still despise God, and
be at enmity with him? Oh! diabolical crime! Oh! satanic enormity! Oh!
iniquity for which words fail in description! To hate the
all-lovely–to despise the essentially good–to abhor the constantly
merciful–to spurn the ever beneficent–to scorn the kind, the gracious
one; above all, to hate the God who sent his son to die for man! Ah! in
that thought–"The carnal mind is enmity with God;" there is something
which may make us shake; for it is a terrible sin to be at enmity with
God. I would I could speak more powerfully, but my Master alone can
impress upon you the enormous evil of this horrid state of heart.
IV. But there are one or two doctrines which we will try to deduce from
this. Is the carnal mind at enmity against God? Then salvation cannot
be by merit; it must be by grace. If we are at enmity with God, what
merit can we have? How can we deserve anything from the being we hate?
Even if we were pure as Adam, we could not have any merit; for I do not
think Adam had any desert before his Creator. When he had kept all his
Master's law he was but an unprofitable servant; he had done no more
than he ought to have done; he had no surplus, no balance. But since we
have become enemies, how much less can we hope to be saved by works!
Oh! no; but the whole Bible tells us, from beginning to end, that
salvation is not by the works of the law, but by the deeds of grace.
Martin Luther declared that he constantly preached justification by
faith alone, "because," said he, "the people would forget it; so that I
was obliged almost to knock my Bible against their heads, to send it
into their hearts." So it is true; we constantly forget that salvation
is by grace alone. We always want to be putting in some little scrap of
our own virtue; we want to be doing something. I remember a saying of
old Matthew Wilkes: "Saved by your works! you might as well try to go
to America in a paper boat!" Saved by your works! It is impossible! Oh!
no, the poor legalist is like a blind horse going round and round the
mill, or like the prisoner going up the treadwheel, and finding himself
no higher after all he has done; he has no solid confidence, no firm
ground to rest upon. He has not done enough–"never enough;" conscience
always says, "this is not perfection; it ought to have been better,"
Salvation for enemies must be by an ambassador,–by an atonement,–yea,
by Christ.
Another doctrine we gather from this is, the necessity of an entire
change of our nature. It is true, that by birth we are at enmity with
God. How necessary then it is that our nature should be changed! There
are few people who sincerely believe this. They think that if they cry,
"Lord, have mercy upon me," when they lay a-dying, they shall go to
heaven directly. Let me suppose an impossible case for a moment. Let me
imagine a man entering heaven without a change of heart. He comes
within the gates. He hears a sonnet. He starts! It is to the praise of
his enemy. He sees a throne, and on it sits one who is glorious; but it
is his enemy. He walks streets of gold, but those streets belong to his
enemy. He sees hosts of angels; but those hosts are the servants of his
enemy. He is in an enemy's house; for he is at enmity with God. He
could not join the song, for he would not know the tune. There he would
stand, silent, motionless; till Christ would say, with a voice louder
than ten thousand thunders, "What dost thou here? Enemies at a marriage
banquet? Enemies in the children's house? Enemies in heaven? Get thee
gone? Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire in hell!'" Oh! sirs, if
the unregenerate man could enter heaven, I mention once more the
oft-repeated saying of Whitefield, he would be so unhappy in heaven,
that he would ask God to let him run down to hell for shelter. There
must be a change, if ye consider the future state; for how can enemies
to God ever sit down at the banquet of the Lamb?
And to conclude, let me remind you–and it is in the text after
all–that this change must be worked by a power beyond your own. An
enemy may possibly make himself a friend; but enmity cannot. If it be
but an adjunct of his nature to be an enemy, he may change himself into
a friend; but if it is the very essence of his existence to be enmity,
positive enmity, enmity cannot change itself. No, there must be
something done more than we can accomplish. This is just what is
forgotten in these days. We must have more preaching of the Holy
Spirit, if we are to have more conversion work. I tell you, sirs, if
you change yourselves, and make yourselves better, and better, and
better, a thousand times, you will never be good enough for heaven,
till God's Spirit has laid his hand upon you; till he has renewed the
heart, till he has purified the soul, till he has changed the entire
spirit and new-made the man, there can be no entering heaven. How
seriously, then, should each stand and think. Here am I, a creature of
a day, a mortal born to die, but yet an immortal! At present I am at
enmity with God. What shall I do? Is it not my duty, as well as my
happiness, to ask whether there be a way to be reconciled to God?
Oh! weary slaves of sin, are not your ways the paths of folly? Is it
wisdom, O my fellow-creatures, is it wisdom to hate your Creator? Is it
wisdom to stand in opposition against him? Is it prudent to despise the
riches of his grace? If it be wisdom, it is hell's wisdom; if it be
wisdom, it is a wisdom which is folly with God. Oh! may God grant that
you may turn unto Jesus with full purpose of heart! He is the
ambassador; he it is who can make peace through his blood; and though
you came in here an enemy, it is possible you may go out through that
door a friend yet, if you can but look to Jesus Christ, the brazen
serpent which was lifted up.
And now, it may be, some of you are convinced of sin, by the Holy
Spirit. I will now proclaim to you the way of salvation. "As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life." Behold, O trembling penitent, the means of thy
deliverance. Turn thy tearful eye to yonder Mount of Calvary! See the
victim of justice–the sacrifice of atonement for your transgression.
View the Saviour in his agonies, with streams of blood purchasing thy
soul, and with intensest agonies enduring thy punishment. He died for
thee, if now thou dost confess thy guilt. O come, thou condemned one,
self-condemned, and turn thine eye this way, for one look will save.
Sinner! thou art bitten. Look! It is naught but "Look!" It is simply
"Look!" If thou canst but look to Jesus, thou art safe. Hear the voice
of the Redeemer: "look unto me, and be ye saved." Look! Look! Look! O
guilty souls.
"Venture on him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude;
None but Jesus, kind and loving,
Can do helpless sinners good."
May my blessed Master help you to come to him, and draw you to his Son,
for Jesu's sake. Amen and Amen.