The Greatest Wonder of Grace

The Greatest Wonder of Grace

(No. 3377)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1913.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And I was left" Ezekiel 9:8.

SALVATION never shines so brightly to any man's eyes as when it comes
to himself. Then is Divine Grace illustrious, indeed, when we can see
it working with Divine power upon ourselves. To our apprehension, our
own case is always the most desperate and, therefore, mercy shown to us
is the most extraordinary! We see others perish and wonder that the
same doom has not befallen ourselves. The horror of the ruin which we
dreaded and our intense delight at the certainty of safety in Christ
unite with our personal sense of unworthiness to make us cry in
amazement, "And I was left."

Ezekiel, in vision, saw the slaughter men smiting right and left at the
bidding of Divine Justice. And as he stood unharmed among the heaps of
the slain, he exclaimed with surprise, "I was left." It may be the day
will come when we, too, shall cry with solemn joy, "And I, too, by
Sovereign Grace, am spared while others perish." Special Grace will
cause us to marvel. Emphatically will it be so at the Last Dread Day.

Read the story of the gross idolatry of the people of Jerusalem as
recorded in the 8th Chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy, and you will not
wonder at the judgment with which the Lord at length overthrew the
city. Let us set our hearts to consider how the Lord dealt with the
guilty people. "Six men came from the way of the higher gate, which
lies toward the north, and every man with a slaughter weapon in his
hand." The destruction worked by these executioners was swift and
terrible–and it was typical of other solemn visitations. All through
history the observing eye notices lines ofjustice, red marks upon the
page where the Judge of all the earth has at last seen it necessary to
decree a terrible visitation upon a guilty people. All these past
displays of Divine Vengeance point at the coming judgment even more
complete and overwhelming. The past is prophetic of the future! A day
is surely coming when the Lord Jesus, who came once to save, will
descend a second time to judge! Despised mercy has always been
succeeded by deserved wrath–and so must it be in the end of all
things. "But who may abide the day of His coming? Or who shall stand
when He appears?" When sinners are smitten, who will be left? He shall
lift the balances of Justice and make bare the sword of execution. When
His avenging angels shall gather the vintage of the earth, who among us
shall exclaim in wondering gratitude, "And I was left."? Such an one
will be a wonder of Grace, indeed, worthy to take rank with those
marvels of Grace of whom we have spoken in many former discourses in
this place! To each one of you, I put this enquiry–Will you be an
instance of sparing Grace, and cry, "And I was left"?

We will use the wonderfully descriptive vision of this Chapter that we
may, with holy fear, behold the character of the doom from which Grace
delivers us. And then we will dwell upon the exclamation of our text,
"I was left," considering it as the joyful utterance of the persons who
are privileged to escape the destruction. And lastly, the emotions
which the escaped feel.

By the help of the Holy Spirit, let us solemnly consider–

I. THE TERRIBLE DOOM from which the Prophet in vision saw himself
preserved, regarding it as a figure of the judgment which is yet to
come upon all the world.

Observe, first, that it was a just punishment inflicted upon those who
had been often warned–a punishment which they willfully brought upon
themselves. God had said that if they set up idols, He would destroy
them, for He would not endure such an insult to His Godhead. He had
often pleaded with them, not with words only, but with severe
Providences, for their land had been laid desolate, their city had been
besieged and their kings had been carried away captive! But they were
bent on backsliding to the worship of their idol gods. Therefore, when
the sword of the Lord was drawn

from its scabbard, it was no novel punishment, no freak of vengeance,
no unexpected execution. So, in the close of life, and at the end of
the world, when judgment comes on men, it will be just and according to
the solemn warnings of the Word of God. When I read the terrible things
which are written in God's Book in reference to future punishment,
especially the awful things which Jesus spoke concerning the place
where their worm dies not and their fire is not quenched, I am greatly
pressed in spirit. Some there are who sit in judgment upon the Great
Judge and condemn the punishment which He inflicts as too severe! As
for myself, I cannot measure the power of God's anger–but let it burn
as it may–I am sure that it will be just. No needless pang will be
inflicted upon a single one of God's creatures! Even those who are
doomed forever will endure no more than Divine Justice absolutely
requires, no more than they, themselves, would admit to be the due
reward of their sins if their consciences would judge aright. Mark you,
this is the very Hell of Hell that men will know that they are justly
suffering. To endure a tyrant's wrath would be a small thing compared
with suffering what one has brought upon himself by willful wanton
choices of wrong. Sin and suffering are indissolubly bound together in
the constitution of Nature–it cannot be otherwise, nor ought it to be.
It is right that evil should be punished. Those who were punished in
Jerusalem could not turn upon the executioners and say, "We do not
deserve this doom"– every cruel wound of the Chaldean sword and every
fierce crash of the Babylonian battle-axe fell on men who in their
consciences knew that they were only reaping what they themselves had
sown! Brothers and Sisters, what wonders of Grace shall we be if, from
a judgment which we have so richly deserved, we shall be rescued at the
last!

Let us notice very carefully that this slaughter was preceded by
separation which removed from among the people those who were distinct
in character. Before the slaughter men proceeded to their stern task, a
man appeared among them clothed in linen with a writer's inkhorn by his
side, who marked all those who in their hearts were grieved at the evil
done in the city. Until these were marked, the destroyers did not
commence their work. Whenever the Lord lays bare His arm for war, He
first gathers His saints into a place of safety! He did not destroy the
world by the flood till Noah and his family were safe in the ark. He
would not suffer a single fire drop to fall on Sodom till Lot had
escaped to Zoar. He carefully preserves His own–flood, nor flame, nor
pestilence, nor famine shall do them harm! We read in the Revelation
that the angel said, "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the
trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
Vengeance must sheath her sword till Divine Love has housed its
darlings. When Christ comes to destroy the earth, He will first take
away His people. Before the elements shall melt with fervent heat and
the pillars of the universe shall rock and reel beneath the weight of
wrathful Deity, He will have caught up His elect into the air, so that
they shall be forever with Him! When He comes He shall divide the
nations as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats–no sheep of His
shall be destroyed! He shall without fail take the tares from among the
wheat, but not one single ear of wheat shall be in danger. O that we
may be among the selected ones and prove His power to keep us in the
day of wrath! May each one of us say, amid the wreck of matter and the
crash of worlds, "And I was left." Dear Friend, do you think you are
marked on the forehead? If at this moment my voice were drowned by the
trumpet of Resurrection, would you be among those who would awake to
safety and glory? Would you be able to say, "The multitude perished
around me, but I was left"? It will be so if you hate the sins by which
you are surrounded and if you have received the mark of the blood of
Jesus upon your soul! If not, you will not escape, for there is no
other door of salvation but His saving name! God grant us Grace to
belong to that chosen number who wear the Covenant seal, the mark of
Him who counts the people!

Next, this judgment was placed in the Mediator's hands. I want you to
notice this. Observe that according to the Chapter, there was no
slaughter done except where the man with the writer's inkhorn led the
way. So, again, we read in the 10th Chapter that, "One cherub stretched
forth his hand from between the cherubims into the fire that was
between the cherubims and took, thereof, and put it into the hands of
him that was clothed with linen; who took it and went out," and cast it
over the city. See this! God's Glory of old shone forth between the
cherubim! That is to say, over the place of Propitiation and Atonement,
and as long as that glow of light remained, no judgment fell on
Jerusalem, for God in Christ condemns not! But by-and-by "the Glory of
the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the
threshold of the house," and then judgment was near to come! When God
no longer deals with men in Christ, His wrath burns like fire and He
commissions the ambassador of mercy to be the messenger of wrath! The
very man who marked with his pen the saved ones, threw burning coals
upon the city and led the way for the destruction of the sinful. What
does this teach but this–"The Father judges no man, but has committed
all judgment unto the Son"? I know of no Truth of God more dreadful to
meditate upon! Think of it, you careless ones–the very Christ who died
on Calvary is

He by whom you will be sentenced! God will judge the world by this Man,
Christ Jesus! He it is who will come in the clouds of Heaven and before
Him shall be gathered all nations! And when those who have despised Him
shall look upon His face, they will be terrified beyond conception! Not
the lightning, not the thunder, not the dreadful sound of the last
tremendous trumpet shall so alarm them as that face of injured love!
Then will they cry to the mountains and hills to hide them from the
face of Him that sits upon the Throne! Why, it is the face of Him that
wept for sinners, the face which scoffers stained with bloody drops
extracted by the thorny crown, the face of the Incarnate God who, in
Infinite Mercy, came to save mankind! But because they have despised
Him. Because they would not be saved. Because they preferred their own
lusts to Infinite Love and persisted in rejecting God's best proof of
kindness, therefore will they say, "Hide us from the face," for the
sight of that face shall be to them more accusing and more condemning
than all else besides! How dreadful is this Truth of God! The more you
consider it, the more will it fill your soul with terror! Would to God
it might drive you to fly to Jesus, for then you will behold Him with
joy in that day!

This destruction, we are told, began at thesanctuary. Suppose the Lord
were to visit London in His anger–where would He begin to smite? "Oh,"
somebody says, "of course, the destroying angel would go down to the
low music halls and dancing rooms! Or He would sweep out the back slums
and the drink palaces, the jails and places where women of ill-repute
congregate!" Turn to the Scripture which surrounds our text. The Lord
says, "Begin at My sanctuary." Begin at the Churches! Begin at the
Chapels! Begin with the Church members! Begin with the ministers, the
bishops! Begin with those who are teachers of the Gospel! Begin with
the chief and front of the religious world–begin with the high
professors who are looked up to as examples! What does Peter say? "The
time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it
first begins with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the
Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely are saved, where shall the
ungodly and the sinner appear?"

The first thing the slaughter men did was to slaughter the ancient men
which were before the Temple, even the 70 elders of the people, for
they were secret idolaters! You may be sure that the sword which did
not spare the chief men and fathers made but short work with the baser
sort! Elders of our Churches, ministers of Christ–judgment will begin
with us! We must not expect to find more lenient treatment than others
at the Last Great Assize! No, rather, if there shall be a specially
careful testing of sincerity, it will be for us who have taken upon
ourselves to lead others to the Savior! For this cause let us see well
to it that we are not deceived or deceivers, for we shall surely be
detected in that day! To play the hypocrite is to play the fool! Will a
man deceive his Maker, or delude the Most High? It cannot be! You
Church members, all of you, should look well to it, for judgment will
begin with you! God's fire is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem! In
the olden times, the people fled to Churches and holy places for
sanctuary–but how vain will this be when the Lord's avengers shall
come forth, since there the havoc will begin! How fiercely shall the
sword sweep through the hosts of carnal professors–the men who called
themselves servants of God while they were slaves of the devil–who
drank of the cup of the Lord, but were drunk with the wine of their own
lusts–who could lie, cheat, commit fornication and yet dared to
approach the sacred Table of the Lord? What cutting and hewing will
there be among the base-born professors of our Churches! It were better
for such men that they had never been born, or being born, that their
lot had fallen amid heathen ignorance, so that they might have been
unable to add sin to sin by lying unto the living God! "Begin at My
sanctuary." The word is terrible to all those who have a name to live
and are dead! God grant that in such testing times, when many fail, we
may survive every ordeal and, through Grace, exclaim in the end, "And I
was left."

After the executioners had begun at the sanctuary, it is to be observed
that they did not spare any except those upon whom was the mark Old and
young, men and women, priests and people, all were slain who had not
the sacred sign! And so in the Last Tremendous Day all sinners who have
not fled to Christ will perish! Our dear babies that died in infancy,
we believe to be all washed in the blood of Jesus, and all saved–but
for the rest of mankind who have lived to years of responsibility,
there will be only one of two things–they must either be saved because
they had faith in Christ, or else the full weight of Divine Wrath must
fall upon them. Either the mark of Christ's pen, or of Christ's sword,
must be upon everyone! There will be no sparing of one man because he
was rich, nor of another because he was learned, nor of a third because
he was eloquent, nor of a fourth because he was held in high esteem.
Those who are marked with the blood of Christ are safe! Without that
mark all are lost! This is the one separating sign–do you wear it? Or
will you die in your sins? Bow down at once before the feet of Jesus
and beseech Him to mark you as His own so that you may be one of those
who will joyfully cry, "And I was left." Now, secondly, I have to call
your very particular attention to–

II. THE PERSONS WHO ESCAPED, who could each say, "And I was left." We
are told that those were marked for mercy who did "sigh and cry for the
abominations that were done in the midst thereof." Now, we must be very
particular about this. It is no word of mine, remember–it is God's
Word and, therefore, I beg you to hear and weigh it for yourselves. We
do not read that the devouring sword passed by those quiet people who
never did anybody any harm–no mention is made of such an exemption!
Neither does the record say that the Lord saved those professors who
were judicious and maintained a fair name and reputation until death.
No, the only people who were saved were those who were exercised in
heart–and that heart-work was of a painful kind–they sighed and cried
because of abounding sin. They saw it, protested against it, avoided it
and, last of all, wept over it continually. Where testimony failed, it
remained for them to mourn. Retiring from public labors, they sat down
and sighed their hearts away because of the evils which they could not
cure. And when they felt that sighing alone would do no good, they took
to crying in prayer to God that He would come and put an end to the
dreadful ills which brooded over the land! I would not say a hard
thing, but I wonder, if I were able to read the secret lives of
professors of religion, whether I should find that they all sigh and
cry over the sins of others? Are the tenth of them thus engaged? I am
afraid that it does not cause some people much anxiety when they see
sin rampant around them. They say that they are sorry, but it never
frets them much, or causes them as much trouble as would come of a lost
sixpence or a cut finger! Did you ever feel as if your heart would
break over an ungodly son? I do not believe that you are a Christian if
you have such a son and have not felt an agony on his behalf. Did you
ever feel as if you could lay down your life to save that daughter of
yours? I cannot believe that you are a Christian if you have not
sometimes come to that! When you have gone through the street and heard
an oath, has not your blood chilled in you? Has not horror taken hold
upon you because of the wicked? There cannot be much Grace in you if
that has not been the case. If you can go up and down in the world
fully at ease because you are prospering in business and things go
smoothly with you, if you forget the woe of this city's sin and poverty
and the yet greater woe which comes upon it, how dwells the love of God
in you? The saving mark is only set on those who sigh and cry–if you
are heartless and indifferent, there is no such mark on you!

"Are we to be always miserable?" asks one. Far from it! There are many
other things to make us rejoice, but if the sad state of our fellow men
does not cause us to sigh and cry, then we have not the Grace of God in
us! "Well," says one, "but every man must look to himself." That is the
language of Cain–"Am I my brother's keeper?" That kind of talk is in
keeping with the spirit of the Wicked One and his seed–the heir of
Heaven abhors such language! The genuine Christian loves his race and,
therefore, he longs to see it made holy and happy. He cannot bear to
see men sinning and so dishonoring God and ruining themselves. If we
really love the Lord, we shall sometimes lie awake at night sighing to
think how His name is blasphemed and how little progress His Gospel
makes! We shall groan to think that men should despise the glorious God
who made them and who daily loads them with benefits! It sometimes lies
upon my heart like a huge mountain which rushes my spirit, to think
that Jesus should be rejected and that in this land of Bibles, where
Latimer lit a candle which shall never be put out, the old madness is
returning and many are again bowing before the images of jealousy which
the priests have set up! Yes, we have priests among us again! You can
see them in their long and ugly garments in every street! And women
have begun to confess to them! Shame! Shame! I marvel that the crimson
blush does not mantle the cheek of everyone who dares to ask or answer
the questions appointed for the confessional! And yet the questions are
asked, modesty is outraged and the multitudes tamely look on!

My countrymen are going back to Rome! Their fathers' noble blood was
shed for God and none was left for the veins of their sons. In vain the
conflicts of the years gone by! In vain a Cromwell's mighty arm and the
purging of the land! In vain the Puritans driven from their pulpits and
witnessing in poverty and persecution! Must England go back, again, to
wear the fetters forged by papal Rome? My God, prevent it! Prevent it
if it costs the lives of thousands of us, for we would be glad to die
to save our country from so dire a curse! If you never sigh and cry
because of the spread of Ritualism, I do not understand you! What stuff
are you made of? "Oh, but my business goes on exceedingly well." Yes,
and so does mine when souls are saved, but when they are led away into
error, my business cannot prosper and I have loss upon loss! I am happy
enough when I think Christ's Kingdom comes, but nothing beneath the sky
can give me solid satisfaction if my Lord's work is at a standstill! I
would to God we were all so taken up with the Glory of God that the
wickedness of mankind would grieve us to the heart!

But it was not their mourning which saved those who escaped–it was the
mark which they all received which preserved them from destruction! We
must all bear the mark of Jesus Christ. What is that? It is the mark of
faith in the atoning blood. That sets apart the chosen of the Lord and
that alone! If you have that mark–and you have it not unless you sigh
and cry over the sins of others–then in the Last Day no sword of
justice can come near you! Did you read that word, "But come not near
any man upon whom is the mark." Come not even nearthe marked ones lest
they be afraid. The Grace-marked man is safe even from the near
approach of harm! Christ bled for him and, therefore, he cannot, must
not die! Leave him alone, you bearers of the destroying weapons! Just
as the angel of death, when he flew through the land of Egypt, was
forbidden to touch a house where the blood of the lamb was on the
lintel and the two side posts, so is it sure that avenging Justice
cannot touch the man who is in Christ Jesus. Who is he that condemns
since Christ has died? Have you, then, the blood mark? Yes, or no? Do
not refuse to question yourself upon this point. Do not take it for
granted, lest you are deceived. Believe me, your all hangs upon it. If
you are not registered by the man clothed in linen, you will not be
able to say, "And I was left."

This brings me to this last point of which I desire to speak. What
were–

III. THE PROPHET'S EMOTIONS WHEN HE SAID, "AND I WAS LEFT"?

He saw men falling right and left and he, himself, stood like a lone
rock amidst a sea of blood! And he cried in wonder, "And I was left."

"Let us hear what he further says–"I fell on my face." He lay
prostrate with humility. Have you a hope that you are saved? Fall on
your face, then! See the Hell from which you are delivered and bow
before the Lord! Why are you to be saved more than anyone else?
Certainly not because of any merit in you. It is due to the Sovereign
Grace of God alone! Fall on your face and acknowledge your
indebtedness–

"Why was I made to hear Your voice,

And enter while there's room,

When thousands make a wretched choice,

And rather starve than come?"

"And I was left."

If a man has been a drunkard and has at length been led to flee to
Christ, when he says, "And I was left," he will feel the hot tears
rising in his eyes, for many other drinkers have died in delirium. One
who has been a public sinner, when she is saved, will not be able to
think of it without astonishment. Indeed, each saved man is a marvel to
himself. Nobody here wonders more at Divine Grace in his salvation than
I do! Why was I chosen, and called, and saved? I cannot make it out,
and I never shall–but I will always praise, and bless, and magnify my
Lord for casting an eye of love upon me! Will you not do the same,
Beloved, if you feel that you, by Grace, are left? Will you not fall on
your face and bless the mercy which makes you to differ?

What did the Prophet do next? Finding that he was left, he began to
pray for others. "Ah, Lord," he said, "will You destroy all the residue
of Israel?" Intercession is an instinct of the renewed heart. When the
Believer finds that he is safe, he must pray for his fellow men. Though
the Prophet's prayer was too late, yet, blessed be God, ours will not
be! We shall be heard. Pray, then, for perishing men! Ask God, who has
spared you, to spare those who are like you. Somebody has said there
will be three great wonders in Heaven–first, to see so many there whom
we never expected to meet in Glory. Secondly, to miss so many of whom
we felt sure that they must be safe. And thirdly, the greatest wonder
of all will be to find ourselves there! I am sure that everyone who has
a hope of being in Glory feels it to be a marvel and he or she
resolves, "If I am saved, I will sing the loudest of them all, for I
shall owe most to the abounding mercy of God!"

Let me ask a few questions and I have done. The first–and let each man
ask it of himself–shall I be left when the ungodly are slain? Answer
it now to yourselves. Men, women, children–will you be spared in that
Last Great Day? Are you in Christ? Have you a good hope in Him? Do not
lie to yourselves. You will be weighed in the balances–will you be
found wanting or not? "Shall I be left?" Let that question burn into
your souls.

Next, will my relatives be saved? My wife, my husband, my children, my
brother, my sister, my father, my mother– will these all be saved?
Happy are we who can say, "Yes, we believe they will," as some of us
can joyfully hope. But if you have to say, "No, I fear that my boy is
unconverted, or that my father is unsaved," then do not rest till you
have wrestled with God for their salvation. Good woman, if you are
obliged to say, "I fear my husband is unconverted," join me in

prayer. Bow your heads at once and cry unto your God, "Lord, save our
children! Lord, save our parents! Lord, save our husbands and wives,
our brothers and sisters and let the whole of our families meet in
Heaven, unbroken circles, for Your name's sake!"

May God hear that prayer if it has come from the lips of sincerity! I
could not endure the thought of missing one of my boys in Heaven–I
hope I shall see them both there and, therefore, I am in deep sympathy
with any of you who have not seen your households brought to Christ. O
for Grace to pray earnestly and labor zealously for the salvation of
your whole households!

The next earnest enquiry is, if you and your relatives are saved, how
about your neighbors, your fellow workmen, your companions in business?
"Oh," you say, "many of them are scoffers! A good many of them are
still in the gall of bitterness." A sorrowful fact, but have you spoken
to them? It is amazing what a kind word will do. Have you tried it? Did
you ever try to speak to that person who meets you every morning as you
go to work? Suppose he should be lost? Oh, it will be a bitter feeling
for you to think that he went down to the Pit without your making an
effort to bring him to God! Do not let it be so. "But we must not be
too pushy," says one. I do not know about that. If you saw poor people
in a burning house, nobody would blame you for being too forward if you
helped to save them. When a man is sinking in the river, if you jump in
and pull him out, nobody will say, "You were rude and intrusive, for
you were never introduced to him!" This world has been lost and it must
be saved–and we must not mind our manners in saving it. We must get a
grip of sinking sinners somehow, even if it is by the hair of their
heads, before they sink, for if they sink, they are lost forever! They
will forgive us very soon for any roughness that we use, but we shall
not forgive ourselves if, for lack of a little energy, we permit them
to die without a knowledge of the Truth of God!

Oh, beloved Friends, if you are left while others perish, I beseech
you, by the mercies of God, by the heart of compassion which is in
Christ Jesus, by the bleeding wounds of the dying Son of God–love your
fellow men and sigh and cry about them if you cannot bring them to
Christ! If you cannot save them, you can weep over them. If you cannot
give them a drop of cold water in Hell, you can give them your heart's
tears while they are yet in this body!

But are you in very deed reconciled to God yourselves? Reader, are you
cured of the awful disease of sin? Are you marked with the blood-red
sign of trust in the atoning blood? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? If not, the Lord have mercy upon you! May you have sense enough
to have mercy upon yourself! May the Spirit of God instruct you to that
end. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 8:14-30.

Verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God. Not those who say they are "the sons of God," but those
who undoubtedly prove that they are by being led, influenced, gently
guided by the Spirit of

God!

15. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear: but
you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
We did receive the spirit of bondage once. We felt that we were under
the Law and that the Law cursed us. We felt its rigorous taxation and
that we could not meet it. Now that spirit has gone and we have the
spirit of freedom, the spirit of children, the Spirit of adoption. I
suppose that the Apostle, when he thus spoke and said, "you," felt so
much of the Spirit of adoption in his own bosom that he could not talk
of it as belonging to others alone. He was obliged to include it thus,
and so he puts it, "You have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we
cry, Abba, Father." He wanted to intimate that he, himself, was also a
partaker of this blessed Spirit. And woe to the preacher who can preach
an adoption which he never enjoyed! Woe to any of us if we can teach
others concerning the spirit of sonship, but never feel it crying in
our own souls, "Abba, Father."

16. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God. It corroborates the testimony of conscience. We feel
that we are the children of God and the Spirit of God comes forward as
a second, but still greater and higher witness, to confirm the
testimony that we arethe children of God!

17. And if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified
together.It is to be all with Him! With Him in the suffering. With Him
in the glory. With Him in the

reproach of men. With Him in the honor at the right hand of the Father.
But if we shun the path of humiliation with Him, we may expect that He
will deny us in the day of His Glory. 18. For I reckon. Judge, count it
up, and calculate.

18. That the sufferings of thispresent time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.These sufferings,
however, sharp, are short compared with eternal glory–infinitesimal,
not worthy to be taken account of–like one drop falling into a river
and lost in it.

19-21. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the
manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same
in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
There is a future even for materialism. That poor, dusky clod in which
we dwell is yet to be illuminated with the light of God–and these poor
bodies which are akin to the dust of the earth, and still remain as if
they were not delivered, being subjected to pain, and weakness, and
death–even they are yet to be brought into the glorious liberty of the
children of God!

22-23. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain
together until now. And not only they, but ourselves, also, which have
the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body.The soul has obtained its redemption. Therefore, our heart is glad
and our glory rejoicing. But our body has not yet obtained its
redemption. That is to come at the Resurrection. Then will be the
adoption. "Waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body." Oh, blessed fact! Though now, in common with the whole creation,
the body is subjected to bondages, yet it shall be delivered and
we–the whole man, body as well as soul and spirit–shall be brought
into the liberty of the children of God!

24-25. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for
what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? But if we hope for what
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.Ah, Brothers and
Sisters, if we could be all we should like to be, there would then be
no room for the exercise of hope! If we had all that we are to have,
then hope, which is one of the sweetest of the Divine Graces, would
have no room in which to exercise herself. It is a blessed thing to
have hope. Though I have heard that faith and hope are not to be found
in Heaven, I very much question it. I do not think they will ever die.
"Now abide these three–faith, hope, and love"–for in Heaven there
will be room, surely, for trust in the ever blessed God that He will
never cast us out from our blessedness–room for the expectation of the
Second Advent–room for the expectation of the conquest of the
world–room for the fulfilled promise of bringing all the elect to
Glory! Still something to be hoped for! Still something to be believed!
Yet here is the main sphere of hope and, therefore, let us give it full
scope. And when other graces seem to be at a non-plus, let us still
hope. I believe the New Zealand word for hope is "swimming thought,"
because that will swim when everything else is drowned. Oh, happy is
that man who has a hope that swims on the crest of the stormiest
billow!

26. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities.And especially our
infirmities in prayer, for there is where infirmities are mostly seen.

26. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit
Himself makes intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered.I
should have thought that it would have read, "But the Spirit Himself
teaches us what we should pray for." But it does more than that. He
goes beyond teaching us what we should pray for–He "makes intercession
for us, with groans which cannot be uttered." Do you know what those
groans are? I am afraid that those who never had groans which cannot be
uttered will never know anything of that glory which cannot be
expressed, for that is the way to it. The groans that cannot be uttered
lead on to unutterable joy!

27. And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the
Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the
will of God.That is the philosophy of prayer. Whatever God's will is,
the Spirit of God writes it on the hearts of praying saints, and they
pray for the very thing which God intends to give. As the barometer
often foretells the weather that is coming, so the spirit of prayer in
the Christian is the barometer which indicates when showers of blessing
are coming. It is well with us when we can pray. If we cannot do
anything else, if we feel that we can pray, times are not so bad with
us as we might think.

28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. We know
it! We are assured of it!

29-30. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born
among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also
called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He
justified, them He also glorified. No breaking of these links! Where
God gives one of these blessings, He gives the rest. There is no
intimation of a failure somewhere in between. The predestinated are
called, and the called are justified and the justified are glorified!

31-33. What shall we say, then, to these things? If God is for us, who
can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not, with Him, also freely give us all things?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?Who shall? Who may?
Who dares?

33-35. 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. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? All these
have done their worst.

36. As it is written, For Your sake we are killed all the daylong; we
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But have they divided the
saints from the love of Christ? Have they made the saints leave off
loving Christ, or Christ cease from loving His people?

37-39. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him
that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For which blessed be the name of the adorable Trinity, world without
end!