The One and the Many
(No. 2544)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1897.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 3, 1884.
"The judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification." Romans 5:16.
I am not going to speak at length about the Doctrine of the Federal
Headship of the first Adam and of the second Adam, which is, to my
mind, indisputably taught in this chapter. I have heard a great many
objections to that Truth of God which appear to me to be plainly
revealed in Scripture, namely, that we were all represented by Adam in
the Garden of Eden and that when he sinned, he so sinned as to sin
representatively–and we fellby virtue of his disobedience. Certain it
is that we all come into a world that is adapted to sinners–where the
babe is no sooner born than it begins to suffer pain–where winter's
frosts, summer's heats and changes of all kinds constantly try us–a
world not at all adapted for perfect beings. God regards us from our
very birth as sinful and He treats us as such. Now, whatever quibbles
there may be about that Doctrine of Representation and Federal
Headship, it is a fact, and I would remind objectors that it is, under
many aspects, a very blessed fact! When the angels fell, keeping not
their first estate, there was never any proposal to ransom them, for
each of those spiritual beings fell in his own individual capacity and
fell hopelessly. But the human race was a unitrepresented by the one
head, Adam.
And though to us it is a most unhappy thing that we should all have
fallen by virtue of our being represented by Adam, yet here is the
mercy of it–it left a way open by which we might be restored, for, if
we fell by one Adam, there remained a possibility of our rising by
another Adam! If the disobedience of one representative was the first
cause of our being regarded as sinners, then it became possible that
the obedience of another and still greater Representative might enable
God to regard us as righteous and treat us as such! I shall not quibble
at what is so greatly to my own personal advantage–I rather bow before
what I cannot understand and accept it because I see how it is now
possible for me to be saved forever and ever! "Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile." I dare not question the perfect justice of my fall in Adam.
I should be most unwise if I did, for by so doing I might cast some
doubt upon the justice of my rising in the second Adam–and what other
way of rising is there possible for me, or possible for any of us?
Entering not, however, into any of the disputes that have arisen around
this Truth of God, I simply allude to the fact, most dreadful and
terrible, that in Adam we died, because in Adam's sin we were regarded
as sinners. And I rejoice in that second fact which covers and meets
the first, that in Christ we live, inasmuch as Christ's righteousness
is the property of all who are truly in Him. He was righteous on their
behalf and they find in Him wisdom, righteousness, sanctifica-tion and
redemption!
Our text alludes to certain differences between the consequences of
Adam's representation and that of Christ–"The judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto
justification." I shall speak about four things as the Holy Spirit
shall graciously guide me.
I. the first is, THE VENON OF SIN–"The judgment was by one to
condemnation." By one man, by one sin, by one act of transgression,
"The judgment was to condemnation."
Notice, dear Friends, that Adam's offense was one. True, there were a
great many sins wrapped up in that one–it would be almost impossible
to mention any sin which did not lie asleep, or which was not found in
embryo, within that one act of tasting the forbidden fruit. Yet it was
but one offense. It is looked at by those who have no spiritual
understanding as a very small matter, just as at this day men still
make light of sin and regard disobedience to the will of God as being a
mere trifle. Yet that one offense has ruined us all. When he, who
committed it, fell–
"Then I, and you, and all of us fell down." Inasmuch as he was the
parent of us all, he communicated to all his offspring a tendency to
sin. And all his descendants became subject to the weary woes of life
and to the sure penalty of death. Think of the mischief that one sin
can do– Adam's disobedience was but one offense, yet some of its
consequences will remain forever!
Note, next, that one offense brought with it condemnation. Such is the
Law of God–that it does not need to be broken many times to bring
condemnation–one breakage of it and the dread sentence is passed. Had
you and I committed only one solitary sin–I scarcely like to utter the
supposition, for it is so far remote from the truth–but if it were so,
he who breaks the Law in any one point has broken it all. It is like a
chain and if you file through a single link, you have broken the whole
chain. It is like a vase of purest alabaster, of matchless
workmanship–if you break it anywhere, you have spoiled it and it can
never be offered unto God. One offense brings condemnation! The verdict
of, "Guilty," upon one solitary count of the indictment brings upon the
convicted criminal the death sentence from the Throne of God. Let no
man object to this. If he does, his objecting will not alter the fact.
It still stands as a necessary consequence of the righteous Law of God
that He will, by no means, spare the guilty, and even one offense
brings judgment unto condemnation!
But what I want you to especially think of is that this one sin has
such venom in it that it has brought condemnation and suffering and
death upon the whole race of mankind. Oh, what myriads of men there are
in the world! When I traverse this city of five million souls, it
appalls me! It can scarcely be called a city–it is a province, it is a
nation! There are two or three nations which, if put together, would
not make up as many inhabitants as the population of this wonderful
city! Yet, over all this vast population the taint of sin has spread.
But what is London compared with all the nations of the globe, the
almost innumerable hosts that people this round world? Yet there is not
one who bears the countenance of a man upon whom the shadow of the
curse has not fallen. Each man must toil for his bread with the sweat
upon his brow and, in due time, it must be said to each one of us,
"dust you are, and unto dust shall you return." What has caused all
this? It is the one offensewhich has brought judgment unto condemnation
upon all!
Just think, for a moment, that this has been the case, not merely with
the populations of today, but with all who have ever lived upon this
earth. Can you count them? As well might you try to number the drops of
the morning dew! The world is one vast cemetery–in many places, an
Aceldama–a field of blood where men have slaughtered one another even
by the thousands! But in peaceful times the people have still died! As
surely as the leaves fall from the trees in autumn when no rough wind
or frost drives them from the bough, so do men die in due season. "Man
goes to his long home and the mourners go about the streets." My
imagination would aid my understanding, but, together, they fail to
comprehend the hosts on hosts of men and women and children who have
died and whose bodies lie buried in the earth, or cover the bottom of
the sea. "Who slew all these?" the answer is, "Sin, which brought death
into the world."
It was but a woman's finger that lifted the latch, but in came that
which cannot be expelled till the greater Man shall descend from Heaven
with a shout, with the trumpet of the archangel and with the voice of
God! Death, with all his train of sickness, disease and woe, came in
among us by the sin of our first parents. Oh, the venom that there must
be in sin! Oh, think not little of it! Children of God, by the blood of
the Atonement, I beseech you, think not lightly of sin and, by the
terror of that curse which came by one act of rebellion, I entreat you,
never trifle with sin! There is a ship lying outside a certain harbor.
It has come front Marseilles, but it must not enter the port. There is
a panic on the land, the whole town is up in arms, the people will not
let the cargo be unloaded, nor allow the mariners to tread our English
shore. Why? Because there is cholera on board!
And what is that? Can it be seen with a microscope? I do not know.
Perhaps one day the germ of it may be discovered and it may be
sufficiently large to reach the human understanding. It may be but a
puff of putrid air–a something unseen which lingers in a bale of dirty
rags. But will you bring it on shore? No, unless you hate your fellow
men and wish to murder them! And every sin contains within it a pest, a
plague, an evil a thousand times more terrible than the black death of
olden times–and more awful than the cholera of today! Oh, flee from
sin as from a cobra, lest a single look at it should fascinate you and
its sting should have envenomed your veins before you are aware of it!
O young men and fathers, you who have children, I beseech you,
especially, to remember how your sins will be transmitted from
generation to generation!
Before I leave this point, I must also remind you that the sin of a
single moment is the sin of eternity. Mark that well. A man drops a
stone into the ocean and, by wondrous perceptive organs, the effect
might be discovered on every shore and in every sea. Such is the power
of mechanical motion, that the least movement in one place must affect
the entire world. But sin has an all but boundless influence. There may
be some erroneous teaching that may be spoken to but half-a-dozen
people, but you can never recall it. It has gone forth forever and, by
that one sin you may have impregnated one person with evil and that one
may pass on the error to another–and that one to a thousand–and so
mischief is done which only a miracle of Grace can undo! Oh, the
horrible nature of sin! I pray you, let your horror of sin make you
love that Redeemer who bore its curse in His own body on the tree and
who has saved from it you who are Believers in Him! It is no trifle
from which Christ has saved you! Sin is a worse disease than leprosy,
it is something more than death, for it brings the death that never
dies. O Sirs, with tears of penitence, turn your backs on sin! And turn
those eyes, yet filled with tears, upon your Savior's bleeding body,
and adore and magnify Him that He has delivered you from sin!
II. the second Truth of God in our text which I want to bring before
you is concerning the freeness of salvation– "The judgment was by one
to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto
justification."
I like that expression, "the free gift." Somebody asked, the other day,
why we talk about "Free Grace." Of course, that is a redundant
expression, for Grace must be free, but there are so many people about,
nowadays, who will not understand us if they can help it, so we like to
speak, not only so that they can understand us, but so that they cannot
misunderstand us if they try! It is for this reason that we say, "Free
Grace," that they may have it twice over and hear it with both ears. If
we only speak to one of their ears, it may, as men say, go in that one
and out the other–but if we speak to both their ears at once, perhaps
the Truth of God may meet somewhere in the center of their brain and
remain there. We delight to speak of salvation as Paul puts it here,
"the free gift." Nothing can be freer than a gift, but, lest there
should be any mistake about the freeness, it is spoken of as "the free
gift."
What is this free gift? It is, first, the original gift of Jesus, God's
unspeakable Gift. Surely, nobody can ever be so foolish as to dream
that men deserveto have Jesus Christ as their Savior! That is a notion
which, I should think, would be repudiated by every man who gave it
half a thought–that ever fallen men could deserve that God should give
up His only-begotten Son to bleed and die for them. No, Jesus must be a
Gift, and He must be a free Gift.
And when our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world and gave Himself for
us, this, also, was a free and undeserved gift of Grace. Does any man
think that he has any merit by which he could claim that Christ should
assume human form and should live and suffer and, at last, die for him?
You must be mad, man, if you harbor such a thought for a single
instant! Your pride must have made you insane if you can think that you
deserveyon Cross and all that it meant to the glorious Victim who was
nailed to it! What? Can you see His hands and feet pierced with the
cruel iron and His heart divided by the soldier's spear–and then talk
of your own merit It cannot be thought of! You could not meritChrist–
that would be quite impossible! His death must be a free gift, for none
could ever deserve it. So that, on the part of the Father, and of the
Son, salvation is a free gift.
It is also as a free gift that the Holy Spirit applies this salvation
to the hearts of men. You dream, perhaps, that you are to pay to God so
much prayer, so much repentance, so much faith, so much promise and
resolve, so much reformation and so much future holiness. I tell you,
Sirs, you know not God, nor His ways, while you entertain such a
foolish notion! Until such talk as that is driven far from you, you do
not stand upon ground where God can meet you. He comes not to sell the
priceless blessing of His love for your paltry pence of supposed merit
and obedience! It must be a free gift if it is to be yours at all.
Salvation is a free gift bestowed upon men without anything on their
part to deserve it. When God saves a sinner, it is simply as a sinner
that he is saved–not as one who has any point about him that can
commend him to God's love. He is just a lost, ruined, undone, condemned
soul, apart from the mercy of God! When the Lord comes to deal with a
sinner, it is not upon conditions and terms. If you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, God saves you–and saves you wholly, completely and
unconditionally. I have read that Queen Elizabeth was once asked to
pardon a person who had made an attempt upon her life, but who had done
it out of loyalty to the Queen of Scots. She felt that she could
forgive the man, but she said to him, "Now, if I pardon you, must it
not be upon certain conditions?" He answered, quoting from a good,
sound Divine, "Grace upon conditions, your Majesty, is no grace at
all." He spoke well, and the Queen recognized that it was so, for she
said to him, "I pardon you at once without any condition," and she,
thereby, made a loyal subject of him for the rest of his life. So the
Lord forgives you, poor trembling but trusting soul, without exacting
anything of you of any sort whatever!
Further, if you do come just as you are, empty-handed and foul, and
receive what He is prepared to give, He does not ask you to give
anything of your own in return for His free gift. "But I must be holy,"
says one. You shallbe holy and that very holiness will be God's gift to
you! "But I must repent." Yes, and you will repent, but that penitence
will be God's gift to you! "But I must leave my sin." Yes, and you
willeave your sin, and be glad to leave it, yet that, also, will be
God's gift to you–not your gift to God. You are simply to be a
receiver all the way along. You are a prisoner at the bar, you have not
any plea to urge why the judge should not put on the black cap and
condemn you to death. If you should search through Heaven, earth and
Hell, you could not find one valid reason why God should save you
except this one–that He wills to do it by a free gift of His pure,
unmerited Grace. He can justly do it through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ, for He is both "just and the Justifier of him that believes."
If any of you desire to know how you are to be saved, I tell you again
that there is nothing for you to do in order to merit salvation–you
have rather to leave off your own doing and to rest in what Christ has
done! Have I put the matter plainly enough? No, I have not, for who can
make it so plain that a blind man can see it? God must open the blind
man's eyes and then he will see it! Yet there it stands, clear and
plain–salvation is the free gift of God! It is all of Grace from first
to last!
III. now, in the third place, I must speak upon THE LARGENESS OF GOD'S
PARDON–"The free gift is of many offenses."
I would like to stand here and preach, not merely for seven days, or
seven weeks, but for seven years, upon those words which I have just
repeated–"The free gift is of many offenses." You would be worn out, I
daresay, with listening, but I would let you go home and invite another
congregation to fill the house to hear this wondrous story, which can
never be fully told!
Think of the many persons that Free Grace has saved–the many who are
still upon the earth. But, if you are heavy of heart, I ask you to look
up beyond that gate of pearl and gaze by faith into Glory. Oh, the
myriads, the innumerable myriads, that my spirit eyes behold clustering
around the eternal Throne of God! They are as bees that throng about
the hive and hang in clusters around the queen bee–or stars that stud
the firmament of Heaven, or as the drops of spray that leap from the
unnumbered waves in the hour of a great Atlantic storm! Of things
impossible to count, I speak no longer! Who shall tell the thousandth
part of the stars of Heaven that once were darkness, or of the children
of God who once were heirs of wrath?
Think, next, of the many offenses which all of these saved sinners must
have committed, yet the free Gift has blotted them all out. Turn your
mind to contemplate the many kinds of sin that there are in the world
and then remember the text–"The free gift is of many offenses." I will
not try to go through the black list. I will not begin with the least
and mount up to the highest, but this I will say, if you have been a
blasphemer, if you have prostituted your body, if you have defiled your
soul, if you are covered with scarlet sin from head to foot till not a
spot is left clean upon you, still is my text true–"The free gift is
of many offenses unto justification." "All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men," for, "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son,
cleanses us from all sin." That is a wonderfully sweet, "all!" It
includes many kinds of sin–yes, every sort of offense against God.
Think, dear Friends, of the number of times that you have committed any
of these sins. I will not ask you to count them, for they are greater
in number than the hairs of your head, or the sands on the seashore.
You have sinned once, twice, three times–begin with millions–and you
will be nearer the mark! There are men who seem to make every breath a
sin. They breathe out iniquity and every pulse beats in rebellion
against the Most High. They are always sinning and yet they are never
satisfied–their appetite grows with that it feeds upon. Yet in this
text there is hope, even, for such sinners as they are! "The free gift
is of many offenses." Poor blackamoor sinner, where are you? This
message is meant for you–for you who drip with filth as you go
along–you whose speech would make the cheek of modesty to blush! The
free gift is for you whose hearts must be a very morgue–a reeking
sepulcher of iniquity! Yet even to such as you is my text sent to
declare that "the free gift is of many offenses unto justification."
IV. there is sufficient sea room there for us to sail on as long as we
please, but I must come to my last point which is–THE PERFECTION OF
GOD'S GRACE–"The free gift is of many offenses unto justification." I
have time only to say a very little upon that wonderful theme. May the
Holy Spirit, Himself, teach you what it means!
What is justification? You have, perhaps, heard of, "justification by
faith," till you scarcely attach any meaning to that familiar phrase.
Well, first, justification is the reverse of condemnation. Do you know
what condemnation is? I suppose that you never were condemned in a
court of law, but were you ever condemned in the court of conscience?
Did all your thoughts sit, like a jury, to try your whole life? And did
they, with one consent, by the mouth of the foreman, say, "Guilty"? I
tell you, Sirs, you do not know how to spell, "justification," till
every letter of the word, "condemnation," has burnt itself into your
soul. These two things must go together–the condemnation, like a
harrow, tearing up the earth, or, like a great sub-soil plow, cutting
up everything as it runs along. And then comes justification, like a
sweet, gentle shower, softening the clods and preparing for the
precious grain that shall produce a harvest of glory. Condemnation on
account of sin is a very real thing–those who have felt it know that
it is. Many a man has been ready to lay violent hands upon himself when
he has been under sentence of condemnation! And justification is quite
as real.
Justification further means actual acquittal. I want you to get that
Truth of God into your mind, dear child of God. If you ever were as I
was for five long years, as a child, condemnation was very real to you.
It was no dream, it was an awful reality. You knew that you were
condemned, and your own conscience said that it was so. Well, now, if
you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you may just as certainly
and as truly know that you are acquitted and justified–and conscience,
taught by the Spirit of God, will confirm the verdict! You are no
longer guilty–God regards you, in Christ, as righteous. He pronounces
you just and if God says you are just, let not the devil be listened to
when he declares that you are unjust! The great work of salvation is
fully accomplished! Your chastisement has been borne by Another and
your sin is put away forever. "It is finished," is Christ's own
declaration! The righteousness that God required of you is perfected by
Another, even by your great Substitute, and He has wrapped that robe
around you and you may wear it. If you are a believer in Jesus, what we
sang just now is true concerning you–
"In Your Surety you are free, His dear hands were pierced for thee!
With His spotless vesture on, Holy as the Holy One."
"The free gift is of many offenses unto justification." If you were as
guilty as the greatest sinner out of Hell, believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that guilt is all gone! The righteousness of Christ is yours,
you are justified before God and, therefore, you are in perfect
security and safety now and forever! And you shall forever adore the
Divine Grace that has saved such a sinner as you feel yourself to be!
God bless you all, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: Jonah 3,4:1,2; Romans 5.
Jonah 3:1, 2. And the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time,
saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the
preaching that I bid you. There is no preaching like that which Gods
bids us. The preaching that comes out of our own heads will never go
into other men's hearts. If we will keep to the preaching that the Lord
bids us, we shall not fail in our ministry.
3. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the Word of the
Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city of three days 'journey.
For those times, Nineveh was "an exceedingly great city," but it is far
exceeded in size by this modern Nineveh of London!
4. And Jonah began to enter into the city on the first day's walk, and
he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown/His
message was short and sharp, there was not a word of mercy in it. There
was nothing to distract the attention of the hearers from the one point
and the one subject–and there is a great deal in that. We may
sometimes say too much in a single sermon and give our hearers a field
of wheat instead of a loaf of bread. But Jonah said what he was bid to
say, no more and no less–"Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be
overthrown."
5-9. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and
put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne,
and he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and
sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through
Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither
man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed, nor
drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry
mightily unto God: yes, let them turn, every one, from his evil way,
and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will
turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish
not?Note that the only message they had heard was a prophecy of
impending judgment! God had sent His servant to warn them of the coming
destruction and, since He had warned them that He meant to destroy
them, they could infer that He might possibly intend pity towards them
should they repent, but there was as yet no verbal declaration of mercy
or hope. These people went to God with nothing better to sustain them
than this, "Who can tell?"
How much more guilty than these Ninevites are they who refuse to humble
themselves before God, even when they have distinct injunctions from
God and explicit promises that whoever shall confess and forsake his
sins shall find mercy! These men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment
against the men of London and the men of this generation, and condemn
them, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now men do not
repent even at the testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of God! To
despise the Prophet Jonah would have involved these people in certain
destruction–of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy
who despise the Christ of God and do despite unto the Spirit of Grace!
10. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and
God relented of the disaster that He had said that He would do unto
them; and He did it not There is no change in God, absolutely
considered, but there is often an apparentchange. That which He
threatens, while men remain in sin, is not executed upon them when they
repent and turn to Him. He is always the same God. From the beginning
He has been "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin." If He did not pardon sin when men
turn from it with sincere repentance, He would have changed His method
of dealing with the penitent. But when He does forgive, it is according
to His way from the beginning, for He has always been a tender,
compassionate and gracious God.
Jonah 4:1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
A nice Prophet this! Jonah was a man of a somewhat ugly disposition,
yet I think he has been misunderstood. He was the true child of Elijah,
the Prophet of fire. Elijah was a rough, stern servant of the Lord, who
felt that the indignities which had been done to Jehovah deserved
instant and terrible punishment. And he seemed almost to wish to see
that punishment inflicted, as he accused the people unto God, saying,
"the children of Israel have forsaken Your Covenant, thrown down Your
altars, and slain Your Prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am
left, and they seek my life, to take it away." He was bravely stern for
God and Jonah was cast in a similar mold. He seemed to feel, "I have
been sent of God to tell these people that they will be destroyed for
their sin. Now, if they are notdestroyed, it will be thought that I
have not preached the truth and, what is far more serious, it will be
thought that God does not keep His word."
His whole thought was taken up with the honor of God, and his own honor
as involved in that of the Lord. There are many people, nowadays, who
seem to think everything of man and very little of God and,
consequently, they fall into grievous errors. Jonah, on the contrary,
thought everything of God and very little of men. He fell into an error
by so doing and there was a lack of balance of judgment. Yet is Jonah's
error so very seldom committed that I am half inclined to admire it in
contrast with the error on the other side! He felt that it would be
better for Nineveh to be destroyed than for God's truthfulness to be
jeopardized even for a single moment. God would not have us push even
concern for His honor too far, but we are such poor creatures that,
very often, when we are within an inch of the right course, we fall
into a snare of the enemy. It was so with Jonah–when he was
exceedingly displeased and very angry at what God had done in sparing
the repentant people of Nineveh.
2. Andhe prayed unto the Lord, andsaid, Ipray You, O Lord, was not this
my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto
Tarshish: for I knew that You are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to
anger, and of great kindness, and relents of doing evil This was as
much as if he had said to the Lord, "I went and did Your bidding, and
told the Ninevites that they would be destroyed. But I knew in my heart
that if they repented, You would not carry out Your threat and now You
are too gracious, too kind to these wicked people." It is a strange
thing, is it not, that Jonah was angry because his message was blessed
to his hearers? As a good commentator says, "When Christ sees of the
travail of His soul, He is satisfied. But when Jonah saw of the travail
of his soul, he was dissatisfied." There are some men who leave off
preaching because they do not succeed–but here was one who was ready
to give up because he didsucceed!
It is strange that such a good man as Jonah was should fall into such a
foolish state of mind. But God still has a great many unwise children.
You can, any of you, find one if you look in the right place–I mean,
in a mirror. We are all foolish at times and it should be remembered
that although Jonah was foolish, and wrong in certain respects, there
is this redeeming trait in his character–we might never have known the
story of his folly if he had not written it himself! It shows what a
true-hearted man the Prophet was, that he unveiled his real character
in this Book. Biographies of men are seldom truthful because the
writers cannot read the hearts of those whom they describe. But if they
could read them, they would not like to print what they would see
there. But here is a man, inspired of God to write his own biography,
and he tells us of this sad piece of folly–and does not attempt in the
least degree to mitigate the evil of it. Now turn to a very different
portion of Scripture, Romans 5.
Romans 5:1. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ These are matters of fact. Not of
fanatical delusion, but of logical conclusion, for Paul begins with a,
"therefore." God's people are justified on solid grounds, on reasonable
grounds, on grounds that will bear the test, even, of the last Great
Judgment Day. "Therefore, being'"–now, at the present time, this very
moment–"justified by faith, we have peace." Not only we hopeto have it
and trust we shallhave it, but we have it. "We have peace"–not only
peace of conscience and peace with our fellow men, but, "we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Mark that–we have it. O dear
people of God, do not be satisfied unless you can talk in this
confident fashion! "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
2. By whom also. What? Is not that first verse all? Oh, no! There is
more to follow. When you get a hold of one golden link of the blessed
chain of Grace, it pulls up another and then another, and then another!
"By whom also."
2. We have access by faith into this Grace wherein we stand. We come
into this Grace by Jesus Christ and to this heavenly standing, this
justified condition, through Jesus Christ who is the Door.
2. And rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Our joy is in the past and
the present, in some measure, but it is still more in the future–"We
rejoice in hope of the glory of God." We have three windows–the one
out of which we look back with gratitude upon the past–the one out of
which we look with joy in the present and the one out of which we look
with expectation upon the future.
3. And not only so, there is for every child of God Grace upon Grace.
Every line of the Apostle's writing tells of more blessing. "And not
only so." Is not that enough? Justified, enjoying peace, having access
into Grace, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God! What can there be
more? Why, there is something on the road as well as at the endof it.
"And not only so."
3. But we glory in tribulations, also. We are not only acquiescent in
the Divine will, but, tutored by the Spirit of God, we come even to
"glory in tribulations also."
3. Knowing that tribulation works patience. "Knowing." Paul was no
agnostic, he was a "knowing" man, and all God's people ought to be the
same. They are a very dogmatic people when they are what they ought to
be. They have nothing to do with, "if," and, "ands, "and, "buts," and
"perhapses"–they believe and are sure! "Knowing that tribulation works
patience." The natural tendency of tribulation is to work
impatience–it produces peevishness in many– but where the Spirit of
God is, there is a heavenly counteraction of natural tendencies and,
"tribulation works patience!"
4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope. Again I cannot help
observing how we seem to go through one door just to pass through
another. We get into a silver chamber that we may go into a golden one
and, before we can take stock of all the gold, we are ushered into a
gorgeous palace of pearls and rubies and diamonds of priceless value!
5. And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. If you have
the Holy Spirit given unto you, then the love of God fills your nature
like a sweet perfume. As when the woman broke the alabaster box and the
house was filled with the odor of the ointment, so, when the Spirit of
God comes and brings the broken alabaster of the Savior's Sacrifice,
and we feel the love of God poured out among us, what a delightful
perfume there is! "Your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do
the virgins love You." The way to make us love God is for the love of
God to be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit!
6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for
the ungodly. Are not these very wonderful words? "Christ died for the
ungodly." Pick out all those who are the naturally good people and this
text has nothing to do with them! But find out the ungodly, the sinful,
the wicked–and here is a text exactly suitable for them–"Christ died
for the ungodly."
7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. He is very righteous,
but he is very stern. Nobody cares much about him.
7. Yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. He is "a
good man"–benevolent, kind, and tender.
8. But God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. While we were neither righteous nor
good–"while we were yet sinners, Christ" did the most He ever could,
or ever can do for us–He "died for us." This is the best Gift for the
worst of men and that best Gift given to them when they are at their
worst state! "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
9. Much more, then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. "Much more." Paul has been giving us, "alsos,"
and, "ands." Now he takes a bigger leap, still, for he says, "Much
more, then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through Him." If He saved us when we were sinners, He will
certainly save us now that we are justified! If He called us when we
were dead, He will not leave us now we are alive!
10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life. You see, there are three points here. When we were enemies, He
blessed us. Much more, now that we are reconciled, will He do so. If,
in the second place, when we were enemies He reconciled us, how much
more, after He has reconciled us, will He save us! And, thirdly, if He
did all this for us by the death of His Son, much more will He do for
us by His life, Reconciled by His death, we shall be saved by His life!
11. And not only so, there is no end to the blessing. Dear Brothers and
Sisters, the Apostle seems to be always going up, and up, and up! This
Paul, calm and cool and logical as he is, makes the fire burn most
wondrously! "And not only so."
11. But we also joy in God. We are glad that He is God, glad that He is
such a God as He is. We would not wish to have Him altered! The God of
Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob–the God of the Old testament, and
the God of the New testament–we love Him altogether just as He is!
And, "we joy in God."
11-21. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the
Atonement Therefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned, (for until the Law, sin was in the world: but sin is not
imputed when there is no Law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to
Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of
Adam's transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come. But
not as the offense, so also is the free gift For if through the offense
of one many are dead, much more the Grace of God, and the gift by
Grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many. And
not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was
by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto
justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much
more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of
righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ). Therefore as
by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even
so by the righteousness of One, the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.
Moreover the Law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin
abounded, Grace did much more abound: that as sin has reigned unto
death, even so might Grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
I have not expounded the latter part of the chapter, as time fails me,
but I shall dwell upon it somewhat in the sermon.