Delivered by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
BEFORE LEAVING HOME FOR A JOURNEY
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."–Romans
16:24.
THE CHRISTIAN IS A MAN of generous actions, but his wishes go far
beyond his deeds. Where he cannot be beneficent he is benevolent. If he
cannot actually accomplish good for all, yet he anxiously desires it.
If it be not in his power to confer grace upon any, yet he prays that
God would give his grace to all the brotherhood. His heart entertains
thousands, though his house might be overfull with ten; his liberal
desires feed nations, even though his purse be so scant that he cannot
afford more than a penny for a poor child. God, whose providence limits
our ability, has set no measure to our willingness. Our wishes may be
boundless though our powers are contracted, and this will be good for
ourselves and not useless to others.
Christianity never came into the world to make individual professors of
it isolated, like the icebergs which float away on the wide sea in
solitary terribleness; neither is it intended that we should be so
anxious for our own salvation as to be indifferent to the welfare of
others. True religion is not a separating and repelling force, but
rather, like attraction, it draws individual atoms into one body and
holds them together. It does not shiver to fragments, but welds into
one. It is a loadstone, not a whirlwind. God in his grace gathers
together in one body in Christ Jesus all his scattered ones, and the
same Spirit who constrains us to love God leads us to love our brother
also.
A loving spirit, when it can actually do no more, naturally seizes upon
the ever open outlet of good wishes, benedictions, and intercessions.
Thus the great heart of the apostle relieved itself; though he would
have been willing to lay down his life for the brethren, yet he did not
think it idle to give them his blessing, nor did they reject it as
worthless because it cost him nothing. It was meet that he who had in
so many ways proved his sincere love to the saints should in his letter
give utterance to it by pronouncing inspired blessings upon them Thus
wrote the apostle of the Gentiles to those he longed to serve; "The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."
We have dropped, to a great extent, the custom of having the
benediction pronounced by the minister upon the people. The minister,
as a rule, rather turns it into a prayer than pronounces it as his own
personal blessing. I am not certain that it is a great improvement. The
dread of anything like priestism has led us to this custom. It may be,
however, that in avoiding an evil we have missed a good. Are
benedictions sinful or vain? Are the blessings of good men of no value?
Can we no more say, "Peace be to this house," and hope that our peace
shall rest upon it? May no Jacob nowadays bless the two sons of a
beloved Joseph? Will it be a mere form if an Isaac should invoke a
blessing on his descendants, or a departing servant of God, like Moses,
pronounce a benediction on his people? I confess I would not treat
lightly my father's blessing or the benediction of my mother; and
though neither father nor mother can by their mere wish confer anything
upon us, yet who would wish them to depart this life without having
bequeathed us the legacy of their blessing? Like Joseph, you may bring
your lads to receive their grandsire's blessing if the old man be yet
alive, nor need you suspect yourself of being superstitious. Many there
are who have had no other heritage than a father's blessing, and have
counted themselves rich therein. Now, if the blessing of a natural
father and mother may be considered valuable without attributing too
much to men, so I think may the blessing of those spiritual parents who
have been made useful to our souls. I was reading in the life of Caesar
Malan an incident which touched my heart, and I feel no scruple in
quoting it in this connection. In travelling through one of the valleys
of Switzerland he met with a woman who told him that her father was
dying, but that he was comforted and cheered by reading a little book.
Being unknown by any one in the village, Malan stepped into the room
and sat by the dying man's bed, and was delighted to find that the book
which had led to the man's conversion was written by himself. His son,
who was his companion, thus describes the scene:–"The old man
exclaimed, Ah! had I not been aged and infirm, I should long ago have
gone there to see the good Mr. Malan. Look here, sir, you cannot think
how earnestly I have entreated the Lord that I might see him before I
died. For a long time I thought he would grant my desire, but I'm
afraid I shall have to give it up.' I stole a glance at my father, who
was sitting silently looking at his hands. What is the name of the book
you refer to?' he suddenly enquired as he raised his head. Stay,' was
the reply, here it is, it's always by me,' and he drew from under his
pillow a well-worn copy of one of the earliest editions of my father's
hymns, and handed it to my father. Do you sing any of these, then?'
asked my father as he turned over the leaves. Oh, Jeannette knows some
of them; she often sings them to me, and I derive pleasure and profit
whenever I hear them,' adding, as though speaking to himself, If I
could only see the dear gentleman who wrote those beautiful hymns; he
must be a good Christian.' Listen, brother,' said my father, this young
gentleman and I have just come from Geneva.' You have come from Geneva?
then perhaps you have seen Mr. Malan?' Certainly, I have; we all know
him well and I can assure you that if he were here he would remind you
that he has only been a feeble and imperfect instrument of good to you;
and he would speak to you, above all, not of himself, a poor sinner as
you are, but of the eternal grace and perfection of our blessed Lord.'
The conversation lasted a few moments longer; my father prayed; then,
when we had sung together one of the hymns which Jeannette knew, he
prepared to leave, telling her that he was to preach the next day,
Sunday, at Motiers. When he had got to the door, however, he stopped;
and returning once more to the bed where the old man was lying with
folded hands, said to him with emotion, My Father, God himself, to whom
you will so soon depart, has granted your prayer. I am Malan of Geneva;
your brother in the faith of the blessed Savior.' The poor old man,
fixing his streaming eyes upon him in a long and ardent gaze, and
slowly raising his trembling hands, exclaimed, Bless me, bless me
before I die! You, whom I have so long prayed God to send to me, bless
me now that I have had the joy of seeing you.' Falling on his knees at
the bedside, my father replied, in tones which betrayed his deep
feeling, You ought rather to bless me, for you are old enough to be my
father; but all blessing comes from God alone; let us once more ask it
of him together.' And folding in his arms the lowly brother, whom he
felt he should never see again till they met in the better country, he
invoked upon him the peace which Jesus gives,' and we left the hamlet."
I am ready to confess that there are those to whom I fool: with the
same respect; without the slightest worship of men or care about mental
attainments, or mere office, I recognize those from whom I would fain
receive a blessing. Priestcraft assumes to be the divinely appointed
channel of communicating with heaven, and this monstrous presence is so
abominable that we would sooner have the curse than the blessing of a
man hardened to such imposture; but men who live near to God, and have
power with him in prayer, do, without assuming it, become by their
prayers and fervent wishes the means of procuring many blessings for
those whom they bear upon their hearts. I have even now ringing in my
ears the fervent benediction of a venerable minister whose daily
prayers for me, and reading of my sermons, constrained him to make a
considerable journey that he might in person pronounce a blessing upon
my head. Job thought it no little thing that the blessing of him that
was ready to perish came upon him, and that when the eye saw him then
it blessed him. Good men in their benedictions are moved to give us
something more than words, for they mean what they say; and they appeal
to heaven to make true their wishes, and their wishes being prayers
minted in another form become current coin of the realm, and greatly
enrich us, for they bear the approving stamp of heaven upon them.
I look upon the apostle's words, though they are venerable with years,
as dropping heaven's own dew upon us to-night. I hear their mellow
tones ringing all along the centuries and scattering blessings right
through the ages. Their music is not silent, nor is it impotent at this
hour: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all" is Paul's
present and ever new blessing; he being dead yet sneaketh, and his Lord
yet hears his holy prayer. Long has the benediction lain in the epistle
like the wheat in the Egyptian catacomb, but there is a vitality in it
yet.; lo, it buds and brings forth good to us after the lapse of
eighteen centuries. May every one of us feel an unction from the Lord
attending these words. May the apostle bless us now, yea, better may
the apostle and High Priest of our profession pronounce anew this
benediction over us.
Let us now analyse the text itself. The first thing we will speak upon
is this,–what is meant by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ?
secondly, with whom is it to be?–the apostle says, "Be with you all;"
and thirdly, and what will be the effect if it be with us all?
I. Let us first enquire WHAT IS THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
WHICH THE APOSTLE WOULD HAVE TO BE WITH US ALL? He repeats the
expression verbatim in his epistles to the Corinthians, and to the
Philippians, and also in his second letter to the Thessalonians. He
closes each of these epistles with precisely the same benediction,
therefore he felt it to be fitting and weighty. Does he mean by this
"grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," the grace which was revealed in
Christ the Savior; that grace of God which shone in the gift of a
Savior to the sons of men, that grace which was displayed in the coming
of Christ to be bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, which was
manifested in the whole life of Christ on earth, was revealed
especially in the death of Christ, and which is still to be seen since
his resurrection and ascension in his intercession, and in his standing
as our representative before the Father's throne? Grace was gloriously
revealed in the person of Christ when he became the incarnate God, and
none can consider him as uniting in one person God and man without
discerning much love, and perceiving that it was meant to make way for
still more clear displays of mercy. Does not the benediction desire for
us a part in the blessing which lies couched in the Messiah's person,
in whom all nations are blessed?
Does the apostle mean the grace which comes to us through Christ as
well as that which is shown to us in Christ? Our Lord, as it were, took
out of the river-bed of grace the great rock which blocked up the water
courses, and now along the wide and open channel–
"Immortal joys come streaming down,
Joys like his griefs, immense, unknown."
Christ did not create the Father's love to us, the elect were loved of
God before all worlds, and Christ is the gift of that love, not the
cause of it. Calvary did not procure the Father's love to us, but the
love of God towards us could not, by reason of our sins, and the
penalty due thereto, come to us so as to be enjoyed by us. It could not
bring to us the blessings which we now possess until Jesus had finished
transgression, and made an end of sin. Both the grace implied in the
sending of the Messiah, and the grace which flows to us through him,
are here intended.
Does the apostle also mean the grace which comes to us WITH Christ?–by
which I mean those peculiar blessings which come to souls who abide in
Christ, who commune with him, walk with him, work for him, and are
raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in him;
who are not only saved, but something more; who are not drowning men
barely landed on the shore, and hardly possessed of life, but who have
life abundantly, walk in the light of God's countenance, and go from
strength to strength. If so, there is an exquisite sweetness of meaning
in his benediction. May it be richly fulfilled in each of us. May our
union to Jesus be so clearly apprehended that we may experience no
stinted measure of vital energy, but the rather may be filled with all
the fullness of God. Surely Paul means nothing less than this.
But he intended more yet, for his is no niggardly invocation. Grace in
Christ, grace through Christ, and grace with Christ–put these
together, and even then you have not grasped the whole. He desires for
us all the grace that is in anyway connected with Christ; for you will
have remarked that in the close of the second of Corinthians, where he
gives the same benediction, he extends it, "The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be
with you all." Here he gives it the shorter form, but he doubtless
intended it to comprehend all the rest. He really wishes that the one
comprehensive blessing of the divine unity, even all the triple
blessing of the sacred Trinity, may abide with all those who by faith
were one with Christ, and therefore were beloved of the apostolic soul.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" then includes all the grace
secured to us in the eternal covenant. In many of his epistles, the
apostle sums up with a shorter word than our text, and yet in some
respects a fuller one, "grace be with you all." You have this in the
Colossians, in the first epistle to Timothy, in Titus, and in the
Hebrews. He says, "Grace be with you all," without mentioning any
person of the Godhead. So that "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" is
synonymous with grace as such; and comprehends all the various displays
of grace which are in other passages of Scripture referred to the
various persons of the Godhead. He wishes the saints all the grace they
need, all the grace they can desire; all the grace the Infinite God can
give. How truly do I echo his great prayer that all grace may be with
you all.
Coming to particulars more closely. When it is the desire of our heart
that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with you all, we mean,
first, may the love of Jesus Christ be with you, and may you know that
you have it. May it be so with you that you may distinctly and beyond
all doubt know that Jesus loves you, and the fact being ascertained,
may you drink deep into the fullness of its meaning. May you be
ravished with the assurance that the ever-blessed Son of God has set
his affection upon you, has loved you from before the foundation of the
world, loves you now even as the Father loves him, and will love you
when heaven and earth shall, like a scroll, be rolled up, and like an
outworn vesture be put away. O that you all might he in such a
condition, that the love of Christ might shine full into your souls, a
noon-tide without a solitary cloud, a summer without a single blight.
May you know of a surety, by the witness of the Holy Ghost, that you
have passed from death unto life, and that the love of God is shed
abroad within your souls. What a happy church would it be were all the
members in such a condition! But, alas, we see one fearful, another
doubting, and a third declining; here is one living at a distance from
Christ, and another saying,, "O that I knew where I might find him!"
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sense of a conscious
enjoyment of his love be the habitual possession of your hearts and
minds.
Paul intends also as much as this,–may the mercy as well as the love
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! May that mercy be shown to you by
the full pardon of all your sins, and your knowledge that they are
pardoned. May your conscience be purged from dead works, and not merely
cleansed, but cleansed so that you may know it to be clean. The great
mercy is to have no suspicion that sin is left upon you, but to be
certain that every transgression of every sort has been for ever put
away through the precious blood which cleanses from all sin. Alas!
there are many Christians who even in their prayers do not appear to
understand or distinguish between themselves and the unconverted. I
believe it to be our duty to ask for pardon every day. Our Lord in the
model prayer teaches us to say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive them that trespass against us;" but we should not confound that
petition of a child to its father with the first supplication for
pardon which befitted us as aliens before we were brought nigh. As
guilty sinners we stood before the judge, but now we are no longer
criminals, for there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus. We need not say with Peter in his enthusiastic folly, "Wash not
my feet only, but also my hands and my head," for the Master tells us
that we have been washed and are clean, and therefore we need only to
wash our feet, for we are, in him, clean every whit. May you not,
therefore, come before him with what is too often used as a mere parrot
cry, "Lord, have mercy upon us miserable sinners." If you believers are
miserable sinners you ought not to be. You are sinners, but you ought
not to be miserable. You have been forgiven; you are justified by faith
in Christ Jesus. Is all this nothing? How can you ignore it, and speak
of yourself still as you would have spoken before you were saved? Is
the Lord's pardon nothing that you complain still of being condemned?
Do you despise the divine forgiveness? You are a child of God, and do
you still use the language of a slave, and feel no liberty in your
soul? I fear that what is imagined to be humility is a mingle-mangle of
hypocrisy and unbelief. If you are saved it is sheer cant to call
yourself a miserable sinner; you ought to be one of the happiest of
beings, and rejoice that the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ abides with
you.
Furthermore, beloved, may you be the subjects of Christ's work
constantly. That will give yet another meaning to this benediction. The
Lord Jesus Christ, by his Spirit, is carrying on in believers daily a
purifying work; for he sits as a refiner and he purifies the sons of
Levi. He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. Let us pray
that, however trying it may be to us, and whatever rough providences it
may involve, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with us all in
this respect. May our prayer be, "Refining fire, go through my heart!"
Let the winnowing fan be used; let our chaff be driven away, there is
not a particle of it we would wish to retain. We desire to be
sanctified–spirit, soul, and body–through him who leads his people
without the camp that they may be separated unto himself. May we walk
in the light as he is in the light, and so have fellowship one with
another, and may the blood of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son, cleanse us
from all sin.
May the benediction rest upon you also in another manner. May you
brethren, be possessors of Christ's peace. One of the benedictions
frequently used by the apostle expressly mentions peace. "Grace, mercy,
and peace be with you." Where Christ is, peace reigns within; he is the
peacemaker, yea, peace itself. Conscience is quieted, the heart rests
in God, the whole man casts anchor, the barque has reached its haven
when it has come to the Well-beloved. O that you may enjoy this grace
of Christ, for it was his prerogative to say, "Peace I leave with you,
my peace I give unto you." It was his delight to pronounce upon his
disciples the word, "Peace be unto you." May the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus.
If you are troubled with family concerns, may you roll your burden upon
the Lord and find rest; or if you are vexed about your past
transgressions, may you confess the sin unto the Lord and hear his
blood speak peace to your soul. Whatever it is that troubles you, may
he comfort you and give you his peace, the deep, unruffled calm which
reigns in his own bosom. If there be one gem of grace which beyond all
others especially belongs to the Lord Jesus, it is the lovely pearl of
peace. He is the Lord and giver of peace, the Prince of Peace, and the
messenger of the covenant of peace. Brethren, may we live in peace with
God, with men, and with ourselves. We all say "Amen" to that prayer.
Would not Paul also desire for us that we may exhibit in ourselves the
grace which shone so brightly in Christ, and was seen by men and angels
to the glory of God the Father? You will never have grace, dear
friends, in the same measure as the Lord Jesus had it (rather let me
correct myself, for he had grace without measure), but you may receive
and exhibit the same grace in your measure. O that you and I may have a
high degree of it! Grace displayed itself in the Lord Jesus in a
character absolutely perfect, in which not one of the virtues was
absent or exaggerated, and in which not a single fault could be found.
You can depict the character of John, for a prominent excellence is
visible; you can describe the characteristics of Peter; you can give an
idea of Paul for each of these is like a separate gem, and each one has
its own especial brightness and color, and I may add each one has its
own peculiar flaw; but when you come to the altogether lovely One your
descriptive powers fail you, for he is like the high priest's
breastplate in which all the jewels met in harmony. The excellences of
all the excellent are in him, and none of the flaws. In him all
perfections meet to make up one perfection. All the spices, the myrrh,
the aloes, the cassia, the sweet cinnamon, and whatever else may be
grateful to God and to holy men–all these divinely compounded with the
art of the apothecary, and well-balanced as to the proportions are to
be found in one rare anointing oil upon the person of our Well-beloved.
O may that grace be with you which was poured upon our glorious Head
and continues to distil to the skirts of his priestly garments. May his
sacred unction anoint and perfume us all! It was poured on Jesus that
it might drop on us. He received this fullness that we might receive
out of him grace for grace. He does not possess grace that he may store
it up for himself, for he needs it not; but he has all fullness in
himself on purpose for us, that we may partake thereof both now and for
ever. O that we may manifest it in our lives both public and private,
in the emotions of our hearts, and the words of our mouths. May men in
all the actions of our lives observe that we are heirs of grace by our
gracious conversation, knowing us as a tree is known by its fruit. May
this grace be in you, and abound that you may not be barren nor
unprofitable.
I am far from having brought out all the various shades of meaning
which lie within this ancient benediction; for as the Holy Spirit, like
the sun, shines on this crystal text, it flashes with all the colors of
the rainbow. It is a very full, rich, and large benediction. Even Aaron
himself could not pronounce a fuller blessing. The Lord fulfill it to
every one of you, according to the riches of his glory by Christ Jesus!
II. Secondly, WITH WHOM IS THIS GRACE TO BE? "With you all." The
apostle meant with all the saints. He did not actually limit it in
words to the saints, but he evidently intended to be so understood; for
he was writing "to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be
saints," and to them he said, "grace be with you all." We will not go
beyond the apostolic wish, neither will we stop short of it. This
moment I say to you, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
all"–with all the members of this church, and all my fellow-servants
in Christ Jesus. The like grace be with all the churches, with all the
chosen of God in every land; but at this present I may be permitted to
utter this as my personal and especial wish for you my beloved flock at
this time, when for a season I shall be absent from you. The demands of
health call me away, and what shall I leave with you, my dear
companions, my own children, my reverend elder brethren, my beloved
fellow soldiers? What better word shall be the last to salute your ear
from my lips till I return to you? How can my affection frame a fitter
utterance than that which fell from Paul's pen, when he added to the
apostolic benediction his own personal love, and wrote to the
Corinthians, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with you; my love
be with you all in Christ Jesus?"
Now, why with you all? Is it not because you all need it? There is not
one among you who can do without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You experienced Christians are greatly in danger when you think your
mountain stands firm and will never be moved. You wise and intelligent
believers are in sore peril when you dream that you can battle with
error apart from your Master. Conscious weakness is our true strength.
"When I am weak then am I strong." The boldest, bravest, wisest, most
judicious, and most experienced among you, need the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and certainly the babes in grace and the weaklings of the
flock require it no less.
More delightful still, is it to remember that you all may have it. You
all, having believed in Jesus, have him to be your own, and you may
surely have his grace. He who gave you Christ has virtually given you
all the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Indeed we know from the best
authority that grace was given us in Christ Jesus ere the world began.
And, beloved, there is no grace which you may not have, no grace which
you ought to be content to go without. If a line should be drawn in
Christian experience, and a decree should be passed that such and such
a Christian should never advance beyond that mark, you might feel very
unhappy, and yet some of you have drawn such a line for yourselves, and
you are not unhappy. It is grievous to see how we stunt and dwarf
ourselves, and appear to be content with a very poor and feeble form of
spiritual life. May the Holy Spirit breathe into your hearts a higher
ambition, for rest assured if you do not possess the whole land of
Canaan, it is because you are too idle to drive out the Hivites and
Jebusites, for there is not one of all the clan but what you may
conquer, though they have chariots of iron. There is not a brook that
cows with milk and honey but you may drink of it, if you have but faith
and prayer enough to win it for yourselves. He giveth more grace; seek
to enjoy it.
My dear brethren in office, my esteemed deacons and elders, I pray that
you may have the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ abundantly, so that you
may walk before us as becometh fathers in Israel, that you may be
ensamples to the flock, that none of the weaker sort may see in you any
occasion of stumbling, but much that may lead them forward in the
divine life. You who are especially the workers among us, you
Sabbath-school teachers, you who have the conduct of our adult classes,
you who preach for the Master in the streets, or go from house to house
with your tracts, I pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you
all. Whatever your form of work may be, it will come to nought without
his grace; but you may have it, and I pray you be not content unless
you possess it abundantly.
Among you there are members of the church who are very poor; there are
in proportion probably more poor among us than in another church of our
order and standing, and for this I devoutly thank God, for I can hardly
conceive a church to be rich in grace which has not in it many of the
Lord's poor. But this I pray, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
may be with you, who are the sons and daughters of poverty, to enable
you to be patient, to sanctify your trials, to make your homes bright
with the presence of the Lord, and to keep you from envy and murmuring.
May your rooms be palaces to you, because the King visits you and feast
you with his love.
May that same grace, however, be with the few among us who may be said
to be rich, for how much grace do the wealthy require, that they may be
kept from the temptations which beset their position, and may be
delivered from the cankering influence of riches! May the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you, my brethren and sisters, that,
consecrating your substance habitually to Christ, it may bring with it
many comforts to your souls as well as to your bodies.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, dear brethren and
sisters, who are ripening for heaven; may it be light with you at
eventide, and may your rest be glorious. Though near to glory, you know
right well that you are still dependent upon grace, and I trust you
will abundantly enjoy it. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with you, young beginners, who have just put on the harness. May you
live long in the Christian Church, and serve your Master well. Amidst
the temptations of youth, and the trials of manhood, may you stand fast
and glorify your Lord.
Some of you are strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. May
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you to keep you strong. If
you have trodden down strength, and have had the hind's feet with which
you have stood upon your high places, may you never lose your position,
but maintain your joy. And as for you who are doubting and fearing, the
timid ones of the flock, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you too, for he carrieth the lambs in his bosom, and doth gently lead
those that are with young. A bruised reed he will not break, and the
smoking flax he will not quench.
While I make the benediction thus as large as the apostle did, let me
remind you very affectionately that there is a limit to it. He is
speaking to the saints, and to none else. Have you noticed the form
this benediction takes in the epistle to Philemon, and in the epistle
to the Galatians? There the apostle puts it thus, "The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." It is only meant, then, for
spiritual-minded men, for such as have been born again of the Holy
Spirit. Jesus Christ cannot be with the carnal. He will not give the
blessing of his presence to those who mind earthly things. When ye have
been born again ye can understand the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but not till then. May that gracious work of regeneration be wrought in
every soul here. The apostle limits it again in his Epistle to the
Ephesians. He there utters a desire that the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be with "all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity." You cannot expect the blessing of Christ to abide with you
if you are hypocritical, or formal, or self-deceived. Sincerity is a
needful index of the grace of Christ being with you. Do you, dear
hearer, in sincerity love Jesus Christ? If you do, may his grace be
with you.
One other limit the apostle gives. Let me read it to you. I can never
read these words either in public or in private without a conscious
shudder, but they demand an attentive consideration by us all. You will
find them at the close of the first Epistle to the Corinthians. "The
salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you." What a limitation is this! He pronounces a
solemn curse upon those whom he feels he cannot bless, because they are
so base as not to love the infinitely loving Jesus. "If any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed when the Lord cometh,"
for that is the meaning of the words, "Anathema Maran-atha," "cursed
when the Lord cometh," or "As surely cursed as the Lord cometh."
Whoever, then, loves not Christ is cursed. Oh! God, save us all from a
curse so well deserved; for not to love such a generous Savior, not to
love one so lovely and so gracious, not to love one who loved his
enemies, and laid down his life for sinners, is in itself to be
accursed. That spirit is withered already, Savior, that loves not thee!
To be able to withhold its affections from so lovely an object is in
itself a doom. God save you from it! May there not be one among you
here upon whom that curse may come, but "may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all."
III. And now as this must serve for my parting word for some little
time, let me explain, in the third place, what will be THE RESULT TO
YOU IF THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU ALL.
First, there will be a blessed consequence to you Godward. As you have
this grace of Christ in you you will love God better, you will seek his
face oftener; you will pray with more confidence, and more vehemence.
You could not have the grace of Christ without being much in prayer,
for this eminently distinguished his character. If you have the grace
of Christ you will walk with God, even as he did. Your communion with
the Father will be closer then heretofore; it will be less interrupted;
it will become thorough. O that I might see a church made up wholly of
saints who live in habitual intercourse with God! I know it is not so
with all in this church. I know there are many out of our four thousand
members who walk with God, but I mourn that there are others who follow
afar off. May this affectionately-intended remark raise in each heart
the personal enquiry, "Lord, is it I?" And if your hearts condemn any
of you, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you most
effectually, that you may amend your ways.
The next beneficial effect will extend to your fellow church-members.
If you have the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with you, you will love
each other with a pure heart fervently. You will have compassion one
towards another. No one will seek his own, but every man his brother's
benefit. Suspicion, harsh judgment, envy, and jealousy will cease.
Gossipping and foolish talking will come to an end. Alas! how much
these things abound, and what sorrow they cause. When the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ is with us our speech will be to edification. We
shall esteem others better than ourselves. We shall rather see their
excellences than their faults, while we shall each strive which can be
of most service to the rest. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity!" By this shall all men know
that ye are Christ's disciples, if ye have love one towards another.
May we be mutually enriched in all spiritual gifts and graces by loving
communion in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. Eighteen years and
more have we now dwelt together in union and prosperity, and that this
same grace may continue with us through twice another eighteen years,
if the Lord spare us so long, is my soul's most fervent prayer.
Another admirable result will follow towards your families and
yourselves. If the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, you will
personally be much the happier. Your troubles will sit lightly upon you
when grace is fully within you. Your joys will have a mellower taste in
them than now when they are seasoned with grace. The family altar will
become a reality. The servants will find the house a home, and the
children will become children of God, when the master and mistress are
filled with the grace of our Lord Jesus. Gracious men are a sure
blessing to the neighbourhoods in which they live; the sweet perfume of
their family piety will blow out at the doors and windows, and spread a
balmy influence around. As trades of an ill savor make a whole district
nauseous, so saints, who have the sweet savor of Christ in them, render
a region fragrant.
Thus a blessing will flow out to the world which lieth in darkness. If
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us, we shall have all our
thoughts and feelings towards sinners materially changed. We shall
mourn over them with intense compassion. Parents, you will not be able
to look upon your unconverted children as you now do, holy sorrow will
mingle with natural pleasure. Ah! he is a fine young man; he is growing
up, and is quite his mother's joy. Mother, if his soul is unsaved, do
not so much as look at him without a tear. "Ah!" says the father,
"there is my girl–what a lovely creature she is!" Is she converted? If
not, think what a fallen creature she is. Employers, if you have grace
you will not go into your factories as you have done, and think of the
"hands," but you will have pity on the "souls" therein. Many sensations
pass through a man's mind if he stands at a window in Cheapside and
sees the rush of the living river. It strikes me that the flow of our
crowded streets is one of the most wonderful sights in the whole world.
There go the thousands, tramp, tramp, tramp, on, on, on, without a
pause. Thoughtful men watch the stream and calculate this and that,
according to the manner of statistics; but the right-minded Christian,
contemplating the scene, has this consideration uppermost, "All these
are immortal. How many, or how few of them, are on the road to bliss,
and how many are heaping up wrath against the day of wrath." Then will
he breathe the prayer involuntarily, "Lord, have mercy upon this guilty
city; save the myriads of this modern Nineveh, and let transgressors
learn thy ways." Oh! if the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ were with
us, we should, like the Savior, often burst into tears over London, as
he did over Jerusalem. We should not trifle, as we now do, with
opportunities of doing good. We should speak to ones and twos if we
could reach no more, and Jesus' love would be our theme.
Time compels me to cease, but ere I leave you, my beloved flock, I
solemnly pronounce this benediction upon you:–"The peace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all." And my heart says, Amen, Amen, Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Romans 16.
P.S.–During our absence, we trust our ever-affectionate friends, both
hearers and readers, will care for our various works and see that they
do not lack pecuniary means. The College, the Orphanage, and the
Colportage are always at work, and expending considerable sums. Mr.
Blackshaw, Secretary, Tabernacle, Newington, will receive and
acknowledge any aid rendered. To the God of Providence, who supplies
our needs through the willing offerings of his people, we look
confidently. There will be no alteration in the publication of the
Sermons during our absence. We have arranged that a Sermon shall appear
each week, as usual.