Grace Abounding

Grace Abounding
A Sermon
(No. 501)
Delivered on Sunday Morning, March 22nd, 1863, by the
Rev. C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"I will love them freely."–Hosea 14:4.
THIS SENTENCE IS A BODY of divinity in miniature. He who understands
its meaning is a theologian, and he who can dive into its fullness is a
true Master in divinity. "I will love them freely," is a condensation
of the glorious message of salvation which was delivered to us in
Christ Jesus our Redeemer. The sense hinges upon the word "freely." "I
will love them freely." Here is the glorious, the suitable, the divine
way by which love streams from heaven to earth. It is, indeed, the only
way in which God can love such as we are. It may be that he can love
angels because of their goodness; but he could not love us for that
reason; the only manner in which love can come from God to fallen
creatures is expressed in the word "freely." Here we have spontaneous
love flowing forth to those who neither deserved it, purchased it, nor
sought after it.
Since the word "freely" is the very key-note of the text, we must
observe its common meaning among men. We use the word "freely" for that
which is given without money and without price. It is opposed to all
idea of bargaining, to all acceptance of an equivalent, or that which
might be construed into an equivalent. A man is said to give freely
when he bestows his charity on applicants simply on the ground of their
poverty, hoping for nothing again. A man distributes freely when,
without asking any compensation, he finds it more blessed to give than
to receive. Now God's love comes to men all free and unbought; without
our having merit to deserve, or money to procure it. I know it is
written, "Come, buy wine and milk," but is it not added "Without money
and without price?" "I will love them freely;" that is "I will not
accept their works in barter for my love; I will not receive their love
as a recompense for mine; I will love them, all unworthy and sinful
though they be."
Men give "freely" when there is no inducement. A great many presents of
late have been given to the Princess of Wales, and tis well and good;
but the position of the Princess is such that we do not view it as any
great liberality to subscribe to a diamond necklace, since those who
give are honored by her acceptance. Now the freeness of God's love is
shown in this, that the objects of it are utterly unworthy, can confer
no honor, and have no position to be an inducement to bless them. The
Lord loves them freely. Some persons are very generous to their own
relations, but here, again, they can hardly be said to be free, because
the tie of blood constrains them. Their own children, their own
brother, their own sister–if men will not be generous here, they must
be mean through and through. But the generosity of our God is commended
to us in that he loved his enemies, and while we were yet sinners in
due time Christ died for us. The word "freely" is "exceeding broad"
when used in reference to God's love to men. He selects those who have
not the shadow of a claim upon him, and sets them among the children of
his heart.
We use the word "freely," when a favor is conferred without its being
sought. It can hardly be said that our King in the old histories
pardoned the citizens of Calais freely when his Queen had first to
prostrate herself before him, and with many tears to induce him to be
merciful. He was gracious, but he was not free in his grace. When a
person has been long dogged by a beggar in the streets, though he may
turn round and give liberally to be rid of the clamorous applicant, he
does not give "freely." Remember, with regard to God, that his grace to
man was utterly unsought. He does give grace to those who seek it, but
none would ever seek that grace unless unsought grace had first been
bestowed. Sovereign grace waiteth not for man, neither tarrieth for the
sons of men. The love of God goes forth to men when they have no
thought after him; when they are hastening after all manner of sin and
wantonness. He loves them freely, and as the effect of that love, they
then begin to seek his face. But it is not our seeking, our prayers,
our tears, which incline the Lord to love us. God loves us at first
most freely, without any entreaties or beseechings, and then we come
both to entreat and to beseech his favor.
That which comes without any exertion on our part comes to us "freely."
The rulers digged the well, and as they digged it they sang "Spring up,
O well!" In such a case, where a well must be digged with much labor,
the water can hardly be described as rising freely. But yonder, in the
laughing valley, the spring gushes from the hill-side, and lavishes its
crystal torrent among the shining pebbles. Man pierced not the
fountain, he bored not the channel, for, long ere he was born, or ever
the weary pilgrim bowed himself to its cooling stream, it had leaped on
its joyous way right freely, and it will do so, as long as the moon
endureth, freely, freely, freely. Such is the grace of God. No labor of
man procures it; no effort of man can add to it. God is good from the
simple necessity of his nature; God is love, simply because it is his
essence to be so, and he pours forth his love in plenteous streams to
undeserving, ill-deserving, hell-deserving objects, simply because he
"will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he will have
compassion on whom will have compassion," for it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
If you ask an illustration of the word "freely," I point to yonder sun.
How freely he scattereth his life-giving beams. Precious as gold are
his rays, but he scattereth them like the dust; he sows the earth with
orient pearl, and bejewels it with emerald and ruby and sapphire, and
all most freely. You and I forget to pray for the sun's light, but it
comes at its appointed season; yea, on that blasphemer who curses God,
the day ariseth, and the sunlight warms him as much as the most
obedient child of the heavenly Father. That sunbeam falls upon the farm
of the miser, and upon the field of the churl, and bids the grain of
the wicked expand in its genial warmth and produce its harvest. That
sun shines into the house of the adulterer, into the face of the
murderer, and the cell of the thief. No matter how sinful man may be,
yet the light of day descends upon him unasked for and unsought. Such
is the grace of God; where it comes it comes not because sought, or
deserved, but simply from the goodness of the heart of God, which, like
the sun, blesseth as it wills. Mark you the gentle winds of heaven, the
breath of God to revive the languishing, the soft breezes. See the sick
man at the sea-side, drinking in health from the breezes of the salt
sea. Those lungs may heave to utter the lascivious song, but the
healing wind is not restrained, and whether it be breast of saint or
sinner, yet that wind ceaseth not from any. So in gracious visitations,
God waiteth not till man is good before he sends the heavenly wind,
with healing beneath its wings; even as he pleaseth so it bloweth, and
to the most undeserving it cometh. Observe the rain which drops from
heaven. It falls upon the desert as well as upon the fertile field; it
drops upon the rock that will refuse its fertilizing moisture as well
as upon the soil that opens its gaping mouth to drink it in with
gratitude. See, it falls upon the hard-trodden streets of the populous
city, where it is not required, and where men will even curse it for
coming, and it falls not more freely where the sweet flowers have been
panting for it, and the withering leaves have been rustling forth their
prayers. Such is the grace of God. It does not visit us because we ask
it, much less, because we deserve it; but as God wills it, and the
bottles of heaven are unstopped, so God wills it, and grace descends.
No matter how vile, and black, and foul, and godless, men may be, he
will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and that free, rich,
overflowing goodness of his can make the very worst and least deserving
the objects of his best and choicest love.
Do understand me. Let me not leave this point till I have well defined
its meaning. I mean this, dear friends: when God says, "I will love
them freely," he means that no prayers, no tears, no good works, no
almsgivings are an inducement to him to love men, nay, that not only
nothing, in themselves, but nothing anywhere else was the cause of his
love to them; not even the blood of Christ; not even the groans and
tears of his beloved Son. These are the fruits of his love, not the
cause of it. He does not love because Christ died, but Christ died
because the Father loved. Do remember that this fountain of love has
its spring in itself, not in you, nor in me, but only in the Father's
own gracious, infinite heart of goodness. "I will love them freely,"
spontaneously, without any motive ab extra, but entirely because I
choose to do it.
In the text we have two great doctrines. I will announce the first one;
establish it; and then endeavor to apply it.
I. The first great doctrine is this, that THERE IS NOTHING IN MAN TO
ATTRACT THE LOVE OF GOD TO HIM.
We have to establish this doctrine, and our first argument is found in
the origin of that love. The love of God to man existed before there
was any man. He loved his chosen people before any one of them had been
created; nay, before the world had been made upon which man dwells he
had set his heart upon his beloved and ordained them unto eternal life.
The love of God therefore existed before there was any good thing in
man, and if you tell me that God loved men because of the foresight of
some good thing in them, I again reply to that, that the same thing
cannot be both cause and effect. Now it is quite certain that any
virtue which there may be in any man is the result of God's grace. Now
if it be the result of grace it cannot be the cause of grace. It is
utterly impossible that an effect should have existed before a cause;
but God's love existed before man's goodness, therefore that goodness
cannot be a cause. Brethren, the doctrine of the antiquity of divine
love is graven as with the point of a diamond upon the very forehead of
revelation; when the children were not yet born, neither having done
good nor evil, the purpose of election still stood; while we were yet
like clay in the mass of creatureship, and God had power to make of the
same dump a vessel to honor or a vessel to dishonor, he chose to make
his people vessels unto honor; this could not possibly have been
because of any good thing in them, for they themselves were not, much
less their goodness. Our Savior's words–"Even so, Father, for so it
seemed good in thy sight," reveal not only the sovereignty but the
freeness of divine affection.
Do you not know, dear friends, in the second place, that the whole plan
of divine goodness is entirely opposed to the old covenant of works.
Paul is very strong on this point, where he expressly tells us that if
it be of grace it cannot be of works, and if it be of works it cannot
be of grace, the two having no possibility of commingling. Our God,
speaking by the prophet, says, "Not according to the covenant that I
made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake,
although I was an husband unto them." The covenant of grace is as wide
as the poles asunder from the covenant of works. Now the tenour of the
covenant of works is this–"This do and thou shalt live;" if, then, we
do the thing which the covenant of works requires of us we live, and we
live as the result of our own doing. But the very opposite must be the
case in the covenant of grace. It can never be as the result of
anything we do that we are saved under that covenant, or else the two
are the same, or at least similar, whereas, the whole Bible through
they are set in contradistinction the one against the other, as
arranged upon opposite principles, and acting from different springs.
Oh! you who think that anything in you can make God love you, stand at
the foot of Sinai and learn the only thing that can lead God to accept
man on the ground of law, and that is perfect obedience. Read the ten
commandments through and see if you can keep one of them in the
fullness of its spirit; and I am sure you will be compelled to cry
out–"Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Great God, I have sinned."
And yet if you would stand on the footing of what you are, you must
take the whole ten, and you must keep them throughout an entire life,
and never fail in the slightest point, or else abhorred of God you must
certainly be. The covenant of grace does not speak on that wise at all.
It views man as guilty, and having nothing to merit; and it says, "I
will, I will, I will;" it says not "If they will," but "I will and they
shall. I will sprinkle pure water upon them and they shall be clean,
and from all their iniquities I will cleanse them." That covenant does
not look upon man as innocent, but as guilty. "When I passed by I saw
them in their blood, and I said live; yea, when I saw them in their
blood I said, live." The first covenant was a contract: "Do this and I
will do that;" but the next has not the shadow of a bargain in it; it
is–"I will bless you, and I will continue to bless you; though you
abound in transgressions, yet I will continue to bless till I make you
perfect and bring you to my glory at the last." It cannot be, then,
that there is anything in man that makes God love him, because the
whole plan of the covenant is opposed to that of works.
Thirdly, the substance of Gods love–the substance of the covenant
which springs from God's love–clearly proves that it cannot be man's
goodness which makes God love him. If you should tell me that there was
something so good in man that therefore God gave him bread to eat and
raiment to put on, I might believe you. If you tell me that man's
excellence constrained the Lord to put the breath into his nostrils,
and to give him the comforts of this life, I might yield to you. But I
see yonder, God himself made man; I see that God, that man, at last
fastened to the tree; I see him on the tree expiring in agonies
unknown, I hear his awful sliviek,–"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani; "I
see the dreadful sacrifice of God's only-begotten Son, who was not
spared but freely delivered up for us all, and I feel certain that it
would be nothing short of blasphemy if I should admit that man could
ever deserve such a gift as the death of Christ. The very angels in
heaven with an eternity of obedience, could never have deserved so
great a gift as Christ in the flesh dying for them; and oh! shall we
who are all over foul and defiled, shall we look to that dear cross,
and say, "I deserved that Savior?" Brethren, this were the height of
infernal arrogance; let it be far from us; let us rather feel that we
could not deserve such love as this, and that if God loves us so as to
give his Son for us, it must be from some hidden motive in his own
will, it cannot be because of any good thing in us.
Further, if you will remember the objects of God's love as well as the
substance of it, you will soon see that it could not be anything in
them which constrains God to love them. Who are the objects of God's
love? Are they Pharisees, the men who fast twice in the week and pay
tithes of all they possess? No, no, no. Are they the moralists who
touching the law are blameless, and who walk in all the observances of
their religion without a slip? No; the publicans and harlots enter the
kingdom of heaven before them. Who are they who are the chosen of God?
Let the whole tribe now in heaven speak for themselves, and they will
say, "We have washed our roses; (they needed it; they were black,) and
we have made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Appeal to any of the
saints on earth, and they will tell you that they never could perceive
any good thing in themselves. I have searched my own heart I hope with
some degree of earnestness, and so far from finding any reason in
myself why God should love me, I can find a thousand reasons why he
should destroy me, and drive me for ever from his presence. The best
thoughts we have are defiled with sin, our very faith is mixed with
unbelief; the noblest devotion which we ever paid to God is far
inferior to his deserts, and is marred with infirmity and fault.
Remember that many of those who are the true servants of God were once
the very worst servants of Satan. Does it not surprise you that men who
were the companions of the harlot are now saints of the Most high? The
drunkard, the blasphemer, the man who defied man's laws as well as
God's–such were some of us, but we are washed, but we are cleansed,
but we are sanctified. I never did meet, and I never expect to meet
with any saved soul that would ever for a moment tolerate the thought
of there being any goodness in itself to merit God's esteem. No; vile
and full of sin I am, and if thou hast mercy on me, O God, it is
because thou wilt, for I merit none.
Further, constantly are we informed in Scripture that the love of God
and the fruit of the love of God are a gift. "The wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life." Now, if the Lord stands
bargaining with you and with me, and says, "I will give you this
if–if–if–" then he does not love freely; but if, on the other hand,
it is simply, and purely, and only a gift bestowed as such, not for any
recompence afterwards to be given, then the gift is a pure and true
gift, and so the text is warranted in saying, "I will love them
freely." Now, the gift of God is eternal life, and dear friends, if you
and I ever get it, we must obtain it as a free gift from God, but by no
means as wages which we have earned, for our poor earnings will bring
us death; only God's gift can yield us life.
Everywhere throughout the Word the Lord's love is greatly and
wonderfully commended. We are told that as high as the heavens are
above the earth so high are his ways above our ways. Now, if the Lord
loved men for some loveliness in them, there would be nothing wonderful
in it; you and I can do the same. I hope I can love a man who possesses
moral excellence. You feel, each of you, that if a man's conduct
towards you is grateful and good, you cannot but love him, or if you do
not, it becomes a fault on your part. With reverence let me say it, if
there be something good in man it is no wonder that God should love
him; it would be unjust if he did not. If naturally in man there be any
virtue, if there be any praise, if there be any commendable repentance,
or any acceptable faith, man ought to be loved; this is not a thing to
amaze the ages, nor to set the angels singing, nor to move the
mountains and hills in astonisliment; but for God to love a man who is
bad all over; to love him when there is every reason for hating him,
when there is not a trace of goodness in him, oh! this is enough to
make the rocks break their silence and the hills burst forth into
music.
This is the first doctrine. I cannot preach upon it as I would this
morning, for my voice is very weak, and the pain of speaking distracts
my mind; but it matters not how I preach upon it, for the subject
itself is so exceedingly full of comfort to a really awakened soul,
that it needs no garnishing of mine: choice dainties need no skill in
the carver–their own lusciousness secures them rich acceptance.
But what is the practical use of it? To you who are going about to
establish your own righteousness, here is a death-blow to your works,
and carnal trustings. God will not love you meritoriously. God will
love you freely. Wherefore go ye about, then, spending your money for
that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not.
You may boast as you will, but you will have to come to God on a par
with the worst of the worst; when you do come you will have to be
accepted, you that are the best of men, just on the same terms as if
you had been the foulest of the foul. Therefore go not about, busy not
yourselves with all this fancied righteousness, but come to Jesus as
you are, come now, without any works of yours, for you must so come or
not at all. God has said, "I will love them freely," and depend upon it
he will never love you in any other way. You may think you are toiling
to heaven, when you shall be only tunnelling your way through mountains
of self-righteousness down to the depths of hell.
This doctrine offers comfort to those who do not feel fit to come to
Christ. Do you not perceive that the text is a death-blow to all sorts
of fitness? "I will love them freely." Now if there be any fitness
necessary in you before God will love you then he does not love you
freely, at least this would be a mitigation and a drawback to the
freeness of it. But it is "I will love you freely." You say "Lord, but
my heart is so hard." "I will love you freely." "But I do not feel my
need of Christ as I could wish." "I will not love you because you feel
your need; I will love you freely." "But I do not feel that softening
of spirit that I could desire." Remember, the softening of spirit is
not a condition, for there are no conditions; the covenant of grace has
no conditionality whatever. These are the unconditional, sure mercies
of David; so that you without any fitness may come and venture upon the
promise of God which was made to you in Christ Jesus, when he said, "He
that beheyeth on him is not condemned." No fitness is wanted; "I will
love them freely." Sweep all that lumber and rubbish out of the way!
Oh! for grace in your hearts to know that the grace of God is free, is
free to you, without preparation, without fitness, without money, and
without price!
Nor does the practical use of our doctrine end here. There are some of
you who say, "I feel this morning that I am so unworthy; I can well
believe that God will bless my mother; that Christ will pity my sister;
I can understand how yonder souls can be saved, but I cannot understand
how I can be; I am so unworthy." "I will love them freely." Oh! does
not that meet your case? If you were the most unworthy of all created
beings, if you had aggravated your sin till you had become the foulest
and most vile of all sinners, yet "I will love them freely," puts the
worst on an equality with the best, sets you that are the devil's
cast-aways, on a par with the most hopeful. There is no reason for
God's love in any man, if there is none in you, you are not worse off
than the best of men, for there is none in them; the grace and love of
God can come as freely to you as they can to those that have long been
seeking them, for "I am found of them that sought me not."
Yet once more here. I think this subject invites backsliders to return;
indeed, the text was specially written for such–"I will heal their
backsliding; I will love them freely." Here is a son who ran away from
home. He enlisted for a soldier. He behaved so badly in his regiment
that he had to be drummed out of it. He has been living in a foreign
country in so vicious a way that he has reduced his body by disease.
His back is covered with rags; his character is that of the vagrant and
felon. When he went away he did it on purpose to vex his father's
heart, and he has brought his mother's grey hairs with sorrow to the
grave. One day the young lad receives a letter full of love. His father
writes–"Return to me, my child; I will forgive you all; I will love
you freely." Now if this letter had said–"If you will humble yourself
so much, I will love you; if you will come back and make me
such-and-such promises, I will love you;" if it had said, "If you will
behave yourself for the future, I will love you,"–I can suppose the
young man's proud nature rising; but surely this kindness will melt
him. Methinks the generosity of the invitation will at once break his
heart, and he will say, "I will offend no longer, I will return at
once." Backslider! without any condition you are invited to return. "I
am married unto you," saith the Lord. If Jesus ever did love you he has
never left off loving you. You may have left off attending to the means
of grace; you may have been very slack at private prayer, but if you
ever were a child of God you are a child of God still, and he cries
"How can I give thee up? How can I set thee as Admah? How can I make
thee as Zeboim? My repentings are kindled together; I am God, and not
man; I will return unto him in mercy. Return, backslider, and seek
thine injured Father's face. I think I hear a murmur somewhere–"Well,
this is very, very, very Antinomian doctrine." Ay, objector, it is such
doctrine as you will want one day; it is the only doctrine which can
meet the case of really awakened sinners. "God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, in due time, Christ died
for the ungodly."
II. Since it is written. "I will love them freely," we believe that
NOTHING IN MAN CAN BE AN EFFECTUAL BAR TO GOD'S LOVE.
This is the same doctrine put in another shape. Nothing in man can be
the cause of God's love, so nothing in man can be an effectual
hindrance to God's love–I mean such an effectual hindrance as to
prevent God from loving man. How shall I prove it? If there be anything
in any man which can be a bar to God's grace, then this would have been
an effectual hindrance to its coming to any of the human race. All men
were in the loins of Adam, and if there were a bar in you to God's
love, that would have been in Adam; consequently, being in Adam, it
would have been a block to God's love to the race altogether. If there
be some sin in you, I say, which can effectually prevent God from
showing grace to you, then that was in Adam, seeing you were in the
loins of Adam, and it would therefore have been an effectual hindrance
to God's grace from the race in any one of its members. Seeing God's
grace found no barriers over which it could not leap, no floodgates
which it could not burst, no mountains it could not overtop, I am
persuaded there is nothing in you why God should not show his grace to
you.
Besides, one would think that if there be a bar in any it would have
prevented the salvation of those who are undoubtedly saved. Mention any
sin you like, and I will assure you upon divine authority that men have
committed such sins and have yet been saved. Talk of a deed that has
blackened the man's character for ever, that deed of foul adultery and
murder; yet that did not stop God's love from flowing to David; and
even if you have gone that length, and I suppose there is no person
here who has gone farther, even that cannot prevent divine love from
lighting upon you. As God does not love because there is excellence, so
he does not refuse to love because there is sin. Let me select the case
of Manasseh; he shed innocent blood very much; he bowed before idols;
what was worse, he made his children to pass through the fire to the
son of Hinnom, put his own child to death as a sacrifice to the false
god, and yet for all that God's love laid hold upon him, and Manasseh
became a bright star in heaven, though once as vile as the lost in
hell. If there be anything in you, then, that makes you think God
cannot love you, I reply, Impossible, for surely your sins do not
exceed those of the chief of sinners. Paul says he was the chief of
sinners, and he meant it; he spoke by inspiration, and there is no
doubt he was. Now if the biggest of sinners has passed through the
strait gate, there must be room for the next biggest; if the greatest
sinner in the world has been saved, then there is a possibility for you
and for me, for we cannot be such great sinners as the very chief of
sinners. But I will dare to say that even if we were, even if we could
exceed Paul, yet even that could be no barrier; for man's sin, to say
the most of it, is but the act of a finite creature, but God's grace is
the act of infinite goodness. God forbid that I should depreciate your
offenses, they are loathsome, they are hellish in themselves; still
they are only a creature's deeds, the deeds of a worm that to-day is
and to-morrow is crushed; but the grace, the love, and the pity of God,
oh! these are infinite, eternal, everlasting, boundless, matchless,
quenchless, unconquerable, and therefore the grace of God can overcome
and prove itself mightier than your guilt and sin. There is no bar,
then, or else there would have been a bar in the case of others.
Would it not mar the sovereignty of God if there should be a man in
whom there was something that would effectually prevent God's love from
flowing to him? Then it would not be, "I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy;" no, it would be "I will have mercy on those I can have
mercy on; but there is such-and-such a man, I cannot have mercy on him,
for he is gone too far." No, glory be to God for that sentence–"I will
have mercy upon whom I will have mercy." The devil may say, "What, on
that man, on that man! He has gone too far." "Ah!" but says God, "if I
will it, he has not gone too far; I will have mercy on him." I do not
know that I ever felt more the boundless sovereignty of the grace of
God than when I looked that text in the face and saw it–not "I will
have mercy on those that are vialing to have it;" or, "I will have
mercy on penitents," no–"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy."
And so, if God wills to save you, there can be no bar to it, or else
that would be a marring and a limiting of the sovereignty of God.
Would not this be a great slur cast upon the grace of God? Suppose I
could find out a sinner so vile that Jesus Christ could not reach him;
why then the devils in hell would take him through their streets as a
trophy; they would say, "This man was more than a match for God; his
sin was too great for God's grace." What says the Apostle? "Where sin
abounded"–that is you, poor sinner;–"where sin abounded"–what sins
you plunged into last night, and on other black occasions,–"where sin
abounded"–what? Condemnation? Hopeless despair? No, "Where sin
abounded grace did much more abound." I think I see the conflict in the
great arena of the universe. Man piles a mountain of sin, but God will
match it, and he upheaves a loftier mountain of grace; man heaps up a
still huger hill of sin, but the Lord overtops it with ten times more
grace; and so the contest continues till at last the mighty God plucks
up the mountains by the roots and buries man's sin beneath them as a
fly might be buried beneath an Alp. Abundant sin is no barrier to the
superabundant grace of God.
And then, dear friends, would it not detract glory from the gospel, if
it could be proved that there was some man in whom the gospel could not
work its way? Suppose that the gospel which is "worthy of all
acceptation" could not meet certain cases. Suppose I picked out twelve
men who were so diseased that the gospel remedy could not meet their
case; oh! then I think I should stop my mouth from all glorying in the
cross. I could no more say with the apostle, "God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," for then it would
not be the power of God unto salvation to every one that beheyeth. No,
it would be the power of God to all except that dozen. But oh! as often
as I come into this pulpit, it gives me joy to know that I have a
gospel to preach which is suitable to every case. A friend told me the
other day that many notorious characters stole in at times. Thank God
for that. "Ah!" said some, "but they come only to laugh." Never mind;
thank God if they come. "Oh! but they will make mockery of it." Nay,
the Lord knows how to turn mockers into weepers. Let us hope for the
worst, and labor for the most hopeless.
The love of God has provided means to meet the extremest case. They are
twofold; the power of Christ, and the power of the Spirit. Do you tell
me that sin is a barrier? I answer, "All manner of sin and of blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men." "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son,
cleanseth from all sin." The atonement of Christ is capable of removing
from men, all sorts, sizes, and dyes of iniquity. "Though your sins be
as scarlet they shall be as wool; though they be red like crimson they
shall be whiter than snow." "Ah," cries one, "man's hard-heartedness
stands in the way of God's love." Beloved, the Holy Spirit is ready to
meet the case of the hard heart. "Limit not the Holy One of Israel." Is
anything too hard for the Lord? You tell me that unbelief is a bar. I
answer "No," for cannot the Holy Spirit make the unbelieving believe,
yea, if the Holy Spirit once comes into effectual contact with the most
unbelieving and obstinate spirit it must believe at once. Look at the
jailer, a few minutes ago he had been putting Paul in the stocks. What,
what, what, what is this that comes over him? "What must I do to be
saved?" "Believe," says the Apostle, and he does believe, and becomes
as phant as a child. Out on the men who think that man is master over
God! If he willed to stop at this moment the most bloody persecutor,
the most filthy and licentious man, if he willed to turn the
blackest-hearted atheist into one of the most brilhant of saints, there
is nothing in his way to stop him; in a moment omnipotent love can do
it; the means are provided, both in the blood of Christ for cleansing,
and in the power of the Spirit for renewing the inner man. Therefore, I
say it is established beyond doubt, that there is nothing in man which
can conquer divine love.
"What is the practical use of this," says one. The practical use of
this is to set the gate of mercy wide open. I like always to preach
sermons which leave the door of mercy on the jar for the worst of
sinners, but this morning I set it wide open. A man has dropped in here
who has been thinking for years, "I gave myself up to sin in my youth,
and I have gone astray ever since–there is no hope for me." I tell
you, soul, all that you have ever done is no bar to God's love to you,
for he does not love you because of anything good in you, and that
which is black in you cannot prevent his loving you if he so wills it.
I tell thee what I would have thee do. I have seen those like unto thee
come to the foot of the cross, and they have said–
"Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come."
If thou in thy soul canst now trust the love of God in Christ, thou art
saved; no matter whosoever thou mayest be, thou art saved this morning,
and thou shalt go out of this house a regenerate soul, for thou hast
believed in Jesus, therefore the love of God is come to thee, all thy
past life is forgotten and forgiven; all thy past ingratitude, and
blasphemy, and sin are cast into the depths of the sea; and, as far as
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed thy transgressions
from thee. I have known the time when, if I had heard the sermon of
this morning, faint and feeble though it be, I should have danced for
joy. I feel an intense inward satisfaction and delight while preaching
it, for I believe it is the opening of the prison to them that are
bound. Christ died not for the righteous but for sinners. He gave
himself for our sins and not for our righteousness; this old Lutheran
doctrine–this grand doctrine which shook old Rome to her very
foundations, methinks must give poor sinners comfort and peace. I know
that many will see nothing in it. Of course, none but the sick see any
value in the healing medicine. I know there are some here who will
think the sermon is not for them. Oh! may the Spirit of God make some
accept of this comfort; but they will not unless the Spirit of God
makes them. Too many of us are like foolish patients, who will not take
the physician's medicine, and he has need to hold us, and thrust it
down before we will take it. This is how the Lord dealeth with many,
not against their will, but yet against their will as it used to be, he
giveth them the medicine of his grace, and maketh them whole.
To sum up all in one, what I mean is this: there have straggled in here
this morning the poor working man, the struggling mechanic, the gay
young fop, the man who leads a fast life, the wretch who leads a coarse
life, the woman, perhaps, who has gone far astray; I mean to say to
such, you are lost, but the Son of man is come to seek and to save you.
I mean to say to you, sons and daughters of moral parents, who are not
converted, but perhaps feel yourselves even worse than the immoral, I
mean to say to you that you are not past hope yet. God will love you
freely, and this is how his love is preached to you–"Whosoever
beheyeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved." Come as you are; God
will accept you as you are. Come as you are, without any preparation or
fitness; come as you are, and where the cross is lifted high with the
bleeding Son of God upon it, fall flat on your face, accepting the love
manifested there, willingly receiving this day the grace which God
willingly and freely gives.
As sinners, without any qualification, as sinners, as undeserving
sinners, my Lord will receive you graciously and love you freely.