The Exceeding Riches of Grace

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 18, 1882,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His
Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:7.

FROM this verse it is clear that Paul fully expected the Gospel of the
Grace of God to be preached in the ages to come. He had no notion of a
temporary Gospel to develop into a better, but he was assured that the
same Gospel would be preached to the end of the dispensation. Nor this
alone, for as I take it, he looked to the perpetuity of the Gospel, not
only through the ages which have already elapsed since the first Advent
of our blessed Lord, but throughout the ages after He shall have come a
second time. Eternity, itself will not improve upon the Gospel. When
all the saints shall be gathered Home they shall still talk and speak
of the wonders of Jehovah's love in Christ Jesus! And in the golden
streets they shall stand up and tell what the Lord has done for them to
listening crowds of angels, principalities and powers.

Paul did not believe in the quenching of the light of the testimony of
Grace, but expected that throughout the ages to come it would burn on
with the same brilliance. This I infer from the fact that he looked
upon the believing Ephesians and himself as having been converted in
the dawn of Christianity, on purpose, that to later ages they might
serve as specimens of what the Gospel can do. He looked upon these
Ephesians, newly drawn out from the cesspool of idolatry, in the same
light as he looked upon himself when he said that the Lord had shown
towards him all long-suffering for a pattern to them that should
hereafter believe on His name. Paul and these Ephesians–and all those
early Christians–were types to us of what God can do by the Gospel and
of what He will continue to do until the present dispensation shall
close.

From this statement we may gather with most sure logic that the Gospel
is altogether unalterable, for if its results 1,800 years ago are to
serve us as proofs of its power, then it must be the same Gospel. It is
clear that the converts of the first century would not be, to us, any
kind of testimony to the power of the Gospel as it now exists among us
if, meanwhile, there had been a change in the Gospel, itself! At best,
such facts could only show what the old-fashioned Gospel did in its
day, but we could not infer from them what a new-fangled Gospel will
now accomplish. Paul did not at all anticipate any removal of the old
landmarks. He held it forth that the same results would follow in all
ages from the preaching of the same Gospel with the same power from
Heaven and, therefore, he regarded the first converts as pledges and
proofs to all succeeding ages of what the Gospel could achieve.

Hold, my Brothers and Sisters, to that Gospel which has been delivered
unto you, which we have received by the Spirit of God through the
teaching of Christ and of His Apostles, and you shall yet see repeated
in your midst the same things which were worked in those early days!
Those who will, may drink the new wine of the modern vintage–my
conviction is that the old is better! Learn, also, from this language
of Paul, that every age is a gainer by those which preceded it. I have
smiled, often, in this place, at the conceit of this 19th Century which
holds up its head among the ages as far excelling them all, though if
it knew itself, it would sing to a more modest tune. But now I will
moderate my tone, and admit that this century is superior to all the
ages that have been before it–superior in this one respect–that it
has received by the lapse of time the fullest and most repeated
evidence of the Gospel's power!

Whereas in the Second Century men could only refer to the experience of
the saints during 100 years, we have, at this hour, the accumulated
evidence of almost 1,900 years–and all this is put in evidence as
proof of what Divine Grace can do. Whereas in the third, fourth, and
fifth centuries men had the accumulated personal testimonies of those
who had, till then, believed in Christ and had been saved thereby, we,
upon whom the ends of the earth have come, have now far larger
evidence, because the time has supplied us with a greater cloud of
witnesses! For nearly 2,000 years, this Gospel has been

preached among men! And every year has brought fresh trophies to its
power–every day, I might say, is now producing evidence of its Divine
power!

We have not, today, dear Friends, to begin to test the Gospel. The ice
is broken for us–experiments have been made so frequently that we have
now entered upon another stage. It is not ours to analyze the bread,
but to feed upon it! We have not, today, to enquire, "Can we ford the
stream?" Lo, these 19 centuries the hosts of God have gone through the
flood in safety and we have but to join their ranks and follow where
they lead the way! Surrounded by evidence that is altogether
overwhelming, we behold the Gospel of Jesus going forth, conquering and
to conquer! We hear from ten thousand times ten thousand voices the
cry, "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." We cannot
cease to proclaim the mercy of God as displayed in the atoning
Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, for infallible assurances strengthen our
confidence and set our hearts on fire!

The multitudes of converts in past time make known to us in these ages
that there is salvation–no, more–that this salvation is to be had,
for they obtained it! No, further–that it is to be had upon the terms
that God has laid down of simply believing in Jesus Christ–for they
obtained it in that way and in none other! Doubt ought now to be out of
the question! Every needy, trembling sinner should hasten away to the
refuge supplied by Jesus. Because so many have been to Him with
success. Because He has never rejected any. Because He has saved to the
uttermost all those that have come to Him, therefore sinful men ought
eagerly and unquestioningly to come at once and put their confidence in
the Lamb of God! Then will God's purpose, as described in the text, be
accomplished, that to the ages to come should be made known by all who
have tasted of His kindness the exceeding riches of His Grace toward
men in Christ Jesus the Savior!

This morning I have a text before me which is a great deal too full for
me–I can never draw out all its supplies. I have gone round the walls
of this city text; I have counted its towers and marked well its
bulwarks, but I am utterly unable to express myself by reason of joyous
astonishment! I feel as if I must sit down and lose myself in
adoration. I am a poor dumb dog over such a theme! I believe that if I
were shut up to preach for 12 months from this text, I should not be
straitened for matter, but rather, when I had finished the 52 Sabbaths,
I should be eager to enter upon another year's consideration of the
same topic! Here is a vast and fruitful country–a land of hills and
valleys, a land of fountains and brooks of water–who shall spy it out
and set the bounds thereof?

I shall try to exhibit a cluster from Eshcol, but the whole land I
cannot show you–it behooves you to journey there for yourselves. It is
a right royal subject– "The exceeding riches of His Grace in His
kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Whitefield and Wesley might
preach the Gospel better than I do, but they could not preach a better
Gospel! I shall preach with the longing desire that others may be
enticed to come and taste of the dainties of Christ's marriage-feast.
To this end I shall rehearse the loving kindnesses of the Lord. Oh that
the Holy Spirit may help me–and draw you!

We begin with–I. THE KINDNESS OF THE LORD TOWARD US IN CHRIST JESUS.
What kindness He displayed in choosing such sinners as we were! These
Ephesians had been most superstitious idolaters. You know how loudly
they shouted, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." There was no
preparedness in them to cast away their idols and to worship the great
Invisible God. There was nothing in them to draw them towards the light
that shines in the Christ of God. They were far off, as Paul says,
having no hope and really and truly without God in the world–and yet
these were the very men whom the exceeding riches of God's Grace
brought out of darkness into the marvelous Light of God!

They were "dead in trespasses and sins." They walked according to the
course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
They fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were sunk
in all manner of loathsome lusts and vices. And yet the Grace of God
came to men of Ephesus and called out a Church to show forth the
praises of God! Now, what were we, my Brothers and Sisters? We were not
idolaters, nor sunk in all the degradation of Ephesus, but we were all
sinners in some fashion or other. All the sheep went astray–though
each one followed a different way, all took the downward road–and we
among them. We, to the utmost of our power, fulfilled the lusts of the
flesh and of the mind–we did evil even as we could.

If it had not been for the restraints of education and the checks of
our surroundings, I know not into what crimes we would not have
plunged. It is a happy circumstance, for some of us, that God met with
us very early, or else we would have been swept away by the torrents of
our youthful passions into the worst possible vices. We always had a
strong will, a firm purpose and courage equal to any daring–these
qualities under the devil's influence would soon have forced a passage
to Hell for us! If we had been left to sow our wild oats, what a crop
we would have had long before this. Thanks

be to God for His preventing love! Alas, some, left to wander far, were
allowed to prove, in their lives, the sin which dwelt in them–and what
a wonder of Grace, what a miracle of love that God should have selected
them, after all, and brought them near to Himself!

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I will not enlarge upon this, for this is a
point for your private meditations. Shut yourselves up in your closets
and think of what you were and what you would have been if it had not
been for the kindness of God toward you in Christ Jesus. Forget not
that the Lord has shown this kindness toward us in order that others
like we are may be induced to believe in the same kindness. Are any
here the children of pious parents who have done violence to your
consciences? After the same fashion did many of us terribly rebel–and
yet the Lord has had mercy upon us! Have some of you fallen into the
lusts of the flesh and followed after the pleasures of sin and thus
defiled yourselves greatly? Do not despair of pardon, for there are
some here who tearfully remember how the God of pardons forgave them
after they had fallen into the same sins. Whatever form your
transgression may take, God has saved others who fell into similar sins
in order that in them He might make known to you His willingness to
clasp you to His bosom and to cast your sins behind His back!

No doctrine, however clearly stated, will ever have such influence over
men as living examples. When we can say of this one and of the other,
"These were great offenders. These were open sinners. These were
grievous transgressors, but they obtained mercy," we do, in effect, say
to all of the same character, "Come, and you shall not be refused!
Leave your sin as they have done–loathe it as they do! Trust in Jesus
as they have been taught to do and you shall find equal mercy with them
and shall rejoice in the common salvation." The kindness of God toward
us–how I delight to dwell on the word, "us," and then to take it up
and acknowledge my own personal share in it–the kindness of God toward
me! Do this, my Brethren, and then go and display to others the
kindness of the Lord toward your own souls.

But our attention is called not only to the persons whom God chose, but
to His kindness displayed in the gracious acts which He has done
towards them. Mark the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness
toward us. What has He done for us? He chose us before He lit the
stars, those torches of the sky! He wrote our names upon the heart and
hands of Christ before He laid the foundations of the hills! In the
fullness of time He gave Christ for us, even that blessed Christ of
whom we say, "Who loved me and gave Himself for me." He made with us in
Christ Jesus a Covenant ordered in all things and sure which shall
stand fast when all created things dissolve.

Having done this, He watched over us when we were bond-slaves to the
tyrant Satan. Graciously He guarded us from going still further into
transgression and committing the sin which is unto death. Then He
called us–and when we would not come He drew us yet more forcibly by
His effectual Grace till, at last, we yielded. Oh, I cannot tell all
that He did for us when we at last came to Jesus, but this I know, He
washed us and we were whiter than snow! He brought forth the best robe
and put it on us and made us comely in His sight. He gave us the kiss
of sweet acceptance and He put us among the children. And since then He
has given us the children's portion and has dealt with us as He used to
deal with those that love His name. We have been adopted into the
family and we have lived on the children's bread–we have been guided,
led, instructed, upheld and sanctified! And the almighty Savior is
still performing miracles of mercy for us!

The old tale of the giants piling mountain upon mountain, Pelion upon
Ossa, is outdone by our God! He has not only heaped up one hill of
mercy, but He has laid mountain upon mountain–He has piled up Alps
upon Alps to make a pathway for us, that we may ascend to the right
hand of God, even the Father, and sit in the heavenly places with
Christ! What has He done? I answer, what has He not done? What more
could He do? Can you suggest a mercy? He has already given it! Can you
desire a favor? It is yours, already, and was yours from before the
foundation of the world! Oh, the goodness, the manifold goodness, the
overflowing, surpassing, inconceivable goodness of God in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus!

I am bound to dwell a moment on that last word–His kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus. That is the channel through which all blessing
has come to us! God gives common mercies to men as His creatures, but
these riches of His Grace, these Covenant blessings, all come to us as
His chosen, through the Mediator! You can see the mark of the Cross on
every spiritual favor which the Father has bestowed–some drops of
bloody sweat have fallen upon every treasured gem of the Covenant
treasure box. And does not this endear the mercy of God to you–that it
comes through Jesus Christ? It seems to me to enhance its value and to
make every Covenant blessing more and more dear because it is brought

to us by the hand of the Well-Beloved! By His Atonement it is procured
to us and by His matchless intercession it is actually bestowed!

Said I not right well that I have a theme which is too deep and high
for me? I might detain you many a day upon this one word, "through
Christ Jesus," through the Incarnate God, through His life and death
and Resurrection, and His intercession at the right hand of the Throne
of the Majesty on high! All things come to us through Christ Jesus! He
is the golden pipe of the conduit of eternal love, the window through
which Grace shines, the door by which it enters! Get these two or three
words and sit down and turn them over and over and over in your
souls–and see if there is not the very music of Heaven sleeping within
them–which your faith may call forth and coin into hallelujahs! "The
exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus"–this is an anthem worthy of the celestial choirs! Sing it, O
you chosen of the Lord, while you are waiting to ascend His holy hill!

II. But now I take a step further and get into the soul of the text.
Let us consider–"THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE." Here, our English
is a poor language as compared with the Greek, and I believe that Paul
groaned, even when he was writing the matchless Greek of the text,
because he could not make it express all his meaning. Even the Hebrew,
which seems to be the most expressive of all human tongues and might
well have been spoken in Paradise, cannot contain or set forth the
fullness of God's great thoughts–but here the Greek is wonderful! What
if I read the words, "the hyperbolical wealth of Grace, or the
super-abounding, excessive, overflowing riches of the Grace of God"?

If I were to heap up epithets, I could not give you all that Paul
means. Only notice, first, that the riches of the Grace of God are
above all limit. A man is not rich when he can count his money, or miss
this and that when he has spent it. We used to read in our first Latin
books, "It is the mark of a poor man to number his flocks"–the rich
man has so many sheep that he cannot count them. When a person becomes
immensely wealthy, he is richer than he needs to be and has not only,
enough, but much to spare! So is it with the Grace of God–He has as
much Grace as you need–and He has a great deal more than that! The
Lord has as much Grace as a whole universe will require, but He has
vastly more. He overflows!

All the demands that can ever be made on the Grace of God will never
impoverish Him, or even diminish His store of mercy! There will remain
an incalculably precious mine of mercy as full as when He first began
to bless the sons of men! In a country village, if a man has a few
hundred pounds, he is thought to be quite rich. You get into a large
town–there a man must have several thousands! But when you come to
London and frequent the Stock Exchange, you enquire of so-and-so, "Is
he a rich man?" and someone will, perhaps, reply, "Yes, yes. He is
worth a hundred thousand pounds." Put that same question to a
Rothschild with his millions and he answers, "No, he is a little man.
He is not rich. He only owns a hundred thousand pounds." These great
bankers count their money by millions!

Well, but what are these great Rothschilds with all their millions when
they are reckoned up according to the wealth of Heaven? They are
nowhere at all! Only the Lord is rich. "If I were hungry," He says, "I
would not tell you, for the world is Mine and the fullness thereof." He
says, "The silver and the gold are Mine and the cattle on a thousand
hills." God is so rich in mercy that you cannot tell how rich He is!
His is overflowing riches, marvelous riches, exceeding riches! God is
excessive in nothing that I know of except in His mercy. He has
boundless in all His attributes, but emphatically so in His love–for
God is Love! His Grace is above all observation. The little Grace which
you have seen–you stop me and exclaim, "Sir, I have seen great Grace."
So you have, for you! But the little Grace you have seen, I say, bears
no proportion to the glorious whole!

You have not seen as much of God's Grace as a man might see of the sea
if he stood upon the beach at Brighton or at Hastings. "Why," you reply
in surprise, "I can see as much of the ocean, there, as any mortal man
can see." That may be, but men's eyes have but a narrow range! I tell
you, you have never beheld the sea, but only a trifling portion of it.
If a man crosses from America, he has gazed upon a narrow furrow along
which his vessel has plowed its way, but no one has ever beheld to the
full, the vast, majestic ocean in all its length, breadth and depth!
Nobody can see it in all its far-resounding shores and hollow caves!
Such is the "exceeding riches" of God's Grace unsearchable, passing
knowledge! Oh my poor tongue and my dull language! I must leave my
subject, for it overflows my soul and drowns my speech. You must think
it out for yourselves. The Grace of God surpasses all you know, all you
see and all you think.

So I remark, next, that this Grace is above all expression, yes, even
Inspired expression. Paul, though full of the Holy Spirit, could not
speak out all the love of God in Christ Jesus, for His love is
unspeakable! "Thanks be to God for His

unspeakable Grace." If we had all the tongues of men and of angels, we
could not declare all the riches of the Grace of God! No, if all the
orators that ever lived made this their one and only theme and if all
of these were under the influence of the Divine Spirit, yet human
language could not compass this Divine thing–

"Words are but air, and tongues but clay, And this compassion is
Divine.'" If we knew the language of angels we could not, then, declare
the Grace of God! The most experienced saints bewail the weakness of
every form of speech to describe the exceeding riches of the Grace of
God.

We are compelled to add that it is above all our ways of action. The
Gospel has taught us to forgive, but we do not take to it naturally. If
anyone treats us very ill it is with some difficulty that we forgive.
And there are certain base, cruel and ungrateful treatments which it
becomes almost impossible to overlook and, if we forgive, yet we do not
always forget. But such is the greatness of God's mercy that we who
have wearied ourselves with iniquity and wearied Him with our sins, yet
have not outworn His compassion. It is hard for us to pardon, but it is
spontaneous with God. He delights in it–"He delights in mercy."
Twenty-six times in one Psalm the sweet singer proclaims that, "His
mercy endures forever." How he rings that bell again, and again, and
again–"For His mercy endures forever!"

Your mercy is very short and your temper is quick so that you speak
unadvisedly and angrily very soon–but it is not so with God. So
wondrous are His ways of Grace that they are past finding out! We
cannot follow them and can scarcely believe them because they are so
unlike ours! His ways are above our ways and His thoughts above our
thoughts as much as the heavens are above the earth! The gentlest,
meekest and most loving minds are left far behind in this race of love.
Man is miserly in forgiveness, but the Lord is rich in mercy. Our
little stream of goodness runs after much pumping and pressure, but the
river of Divine Love flows freely on.

Yes, and the ways of Grace are above our understanding! Some famous
minds have been born into the world, every now and then, men who have
explored the sun, threaded the stars, and pried into the heart of the
earth and told us of its ancient history. God raises up, every now and
then, master minds to perceive and reveal His wisdom in Nature. But
there never was and never shall be a human understanding that can fully
grasp the incomprehensible riches of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus!
Sit down and think it over and look intently into this mystery–and you
will find it far beyond you. "It is high, I cannot attain unto it."

I have set myself, this day, to study this matter, but I have barely
touched it as with a swallow's wing! I have not dived into the
fathomless depths, nor can I! Jehovah is such a marvelously forgiving
God, so rich in His mercy, that our understanding cannot count the
mighty sum. Yes, and if our thoughts were raised to the utmost–if we
were sanctified to the highest degree, if we were so pure in heart as
to see God–not even, then, should we be able to know all the exceeding
riches of His Grace to us who believe! The loftiest thought of the most
saintly mind never rose to the height of this great argument! The most
masterly poetic conception faints, its wing droops and it falls to
earth in the presence of this mercy which is higher than the heavens
and far above the clouds! I wish I could say something that would make
men know how vast is the mercy of God. Oh that these lips had language!
Perhaps my failure may be better than fluency. If so, I would gladly be
dumb to let Mercy, itself, speak.

Furthermore, dear Friends, the exceeding riches of God's Grace may be
guessed at by the fact that Divine Mercy is above all our sins. You
cannot sin so much as God can forgive! If it comes to a pitched battle
between sin and Grace, you shall not be so bad as God shall be good. I
will prove it to you. You can only sin as a man, but God can forgive as
a God! You sin as a finite creature, but the Lord forgives as the
infinite Creator. When I received that thought fairly into my soul last
night, I felt like Abraham when he laughed for joy–I sin like a man,
but He forgives like a God! We will never sin that Grace may
abound–that were infamous and detestable!

But what a blessed text is that–"Where sin abounded Grace did much
more abound." Your sin is like a mountain, but if you have faith as a
grain of mustard seed you shall say to this mountain, "Be you removed,
therefore, and cast into the midst of the sea of God's infinite mercy,"
and it shall be done unto you! The atoning blood will wash out all
transgression and not a trace of it shall remain. Does not this fact
magnify the mercy of God? Gross and intolerable as your sin may be, yet
it is but as a drop in a bucket compared with the immense ocean of
forgiving love! Try again. God's mercy is greater than His promises.
"Oh, no," you say, "that will not do! We have read of 'exceeding great
and precious promises.'" I tell you His mercy has a Glory beyond His
promises, for His mercy is the father of His promises!

The Lord had mercy and Grace before He had spoken a single promise and
it was because His heart was flaming with love that He made a Covenant
of Grace and wrote, therein, the words of peace. His promises are
precious streams that come leaping up in the deserts of our lost and
ruined state. But the depth that lies under, which Scripture calls,
"the depth that couches beneath," is richer than the fountain which
comes out of it! The mercy of God is the source and the wellhead is
greater than the promises which flow from it–infinitely greater than
our straitened interpretations of the promises–which fall far short of
their real meaning! And even that meaning, did we know it, cannot set
forth all "the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus."

Let us try again. God's mercy is greater than all that all His children
have ever received as yet. His redeemed are a multitude that no man can
number and each one draws heavily upon the Divine Bank, but,
notwithstanding all the Grace He has ever given to them, (and He has
given to each of them a measureless portion), yet there is more Grace
in God than He has given forth as yet. "Oh," you say, "how can that
be?" It is so because His mercy is not all given out in this life–much
of it is laid up for enjoyment in the world to come. The Grace which we
have not yet tasted is the very crown of the feast! The Lord has
prepared, for them that love Him, an inconceivable bliss!

There is Heaven, there is Glory, there is all the bliss of the endless
ages yet laid up in store. Oh the wealth of these heavenly reserves! I
am sure I stated the Truth of God when I said that what the Lord has
given does not comprehend all the exceeding riches of His Grace–He has
infinitely more to give. You have seen the river Thames go rolling
along, the abounding and rejoicing river–and you see the cattle come,
on a hot day, and stand knee deep in the stream, and drink, drink,
drink. There is more water in the Thames than all the bullocks in all
earth's pastures ever drank, or will drink. They may be driven from
every prairie under Heaven and stand on the river's brink and drink as
though they would suck up Jordan at a draught, but they will never
diminish the wealth of Father Thames!

But even if they could, you and I would be still as far off from all
possibility of draining the wondrous flood of mercy which comes flowing
forth from beneath the Throne of God! The rain of Grace has filled the
pools, but it will rain, again, none the less plentifully. God's
ability to give is greater than our capacity to receive. The fact is
that this Grace is above all measure. Yet we have four measures for
it–height, depth, breadth, length–and this mercy of God is so
exceedingly great that in each of these measures it baffles
description! It is higher than our sin, though that is exceedingly
heinous and proudly threatens the gates of Heaven! It is higher than
our thoughts, though our imagination, sometimes, takes a condor's
flight. Oh, the height of Divine Mercy! It rises to the Throne of the
Eternal!

As for the depths of Grace–the sea has immense depths, but the mercy
of God is altogether unfathomable! Great sins sink into it and are
lost, but Grace is just as deep, after it has swallowed up a world's
sin, as it was before. There are inconceivably deep places in God's
mercy where the blackest sins are lost. Out of these come the choicest
pearls of Grace. Oh the depths! As for the breadth of mercy, David
says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our
transgressions from us." What greater breadth can be conceived? As for
the length of it, it is from everlasting to everlasting! Can anybody
tell me the length of that? My sins began less than 50 years ago, but
the Lord's mercy began– oh, when did it begin?

It was always with Him and His plans of mercy are from everlasting!
There is a beginning to man's sin, but there is no beginning to
pardoning Love. I shall cease to sin, I hope, long before another 50
years are over, and I shall be beyond fear of further fault. But the
mercy of the Lord will never end, world without end! Who, then, can
compass a matter which, in any one of its measurements, far surpasses
all human computation? Grace is above all calculation! Hasten here, you
great sinners! You are not great as compared with the Lord's great
mercy in Christ Jesus! We cannot allow you to apply the word, "great,"
to your sin–we need to reserve it for the mercy of God! We must
monopolize the word, for all greatness dwells in the love and mercy of
our God. However much you may have wandered, however black you may be,
however defiled, God delights in mercy–it is the joy of His heart to
pass by transgression and sin through the precious blood of Christ!

Do not do my Lord so great a dishonor as to measure your sin and affirm
that it outstrips His mercy! It cannot be! You know nothing about the
glorious Nature of my Lord. A child may fill its little cup out of the
great sea, but the sea never misses it. Your sin is like that cup and
you may fill it to the brim with mercy, but the ocean of love will
never miss all that you can take from it! Come, take all that you can
take, and none shall question you! Wash out your crimson stains in this
pure flood and it shall remain as pure as at the first! I would not
speak lightly of your sin–it is an exceed-

ingly great and grievous thing–but still, I do say over, again, that
as compared with the infinite mercy of God it is but as a shadow to the
sun, or a grain of sand to the full ocean at its flood!

III. These riches of Grace deserve TO BE STILL FURTHER ILLUSTRATED and
I shall illustrate them only by hints. What exceeding riches of Grace
it was on God's part that when we resisted Him in the days of our sin
He resolved to overcome our folly. If you offer a man a great kindness
and he will not have it, you say, "Well, then, he must do without it. I
am not going down on my knees to him to ask him to receive a favor from
me." Yet the Lord pleads with sinners to accept His Grace. "Come now,
and let us reason together, says the Lord." He begs and beseeches men
that they will be saved! He entreats them! He pleads with them! He
argues with them that they would turn to Jesus and live! Oh, the
exceeding riches of His Grace!

My Master, the Lord Jesus, came along to me and said, "Soul, will you
have pardon and forgiveness?" And fool that I was, I answered, "No."
Then He came, again, and said," Will you have Me and My salvation? I
will take you to Heaven with Me." And I answered, "No." Ah, but He
would not take, "No," for an answer! He had a sweet way of getting at
my understanding and my will and He drew me till, at last, I cried
after Him! How I ate my black and rebellious words! "O Lord," I said,
"take no notice of what Your poor, poor child has said! Throw my
obstinate refusals behind Your back and let me come to You." But, oh,
the exceeding riches of His Grace that He should stand waiting, waiting
long, and knocking at our door though we would not let Him in!

The exceeding riches of His Grace were seen in making no conditions
with us. When the Lord Jesus Christ met with us, He did not stand out
for terms. I heard one say the other day, "I do not feel enough
brokenness of heart nor enough humiliation of spirit." Who said that
Christ demanded so much brokenness of heart and so much humbling of
spirit before He would give His mercy? He who dared to say it knows not
the freeness of the Gospel, for the Gospel comes to bring you the
broken heart and the humbled spirit! And Christ comes to you just as
you are, in all your alienation and your enmity, and brings everything
in His hands that you can need. This is what we call Free Grace! A
sharp critic said the other day, "Do not say 'Free Grace,' it is a
tautology–Grace must be free."

Ah, my dear Sir, but we shall say, "Free Grace," so that there shall be
no mistake about it, for some, I dare say, will not know where we are
unless we are redundant in our expressions upon this point! There was
nothing in us to draw Christ to us. We had nothing good, but everything
evil. When He came, He did not say, "Bankrupt sinner, you must pay two
pence on the pound, and I will pay the other nineteen and ten pence."
He paid all our debts, asking not a farthing from us! He saw us lying
by the roadside, bruised and broken, and He did not say, "Come here,
poor man; rise up, and I will bind your wounds." No, but He came where
we were lying, unable to stir, and poured in the wine and the oil–and
did it all without our help. This is the "exceeding riches of His
Grace"–in not standing stipulating and huckstering with us, but freely
giving to us all we need–only asking that we would receive it; that we
would be empty and that He might fill us with His love.

Beloved, I think I never knew "the exceeding riches of His Grace"
better that when I was thinking, the other day, of how His Grace works.
Why, He does all this with a word! He speaks a black sinner white! He
speaks a dead sinner into life by a word. "Live," He says, and he that
was dead lives! He that had been accounted unrighteous is, by God's
will, reckoned righteous and he is righteous, for him whom God reckons
to be righteous, by the imputation of Christ's righteousness is
righteous, indeed! Yes, and he shall be rewarded for that righteousness
which God, with a word, gives to him!

If you need another proof of "the exceeding riches of His Grace" think
of the power of the blood. Once washed in the crimson fountain, your
every sin is gone, every spot is washed out! Yes, and gone never to
return, for he that is once washed in the atoning blood will never be
black, again! The cleansing is perfected forever. The glorious High
Priest made one offering for sin, only one–He did it once and by that
He annihilated all the sins of all His people at a single stroke–once
and for all! Oh, "the exceeding riches of His Grace." His word, His
blood have worked such wondrous mysteries of Grace. And since then,
dear Friends, have not "the exceeding riches of God's Grace" been
marvelous to you? To think that He should accept us as Believers though
we had not more than half a grain of faith! He has even treated us as
Believers when sometimes we have been more doubters than trusters.

As for our repentance, it seemed such a poor shallow regret, yet He has
reckoned it repentance and accepted it as such. Our love to Him! Oh,
our poor love to Him has been like a spark hiding away in the ashes,
yet He has called it love! He has known us better than we know
ourselves and He has known we loved Him notwithstanding the feebleness
of our

affection! These poor, frail Graces of ours that we have been ashamed
of, He has, nevertheless, rejoiced in them and had a joy in them as
being the gift of His Spirit, of "the exceeding riches of His Grace."
Ever since our conversion, the Lord has held on to us and helped us to
hold on to Him. We have sorely tried Him time out of mind.

Sometimes we talk about our trials. There is another side to that.
Think of Christ's trials–how we have grieved Him! We must have
provoked His spirit 10,000 times, yet He loves us infinitely and does
not give us up! He has espoused us to Himself and He will never divorce
us. He never sued out a divorce against a soul that was married to Him,
nor ever will! He has not grown cold in His love–notwithstanding our
chilliness–He loves us, now, with all His great and infinite heart!
And, by-and-by, He will open the golden gates and He will say, "Come up
here"–

"Then, Lord, shall I fully know, but Not till then, how much I owe."

But if, when I get to Heaven, I shall know what I owed Him here, I
shall be in a greater difficulty than ever, for I shall not know what I
then owe Him in His Glory!

It is an enormous debt we owe Him for the blessings of time and,
perhaps, in eternity we shall begin to calculate their value. But then
we shall be sweetly oppressed with a new burden, in a sense, of the
amazing mercy which He will then be giving us at His right hand. We may
give up the endless task! We cannot possibly calculate the sum!
Brothers and Sisters, we are all in an equal difficulty and shall be so
forever, for the Lord will go on to deluge us with mercy, Grace and
favor forever and forever! And we shall say to one another, when
millions of years have gone, "Brother, is it not still astonishing? Do
you seem to know much more of it than you did in the Tabernacle that
morning when you heard the poor preacher try to do his best with his
subject and he was utterly lost in it?" And you will say, "I know far
more, but I am as far off as ever from knowing all, for now I know more
of my ignorance. I know more of the extent of what I do not know."

Brothers and Sisters, if what we do know and what we do not know are
added together to make up the total sum of the Lord's Grace, what must
it be?–

"God only knows the love of God:

Oh that it now were shed abroad

In these poor stony hearts." God grant it, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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The First Recorded Words of Jesus