A Great Gospel for Great Sinners

A Great Gospel for Great Sinners

(No. 1837)

Intended for reading on Lord's-Day, May 3rd, 1885,

Delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the [10]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

On June 2nd, 1884,

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit
for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might
show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and
ever. Amen."—1 Timothy 1:15-17.

WHEN Paul wrote this ever-memorable text, "This is a faithful saying,
and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners," he placed it in connection with himself. I would have
you carefully notice the context. Twelfth verse:—"I thank Christ Jesus
our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor,
and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in
unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners." You see, the apostle had spoken of himself, and then it
was that the Holy Spirit put it into his mind to write of the glorious
salvation of which he was so notable a subject. Truly it was a
seasonable and suggestive connection in which to place this glorious
gospel text. What he preached to others was to be seen in himself.

When I read to you the story of Saul's conversion, suppose I had
finished it by making the remark, "This is a faithful saying, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," you would all have
said, "That is true, and it is a natural inference from the narrative."
Such a remark would have served as the moral of the whole story. It is
an easy and a simple inference from such a conversion, that Christ
Jesus must have come into the world to save sinners. See, then, why
Paul uttered it in this particular place. He could not help bringing
his own case forward; but when he did bring it forward it was to add
emphasis to this declaration that Jesus Christ came into the world to
save sinners. It is my conviction that our Lord in infinite wisdom
intends that his ministers should themselves be proofs of the doctrines
which they teach. If a young man, a very young man, stands up to tell
you of the experience of an aged Christian, you say at once, "That may
be very true, but you cannot prove it, for you are not an aged person
yourself." If one who has been privileged in the providence of God to
enjoy the comforts of life stands up to preach upon the consolations of
the Spirit in poverty, you say, "Yes, that is very true, but you cannot
speak from experience yourself." Hence the Lord likes his servants to
have such an experience that their testimony shall have a man at the
back of it. He would have their lives sustain and explain their
testimonies. When Paul said that Christ came into the world to save
sinners, his own conversion, his own joy in the Lord, were proof
positive of it. He was a witness who had tasted and handled the good
Word of life to which he witnessed.

Paul went to heaven years ago, but his evidence is not vitiated by that
fact; for a truthful statement is not affected by the lapse of time. If
a statement was made yesterday, it is just as truthful as if you were
hearing it to-day; and if it were made, as this was, eighteen hundred
years ago, yet, if true then (and nobody disputed it in Paul's day), it
is true now. The facts recorded in the gospels are as much facts now as
ever, and they ought to have the same influence upon our minds as they
had upon the minds of the apostles. At this moment the statement that
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners has Paul still at the
back of it. "He being dead yet speaketh." Oh, you who are burdened with
your sins, I want you to see Saul of Tarsus before you at this moment,
and to hear him say, with penitent voice, in your presence, "The Lord
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Doubt
not the statement, for the man is the evidence of it. He who saved Paul
can save you: yea, he is willing now to display his power upon you. Be
not disobedient to the heavenly message.

But, beloved, if we have not Paul in our midst to bear his personal
witness we have still many living proofs: we have indisputable evidence
in those that are still about us that it "is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners." I could summon to this pulpit scores who were literally
the blackest of transgressors, but they are washed, and sanctified, and
so they are living arguments of the Lord's power to save. Many also are
now present who could not be numbered by their fellow-men among the
chief of sinners in certain aspects of the case, yet they most
willingly put themselves down as the chief of sinners under some other
way of viewing it, and they bear their testimony, as I do to-night,
that Jesus is able to save unto the uttermost. I, who now stand before
you, am a living witness that Christ Jesus can save sinners, and does
save them still. The Lord has forgiven and justified me, and I have
found grace in his sight. In my case, also, it is proven that it "is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." Oh, how I wish
that my hearers would believe me! Many of you would accept any
statement which I should make; why do you not accept this? You do not
think me a liar,—why, then, do you not believe my testimony concerning
Jesus? He is as ready to save to-day as he was of old. He is ready to
save you if you will trust him.

The run of thought at this time will be, first, concerning those who
are the chief of sinners—secondly, we will enquire why God has saved
them; and thirdly, what they say when they are saved.

I. First, then, who ARE THE CHIEF OF SINNERS? Paul says that he was the
chief. I think, however, that he was only one of the regiment. There
are different classes of sinners, and some are greater and some less.
All men are truly sinners, but all men are not equally sinners. They
are all in the mire; but they have not all sunk to an equal depth in
it. It is true they have all fallen deep enough to perish in sin,
unless the grace of God prevent; yet there are differences in the
degrees of guilt, and there will doubtless be differences in the
degrees of punishment.

Some are the chief of sinners in the same way as the apostle Paul, for
they have persecuted the church of God. Paul, who was then called Saul,
had given his vote against Stephen; and when Stephen was stoned, he
kept the clothes of them that murdered him. He felt that blood lying
upon his soul long afterward, and he bemoaned it. Would not you, if you
had been a helper at the murder of some child of God, feel that you
were among the chief of sinners? If you had been willingly and
willfully, maliciously and eagerly, a helper in putting a man of God
like Stephen to death, you would write yourself down as a sinner of
crimson dye? Why, I think that I should say, "God may forgive me, but I
will never forgive myself." It would seem such a horrid crime to lie
upon one's soul. Yet this was merely a beginning. Saul was like a
leopard, who, having once tasted blood, must always have his tongue in
it. His very breath was threatening, and his delight was slaughter. He
harassed the people of God: he made great havoc of the saints: he
compelled them, he says, to blaspheme: he had them beaten in the
synagogues, driven from city to city, and even put to death. This must
have remained upon his heart as a dark memory, even after the Lord
Jesus Christ had fully forgiven him. When he knew, as Paul did know,
that he was a justified man through the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
yet he must always have felt a smiting at his heart to think that these
innocent lambs had been worried by him; that for no other reason but
that they were lovers of the Crucified, he had panted for their blood.
This matter of deadly persecution placed Saul head and shoulders above
other sinners. This was the top-stone of the pyramid of his sin,
"because I persecuted the church of Christ." I thank God that there is
no man here who has that particular form of sin upon his conscience in
having actually put to death or joined in the slaughter of any child of
God. The laws of our country have happily prevented your being stained
with that foul offense, and I bless the Lord that it is so. Yet if
there should be such among those who are hearing these words, or among
those who shall one day read them, I must confess that they are,
indeed, numbered among the chief of sinners, and I pray God to grant
that they may obtain mercy as Saul did.

But you can go very near to this; in all probability certain of you
have done so. That husband who has threatened his wife so bitterly if
she obeys her conscience, that man who has discharged his servant for
no other reason but his fidelity to Christ, that landlord who has
turned out his cottager from his home because he held a religious
service beneath his roof, that man who has willfully and maliciously
slandered a servant of God, not because he did him any harm, but
because he cannot bear to hear of any truly following after
Christ—these are the people who must be reckoned among the chief of
sinners. They have done no murder, but they have gone as far as they
dare to go, and their heart is full of venom against the people of God:
this is a grievous crime. Though it may seem a very small thing to
grieve a pious child, or to vex a poor godly woman, God does not think
it so. He remembers jests and scoffs levelled at his little ones, and
he bids those who indulge in them to take heed. You had better offend a
king than one of the Lord's little ones. That poor man in the workshop,
who has so hard a time of it with your jests and chaff, has a Friend in
the heavens. That other men who, seeking the Lord, has found the cold
shoulder in society, has an Advocate on high, who will not see him
despised without espousing his cause. It may appear a trifle to make a
saint the target of ridicule, but his Father in heaven does not think
so. I know this, that many patient men will bear a great deal, but if
you strike their children, their blood is up, and they will not have
it. A father will not stand by to see his child abused, and the Great
Father above is as tender and fond as any other father. You have seen
among birds and beasts that they will put forth all their strength for
their young: a hen, naturally very timid, will fight for her little
chicks with all the courage of a lion. Some of the smallest of animals,
and the least powerful, nevertheless become perfectly terrible when
they are taking care of their offspring; and think you that the
everlasting God will bear to see his children maligned, and slandered,
and abused, for their following of him? Is the God of nature without
natural affection? I trow not. You shall rue the day, sir, in which you
took up arms against the people of God. Humble yourself before God on
account of it, otherwise you will be numbered among the chief of
sinners, and the chief of punishments shall be meted out to you.

I have no doubt that there may be some of that kind here; and, if there
are, I can only pray that the story of Saul of Tarsus may be repeated
in them by boundless grace. May they even yet come to preach the gospel
which now they despise. It is no new thing for the priest to be
converted to Christ. It is no new thing for the opposer to become the
advocate, and to be all the better and more powerful a pleader because
of the mischief which he formerly did. Oh that the Lord would turn his
foes into friends! God send it! For Christ's sake may he send it now!

Further, among the chief of sinners we must of course reckon those who
are guilty of the coarser and grosser sins. I will not occupy a moment
in mentioning what they are, for it is a shame even to speak of them.
God keep us from unchastity and dishonesty,—from any one of those sins
which are censurable even under the head of common morality; for, if
not—if we indulge in these—we shall certainly come by them to be
numbered among the chief of sinners. I must, however, mention blasphemy
and lewd speaking, because these are unhappily far too common. Does a
man think that he can go on damning his own body and soul in so many
words, and never provoke the Lord to anger? Does he dream that he can
use foul and filthy words, and wicked oaths, without incurring sin? I
believe that these things bring the blackest guilt on the conscience;
for God has expressly said that he will by no means hold him guiltless
that taketh his name in vain. It is true of every sin that God will not
hold a man guiltless who does it; but it is especially said about this
sin, because men are apt to fancy that words are of no great
importance, or that God takes no notice thereof. Even the thoughtless
or trifling repetition of the name of the Lord involves great sin, for
thus a man taketh the sacred name in vain. Yet men trifle with that
name in common conversation, and that with fearful frequency. There is
no excuse for this wanton wickedness, because it brings neither profit
nor pleasure to the person who so offends. What practical end can it
serve? As George Herbert said long ago,

"Lust and wine plead a pleasure, avarice gain:
But the cheap swearer through his open sluice
Lets his soul run for nought, as little fearing
Were I an Epicure, I could bate swearing."

I am unable to frame an excuse for profane language: it is needless
wilful wickedness. Men talk so as to horrify us: they chill our blood
with fear lest God should take them at their word; and all for nothing
at all. I would to God that every blasphemer here (if such there be,
and I have no doubt that there are), would abandon that vile,
inexcusable, useless habit, which lowers men in society, defiles them
before God, and ensures their condemnation. Filthy speech puts those
who are guilty of it among the chief of sinners, and to them will
certainly be meted out a terrible vengeance in that day when God shall
solemnly curse those who have so glibly cursed themselves. It will be
an awful thing for the man who used profane imprecations to find out at
last that his prayers were heard, and that they will be answered. O
swearer, beware lest the Lord God hear thy prayers at once to thine
everlasting confusion! Sit down at this moment in deep contrition, and
weep to think of the many times in which thou hast defied the God of
heaven, and uttered words of provocation against the God in whose hand
thy breath is. Not yet has he cut thee down. Oh, wonder of mercy! Take
heed to thyself. Above all, marvel that there should be mention of
mercy for such a one as thou art.

Now, dear friends, there are other chiefs among sinners who do not go
in for these grosser sins at all. Let me mention them, for in this line
I shall have to place myself and many of you. Those are among the chief
of sinners who have sinned against great light, and against the
influences of holy instruction, and gracious example. Children of godly
parents, who have been brought up and instructed in the fear of God
from their youth, are among the chief of sinners if they turn aside
from the way of life. When they transgress, there is a heavy weight
about their fault, which is not to be found in the common sin of the
children of the slums, or the arabs of the gutter. The offspring of the
degraded know no better, poor souls, and hence their transgressions are
sins of ignorance; but those who do know better, when they transgress,
transgress with an emphasis. Their sin is as a talent of lead; and it
shall hang about their necks like a millstone. I remember how this came
home to my heart when I was convinced of my sin. I had not engaged in
any of the grosser vices, but then I had not been tempted to them, but
had been carefully guarded from vicious influences. But I lamented that
I had been disobedient to my parents, proud in spirit, forgetful of
God's commands: I knew better—knew better from the very first, and this
put me in my own estimation among the chief of sinners. It had cost me
much to do evil, for I had sinned against the clearest light.
Especially is this the case when the possession of knowledge is
accompanied by much tenderness of conscience. There are some of you
unconverted people, who, when you do wrong, feel that you have done
wrong, and feel it keenly too, even though no one rebukes you for it.
You cannot be unjust, or hasty in temper, or faulty in speech, or break
the Sabbath, or do anything that is forbidden, without your conscience
troubling you. You know what it is to go to bed and lie awake in
misery, after some questionable amusement, or after having spoken too
frivolously. Yours is a tender conscience; do not violate it, or you
will be doubly guilty. When God puts the bit into your mouth, if you
try to get it between your teeth, and it does not check you at all, you
must mind what you are at, for you may be left to dash onward to
destruction. "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." It puts men among the
chief of sinners when against light and against conscience they
deliberately choose the way of evil, and leave the commandments of the
Lord.

Especially is it a grievous offense to sin against the gentle checking
of the Holy Spirit. Have you not been sad offenders upon this point?
You felt the other Sunday night that if you could once get out of the
chapel, and get home, you would bow the knee in prayer; but you did
not. You have felt like that many times, and you have shaken off the
feeling, and now a sermon scarcely moves you: it had need be full of
thunder and lightning to make you turn a hair. Truths which used to
make you shake from head to foot scarcely affect you now. Take care, I
pray you, for he that sins against the Holy Ghost may find himself
water-logged by sin, so as to be no longer able to move his vessel
towards the shores of salvation. Nothing hardens like the gospel when
it is long trifled with. To lie asoak in the truth without receiving it
into the heart is sure destruction. To die on holy ground is to die
indeed. God grant that it may not be so with any here!

Yet if you be this day the chief of sinners, do not despair, nor turn
away in sullen anger; for we are going to say to you at this hour, in
the name of the merciful God, that his Son, Jesus Christ, has come into
the world to save sinners, even the very chief.

I think that I must put down those among the chief of sinners who have
led others into sin. Ah, this is a sad, sad, sad, sad subject! If you
have led others astray, if you yourself seek the Lord, and are saved,
yet you cannot save them. If it be young persons whom you have polluted
with evil, you cannot take the wretched stain out of their minds. You
can leave off sowing the devil's seed, but you cannot gather up what
you have sown, nor prevent its growing and ripening. Fire is easily
kindled, but not so soon extinguished when it has taken hold upon the
fuel. It is an awful fact that there may be souls in hell whom you have
sent there! It was a wise penitential prayer of a converted man who had
exercised influence for evil,—"Lord, forgive me my other men's sins."
When you lead others to sin, their sins are to a large extent your
sins. They do not cease to be the sins of those who commit them, but
they are also the sins of those who promoted or suggested them by
precept or example. A bad example, a lewd expression, an unholy life,
may be the means of drawing others down to perdition—and those that
destroy others, and so are soul-murderers, are among the chief of
sinners. He who uses dagger or pistol to the body is abhorred; what
shall we say of those who poison human minds, and stab at the heart of
piety? These are guiltiest of the guilty. Woe unto them!

Especially must I rank him among the chief of sinners who has preached
falsehood,—who has denied the deity of Christ—who has undermined the
inspiration of Scripture—who has struggled against the faith, fought
against the atonement, and done evil even as he could in the scattering
of scepticism. He must take his place among the ringleaders in
diabolical mischief: he is a master destroyer, a chosen apostle of the
prince of darkness. Oh, that he might be brought by sovereign grace to
be among the foremost teachers of that faith which hitherto he has
destroyed! I think that we should do well as Christian people if we
prayed more for any who make themselves notorious by their infidelity.
If we talked less bitterly against them, and prayed more sweetly for
them, good would come of it. Of political argument against atheists we
have had enough, let us carry the case into a higher court, and plead
with God about them. If we use the grand artillery of heaven by
importunate prayer, we should be using much better weapons than are
commonly employed. God help us to pray for all false teachers that they
may be converted to God, and so display the omnipotence of his love.

I shall not say more upon this mournful matter, for, indeed, I have
only mentioned these examples in the hope that some here present may
confess, "I am sorry to say that the preacher means me. Under some
aspect or other I must take my place among the chief of sinners."

II. Now, secondly, WHY ARE THE CHIEF OF SINNERS SO OFTEN SAVED? The
Lord Jesus Christ, when he went into heaven, took with him one of the
chief of sinners as a companion: the dying thief entered Paradise the
self-same day as our Lord. After our Lord Jesus had gone to heaven, so
far as I know, he never did save more than one person by his own
immediate instrumentality; and that one person was this very apostle
Paul, who has given us our text. To him our Lord spake personally from
heaven, saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" To him he
revealed himself by the way, and called him to be his apostle, even to
this man who truthfully called himself the chief of sinners. It is
wonderful to think that it should be so: but grace delights in dealing
with great and glaring sin, and putting away the crying crimes of great
offenders.

The Lord Jesus not only saved the chief of sinners, but he was related
to some of them by blood. Look through the long line of our Lord's
genealogy. You know that doctrine, the last invention of Rome,
concerning the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. I am going to
tell you a doctrine which is about as far apart from that as the east
is from the west. In the genealogy of our blessed Lord we find the
names of certain of the chief of sinners. Three women especially hold a
position in it, who were each notorious for sin. Not many women are
mentioned, but among the first is Tamar, guilty of incest. The next is
Rahab the harlot, and a third is Bathsheba the adulteress. This is a
crooked pedigree, an ancestral tree whose branches are more than a
little gnarled and twisted. Admire the condescension of our Lord in
coming of such a stock. He came of sinners, because he came for
sinners. According to the flesh he comes of sinners that sinners may
come to him. There was mixed in the veins through which flowed his
ancestry the blood of Ruth the Moabitess, a heathen, brought in on
purpose that we Gentiles might see how truly he was bone of our bone,
and flesh of our flesh. I say not that there was any defilement in his
humanity, God forbid; for he was not born after the manner of men, so
as to be polluted in that fashion; but still I say that his genealogy
includes many great sinners in order that we may see how closely he
allied himself with them, how thoroughly he undertook their cause. Read
the roll of his ancestry, and you will see that David is there, who
cried, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned ", and Solomon, who
loved strange women; and Rehoboam, his foolish son; and Manasseh "who
shed innocent blood very much," and worse men than they, if worse could
be. Such sinners as these are in the genealogy of the Savior of
sinners. "He was numbered with the transgressors." He was called "The
friend of publicans and sinners." It was said of him, "This man
receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." Still he delights to save
great sinners. O my hearer, it will delight him to save you!

Why does he do it? The apostle says, in the sixteenth verse, "For this
cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth
all longsuffering." What, is that his reason for saving a sinner? It is
that he may show in that sinner his long-suffering, revealing his
patience and forgiveness. In a great sinner like Paul he shows all his
long-suffering, not little grains of it, nor portions of it, but all
his longsuffering. Is Jesus Christ willing to show forth all his
long-suffering? Does he delight to unveil all his love? Yes; for
remember that he calls his mercy his riches: "he is rich in mercy." I
do not find that he calls his power his riches, but he calls his grace
his riches, "in whom we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Oh, dear
friends, the Lord, who is rich in mercy, seeks a treasury in which to
put his riches; he wants a casket for the sacred jewellery of his love;
and these atrocious criminals, these great offenders, these who think
themselves black as hell, these are the very men in whom there is space
for his rare jewels of goodness. Where sin has abounded there is
elbow-room for the infinite mercy of the living God. Ought you not to
be encouraged, if you feel yourself greatly guilty, that God delights
to show forth all his patience by saving great sinners? Will you not at
once seek that all long-suffering may be shown in your case? Believe on
the Lord Jesus, and it shall be so.

And what does Paul say next? He says that the Lord saved him for a
pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting. For a pattern. It means for a type or specimen. Paul was a
"proof before letters." The first prints of an engraving are sharp and
clear, and therefore they are very valuable: they exhibit the
productive power of the plate at its highest point, before the surface
is worn down in the least degree. Paul was one of the proof-engravings
taken off the plate in the earliest days, and under the most favorable
circumstances for bringing out every line of grace. All God's
long-suffering was seen in him for a pattern. I would to God that we
could put some of you under that same engraved plate, and issue more
impressions at this very hour; for the plate is not worn out: the type
that God uses is as new as ever. When a printer sets his type, he sends
to the author a sheet to let him see what the type is, and he calls it
his proof. So also Paul was God's proof—one of the first taken off by
the glorious machinery of grace to let us all see what God has to say
to us concerning longsuffering love. That printing-machine is at work
at this very moment: it is making impressions at this hour, most clear,
sharp, and readable. I would to God that some great sinner here would
be like the paper laid under the type to take the impression of
almighty grace. A grand edition of the Work of Love was issued before
Paul was printed off, and published; I refer to the time when Peter
preached at Pentecost. Many large and splendid editions have been
issued from that press since. I see before me a whole library that God
has printed in this house—the proofs that God has taken of late years
from the old standing type; but Paul stands at the head of the list as
a fine first proof of what God can do.

Then God can save me. I came to that conclusion a year ago, and putting
it to the test, I found it true. Dear fellow sinners, come to the same
conclusion! Who are you? No, I do not ask you to tell me. I do not want
to know. God knows. But I want you to come to this conclusion,—"If Paul
is a specimen of saved ones, then why should not I be saved? If Paul
had been unique, a production quite by himself, then we might justly
have doubted as to ourselves; but since he is a pattern, we may all
hope to see the Lord's long-suffering repeated in ourselves." Nowadays,
by the Parcels' Post, people are sending you patterns of all sorts of
things, and many articles are bought according to sample. When you buy
from a pattern you expect the goods to be like the pattern. So God
sends us Paul as a pattern of his great mercy to great sinners. He thus
says, in effect,—"That is the kind of thing I do. I take this rough,
bad material of the chief of sinners, and I renew it, and show forth
all my mercy in it. This is what I am prepared to do with you." Poor
soul, will you not accept the mercy of God? Enter into this salvation
business with the Lord, that you, too, like the apostle, being a
sinner, may become like him in obtaining the glorious salvation which
is in Christ Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners. I am
talking very plainly and simply to you; but if you love your own souls
you will be all the better pleased to listen. I do not want to amuse
you, but to see you saved. Do, I pray you, bend your minds to this
subject, and learn that there is good hope for the worst of you if you
will cry unto the Lord.

That is why Jesus saves those who have most grievously erred, that he
may display them as specimens of what his grace can do.

"But I belong to such a wicked family," cries one. Oh, yes; and many
have been saved who belonged to the most depraved and degraded of
families. They have entered into relationship with Christ, and their
own base condition has been swallowed up in his glory. The children of
criminals when converted belong to the family of God. "To as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name."

"Oh, but I have indulged in such horrible vices." This is a sad
confession, but it does not doom you to despair, for the blood of Jesus
washes away the worst of filth. Blasphemers, adulterers, drunkards,
thieves—"such," O ye saints—"such were some of you, but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified"; and why should not others of like character be
washed and sanctified too?

III. I must close by dwelling a moment on the third head, which is
this—WHAT THE CHIEF OF SINNERS SAY WHEN THEY ARE SAVED. What they say
is recorded in the text. It reads like a hymn:—"Now unto the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for
ever and ever. Amen." See, the first word is "Now." As soon as ever
they are saved they begin praising the Lord. They cannot endure to put
off glorifying God. Some one might whisper to them, "You will praise
God when you get to heaven." "No," replies the gracious soul, "I am
going to praise him now. Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, be glory for ever and ever." Grateful love cannot be
restrained, it is like fire in the bones. Our heart would break for
love if it could not find a means of expressing itself at once.

Does another person whisper, "When you praise God, do not be too long
about it. Leave off as soon as you have moderately praised and adored.
Do not be for ever engaged in the work of praise." "No," says the saved
man, "I cannot have done while life lasts,—'To him be honor and glory
for ever and ever.'" Not only for ever: that might seem to be long
enough; but "for ever and ever." It is a redundant expression, such as
enthusiasm delights to use: it indicates a sort of double eternity. The
saved sinner can never have enough of glorifying the Lord; he will
praise him throughout eternity. As soon as a man is cleansed from sin,
he is clothed with praise. A new song is put into his mouth, and he
must sing it: he cannot help doing so. There is no stopping him.

Notice what titles Paul here heaps together. First, he calls the Lord
Jesus Christ a King. "Now unto the King eternal." Or apply it to God
the Ever-Blessed, in his sacred unity, if you will: he calls the Lord
King, for he would give him the loftiest name, and pay him the lowliest
homage. He calls him a King, for he had found him so; for it is a king
that distributes life and death, a king that pardons rebels, a king
that reigns and rules over men. Jesus was all this to Paul, and much
more, and so he must needs give him the royal title: he cannot speak of
him as less than majestic. If Jesus is not King to all the world, at
least he is King to the man whose sins have been forgiven him. "Now,"
says he, "unto the King eternal be honor and glory for ever and ever."

See how he puts it, "the King eternal." Not a king that will lose his
kingdom; not a king who will cease to reign, or abdicate, or die. Oh,
dear brethren, the King that pardoned Paul is a King to-day equally
mighty to save. Eighteen hundred years after his great deed of grace to
the chief of sinners he is still a King.

"Jesus sits on Zion's hill:
He can save poor sinners still."

He sits upon the throne of mercy in the sovereignty of his grace, in
the splendor of his love, in the majesty of his power, passing by
iniquity, transgression, and sin. Will you not bow before him? Here at
this moment I pause to do him reverence,—Glory be to the Lord Jesus,
for he is the King eternal!

Then he calls him the King immortal. He is the King that ever lives by
his own power, and is therefore able to give life to dead souls.
Blessed be the name of the Savior that he died for sinners, but equally
blessed be his name that he ever liveth to make intercession for
sinners, and is therefore able to save unto the uttermost them that
come unto God by him. The quickened, raised-up spirit cries aloud,
"Glory be unto the King immortal, for he has made me immortal by the
touch of his life-giving hand!" Because he lives, we shall live also.
Our life is hidden in him, and throughout eternity we shall reign with
him.

Then Paul styles him the King invisible; for as yet we see not all
things put under him, and his reign is perceived rather by faith than
by sight. The Lord Jesus is to mortal eyes invisible, and therefore our
service must be rendered by the spirit rather than through the senses.
He must be trusted if we are to draw near to him, and we must say of
him, "whom having not seen we love." An unseen Lord, who can only be
known to our faith, has saved us, and will save us, world without end.
We have not a King that we have seen or touched, or whose voice we have
audibly heard; but ours is a King who is invisible, and yet moveth to
and fro among us, mighty to save. Thanks be unto the Holy Spirit for
giving us eyes of faith to see him that is invisible, and hearts to
trust and to rest upon an invisible Lord!

"Now, now, now, now, now, now, now," that is the word for every saved
soul. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, be endless glory.
Do you not respond to the call by immediate praise? Do you not say,
"Awake up my glory! Awake, psaltery and harp"? Oh, for a seraph's coal
to touch these stammering lips! As a sinner saved by my Lord and King,
I would fain pour out my life in a continual stream of praise to my
redeeming Lord.

Furthermore, our apostle speaks of the only wise God. He is so wise
that he saves great sinners to make them patterns of his mercy; so wise
that he takes bigots and persecutors to make them into apostles; so
wise that he makes the wrath of man to praise him, and the very
wickedness of man he uses as a foil to set forth the brightness of the
glory of his grace. Unto the only wise God, wise enough to turn a lion
into a lamb, wise enough to make a sinner a saint, a persecutor a
preacher, an enemy a friend—to him be glory. Oh, the wisdom of God in
the plan of redemption! It is a deep unfathomable. Compared with it
there is no wisdom elsewhere, and God is seen to be "only wise."

To him be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Unto him be glory on
earth and glory in heaven, honor from all of us poor imperfect beings,
and glory from us when he shall have made us perfectly meet to behold
his face. Come, lift up your hearts, ye saved ones! Begin at once the
songs which shall never cease. The saints shall never have done
singing, for they remember that they were sinners. Come, poor sinner,
out of the depths extol him who descended into the depths for you!
Chief of sinners, adore him who is to you the Chief among ten thousand,
and the Altogether Lovely! You black sinners, who have gone to the very
brink of damnation by your abominable sins, rise to the utmost heights
of enthusiastic joy in Jesus your Lord! Put your trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and all manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto you; and at the receipt of such a pardon you shall burst out into
new-made doxologies to God your Savior. "Come now, and let us reason
together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." O ye guiltiest of the guilty, the apostle Paul speaks to you,
and stands before you as the bearer of God's white flag of mercy.
Surrender to the King eternal, and there is pardon for you, and
deliverance from the wrath to come. Thirty-five years Paul lived in
sin. Twenty years after that, when he was older than I am, he wrote
these words, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am
chief." Is there not some thirty-five years' old fellow here to-night
who had better turn over a new leaf? Is there not some woman here of
that age who has had more than enough of sin? Is it not time that you
turned unto the Lord and found a new and better life? Turn them, Lord:
turn them, and they shall be turned! Make them live and they shall live
unto thee, world without end. Amen and Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon—Acts. 9:1-31.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book"—546, 588, 551.
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