The Search after Happiness

The Search after Happiness

(No. 3105)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1908.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK.

"There aire many who say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift up the
light of Your Countenance upon us." Psalm 4:6.

THIS is a text which, by the rich assistance of the Holy Spirit, may
serve as a touchstone to try our state. See, here are two classes of
men–the many panting after the good of this world–and the few turning
the eyes of faith to their God and begging that He would lift up the
light of His Countenance upon them.

I. Let us contemplate with sadness and with searching of heart, THE
MANY–trembling lest we should find ourselves among the number!

"THE MANY." What multitudes of thoughts cluster around these two words!
The million-peopled city, the populous town, the wide-spread country,
this isle, kingdoms, empires, continents, the world–all seem to issue
forth like armies from the hundred-gated Thebes, at the mention of
those two words, "The many." Here we see the toiling peasant and his
lordly squire, the artisan and the princely merchant, the courtier and
the king, the young and the old, the learned and the unlearned all
gathered within the compass of a word.

And all that form this vast gathering of human souls are joining in one
cry and moving in one direction! This is a thought at which the
faithful may well weep, for their cry is SELF, their course is SIN.
Here and there are the chosen few struggling against the mighty tide,
but the masses, the multitude, as in the days of David, are hurrying
along their mad career in search of a fancied good and reaping the
fruit of their futile search in disappointment, death and Hell! O my
Hearer, are you like the dead fish floating with the stream–or are
you, by constraining Grace, drawn onward and upward to the bliss
prepared for the elect? If a Christian, I beseech you to pause and
admire the Grace which has made you to differ. If your heart is right
with God, I know you will confess that there is no intrinsic natural
goodness in you, for, like your friend the speaker, I doubt not that
you are made to groan over a strong propensity within which often
tempts you to join in the world's chase and leave "the fountain of
Living Waters" for the "broken cisterns" of earth and, therefore, you
will join with the preacher in singing–

"'Tis all of Free Grace we were brought to obey, While others were
allowed to go The road which, by nature, WEE chose as our way, Which
leads to the regions of woe."

Come then, with me and behold the evil and the folly of the world.
Listen to their never-ceasing cry, "Who will show us any good?"

Mark, first, its sensual character "Who will SHOW us any good?" The
world desires something which it may see, taste and handle. The joys of
faith it does not understand. We, by Divine Grace, do not walk by
sight. But the poor sons of earth must have visible, present,
terrestrial joys. We have an unseen portion, an invisible
inheritance–we have higher faculties and nobler delights. We need no
carnal showman to bid the puppet joys of time dance before us. We have
seen "the King in His beauty" and, spiritually, we behold "the land
which is very far off." Let us pity the worldling who is seeking water
where there is none, in a salt land, a thirsty soil. Let us earnestly
intercede for poor, short-sighted man, that he may yet have "the wisdom
that is from above," and the eye-salve of Divine Illumination–then
will he no more seek for his happiness below, or look for pleasure in
things of time and sense.

Take care, my Hearer, that you do not suffer under the same delusion!
Always pray that you may be kept from hunting in the haunts of sense
and fixing your affection on earthly things for, be sure of this–the
roses of this world are

covered with thorns! And her hives of honey, if broken open, will
surround you with stinging remembrances, but not a drop of sweetness!
Remember to lay to heart the words of a holy poet–

"Nor earth, nor all the sky

Can one delight afford.

No, not a drop of real joy,

Without Your Presence, Lord." Notice, next its indiscriminating nature.
"Who will show us ANY good?" The unregenerate mind has no discernment
in its choice. One good is to it as desirable as another. Men easily
allow toleration here. The intoxicating cup is the "good" of the
winebibber. The indulgence of lust is the object of the voluptuary.
Gold is the miser's god and fame or power the choice of the ambitious.
To most men, these are all "good" in their way–if not esteemed good
morally, they are looked upon as forbidden fruits, only untasted
because of the penalty and not abhorred because of a real distaste. O
my Hearer, have you sufficient judgment to see that any good will not
suit you? Have you made an election of "solid joys and lasting
pleasures," and are the dainties of time tasteless to you? You are not
like the bee, which can find her food in nettles and poisonous weeds.
"The Rose of Sharon" is the flower of your choice and, "the Lily of the
Valley" is to you the perfection of beauty. No longer can you ask for
ANY good, for you have found the one, the only good and in HIM is such
a fullness, such an abundance, that your song will always be–

"God is my all-sufficient good,

My portion and my choice.

In Him my vast desires are filled

And all my powers rejoice."

Remark attentively the selfish nature of the question, ' 'Who will show
US any good?" Here the poor man of this world is seeking for himself
and his fellows, but not for God or the good of others. He has no fear
of God, nor any love, nor reverence for Him. Let but his barn be
stored, his purse filled, his body fed, his senses gratified and the
great Maker and bounteous Giver may be forgotten! What does he care
whether there is a God, or whether He is worshipped or not? To him
Venus, Brahma, Woden and Jehovah are all alike gods! He cares not for
the living and true God–he lets others have religion–to him it would
be a weariness and a labor. Or, if he puts on the outward guise of
religion, he is but a Gibeonite in the Temple, "a hewer of wood and
drawer of water." He is selfish in his worship, selfish in his praises
and his prayers.

But we, Beloved, are, we trust, no longer lovers of self. We have
become adorers of God and purely from gratitude we pay our glad homage
at His Throne! We do not now put self foremost–we wish to experience a
self-annihilation, a death to self. We have learned to sacrifice our
own desires on the altar of Divine Love and now one passion
concentrates our power and truly we exclaim–

"Christ is my light, my life, my care, My blessed hope, my heavenly
prize! Dearer than all my passions are, My limbs, my heart, or my
eyes."

Observe, also, the futility of the enquiry–"WHO will show us any
good?" Echo might answer, "Who?" Where lives the fortunate discoverer,
the man who has stumbled on this pearl of price unknown? Ah, Sinner,
call again, like the priests of Baal, for there is neither hearing nor
answering! Go to those Arcadian groves of poetry and find them a
fiction! Taste the nectar of the epicure and find it gall! Lie on a bed
of down and loathe the weakness which effeminacy engenders! Surround
yourself with wealth and learn its powerlessness to ease the mind! Yes,
wear a royal crown and mourn a king's uneasy head. Try all–like the
preacher of wisdom, open each cabinet in the palace of pleasure and
ransack each corner of her treasure house! Have you found the
long-sought good? Ah, no! Your joys, like bubbles, have dissolved at
your touch! Or, like the schoolboy's butterfly, have been crushed by
the blow which won them!

Pause here and realize the emptiness of sublunary joys. Entreat the
Spirit of all Grace to reveal to your soul the hollowness of
terrestrial baubles. Take earth and, as Quarles has it, "Tinnit
inane"–it sounds because it is empty. Despise the world, rate its
jewels at a low price, estimate its gems as paste and its solidities as
dreams. Think not that you shall thus lose pleasure, but rather
remember the saying of Chrysostom, "Despise riches and you shall be
rich. Despise

glory and you shall be glorious. Despise injuries and you shall be a
conqueror. Despise rest and you shall gain rest. Despise earth and you
shall gain Heaven!"

Here may you and I close our review of the foolish multitude by
learning the three lessons spoken of by Bonaventure, "The multitude of
those that are damned, the small number of the saved and the vanity of
transitory things."

II. A happier sight now awaits us. Yonder is a company whose constant
utterance is widely different from the enquiry of the many. These are
THE FEW–not so many as the moralist and formalist believe them, but at
the same time not so few as Bigotry in her narrowness would make them,
for God has His hidden thousands whose knees have never bowed to Baal!

These seek not a good, for they have found it! They ask not a question,
but they breathe a prayer! They apply not to mortals, but they address
to their God this petition, "Lord, lift up the light of Your
Countenance upon us."

Let us tarry on the very threshold of these words and devoutly ask for
Divine searching, lest we should be deceived in our belief that this is
our prayer. Let us not take the words lightly on our unhallowed lips,
lest we ask for our own damnation. Perhaps, my Hearer, if the light of
God's Countenance were at once to shine upon you, your heart is so far
from God, so full of hatred to Him, that it would suddenly destroy you,
for remember, He is "a consuming fire."

Let us, however, if the answer of conscience and the inward witness are
agreed to give us hope, behold the Countenance of our God.

For, first, it is a reconciled Countenance. "Though You were angry with
me, Your anger is turned away and You comforted me." "I have sworn that
I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you." The anger of God
towards Believers in Jesus is forever appeased! They are so perfect, in
the righteousness of Christ, that He sees no spot of sin in them.
Though of "purer eyes than to behold evil," He does yet regard poor
sinners with affection and towards you, my Christian Brother or Sister,
He has no sentiments but those of unmingled love. Think of your
glorious condition– reconciled! Beloved! Adopted!

Next, it is a cheering Countenance. The smile of a fond friend will
nerve us to duty. The approving glance of a wise man will give us
courage in trial. But the looks of God, the smiles of our Father who is
in Heaven–these are better than the applause of a colossal audience,
or the shouts of an empire of admirers! Give me the comforts of God and
I can well bear the taunts of men. Let me lay my head on the bosom of
Jesus and I fear not the distraction of care and trouble. If my God
will always give me the light of His smile and the glance of His
approval, it is enough for me. Come on, foes, persecutors, fiends, yes,
Apollyon, himself, for "the Lord God is a sun and shield." Gather, you
clouds and cover me–I carry a sun within! Blow, wind of the frozen
North, I have a fire of living coals within! Yes, Death, slay me, but I
have another life–a life in the light of God's Countenance!

Let us not forget another sweet and precious consideration. It is a
peculiar Countenance from the fact that it is transforming, changing
the beholder into its own likeness. I gaze on beauty, yet may be myself
deformed. I admire light and may yet dwell in darkness. But if the
light of the Countenance of God rests upon me, I shall become like
He–the lineaments of His visage will be on me and the great outlines
of His attributes will be mine. Oh, wondrous mirror which thus renders
the beholder lovely! Oh, admirable mirror which reflects not self with
its imperfections, but gives a perfect image to those that are
uncomely! May you and I, Beloved, so fix our contemplations upon Jesus
and all the Persons of the Godhead, that we may have our unholiness
removed and our depravity overcome! Happy day when we shall be like He!
But the only reason of it will be that, then "we shall see Him as He
is." Oh, could we look less to the smile and favor of man and more to
the regard and notice of Heaven, how far would we be in advance of what
we are! Our puny spirits would become gigantic in stature and our
feeble faith would, through Grace, wax mighty! We would no longer be
the sport of temptation and the pliant servants of our corruptions. O
our God, amid our folly and our sin, we turn to You with strong desire,
crying out, "Lord lift up the light of Your Countenance upon us!"

We will only note, in concluding our brief but instructive musings,
that God's Countenance is unchanging. The light may seem to vary, but
the face is the same. Our God is the Immutable Father of Lights. He
does not love now and cast away in the future. Never did His love begin
and never can it cease. It is from eternity and shall be to eternity.
The things of time are mutable, confessedly and constantly so, but the
things of eternity are always the same. Away with the horrid suggestion
that God may forget and forsake His own children! Oh, no! The face
which was once radiant with love is not now clouded with wrath–the
heart which overflowed with affection is not now filled with anger!
Great as my sins have

been, they are not so great as His love! The file of my backsliding
shall not be permitted to divide the golden links of the chains of His
mercy. If my gracious Lord and Savior has assured me that my name was
always enrolled among the sons of Zion, then "the powers of darkness"
cannot "erase those everlasting lines." Go, poor menial of Satan,
pursue your weary drudgery. Go seek the unsteady will-o'-the-wisp of
carnal delights, but I have a surer joy, a substantial happiness beyond
your reach. My Hearer, it will be well with you if you can pity the
many, and join with the few, singing–

"Turn, then, my Soul, unto your rest. The merits of your great High
Priest Have bought your liberty– Trust in His efficacious blood, Nor
fear your banishment from God, Since Jesus died for thee."

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 66; ROMANS 8:1-9.

PSALM 66:1, 2. Make a joyful noise unto God all you lands: sing forth
the honor of His name! Make His praise glorious. In a company of
advanced saints, silence may be sometimes profitable. The first verse
of the previous Psalm should read, according to the Hebrew, "Praise is
silent for You, O God, in Zion." Full-grown saints may have their times
of waiting in silence before the Lord, but when the heathen are to be
brought in–and when new hearts are to be taught new songs–then there
must be a noise! And not merely a noise, but a noise that is full of
joy–"Make a joyful noise unto God all you lands." This should be the
chief point about it, that it should be a joyful noise. Many of the
newly invented tunes which have put the good old tunes out of favor
appear to have been made to rattle through the hymn as quickly as
possible, as though the composer had written, "Let us praise God at
express speed and get it done. And the quicker, the better." But I
prefer those tunes in which we can sometimes repeat the words and roll
them under the tongue until our heart gets thoroughly saturated with
the spirit of them.

"Make a joyful noise unto God all you lands," but let that joyful noise
be orderly, not like the shouts of those who cry around the car of
Juggernaut. Let it be joyful singing unto the Lord! "Sing forth the
honor of His name." God is worthy of the highest honor, so let our
praise of Him be given in such a way that it shall really honor Him.
"Make His praise glorious." It is only giving back to God what rightly
belongs to Him when we give Him glory, and it is our highest earthly
glory to be giving glory to God. We are never so near to the condition
of the glorified saints above as when we are, with heart, and soul, and
voice, glorifying God!

3. Say unto God, How terrible are You in Your works!Our praises should
be directed to God–"Say unto God." Our hymns should be a form of
speaking unto the Most High, and an ascription unto Him of His own
Glory. The first attribute of God that influences men is the attribute
of power–which fills them with terror of His awful majesty and might.
Afterwards, they perceive more of His love, goodness, wisdom and other
attributes. But, at first–yes, and perhaps at last–there is a time in
which there is much solemn stately music in this utterance, "How
terrible are You in Your works!"

3, 4. Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit
themselves unto You. All the earth shall worship You and shall sing
unto You; they shall sing to Your name. From the marginal reading of
the 3rd verse, it appears that God's enemies will only "yield feigned
obedience" to Him. But whether the submission is feigned or real, it
shall not be possible for any man or any power to finally resist His
Omnipotence–and the day shall come when all the earth shall worship
Him and sing unto Him!

4, Selah. Here is a little pause for the lifting up of the heart and of
the strain, and well there may be, for what a joyful thing it is to
think of all the earth worshipping God and singing unto Him! I know of
no topic that is more calculated to excite the admiring gratitude of
God's servants than the prospect of the universal supremacy of our God
and of His Christ!

5, 6. Come and see the works of God: He is terrible in His doing toward
the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land. You must often
have noticed that the sweet singers of Israel are never singing very
long unto God without

mentioning that wonderful deliverance that He worked at the Red Sea.
What God did when He brought His people out of Egypt will be the
subject of joyous and grateful song unto God forever, for even in
Heaven "they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song
of the Lamb." The Red Sea as the grand type of redemption and the Lamb
as the great Worker of redemption are joined together in that
triumphant song of "them that had gotten the victory over the beast,
and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his
name." Here the Psalmist sings of what God did for His people at the
Red Sea–"He turned the sea into dry land."

6. They went through the flood on foot; there did we rejoice in Him.
Perhaps some of you say, "But we were not there." No, we were not
personally there, but do you not remember what the Prophet Hosea says
about God meeting with Jacob at Bethel? It is written, "There He spoke
with us." We were not personally there, yet Believers have been
everywhere in the Bible where other representative Believers have been
before them! "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation." What God spoke to any one of His people, He has spoken
to all of whom that one was typical. Paul tells us that the Lord has
said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you," yet it was to Joshua
that He said that. But, as He said it to Joshua, He virtually said it
to me, for I am a Believer even as he was. All the promises belong to
us who are in Christ Jesus, for the heavenly inheritance is left to all
the spiritual seed. And if we are in the Lord's family, we shall share
alike with all the rest of the children.

"There did we rejoice in Him." Then if we rejoiced in the Lord there,
let us rejoice in Him here! Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us rest
assured that when our turn to go through the sea shall come, we shall
find that the Lord has "turned the sea into dry land" for us, whether
it is a sea of troubles or the sea of death. "They went through the
flood on foot" and so shall we! The God who made a way for them through
the sea, virtually made a way for us, also, for the army of God is one
and when the first ranks of the innumerable host passed through the
flood, the army itself began to pass through, and that army can never
be divided. So we are passing through the flood at this moment and
rejoicing in the God who cleaves the sea in two to make a highway for
His people.

7. He rules by His power forever What He did in the past, He is still
doing in the present and He will do in the future.

7. His eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt
themselves. The rebellious may, for a while, exalt themselves, but they
will, sooner or later be pulled down. These eagles may fly as high as
they will, but God's arrow can always reach them. The Lord pulled down
the haughty Pharaoh from his throne, but He lifted up the people whom
the proud monarch had trodden down and oppressed. The Lord overthrew
the hosts of Egypt, but as for His people, He led them forth like sheep
and guided them through the wilderness, even as He is doing at this
very moment.

7. Selah.That is, pause again and lift up the heart and the sacred
strain, too. And when all the strings of your heart and of your harp
are tightened, then go on with your music again.

8, 9. O bless our God, you people, and make the voice of His praise to
be heard: which holds our soul in life, and suffers not our feet to be
moved. I bless God for this verse and as many of you as have found it
true should also praise and bless Him. Observe the two things that are
mentioned here–living and standing. "Which holds our soul in life, and
suffers not our feet to be moved." There are some who have a certain
standing in the Church and who keep up their reputation among their
fellow members, yet they are not spiritually alive. It is a dreadful
thing to be standing and yet not living–like those in Sardis who were
only living in name. Then there are those who are living, but not
standing–at least not standing fast. They are often caught tripping,
falling and wounding themselves. They go with broken bones on their way
towards Heaven by reason of their many falls. But what a blessing it is
to be kept both living and standing, and what reason there is to bless
God for this great mercy–not congratulating ourselves on our
steadfastness and being exalted and proud, but magnifying the Lord for
His Grace in granting to us this double blessing–living and standing!

10. For You, O God, have proved us: You have tried us, as silver is
tried. That is, with fierce furnaces, and with carefully graduated
heat, for silver needs delicate refining. Christ still sits as the
Refiner of silver, patiently watching until the process is complete.

11. You brought us into the net.Did not our enemies entangle us? Oh,
yes, but God often uses our enemies to carry out His Divine purposes!
He rules over allthings. So, when you are caught in the net, do not sit
down and say that such-and-such a person did it, or that the devil did
it. No, but look to the Great First Cause. If You strike a dog with a
stick,

he tries to bite the stick because he does not know any better. But you
are not a dog, so do not look at the second cause of your troubles, but
learn to sing, as the Psalmist does here, "You brought us into the
net."

11. You laid affliction upon our loins. Not merely upon our backs,
where we might be better able to bear it, but right on our loins, so
that we were pressed and squeezed almost out of our very life.

12. You have caused men to ride over our heads.And when they mount
their high horse, they vow and exalt themselves over God's afflicted
servants.

12. We went through fire and through water.They were subjected to a
double test, for what fire does not burn, water will drown, yet God's
people "went through fire and through water." There is no fire that can
burn them. Nebuchadnezzar tried it and failed. And there is no water
that can drown them. Even though their bodies may be burned or drowned,
their real selves shall still survive and stand upon the sea of glass
mingled with fire, triumphant over both fire and water!

12. But You brought us out into a wealthy place. That is to say, the
Lord brought the Israelites out from all manner of oppression under
Pharaoh and brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey.
Nothing that Pharaoh could do could destroy the chosen nation. He tried
to kill all the male children that were born, yet the Israelites still
increased and multiplied, and they came at last to Canaan! It will be
just so with God's people in all times and all climes, they shall not
die, but live and shall ultimately come into that most wealthy of all
places, even the heavenly and better Canaan! We cannot fully tell what
joy awaits us there. We cannot measure the height of our joy by the
depth of our sorrows, for, after all, our sorrows are shallow, but the
Glory of God, which the saints are to share, is a depth unfathomable, a
height that no man can measure. O Lord, bring us into that wealthy
place right speedily if it is Your holy will!

13. I will go into Your house with burnt offerings. Here is one
worshipper breaking away from the rest–a child of God who is not
satisfied by merely joining in the general praise of the whole
assembly, so he brings his own personal thanksgiving and thank-offering
to God. Dear Brother, dear Sister, try to do this! Break away from all
the rest of us, and say to the Lord, "I will go into Your house with
burnt offerings."

13-15. I will pay You my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth
has spoken, when I was in trouble. I will offer unto You burnt
sacrifices of fatlings. "I will give You the best that I have."

15. With the incense of rams. Not only one of the best, but the best of
two kinds of offerings.

15. I will offer bullocks with goats. "I will present to You great
services and smaller sacrifices. I will obey You in the great
ordinances and in the lesser ordinances, also. I will bring both
bullocks and goats. I will make an all-round offering. I will try to do
all that I can for You, my God, since You have done so much for me."

15. Selah. Here the Psalmist pauses again while the smoke of the
sacrifice ascends. Let us also pause and meditate upon the better
Sacrifice which Christ offered for the sins of all who put their trust
in Him.

16, 17. Come and hear, all you that fear God, and I will declare what
He has done for my soul I cried unto Him with my mouth, and He was
extolled with my tongue. "I mixed crying and singing together. I cried
when I was in trouble, and I extolled the Lord as soon as He delivered
me from it. No, by faith expecting to be delivered, I began to extol
Him even while I was yet crying unto Him!"

18, 19. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
but verily God has heard me. It is a blessed thing to be able to say
that. And if you can truthfully say it, I pray you to say it–"Verily
God has heard me." Some people tell us that there is no such thing as
an answer to prayer. They say that it is a piece of superstition on our
part. Well, I believe that I am as honest a man as anyone who denies
the power of prayer, and I can truthfully say, "God has heard me."
There are scores of us–there are hundreds of us–there are thousands
of us who can stand in the witness box and each one of us can say,
"Verily God has heard me." If our testimony is not accepted by
unbelieving men, we cannot help that. We know what we know, and we know
that God has heard and answered our prayers again and again!

19, 20. He has attended to the voice of my prayer Blessed be God, which
has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.

ROMANS 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit My
Hearers, we are, each of us, by nature, under the condemnation of God.
We are not only subject to condemnation, but we are condemned already!
And, on account of sin, there is judgment recorded in God's book
against everyone of us, considered in our fallen state. But if we "are
in Christ Jesus," if we are made partakers of

Jesus, if we have hidden ourselves in the cleft of the Rock, Christ,
and if our trust is solely in Him, oh, precious thought, "there is
therefore now no condemnation" for us! It is blotted out. The old
judgment that was recorded against us is now erased and in God's book
of remembrance there is not to be found a single condemnatory syllable,
nor one word of anger written against any Believer in Christ Jesus!
Glorious freedom from condemnation! How may I know whether I have been
thus set free? This is the question that should enter into each of our
hearts. The answer is, "Who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit." My Hearers, after which of these are you and I walking? Are we
following the flesh? Are we seeking to please ourselves–to indulge our
bodies, to gratify our lusts, to satisfy our own inclinations? If so,
we are not in Christ Jesus, for those who are in Christ Jesus "walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit," and everyone of you who is
fleshly and carnal is not in Christ, but is still under condemnation!

2, 3. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me
free from the Law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. He
did accomplish it. The Law could not condemn sin so truly and so
thoroughly as God did when He condemned sin in the Person of Christ. O
Believer, let not your sins grieve you–however great or however
tremendous they may have been, weep over them, but do not be distressed
about them, for they have been condemned in Christ Jesus! They may have
been enormous, but if you are in Him, Christ was punished for you and
God's justice asks not for a second punishment for one offense. Christ
offered once a complete Atonement for all Believers, and if I am a
Believer in Him, there is no possible fear of my ever being condemned.
There cannot be, for Christ was condemned for me–my sins were laid
upon His head–and in the awful moment when He sustained the stroke of
His Father's vengeance, those sins ceased to be and, "there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."

4. That the righteousness ofthe Lawmight be fulflledin us, who walknot
after the flesh, but after the Spirit Mark, again, how Paul brings us
to this as the great evidence of our being in Christ Jesus–the not
walking after the flesh. Now, every man, as he is born into the world,
left to himself, is sure to "walk after the flesh." It is only the man
who has the Spirit of God put into his soul–who has the heavenly gift
from on high–who will "walk after the Spirit." It is not talkingafter
the flesh, but it is walkingafter it, that condemns us, and it is not
talking after the Spirit that will save us, it is walking after the
Spirit that is the evidence of salvation–not talking, but walking! How
many of you are there who are talkative, who can talk religion and give
us as much as we like of it, but whose life and conversation are not
such as become godliness? "Be not deceived! God is not mocked, for
whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." If you sow to the flesh,
you "shall of the flesh reap corruption," but if you sow to the Spirit,
you "shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

5-7. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things ofthe flesh;
but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit For to be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. That mind with
which we are all born is enmity against God! And however much refined
or polished a man may be, however amiable or polite, however he may
shine among his fellow creatures–if he has not had a new heart and a
right spirit–he is at "enmity against God" and he cannot enter Heaven
until there has been a Divine change worked in him. Some of you suppose
because you have never been guilty of any vice, because you have not
indulged in any great transgression, that therefore you do not require
the work of regeneration in your hearts. You will be mightily mistaken
if you continue under that delusion until the Last Great Day. "For to
be carnally minded," even though that carnal mind is in a body that is
dressed in silks and satins, "To be carnally minded is death," even
though it is whitewashed till it looks like a spiritual one. "To be
carnally minded," even though you sow the carnal mind with a few good
garden seeds of the flowers of morality, will still be nothing but
damnation to you at the last. "To be carnally minded is death"–only
"to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God."

7. For it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. The
opponents of the Free Grace Gospel, which it is our delight to preach,
assert that men can be saved, if they will–that men most certainly can
repent, can believe, can come to God of their own free will and that it
is not through any defect in any powers that they have if they are not
saved. Now, we are not over prone to controvert that point, but at the
same time, we do not understand the meaning of this verse if what they
say is correct. It says here, "The carnal mind is not subject to the
Law of God, neither indeed can be." Some say that men could repent if
it were their inclination. Exactly so, but that is what we assert–that
it never will be and never can be their inclination, except they are
constrained to do so by the Grace of God.

Rowland Hill uses a very singular and odd metaphor in his " Village
Dialogues." Two parties are speaking together on this subject and one
of them, pointing to the cat sitting on the hearth says, "Do you see
that cat? She sits there and licks her paws and washes herself clean."
"I see that," said the other. "Well," said the first speaker, "did you
ever hear of one of the hogs taken out of the sty that did so?" "No,"
he said. "But he could if he liked," said the other. Ah, verily, he
could if he liked, but it is not according to his nature and you never
saw such a thing done! And until you have changed the swine's nature,
he cannot perform such a good action–and God's Word says the same of
man. We do not care about fifty thousand aphorisms, or syllogisms, or
anything else–God's Word against man's any day! Jesus said, "No man
can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him." "The
carnal mind is enmity against God." Men cannot come to Jesus unless the
Father draws them to Him. We assert that from first to last, the work
of salvation is all of Grace and we are not afraid of any licentious
tendency of that Doctrine, or anything of the kind. God's Word, in all
its simplicity, must be preached and we leave Him to take care of His
own Truth. Blessed be God, this humbling Truth of God is of far more
use than the other doctrine which puffs men up with pride, telling them
that they can perform what most assuredly they cannot do! "It is not
subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be."

8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. No man "in the
flesh" can please God. Oh, what a sword this is–a sharp two-edged
sword against many of you, my Friends! Some of you who regularly attend
this House of Prayer, and others of you who stray in here in the
evening, you, "are in the flesh" and you "cannot please God." Perhaps
you have been attempting to do it. You have said, "I will attend the
House of Prayer regularly." You cannot please God by doing that, as
long as you are "in the flesh." You may be as moral as you please and
we beseech you to be so, but unless you have the Spirit of God–unless
you are really changed in heart and made new creatures in Christ
Jesus–all that you can do, as long as you are "in the flesh, cannot
please God." Virtues in unregenerate men are nothing but whitewashed
sins! The best performance of an unchanged character is worthless in
God's sight! It lacks the stamp of Grace upon it and that which has not
the stamp of Grace is false coin. Be it ever so beautiful in model and
finish, it is not what it should be. "So then they that are in the
flesh cannot praise God."

9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Nowif any man has not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His. O Beloved, we have need, each of us, to put
ourselves in this scale! Come, Preacher, be not too sure of your own
salvation. Come, Church Member, do not be too certain of your own
regeneration. Come, Christian, put yourself in this scale–"If any man
has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." If he has not the
Holy Spirit really dwelling in him, guiding him, directing him,
teaching him, comforting him, supporting him–he is none of Christ's!
And if we do not exhibit the Spirit of Christ in our character–if we
have not gentleness, meekness, purity, holiness, benevolence– we are
none of Christ's! Ah, this will take some of your flimsy Christians to
pieces! Half of your professors, we fear, will at the last be found not
to have had "the Spirit of Christ."

It is one thing to profess religion, Beloved–it is quite another thing
to possess vital godliness. We may sit down at the Communion Table, but
oh, if we never had the Spirit of Christ, we "are none of His." We may
plead our own goodness before the Throne of God at the last, but Jesus
Christ will say, "You have not My Spirit. You are none of Mine." And
then, however much we may have striven to serve God, unless we have the
Spirit of Christ, there shall be nothing for us but the fearful curse,
"Depart! Depart! Depart!" "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us
kneel before the Lord our Maker." Let us ask Him for His Spirit! Let us
plead with Him for His Grace and though some of you have never had it,
yet if you now ask for it, our God is a gracious God, full of mercy and
pity–whoever calls upon His name shall be saved! And though the chief
of sinners, if you sincerely ask for pardon and for Grace, you shall
receive it at His hands. The Lord help you so to pray, for Jesus
Christ's sake! Amen.