Concerning The Forbearance Of God

Concerning The Forbearance Of God

(No. 3154)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1909.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
20, 1873.

"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and
long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to
repentance?" Romans 2:4.

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same verse, are as
follows–Sermons #1714, Volume 29–EARNEST EXPOSTULATION and #2857,
Volume 49– GOD'S GOODNESS LEADING TO REPENTANCE.]

IT is a great sign of love on God's part that He condescends to reason
with men. When they had offended against Him, He might have said to
them, "I will punish you for your offenses," and He might have gone His
way until the day for carrying out His threat arrived. But instead of
doing so, He is unwilling that any should perish. According to His own
declaration, He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but would
rather that he should turn unto Him and live. And, therefore, He pauses
and expostulates. When a man has been greatly offended by another and
is very angry with him, he does not usually stay to reason with his
opponent–his anger is too hot for that. But if he is of a meek and
gentle spirit, and anxious that the quarrel should be ended, he begins
to reason with the other man and says to him, "Why did you act so
unkindly towards me? Why did you treat me thus? You have acted most
unjustly–have you no sense of right? I have not deserved this at your
hands–why, then, did you thus deal with me? Come now, do you utterly
hate or despise me, or why do you thus continue to annoy and provoke
me?" In such a fashion as this, but with Infinite tenderness, the Lord
reasons with sinners. So, dear Friend, if you are still unconverted,
regard it as a clear proof of God's loving kindness toward you that He
again sends to you the word of expostulation! Take it for granted that
he desires your good and wishes you well, otherwise He would not have
bid His servant say to you, "Do you despise the riches of His goodness
and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of
God leads you to repentance?"

From the connection of our text, it would appear that there were some,
in Paul's day, as there are in ours, who, seeing the great wickedness
of mankind and observing that God did not at once destroy the ungodly,
gathered from that fact that they, themselves, might sin with impunity.
Seeing that God did not launch His thunderbolts at even the most gross
sinners–and strike them with immediate and total destruction by
pestilence, famine, or sword–these people wickedly said, "What does it
matter what sins or crimes we commit? Evidently God is asleep, or winks
at such deeds as these. Or perhaps there is no God at all! Anyhow, let
us live in sin and take pleasure therein, for there will be no evil
consequences to us if we do so. We may eat the fat, drink the sweet and
enjoy ourselves to our hearts' content and there will be no one to call
us to account." So that from the very fact that God was merciful and
gracious, they inferred that they might be sinful and rebellious! And
because God's foot was slow to come in vengeance, they imagined that
God's hand would not be heavy when He did come, and they said, "Let us
eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" It was to a sinner of this sort
that Paul put the question, "Do you despise the riches of His goodness
and forbearance and long-suffering?" I am going to put that question to
you who are here–and I pray that the Holy Spirit may put it to the
conscience of every unconverted man and woman!

I. Now first LET US HONOR THE GOODNESS, FORBEARANCE AND LONG-SUFFERING
OF GOD.

The description given by the Apostle is threefold. "The riches of His
goodness and forbearance and long-suffering." I shall probably not be
wrong in saying that God's "goodness" may refer to the way in which He
has overlooked all our past sins, so that He has not yet dealt with us
in justice concerning them. His forbearance may refer to our present
sins, the transgressions of this day and hour, and His long-suffering
may refer to our future sins, for He knows that we shall

continue to sin, yet He does not destroy us, but still bears with us.
What a heavy weight is upon my mind and heart as I think of the
forbearance of God towards the impenitent with regard to their past
sins! Why, there are some of you who have committed sins that you would
be ashamed to have mentioned–sins against light and knowledge, too,
which you knew to be sins, not merely one or two, but very many! It
would have been the easiest possible thing in the world for God to have
destroyed you, yet He has not done so. How long can you keep your
temper when you are provoked? Five minutes? Half an hour? "That is a
long time," you say. Suppose you were insulted to your face, how long
would you hold your peace and bear it? An hour? I fear there are not
many of you who would do that, but that you would soon give an answer
to the man who had dared thus to challenge you. What, then, shall I say
of God, who has borne with some here thirty, forty, fifty, sixty,
seventy, perhaps 80 years, in which the mere fact of their living has
been an insult to Him, for they have lived in opposition to His will
and His Law and have often defied Him to His face? And in their
provoking blasphemy have even invited Him to damn their bodies and
souls! Oh, the amazing mercy of a God who can bear with a sinner for 12
months, who can even bear with him for 50 times 12 months and can still
stand–and in tones of pity and entreaty say, "Come now, come even now,
and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like
crimson, they shall be as wool."

Then, next, it is no small mercy that God bears with your present sins,
so despise not the riches of His forbearance to you now. Most of you
have long been hearers of the Gospel. You are sitting in the place
where you have sat and heard the Gospel preached hundreds of times–and
the very pew you are sitting in might witness against you that although
you have so long heard it, you have refused to obey it! You have
promised better things, but you have never performed them. You have
lied, not to men, but to God! You have lulled your conscience to sleep
when God has spoken to you through it and you have even quenched His
Holy Spirit when He has striven with you–yet up to this moment, God
who, without uttering a word could send your guilty soul to Hell,
forbears to do so! He cries, "How can I give you up?" He looks the
rebel in the face and says to him, "How can I damn you? How can I cast
you into Hell? My compassions are moved towards you. My repentings are
kindled together." It is indeed great Grace for God to do this–and He
is doing it now! Every moment that an unconverted man is out of Hell,
God is manifesting towards him the riches of His forbearance. And it is
no small strain upon Divine Mercy when men continue to sin
notwithstanding this forbearance. The Roman lictors used to carry on
their shoulders the rods with which prisoners were condemned to be
beaten–and in the center of the rods was the axe for the final
punishment of death. Those rods were bound with cords having many
knots, and the lictors would slowly untie the knots while the judge
waited to see if the prisoner would say something that would prevent
him from being beaten–but when the last knot was untied, they bared
his back to scourge him. The judge still looked at him to see if there
was any sign of repentance–and if there was not any, then came the
axe! So, with regard to some of you, God has been undoing the knots one
by one–yes, and He has beaten you with more than one of His rods–you
have suffered from sickness, poverty and many other tribulations. God's
rods are smiting you now, but He is slow to take up the axe. He is
stern in His judgment upon the impenitent, but He is full of pity and
compassionate–and unwilling to deal the death-blow if it can be
prevented! "Turn you," He says, "turn you from your evil ways; for why
will you die, O house of Israel?" And with all the eloquence of words,
He cries to men that they would turn unto Him and live!

Then there is the long-suffering of God with regard to sins that are
yet to be committed. O Sinner, you cannot promise that you will not sin
in the future! You may foolishly say, "I will not," but the Ethiopian
might sooner change his skin and the leopard his spots as that you, who
are accustomed to do evil, might begin in your own strength to do well!
The fountain of your heart is foul–so polluted streams must continue
to flow from it. You are born of such a race and you have so added to
your natural depravity by your constant sinfulness that you will still
go on to sin until Grace changes and renews you! How is it that God,
who knows this, does not strike you out of existence? Is He going to
spare you for another year to still set your hard heart against His
love? Sinner, does God mean to spare you for another seven years'
fornication and lust? Will He permit you to live another 10 years to
still be a thief? Shall you have another 20 years in which every
Sabbath shall be spent in sin and in which almost every night shall see
you reeling as a drunkard through the streets? Oh, if God knows that
you will sin like this, how is it that He bears with you? If the
destroying angel is told what you will be, he will stand with his sword
drawn, or with his hand upon its hilt and say, "Commission me, dread
Sovereign, to cleanse the earth of those who blaspheme Your name and
break Your Law, and it shall be done!" But

God says, "Put your sword into its sheath and wait a little longer!
They shall have another appeal, another invitation and another
entreaty." Oh, that these might be of use to them and that they might
turn unto God, and live!

Beside this threefold appeal in the text, God's goodness is manifested
in great abundance. "Do you despise the riches of His goodness and
forbearance and long-suffering?" Truly God's mercy to us has been like
a mine of riches. What has God not done for some of us? If I were not,
at this moment, a Believer, I would be, of all here present, one of the
most ungrateful. I will state my own case knowing it to be similar to
that of many others who are present. Cradled in the home of piety,
nurtured with the most tender care, taught the Gospel from my youth up,
with the holiest example of my parents, the best possible checks all
around to prevent me running into sin–yet, notwithstanding all that,
sinning and revolting more and more but checked by conscience, as when
a steed tries to leap forth, but its rider reins it in–yet still
resolved to sin–determined to go further and yet further into it and
even being angry with God for checking sin, trying to get the bit
between one's teeth and to run away from God and sin worse than before!
Then struck down by the hand of God in sickness, alarmed, terrified,
resolving to live differently–but being raised up to health again,
shaking off serious impressions–and with a laugh going back to the
follies of sin. Then once more rebuked, made to tremble, thunderstruck
and awed before God–hearing of the precious Savior, yet putting Him
off and saying that another day would be soon enough to be a Christian!
That is my sad story until Sovereign Grace met with me. And that is
also the story of many others present here!

Yet all the while, God has kept you supplied with the blessings of
Providence so that you have never suffered want. He has preserved you
from the dangers and trials and troubles which a great many others have
had to endure. He has placed you where an earnest Gospel ministry never
lets you rest in your sin. He has put you where faithful friends plead
with you with tears to care about your immortal soul. He has raised you
up from sickness, perhaps preserved you in the day of battle,
delivering you when many others died all around you. Has God done all
this for you and are there in your mind no tender thoughts toward Him,
no grateful memories of His great mercy? Oh think of where you might
have been long ago! Might they not have said over your dead body,
"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust?" Yes, long ago there
might have been a portion for you in that dread place where the worm
dies not and the fire is not quenched! Think of the gracious promises
that are still proclaimed in your hearing, that if you return unto the
Lord, He will have mercy upon you and will forgive you all your
trespasses! Think of the Christ of God who died for sinners on the
Cross. Think of the Spirit of God who has come down to earth to strive
and plead with sinners. Think of the Father's almighty love which is
bestowed upon all those who put their trust in Jesus Christ, His Son.
Oh, there have indeed been riches of mercy, riches of goodness, riches
of forbearance, riches of long-suffering and, Man, do you despise all
this? Woman, away yonder, do you despise all this? All this mercy has
passed before you in one long panorama for many years–what do you say
about it? Do you not say, "My God, forgive me that I have so long
slighted You?" Or will you still despise the riches of His goodness and
forbearance and long-suffering?

I might, if I had time, try to measure the long-suffering of God. And
if I did, I should need four lines. The excellence of God's goodness is
manifested by four considerations. First consider the Divine Person who
manifests it. Remember who God is! Think how great He is. No one likes
to be insulted by his inferiors, then how can God bear to be insulted
by the creatures whom He has made, the creatures who owe Him their very
breath? How can God endure to be opposed and defied by one so utterly
insignificant and unworthy as man is? Yet He does not crush His
rebellious creatures as He well might.

Think next of His Omniscience. We sometimes bear with people because we
forget much of what they have said or done, but what would it be to
have before your mind's eye all the evil speaking of 20 years ago and
all the hard sayings and unkind acts of a long life of enmity against
you? Yet, though God has all our sins always before Him and our most
secret sins in the light of His Countenance, He still forbears to smite
and destroy us!

Think, too, how powerful He is–none can escape from Him when He
pursues them. Moses could run away from Pharaoh and hide in the land of
Midian, but where could we flee to escape from the vengeance of God if
He had resolved at once to punish all those who had rebelled against
Him? How could we have stood up against Him? Where are the bars of
brass that could resist the Omnipotence of the besieging God? None of
His creatures can stand against Him anymore than the stubble can stand
against the flame, or the straw against the fire. And yet He has such
forbearance that He has

put up with us all these years! O blessed God, I love You for Your
wondrous patience to me and to my fellow sinners that You still spare
us though we have so sorely provoked You!

Then take another measuring line and consider the being to whom God's
goodness is manifested–that is, man. Think of what man is and then ask
yourself if such a little insignificant creature dares to proclaim war
against God! Has he the audacity to defy God and to say, "I will not do
what You have bid me do?" Why, the ant that crosses your path on a
summer evening is not half as insignificant in comparison with you as
you are when compared with the Almighty God! And it is man who has
received so much from God–man, who could not live an instant without
God's permission and support–who stands up and says that he will not
be God's servant and that he will not accept the Savior whom God has
appointed! O you heavens, how is it that you do not fall and crush the
miscreant? Great God, it is only because You are God that You put up
with sinful men so long!

Another measuring line is this–consider the conduct to which God's
goodness is a reply. In other words, consider what sin i s. There is
not a person here who has ever seen sin as it really is in God's sight.
In the least sin there is more evil than there is even in Hell, for
Hell is at least the vindication of Divine Justice, but sin defies that
Justice. Sin is an unlimited and unmitigated evil. There are sins that
are so wanton, so aggravating, so willful and men go so much out of
their way to commit them! There are sins that are repeated over and
over–even in spite of chastisement. There are some sins that are so
polluting, so defiling in which a man degrades and ruins others as well
as himself. And there are some sins so infamous that it is marvelous
that God still bears with the men who commit them and that while He
holds back the thunderbolts of Justice, He holds out the silver scepter
of mercy and says even to the chief of sinners, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved."

Then if we needed one other measuring line, it would be the
consideration of the gifts which God's goodness brings. Our common
mercies–daily bread, raiment to put on, health for necessary labor,
rescue from peril, preservation from death, the institution of the
Sabbath, the gift of the Bible, the Gospel of salvation–these are
immeasurable blessings! Who, then, can calculate the riches of the
goodness and forbearance and long-suffering of God?

I cannot help feeling ashamed of myself while I am talking to you upon
this theme, for I have a case to plead for God that I think I ought to
plead much better than I do. And if I knew how to do it, I would do it,
my gracious, blessed God! Alas, alas, there are some of you who treat
God so ill, yet He has never done you any harm and He is always doing
you good! If His service were slavery, I would not wonder if you did
not serve Him. If to be His children were to be tortured and made
unhappy, I could not so much blame you. But as His service is perfect
freedom. As His love is ineffable bliss. As His Presence is Heaven
begun below, why do you flee from that which is for your own highest
happiness and run away from that which is all of God's mercy to you? O
Sin, you have made men insane! You have given them over to a madness
which makes them see no beauty in God, no charms in the Person of the
Redeemer and no attraction in the salvation which He has bought with
His own most precious blood! O Divine Spirit, I cannot plead as I
would–You come and make men value as they ought, the riches of the
goodness and forbearance and long-suffering of God!

II. Now let me briefly try to show you HOW MEN MAY DESPISE THE
GOODNESS, FORBEARANCE AND LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD.

First, many persons do it by never considering that they do receive
goodness from God. They take all that God gives them as a matter of
course and never think about it. If you have been very generous to some
poor man and have relieved his needs for several years, I think you
must sometimes feel grieved if you find that he takes it quite as a
matter of course and never shows any gratitude to you, but expectsyou
to still do just as you have so long done. You think to yourself, "I am
not bound to help him. It is entirely an act of favor on my part." You
do not like to say, "I will not give him anymore," but you are strongly
tempted to say so. Now if you have been ungrateful to your God for all
His goodness to you, I pray you not to continue so. The swine walk
under the oak and eat up the acorns that fall from it, but never grunt
out their thanks for them–will you be such swine as that? Oh, be not
so! Rather imitate the little chicken which drinks out of the stream
and then raises its head as if to thank God. I know that there are many
here who would not like to be considered ungrateful, neither are they
so to their fellow men. I know you would scorn such a character, yet
you are ungrateful to your best Friend who has done far more for you
than all the rest of your friends put together! Do not despise His
goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering by allowing it to remain
unnoticed.

Some despise the long-suffering of God by opposing His design in it.
The design of God's goodness is to make bad men into good men. The
design of God's mercy to impenitent sinners is to make them penitent.
You say to God, "I will not have You for my God" and He replies, "I
will prolong your life. I will prosper you in business. I will multiply
My favors to you." Yet you still say, "But I am not going to be moved
by all this." God comes to your bedside when you are lying there very
ill–the cold sweat of death is standing on your brow and He draws the
fever from your system and again prolongs your life–and gives you
another 10 years here, yet you say to Him, "I love You none the better
even after doing all this for me." Is that right? God has been gently
leading you, not driving you, but drawing you towards Himself out of
love towards you–do not despise His loving kindness by pulling the
other way.

There are some who do even worse than this, for they pervert the
long-suffering and forbearance of God into a reason for being
unbelieving. They say to themselves, "We have got on very well in this
world although we have never been religious. We have had a good time of
it though we have never prayed. We have been raised up from sickness,
though afterwards we never thought about religion anymore, so we may do
as we like. God will not be angry with us, He will not stretch out His
hand and smite us." Ah, I know nothing that is more perilous to an
ungodly man than to go on prospering! But whenever I meet with an
ungodly man who is in great trouble, I have a hope that God has chosen
that man unto eternal life and that, therefore, He will not let him go
to Hell, but puts bars and posts across the road to block the way to
Perdition. But as for the man who is prosperous though ungodly, in
regard to whom every wind seems to be favorable to his ships and every
season gives him better crops than his neighbors have–and whose
children are multiplied, and so on–do you know why God acts thus
towards him? I can tell you.

I have heard of a Christian woman who had a very wicked husband. He was
a dreadful swearer and always opposed her in every good thing, yet she
was the kindest wife that a man ever had. One night, or rather, early
in the morning, as he sat drinking with his companions, he told them
that he had a splendid wife and that if they were all to go home with
him, even though it was two o'clock in the morning, if she had gone to
bed, she would get up and prepare supper for them without showing the
slightest sign of displeasure, but would, for his sake, wait upon them
as if they were lords in the land! They went to the house and the
husband called for his wife, as she had gone to bed. She put on her
clothes, came down and got ready such things as she had–and made them
all welcome. They asked her why she was so kind to one who was so
brutal to her, but she would not answer. Another day she said to her
husband, when he asked a similar question, "I have prayed for you
thousands of times and I have done all I can to bring you to the
Savior. Yet there is a dreadful fear in my mind that you will be lost.
I am afraid you will continue to sin against God and that you will be
sent to Hell, so I have made up my mind that I will make you as happy
as you can be while you are here, for I fear that you will never have
any happiness hereafter."

And I believe it is for the same reason that God lets wicked men get
rich. "There," says the Lord, "they shall enjoy themselves while they
can. I will give them these things while they are here, for the time
will come when I can show them no pity, but My inexorable Justice must
drive them from all pleasure forever." I think if there had been any
true manhood in that man whom I have mentioned, he would have said to
his wife, "Woman, do you feel like that towards me? Have you loved me
so much and prayed for me so long, and have you put up with any
inconvenience so that you may do me good? Then, at any rate, I will be
unkind to you no longer and I will hear what these things are that you
say will make for my peace." A sane man would talk like that–and if
you are sane, I pray you now to heed what your God says to you! This is
how He put the case long ago and He might put it to you in the same
way–"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! I have nourished and
brought up children and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows his
owner and the donkey his master's crib, but Israel does not know. My
people do not consider." Which of you would keep an ox or a donkey if
it never served you in any way? Which of you would suffer even a dog to
be in your house if it always flew at you when you came near it? Yet
God has put up with you, His ungrateful creatures, for these many
years. Will you never kiss the hand that feeds you? Are you more
asinine than a donkey? Are you more of a beast than the ox, itself, is?
Oh, may God deliver sinners from continuing such injustice to Him and
such cruelty to themselves!

III. Now, lastly, LET US FEEL THE FORCE OF THE LEADING OF GOD'S
GOODNESS–"the goodness of God leads you to repentance."

It ought to be reason enough for our not despising God's goodness that
it is a very unjust thing to despise it. I looked in classic history to
see if I could find any parallel case to this between man and God–and
I found one something like it. In Alexander's day, a soldier who had
been shipwrecked, was hospitably received by a certain person who took
him to his house and fed and clothed him. But as soon as the soldier
was able to get back to Alexander, he misrepresented the case with many
lies, and asked the great commander to give him the house of the man
who had entertained him. When Alexander afterwards found out the
ingratitude of the wretch who thus tried to deprive his host of his own
house in order to get it for himself, he ordered him to be branded on
the forehead so that he might be known everywhere as the ungrateful
guest! But what branding iron and what coals of juniper shall ever be
hot enough to brand the ungrateful being who was created by God, fed by
God, put in the way of mercy, invited by Grace–and yet remained
ungrateful?

Seldom is man so ungenerous to his fellow man as man is to his God. The
very men who would scorn to rob their fellow men of a farthing, go on
robbing God without compunction all their lives! Men who are
scrupulously just in their dealings with their fellow merchants will
persist in injustice to the God who created them! Why is this base
conduct? Oh, I pray you, continue it not! I would, with tears in my
eyes, entreat you to continue it no longer. Are you not under great
obligation to God? You know that He made you. Deep down in your soul
there is a voice that says to you, "It is God who keeps you alive." You
know that it is so! Then how can you imagine that the Creator and
Preserver of all can be forgotten with impunity? Let me give you a text
that will remind you how dangerous a thing it is to live in the neglect
of God's goodness–"The wicked shall be turned into Hell," (especially
notice the next words), "and all the nations that forget God." When I
began to quote that text, you may have said to yourself, "I am not
wicked. I do not do anything outrageous." But listen again to the rest
of the verse, "and all the nations that forget"–not the nations that
swear, or blaspheme, or rebel against God–but "all the nations that
forget God." "That is only one text," you say. Ah, but here is another
and there are many like it–"How shall we escape if we"–what? "If we
neglect"–that is all–it is only a matter of neglect–"if we neglect
so great a salvation?" Despising God by neglecting Him–despising Him
by forgetting Him–this is a grievous kind of despising that will bring
eternal ruin upon men!–

"Lord, do You the sinner turn! Rouse him from his senseless state. Let
him not Your counsel spurn, Rue his fatal choice too late!"

It may seem to some of you, child's play to face this congregation and
to speak as I am now doing. But the Lord knows it is no child's play to
me! I feel that I am accountable to God for all of you who, within a
short time, will have to stand before my Master's Judgment Seat. And if
at the last tremendous day I were summoned to give an account of how I
employed this opportunity of speaking to you. And if I should have to
confess that I did not tell you plainly that the neglect of God would
ruin you forever. If I should have to confess that I was cold and
indifferent–as cold and indifferent as you now are–then my soul would
be crimsoned with your soul's blood! But it cannot be, it shall not be
so, for I do entreat you, by the living God and by the Christ who died
to save sinners–by the certainty of death, by the certainty of
judgment, by the splendors of Heaven and by the terrors of Hell–I do
beseech you to consider the goodness and forbearance and long-suffering
of God! Turn unto Him with weeping and with supplication and, above
all, turn to the Gospel as it is here declared, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." Or, to put it in Christ's own
full way, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believes not shall be damned."

The Lord bring you all to simple faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, then
to obedience to Christ in the matter of Bapt-ism–and then may He
preserve you by His Grace until life's last hour, never again to
despise, but forever to adore the goodness, and forbearance, and
long-suffering of God, for His dear name's sake!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 4; 5:1, 2.

Romans 4:1. What shall we say, then, that Abraham our father as
pertaining to the flesh, has found?What blessings did really come to
Abraham, the father of the faithful? What is the nature of that
Covenant of Grace which God made with him?

2. For if Abraham were justified by works, he has something to boast
about, but not before God. Certainly, before God Abraham neither
gloried nor yet was justified by his works!

3. For what says the Scriptural That is the question for us always to
ask, "What says the Scripture?"

3. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
There is no doubt about that point, for in Genesis 15:6 we read, "He
believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness."

4. Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of Grace, but of
debt He gets what he earns, what he deserves to have! What he receives
is "not reckoned of Grace, but of debt."

5-8. But to him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also
describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes
righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. So then it seems that the blessings of
salvation come to men through faith and not through their own
efforts–not as the reward of merit, but as the simple gift of God's
Grace!

9. Comes this blessedness, then, upon the circumcision only, or upon
the uncircumcision also? Is this blessing entailed upon the natural
seed of Abraham, alone, or is it for others besides the Jews?

9, 10. For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in
uncircumcision?Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision!f you turn
again to Genesis 15:6 and then to 17:10, you will find that Abraham was
justified by faith before the rite of circumcision was instituted! The
blessing came to him "not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision."

11, 12. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the
righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being un-circumcised: that
he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not
circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them, also: and
the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision
only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father
Abraham, which he had, being yet uncircumcised.The vital question is
not, "How were we born?" Or, "What rites and ceremonies have been
practiced upon us?" But, "Do we believe in God? Have we true faith in
God's Word? Are we trusting our souls to the keeping of God's Son?"

13. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not
to Abraham, or to his seed, through the Law, but through the
righteousness of fait. The Law was promulgated on Mount Sinai 400 years
after the Covenant of Grace was made with Abraham, the father of
Believers, and so made with all Believers, for they are his true
seed–and God has entered into a Covenant of Grace and salvation with
them.

14, 15. For if they which are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void,
and the promise made of no effect because the Law works wrath: for
where no Law is, there is no transgression. So that the Law is not for
justification, but for condemnation. It is the Law that reveals sin and
that shows sin to be sin–so men can never become right with God by the
Law.

16. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by Grace, [See Sermons
#1347, Volume 23–HOW IS SALVATION RECEIVED? and #2159, Volume 36–THE
HOLDFASTS OF FAITH.] to the end the promise might be sure

to all the seed That is, to all Believers who are the true seed of
Abraham. He is the father of the faithful and if you are one of the
faithful, he is your father! And the Covenant which God made with
Abraham and his seed was made with you and on your account if you are,
indeed, a Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ!

16-22. Not to those only who are of the Law, but also to those who are
of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is
written, I have made you a father of many nations) before Him whom he
believed, even God, who quickens the dead and calls those things which
are not, as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that
he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was
spoken, So shall your seed be. And being not weak in faith, he
considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred
years old, neither yet the deadness of

Sarah's womb. He staggered not [See Sermons #733, Volume
13–UNSTAGGERING FAITH and #1367, Volume 23–STRONG FAITH.] at the
promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God; and being fuly persuaded that what He had promised, He was also
able to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for
righteousness.O Soul, if you are like one who is dead. If you are
devoid of all strength, Grace and savor–if you can but believe in God
who can quicken the dead, if you will but trust your soul in the hands
of Him who is able even to raise dry bones out of their graves and make
them live–your faith shall be imputed unto you for righteousness! Your
faith is that which shall justify you in the sight of God and you shall
be "accepted in the Beloved." Oh, what marvels faith works! This is the
root-Grace–all manner of good things spring from faith–but there must
be faith as the root if there are to be other Graces as the fruit. Do
your God the honor to believe Him–to believe that He cannot lie–to
believe that He has never promised what He is not able to perform. If
you will do that, it is clear that you are one of Abraham's seed and
the Covenant made with Abraham was made with you also!

23-25. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed
to him; but for us, also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on
Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for
our offenses and was

http://www.spurgeongems.orgj See the great Object of saving faith?
Christ, once dead, has been raised from the dead–and if you would be
saved–you must rely upon the crucified and risen Savior! If you thus
believe that Jesus the Crucified is the Christ of God, the anointed
Messiah and Redeemer, you prove that you are born of God! And if you
trust yourself to the risen and glorified Christ, you have risen in Him
and you shall rise to be with Him forever and ever.

Romans 5:1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ [See Sermon

#1456, Volume 25–PEACE–A FACT AND A FEELING.] My Friend, are these

words true concerning you? Can you put your finger on this verse and
say, "this is true of me, 'Therefore being justified by faith, we
have–I have–peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ'"? We who
have believed in Jesus enjoy that peace–a deep, profound calm is upon
our spirit whenever we think of God! We are not afraid of Him, We are
not afraid to meet Him even on His Judgment Seat! "Being justified by
faith, we have peace with God." Have you peace with God? Are you sure
that you have it? If not, perhaps you are not justified by faith, for
that is the root of it! "Being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

2. By whom also we have access by faith into this Grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God. This is a golden
staircase–justification brings peace and peace brings access into this
Grace wherein we are established! And then comes the joy of hope–and
that hope fixes its eyes on nothing less than the Glory of God. Grace
is the stepping-stone to Glory–and they who are justified by faith
shall in due time be glorified by love!

or our justification. [See Sermon #2357, Volume 40–THE TWO PILLARS OF
SALVATION].