A Sermon on a Grand Old Text

A Sermon on a Grand Old Text

(No. 3089)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1908.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"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." 1
Timothy 1:15.

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon, upon the same text, are as
follows–Sermon #184, Volume 4–THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL; #1345, Volume
23–FOR WHOM IS THE GOSPEL MEANT?; #1416, Volume 24–THE FAITHFUL
SAYING; #1837, Volume 31–A GREAT GOSPEL FOR GREAT SINNERS and #2300,
Volume 39–THE WHOLE GOSPEL IN A SINGLE VERSE]

YOU will observe that Paul wrote this verse immediately after he had
given a little outline of his own personal history. He had, he said,
been "a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious." And then he added
this priceless Gospel verse, as if he inferred it from God's Grace to
him, as well as received it by Inspiration, "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." It was an experimental text, then,
one which the Apostle fetched out of the deeps of his own soul, as
divers bring pearls from the ocean bed. He dipped his pen into his own
heart when he wrote these words. No preaching or teaching can equal
that which is experimental. If we would impress the Gospel upon others,
we must have first received it ourselves. Vainly do you attempt to
guide a child in the pathway which you have never trodden, or to speak
to adults of benefits of Divine Grace which you have never enjoyed.
Happy is that preacher who can truly say he speaks what he does know
and testifies what he has seen.

The testimony of Paul is peculiarly forcible because he was a very
straightforward man. Before his conversion, he was second to none in
opposing the Gospel. He was a downright man who never did anything by
halves. As the old Saxon proverb puts it, "It was neck or nothing with
him." He threw his whole nature into anything which he espoused and it
must have been indeed a mighty inward force which led him to speed
forward so eagerly in the directly opposite way to that which he had
pursued with enthusiasm throughout the early part of his life! He was
an honest man, a man to whom it was impossible either to lie or to be
neutral. He was truthful, sincere, outspoken, wearing his heart upon
his sleeve and carrying his soul in his open hand. When we hear him
say, at the outcome of his own personal experience, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, we may be sure that he believed it
with his whole being–and we may receive his testimony as one which he
lived to prove and died to seal with his blood! Never had a fact a
better witness–he lost all for its sake and counted that loss his
greatest gain! Hear his words, for he speaks to you from the ground
which received his blood–his blood speaks better things than that of
Abel, and it cries with a voice no less loud and clear!

The text, as we find it, is like a picture surrounded with a goodly
border. We sometimes see paintings of the old masters in which the
bordering is as full of art as the picture itself. We might safely say
as much of our text. We will look at its framework first. Here it
is–"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation." When we
have carefully considered that, we will study the great masterpiece
itself, meditating upon the matchless saying, "Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." When we have noticed
the preface and the saying, you will then allow me to preach a short
sermon upon it.

I. First, then, THE FRAMEWORK. Paul says, "it is a saying."

When we declare a sentence to be a saying, we mean that it is commonly
spoken and usually said, so that everybody knows it–it is town
talk–"familiar in our mouths as household words." Those who like
harder words, explain that this is an axiom, a Christian axiom–a
self-evident Truth of God, a thing which nobody who is a Christian
doubts at all. But I will keep to our own version and add that I
greatly wish that our text were more truly a saying among all Christian

people at this day. That Jesus Christ came into the world to save
sinners is a Truth of God which we all believe, but do we all talk
about it so frequently as to make it, in very deed, a saying? Do you
think that our servants, who have lived for months in our houses, would
in their gossips say, "It was one of my master's sayings, that Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners"? I will even ask–Do you
think that if a person attended our places of worship for years, he
would be able to say conscientiously, "Why, it was our minister's
ordinary saying! It was quite a proverb with him–he was always
repeating that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners"? Yet a
sentence cannot he called "a saying" until it is often said. It does
not get into the category of sayings and is not called by that name
unless it is a matter of ordinary common talk!

I gather, then, from this, that Christian people ought to talk more
about the Gospel than they do, and a great deal more about that primary
and elementary Truth of the Gospel, the coming of Jesus Christ into the
world to save the guilty. Believers ought so often to speak of it that
it should be currently reported, among even ungodly people, as one of
our common phrases and stock speeches. I would like them to be able to
taunt us with it as a main part of our conversation. It would even be a
good sign if they complained that we wearied them with it! Let them
say, Why, they are always harping on that string! Even their children
lisp it! Their young men boast of it, and their matrons and their sires
affirm it and add their solemn seal thereunto, as if it were the
sheet-anchor of their lives!" O you who know the wondrous story, talk
of the Gospel by the way! Talk of it when you sit in your houses! Speak
of it at your work! Tell it to those who pass you in the street or in
the fields! Make the world hear it! Make society ring with it! If there
is a new saying, though it is but a jest, men report it and every
newspaper finds a corner for it. Are we to be silent about this oldest
and yet newest saying? Men rejoice in bon mots, and yet this is the
best of words! We have the really good news–let us publish it, let us
popularize the Gospel and compel men to know what it is! If before some
men we are less communicative upon the more mysterious Truths of God
because we fear to cast pearls before swine, yet let this simple Truth,
since Scripture calls it "a saying," be spoken again and again and
again till it shall be confessed to be a common word among us!

Now Paul did not merely write "it is a saying," but, "it is a faithful
saying, "a saying worthy of faith, a saying full of the Truth of God, a
saying about which no doubts may be entertained, a sure and certain
saying, "that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Many
sayings in the world had been much better left unsaid. There are
proverbs which pass current among us as gold, which are spurious metal
and no man can tell the mischief which an untruthful proverb may work.
But this is a saying fraught with unmingled benefit–it is pure Truth
of God, a leaf of the Tree of Life sent for the healing of the nations!
Some matters which were important years ago are now worn out. Times
have changed and circumstances have altered–and things are not now
what they were to our forefathers. But this is a faithful saying
because it is as practically true today as when, 1800 years ago the
Apostle wrote it to the beloved Timothy. This is still a saying full of
blessing to the nations, "that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners." Like the sun, it shines with the same golden light as in the
ages past and, blessed be God, it will still shine when you and I have
gone to our rest! And if this crazy world holds out another thousand
years, or even fifty thousand, the Light of the Gospel will not have
grown dim! This coin of Heaven will not have lost its image or its
superscription when time shall be no more–it is of God's minting and
will outlast the world–"Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners." Ah, you heard it when you were a boy and you did not think
much of it. Your years are now many and your life has almost run its
course and you are still unsaved! But thank God that now, in your old
age, we have the same Truth of God to tell to you, though you rejected
it in your boyhood, and it is quite as certain now as then that "Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners." To the eleventh hour this
precious sentence abides sure. May none of you despise it or doubt it,
but each one of you prove it to be God's own word of salvation!

Our Apostle, however, adds yet another word–this saying "is worthy of
all acceptation." I think he meant two things. It is worthy of all the
acceptation anyone can give it and it is worthy of the acceptation of
all men. Some sayings are not worth accepting–the sooner you have done
with them and forgotten them, the better for you. But this saying you
may receive as the Word of God and, having received it as Truth to
other men, it will be a happy circumstance if you receive it as Truth
to yourself, for it will be a blessed day to you when you appropriate
it as your own! "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." If
I, feeling myself a sinner, infer that Jesus came to save me, I may
without any fear rest assured that I am accepting a Truth of God, for,
believing in Jesus, I may safely rejoice that He came to save me. You
may receive this Truth not only into your ear–it is worthy of that
acceptation, or into the memory–it is worthy of that

acceptation, but you may receive it into your inmost heart–it is
worthiest of all of that acceptation! And receiving it, you may lay
upon it all the stress of your soul's interests for the past, the
present and the future, for time and for eternity! You may accept it as
being the mainstay, the prop and pillar of your confidence, for it is
worthy of all the acceptation that you or any other man can possibly
give to it!

It is worthy, we have said, of the acceptation of all mankind. The
richest, the greatest, the most learned, the most innocent, the most
pure–speaking after the manner of men–these may accept it–it is
worthy of their acceptation. In the sight of God they are still guilty
and need that Christ should save them. And, on the other hand, the
lowest, the most ignorant, the most groveling, depraved, debauched,
abandoned, helpless, hopeless, lost castaways may receive it, for it is
true to them–emphatically to them–for Jesus Christ came into the
world to save just such offenders as they are! If I stood in Cheapside
tomorrow and any man out of the crowd should come to me and ask, "Is
that sentence, 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,'
worth my believing and accepting?" I would not hesitate, but, without
knowing who spoke to me, I would reply, "Yes." If he stopped his
carriage and came to me, or if he took his hand off the costermonger's
barrow, or left his shoe-blacking box, or came with his rags about him,
or if he had escaped from the prison omnibus–it would not matter who
he was–I might safely assure him that this saying is worthy of his
acceptation! It is not a stoop for a king or a saint to receive it, and
yet it meets the level of the poorest and the worst of characters. It
is worthy of everybody's acceptance!

Beloved Friends, no one can ever rightly accuse us of making too much
of the Gospel. However earnest we may be, we can never be too
earnest–and however diligent to spread it, we can never be too
diligent–for it is a Gospel worthy of every man's acceptance and,
therefore, worthy of every Christian's publication! Spread it! Let the
winds bear it, let every wave proclaim it! Write it everywhere, that
every eye may see it! Sound it in all places, that every ear may hear
it! Simple are the words and to some men their meaning is despised as
almost childish, but it is the great Power of God! "A mere platitude,"
they say, yet it is a platitude which has made Heaven ring with sacred
mirth, a platitude which will make earth's deserts blossom like a rose,
a platitude which has turned many a man's Hell into Heaven and his
densest darkness into the brightness of Glory! Ring out that note
again, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"! It is worthy
of angelic trumpets, it is worthy of the orator's loftiest speech and
of the philosopher's most profound thought! It is worthy of every
Christian's publication, as surely as it is of the acceptance of every
human being. God help us never to undervalue it, but to prize it beyond
all price! There is the frame of the picture–the basket of silver
which holds the apples of gold!

II. Our meditation now turns to THE SAYING ITSELF–"Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners." Very briefly and simply I will open up
this passage as if none of us had, up to now, understood it. May the
Holy Spirit instruct us!

Here is, first, a Person coming–a Divine Person–Christ Jesus the
anointed Savior. The Son of God, the Second Person of the ever-blessed
Trinity, became the Savior of sinners. "Very God of very God" was He.
He created the earth and upon His shoulders the pillars thereof still
lean. Yes, He who was personally offended by human sin–He, Himself,
deigned to become the Savior of men. Weigh this and marvel and adore!

Next, you have the deed He did–He "came into the world." He was born a
Baby in Bethlehem. It was thus He came into the world. "The Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us." Thirty years and more He lived in the
world, sharing to the full its poverty and toil. He was a working Man,
He wore the common garb of labor. He worked, He hungered, He thirsted,
He was sick, He was weary. He, in all these senses, came into the world
and became Man among men–bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. As
it was a sinful world, He was vexed with the transgressions of those
about Him. As it was a suffering world, He bore our sickness. As it was
a dying world, He died–and as it was a guilty world, He died the death
of the guilty, suffering in their place the wrath of God!

Mark well the objective for which He came–He came "to save." He came
into this world because men were lost, that He might find them and save
them. They were guilty and He saved them by putting Himself into their
place, and bearing the consequences of their guilt. They were foul and
He saved them by coming into the world and giving His Holy Spirit,
through whose agency they might be made new creatures and so might have
pure and holy desires, and escape the corruption which is in the world
through lust. He came to sinners to take them just where they are at
Hell's dark door, to cleanse them in His precious blood and fit them to
dwell with Himself in eternal Glory, as saved souls forever!

This is all wonderful. Angels marvel at it, so may we! But the most
wonderful fact of all is that He came into the world to save
sinners–not the righteous, but the ungodly! Remember His own words, "I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." The
physician comes to heal the sick–the Savior comes to save the lost!
The attempt to save those who are not lost would be a ridiculous
superfluity. To die to pardon those who are not guilty would be a gross
absurdity. It is a work of supererogation to set free those who are not
in bonds. Christ came not to perform an unnecessary deed. If you are
not guilty, the Savior will not save you! If you are not a sinner, you
have no part in Christ. If you can say, "I have kept the Law from my
youth up and am not a transgressor," then we have no Gospel blessings
to set before you. If you were blind, the Lord Jesus would open your
eyes, but as you say, "We see," your sin remains. If you are guilty,
the text is full of comfort for you–it drops with honey like a
honeycomb–"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

Lest there should be any mistake, Paul added these words, "of whom I am
chief," or, "of whom I am first." And Calvin warns us against supposing
that the Apostle labored under a mistake or uttered an exaggeration.
Paul was an Inspired man writing Inspired Scripture and he spoke the
Truth of God. He was, in some respects, the chief of sinners. He went
very, very far into sin. It is true that he did it ignorantly in
unbelief, but then, unbelief is, in itself, the greatest of all sins.
It is an atrocious thing for a man to be an unbeliever–it is a damning
sin, what if I say the damning sin? We have heard of a man who had
committed a violent assault, who, before the magistrate, pleaded that
he was drunk. Now, it is sometimes the case that magistrates admit this
as an extenuating circumstance, but the magistrate on that occasion was
a sensible man and, therefore, he said, "Very well, then, I give you a
month for the assault, and I fine you forty shillings for being drunk.
That is another offense and it cannot diminish your guilt." So is it
with unbelief. Though, from one point of view, it might be looked upon
as a mitigating circumstance yet, from another, it is really an
increase of sin and Paul regarded it as such. And, therefore, he
believed himself to be the chief of sinners. Yet he declares that
Christ Jesus came to save him! Now, if a great creature can pass
through a certain door, a smaller creature can. If a bridge is strong
enough to bear an elephant, it will certainly bear a mouse. If the
greatest sinner who ever lived has entered into Heaven by the bridge of
the atoning Sacrifice of Christ, no man who has ever lived may say, "My
sin is beyond forgiveness." Today no mortal has a just pretence to
perish in despair. Some of you continue to despair, but you have no
grounds for such a feeling, for this is the good news which is preached
to you, that Jesus Christ has come to call the guilty, the lost and the
ruined to Himself–and to save the vilest of them with a great
salvation!

III. Thus we have looked at the setting of the text and at the text
itself. Now for A BRIEF SERMON upon it.

Our short homily shall begin with the doctrine of the text–and we will
handle it negatively. Notice that our text does not say that Jesus
Christ has come to compliment, to encourage or to foster the
independent spirit of righteous men. It is not written that He has come
to tell us that human nature is not so bad as some think it to be, or
that He has come to commend those who are self-reliant and intend to
fight their own way to Heaven. There is not a word of the kind and,
what is more, there is not a word like it in the entire Book of God!
There is no encouragement in Holy Scripture to the man who depends upon
himself for salvation, or who imagines or conceives that eternal life
can spring out of his own loins, or can be worked out by anything that
he can do–and yet our human nature loves to do something to save
itself.

I do not know that I ever felt my blood boil so with indignation, nor
my heart melt so much with pity, as when I went to see the Santa Scala,
at Rome–the holy staircase up which our Lord is said to have been
brought by Pilate. On those very stairs, Martin Luther was crawling on
his knees, trying to find pardon for his sins, when the text came to
him, "The just shall live by faith." I stood at the foot of those
marble stairs. They are very high and they are covered with wood, lest
the knees of the faithful should wear them out–and this wood has been
worn away three different times by the kneelers. I saw men, women and
children–little children, too, and aged women–going up from step to
step upon their knees to find their way to Heaven. On the first step
there is a little hole in the wood so that the worshippers may kiss the
marble–and they all kissed it and touched it with their foreheads. The
middle and top step are favored in the same manner. It was an awful
reflection to me to think that those poor creatures really believed
that every step their knees knelt on there were so many days less of
"purgatory" for them–that every time they went up the stairs there
were so many hundreds of days of deliverance from the punishment of
their sins! Oh, if they could but have understood this text, "This is a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners"–that men are not saved by crawling on
their hands and knees, or by penances and self-inflicted misery–what a
blessing it would

have been to them! And how they would have turned with scorn from these
infamous impostures with which priests seek to mislead and destroy the
souls of men! No, the Scripture does not say that Jesus came to
encourage the righteous and to help those who are their own saviors.

Note, again, that it does not say in the text that Jesus Christ came to
help sinners to save themselves. There is a Gospel preached which is
very much like that–but it is not the Gospel of Christ. The poor man
who was wounded on the road to Jericho was found by the Samaritan
half-dead. Now the Samaritan did not say to him, "I want you to come
part of the way to me in this business." But he went where he was lying
wounded and half-dead and poured the oil and wine into his wounds,
bound up the gashes, took him and set him on his own beast, carried him
to the inn and did not even ask him to pay the reckoning, but said to
the host, "If there is anything more, I will pay you." If there were
anything more to be done for sinners, Jesus would do it, for He would
never let them have a share of the work of salvation! The sinner's
business is to take the finished work of Christ, to give up all his own
doings and let Him who came from Heaven to save, do the saving which He
came to do! It is not ours to interfere, but to let Jesus do His own
work!

Another thought demands expression. The text does not say that Christ
came to half-save sinners, intending, when He had completed half the
work, to leave them to themselves. There is a motion abroad that men
may be saved and yet may fall from Grace–that they may have eternal
life, but it is eternal life of an odd kind, for it may die out! They
may be pardoned and yet punished! They may be children of God and yet
become children of the devil! Members of Christ's body and yet be cut
off and joined to Satan! Blessed be God, it is not so written in this
precious Book! Jesus does not begin the saving work and leave it
unfinished! When He once puts His hand to it, He will go through with
it! His wonderful salvation shall be completed–none shall say that He
began, but was not able to finish. Glory be to His name, Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners from top to bottom! He will be the
Alpha and the Omega, He will be the beginning and the end to all who
trust Him!

One other reflection here. Christ, the real Savior, came into the world
to save real sinners. When Luther was under a bitter sense of sin, he
said, "Oh, but my guilt is so great I cannot believe that Christ can
save me!" But one who was helping him much said to him, "If you were
only the semblance of a sinner, then Christ would only be the semblance
of a Savior. But if you are a real sinner, then you should rejoice that
a real Savior has come to save you." If we meet with a man who says,
"Yes, I am a sinner, I know I am a sinner, but I do not know that I
ever did much amiss. I have always been honest and correct," such a
person has a name to be a sinner and no more. He is a sham sinner and a
sham savior would suit him well. But for another who confesses that he
has been a grievous transgressor, there is a real Savior. Rejoice, O
you guilty ones, that the Christ of God, Himself, really came, with
real blood and presented a real Atonement to take away real sins, such
as theft, drunkenness, swearing, uncleanness, Sabbath-breaking, lying,
murder and things I need not mention lest the cheek of modesty should
blush! Even these can be blotted out by the real Savior who has come to
save the chief of sinners from suffering what is due to their sins! Oh,
that we could ring this great Gospel bell till the hills and valleys
were filled with its music! May the Lord open men's ears and hearts
that those who hear the glad tidings may accept the Savior who has come
to save them!

My little sermon has dealt with the doctrine of the text, now it must
treat of the differences from the text which are these. First, it is a
great and a difficult thing to save a sinner, for the Son of God must
come into the world to do it. It could not have been accomplished by
any other except Jesus Christ–He Himself must leave the Throne of
Heaven for the manger of earth and lay aside His Glories to suffer,
bleed and die. If soul-saving is so great and difficult a work, let the
Lord Jesus have all the Glory of it now that it is accomplished! Let us
never put the crown on the wrong head, or neglect to honor the Lord who
bought us so dearly. Unto the Lamb of God be honor and Glory, forever
and ever! Amen.

And next, it must be a good thing to save a sinner, since Jesus would
not have come from Heaven to earth on an ill errand. It must be a great
blessing to a sinner to be saved. Dear Brothers and Sisters, this ought
to lead all of us to consecrate ourselves to be willing instruments in
the hand of Christ in endeavoring to rescue the fallen. That work which
filled the Savior's heart and hands is noble work for us. It were worth
living for and worth dying for to be the instruments in the Spirit's
hands of bringing souls into a state of Grace! Think much of the
blessed service which Jesus allots you, though it is but to teach an
infant class in the Sunday school, or a few poor men and women whom you
visit from house to house, or a group of sorry idlers at a local
lodging house–mind not the degradation of the people, for to save them
from sin is a work which God, Himself, did not disdain to undertake.

Another inference I draw is that if Jesus came from Heaven to earth to
save sinners, depend upon it, He can do it. If He has come into the
world and bled and died to be a Savior, He can do it. The price He paid
is enough to redeem us– the blood He shed suffices to cleanse us. If
there is any man here who feels himself very foul and filthy, let him
look up to Christ at the right hand of the Father and dare to say in
his soul, "He can save even me. He is exalted on high to give
repentance and remission of sins and He is able to save to the
uttermost them that come unto God by Him. He must be able to save me."
O Soul, if you can say that, and venture your soul on it, there is no
risk in it. Your faith shall save you and you may go in peace, for he
who can rely upon Christ shall not find the Savior fail the faith which
He, Himself, has worked in the soul!

These are the inferences, then, which I gather from the text. And I
shall close by an enquiry, which my text very naturally raises in my
mind, and suggests to you. If Jesus came to save sinners, has He saved
me?Has He saved you?

Has He saved me? I dare not speak with any hesitation here–I know He
has! Many years ago, I understood by faith the plan of salvation.
Hearing it simply preached, I looked to Jesus and lived, and I am
looking to Him now. I know His Word is true and I am saved! My evidence
that I am saved does not lie in the fact that I preach, or that I do
this or that. All my hope lies in this–that Jesus Christ came to save
sinners. I am a sinner, I trust Him, He came to save me, I am saved. I
live habitually in the enjoyment of this blessed fact and it is long
since I have doubted the truth of it, for I have His own Word to
sustain my faith.

Now, Beloved, can you say, if not positively, yet with some measure of
confidence, "Yes"–

"All my trust on Him is stayed, All my help from Him I bring"?

Ah, then, you are favored, you are very favored. Be happy, for God has
highly blessed you. You ought to be as merry as the days are long in
June! A man who can say, "Christ has saved me," has bells enough inside
his heart to ring marriage peals forever! Oh, be glad, be very glad,
for you have the best inheritance in the world and if temporal matters
are not quite as you would wish them to be, do not become discontented,
but solace yourself with the fact that the Lord has saved you with a
great salvation!

But are you compelled to answer, "No, I do not think that Christ has
saved me"? Then I will ask you another question–May it not be, before
this day is finished, that you shall be able to say, "He has saved me"?
Look at the matter. It is written that He came to save sinners. Is that
your name or not? Spell it over. Are you a sinner? I have distinguished
between a sham sinner and a real sinner. Do you confess that you are
guilty? Then Jesus came to save such as you are. There is a passage of
Scripture which says, "He that believes on Him is not condemned." You
know what to believe is–it is to trust, to rely upon. Now Soul, if you
rely upon Christ Jesus, sinner as you are, you are a saved sinner. If
you do lean on Him, you are this moment saved, at this instant
forgiven!

"Oh, but I, I_" ah, you want to crawl up that Roman staircase, do you?
That is what you want, you are anxious to

go up and down those steps. "No," you say, "I am not quite as foolish
as that." But, indeed, if you are trying to be saved by your own works,
you are quite as foolish! You make a Pilate's staircase for yourself
and toil up and down its steps. "Oh but, Sir," you say, "I must be
something, I must feel something." Yes, yes, it is that staircase
again, always that staircase! Now the Gospel is not that staircase, nor
yet your feelings, nor yet your works–its voice is, "He that believes
on Him is not condemned." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you
shall be saved!" You smile at the folly of Romanists and yet Popery, in
some form or other, is the natural religion of every unconverted man!
We all want to do the crawling and penance in some shape or another. We
are so proud that we will not accept Heaven for nothing. We want to
pay, or do something or other, forgetting that, "if a man would give
all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be
contemned." The one only plan of salvation is "Believe and
live"–trust, rest, depend upon, rely upon Jesus!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 CHRONICLES 33:1-19.

Verses 1, 2. Manasseh [Manasseh is the subject of the following sermons
by Mr. Spurgeon–#105, Volume 2–MANASSEH; #2378, Volume 40–PARDON FOR
THE GREATEST GUILT and #2385, Volume 40–ANOTHER LESSON FROM MANASSEH'S
LIFE] was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty
and five years in Jerusalem: but

did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Yet who could have
had a better father than Manasseh had? He was given to Hezekiah during
those 15 years which God graciously added to that good king's life.
Manasseh was, therefore, doubtless carefully trained and looked upon as
being one who would maintain God's worship and the honor of his
father's name. But Grace does not run in the blood–and the best of
parents may have the worst of children. Thus Manasseh, though he was
the son of Hezekiah, "did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord."

2. Like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast
out before the children of Israel It often happens that when the sons
of good men become bad, they are among the worst of men. They who
pervert a good example generally run headlong to destruction.

3. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had
broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and
worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them. One form of
idolatry was not enough for him–he must have all forms of it, even
rearing altars to Baal and making the stars also to be his gods!

4. Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had
said, In Jerusalem shall My name be forever. Manasseh was worse than an
ordinary idolater, for he polluted the very place which was dedicated
to the service of the only living and true God!

5. 6. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts
of the house of the LORD. And he caused his children to pass through
the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Perhaps he gave some of
them actually to be burned in honor of his false gods. But if not, some
of his children were made to pass through the fire and were thus
dedicated to the idol deities.

6. Also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft,
and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he worked much evil
in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. You cannot imagine,
I think, a worse character than this Manasseh was! He seems to have
raked the foulest kennels of superstition to find all manner of
abominations. Like false-hearted Saul, he had dealings with a familiar
spirit. He had entered into a covenant with Satan himself, and made a
league with Hell, and yet, marvel of Grace, this very Manasseh was
saved and is now singing the new song before the Throne of God in
Glory!

7-9. And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the
house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon, his son,
In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the
tribes of Israel, will I put My name forever: neither will I anymore
remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed
for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have
commanded them, according to the whole Law and the statutes and the
ordinances by the hand of Moses. So Manasseh made Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom
the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel You see, dear
Friends, that he was not only a monster in iniquity, himself, but he
led a whole nation astray! Some people who, under the gracious rule of
his father, Hezekiah, had kept the Passover in so joyous a manner, now,
under this false son of so good a father, turned aside.

10. And the LORD spoke to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would
not hearken. This was all that was necessary to fill up the measure of
his guilt. He and his people were warned of God, but they would not
listen.

11. Therefore–Since words were not sufficient, and God intended to
save him, he came to blows! "Therefore"–

11. The LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of
Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with
fetters, and carried him to Babylon. They very likely chastened him
with thorns, for the kings of Babylon were very cruel. And it may be
that when his back was lacerated by thorny scourges, he was put in
prison with heavy fetters upon him.

12, 13. And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God,
and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed
unto Him: and He was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and
brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew
that the LORD, He was God. There surely can be no person in this
assembly who can say that he has sinned worse than Manasseh did. He
seems to have gone as far as any human being could go and yet, you see,
when he humbled himself before the Lord and lifted up his heart in
supplication, God forgave his sin, and restored him to his former
position in Jerusalem.

14. Now after this he built a wall outside the city of David, on the
west side of Gihon in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish
gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height,
and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. This is not
of very much importance, but what else did he do?

16. And he took away the strange gods. When Divine Grace comes into any
man's heart, there is sure to be a change in his actions. Manasseh
"took away the strange gods."

16. And the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that
he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem,
and cast them out of the city. Sins which were before so pleasing to
him, are now abominations in his sight–and he flings them over the
city wall like unclean things! In the very valley of the Son of Hinnom
where he had dedicated his sons to idols, he now consumes his idol gods
as foul and offensive things, to be cast away with all the refuse of
the city!

16. And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace
offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD
God of Israel It was not possible for him to undo all the evil which he
had worked, as he soon found out.

17. Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet
unto the lord their God only. The work of reformation is slow–you can
lead men to sin as rapidly as you like, that is downhill work–but to
get them to toil with you uphill toward the right is not so easy.

18. 19. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his
God and the words of the Seers that spoke to him in the name of the
LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings
of Israel His prayer also, andhow God was entreated ofhim, andallhis
sins, andhis trespass, and theplaces wherein he built high places,
andset up groves and engraved images before he was humbled; behold,
they are written among the sayings of the Seers. So we must remember
that all the deeds that we have done, both good and evil, are written
in God's Book of Remembrance.