Christ’s Resurrection and Our Newness Of Life

Christ's Resurrection and Our Newness Of Life

(No. 2197)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 29, 1891,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Therefore we are buried with Him through baptism into death: that just
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4.

I have preached before upon the whole verse, so that this morning I
shall take the liberty to dwell chiefly upon the latter part of
it–"Just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

The idea that the Grace of God should lead us to licentiousness is
utterly loathsome to every Christian. We cannot endure it. The notion
that the Doctrines of Grace give license to sin comes from the
devil–and we deny it with a detestation more deep than words can
express! "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

On our first entrance upon a Christian profession, we are met by the
ordinance of Baptism which teaches the necessity of purification.
Baptism is, in its very form, a washing, and its teaching requires
cleansing of the most thorough kind. It is a burial, in which the man
is viewed as dead with Christ to sin, and is regarded as rising again
as a new man. Baptism sets forth, as in a picture, the union of the
Believer with the Lord Jesus in His baptism of suffering and in His
death, burial and Resurrection. By submitting to that sacred ordinance,
we declare that we believe ourselves to be dead with Him because of His
endurance of the death penalty–and dead to the world and to the
dominion of sin by His Spirit. At the same time, we also profess our
faith in our Lord's Resurrection and that we, ourselves, are raised up
in union with Him and have come forth through faith into newness of
life. It is a very impressive and vivid symbol, but it is without
meaning unless we rise to purity of life.

The basis of this confession lies in the union of every Believer with
Christ Jesus. We are dead with Him because we are one with Him. We are
risen with Him because we are one with Him. Every Believer is, in the
purpose of Divine Grace, identified with Jesus. He was given to the
Lord Jesus from before the foundation of the world and placed under His
Covenant Headship. The Lord Jesus suffered for the Believer as his
Substitute and virtually each saved one died in Christ, who represented
Him. The Believer rose in Christ by virtue of the eternal union which
exists between the saint and his Savior. Therefore the Believer
continues to live, for the Lord has said, "Because I live, you shall
live also." Our destiny is identified with that of our Covenant Head.
His life is the model of our experience–He makes us to be conformed to
His image, now, and we shall be like He when we shall see Him as He is.
O my Hearer, if you are not in Christ, you have nothing! Out of Christ
you are in the wilderness–with Him you are in a paradise! In Christ,
Believers possess all the treasures of wisdom, knowledge, Grace, power
and love. All things are yours, if you are Christ's. From our union to
Christ follows our sanctification–we cannot follow after sin, for
Christ does not follow after it. He died unto sin, once, and we are
henceforth dead to it. He is risen by the Glory of the Father and we
are risen with Him into righteousness, acceptance andjoy!

I. Follow me in the text, taking as your first thought the fact that
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD WAS ATTENDED WITH GLORY–He was "raised up
from the dead by the Glory of the Father." Christ's Resurrection is
linked with the fullness of eternal Glory.

In itself it was a great marvel. Our Lord was assuredly dead–the Roman
guards at the Cross took care that no condemned person escaped the
death penalty. In our Lord's case, His heart was pierced with a spear
to make sure that no life remained in Him. Joseph begged for His body
and, by the loving hands of those who were sure that He was dead, He
was

wrapped in spices and fine linen–and laid in the rocky tomb. There lay
our Lord, in the grave, with a stone rolled at the cave's mouth and a
seal set upon it by those in authority, whose envy made them take
double precautions. As when a prince lies slumbering in his pavilion he
is watched by a guard, so was our Lord's sepulcher watched by a guard
of Roman soldiers, so that no man might steal His body. There He lay in
the heart of the earth for a portion of three days and nights. He was
really dead and in the grave. He wore all the marks of decease–a
napkin was bound about His head, and the linen clothes rapped His
limbs. On the morning of the third day it was truly said, "The Lord has
risen, indeed," for He actually, literally and in very fact awoke to
life, unbound the napkin and laid it by itself, leisurely folded His
grave clothes and, when the angel had rolled away the stone from the
mouth of the sepulcher, the First-Begotten from the dead came forth in
a material body to live among His disciples for forty days!

During the time of His sojourn, His Resurrection was established by
many Infallible proofs–He was seen, heard, touched and handled. One of
His disciples put his finger into the print of the nails and thrust his
hand into His side. He possessed a real body, for He ate a piece of a
broiled fish and of a honeycomb before them all. It was Jesus of
Nazareth and, none other than He, who met His disciples at Galilee! On
this firm basis of fact we build our holy faith, but, certain as it is,
it is none the less a marvel. All Glory be to Him "that brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through
the blood of the Everlasting Covenant."

The Resurrection of our Lord is glorious in contrast with His
humiliation. It has in it sufficient Glory to redeem His passion from
the shame which gathered about it. We read in Matthew 20:18, 19, how He
was to be betrayed, condemned to death, delivered to the Gentiles,
mocked, scourged and crucified. But we note that all the gloom of that
dread tragedy is removed by the few words with which our Lord ended the
story–"And the third day He shall rise again." The blaze of
Resurrection lights up the whole length of the Valley of the Shadow of
Death! His death wears no dishonor on its brow, for His rising again
has set a diadem thereon! We celebrate Gethsemane and Calvary–and find
no bitterness in all their grief–because death is swallowed up in the
victory of Resurrection! The whole earthly life of Jesus, with its
poverty, its slander, its sorrow, its scourging, its spitting, its
crucifixion, is raised above all trace of dishonor by His glorious
Resurrection!

His resurrection is glorious in its effects. He was "delivered for our
offenses," but, "He was raised again for our justification." In death
He discharged our debt. In Resurrection He exhibited the receipt of all
our liabilities! He was Surety for us and, therefore, He smarted and
went down to the prison of the grave. But by death He discharged His
Suretyship and was set free! Our Lord has risen and, therefore, we
shall rise in the day of His appearing. The Breaker leads the way and
behind the mighty champion the whole company of His redeemed pass
through the portals of the tomb in the power of His Resurrection. The
stone is rolled away for them as well as for Him. They cannot be held
by the bonds of death, for He could not be detained a captive. What a
glory there is in our Lord's Resurrection, when we further remember
that He always lives to make intercession for us and, therefore, He is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him! The
fullness of salvation comes to us because He has risen from the dead
and is now making intercession for the transgressors! O Brothers and
Sisters, the Resurrection of Jesus is bright as the sun with glory!
Faith in it thrills our hearts. Well might each line of our hymn end
with a Hallelujah! When we say, one to another, "The Lord is risen,
indeed," we feel like singing all the time, for now our faith is not
vain, we are not in our sins and those who have fallen asleep have not
perished!

Our Lord's Resurrection was glorious as to its cause, for it was a
display of the Glory of the Father. For "glory" you may read, "power,"
if you please, for it was a great work of power to raise Jesus from the
dead. But it was more than a miracle of power, for all the attributes
of God united their Glory in the Resurrection of Christ. God's Love
came there and opened those closed eyes. His delight bejeweled those
deadly wounds. His Wisdom set in motion that pierced heart. Divine
Justice claimed His loosing from the grave and Mercy smiled as she lit
up His face with an immortal smile! Then and there did Jehovah make all
His Glory to pass before us and He proclaimed the name of the Lord. If
you ask where God's Glory is most seen, I will not point to creation,
nor to Providence, but to the raising of Jesus from the dead! It is
true that in the silence of the tomb there were no spectators, but God
Himself was there. After the deed was done, there were many who beheld
His Glory and when at the close of His sojourn, below, He ascended
beyond the clouds, all Heaven came forth to meet Him and to behold the
conqueror of Death and Hell! In His Resurrection the Glory of God was
laid

bare. The veil which concealed the sacred Presence was torn from top to
bottom and the Glory of the Lord was seen in the Resurrection of Christ
from the dead!

That Resurrection is glorious because of its sequel in reference to our
Lord. Of this I have already spoken in measure. Only let me remind you
that He rose to die no more. Once has He suffered, but it is once and
for all! His victory is final. Like Samson, the fierce lion of Death
roared upon Him in the vineyard. The monster had, up to then, overcome
everyone whom he assailed, but this time he met his match! Our greater
Samson rent him as though he were a kid and though our Deliverer fell
in the act of victory, He rose from the death struggle with fullness of
life! Behold, He comes to us, today, bearing handfuls of honey on which
He bids us feed. He has taken it from the carcass of the lion which He
slew. Now is death a store of sweets rather than a cup of gall! To the
child of God death furnishes a couch of rest and is no longer a dark
and noisome prison cell. Death is the refining pot for this poor flesh
and blood–the body is sown in corruption, but it is raised in
incorruption and immortality!

We shall with these eyes behold our Lord when He shall stand in the
latter day upon the earth! O glorious Resurrection, which has turned
our poison into medicine! O miracle of Love, which has made death to be
the gate of life! When you were singing the Easter hymn just now, it
seemed to me as if we filled the whole earth with silver bells. And
when you came to the last verse, you were so fully getting into the
music of the Truth of God, that I had half a mind to cry, "Let us begin
again!" In the rising of Jesus, death itself is shut up in prison, and
ten thousand Hallelujahs come flying down from Heaven to teach us how
to sing–

" Vain the watch, the stone, the seal! Christ has burst the gates of
Hell. Death in vain forbids Him rise, Christ has opened Paradise.'

II. Let me introduce you to our second point, which is this–THE
PARALLEL IN OUR EXPERIENCE IS ALSO FULL OF GLORY. When the time of love
had fully come, we also rose as to our spirits, that, "like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life." Partakers of His death, we are also
partakers of His Resurrection! This body of ours will have its share in
that blessing of adoption in due time. As yet, it remains subject to
pain, weakness and death, for it is as the Apostle puts it, "If Christ
is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life
because of righteousness." The spirit has its resurrection even now,
but we are "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body." At the Second Coming of the Lord, the dead shall be raised
incorruptible and the living shall be changed. We have the first-fruits
of the Spirit, inasmuch as we are spiritually risen from the dead–and
the rest will follow in due course.

It is a blessed thing that we should be made alive in Christ. As many
of you as have believed in the Lord Jesus have been raised from among
the dead. You were once without faith and without feeling. You had no
sense of sin. You had no desire after holiness. You had no confidence
in Christ. You had no love for the Father, but, "you has He quickened,
who were dead in trespasses and sins." You live now even as Jesus lived
when He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the
Spirit of holiness, by the Resurrection from the dead." Why should the
Lord of Life have raised you from your death? Multitudes around you are
still dead! You could not have made yourselves alive, for it is clear
that the dead cannot rise by their own power. You were like the dry
bones of Ezekiel's valley, without even the form or the moisture of
life! You were more difficult to quicken than your Savior's body, for,
"He saw no corruption," but you were corrupt of heart. Ah, how much you
saw of corruption! In you has Jehovah repeated the miracle which He
performed on His beloved Son!

Remember that quickening is a necessary part of the process of
sanctification. Sanctification, in its operation upon our character,
consists of three things. First, we die to sin. A wondrous death! By
this Jesus strikes at the heart of evil. The death of Christ makes us
die to sin. After this comes burial. We are buried with Christ and of
this burial, Baptism is the type and token. Covered up to be forgotten,
we are to sin as a dead shepherd to his flock. As the sheep pass over
the dead shepherd's grave, or even feed thereon, yet he regards them
not–so our old sins and habits come about us, but we, as dead men,
know them no more. We are buried to them! To complete our actual
sanctification we receive heavenly quickening. "If we are dead with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." Yes, we do live
in Him and by Him, for, "He that believes in Him has everlasting life."
I trust you know what this means. Have you been thus dead, thus bur-

ied with Christ? Are you now thus quickened in the likeness of His
Resurrection? This is your joyful privilege if you are, indeed,
Believers in Christ and joined unto the Lord in one spirit.

Being thus quickened you are partakers of a new life. You are not like
Lazarus, who, when he was raised from the dead, had the same life
restored to him. True, you have that same life about you. Alas, that
you should have it! For it will be your burden and plague. But your
true life has come to you by your being born again from above. "This is
the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in
His Son. He that has the Son has life." The Holy Spirit has worked in
us a higher life than Nature possessed. "We know that whoever is born
of God sins not, but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that
Wicked One touches him not." We have received "a living and
incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever." In this there is a
striking display of the Glory of God. As in the Resurrection of Christ
we see all the glorious attributes of God, so is there in every
Believer's spiritual quickening a manifestation of the Divine Presence.
I know not how much there is of God in the regeneration of each
new-born soul, but I do know this, that God likens it to a new creation
and to the Resurrection and, therefore, we may be sure that it is one
of the highest displays of Divine Power.

We talk of conversion, but how lightly do we estimate the full meaning
of it! Know you not that regeneration is one of the greatest miracles
that God Himself can perform? To be begotten again unto a lively hope
is a mass of wonders! We who before lay under spiritual death, have
become possessors of a heavenly life–who can fully comprehend this?
This is a miracle, indeed, and we ourselves are the subjects of it!
Surely we do not think highly enough of the notable deed which has been
worked upon our impotent selves. Lazarus raised from the dead was the
object of wonder to everybody. The Jews came to Bethany, not to see
only Jesus, but to see Lazarus, who was raised from the dead. What must
Lazarus have thought of being thus brought back from the land of
darkness to visit, again, the haunts of men? Lazarus must have felt
himself a strange and singular man–even his sisters, Mary and Martha,
could not understand his experience. Christian, you have felt what you
can never tell–you have received what you can never explain–you
possess a secret something which can never be set forth in words! God
help you to show it by your life!

In this parallel of our history with the story of Christ, in our being
spiritually raised from the dead, we have a preeminent security for
future perfection. "He that has worked us for the same thing is God,
who also has given us the earnest of the Spirit." If He raised us up
when we were dead in sin, will He not keep us alive, now, that we live
unto Him? If He called us out of our graves when we were under the
bondage of death, will He not preserve us, now, by the life of Him that
dies no more? If the life of God has really been infused into us, who
shall destroy it? Has not our Master said, "I give unto My sheep
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of My hand"? He would not have given us this life unless He
had intended to bring it to perfection! As surely as you live by the
Father, you live as Jesus does, beyond the range of further death! "Sin
shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the Law, but
under Grace."

Do you tremblingly ask me, "May I not go back unto sin?" Listen to
this! It is written in the Covenant, "I will put My fear in their
hearts, that they shall not depart from Me." The life which is in you
springs up unto eternal life. You shall surely behold His face whose
life is already within your breast. What a blessed thing is this! I
cannot declare to you the measureless Glory of God which I perceive in
this quickening of souls unto God and yet, that which I perceive is the
bare fringe of the Glory. He might have left us to our corruptions and
then, at last, He would have said, "Bury My dead out of My sight.
Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels." But instead thereof, in His free love, He has
come in the Person of His dear Son and died for us that we might die in
Him and He has quickened His Son that we should live in Him! Soon He
will say, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world." Wondrous Grace! "He that
sits on the Throne says, Behold, I make all things new." And never is
He to our hearts more truly on the Throne of God than in this new
creation of which we are this day the happy subjects–

"Raised from the dead, we live anew; And, justified by Grace,

We shall appear in Glory, too, And see our Father's face.

If I gave you only those two things to dwell upon, you might, by God's
blessing, find a good Sabbath's meal in them. God sanctify this
teaching to all our hearts!

III. But now I want your special attention while I notice, in the third
place, that THE LIFE THEN GIVEN IS EMPHATICALLY NEW. Read our
text–"Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the
Father"–I expected that we should then read, "even so we also should
be raised by the Glory of the Father." But it is not so. Paul sometimes
takes great leaps of thought. It is in his mind that we are raised
together with Christ, but his thought has gone further, even to the
activity which comes of life–and we read, "that we also should walk in
newness of life." As much as to say, "I need not tell you that you have
been quickened as Christ was, but since you have been made alive, you
must show it by your walk and conduct." But he reminds us that this
life has much newness about it.

"Newness of life"–what does it mean? It means this. When we are born
again and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ–which things take place at
the same time–we receive a life which we never before possessed. We
begin to feel, to think and to act as we never did before. The new life
is something foreign to our fallen nature–an exotic, a plant of
another clime. The carnal mind knows nothing of spiritual things! The
man who is not born again cannot understand what the new birth means!
Spiritual things are spiritually discerned and the carnal man is all
confused in reference to them. In your quickening you received a light
which had never before shone in your bosom–a life that came not from
men, neither by men. It is not a development of something which was
hidden in our constitution. It is not the evolution of a principle
which really exists, only it is hampered and hindered. No! It is not
written, "You has He fostered, who had the germs of dormant life," but,
"You has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." You had
no life, you had nothing out of which life could come! Fostered you
might have been, but all the fostering possible would only have
developed your corrupt nature and caused the evil within to grow at a
greater rate! No seeds of eternal life lie buried in the dunghill of
fallen nature! Eternal life is the gift of God!

This novel life is new in its principles. The old life, at its very
best, only said, "I must do right that I may win a reward."
Wage-earning is the principle of the old legal life when it tries to be
obedient. Now you are moved by gratitude and not by a mercenary motive.
I hear you sing–

"Loved of my God, for Him again With love intense I burn: Chosen of Him
ere time began, I choose Him in return."

You now serve, not as a hired servant, but as a loving child. Grace
reigns! The love of Christ constrains you. It is your joy to obey out
of love and not from slavish fear.

This life is swayed by new motives. You now live to please God–before
you lived to please yourself, or to please your neighbors. Once you
lived for what you could get for yourself–you lived for the passing
pleasures of a fleeting life, but now you have launched upon eternal
seas. Eternity holds your treasures! Eternity excites your efforts and
elevates your desires. You live as seeing Him who is invisible and your
conduct is controlled, not by the judgment of fallible men, but by the
rule of the heart-searching God!

Your new life has new objectives. You aim higher, yes, you aim at the
highest of all, for you live for the Glory of God and seek that your
light may so shine "that men may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in Heaven." The will of God has now become your law.
You count yourself only happy as you may fulfill His purposes, honor
His name and extend His Kingdom.

Your inner life has made you conscious of new emotions. You feel now as
you were not known to feel. Your fears are new, your hopes are new,
your sorrows are new and your joys are new. If you were to meet your
old self you would not wish to strike up an acquaintance with him, but
would rather walk on the other side of the street! When I meet my
former self I always quarrel with him, and he with me. I grieve to
confess that I find another law in my members warring against the law
of my mind and seeking to bring me back into captivity. Behold, all
things are new to us! One said to me, when I asked her what kind of
change she had undergone–"Either the world is quite altered, or else I
am." Yes, Friends, the light is changed because our eyes are opened to
it! We feel the very opposite of what we felt by nature.

Now are we cheered by new hopes–we have a hope of immortality–a hope
so glorious that it causes us to purify ourselves in preparation for
its realization! We wait for the glorious appearing of our Lord! We
look for new heavens and a new earth. We have a lively hope which
defies death.

Now have we new possessions. We used to wonder what the Christian meant
when he spoke of "possessing all things." We now know! God has made us
"rich in faith" and He has given us greater riches than all the
treasures of

Egypt. When the Lord lifts up His Countenance upon us, we no longer cry
for corn and wine and oil. Though flocks die, crops fail, our estate is
entailed–our bread shall be given us and our waters shall be sure.
Instead of groaning that life is not worth having, we bless God for our
being, because of our well-being in Christ. Behold the desert now
rejoices and blossoms as the rose! Where we heard only the hooting of
the owl and the cry of the dragon, we hear music as of a song which has
just begun, which is every moment swelling and increasing–and shall
soon burst into a thunder of hallelujahs which shall never end! We are
now happy creatures. Once we were doleful enough, save when we were in
our cups and inflamed with a delirious mirth, but now we have peace
like a river and a secret joy which no man takes from us. We drink of a
well which none can dry up–we have bread to eat that the world knows
not of. Truly our fellowship is with the Father and this, even to
ourselves, is so vast a joy that it overwhelms us! When we are nearest
to God and are absorbed in Him, we cannot comprehend our own delight.

We have come into a new world altogether–a world far more grand than
that which Nature reveals. I often compare myself to a chick which
before was imprisoned in the dark, narrow and uncomfortable prison of
its natural shell. In that condition I neither knew myself, nor
anything that was about me, but was in chaos, as one unborn. Do I not
remember when the shell was broken and I came out into the open? Then,
like a young bird, I was weak and strange, and full of wonderment at
the life into which I had come. How strange was it to my soul to have
the Godhead consciously perceived and Christ and His redemption
blessedly enjoyed! That young life begins to feel its wings and try
them a little. It also moves with trembling footsteps, essaying a new
walk. It sees things it never dreamed of when shut up in the darkness.
The new-born soul beholds "new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells
righteousness." That text has come true to some of us–"You shall go
out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the
field shall clap their hands." It is a wonderful thing, this new life!
I beg to press home the inquiry, Do you know it? Do you enjoy it? Do
not boast that you are being educated. Educate the old life as you
will, it will remain natural and cannot become spiritual. You have
been, you say, religious from your childhood. Be it so, but even to you
I must say, "You must be born again." There must be a passing from
death unto life.

Does all I am talking about seem to be a confused maze? So far it will
do you good to know that you do not understand the things of God. To
know that you are a stranger to the inward life may be a blessing to
you. It may be that a prayer will spring up in your heart, "Lord,
implant in me this life." The Lord and Giver of Life is willing to
bestow it. It is to be had through Jesus, for, to "as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." May you be born this
very day into this newness of life!

IV. I must close, though the subject is sweetly absorbing, and one
would like to go further into it. Our fourth point

is this–THE WALK WHICH COMES OUT OF THIS LIFE IS NEW. You were dead,
but you have been raised from

among the dead and now you walk in "newness of life."

The new life that God gives us is exceedingly active. I have never read
that we are to lie down and sleep in the newness of life. It is true I
have met with persons who professed to have been saved and, therefore,
they took matters easily and made themselves religiously comfortable in
idleness. I greatly question whether you have new life if you do not
walk! God's children are not of a sluggish race. There is vigor and
fervency about them. They cannot sleep, as do others. The new life is
akin to the life of angels–and angels do not spend the day in slumber
or sloth. I never heard of sluggish angels! They are as flames of fire.
The new life in a Christian is quick, energetic, forceful. The new life
produces a holy walk as soon as it is created. If you have been born
unto God, you have cast off your lethargy and are ready to run the race
set before you. You may happen to occasionally be dull and sleepy
through disease, but you will not choose this. When in spiritual
health, you will glow with Divine ardor and burn with holy fervency,
delighting yourself in serving the Lord.

This activity of life induces progress. If we are really quickened, we
are to walk in newness of life–that is to say, we shall move on. We
are not to take the goose-step in newness of life, but to march on,
going from strength to strength. We are not at the end yet–we must
advance. All that we have already attained is to lead on to the beyond.
It is true we have the new life in us, but we have not yet obtained
everything–we must climb higher and go further. The new life grows.

This walk is to be in newness of life. We are not to act or grow in the
energy of the old life, but in newness of life. The conduct of a
Christian is in newness of life and, therefore, others cannot
understand him because he acts so differently from themselves. But,
alas, all professors are not of this sort! I see a Christian man coming
back one evening from a place

of questionable amusement. Did he go there in newness of life? The old
man used to go in that direction. When a man is doubtfully honest and
has made a bargain which will not bear the light–is that done in
newness of life? When an employer grinds down the workman to the last
farthing–is that done in the newness of life? Surely, you will see
what I am aiming at. Brethren, have done with the things of the flesh!
Put off the old man. If Christ has quickened you, walk in newness of
life. Say to the old man, "Down with you, Sir! I have done with walking
in your way."

Let the new man come to the front and follow his guidance. Say in your
soul, "O life of God within me, be supreme. Take the upper hand and let
every thought be captive to your power." Let us not live in oldness of
spiritual death, but in newness of spiritual life! What a change is
worked by the perception and possession of better things! Dr. Chalmers,
in his Exposition of Romans, pictures a man engaged with full and
earnest ambition on some humble walk of retail merchandise. He cares
about petty things and makes great account of his little stock-taking.
His hopes and fears range within his circumscribed trading–he aspires
to nothing more than to reach a few shillings a week to retire upon.
But a splendid property is willed to him, or he is introduced into a
sublime walk of high and honorable adventure. From then on, everything
is made new! The man's cares, hopes, habits, tastes and desires are all
new. His expenditure alters. His valuation of money alters. His fear
about the state of the stock disappears! His joy in the prospect of a
small competency is no more before his eyes. He has risen to a
different level altogether. New conditions have silently changed all
things. The whole man is built on a bigger scale–his house, his table,
his garments, his company and his speech are all of another sort!

In the same way, the Lord, by all that He has done for us, and in us,
has changed everything! No point is unaffected. Newness of life affects
our manhood from head to foot. The Lord has made us rich in Himself, by
the gift of Jesus, and by the work of His Spirit–and He would not have
us grieving and fretting about the little matters which once were so
exceedingly great to us. "After all these things do the Gentiles seek."
Let us have higher cares and more Divine aspirations! Let us seek to
live the life of Heaven on earth! We are called unto righteousness–let
us not follow after mammon! We are new creatures–may the Lord renew us
day by day! Let us quit the old, for the time we have spent in it may
well suffice. Our soul now aspires to a nobler destiny.

The Christian life should be one of joyful vivacity. We cannot always
be what we would like to be, especially if we have a sluggish liver or
an aching head, but I would now speak of our normal condition. The
Christian man or woman, living in newness of life, should find life
fresh about him. Our inner man is renewed day by day. A healthy
Christian is one of the liveliest creatures on earth. When he is at
work, you may hear him sing. He cannot help it! Do not blame him for a
little noise. Let him sing and laugh till he cries. Sometimes he cannot
help it–he will burst if his soul may not have vent. When he begins to
talk about his Lord, his eyes flash fire. Some people hint that he is
out of his mind–but those who know best assure us that he was never
before so sane as now. Of course, the world thinks religion is such
poor stuff that nobody could grow excited about it. To my mind, cold
religion is the nastiest dish ever brought to the table! True godliness
is served up hot. Newness of life means a soul aglow with love to God
and, therefore, earnest, zealous, happy. Let the believing man have
space for his larger life, space for his grander joy. No, do not gag
him–let him sing his new song! If any man out of Heaven has a right to
be happy, it is the man who lives in newness of life! Come, Beloved, I
want you to go home today with the resolve that the newness of life
shall be more apparent in your walk. Do not live the old life over
again. Why should you? What good would come of it?

Come, my Soul, if Christ has raised you from the dead, do not live
after the fashion of the dark grave which you have left. I am not so
enamored of the sepulcher as to return to it! Walk after the fashion of
the new life and it will conduct you to God from where it came. Live a
God-like life–let the Divine in you sit on the throne and tread the
animal beneath its feet. "It is easier said than done," cries one. That
depends upon the life within. Life is full of power. I have seen an
iron bar bent by the growth of a tree. Have you never heard of great
paving-stones being lifted by fungi which had pushed up beneath them?
Life is a mighty thing, especially the Divine Life! If you choose to
contract your souls by a sort of spiritual tight-lacing, or if you
choose to bend yourselves down in a sorrow which never looks up, you
may hinder your life and its walk–but give your life full scope and
what a walk you may have! Yield yourselves fully to God and you shall
see what you shall see! There is a happiness to be enjoyed by truly
whole-hearted Believers which some, even of God's own children, would
think to be impossible!

Let me finish with a picture which will show you what I mean by
whole-heartedness. I have seen boys bathing in a river in the morning.
One of them has just dipped his toes in the water and he cries out, as
he shivers, "Oh, it's so cold!"

Another has gone in up to his ankles and he also declares that it is
fearfully chilly. But look! Another runs to the bank and dives in! He
rises all in a glow. All his blood is circulating and he cries,
"Delicious! What a beautiful morning! I am all in a glow. The water is
splendid!" That is the boy for enjoying a bath! You Christian people
who are paddling about in the shallows of religion and just dipping
your toes in it–you stand shivering in the cold air of the world which
you are afraid to leave! Oh, that you would plunge into the River of
Life! How it would brace you! What tone it would give you! Dive in,
young man! Dive in! Be a Christian, out and out! Serve the Lord with
your whole being! Give yourself wholly to Him who bought you with His
blood. Plunge into the sacred Flood, by Grace, and you will exclaim–

"Oh, this is life! Oh, this is joy!

My God, to find You so!

Your face to see, Your voice to hear,

And all Your love to know." May we thus walk in newness of life! Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORESERMON–Matthew 28; Romans 6:1-14.