For Whom Is The Gospel Meant?

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 25, 1877,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are
sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Mark 2:17.

"Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6.

"God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Timothy 1:15.

LAST Thursday evening, with considerable difficulty, I stood here to
preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I handled one of the simplest
imaginable texts, full of nothing but the very plainest elements of the
Gospel. Within a very few minutes I had a harvest for the sermon. The
congregation was slender, for you know how ill a night it was, and how
little you expected that your pastor would be able to preach, but three
souls came forward uninvited to acknowledge that they had found peace
with God. How many more there were I do not know, but these three
sought out the Brethren and bore a good and hearty confession to the
blessed fact that, for the first time in their lives they, had
understood the plan of salvation.

Now, it seemed to me that if a plain Gospel theme was so promptly
profitable, I had better keep to the same subject. If a farmer finds
that a certain seed has paid him so well that he never had a better
crop, then he will keep to that seed and sow more of it. Those
processes of farming which have been successful should be persevered in
and even used upon a larger scale. So this morning I shall just preach
the A B C of the Gospel, the first rudiments of the art of salvation.
And I thank God this will be no new thing to me. May God the Holy
Spirit, in answer to your prayers, grant us a reward this morning after
the same proportion as last Thursday and, if so, our heart will be
exceedingly glad.

Out of a very great number I have selected the four texts which I have
just read to set forth the Truth of God that the mission of our Lord
related to sinners. What did Christ come into the world for? For whom
did He come? These are questions of the greatest importance and they
are clearly answered in Scripture. When the children of Israel first
found manna outside the camp, they said to one another, "Manna?" or,
"what is it?" for they knew not what it was. There it lay, a small
round thing, as small as the hoar frost upon the ground. No doubt they
looked at it and rubbed it in their hands and smelled it. And how glad
they were when Moses said, "This is the bread which the Lord has given
you to eat." It was not long before they put the good news to the test,
for each man gathered his arms full and took it home and prepared it
according to his liking.

Now, concerning the Gospel, there are many who might call out, "Manna?"
for they know not what it is. Very frequently, too, they make a mistake
as to its bearings and its objectives, dreaming that it is a kind of
improved Law, or an easier system of salvation by works and, therefore
they err, also, in their idea of the persons for whom it is designed.
They imagine that surely the blessings of salvation must be meant for
deserving persons and Christ must be the Redeemer of the meritorious!
On the principle of, "good for the good," they infer that Grace is for
the excellent and Christ for the virtuous. Therefore it is a most
useful thing for us continually to be reminding men what the Gospel is
and for whom it is

sent into the world, for, though the great mass of you know full well
and do not need to be told, yet there are multitudes around us who
persist in grave mistakes and need to be instructed over and over again
in the very simplest of the Doctrines of Grace.

There is less need for laborious explanations of profound mysteries
than for simple explanations of plain Truths of God. Many men need only
a simple latchkey to lift the latch and open the door of faith–and
such a key, I hope God's infinite mercy may put into their hands this
morning! Our business is to show that the Gospel is intended for
sinners– that it has an eye to guilty persons–that it is not sent
into the world as a reward for the good and for the excellent or for
those who think they have any measure of fitness or preparation for the
Divine favor. We need to show that it is intended for law breakers, for
the undeserving, for the ungodly, for those who have gone astray like
lost sheep, or left their father's house like the prodigal.

Christ died to save SINNERS and He justifies the ungodly. This Truth of
God is plain enough in the Word, but since the human heart kicks
against it, we will the more earnestly insist upon it.

I. First, EVEN A SUPERFICIAL GLANCE AT OUR LORD'S MISSION SUFFICES TO
SHOW THAT HIS WORK WAS FOR THE SINFUL. For, dear Brothers and Sisters,
the descent of the Son of God into this world as a Savior implied that
men needed to be delivered from a great evil by a Divine hand! The
coming of a Savior who would, by His death, provide pardon for human
sin, supposed men to be greatly guilty and to be incapable of procuring
pardon by any works of their own. You would never have seen a Savior if
there had not been the Fall. Eden's withering was a necessary preface
to Gethsemane's groaning.

You would never have heard of a Cross and a bleeding Savior on it if
you had not first heard of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
and of a disobedient hand which plucked the forbidden fruit. If the
mission of our Lord did not refer to the guilty, it was an altogether
unnecessary errand as far as we can see. What justifies the Incarnation
except man's ruin? What explains our Lord's suffering life but man's
guilt? Above all, what explains His death and the cloud under which He
died but human sin? "All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord
has laid on Him the iniquity of us all"–that is the answer to an
otherwise unanswerable riddle. If we give a glance at the Covenant
under which our Lord came, we soon perceive that its bearing is towards
guilty men.

The blessing of the Covenant of Works has to do with men who are
innocent. And to them it promises great blessings. If there had been
salvation by works, it would have been by the Law, for the Law is
upright and just and good. But the new Covenant evidently deals with
sinners, for it does not speak of the reward of merit, but it freely
promises, " I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more." If there had been no
sins and iniquities, and no unrighteousness, then there had been no
need of the Covenant of Grace of which Christ is the Messenger and the
Ambassador.

The slightest glimpse at our Lord's official Character as the Adam of a
new Covenant should suffice to convince us that His errand is to guilty
men. Moses comes to show how the holy should behave, but Jesus comes to
reveal how the unholy may be cleansed! Whenever we hear the mission of
Christ spoken of, it is described as one of mercy and of Grace. In the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus, it is always the mercy of God that
is extolled–according to His mercy He saved us. He, for Christ's sake,
according to His abundant mercy, forgives us our trespasses. "The Law
was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ." "The Grace of
God, and the gift by Grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, has
abounded unto many."

The Apostle Paul, who most fully expounds the Gospel, makes Grace to be
the one word upon which he rings the changes–"Where sin abounded Grace
did much more abound." "By Grace are you saved, through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." "Grace reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." But,
Brothers and Sisters, mercy implies sinfulness–there can be no mercy
extended to the just, for Justice, itself, secures every good thing to
them. Grace, too, can only be for offenders. What Grace is needed by
those who have kept the Law and deserved well at Jehovah's hands? To
them eternal life would be a matter of debt, a fairly earned reward!
But when you talk of Grace, you at once shut out merit and introduce
another principle. Mercy can only be exercised where there is sin and
Grace cannot be manifested except to the undeserving.

This is plain enough, and yet the whole tenor of some men's religion is
based on another theory. The fact is, when we begin to study the Gospel
of the Grace of God we see that it turns its face always towards sin,
even as a physician looks

towards disease, or as charity looks towards distress. The Gospel
issues its invitations, but what are the invitations? Are they not
addressed to those who are burdened with a load of sin and laboring to
escape from its consequences? It invites every creature because every
creature has its needs, but it especially says, "Let the wicked forsake
his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It invites the man who
has no money, or, in other words, no merit. It calls to those who are
needy, thirsty, poor, naked–and all these are but used as figures of
states produced by sin!

The very gifts of the Gospel imply sin–life is for the dead, sight is
for the blind, liberty is for the captives, cleansing is for the
filthy, absolution is for the sinful. No Gospel blessing is proposed as
a reward and no invitation is issued to those who claim the blessings
of Grace as a matter of right–men are invited to come and receive them
freely according to the Grace of God. And what are the commands of the
Gospel? Repent. But who repents unless a sinner? Believe. But believing
is not according to the Law–the Law speaks only of doing. Believing
has to do with sinners and with the method of salvation by Grace. The
Gospel representations of itself usually look sinnerward. The great
king who makes a feast finds not a guest to sit at the table among
those who were naturally expected to come–so from the highways and
hedges men are compelled to come in.

If the Gospel describes itself as a feast it is a great feast for the
blind, the crippled and the lame. If it describes itself as a fountain,
it is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. Everywhere, in all
that it does and says and provides to men, the Gospel proves itself to
be the sinner's friend. The motto of its Founder and Lord still is,
"this Man receives sinners." The Gospel is an hospital for the
sick–none but the guilty will ever accept its benefits. It is medicine
for the diseased–the whole and the self-righteous will never relish
its saving draughts. Those who imagine that they have some excellence
before God will never care to be saved by Sovereign Grace. The Gospel,
I say, looks sinnerward. That way, and that way only, does it cast its
blessings.

And Brothers and Sisters, you know that the Gospel has always found its
greatest trophies among the most sinful. It enlists its best soldiers
not only from among the guilty but from among the most guilty. "Simon,"
said our Lord, "I have something to say unto you–A certain man had two
debtors, the one owed him 500 pence and the other fifty. And when they
had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore,
which of them will love him more?" The Gospel goes upon the principle
that he who has had much forgiven loves much. And so its gracious Lord
delights to seek out the most guilty and to manifest Himself to them
with abundant and overflowing love, saying "I have blotted out your
sins like a cloud, and like a thick cloud your transgressions."

Among great transgressors it finds its warmest lovers. When once it has
saved them, it receives from them the heartiest welcome and in them it
obtains the most enthusiastic adherents. Great sinners, when saved,
crown free Grace with its most illustrious diadems. Well may we be sure
that it has its eye towards sinners since it is among the chief of
sinners that it finds its highest glory. There is one other reflection
which, also, lies very near the surface, namely, that if the Gospel
does not look towards sinners, to whom else could it look? There seems
to have been a revival, lately, of the old quibbling spirit, so that
proud Pharisees constantly tell us that the preaching ofjustification
by faith is overdone and that we are leading people to think less of
morality by preaching up the Grace of God.

This often refuted objection is coming forth again because
Protestantism is losing its sap and soul. The very force and backbone
of the Reformers' teaching was that great Doctrine of Grace, that
salvation is not of works but of the Grace of God, alone! And because
men are getting away from the Reformation and drifting into Romanism,
they are casting into the background this grand Truth of God of
Justification by Faith, alone, and pretending to be afraid of it. Most
men are knaves and fools upon this matter! I put to all such, this one
question–To whom, Sirs, would the Gospel look, if not towards sinners,
for what are you but sinners? You who talk about morality being
injured, about holiness being ignored–what have you to do with either?

The people who usually urge these objections, as a rule, had better be
quiet on such topics. In general these fierce defenders of morality and
holiness are exceedingly lax, while believers in the Grace of God are
frequently charged with Puritanism and rigidity. He who stands out most
to speak against the Doctrines of Grace is frequently the man or woman
who needs Grace most, while the very man who cries down good works as a
ground of trust is just the person whose life is carefully directed by
the statutes of the Lord! Know you, O men, that there lives not on the
face of the earth a man upon whom God can look with pleasure if He
considers that man on the ground of His Law. "They are all gone out of
the way, they are altogether become unprofitable; there is none that
does good, no not one."

Not one heart is sound and right before God by nature! Not one life is
pure and clean when the Lord comes to examine it with His all-searching
eyes! We are all shut up in the same prison as the guilty–if not alike
guilty, yet guilty according to the proportion of our light and
knowledge–and each one justly condemned! We have all erred in heart
and have not loved the Lord! To whom, then, could the Gospel look if it
did not cast its eyes sinnerward? For whom else could the Savior have
died? Who is there in the world for whom the benefits of Grace could be
designed?

II. Secondly, THE MORE CLOSELY WE LOOK, THE MORE CLEAR THIS FACT
BECOMES, for, Brothers and Sisters, the work of salvation was certainly
not performed for any of us, who are saved, on account of any goodness
in us! If there is any goodness in us, it was put there by the Grace of
God and it certainly was not there when first the heart of Jehovah's
love began to move towards us.

If you take the first sign of salvation that was actually visible on
earth, namely, the coming of Christ, we are told, concerning it, that,
"when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet perhaps for
a good man some would even dare to die. But God commends His love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." So
that our redemption, my Brothers and Sisters, was effected before we
were born! This was the fruit of the Father's great love, "wherewith He
loved us, even when we were dead in sins."

There was nothing in us going before which could have merited that
redemption, indeed the very idea of meriting the death of Jesus is
absurd and blasphemous! Yes, and when we were living in sin and loving
it, there were preparations made for our salvation–Divine love was
busy on our behalf when we were busy in rebellion. The Gospel was
brought near to us. Earnest hearts were set praying for us. The text
was written which would convert us and, as I have already said, the
blood was spilt which cleanses us and the Spirit of God was given who
should renew us. All this was done while as yet we had no breathings of
soul after God!

Is not that a wonderful passage in Ezekiel where the Lord passed by and
saw the helpless infant cast out in the open field while it was yet
unswaddled and unwashed and was foul and polluted in its own blood? He
says that it was a time of love and yet it was a time of pollution and
loathing. He did not love the chosen baby because it was well-washed
and fitly clad–He loved it when it was foul and naked. Let every
believing heart admire the freeness and compassion of Divine love–

"He saw me ruined in the Fall, Yet loved me, notwithstanding all. He sa
ved me from my lost estate, His loving kindness, oh, how great!" When
your heart was hard. When your neck was obstinate. When you would not
repent nor yield to Him but rebelled yet more and more, He loved
you–even you–with supreme affection!

Why such Grace? Why, indeed, but because His Nature is full of goodness
and He delights in mercy? Is not mercy seen to be evidently extended
towards the sinful and not exerted because of some goodness moving
thereto? Look a little closer, still. What did our Lord come into the
world to do? Here is the answer. "He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." He came
that He might be a Sin-Bearer–and do you think He came to bear only
the little, trifling sins of the best sort of men, if such sins there
are? Do you suppose that He is a little Savior who came to save us from
little offenses?

Beloved, it is Jehovah's darling Son that comes to earth and bears the
load of sin, a load which, when He bears it, He finds to be no
fictitious burden, for it forces from Him bloody sweat! So heavy is
that load that He bows His head to the grave and even unto death
beneath it. That stupendous load which lay on Christ was the heap of
our sins–and, therefore, as we look into the subject, we perceive that
the Gospel must have to do with sinners. No sin? Then the Cross is a
mistake! No sin? Then the "Lama Sabachthani" was a just complaint
against unnecessary cruelty!

No sin? Then, O Redeemer, what are those glories which we have so
eagerly ascribed to You? How can You put away sin which does not exist?
The existence of great sin is implied in the coming of Christ and that
coming was occasioned and rendered necessary by SIN, against which
Jesus comes as our Deliverer! He declares that He has opened a
fountain, filled with the blood of His own veins. But what for? A
cleansing fountain implies filth. It must be, Sinner, that somewhere or
other there are filthy people, or else there had not been such an
amazing fountain as this, filled from the heart of Christ!

If you are guilty, you are one who needs the fountain, and it is opened
for you! Come with all your sin and foulness about you and wash this
morning, and be clean!–

"'Twas for sinners that He suffered

Agonies unspeakable!

Can you doubt you are a sinner?

If you can–then hope farewell.

But, believing what is written–

'All are guilty'–'dead in sin,'

Looking to the Crucified One

Hope shall rise your soul within." Brothers and Sisters, all the gifts
which Jesus Christ came to give, or at least most of them, imply that
there is sin! What is His first gift but pardon? How can He pardon a
man who has not transgressed? With all reverence do I speak– there can
be no such thing as pardon where there is no offense committed.
Propitiation for sin and blotting out of iniquity both require that
there must be sin to be blotted out, or what is there real about them?
Christ comes to bring justification and this shows that there must be a
lack of natural holiness in men, for if not, they would be justified by
themselves and by their own works. And why all this outcry about
justification by the righteousness of the Son of God if men are already
justified by a righteousness of their own? Those two blessings, and
others of the same kind, are clearly applicable only to sinful men. To
no other men can they be of any use.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came girded, also, with Divine power. He says,
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me." To what end was He girded with
Divine power unless it was because sin had taken all power and strength
from man, and man was in a condition out of which he could not be
lifted except by the energy of the eternal Spirit? And what does this
imply but that Christ's errand bears upon those who, through sin, are
without strength and without merit before God? The Holy Spirit is given
because man's spirit has failed–because sin has taken the life out of
man and made him dead in trespasses and sins–therefore the Holy Spirit
comes to quicken him into newness of life, and that Spirit comes by
Jesus Christ. Therefore the errand of Jesus Christ is manifestly to the
guilty.

I will not omit to say that the great deeds of our Lord, if you look at
them carefully, all bear upon sinners. Jesus lives–it is that He may
seek and save that which is lost. Jesus dies–it is that He may make a
propitiation for the sins of guilty men. Jesus rises–He rises again
for our justification and, as I have shown, we would not need
justification unless we had been naturally guilty. Jesus ascends on
high and He receives gifts for men–but note that special word–"Yes,
for the rebellious, also, that the Lord God may dwell among them."
Jesus lives in Heaven, but He lives there to intercede. "Therefore He
is able, also, to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him,
seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them."

So take whatever part of His glorious achievements you please and you
will find that there is a distinct bearing towards those who are
immersed in guilt. And Beloved, all the gifts and blessings that Jesus
Christ has brought to us derive much of their radiance from their
bearing upon sinners. It is in Christ Jesus that we are elect and, to
my mind, the glory of electing love lies in this–that it pitched upon
such undeserving objects. How had there been any election had it been
according to merit? Then men would have taken rank by right according
to their own deeds! But election's glories are brilliant with Grace and
Grace always has for its foil and background the unworthiness of the
objects towards whom it is manifested. The election of God is not
according to our works, but it is a gracious election of sinners! Adore
and wonder!

Turn to effectual calling and see how delightful it is to view that
calling as a calling from among the dead, as a calling of the things
that are not as though they were, as a calling of condemned ones into
forgiveness and favor! Turn next to adoption. What is the glory of
adoption, but that God has adopted those who were strangers and rebels
to make them His children? What is the peculiar beauty of regeneration
but that He has been able to raise up children, from these stones, unto
Abraham? What is the beauty of sanctification, but that He has taken
such unholy creatures as we are to make us kings and priests unto God
and to sanctify us wholly–spirit, soul, and body?

To my mind it is the glory of Heaven to think that yonder white-robed
choristers were once foully deified–those happy worshippers were once
rebels against God! It is a happy sight to see the unfallen angels who
have kept their first estate perfectly pure and forever praising God.
But the vision of fallen men divinely restored is more full of the
Glory of

God! Lift, as they may, their joyful voices in perpetual chorales, the
angels can never reach the special sweetness of that song–"We have
washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." They
cannot experimentally enter into that Truth of God which is of
Jehovah's name its crowning glory–"You were slain and have redeemed us
to God by Your blood."

Thus I have abundantly shown that the further we look, the more clear
it is that the Gospel is aimed at sinners and especially intended for
their benefit.

III. Now, thirdly, it is evident that IT IS OUR WISDOM TO ACCEPT THE
SITUATION. I know that, to many,

this is a very unpalatable doctrine. Well, Friend, you had better have
your palate altered, for you will never be able to alter the doctrine!
It is the Truth of the everlasting God and cannot be changed. The very
best thing you can do, since the Gospel looks towards sinners, is to
get where the Gospel looks–and I can recommend this to you, not merely
on the ground of policy, but on the ground of honesty–because you will
be only in your right place when you get there.

I think I hear you raising objections. "I do not admire this system. Am
I to be saved in the same way as the dying thief?" Precisely so, Sir,
unless there should happen to be even more Grace shown towards you than
to him. "But you do not mean to assert that in the matter of salvation
I am to be put on a level with the woman that was a sinner? I have been
pure and chaste and am I to owe my salvation just as much to the
absolute mercy of God as she did?" Yes, Sir, I do say that, exactly as
it stands. There is but one principle upon which the Lord saves men and
it is that of pure Grace. I want you to understand this.

Even if it grinds like grit between your teeth and makes you angry, I
shall not regret it so long as you know what I mean, for the Truth of
God may yet find entrance into your soul and you may yet bow before its
power. Oh, you children of godly parents, you young people of excellent
morals and delicate consciences, to you I speak, even to you! Rejoice
in your privileges, but do not boast in them, for you, too, have
sinned! You have sinned against light and knowledge. You know you have!
If you have not plunged into the grosser sins in act and deed, yet in
desire and in imagination you have gone far enough astray–and in many
things you have offended grievously against God. If, with these
considerations before you, you take your place as a sinner, you will
not be disgraced but be merely standing where you certainly are!

And then, remember, if you get the blessing this way, you will have
obtained it in the safest possible way. Suppose there are a number of
guest chambers and I have my seat in one of the best of them. I may
have no right to be there. I am eating and drinking of what is provided
for superior guests, but my ticket does not mark me out as one of these
and, therefore, I am ill at ease. Every mouthful that I eat I think to
myself, "I do not know whether I shall be allowed to remain here.
Perhaps the Lord of the feast will come in and say to me, 'Friend, how
came you in here?' and I must begin, with shame, to take the lowest
room." Brothers and Sisters, when we begin at the bottom and sit in the
lowest room, we feel safe. We are satisfied that what we do get is
meant for us and will not be taken away from us.

Perhaps, also, when the king comes, he may take us up to a higher room.
There is nothing like beginning in the lowest place. When I lay hold of
the promise as a saint, I have my doubts about it. But when I grasp it
as a sinner, I can have no question! If the Lord bids me feed on His
mercy as His child, I do it! The devil may whisper that I am presuming,
that I never was really adopted by Grace–but when I come to Jesus as a
guilty, undeserving sinner, and take what the Lord freely presents to
me upon believing–the devil himself cannot tell me that I am not a
sinner, or if he does, the lie is too transparent and causes me no
distress! There is nothing like having an indefeasible title–and if
the description given to you in the title is that you are a sinner, it
is an indisputable one–for depend upon it, you are a sinner! So the
sinner's place is your true place and your safest place.

Another blessing is it is a place into which you can get directly, even
at this very moment. If the Gospel looks towards men in a certain state
of heart in which there are commendable virtues, then how long will it
take me to raise my heart to that state? If Jesus Christ comes into the
world to save men who have a certain measure of excellence, then how
long will it take me to obtain that excellence? I may be taken sick and
die within the next 30 minutes and hear the sentence of eternal
judgment–it would be poor Gospel to tell me that I might possibly
obtain salvation if I attained a state which would take me several
months to reach! At this hour I, a dying man, know that I may be gone
out of this world and beyond the reach of mercy within an hour–what a
comfort it is that the Gospel comes to me and gives itself to me just
now, even as it finds me! I am already in that position in which Grace
begins with men, for I am a sinner, and I have only to admit that I am
so.

Now then, poor Soul, just sit down before the Lord and say, "Lord, does
Your Son come to save the guilty? I am such and I trust Him to save me.
Did He die for the ungodly? I am such, Lord, I trust in His blood to
cleanse me. Was His death for sinners? Lord, I take up the position! I
plead guilty! I accept the sentence of Your Law as being just, but save
me, Lord, for Jesus died." It is done! You are saved! Go in peace, my
Son. Your sins, which are many, are forgiven you! Go, my Daughter, go
your way and rejoice! The Lord has put away your sin–you shall not
die, for he that believes is justified from all sin. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no
guile! Get, then, into your true position–accept the situation in
which Grace considers you to be. Do not talk of justice and merit, but
appeal to pity and love.

A certain man had, several times, plotted against the first Napoleon
and eventually, being entirely in the emperor's hands, the sentence of
death was pronounced upon him. His daughter earnestly pleaded for his
life and at last, having obtained an audience with the Emperor, she
fell upon her knees before him. "My girl," said the Emperor, "it is of
no use to plead for your father, for I have the clearest evidence of
his repeated crimes, and it is but justice that he should die." The
girl replied, "Sire, I do not ask for justice, I beg for mercy. It is
upon the mercifulness of your heart and not upon the justice of the
case that I rely." She was heard patiently and her father's life was
spared at her request.

Imitate this appeal, and cry, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to
Your loving kindness." Justice owes you nothing but death–mercy alone
can spare you. Have done with every idea of making out a good
case–admit it to be a bad one and plead guilty! Cast yourself upon the
mercy of the court and ask for mercy, free mercy, undeserved mercy,
gratuitous favor! This is what you must ask for and as in law they have
a form of suing called in forma pauperis, that is, in the form of a
pauper, adopt the method and as a man full of necessities beg for favor
at the hands of God, in forma pauperis, and it shall be bestowed upon
you.

IV. Now I close this discourse with the next point, which is, THIS
DOCTRINE HAS A GREAT SANCTIFYING

INFLUENCE. "There," says one, "I do not believe that. Surely you have
been holding out a premium to sin by saying that Christ came to save
nobody but sinners and does not call anybody to repentance but the
sinful." My dear Sirs, I have heard all that sort of talk so many times
that I know it by heart–the same objections were raised against this
doctrine in Luther's day by the Papists and, since then, by workmongers
of all classes! There is nothing substantial in their notion that free
Grace is opposed to morality–it is only their fancy.

They dream that the doctrine of justification by faith will lead to
sin, but it can be proved by history that whenever this doctrine has
been best preached, men have become most holy! And whenever this Truth
of God has been darkened, all manner of corruption has abounded.
Gracious doctrine and gracious living fitly go together–and legal
teaching and unlawful living are generally found associated. Let us
show you the sanctifying power of this Gospel. Its first operation in
that direction is this–when the Holy Spirit brings the truth of free
pardon home to a man, it completely changes his thoughts concerning
God.

"What?" he asks, "Has God freely forgiven me all my offenses for
Christ's sake? And does He love me notwithstanding all my sin? I did
not know He was such an One as this, so gracious and kind! I thought He
was hard! I called Him a tyrant, gathering where He had not
strewed–but does He feel towards me like this? Then," says the soul,
"I love Him in return." There is a complete reversal of feeling–the
man is turned right round as soon as he understands redeeming Grace and
dying love. Conversion follows on a sight of Grace. Moreover, this
grand Truth of God does more than turn a man, it inspires, melts,
enlivens and inflames him. This is a Truth which stirs the deeps of the
heart and fills the man with lively emotions.

Before, you talked to him about doing good, about right, justice,
reward and punishment–he heard it all and it may have had a measure of
influence over him–but he did not deeply feel it. Such teaching is too
cold to warm the heart. Then the Truth comes home to the man and
appears to him to be new and exciting. It runs like this–God, out of
His free mercy, forgives the guilty and He has forgiven me! Why, this
awakens him, stirs him up, touches the fountain of his tears and moves
his whole being! Perhaps at the first hearing of the Gospel, he does
not care for it, and even hates it. But when it comes with power, it
obtains a wonderful mastery over him! When he really receives its
message as his own, then his cold heart of stone is turned to flesh!
Warm emotion, tender love, humble desire and a sacred longing after the
Lord are all excited in his bosom.

The quickening power of this Divine Truth, as well as the converting
power of it, can never be too much admired. Besides, this Truth, when
it enters the heart, deals a deadly blow at the man's self-conceit.
Many a man would have become wise, only he thought he was already! And
many a man would have been virtuous, only he concluded that he had
already attained that, too! Behold, this doctrine smites upon the skull
all confidence in your own goodness and makes you feel your guilt! And
in so doing, it removes the great evil of pride. A sense of sin is the
very threshold of mercy! A consciousness of shortcoming, a grief
because of past offenses are necessary preparations for a higher and a
nobler life. The Gospel digs out the foundation, makes a great vacuum
and so makes room to lay in their places the glorious stones of a noble
spiritual character.

Moreover, where this Truth of God is received, there is sure to spring
up in the soul a sense of gratitude. The man who has had much forgiven
will be sure to love much in return. Gratitude to God is a grand
mainspring for holy action. Those who do right in order to be rewarded
for it are acting selfishly. Selfishness is at the bottom of their
character– they abstain from sin only lest self should suffer–and
they obey only that self may be safe and happy. The man who does right,
not because of Heaven or Hell, but because God has saved him and he
loves the God who saved him, is the truly right-loving man. He who
loves right because God loves right, has risen out of the fog of
selfishness and is capable of the loftiest virtue, yes, he has in him a
living spring which will well up and flow forth in holy living so long
as he exists.

And, dear Brothers and Sisters, I think you will all see that free
forgiveness to sinners is very conducive towards one part of a true
character, namely, readiness to forgive others, for he who has been
forgiven much himself is the very man who finds it easy to pass by the
transgressions of others. If he does not, he may well doubt whether he
has been forgiven! If the Lord has blotted out his debt of a thousand
talents, he will, readily enough, forgive the hundred pence which his
brother owes him.

Last of all, some of us know and we wish that all knew by personal
experience, that a sense of undeserved favor and free forgiveness is
the very soul of enthusiasm–and enthusiasm is to Christianity what the
lifeblood is to the body! Were you ever made enthusiastic by a cold
discourse upon the excellence of morality? Did you ever feel your soul
stirred within you by listening to a sermon upon the rewards of virtue?
Were you ever made enthusiastic by being told of the punishments of the
Law? No, Sirs–but preach up the Doctrines of Grace–let the free favor
of God be extolled and mark the consequences! There are people who will
walk for many miles and stand without weariness by the hour together to
hear this! I have known them labor many a weary mile to listen to this
doctrine!

Why? Because the preacher was eloquent, or because he put it well? Not
so! It has sometimes been badly spoken and in uncouth language–and yet
this doctrine has always awakened the people. There is something in the
soul of man that is looking out for the Gospel of Grace! And when it
comes, there is a hungering to hear about it! Look at the Reformation
times, when death was the penalty of listening to a sermon–how the
people crowded at midnight! How they journeyed into the deserts and the
caves to listen to the teaching of these grand old Truths of God! There
is sweetness about mercy, Divine Mercy freely given, which holds the
ear of man and stirs his heart!

When this Truth of God enters the soul, it breeds zealots, martyrs,
confessors, missionaries, saints. If any Christians are in earnest and
full of love to God and man, they are those who know what Grace has
done for them. If any remain faithful under reproaches, joyful under
losses and crosses–they are those who are conscious of their
indebtedness to Divine Love. If any delight in God while they live and
rest in Him as they die–they are the men who know that they are
justified by faith in Jesus Christ who justifies the ungodly.

All glory be to the Lord who lifts the beggar from the dunghill and
sets him among princes, even the princes of His people! He takes the
very cast-offs of the world and adopts them into His family and makes
them heirs of God by Jesus Christ! The Lord grant us all to know the
power of the Gospel upon our sinful selves! The Lord endear to us the
name, work and Person of the Sinner's Friend! May we never forget the
hole of the pit from where we were drawn, nor the hand which rescued
us, nor the undeserved kindness which moved that hand! From now on let
us have more and more to say of Infinite Grace. "Free Grace and dying
love." Well does the old song say, "Ring those charming bells." Free
Grace and dying love–the sinner's windows of hope! Our hearts exult in
the very words! Glory be unto You, O Lord Jesus, ever full of
compassion. Amen.
__________________________________________________________________