The Reception of Sinners

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 22, 1874,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and
put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And
bring here the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry."
Luke 15:22,23.

LAST Lord's-Day we spoke upon the consecration of priests. That theme
might seem too high for troubled hearts and trembling consciences who
fear that they shall never be made priests and kings unto God. So
glorious a privilege appears to them to hang in the dim, distant
future, if, indeed, they reach it at all. Therefore, at this time, we
will go down from the elevated regions to comfort those who are seeking
the Lord–with the view of helping them, in their turn, to climb, also!

We speak this morning, not of the consecration of priests, but of the
reception of sinners, and this, according to our text, is a very joyful
business. It is even described as a merrymaking, accompanied with music
and with dancing. We, very frequently, speak of the sorrow for sin
which accompanies conversion, and I do not think we can speak of it too
often. But yet there is a possibility of our overlooking the equally
holy and remarkable joy which attends the return of a soul to God. It
has been a very common error to suppose that a man must pass through a
very considerable time of despondency, if not of horror of mind, before
he can find peace with God.

But in this parable the father seems determined to cut short that
period. He stops his son in the very middle of his confession and,
before he can ask to be made as one of the hired servants, his mournful
style is changed to rejoicing, for the father has already fallen on his
neck and kissed his trembling lips into a sweet silence! It is not the
Lord's desire that sinners should tarry long in the state of
unbelieving conviction of sin. It is something wrong in themselves
which keeps them there–either they are ignorant of the freeness and
fullness of Christ, they harbor self-righteous hopes–or they cling to
their sins. Sin lies at the door but it is no work of God which blocks
the way. He delights in their delight and joys in their joy!

It is the Father's will that the penitent sinner should at once believe
in Jesus, at once find complete forgiveness and enter into rest. If any
of you came to Jesus without the dreary interval of terror which is so
frequent, I pray you do not judge yourselves as though your conversions
were dubious–they are all the more, instead of all the less, genuine,
because they bear, rather, the marks of the Gospel than of the Law! The
weeping of Peter, which in a few days turns to joy, is far better than
the horror of Judas which ends in suicide! Conversions, as recorded in
Scripture, are, for the most part, exceedingly rapid.

They were pricked in the heart at Pentecost and the same day baptized
and added to the Church because they had found peace with God through
Jesus Christ! Paul was struck down with conviction and in three days
was a baptized Believer! Perhaps the figure is inapt, but I was about
to say that sometimes God's power is so very near us that the lightning
flash of conviction is often attended at the very same moment by the
deep thunder of the Lord's voice which drives away our fears and
proclaims peace and pardon to the soul! In many cases the sharp needle
of the Law is immediately followed by the silken thread of the
Gospel–the showers of repentance are succeeded at once by the sunshine
of faith–Peace overtakes Penitence and walks arm in arm with her into
yet fuller rest!

Having thus reminded you that God would have penitents very soon
rejoice, I want to spend this morning in setting forth the joy which is
caused by pardoned sin. That joy is threefold. We will talk about it,
first, as the joy of God over sinners. Secondly, the joy of sinners in
God. And, thirdly, what is so often forgotten–the joy of the
servants–for they, too, rejoiced, for the father said, "Let us eat and
be merry." One of the points of the parable is just this, that as in
the case of the lost sheep the shepherd calls together his friends and
neighbors, and as in the case of the piece of money the

woman calls her neighbors together, so in this case, also, others share
in the joy which chiefly belongs to the loving father and the returning
wanderer.

I. THE JOY OF GOD OVER SINNERS. It is always difficult to speak of the
ever-blessed God becomingly when we have to describe Him as touched by
emotions. I pray, therefore, to be guided in my speech by the Holy
Spirit. We have been educated to the idea that the Lord is above
emotions, either of sorrow or pleasure. That He cannot suffer, for
instance, is always laid down as a self-evident postulate. Is that
quite clear? Cannot He do or bear anything He chooses to do? What does
the Scripture mean which says that man's sin, before the flood, made
the Lord repent that He had made man on the earth, "and it grieved Him
at His heart"?

Is there no meaning in the lord's own language, "Forty years long was I
grieved with this generation"? Are we not forbidden to grieve the Holy
Spirit? Is He not described as having been vexed by ungodly men?
Surely, then, He can be grieved–it cannot be an altogether meaningless
expression. For my part, I rejoice to worship the living God, who,
because He is living, dose grieve and rejoice! It makes one feel more
love to Him than if He dwelt on some serene Olympus, careless of all
our woes because incapable of any concern about us, or interest in us,
one way or the other. To look upon Him as utterly impassive and
incapable of anything like emotion does not, in my mind, exalt the
Lord, but rather brings Him down to be comparable to the gods of stone
or wood which cannot sympathize with their worshippers.

No, Jehovah is not insensible! He is the living God and everything that
goes with life–pure, perfect, holy life–is to be found in Him. Yet
must such a subject always be spoken of very tenderly, with solemn awe,
because, albeit we know something of what God is, for we are made in
the image of God and the best likeness of God undoubtedly was man as he
came from his Maker's hand, yet man is not God and, even in his
perfectness, he must have been but a very tiny miniature of God! While
now that he has sinned he has blotted and blurred that image.

The finite cannot fully mirror the Infinite, nor can the grand,
glorious, essential properties of Deity be communicated to
creatures–they must remain peculiar to God, alone. The Lord is,
however, continually represented as displaying joy. Moses declared to
sinful Israel that if they returned and obeyed the voice of the Lord,
the Lord would again rejoice over them for good as He rejoiced over
their fathers (Deut. 30:9). The Lord is said to rejoice in His works
and to delight in mercy–and surely we must believe it! Why should we
doubt it? Many passages of Scripture speak very impressively of God's
joy in His people.

Zephaniah puts it in the strongest manner: "He will save, He will
rejoice over you with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over
you with singing." Our God is forever the happy or blessed God. We
cannot think of Him as other than supremely blessed. Still, from the
Scriptures we gather that He displays, on certain occasions, a special
joy which He would have us recognize. I do not think that it can be
mere parable, but it is real fact, that the Lord does rejoice over
returning and repenting sinners. Every being manifests its joy
according to its nature and seeks means for its display suitable to
itself. It is so with men.

When the old Romans celebrated a triumph because some great general
returned a victor from Africa, Greece, or Asia with the spoils of a
long campaign, how did the fierce Roman nature express its joy? Why, in
the Coliseum, or in some yet more vast amphitheatre where buzzing
nations choked the ways! They gathered in their myriads to behold not
only beasts, but their fellow men, "butchered to make a Roman holiday."
Cruelty upon an extraordinary scale was their way of expressing the joy
of their iron hearts. Look at the self-indulgent man! He has had a
prosperous season and has made a lucky hit, as he calls it, or some
event has occurred in his family which makes him very jubilant. What
will he do to show forth his joy? Will he bow the knee in gratitude, or
lift a hymn of praise? Not he! He will hold a drinking bout and, when
he and his fellows are mad with wine, his joy will find expression! The
sensual show their joy by sensuality.

Now, God whose name is Good, and whose Nature is Love–when He has
joy–expresses it in mercy, in lovingkindness and Grace. The father's
joy in the parable before us showed itself in the full forgiveness
accorded in the kiss of perfect love bestowed, in the gift of the best
robe, the ring, the sandals and in the gladsome festival which filled
the whole house with hallowed mirth! Everything expresses its joy
according to its nature. Infinite Love, therefore, reveals its joy in
acts of love. The Nature of God–being as much above ours as the Heaven
is above the earth–the expression of His joy is, therefore, all the
loftier and His gifts the greater. But there is a likeness between
God's way of expressing joy and ours which it will be profitable to
note.

How do we express ourselves, ordinarily, when we are glad? We do so
very commonly by a display of bounty. When, in the olden times, our
kings came into the city of London, or a great victory was
celebrated–the conduit in Cheapside ran with red wine and even the
gutters flowed with it! Then there were tables set in the street and My
Lords, and the aldermen, and the mayor kept open house and everybody
was fed to the full. Joy was expressed by hospitality. You have seen
the picture of the young heir coming of age and have noticed how the
artist depicts the great yard of the manor as full of men and women who
are eating and drinking to their hearts' content.

At Christmas seasons and upon marriage days and harvest homes, men
ordinarily express their joy by bountiful provision. So also does the
father, in this wondrous parable, exhibit the utmost bounty,
representing, thereby, the boundless liberality of the great Father of
spirits who shows His joy over penitents by the manner in which He
entertains them. The best robe, the ring, the shoes, the fatted calf
and the, "Let us eat and be merry," all show, by their bountifulness,
that God is glad! His oxen and His fatlings are killed, for the feast
of Mercy is the banquet of the Lord! So unrivalled are the gifts of His
gracious hand that the receivers of His favors have cried out in
amazement, "Who is a God like unto You!"

Beloved, consider, awhile, the Lord's bounty to returning sinners,
blotting out their sins like a cloud and like a thick cloud their
iniquities–justifying them in the Righteousness of Christ, endowing
them with His Holy Spirit, regenerating them, comforting them,
illuminating them, purifying them, strengthening them, guiding them,
protecting them, filling them with all His own fullness, satisfying
their mouth with good things–and crowning them with tender mercies. I
see, in the bounty of God with which He so liberally endows returning
sinners, a mighty proof that His inmost soul rejoices over the
salvation of men!

At glad times men generally manifest some specialty in their bounty. On
the day of the young heir's coming of age the long-stored cask of wine
is broached and the best bullock is roasted whole. So here in the
parable we read, "Bring forth the best robe," indicating that it had
been laid by and kept in store until then. Nobody had used that robe.
It was locked up in the wardrobe, only to be brought out on some very
special occasion. This was the happiest day that ever had made glad the
house and, therefore, "Bring forth the best robe." No other will
suffice! If meat is needed for the banquet, let a calf be killed. Which
shall it be? A calf taken at random from the herd? No, but the fatted
calf which has been standing in the stalls and is well fed–and has
been reserved for a festival!

Oh, Beloved, when God blesses a sinner He shows His joy by giving him
the reserved mercies, the special treasures of everlasting love, the
precious things of Divine Grace, the secret of the Covenant–yes, He
has given to sinners the best of the best in giving them Christ Jesus
and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! The best that Heaven affords,
God bestows on sinners when they come to Him. No scraps and odds and
ends are dealt out to hungry and thirsty seekers, but in princely
munificence of unstinting love the heavenly Father deals out abundant
Grace! I would that sinners would come and try my Lord's hospitality!
They would find His table to be more richly loaded than even that of
Solomon, though 30 oxen and a hundred sheep did not suffice for one
day's provision for the household of that magnificent sovereign!

If they would but come, even the largest-hearted among them would be
wonder-struck as they saw how richly God supplied all their needs
according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus–

"Rags exchanged for costly treasure Shoe and ring and Hea ven's best
robe! Gifts of love, which knows no measure; Who can tell the heart of
God? All His loved ones His redeemed ones, Perfect are in His abode."

We also shower our joy by a concentration of thought upon the object of
it. When a man is carried away with joy, he forgets everything else and
gives himself up to the one delight. David was so glad to bring back
the Ark of the Lord that he danced before the Lord with all his might,
being clad only with a linen ephod. He laid aside his stately garments
and thought so little of his dignity that Michal sneered at him. He was
so much absorbed in adoring his Lord that all regard to appearances was
quite gone.

Observe well the parable and listen, as you hear the father say, "Bring
forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet, and let us eat and be merry, for this, my son, was
dead and is alive again." The son, alone, is in the father's eyes and
the whole house must be ordered in reference to him. Nothing is to be
thought of

today but the long-lost son! He is paramount in the wardrobe, the jewel
room, the farmyard, the kitchen and the banqueting chamber. He that was
lost–that was dead–he, being found and alive, engrosses the whole of
the father's mind!

Sinner, it is wonderful how God sets all His thoughts on you according
to His promise, "I will set My eyes upon them for good," (Jer. 24:6).
And again, "I will watch over them to build and to plant says the
Lord." The Lord thinks upon the poor and needy! His eyes are upon them
and His ears are open to their cry! He thinks as much of each penitent
sinner as if he were the only being in the universe! O Penitent, for
you is the working of the Lord's Providence to bring you home! For you
the training of His ministers that they might know how to reach your
heart! For you the gifts of the Spirit upon them that they might be
powerful with your conscience! Yes, for you His Son, His eternal Son,
once bleeding on the Cross, and now sitting in the highest heavens
making intercession for you!

I saw, in Amsterdam, the diamond cutting, and I noticed great wheels, a
large factory and powerful engines–and all the power was made to bear
upon a small stone no larger than the nail of my little finger. All
that huge machinery for that little stone, because it was so precious!
I think I see you, poor insignificant sinners, who have rebelled
against your God, brought back to your Father's house–and now the
whole universe is full of wheels and all those wheels are working
together for your good–to make out of you a jewel fit to glisten in
the Redeemer's crown! God is not represented as saying more of Creation
than, "it was very good." But in the work of Grace He is described as
singing for joy! He breaks the eternal silence and cries, "My son is
found!"

As the philosopher, when he had compelled Nature to yield her secret,
ran through the street crying, "Eureka! Eureka! I have found it! I have
found it!" so does the Father dwell on the word, "My son that was dead,
is alive again, he that was lost is found." The whole of Scripture aims
at the bringing back, again, of the Lord's banished! For this the
Redeemer leaves His Glory! For this the Church sweeps her house and
lights her candle–and when the work is done, all other bliss is
secondary to the surpassing joy of the Lord, of which He bids His
ransomed ones partake, saying–"Enter you into the joy of your Lord."

We also show our joy by an alacrity of motion. I quoted David just now.
It was so with him. He danced before the ark. I cannot imagine David
walking slowly before the ark, or creeping after it like a mourner at a
funeral. I often notice the difference between your coming to this
place and people going to other places of worship. I remark a very
solemn, stately and somber motion in almost everybody else–but you
come tripping along as if you were glad to go up to the House of the
Lord! You do not regard the place of our joyous assemblies as a sort of
religious prison, but as the palace and banqueting house of the great
King!

When anyone is joyous, he is sure to show it by the quickness of his
motions. Listen to the father–he says, "Bring forth the best robe and
put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and
bring here the fatted calf, and let us eat and be merry." As quickly as
possible he pours out sentence after sentence. There is no delay–no
interval between the commands. Might he not have said, "Bring forth the
best robe and put it on him, and let us look at him awhile, and sit
down and prepare him for the next step. And in an hour's time, or
tomorrow, we will put a ring on his hand. And then, soon, we will put
shoes on his feet–he is best without shoes for the present–for
perhaps if he has shoes on, he will run away. As to the festival,
perhaps we had better rejoice over him when we see whether his
repentance is genuine." No, no, no! The father's heart is too glad! He
must bless his boy at once, heap on his favors and multiply his tokens
of love!

When the Lord receives a sinner, He runs to meet him. He falls on his
neck. He kisses him. He speaks to him. He forgives him! He justifies
him! He sanctifies him! He puts him among the children. He opens the
treasures of His Grace to him–and all in quick succession. Within a
few minutes after he has been cleansed from sin, the prodigal is robed
and adorned, and shod for service! The love of our Redeemer's heart
made Him say to the poor thief, "Today shall you be with Me in
Paradise." He would not let him linger in pain on the cross, but
carried him away to Paradise in an hour or two. Love and joy are ever
quick of foot. God is slow to anger, but He is so plenteous in His
mercy that His Grace overflows and rushes on like a torrent when it
leaps along the ravine.

Once more, the joy of the father was shown, as it often is, by open
utterance. It is hard for a glad man to hold his tongue! What can dumb
people do when they are very happy? I cannot imagine how they endure
silence at such times. It must then be a terrible misfortune. When you
are very happy you must tell somebody! So does this father. He pours
out

his joy and the utterance is very simple. "My son was dead, and is
alive again, was lost, and is found." Yet, simple as it is, it is
poetry. The poetry of the Hebrews consisted in parallelism, or a
repetition of the sense or a part of the words. Here are two lines
which pair with each other and make a verse of Hebrew poetry. Glad men,
when they speak naturally and simply, always say the right thing in the
very best manner, using Nature's poetry, as does the father here.

Note, also, that there is reiteration in his utterance. He might have
been satisfied to say, "This, my son, was dead and is alive again." No,
the fact is so sweet he must repeat it, "He was lost, and is found."
Even thus we speak when we are very full of sweet content. The heart
bubbles up with a good matter and over and over again we rehearse our
joy. When the morsel is sweet, we roll it under the tongue. We cannot
help it! So the Lord rejoices over sinners and tells His joy in Holy
Scripture in varied phrases and metaphors. And though those Scriptures
are simple in their style, yet they contain the very essence of poetry.

The bards of the Bible stand in the first rank among the sons of song!
God Himself deigned to use poetry to utter His joy because a more
prosaic manner would be all too cold and tame. Hear how He puts it–"As
the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over
you." "I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people." We might have
been left in the dark about this joy of God. We might have been coldly
informed that God would save sinners and we might never have known that
He found such joy in it–but the Divine Joy was too great to be
concealed! The great heart of God could not restrain itself–He must
tell to all the universe the delight which the exercise of mercy
brought to Him! It was meet that He should make merry and be glad and,
therefore, He did it, for nothing that is meet to be done will ever be
neglected by the Lord our God!

Thus, dear Friends, have I feebly spoken of the joy of God. And I want
you to notice that it is a delight in which every attribute of God
takes a share. Condescension ran to meet the son. Love fell on his
neck. Grace kissed him. Wisdom clothed him. Truth gave him the ring.
Peace shod him. Wisdom provided the feast and Power prepared it. No one
attribute of the Divine Nature quarrels with the forgiveness and
salvation of a sinner! Not one attribute holds back from the beloved
employ. Power strengthens the weak and Mercy binds up the wounded.
Justice smiles upon the justified sinner, for it is satisfied through
the atoning blood. Truth puts forth her hand to guarantee that the
promise of Grace is

fulfilled.

Immutability confirms what has been done and Omniscience looks around
to see that nothing is left undone. The whole of Deity is brought to
bear upon a poor worm of the dust, to lift it up and transform it into
an heir of God, joint-heir with the Only Begotten! The joy of God
occupies the whole of being, so that when we think of it we may well
say, "Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me, bless His
holy name," since all that is within Him is engaged to bless His
saints! This joy of the Lord should give every sinner great confidence
in coming to God by Jesus Christ, for if you would be glad to be saved,
He will be glad to save you!

If you long to lay your head in your Father's bosom, your Father's
bosom longs to have it there! If you pant to say, "I have sinned," He
equally longs to say to you, by acts of love, "I forgive you freely."
If you pine to be His child in His own house once more, the door is
open and He, Himself, is on the watch! Come and welcome! Come and
welcome! No more delay!

II. I have now to speak of THE JOY OF THE SINNER. The son was glad. He
did not express it in words, as far as I can see in the parable, but he
felt it, none the less. Sometimes silence is discreet and it was so in
this case. At other times it is absolutely forced upon you by inability
to utter the emotion–this was also true of the prodigal. The son's
heart was too full for utterance in words, but he had speaking eyes and
a speaking countenance as he looked on that dear father. As he put on
the robe, the ring and the shoes, he must have been too astonished to
speak. He wept in showers that day, but the tears were not salted with
grief–they were sweet tears, glittering like the dew of the morning.

What do you think would make the son glad? Why, the father's love, the
father's forgiveness–and restoration to his old place in the father's
heart! That was the point. But then, each gift would serve as a token
of that love and make the joy overflow. There was the robe put on–the
dress of a son, and of a son well-beloved and accepted. Have you
noticed how the robe answered to his confession? The sentences match
each other thus–"Father, I have sinned."–"Bring forth the best robe
and put it on him." Cover all his sins with Christ's Righteousness! Put
away his sin by imputing to him the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus.

The robe also met his condition. He was in rags, therefore, "Bring
forth the best robe and put it on him," and you shall see no more of
his rags. It was fit that he should be thus arrayed, in token of his
restoration. He who is re-endowed with the privileges of a son should
not be dressed in sordid clothes, but wear raiment suitable to his
station. Moreover, as a festival was about to begin, he ought to wear a
festive garment. It would not be seemly for him to feast and be merry
in his rags. Put the best robe on him that he may be ready to take his
place at the banquet. So, when the penitent comes to God, he is not
only covered, as to the past, by the Righteousness of Christ, but he is
prepared for the future blessedness which is reserved for the pardoned
ones. Yes, he is fitted to begin the rejoicing at once!

Then came the ring, a luxury rather than a necessity, except that now
he was a son, it was well that he should be restored to all the honors
of his relationship. The signet ring in the east, in former times,
conferred great privileges–in those days men did not sign their names,
but stamped with their signet, so that the ring gave a man power over
property and made him a sort of other self to the man whose ring he
wore. The father gives the son a ring, and how complete an answer was
that gift to another clause of his confession. Let me read the two
sentences together, "I am no more worthy to be called your son." "Put a
ring on his hand." The gift precisely meets the confession!

It also tallied with his change. How singular that the very hand which
had been feeding swine should now wear a ring. I guarantee you there
were no rings on his hands when they were soiled at the trough! But now
he is a swine-feeder no longer! He is now an honored son of a rich
father. Slaves wear no rings. Juvenal laughed at certain freed men
because they were seen walking up and down the Via Sacra with
conspicuous rings on their fingers, the emblems of their newfound
liberty. The ring indicated the penitent's liberty from sin and his
enjoyment of the full privileges of his father's house.

O Beloved, the Lord will make you glad if you come to Him, by putting
the seal of the Holy Spirit's indwelling upon you–which is both the
earnest of the inheritance and the best adornment of the hand of your
practical character! You shall have a sure and honorable token and
shall know that all things are yours, whether things present, or things
to come. This ring upon your finger will declare your marriage union to
Christ, set forth the eternal love which the Father has fixed upon you,
and be the abiding pledge of the perfect work of the Holy Spirit!

Then they put shoes on his feet. I suppose he had worn out his own. In
the East servants do not usually wear shoes at home, and especially in
the best rooms of the house. The master and the son wear the sandals,
but not the servants, so that this order was an answer to the last part
of the penitent's prayer, "Make me as one of your hired servants."
"No," says the father, "put shoes on his feet." In the forgiven sinner,
the awe which puts off its shoes is to be overmatched by the
familiarity which wears the shoes which infinite love provides. The
forgiven one is no longer to tremble at Sinai, but he is to come unto
Mount Zion–and to have familiar union and communion with God! Thus,
also, the restored one was shod for filial service–he could run upon
his father's errands, or work in his father's fields. He had now, in
every way, all that he could need–the robe that covered him, the ring
that adorned him–and the shoes that prepared him for travel or labor.

Now you awakened and anxious ones who are longing to draw near to God,
I would that this description of the joy of the prodigal would induce
you to come at once! Come, you naked, and He will say, "Bring forth the
best robe!" Come, you that see your natural deformity through sin, and
He will adorn you with a ring of beauty! Come, you who feel as if you
could not come, for you have bleeding, weary feet, and He will shoe you
with the silver sandals of His Divine Grace! Only come and you shall
have such joy in your hearts as you have never dreamed of! There shall
be a young Heaven born within your spirit which shall grow and increase
until it comes to the fullness of bliss.

III. The time has now come for us to dwell upon THE JOY OF THE
SERVANTS. They were to be merry and they were merry, for the music and
the dancing which were heard outside could not have proceeded from one
person only! There must have been many to join in it and who should
these be but the servants to whom the father gave his commands? They
ate, they drank, they danced, they joined in the music!

There are many of us, here, who are the servants of our own heavenly
Father. Though we are His children, we delight to be His servants. Now,
whenever a sinner is saved, we have our share of joy. We have joy,
first, in the Father's joy. They were so glad because their lord was
glad–good servants are always pleased when they see that their master
is greatly gratified. And I am sure the Lord's servants are always
joyous when they feel that their Lord is well-pleased. That

servant who went out to the elder brother, showed, by his language that
he was in sympathy with the father, for he pleaded with the son upon
the matter.

And when you are in sympathy with God, my dear Brother or Sister, if
the Lord lets you see poor sinners saved, you must and will rejoice
with Him! It will be to you better than finding a purse full of money,
or making a great gain in business! Yes, nothing in the world can give
you more delight than to see some brother of yours or some child of
yours made to rejoice in Christ! A mother once beautifully said, "I
remember the new and strange emotions which trembled in my breast when,
as an infant, he was first molded to my heart–my first-born child. The
thrill of that moment still lingers–but when he was 'born again,'
clasped in my arms a 'new creature in Christ Jesus,' my spiritual
child, my son in the Gospel, pardoned, justified, adopted, saved,
forever saved! Oh! It was the very depth of joy! Joy unspeakable! My
child was a child of God! The prayers which preceded his birth, which
cradled his infancy, which girdled his youth were answered! My son was
Christ's! The weary watching, the yearning desires, the trembling hopes
of years were at rest! Our first-born son was avowedly the Lord's."

May every father and mother here know just such joy by having sympathy
with God. But they had sympathy with the son. I am sure they rejoiced
to see him back again, for somehow, usually even bad sons have the
goodwill of good servants. When young men go away and are a great grief
to their fathers, the servants often stick to them. They will say,
"Well, Master John was very inconsiderate and he vexed his father a
great deal, but I should like to see the poor boy back again."
Especially is this true of the old servants who have been in the house
since the boy was born–they never forget him. And you will find that
God's old servants are always glad when they see prodigal children
return! They are delighted beyond measure, because they love them,
notwithstanding their wanderings.

Sinner, with all your faults and hardness of heart, we do love you and
we should be glad, for your sake, to see you delivered from eternal
ruin and from the wrath of God, which now abides on you, and brought to
rejoice in pardoned sin and acceptance in the Beloved! We would rejoice
for the sinner's sake, but I think the servants rejoiced most of all
when they were the instruments in the father's hand of blessing the
son. Just look at this. The father said to the servants, "Bring forth
the best robe." He might have gone to the wardrobe, himself, with a
key, and opened it, and brought out the robe himself. But he gave them
the pleasure of doing it.

When I get my orders from my Lord and Master on the Lord's-Day morning
to bring forth the best robe, I am delighted, indeed! Nothing delights
me more than to preach the Imputed Righteousness of Jesus Christ and
the substitutionary sacrifice of our exalted Redeemer! "Bring forth the
best robe." Why, my Master, I might be content to keep out of Heaven if
You would always give me this work to do–to bring forth the best robe
and extol and exalt Jesus Christ in the eyes of the people!

Then he said, "Put it on him." When our Lord gives us Divine Grace to
do that, there is still more joy! How many times I have brought forth
the best robe, but could not put it on you! I have held it up and
expatiated on its excellencies–and pointed to your rags and said what
a delightful thing it would be if I could put it on you–but I could
not. But when the heavenly Father, by His Divine Grace and the power of
the Spirit, makes us the means of bringing these treasures into the
possession of poor sinners, oh, what joy! I should rejoice to bring
forth the ring of the Spirit's sealing work and the shoes of the
preparation of the Gospel of Peace, for it is a joy to exhibit these
blessings and a greater joy, still, to put them upon the poor,
returning wanderer!

God be thanked for giving His servants so great a pleasure! I would not
have dared to describe the Lord's servants as putting on the robe, the
ring and the shoes–but as He has, Himself, done so, I am rejoiced to
use the Holy Spirit's own language! How sweet was the command, "Put it
on him." Yes, put it on the poor trembling, ragged, shivering sinner!
"Put it on him," even on him, though he can hardly believe such mercy
to be possible. "Put it on him?" Yes, on him. He who was a drunk, a
swearer, an adulterer? Yes, put it on him, for he repents! What joy it
is when we are enabled, by God's commission, to throw that glorious
mantle over a great sinner! As for the ring, put it on him! That is the
beauty of it. And the shoes, put them on him. That they are for him is
the essence of our joy–that such a sinner, and especially when he is
one of our own household–should receive these gifts of Divine Grace is
wonderful!

It was most kind of the father to divide the labor of love. One would
put on the robe, another the ring and a third the shoes. Some of my
Brothers can gloriously preach Jesus Christ in His Righteousness and
they put on the best robe. Others seem most gifted in dwelling upon the
work of the Spirit of God, and they put on the ring. While yet another
class

are practical Divines, and they put on the shoes. I do not mind which I
have to do, if I may but have a part in helping to bring to poor
sinners those matchless gifts of Grace which, at infinite expense, the
Lord has prepared for those who come back to Him!

How glad those were who helped to dress him, I cannot tell. Meanwhile,
another servant was gone off out of doors to bring in the fatted calf
and perhaps two or three were engaged in killing and dressing it, while
another was lighting a fire in the kitchen and preparing the spits for
the roast. One laid the table and another ran to the garden to bring
flowers to make wreaths for the room–I know I should have done that if
I had been there. All were happy! All ready to join in the music and
dancing. Those who work for the good of sinners are always the most
glad when they are saved! You who pray for them, you who teach them,
you who preach to them, you who win them for Christ–you shall share in
their merriment!

Now, dear Brothers and Sisters, we are told that they "began to be
merry," and according to the description it would seem that they were
merry, indeed, but still they only "began." I see no intimation that
they ever left off. "They began to be merry," and as merriment is apt
to grow beyond all bounds when it once starts, who knows what they have
come to by this time? The saints begin to be merry now and they will
never cease, but rejoice evermore. On earth all the joy we have is only
beginning to be merry–it is up in Heaven that we get into full swing!
Here our best delight is hardly better than a near tide at its ebb.
There the joy rolls along in the majesty of a full spring tide–

"Oh what rapturous hallelujahs

In our Father's home above!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

O'er the embraces of His love!

Wondrous welcome–

God's own welcome,

May the chief of sinners pro ve.

Sweet melodious strains ascending,

All around a mighty flood;

Servants, friends, with joy attending–

Oh! the happiness of God!

Grace abounding, all transcending,

Through a Sa vior's precious blood." Let us begin to be merry this
morning! But we cannot unless we are laboring for the salvation of
others in all ways possible to us. If we have done and are doing that,
let us praise and bless the Lord and rejoice with the reclaimed ones.
And let us keep the feast as Jesus would have it kept, for I hope there
is no one here of the elder brethren who will be angry and refuse to go
in. Let us continue to be merry, as long as we live, because the lost
are found and the dead are made alive! God grant you to be merry, on
this account, world without end. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Luke 15:11-32. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–548, 1002, 1004.
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