Key words concernng Salvation

Noel Merrick

Key words concernng Salvation • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Key words concerning Salvation

WORD NUMBER ONE KEY WORD CONCERNING SALVATION

“ born again”

John 3:1–18 KJV 1900

THE NEW BIRTH

A. Nicodemus and the new birth.

1. () Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night.

John 3:1–3 KJV 1900

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

a. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: Nicodemus was one of those impressed by Jesus’ signs (), and a member of the ruling Sanhedrin. He was religious (of the Pharisees), educated (Nicodemus is a Greek name), and influential (a ruler). Nicodemus comes to Jesus as a representative of all men (), and he represents what is high and best in men.

John 2:23 KJV 1900

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

John 2:23–25 KJV 1900

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

b. This man came to Jesus by night: Why did Nicodemus come by night? Perhaps he was timid, or perhaps he wanted an uninterrupted interview with Jesus.

c. No one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him: Is this statement of Nicodemus true? Can someone not from God do miraculous signs? The answer is “Yes,” according to and .

2 Thessalonians 2:9 KJV 1900

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

Revelation 13:13–14 KJV 1900

13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

d. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God: Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus shatters the Jewish assumption that their racial identity - their old birth - assured them a place in God’s Kingdom. Jesus makes it plain that a man’s first birth does not assure him of the kingdom - only being born again gives this assurance.

i. It was taught widely among the Jews at that time that since they descended from Abraham, they were automatically assured of heaven. In fact, some Rabbis taught that Abraham stood watch at the gate of hell, just to make sure that none of his descendants accidentally wandered in there.

ii. Most Jews of that time looked for the Messiah to bring in a new world, in which the Jews would be pre-eminent. But Jesus came to bring new life, in which He would be preeminent.

e. Born again: The ancient Greek word translated again (anothen) can be also translated “from above.” This is the sense in which John used this word in and in and . Either way, the meaning is essentially the same. To be born from above is to be born again.

John 3:31 KJV 1900

31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

John 19:11 KJV 1900

11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

John 19:23 KJV 1900

23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

2. () Nicodemus answers: How can this be?

John 3:4 KJV 1900

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

a. How can a man be born when he is old? Nicodemus’ reply may not be out of ignorance, but from thinking that Jesus means “turning over a new leaf.” His question may be “How can you teach an old dog new tricks?” One way or another, Nicodemus clearly does not understand Jesus or the truth about the new birth.

b. In His description of new birth, Jesus recalls a familiar theme from Old Testament promises of the New Covenant (, , , , , , ; ). These passages essentially make three promises in the New Covenant:

Deuteronomy 30:1–6 KJV 1900

1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, 2 And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3 That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. 4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 5 And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Jeremiah 23:1–8 KJV 1900

1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. 2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. 3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. 5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8 But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 KJV 1900

31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant With the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand To bring them out of the land of Egypt; Which my covenant they brake, Although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, And write it in their hearts; And will be their God, And they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For they shall all know me, From the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: For I will forgive their iniquity, And I will remember their sin no more.

Jeremiah 32:37–41 KJV 1900

37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: 39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. 41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

Ezekiel 11:16–20 KJV 1900

16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. 17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. 19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 36:16–28 KJV 1900

16 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. 18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: 19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. 20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land. 21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. 22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. 23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Ezekiel 37:11–14 KJV 1900

11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.

Ezekiel 37:21–28 KJV 1900

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: 23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

• The regathering of Israel.

• The cleansing and spiritual transformation of God’s people.

• The reign of the Messiah over Israel and the whole world.

c. In Jesus’ day, the common teaching among the Jewish people was that the first two aspects of the New Covenant had been fulfilled. They saw Israel regathered - at least in part - after the Babylonian exile. They saw strong spiritual movements like the Pharisees, which they believed fulfilled the promise of spiritual transformation. All they waited for was the reign of the Messiah.

i. That’s why Jesus’ statement about the new birth was so strange to Nicodemus. He thought that the Jewish people already had it; they certainly weren’t looking for it. They only looked for a triumphant Messiah.

3. () Jesus explains the new birth.

John 3:5–8 KJV 1900

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

a. Most assuredly . . . you must be born again: Jesus is emphatic in saying that man does not need reformation, but a radical conversion by the Spirit of God. We must be born of water and the Spirit.

b. What does it mean to be born of water? We know from that whatever being born of water is, it should have been familiar to Nicodemus from the Old Testament.

John 3:10 KJV 1900

10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

i. Some have thought born of water means to be baptized. Water here may represent baptism, but there is no real Old Testament foundation for this.

ii. Some have thought that born of water refers to our physical birth, since we come forth from a sack of water. This approach is more attractive, but doesn’t it simply state the obvious? However, it does make a good parallel with the idea of that which is born of the flesh in .

John 3:6 KJV 1900

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

iii. Some have thought that born of water means to be born again by the Word of God. In other passages of Scripture, water represents the Word, as we are washed by the water of the word ().

Ephesians 5:26 KJV 1900

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

iv. Some have thought that born of water means to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, the living water of .

John 7:38–39 KJV 1900

38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

v. Some have thought that born of water means to receive the water of cleansing prophesied in as part of the New Covenant. This is the approach has the most weight (though it is a tough call), because of its firm connections to Old Testament prophecy - which Jesus says Nicodemus should have know to understand these things.

Ezekiel 36:25–28 KJV 1900

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

c. That which is born of the flesh is flesh: Without the new birth of the Spirit, all works of righteousness are tainted by the flesh. Yet, everything that a Spirit-led man does can be pleasing to God.

d. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again”: Again, Nicodemus did marvel at this statement, because he - like most all Jews of his time - believed they already had the inner transformation promised in the New Covenant. Jesus wants him to take hold of the fact that he does not have it, and must be born again.

i. We should not forget whom Jesus said this to. Nicodemus was a religious leader and a Pharisee. By all outward appearance, he was already transformed unto God. If Nicodemus must be born again, what about you and I?

e. The wind blows where it wishes: Jesus’ idea to Nicodemus is “You don’t understand everything about the wind, but you see its effects. That is just how it is with the birth of the Spirit.” Jesus wanted Nicodemus to know that he didn’t have to understand everything about the new birth before he experienced it.

4. () Jesus responds to the question “how can these things be?”

John 3:9–13 KJV 1900

9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

a. How can these things be? Nicodemus is confused. He is so set in his thinking that the new birth has already happened to him and all of faithful Israel, that he has a hard time thinking out of that “box.” Jesus needs to keep explaining.

b. Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Jesus chides Nicodemus for not being aware of the need and the promise of the new birth, because these are plainly laid out in the Old Testament. Nicodemus knew these passages well, but believed that they had been fulfilled in regard to the new birth. But he should have known better!

c. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? A simple look at earthly things - like the illustrations Jesus used, and even a look at his own life - should have made Jesus’ point plain to Nicodemus. If he can’t see that he needs this spiritual transformation, what more can Jesus tell him?

d. No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven: Jesus “makes it clear that He can speak authoritatively about things in heaven, though no one else can.” (Morris)

5. () Jesus and the brazen serpent.

John 3:14–15 KJV 1900

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

a. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness: How can the serpent of a picture of the holy Jesus?

Numbers 21:4–9be KJV 1900

4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

i. Serpents are often used as pictures of evil in the Bible ( and ). However, Moses’ serpent in was made of bronze, and bronze is a metal associated with judgment in the Bible, because bronze must be made by passing through the “fires” of judgment.

Genesis 3:1–5 KJV 1900

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Revelation 12:9 KJV 1900

9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Numbers 21 KJV 1900

1 And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. 2 And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. 3 And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah. 4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. 10 And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth. 11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. 12 From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared. 13 From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, What he did in the Red sea, And in the brooks of Arnon, 15 And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, And lieth upon the border of Moab. 16 And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. 17 Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; Sing ye unto it: 18 The princes digged the well, The nobles of the people digged it, By the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: 19 And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: 20 And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon. 21 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king’s high way, until we be past thy borders. 23 And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 24 And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. 25 And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon. 27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, Let the city of Sihon be built and prepared: 28 For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon: It hath consumed Ar of Moab, And the lords of the high places of Arnon. 29 Woe to thee, Moab! Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: He hath given his sons that escaped, And his daughters, into captivity Unto Sihon king of the Amorites. 30 We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, And we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, Which reacheth unto Medeba. 31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. 33 And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. 34 And the Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. 35 So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.

ii. So, a bronze serpent does speak of sin, but of sin judged. In the same way Jesus, who knew no sin became sin for us on the cross, and our sin was judged in Him. A bronze serpent is a picture of sin judged and dealt with.

iii. We would have wanted to diminish our sense of sin, and put the image of a man up on the pole. Our image of man might represent “both good and bad” in man. But a serpent is more apparently sinful, and shows us our true nature and true need of salvation.

iv. In addition, if the serpent lay horizontally on the vertical pole, it is easy to see how this also was a visual representation of the cross. However, many traditions show the serpent being wrapped around the pole, and this is the source for the ancient figure of healing and medicine - a serpent, wrapped around a pole.

v. In the account, the people were saved not by doing anything, but by simply looking to the bronze serpent. They had to trust that something as seemingly foolish as looking at such a thing would be sufficient to save them, and surely, some perished because they thought it too foolish to do such a thing.

Numbers 21:4–9 KJV 1900

vi. As it says in : Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. We might be willing to do a hundred things to earn our salvation, but God commands us to only trust in Him - to look to Him.

Isaiah 45:22 KJV 1900

22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: For I am God, and there is none else.

b. Remember that even though Jesus bore our sins, He never became a sinner. Even His becoming sin for us was a holy, righteous, act of love. Jesus remained the Holy One throughout the entire ordeal of the cross.

c. Lifted up is a term later used to describe both Jesus’ crucifixion () and His ascension (). Both meanings are in view, His suffering and exaltation. Jesus was lifted up in both ways.

John 12:32 KJV 1900

32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Acts 2:33 KJV 1900

33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

d. Should not perish but have eternal life: The idea behind eternal life means much more than a long or never ending life. Eternal life does not mean that we live the life of fallen humanity, we just live it forever. Instead, eternal life also has the idea of a certain quality of life, of God’s kind of life. It is the kind of life enjoyed in eternity.

6. () God’s gift of salvation and sin’s condemnation.

John 3:16–21 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

a. For God so loved the world: has long been celebrated as a powerful, succinct, declaration of the gospel. Of the 31,373 verses in the Bible, it may be the most popular single verse used in evangelism.

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

i. We learn the object of God’s love: For God so loved the world. God did not wait for the world to turn to Him before He loved the world. He loved and gave His only begotten Son to the world when it was still the world!

ii. We learn the expression and the gift of God’s love: He gave His only begotten Son. God’s love didn’t just feel for the plight of a fallen world. God did something about it, and He gave the most precious thing to give: His only begotten Son.

iii. We learn the recipient of God’s love: Whoever believes in Him. God loves the world, but the world does not receive or benefit from that love until it believes in Jesus, the gift that the Father gave. Believes in means much more than intellectual awareness or agreement. It means to trust in, to rely on, and to cling to.

iv. We learn the intention of God’s love: Should not perish. God’s love actually saves man from eternal destruction. God looks at fallen humanity, does not want it to perish, and so in His love He extends the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.

v. We learn the duration of God’s love: Everlasting life. The love we receive among people may fade or turn, but God’s love will never change. He will never stop loving His people, even unto the furthest distance of eternity.

b. The Seven Wonders of .

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God

The Almighty Authority

So loved the world

The Mightiest Motive

That He gave His only begotten Son

The Greatest Gift

That whoever

The Widest Welcome

Believes in Him

The Easiest Escape

Should not perish

The Divine Deliverance

But have everlasting life

The Priceless Possession

c. What Jesus told Nicodemus in (You must be born again) refuted the popular Jewish idea of the way to salvation. Now Jesus refutes the popular Jewish idea of the scope of salvation is refuted: for God so loved the world.

John 3:7 KJV 1900

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

i. The Jews of that day rarely thought that God loved the world. They thought that God only loved. The universal offer of salvation and life in Jesus was absolutely revolutionary.

d. This is the condemnation: Jesus came to bring salvation, but those who reject that salvation condemn themselves. We never need to leave the reason for anyone’s condemnation at God’s door. The responsibility is theirs alone.

e. Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil: What keeps people from belief in Jesus and salvation? It is sin, or is it unbelief? Really it is both, because people will not believe because they love their sin.

i. This cuts right through many of the “intellectual” excuses or dishonest doubts some proclaim. Many opponents of Christianity have a vested interested in fighting against the truth of Jesus, because they love their sin and don’t want to face it, or face a God who will judge their sin.

ii. When we think of the love of sin that sends people to hell, we often other think of notorious sin. But the simple demand to be lord of my own life is enough of a sin to deserve condemnation before God.

f. Everyone practicing evil hates the light: How do people hate the light of God’s truth? Some express their hatred by actively fighting against it, and others express their hatred by ignoring God’s truth - by saying to Jesus “You are not worth my time.”

1. (Joh_3:22-30) John puts Jesus in the preeminent place.

After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified; behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

a. All are coming to Him! John’s disciples seem alarmed, but it didn’t bother John one bit. John would not allow envy or the fickle crowds make him forget his mission: to announce that the Messiah had come, and then to step back.

b. The friend of the bridegroom: John is the “best man” at the “wedding” between Jesus and Jesus’ followers. In the Jewish wedding customs of that day, the friend of the bridegroom arranged many of the details of the wedding and brought the bride to the groom.

c. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled: John the Baptist lost his congregation - and he was happy about it! John was happy because he lost his congregation to Jesus.

d. He must increase, but I must decrease: This should be the motto of every Christian, especially leaders among God’s people. Jesus should become greater and more visible, and the servant should become less and less visible.

2. (Joh_3:31-36) John’s testimony about Jesus.

“He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

a. He who comes from above: John wants everyone to know where Jesus came from. Jesus is different from everyone else because He came from heaven. Not only is Jesus different, but He who comes from heaven is above all - Jesus is greater than everyone else.

b. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God: Jesus is a uniquely reliable revelation, because He has the Holy Spirit without measure, in contrast to the previous prophets.

c. He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him: Because Jesus is the man from heaven, there is a heavy price to pay for rejecting Him. If you reject the Son, then you receive the wrath.

i. The wrath of God: “The word does not mean a sudden gust of passion or a burst of temper. Rather, it is the settled displeasure of God against sin. It is the divine allergy to moral evil, the reaction of righteousness to unrighteousness.” (Tenney)

d. The wrath of God abides: It abides in this world, because there is there is no “statute of limitations” on sin. It abides into the next world, because those who reject Jesus cannot offer a perfect sacrifice acceptable to God. The wrath of God abides until it is satisfied by receiving the perfect payment Jesus made on the cross.

3. We might say that is a “must read” chapter of the Bible. There are three prominent “musts” in .

John 3 KJV 1900

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. 33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. 34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

John 3 KJV 1900

• The Sinner’s must: you must be born again ().

John 3:7 KJV 1900

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

• The Savior’s must: so must the Son of Man be lifted up ().

John 3:14 KJV 1900

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

• The Sovereign’s must: He must increase ().

John 3:30 KJV 1900

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

• The Servant’s must: I must decrease ().

John 3:30 KJV 1900

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

KEY WORDS CONCERNING SAVATION NUMBER TWO

John 1:12–14 KJV 1900

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God

St.John’s first view of Christ the key to his Gospel

John’s first view of Christ the key to his Gospel

I. These verses DESCRIBE THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE OF ST. JOHN.

In this point of view the order of time is different from the order of the statements. The several steps are these

1. The apprehension of the glory of Jesus,

2. The receiving Him and believing on His name.

3. The effect of the power to become sons of God.

This agrees with the actual experience of the evangelist.

1. He sees Jesus as pointed out by the Baptist. But where was the glory?

(1) That of “the Lamb of God.”

(2) The revelation of grace and truth in him. God’s infinite love, holiness, justice: His own self-sacrifice.

2. He goes home with Jesus and gave himself up to His gracious influences, believed on His name.

3. What followed we know. He became a son of God.

II. THIS EXPERIENCE DETERMINED THE STRUCTURE, SUBSTANCE, AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL.

1. It serves to account for the subordinate place which miracles and Christ’s external life generally hold in it. John’s grand purpose, as marked by his own experience, was to illustrate the self-commending glory of Christ as the Word and only-begotten of the Father, that those who had never seen Him with the eye of sense might come to the blessedness of those who had not seen and yet had believed.

2. It serves to account for the prominent place which the inner life of Christ and the manifestation of His Sonship-glory occupies here. The two grand pivots on which the Gospel turns are Christ the LIGHT, and Christ the LIFE. Christ the Light, revealing the Father and all that concerns the Father; Christ the Life, communicating by the Spirit a new life to men so as to make them God’s sons. Its twofold purpose is to set forth Christ as the Incarnate Word and Only Begotten, full of grace and truth; and also the reception of Christ, the believing on His name as the commencement of the new life of sonship. Thus it is that so much prominence is given to Christ’s relation to the Father on the one hand, and to the fellowship of Christ with His people on the other.

3. From these considerations we see the groundlessness of the objections against the Johannian authorship of the Gospel. Given John’s conversion, as here shadowed forth, and his warm, fervid nature, his life of Jesus could not well have been any other than it is.

III. THE MORE GENERAL RELATIONS OF THE SUBJECT,

as setting forth the essential glory of Christ and the glory communicated to all who, by receiving Him, become sons of God.

1. What is the connection between the two? That there is a connection is seen in the difference between John and his companions and the mass of the Jews. The one perceived His glory, the other saw it not. To the one He appeared a miserable pretender, to the other the Eternal Son. Moreover they recognized in Him the Saviour that taketh away the sins of the world. They received Him, and then the standing and spirit of sonship became theirs.

2. How is it that this view of Christ’s glory is followed by such effects?

(1) By such means we see our emptiness, guilt, and misery.

(2) But He invites us to Him, tells us of His fulness, pardon, grace, asks us to receive Him and let Him put forth His power.

(3) Must we not welcome Him? The blessed change is wrought in the very act of seeking it. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)

Receiving Christ and becoming sons

I. CHRIST WHO HAS COME INTO THE WORLD SEEKS ADMISSION TO THE HEART

as a lawful and everlasting tenant. The Christ in the book, in the creed, in the church, effects but little for us. Christ in the heart becomes all our salvation and desire.

II. THE RECEPTION OF CHRIST IN THE HEART IS FOLLOWED BY SENSING.

1. There is a natural sonship pertaining to all men; for we are all His offspring.

2. There is a special, redemptive, restored sonship bestowed on those who receive Christ.

3. All that pertains to this sonship is supernatural. Adam was not a son by blood, nor by the will of the flesh, but by the will of God; and a restored son is as marvellous a creation as Adam.

III. THIS SONSHIP INVOLVES A NEW BIRTH AND ELEVATION TO THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE POSITION.

There is nothing higher than being admitted to sonship with God. What we want is not some new spiritual dignity, but the recognition of this exalted condition.

IV. TRUE FAITH IS HERE DESCRIBED AND EVIDENCED.

1. Faith in receiving. Christ comes into the believer. Christ without does not save, but Christ within.

2. Faith is evidenced by the opening of the eyes to see the glory of Christ, and the affiliation to God which follows.

V. GOD HERE RECEIVES ALL THE PRAISE.

1. The power and the will are of God. Ascribe to Him the wisdom and the glory.

2. The Christ whom we receive is God’s “unspeakable gift.”

3. Faith and its attendant privileges are by power bestowed by God. (S. Martin.)

The connection between receiving Christ and becoming sons

I. These two things are connected IN RESPECT OF GOD; it is the will of God that all should believe in Christ, and He has appointed the mediation of Christ as the channel through which all should receive salvation, and all that is necessary for its attainment.

II. These things are connected IN RESPECT OF CHRIST: for, in consequence of what He has done, all may become the sons of God, and, may be enriched with all the blessings of His grace.

III. They are connected IN RESPECT OF MEN: all who would obtain salvation must receive Jesus Christ as the only Saviour. (C. C.Tittman, D. D.)

That act by which we do effectually apply Christ to our own souls

I. THE NATURE OF THIS RECEIVING OF CHRIST.

1. No man can do this in the darkness of natural ignorance. If we know not His nature and offices we do not take, we mistake Christ. The receiving act of faith, then, is guided by knowledge.

2. This receiving of Christ implies the assent of the understanding to the truths of Christ in the gospel—His Person, offices, incarnation, satisfaction—which assent, although it is not saving faith, is its groundwork. This is more than conjecture or opinion, it is belief.

3. This also implies hearty approbation, liking, and estimation; yea, the very acquiescence of our souls in Christ as the most excellent remedy for wants, sins, and dangers (). There are two things in Christ which must gain the approbation of the soul.

1 Peter 2:7 KJV 1900

7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

(1) That it can find nothing unsuitable to it in Christ as it does find in the best creatures—no weakness, pride, inconstancy, or passion. He is the altogether lovely.

(2) That it can find nothing wanting in Christ necessary or desirable. In Him is the fulness of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

4. It consists in the consent and choice of the will; and this is the opening of the heart and stretching forth of the soul to receive Him (see Christ’s complaint, , and Eph_1:19).

John 5:40 KJV 1900

40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

5. The respect that this act of acceptance has unto the terms upon which Christ is tendered to us in the Gospel. Faith answers the gospel offer, as the impress on the wax does the engraving on the seal (). There is no receiving Christ but on His own terms.

1 Corinthians 15:11 KJV 1900

11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

(1) He is offered sincerely and really, and is received with a faith unfeigned ).

1 Timothy 1:5 KJV 1900

5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

(2) He is offered entirely, and is received in all His offices as Christ Jesus the Lord ().

Acts 16:13 KJV 1900

13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

(3) He is offered exclusively, and the soul singly relies on Him (Ac ), and not partly on His righteousness and our own.

1 Corinthians 3:11 KJV 1900

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

(4) He is offered freely as the gift, not the sale of God (;.; ). So the believer comes to Him with an empty hand.

John 4:10 KJV 1900

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Isaiah 55:1 KJV 1900

1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, And he that hath no money; Come ye, buy, and eat; Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Revelation 22:17 KJV 1900

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

(5) He is offered orderly. First His Person, then His privileges (), so the believer does not marry His portion first.

Romans 8:32 KJV 1900

32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

II. THIS IS THE JUSTIFYING AND SAVING ACT OF FAITH.

1. The faith which gives the soul right and title to spiritual adoption, with all the privileges and benefits thereof, is true saving faith.

2. That only is saving faith which is in all true believers, in none but true believers, and in all true believers at all times.

III. THE EXCELLENCY OF THIS ACT OF FAITH (; Jms ).

2 Peter 1:7 KJV 1900

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

John 6:29 KJV 1900

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

1. Considered qualitatively it has the same excellency that all other precious graces have. It is the fruit of the Spirit. It is singled out to receive Christ. As it is Christ’s glory to be the door of salvation, so it is faith’s glory to be the golden key that opens that door.

(1) It is the bond of our union with Christ ().

Ephesians 3:17 KJV 1900

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

(2) It is the instrument of our justification ().

Romans 5:1 KJV 1900

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

(3) It is the spring of our spiritual peace and joy (; ).

Romans 5:1 KJV 1900

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

1 Peter 1:8–9 KJV 1900

8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

(4) It is the means of our spiritual livelihood and subsistence. Take away faith and all the others die ().

Galatians 2:20 KJV 1900

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

(5) It is the great scope and drift of the Gospel to get men to believe. The urgent commands aim at this (; ; ). Hither, also, look the great promises and encouragements (; ). The opposite sin of unbelief is everywhere threatened (; ; ).

1 John 3:23 KJV 1900

23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Mark 1:14–15 KJV 1900

14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

John 12:36 KJV 1900

36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

John 6:35–37 KJV 1900

35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Mark 16:16 KJV 1900

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

John 16:8–9 KJV 1900

8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

John 3:18 KJV 1900

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:35 KJV 1900

35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

IV. APPLICATION:

1. For information: If there be life in receiving Christ, there must be death in rejecting Him.

2. If faith be accepting Christ, then there are fewer believers among professors than were thought to be, and more believers than dare conclude themselves such.

3. Those who have the least degree of saving faith, have cause for ever to admire the bounty of the grace of God to them therein ().

Ephesians 1:3 KJV 1900

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4. For examination:

(1) The antecedents of faith—illumination (Act_26:18); conviction ); self-despair (); vehement and earnest cries to God for faith.

Mark 1:15 KJV 1900

15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Acts 2:37 KJV 1900

37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

(2) The concomitants of faith—seriousness (); humiliation ; ); a weary condition (); a longing condition.

Acts 16:29 KJV 1900

29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

Ezekiel 16:63 KJV 1900

63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.

Luke 8:38 KJV 1900

38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,

Matthew 11:28 KJV 1900

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

(3) The consequents of faith—evangelical meltings (); love to Christ, His ways, and His people (); heart purity ); obedience ().

Zechariah 12:10 KJV 1900

10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, The spirit of grace and of supplications: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, And shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Galatians 5:6 KJV 1900

6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Acts 15:9 KJV 1900

9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Romans 16:26 KJV 1900

26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

5. For exhortation:

(1) What is in Christ whom you are to receive?

(2) What is the offer of Christ by the gospel?

(3) What is in the rejecting of that offer? (J. Flavel.)

Reception of Christ our introduction into son ship

I. THE HONOUR.

To become sons of God not merely by adoption, but by generation (; ). On our side is sonship, on God’s Fatherhood. Sonship is

Romans 8:16 KJV 1900

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

1 John 3:1 KJV 1900

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

1. Higher;

2. Nearer;

3. More blessed;

4. More glorious than—creaturehood. There is sonship in the angels, in unfallen man; but this is beyond these. As

(1) Introducing us into a more intimate intercourse;

(2) Making us partakers of the Divine nature.

II. THE GIVER OF IT.

Christ Himself; elsewhere it is the Father.

All gifts are in Christ’s hands—living water and bread of life, Himself, sonship.

This right or power of sonship He purchased for us; for those who had no right, or power, or title.

III. THE WAY OF ATTAINMENT.

1. Receiving Him—doing the reverse of what Israel had done; accepting and owning Him for all that God announced Him to be.

2. Believing on His name, i.e, Himself.

IV. THE PERSONAL CHANGE THROUGH WHICH THIS IS REACHED. “Born:”

1. Not of natural descent.

2. Not by natural generation.

3. Not by human adoption.

4. But of God (). (H. Bonar, D. D.)

James 1:18 KJV 1900

18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

The grace of Christ to those who received Him

The grace appears in

I. HIS PREVAILING WITH MEN TO EMBRACE THE OFFER MADE TO THEM,

and in what is implied in that.

1. Christ offers Himself, and we welcome and receive Him. The first acting of true faith is to accept Himself; not merely the special benefit He brings.

2. We exercise implicit confidence in Him. We have a right knowledge of Him; rejoice in His character; accept and hide Him in our hearts.

3. In the form in which Jesus is proclaimed in the Gospel, His saved ones receive and believe in Him. “So we preach; so ye believed.” There is a correspondence between the Gospel and faith of the same kind as that between the seal and the wax.

(1) Christ is offered sincerely, and He must be accepted with a faith unfeigned.

(2) He is offered exclusively, and must be accepted as the sole basis of our hope.

(3) He is offered as a gift; we must not attempt to merit Him.

4. The actual committing of our all to Christ When we receive Him. What is the saving act of faith?

(1) Not assent, although that must be a part of it.

(2) Not assurance, although that will follow it.

(3) But acceptance of Him and confidence in Him.

II. THE SPECIAL PRIVILEGE WHICH HE BESTOWS ON THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIM.

1. The saved are by nature the children of wrath; but in His person God is reconciled towards them.

2. Having reconciled them, He makes them sons—co-heirs with Himself.

3. Of Him also is the comfort and dignities of sonship.

III. THE CHANGE WROUGHT IN THEM WHO RECEIVE HIM,

to which their accepting Him is ascribed.

1. A new form of existence—a new birth; all things have become new.

2. This change is

(1) not by natural inheritance;

(2) nor by the operation of the natural will;

(3) nor the fruit of superior endowment or acquisition;

(4) but of God, by the office and operation of the Spirit. (A. Beith, D. D.)

Man’s part in the advent

I. THE RECEPTION.

A true reception of Christ for every man alike is of three parts.

1. Belief that He is what He says He is.

For any messenger the first condition of acceptance is that He be found to be what He claims to be—much more the Saviour of mankind.

2. Sympathy.

A plenipotentiary, an agent, a purely mental operator does not need this. But the moment you include a moral purpose, spiritual influence, there must be common feeling and assimilation. Interests must be felt to be identical. Loyalty must bind the subject to his king. Enthusiasm must mount at the leader’s name. If Christ’s purpose was to fill human hearts with love, we cannot be His without loving Him.

3. Service:

not compulsory, but that which love disdains to call service. In the hungry, sick, ignorant, etc., the Lord makes new advent to your heart every week; and Christ will not be received till everybody within our reach is made, somehow, better by our faith in Him.

II. THE BLESSING.

Servants and creatures we were before, and, in a sense—but not the full and glorious sense—children of God. Now sons of God, a royal line, conquerors, sufferers rejoicing in the midst of temptation. Born now, their immortal seed remained in them.

III. THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN CHRIST’S NAME WILL SEEK TO RECEIVE HIM.

1. By giving up the dearest preference that hurts the simplicity and humility of their faith.

2. In the New Testament, Christian instruction, prayer, doing God’s will; and counting faith, not doubt, the glory, and power, and joy of man.

3. In the communion of His body and blood. (Bishop Huntington.)

A new year’s guest

The text in connection with . Suggested by the motto on a new year’s card.

Matthew 25:35 KJV 1900

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

I. A STRANGER TAKEN IN.

House-room is a larger gift than refreshment at the dour. We must not be satisfied with benefactions to His representatives. Notice three strange things.

1. That He was in the world and the Maker of it, and yet a stranger.

(1) When born in the Bethlehem of His father David, there was no room for Him in the inn.

(2) Soon there was no room in the village itself, whence He had to flee into Egypt, a stranger in a strange land.

(3) On His return, there was no room among the mass of the people. Jew and Gentile proved how truly He was a stranger. All this a sadly singular thing; and yet we need not wonder, for how should a wicked and selfish world know Jesus or receive Him.

2. That we should be able to receive the Lord Jesus as a stranger. He has gone to glory, but we can yet receive Him.

(1) By owning Him when and where believers are few and despised.

(2) By showing brotherly kindness to a poor saint.

(3) By holding fast His faithful Word when its doctrines are in ill-repute.

(4) By taking up our cross where Christ’s precepts are disregarded, His day forgotten, and His worship neglected.

(5) By receiving the gift of spiritual life. Profession is abundant, but the secret life is rare.

3. That Christ will deign to dwell in our hearts. This is a miracle of grace, yet the manner is simple enough.

(1) A humble, repenting faith opens the door, and Jesus enters.

(2) Love shuts to the door with the hand of penitence, and holy watchfulness keeps out intruders.

(3) Meditation, prayer, praise, and obedience, keep the house in order.

(4) And then follows the consecration of our whole life as His people.

II. THE STRANGER MAKING STRANGERS INTO SONS.

The moment Christ enters the heart, we are no more strangers and foreigners, but of the household of God.

1. He adopts us and puts us among the children.

2. The designation of sons brings with it a birth, with the actual condition of sons.

3. Living, loving, lasting union seals our sonship.

4. This union creates in us a likeness to God. A small window will let in the great sun; much more will Jesus let in the life, light, and love of God into our souls, making us like God.

III. HAVING RECEIVED JESUS AS A STRANGER, WE FEEL A TENDERNESS HENCEFORTH TOWARDS ALL STRANGERS;

for we see in their condition some resemblance to our own. When Christ is in us, we search out opportunities of bringing prodigals, strangers, and outcasts to the great Father’s house. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

Receivers and sons

I. BELIEVING IS A RECEIVING OF CHRIST.

1. Under what notion should we receive Christ? As our Mediator. ).

Isaiah 61:3–4 KJV 1900

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, To give unto them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they might be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the waste cities, The desolations of many generations.

(1) Our Prophet, receiving His doctrine as delivered by Himself ; ); by His prophets and apostles (; ); by His ministers (; ).

Hebrews 1:2 KJV 1900

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Hebrews 2:2–3 KJV 1900

2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Hebrews 1:1 KJV 1900

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Matthew 10:40 KJV 1900

40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

2 Corinthians 5:19–20 KJV 1900

19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Hebrews 4:11–12 KJV 1900

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

(2) Our Priest (); and so we must believe

Hebrews 7:23–26 KJV 1900

23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: 24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

(a) His satisfaction for our sins (; ; ), to the justice and law of God );

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV 1900

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Hebrews 9:28 KJV 1900

28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

1 John 2:2 KJV 1900

2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Galatians 3:13 KJV 1900

13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

(b) His intercession for our souls (; ; ).

Romans 8:34 KJV 1900

34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Hebrews 9:11–12 KJV 1900

11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Hebrews 9:24 KJV 1900

24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

(3) Our King (): so we must

Psalm 110:1–2 KJV 1900

1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

(a) acknowledge His sovereignty ();

Matthew 28:18 KJV 1900

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

(b) obey His laws (Luk_6:46; Joh_14:15);

(c) submit to His penalties (Col_3:24-25).

2. How should we receive Him?

(1) Penitently ().

Acts 2:36 KJV 1900

36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

(2) Willingly ().

Psalm 110:3 KJV 1900

3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness From the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

(3) Affectionately (Luk14:26).

(4) Constantly ().

Revelation 2:26 KJV 1900

26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

(5) Only ().

Acts 4:12 KJV 1900

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

II. BELIEVERS ARE THE SONS OF GOD.

1. In what sense? Not by generation, but regeneration ().

John 3:31 KJV 1900

31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

(1) Man lost the favour of God ().

Romans 5:19 KJV 1900

19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

(2) The Son undertakes his redemption

(a) by becoming man;

(b) by dying, whereby He purchases all believers to Himself, to be members of His body (; );

1 Corinthians 6:20 KJV 1900

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Titus 2:14 KJV 1900

14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

(c) and so from Himself the dead conveys His own spirit unto them ).

Titus 3:5–6 KJV 1900

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

(3) The Spirit regenerates and makes them new creatures ().

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV 1900

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

(4) Being new creatures, they are received into the favour of God ), and made His sons ().

Romans 8:15 KJV 1900

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Romans 8:14 KJV 1900

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

2. With what privileges?

(1) Privative. They are freed from the slavery of sin (); from., slavish fears (); from the curse of the law (Galatians In. 13).

Romans 6:14 KJV 1900

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 8:15 KJV 1900

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

(2) Positive.

(a) They have access to God ().

Galatians 4:6 KJV 1900

6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

(b) They are interested in God’s providence (; ).

Romans 8:28 KJV 1900

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

2 Corinthians 6:18 KJV 1900

18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

(c) They rejoice in God ().

Philippians 4:4 KJV 1900

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

(d) God rejoices over them ().

Zephaniah 3:17 KJV 1900

17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

(e) Their glorious inheritance is assured (; ).

Colossians 1:12 KJV 1900

12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Colossians 1:18 KJV 1900

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

(f) This inheritance is witnessed to them here (), and sealed (), whereof they now have the pledge ().

Romans 8:16–17 KJV 1900

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Ephesians 4:30 KJV 1900

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Ephesians 1:13–14 KJV 1900

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

3. How known?

(1) By prayer ().

Galatians 4:6 KJV 1900

6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

(2) Obedience ().

1 Peter 1:14–15 KJV 1900

14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

(3) Parity ( 2).

John 3:9 KJV 1900

9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

(4) Conformity to the Divine image ().

Romans 8:29 KJV 1900

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

(5) Faith (Son 3:26).

USES.

1. See the honour of believers.

2. Live like the sons of God.

(1) By despising the world.

(2) By patiently enduring all chastisements (.

Hebrews 12:6–9 KJV 1900

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

(3) By longing to come to your inheritance in heaven (). (Bishop Beveridge.)

Psalm 42:1–2 KJV 1900

1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God?

Faith and its attendant privileges

I. FAITH MAKES THE GRANDEST OF DISTINCTIONS AMONG MEN.

“He came to His own, and His own received Him not”—that is one company; “but as many as received Him”—that is another.

1. There are many distinctions among men—rich and poor, governors and governed, teachers and taught. But these will pass away. The grand distinction, which will out-last all time, is that of faith or the want of faith.

2. This distinguishing faith is

(1) A receptive faith; one which accepts Christ by confiding, trusting, and depending on Him.

(2) Faith in His name, as

(a) The Word: receiving His messages from the Father.

(b) The Life: receiving His vitality in spirit.

(c) The Light: seeing all things in the light of Christ..

3. This distinction is one which obliterates all others. If a chimney-sweep receives Christ, he is a child of God; so is an emperor—but not the one more than the other.

II. FAITH OBTAINS THE GRANDEST OF ALL ENDOWMENTS. “Sons of God.”

1. There is a distinction here between son and servant. The believer ceases to be a slave, and becomes a child; and yet he becomes a servant. Christ was first His Father’s Son, and then His servant; so we, being sons, have the joy of serving our Father.

2. We are also sons by likeness—miniatures, and sometimes caricatures, yet resemblances.

3. We are sons, in having the privilege of free access to our Father.

III. FAITH IS THE EVIDENCE OF THE GRANDEST EXPERIENCE.

Every believer is a regenerate man. It is of no use to attempt to mend the old nature. A man brought his gun to be repaired. The gunsmith told him it wanted a new stock, lock, and barrel. That looked like making a new one. You must begin de novo. Baptism cannot regenerate; nor blood, the natural way of birth; nor man’s carnal will, nor his best will; but God, who, as the Creator, new creates the soul.

IV. FAITH RAISES THE BELIEVER TO THE NOBLEST CONCEIVABLE CONDITION.

He is fitted to be a child of God.

1. Notice the inconceivable honour. All others pale before it.

2. The safety.

3. The happiness.

4. The duties. There is an old French proverb which says, “nobility obliges.” There is an obligation on nobles. If you are a son of God, you must act like one. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Faith is receiving

It is the empty cup placed under the flowing stream; the penniless hand held out for the heavenly alms. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Sonship more than adoption

The sonship is not effected in virtue of a mere act of adoption on the part of God. A child may be taken out of the family to which he originally belonged, and be planted in another; he may get a new name; he may be trained to forget that he had other birth; he may be made heir to great estates; he may be as dearly loved and as tenderly cared for as if he were own child to those who have adopted him: but the fact remains that he is really the child of another, and nature may prove too strong for the new bonds, and he may pine for his native home, and at length go back to it. The “sons of God,” however, are sons by birth, for such is the significance of the word here used, having not only a new name and position, but also a new life. It is not simply that they are called sons; they are sons, partakers of the Divine nature, with a filial relationship, and a filial resemblance to the eternal God. The sonship is already established in fact and in principle, though it awaits its full manifestation hereafter (). (J. Calross, D. D.)

1 John 3:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Comfort for the dying

When Philip Melanchthon was dying, he said aloud and distinctly to his surrounding friends, “I have those words of John concerning the Son of God, my Lord Jesus Christ, before me continually: ‘The world received Him not; but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.’“ (R. Besser, D. D.)

Receiving the light

Suppose you were in a dark room in the morning, the shutters closed and fastened, and only as much light coming through the chinks as made you aware it was day outside. And suppose you could say to a companion with you, “Let us open the windows, and let in the light.” What would you think if he replied, “No, no; you must first put the darkness out, or the light will not enter”? You would laugh at his absurdity. Just so we cannot put sin out of our hearts to prepare for Christ’s entering; we must open and take Him in, and sin will flee; fling the window open at once, and let Christ shine in. (J. Edmond, D. D.)

The honour of adoption

I have heard of some fine gentleman in London, dressed in all his best, walking out in the park. He had a poor old father who lived in the country, add who came up dressed in his rustic raiment to see his son. As the son was not at home when the father reached the house, he went into the park to find him. Now the fine gentleman did not absolutely disown his father, but he went out of the park at a pretty sharp trot, for fear anybody should say, “Who is that country fellow you were talking with?” He did not like to own his father, because he was a labourer. We could not thus wonder if the glorious Lord refused to own us. There is such a come-down from the loftiness of His holiness to the depth of our faultiness. But yet He has such love, such a manner of love, that He bestows upon as this honour, that we should be openly called the sons of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The treasure unreceived

A nobleman once gave a celebrated actress a Bible, telling her at the same time that there was a treasure in it. She, thinking he meant religion, laid the Bible aside. She died, and all she had was sold. The person who bought the Bible, on turning over its leaves, found a £500 note in it. Poor creature! had she read the book, she might not only have found the note, but the “pearl of great price.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)

Christ must be received

There is dew in one flower and not in another, because one opens its cup and takes it in, while the other closes itself, and the drops run off. God rains His goodness and mercy as wide-spread as the dew, and if we lack them, it is because we will not open our hearts to receive them. (H. W. Beecher.)

Believing is receiving Christ

He comes to your door. He wants to get in. He knocks. He waits. Is not that wonderful? I was lately visiting that part of the country where our beloved Queen stays when she comes to Scotland. She visits among the poor. I saw some of the cottages to which she is in the habit of going. In the house of one of her servants I saw her own likeness, and the likenesses of several of her family—all gifts from themselves. You say, What kindness! what condescension! And so it is: But what would you think if I told you—what I am glad I cannot tell you, for it would not be true—that when they saw the Queen coming, they locked their doors and pretended to be out, and kept her standing knocking at the door, refusing to let her in, though she came to speak kindly to them and to do them good? You would say, Surely the people must not be in their right mind. And yet that is just what King Jesus does—Queen Vietoria’s King. He comes to your door to bless you, to save you. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Most people keep Him out, and will not have anything to do with Him. They say, “Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.” Opening the door to Him, saying, “Come in, Lord Jesus, come in”—taking Him to our heart, and only fearing lest He should ever go away again—is believing. The believing heart is the heart that has let in Jesus, and in which he dwells ). (J. H. Wilson.)

Ephesians 3:17 KJV 1900

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Privileges of adoption

By adoption, God gives us

1. A new name (; ).

Numbers 6:27 KJV 1900

27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

Revelation 3:12 KJV 1900

12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

2. A new nature (). Whom God adopts He anoints; whom He makes sons, He makes saints.

2 Peter 1:4 KJV 1900

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

3. A new inheritance (). When the Danish missionaries in India were translating a catechism, with some of the convetted natives by their side, and when they came to a part where it was said of Christians that they were the sons of God, one of the natives, startled at so bold a saying, as he thought it, said, “It is too much; let us rather translate it: ‘They shall be permitted to kiss His feet.’”

Romans 8:17 KJV 1900

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Adoption and justification

Justification is the act of God as a Judge, adoption as a Father. By the former we are discharged from condemnation, and accepted as righteous; by the latter, we are made the children of God and joint-heirs with Christ. By the one, we are taken into God’s favour; by the other, into His family. Adoption may be looked upon as an appendage to justification, for it is by our being justified that we come to a right to all the honours and privileges of adoption. (Dr. Guyse.)

Which were born

Three great negations

The children of God are born

I. NOT OF BLOOD.

Grace does not run on the lines of nature. Many beautiful and graceful things do come by gentle and noble blood, but not this. It needs a very narrow field of observation to convince us that no parent, however pious, can command the conversion of his children. Else why should there be in this world that bitterest spectacle of a pious parent’s heart being broken by a wicked child!

II. NOT OF THE WILL OF THE FLESH.

The expression relates to any desire which, ruling in a man’s mind, might be supposed to lead him to some act whereby he should become a child of God, and the idea is utterly repelled. Every one who is a subject of the grace of God is so first passively, that afterwards he may be so actively. He is first acted upon by a will and power without him, and then he acts out that will and manifests that power.

III. Not of the will of man

. Observe the steps. Not of parents, not of self, nor of any creature whatsoever. One man, indeed, may will the conversion of another; and if he clothe that will with prayer, if he offer that will with faith, and if he does all in his power to forward that will, God may give him that man’s soul. But God never promises He will do this. A soul passes into the family of God and becomes an heir in the register of sons when he receives Christ, and only then. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

The three negations illustrated

When it pleased God to bring Abraham and his family into covenant with Him, that family consisted of three classes of persons; first of all, there were his own children; secondly, there were those who were born of his men-servants and maid-servants; thirdly, there were those slaves, whom he purchased and adopted. All these three classes were admitted into covenant with God, by reason of their relation to Abraham. “Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, and circumcised them” ). Of these classes, Ishmael was born of blood, as being his own flesh and blood, as we say; those born of the flesh were the other children born in his house, not his own; and those born of the will of man were those who, having no right to his protection, being yet bought of his free will, acquired a right by purchase and adoption. To these three classes were the benefits of the first covenant confined.… The truth, which St. John here announces, is that to all who received the message of the Lord Jesus, all who believed on His Name and submitted to His ordinances, to all those He gave the same power, even to become sons of God ; ). (G. Cornish.)

Genesis 17:23 KJV 1900

23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.

Genesis 3:16–17 KJV 1900

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Romans 5:13 KJV 1900

13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

The being born of blood and of God considered

I. In their ANTAGONISM.

II. In their essential DISTINCTION.

III. In their congenial CONNECTION.

IV. In the MEDIATOR OF THEIR UNION. (Lange.)

The new, celestial, divine birth constitutes the true nobility of grace as contrasted with

I. The aristocracy of BIRTH.

II. The aristocracy of MONEY.

III. The aristocracy of MERIT.

IV. The aristocracy of FAME. (P. Schaff, D. D.)

Not of blood

The blood through which the chyle is distributed to the different parts of the body is the seat of life, hence the connection between child and parents is called blood relationship; and in classic usage also we have the expression “to spring from the blood”—that is, from the seed of any one (). (Tholuck.)

Acts 17:26 KJV 1900

26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

Not of the will of man

According to the teaching of some men, how is it? “I am a minister of God—I am a man—as a man I may will to take a child and baptize it, and I may will to baptize it by a certain hour of the clock; and just as I am going to baptize it, I may will to put it off till to.morrow; and when to-morrow comes, I may will that I will not baptize that child at all—for if baptized, the child may die. And so, according to the caprice of my will, the child is baptized at this hour, or at that, to-day, or to-morrow, or it is not baptized at all; and therefore, following the caprice of my will, and just according to my will, the child is inevit ably a child of God at this time of the clock, or at that time of the clock—today, or to-morrow, or the next day, or never at all.” What, I ask, is this but to be “born of the will of man”? (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

The simultaneity of faith and regeneration

We must be careful that we do not interpet the words “which were born” as if the new birth was a change which takes place in a man after he has believed in Christ, and is the next step after faith. Saving faith and regeneration are inseparable. The moment that a man really believes in Christ, however feebly, he is born of God. The weakness of his faith may make him unconscious of the change, just as a new-born infant knows little or nothing about itself. Bat where there is faith there is always new birth, and where there is no faith there is no regeneration. (Bishop Ryle.)

The spirituality of religion

This verse is most emphatically in the style of John. Never can he lose sight of the perfect spirituality of Jesus Christ’s work. John shows the very religiousness of religion. Christianity is to him more than a history, more than an argument, more than a theology—it is a spiritual revelation to the spiritual nature of man. On the part of man it is to be not an attitude, but a life—the very mystery of his spirit, too subtle for analysis, too strong for repression, too divine to be tolerant of corruption. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The higher generation

The result of receiving Him remains to be explained. How could they become “sons of God”? The word which has been used () excludes the idea of adoption, and asserts the natural relation of child to father. The nation claimed this through its descent from Abraham. But they are Abraham’s children who are of Abraham’s faith. There is a higher generation, which is spiritual, while they thought only of the lower, which is physical. The condition is the submissive receptivity of the human spirit. The origin of life is “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (H. W. Watkins, D. D.)

John 1:12 KJV 1900

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

GIFT OF GOD

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship.

The respective places of faith and works in salvation

I. Consider now we are saved by or through faith.

1. Without faith we cannot be saved.

(1) Faith is necessary in the appointment of God.

(2) Faith is necessary in the nature of the case.

2. All who have faith will be saved. But remember, faith is not a mere assent to and profession of the truth; but such a belief as purifies the heart and governs the life.

II. Consider what place and influence works gave in our salvation.

1. In one sense our Salvation is not of works.

(1) We are not saved by works, considered as a fulfilment of the original law of nature.

(2) Nor are we saved by virtue of any works done before faith in Christ, for none of these are properly good.

2. Yet there is a sense in which good works are of absolute necessity to salvation.

(1) They are necessary as being radically included in that faith by which we are saved. A disposition to works of righteousness is as essential to faith, and therefore as necessary to salvation, as a trust in the righteousness of the Redeemer.

(2) A temper disposing us to good works is a necessary qualification for heaven.

(3) Works are necessary as evidences of our faith in Christ, and of our title to heaven.

(4) Good works essentially belong to religion.

(5) Works are necessary to adorn our professions and honour our religion before men.

(6) Works are necessary, as by them we are to be judged in the great day of the Lord.

III. The necessity of works does not diminish the grace of God in our salvation, nor afford us any pretence for boasting.

The whole scheme of redemption originated in God’s self-moving mercy. And our spiritual services are acceptable only by Jesus Christ, not by their own intrinsic worth. Practical reflections:

1. Humility essentially belongs to the Christian temper.

2. The mighty preparation which God has made for our recovery, from ruin teaches us that the human race is of great importance in the scale of rational beings, and in the scheme of God’s universal government.

3. It infinitely concerns us to comply with the proposals of the gospel.

4. Let no man flatter himself that he is in a state of salvation as long as he neglects good works. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

The source and way of salvation

The Christian salvation may be divided into three parts: the salvation which delivers us from sin and its consequences; the salvation which restores us to the favour, image, and communion of God; and the salvation which preserves us amidst all the temptations and dangers of our present state until we reach the heavenly kingdom. Yet the salvation itself is but one. Its several parts are inseparably united to each other; and they form that mighty scheme which excludes all evil and involves all good, which fills time with peace and eternity with triumph.

I. The source from which our salvation flows is “grace”—the grace of God.

1. It is the grace of God which gave origin and existence to the scheme of our salvation by the death of the Messiah.

2. It is the grace of God which has given execution or accomplishment to the scheme of our Christian salvation.

3. It is the grace of God which gives application and effect to this scheme of salvation.

II. The way in which the Christian salvation is to be obtained—“through faith.”

1. An exceedingly plain and simple way.

2. A divinely appointed way.

3. A humiliating way.

4. A holy and practical way. (John Hannah, D. D.)

Salvation of God through faith

If we drew out, in order, the teaching of these verses, it would perhaps fall into something like the following statements. That an affection in the Divine nature is the primary cause of human salvation—“By grace ye are saved.” This affection of God is apprehended by the creature’s faith—“By grace ye are saved through faith.” Though the creature’s faith is his own, by the free consent and voluntary exercise of his own heart and mind, nevertheless, in its principle and operation, it is the work of God—“not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Man’s salvation, instead of consisting in a single act of God, is His most patient work—“For we are His workmanship.” With respect to our new nature, which is the work of God, Jesus Christ is our father Adam—“We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” This new nature gives evidence of itself by a corresponding excellence of character—“We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” These good works are adequately provided for by a prearranged plan of God, and by the nourishment of our new nature in His Son—“Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them.” We must consent to it with our whole heart, that our salvation from first to last is of God and by God. (John Pulsford.)

Salvation

1. Look at salvation in its origin—it is “by grace.”

2. Look at it in its reception—it is “through faith.”

3. Look at it in the manner of its conferment—it is “a gift.” (J. Eadie, D. D.)

Saved by grace

It is a very important word surely, that word “saved.” It brings before our minds the most solemn consideration that we can possibly be occupied with. Nothing is nearer to us than our own souls; hence there is nothing more important than that we should not lose those souls of ours. Some of us love our money dearly, but what is money to our soul? Some of us love our friends very dearly, but we shall have to part company with them. Some of us love the pleasures of life dearly. What is it to be “saved”? Before we can answer that question, we must ask another: What is it to be in danger? If I were to meet one of you strolling along the road, and rushed up to you with frantic eagerness, and seized you by the arm, and said, “My dear friend, do let me save you!” you would think I had come out of a lunatic asylum, and would wish that I were back there again. Nobody in his senses would address his neighbour in that way, under such circumstances. But supposing we were at Brighton together, and I was walking along the Esplanade, and, looking out to sea, saw you in a little cockle shell boat, tossing about on the waves, and, by and by, I saw that boat go over, and you sinking in the sea; and suppose I stripped off my clothes, and sprang into the water, and swam out to you, and as I drew near, you heard me shout, “Will you let me save you?” would you be astonished at my asking you the question, under such circumstances. Then that brings before us this conclusion—we only want a Saviour when we are in danger. Before the Lord Jesus Christ is of any use to us as a Saviour, we must endeavour to realize what our danger is. Let us, then, try and discover what it arises from. It is not a pleasant thing to think that we are in danger, is it? There is one way of getting away from the sense of danger, that is to trifle with God’s truth, and persuade ourselves that danger is not danger. We flatter ourselves that all is safe, when all the time, in the sight of God, we are in a state of terrible danger. Now, I want to point out to you that, so far from that making matters better, it only makes them worse. If I was wandering out near some of your cliffs, on a night dark as pitch, so that I could not see my hand before my face, I should be in a state of great danger. If I knew that there were sharp precipices descending to the sea, three or four hundred feet, I should be on the look out for them, feeling my way carefully with a walking stick, if I had one, doing all I could to avoid falling over the precipices and being dashed to pieces. But supposing I did not know that there were any precipices in the neighbourhood, and I said to myself, “I have only to walk along this moor, and, sooner or later, I shall get to the place I want to reach,” how should I walk then? Although it was dark, I should step out bravely; if I had only so much as a single star to direct me, or a light in the distance, I should steer my course by it, and I should go on, probably, till I came to the edge of the precipice, and, taking a false step, should go over. Do you not see that if we are in danger it is far better for us to know that we are in danger than to think that we are in safety? Now, I cannot help thinking that there are some of us in this double danger: first of all, we are in danger because we are sinners; and, in the second place, we are in danger because we do not think that we are sinners; or, if we think that we are sinners at all, we think so little about it that we really do not feel “the exceeding sinfulness of sin,” and therefore do not tremble at the thought of what sin must bring. And what does our danger proceed from? It proceeds from the fact that sin has entered our nature. Let us look at a consumptive patient. He is walking down the lane with a brisk step, and is not so very unhealthy looking. You ask him how he is. “Oh,” he says, “he is not so particularly bad; he has got a cold, but he is going to shake it off.” You look at him carefully; you are a doctor, and you know about such things; you see the hectic flush on his cheek, a certain appearance in his complexion that alarms you: there is a ring in his cough that seems to tell of something fatally wrong. What is the matter with him? He is in terrible danger, he does not know it, but he is none the less in danger. What is it makes him in danger? A disease has taken hold of his body. Somewhere in the lungs there is a formation taking place; he cannot see it, but its effects begin to manifest themselves. There is a poison within the blood, so to speak, and the man is doomed; in all probability, in the course of a few months, you will see him laid on a bed of languor and wretchedness, and in a few months more he will be carried to his grave, a wasted corpse, the terrible disease having done its work! Now, sin is a disease of the soul. The question is not whether the disease has been largely developed, or whether it is only just beginning to develop itself! the point is, Is the disease there? Has it begun its fatal work? If it has, then you are in terrible danger. If I were drowning off Brighton sands, and a man came along the Parade, with a multitude of medals of the Royal Humane Society on his breast, indicating the number of lives he had saved; if I cried out to him, “Come and help me!” and he replied, “Oh! I am a saviour, I have saved lots of people,” I should say, “Save me; yea are of no use to me unless you save me; I am drowning; don’t talk of how many you have saved, but save me.” Then suppose he said, “Hope on; perhaps I will think about it by and by,” and then went on and left me drowning, would that be any considerable consolation to me? Suppose he had said, “Perhaps, by and by, when you have gone under water three or four times more, and lost all consciousness, and you think you are dying, I will take it into consideration whether I will save you,” would that be a comfort to me? Would you like to have such a saviour as that? Now, when I have this terrible disease of sin upon me, what I want is a Saviour who will save me now, who will bring me into a state of conscious salvation, or safety—for that is the meaning of the word in plain English. Can we get such a Saviour? We can. The Saviour revealed in the gospel is a Saviour who comes down to me, and lays hold of me as I am sinking in the jaws of death, and puts me in a position of safety, so that I tan look round triumphantly, and say as the apostle said, “Being justified by faith, I have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Now I come back to the old question. We have seen what the danger is, and we have seen what the salvation is; now we come to ask—How is a man to be saved? What is it that will save him? The apostle makes a very clear statement here—“By grace are ye saved.” What does “grace” mean? There is not a child here who does not know. By favour, by God’s free kindness towards us. We do not deserve any favour, do we? If you knew a man who had been robbing and injuring you, trampling on your rights, and rebelling against your will, that is not the man you would choose to do a favour to, naturally. Well, that is just how we have treated God; we have been robbing Him of all that He has most a claim to; robbing Him of our time, of our money, of our influence; rebelling against His laws, turning our back upon His love, playing the part of base ingrates against His mercy. We have no claim upon God’s favour. “Now,” says the apostle, “the grace of God which brings salvation to every man hath appeared.” Now, I want you to know, dear friends, that that “grace” floods this sin-stricken world like a glorious tide. Wherever it reaches a human heart, it brings salvation to our very door. There is not one of you who is not included in this assertion of the apostle, “The grace of God, which bringeth salvation to every man, hath appeared.” You may bring the biggest nugget of gold in the world to my door; there it may be outside on a wheelbarrow, and I may be inside dying of starvation; the nugget will do me no good if I do not take it in: if I do not turn it into money, and apply it to the satisfaction of my wants, I shall be as badly off as if the nugget had never been presented to me at all. The glorious gift of salvation is brought to our doors, and the question is, Have we taken it into our hearts? Now, my brother, God will either give you salvation, or else you shall never have it; it shall be His free gift, accepted by you for nothing, or else it shall never be yours; so if you are going to purchase it by your tears, your repentance, your good works, your good resolutions, or your faith—if you come and offer God such terms, you will simply have to go empty away. It is an insult to a man to offer him money in payment for a gift, is it not! Supposing I were to go home to Lord Chichester tonight, and he were to make me a handsome present; suppose he said, “That splendid clock, worth a couple of hundred guineas, is to be yours, if you will accept it,” and suppose I put my hand into my pocket, and said, “My lord, I should like to pay something towards it, will you accept sixpence?” How would he feel? It would be a great insult to him, would it not? If I received it gratefully, and thanked him for it, I should be pleased, and he would be pleased; I should be the gainer, and he would have the pleasure of making me a handsome present; but if I insisted on paying my sixpence, it would make a mess of it all; probably he would be offended with me, and I with him, and we should part enemies instead of friends. That may serve to bring before you how ridiculous it is to try and buy God’s salvation with anything. If you pay so much as a single tear for your salvation, it spoils the whole arrangement. Do I mean that you are not to shed tears? No, no. By all means, if God has given you oceans of tears, shed them, but not to purchase salvation. If God has given you all the sorrow and penitence that ever racked the human heart, there is no objection to that, but do not offer it for salvation. If God gives you the strongest faith that ever moved in the human soul, exercise it, but do not bring it in payment for salvation. That is wholly and solely the gift of God. Is it not a glorious gift? (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)

The freeness of grace and love

I. It is a great matter and of infinite concernment to be saved and to go to heaven forever. For—

1. You are thereby saved from wrath to come. Yea—

2. You shall be delivered from all sorrow, both inward and outward; and if so, how blessed and happy are you, for you shall die in the Lord.

3. You shall not only be freed from these troubles, but you shall also be brought into a possession, into an “inheritance that is incorruptible, that fadeth not away.”

4. If you go to heaven and be saved, you shall then be filled with glory. If you have but a little taste of glory here, you are ready to break under it, under a little glory; but the time will come when you shall be filled with glory, and your hearts shall bear up under it; your bodies shall be changed; you shall be filled with glory, soul and body both.

5. If you be saved, your graces shall be always in act, always in exercise; your understandings shall be fully enlightened, your difficulties shall be removed, and your wills, hearts, and affections shall be drawn out to God with infinite satisfaction and infinite delight.

6. If you be saved, you shall have the knowledge of the continuance of this condition.

II. But in what way does a man come to this attainment?

How and in what way is a man saved? Why, in a way of free love and grace; for, if God bestow anything in a way of gift, it is free, for what is more free than gift? Now do but consider what these things are which are called in Scripture, salvation; and you may observe that they all come in a way of gift. Sometimes salvation is put for the Author of salvation, Jesus Christ (). Sometimes salvation is put for eternal glory. “Who would have all men to be saved, both Jew and Gentile.’” And this salvation is the gift of God too. “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (). Now salvation, as to the Author of it, as to the means of it, and as to the salvation itself; it is all of free grace.

III. But you will say, If it be so, that by free grace we are saved, then why need we use the means of salvation;

you say we are saved by grace, by free grace, wherefore then need we endeavour? Yes, we are to endeavour: do you not use your endeavour to get your daily bread? and yet that is the gift of God.

IV. Wherein doth the freeness of the grace of God appear in the matter of our salvation?

There is a great deal of free grace in this, that God should ordain us to eternal life and salvation (). Yet, further, it is in the matter of our salvation, as it is in the matter of our consolation and comfort; and as I said of that, so I say also of this: That the greater and the more glorious any mercy is, and the more worthy and great the person is that giveth it, and the more unworthy the person is that receives it, the more doth the grace of him appear who giveth it; now what greater mercy, what more glorious mercy, than heaven and salvation? It is called the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven; it is called the kingdom of glory, and eternal glory; it is called joy, enter into the joy of our Lord: and great is the joy of our Lord; that joy which was set before Christ, that is the joy of the saints in heaven. Now, what are the arches and pillars of free grace and love, upon which our salvation under Christ is laid? I shall name some of them. The absoluteness of the covenant. That God justifies the ungodly. Thus our righteousness is not in us, but in Christ. That the guilt of our sins by which we lay liable to condemnation is removed. That a little sincerity covers a great deal of infirmity. That what God calls ours is not indeed ours, but God’s, as our graces, our duties, which are not indeed ours but God’s. That God will in due time glorify us and honour us. Sin doth provoke God and cause Him to be angry with us, but grace doth provoke Him to love us; and, therefore, the pillars of our salvation are laid under Christ upon grace, upon free grace and love: and thereby the freeness of the grace of God doth the more appear in the matter of our salvation.

V. Salvation is a work of grace; and seeing we are saved by grace alone, why then doth God choose to save men in this way of free grace?

I answer, It is because this is the most honourable way unto God. If there was somewhat of the good pleasure of God in the world’s condemnation, all the reason in the world then that there should be free grace in the way of salvation. Pray, how came Adam to stand for the whole world? He was not chosen by us, why it was the good pleasure of God that he should stand for the whole world, and that he sinning, we should be all guilty of sin by, and through him: so, I say, if there was, as I may speak with reverence, somewhat of the good pleasure of God in the old world’s condemnation, why then should there not be free grace in the soul’s salvation. God would have heaven and salvation to be of one piece; He would have the work of heaven to be the same; now there were many angels that fell, and many thousands that stood, why how came they to stand that did stand, more than the others that fell? it was only by free grace, they were elect angels. Now men and angels in heaven are of the same choir and sing the same song; and therefore those men that are saved, oh, who are they? why they are the elect, and they have great cause to glorify the grace, the free grace of God. God saves men in a way of free love and grace, because none shall miss of salvation. As God will punish and condemn all the proud, all the wicked, that none shall escape; so He will also save all that He hath a mind to save, by free grace because they shall not miss of salvation. God will save men in such a way as whereby He may be glorified to all eternity, and therefore He saves them in a way of free grace and love; for what have we to praise God for in heaven, but only for free grace, free grace, to glorify His name for that; therefore, I say, God will save men in this way of free love and grace, that He may be thereby glorified hereafter to all eternity. (W. Bridge.)

Salvation all of grace

We see a golden thread of grace running through the whole of the Christian’s history, from his election before all worlds, even to his admission to the heaven of rest. Grace, all along, “reigns through righteousness unto eternal life,” and “where sin aboundeth, grace doth much more abound.”

I. This doctrine should inspire every sinner with hope.

1. If salvation be of mercy only, it is clear that our sin is by no means an impediment to our salvation.

(1) This prevents the despair which might arise in any heart on account of some one especial sin. Undeserved mercy can pardon one sin as well as another, if the soul confess it. The great sinner is so much the fitter object for great mercy—a black foil to set forth the brilliant diamond of the Master’s grace.

(2) If the sinner’s despair should arise from the long continuance, multitude, and great aggravation of his sins, there is no ground for it. For if salvation be of pure mercy only, why should not God forgive ten thousand sins as well as one? “Oh,” sayest thou, “I see why He should not.” Then thou seest more than is true; for once come to grace, you have done with bounds and limits.

2. Remember, too, that any spiritual unfitness which may exist in a man should not shut him out from a hope, since God deals with us in mercy.

I hear you say, “I believe God can save me, but I am so impenitent.” Yes, and I say it again, if thou wert to stand on terms of debt with God, thy hard heart would shut thee out of hope. How could He bless such a wretch as thou art, whose heart is a heart of stone? But if He deal with thee entirely upon another ground, namely, His mercy, why I think I hear Him say, “Poor hard-hearted sinner, I will pity thee, and take away thy heart of stone, and give thee a heart of flesh.” Do I hear thee confess that thou canst not believe? Now, the absence of faith from thee is a great evil, yea a horrible evil; but then the Lord is dealing with thee on terms of grace, and does not say, “I will not smite thee because thou dost net believe,” but He saith, “I will give thee faith,” for faith is “not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

II. This doctrine affords direction to the sinner, as to how to act before his God in seeking mercy.

Clearly, O soul, if salvation he of grace alone, it would be a very wrong course of action to plead that thou art not guilty, or to extenuate thy faults before God. Take care that all your pleas with God are consistent with the fact that He saves by His grace. Never bring a legal plea, or a plea that is based upon self, for it will be an offence to God; whereas, if thine argument be based on grace, it will have a sweet savour to Him. Let me teach thee, seeking sinner, for a moment how to pray. Plead with God thy miserable and undone condition; tell Him that thou art utterly lost if He do not save thee. Show Him the imminence of thy danger. Then argue with Him the plenteousness of His grace, Say to Him, “Lord, Thy mercy is very great, I know it is.”

III. A full conviction of this truth will reconcile.

Our hearts to all Divine ordinances with regard to salvation. I feel in my own heart, and I think every believer here does, that if salvation be of grace, God must do as He wills with His own. None of us can say to Him, “What doest Thou?” If there were anything of debt, or justice, or obligation, in the matter, then we might begin to question God; but as there is none, and the thing is quite out of court as to law, and far away from rights and claims, as it is all God’s free favour, we will henceforth stop our mouths and never question Him. As to the instrument by whom He saves, let Him save by the coarsest speaker, or by the most eloquent; let Him do what seemeth Him good.

IV. A most powerful motive for future holiness.

A man who feels that he is saved by grace says, “Did God of His free favour blot out my sins? Then, oh, how I love Him. Was it nothing but His love that saved an undeserving wretch. Then my soul is knit to Him forever.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Salvation by grace

I. Definition of grace.

Grace has been too often represented in forms which dishonoured the righteousness of God, and were unfriendly to the righteousness of man. In our modern religious language it occurs less frequently than in the language of our fathers. But the word is too precious to be surrendered. Among the Greeks it stood for all that is most winning in personal loveliness, for the nameless fascination of a beauty which is not cold and remote but irresistibly attractive and charming. It was also used for that warm, free handed, and spontaneous generosity which is kind where there is no claim or merit, and kind without hope of return; a disposition lovely in itself, and winning the admiration and affection of all who witness it. This beautiful word, with all its beautiful associations, has been exalted and transfigured in its Christian uses.

1. Grace transcends love.

Love may be nothing more than the fulfilment of the law. We love God, who deserves our love. We are required to love our neighbour, and we cannot refuse to love him without guilt. But grace is love which passes beyond all claims to love. It is love which, after fulfilling the obligations imposed by law, has an unexhausted wealth of kindness.

2. Grace transcends mercy.

Mercy forgives sin, and rescues the sinner from eternal darkness and death. But grace floods with affection the sinner who has deserved anger and resentment, trusts penitent treachery with a confidence which could not have been merited by ages of incorruptible fidelity, confers on a race which had been in revolt honours which no loyalty could have purchased, on the sinful joy beyond the deserts of saintliness.

3. Grace transcends majesty.

The eternal righteousness of God is that which constitutes His dignity and majesty, makes Him venerable and august; but His grace adds to His dignity an infinite loveliness, to His majesty an ineffable charm, blends with the awe and devout fear with which we worship Him a happy confidence, and with our veneration a passionate affection.

II. Achievement of grace.

Our salvation is the achievement of God’s grace: this is the central thought of the Epistle to the Ephesians. God’s free, spontaneous lave for us, resolved that we who sprang from the dust, and might have passed away and perished like the falling leaves after a frail and brief existence, should share through a glorious immortality the sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. This was the wonderful idea of human greatness and destiny which was formed by the grace of God. The race declined from the lofty path designed for it by the Divine goodness. But as by the grace of God Christ was to be the root of our righteousness and blessedness, and as the ground and reason of our ethical and spiritual greatness were in Him, so in Christ God has revealed the root, the ground, the reason of our redemption. We have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of God’s grace. There is nothing abnormal in the forgiveness of our sin being the result of Christ’s death; all our possible righteousness was to be the fruit of the perfection and energy of His eternal life. The original idea of the Divine grace, according to which we were to find all things in Christ, and Christ was to be the root of a perfection and glory surpassing all hope and all thought, was tragically asserted in the death of Christ for human salvation. Our fortunes—shall I say it?—were identified with the fortunes of Christ; in the Divine thought and purpose we were inseparable from Him. Had we been true and loyal to the Divine idea, the energy of Christ’s righteousness would have drawn us upwards to height after height of goodness and joy, until we ascended from this earthly life to the larger powers and loftier services and richer delights of other and diviner worlds; and still, through one golden age of intellectual and ethical and spiritual growth after another, we should have continued to rise towards Christ’s transcendent and infinite perfection. But we sinned; and as the union between Christ and us could not be broken without the final and irrevocable defeat of the Divine purpose, as separation from Christ meant for us eternal death, Christ was drawn down from the serene heavens to the shame and sorrow of the confused and troubled life of our race, to pain, to temptation, to anguish, to the cross and to the grave, and so the mystery of His atonement for our sin was consummated. In His sufferings and death, through the infinite grace of God, we find forgiveness, as in the power of His righteousness and as in His great glory we find the possibilities of all perfection. Our union with Him is not dissolved. Through His death we receive forgiveness, through His death we die to the sin which brought the death upon Him; and in His resurrection and ascension we see the visible manifestation of that eternal life which we have already received, and which will some day be manifested in us as it has been manifested in Him. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

God’s grace and man’s salvation

If it were for anything in us to be procured, we might utterly despair; but since it is of God, we may boldly accept, and confidently trust in this free grace of God, although we are unworthy of it. It is not true humility, but a foolish pride, to put away, and judge ourselves unworthy of this salvation, whereof it has pleased God (in rich mercy) to deem us worthy.

2. To the full glorifying of us in heaven, all is from the free, mere grace of God. He does nothing by halves. What He has begun, He will complete ().

3. God’s grace and man’s faith ever stand together (; ). To this it may be objected that the grace of God cannot stand with anything in man. How then (you will ask) can it stand with faith? Answer: It is true, that the grace of God does not brook anything inherent in man, and of man; and yet, notwithstanding, it may well agree with faith. For

(1) Faith is not of man, no, not in man by nature; but it is in man renewed, and as a gift of mere grace.

(2) Faith does not justify, as it is an inherent quality in us, but as it apprehends Christ Jesus the Redeemer.

(3) Faith receives only, and shows to God the righteousness and merit of Christ.

(4) It is therefore the Lord’s grace that accepts faith for the righteousness of the believer.

4. No power in man can quicken him; and no virtue, quality, or dignity, when he is quickened, can merit his salvation. (Paul Bayne.)

Salvation by the sovereign love and free grace of God

I. Salvation.

1. We are delivered from death.

So long as we continued under the impending curse, there was nothing due to us but death. Death temporal, spiritual, and eternal, were all included in the threatening. Death temporal is the separation of the soul from the body. Death spiritual is the separation of the soul from God. And death eternal is the separation of both soul and body from God forever. But from all these we are saved. Death temporal, no doubt, performs its work, but it is not now penal; in its rapacity to devour it caught Jesus, but He was too mighty for death! He overcame it, and left it vanquished in the grave; so that it is now in the hand of the Mediator, converted into a mean for bringing His saints to glory. And spiritual death shall have no dominion over us; now and then, indeed, we may experience a compunction of conscience and a pang of mind, because we carry about with us bodies of sin and death. But these shall no longer prove destructive, but are all so many incentives to bring us to Jesus, and to cause us to rely upon Him more fully. And death eternal shall have no place; whenever the soul is set free from the body, that moment shall it be in paradise, carried by the angels, and so shall it be forever with the Lord.

2. We are delivered from the love of sin

By the covenant transgression of Adam, there is a sinful bias given to our minds. Because we have broken the law, there is a deep-rooted enmity in our hearts to all that is holy; and we cannot think of returning to God, for that would be calling our sins to remembrance, and setting before our face the curse which awaits us from an offended Judge. But when we obtain salvation from the Lord, we have no more desire for sin. But now does the Lord become the supreme object of our delight. We see in Him a beauty and an all-sufficiency suited to give true comfort to the saint, something which is congenial to our celestial part, and which in life and in death continues alike calculated to give deliverance, and to present with a crown of glory.

3. We are saved from the power of sin; for whom we serve, His we are.

4. We are saved from the practice of sin.

II. The source whence this salvation flows. The sovereign love and free grace of God.

1. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation;

because when man had sinned, and all the clouds of wrath were thickening around him, and all the thunders of Jehovah’s justice were ready to burst around man’s guilty head, it remained with God to manifest whether justice should take its course, or He would stretch out His strong arm to deliver; whether He would be reconciled to man, or punish him according to his iniquities, by everlastingly secluding him from His presence. And, until the decree was declared, there must have been a solemn pause, as if the pulse of nature stood. All the angels in glory must have looked on with intense interest, and devils must have trembled in dire suspense for the declaration of the Divine will, which made fully known whether man was to be restored to the favour of his God, or eternally to expiate his guilt, by bearing the punishment due to his crimes. And, at that all-important moment, in the riches of His grace, and gave the intimation of His pleasure, “Deliver from going down to the pit; for I will be merciful.”

2. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation,

inasmuch as, in the bowels of His compassion, God so loved the world, that He gave the Son of His bosom for the sin of man’s soul, and thus provided a ransom. When the rebellion of man had plunged him into the depth of distress, and he was altogether helpless as an infant abandoned in the open field, then did God make known the Deliverer. This no ingenuity of man could ever have discovered, nor could the united prowess of the human race ever have procured the Mediator.

3. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation,

inasmuch as salvation can be applied to the soul only by the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit. “Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but God alone can give the increase.” There is both a natural and a moral inability about man to prevent him from being saved. His moral inability lies in the utter perversion of his will; he has no desire for that which is good; but his whole affections are set on things which are evil, and his natural inability lies in the utter incompetency of created capacity to change itself.

III. The medium through which salvation is applied to the souls of men. Faith.

1. Faith, in the case of the saint, is the same thing which is known in the world by the name of belief, and signifies the assent of the mind to the truth of some statement, so as to act upon the belief of what is said to us.

2. Salvation is by grace when applied to our souls through faith, because faith neither flows from intrinsic worth in us, nor does it beget in our hearts any principle, upon the ground of which we can merit salvation.

it beget in our hearts any principle, upon the ground of which we can merit salvation.

3. Salvation through faith is by grace; because, even when we are made to believe, faith gives no remuneration to God for what we receive.

I shall now conclude this discourse with a few remarks.

1. From what has been said, learn the humility with which this subject ought to inspire us. Is all by grace? Then let us come to God, humbled in heart and soul, and entreat of Him that He would make us participants of His free favour; that He would put down every high thought, and every haughty imagination, which exalteth itself; that we may be enabled to say, “Not unto us, O God; not unto us, but to Thy name be the glory.”

2. From this subject, learn the duty of living in complete obedience to the holy will of God. In this passage there is no mention made of the world, nor of the things of the world; but salvation is the whole theme of the verse, and that is certainly calculated to direct our attention from time unto eternity.

3. From this subject learn the complete disappointment which all those shall receive who trust to the law for the salvation of their souls.

4. From this subject learn the firm footing upon which believers stand. The foundation of their hope is placed upon Christ, who is the Rock of ages, and the pillar and ground of the truth. (R. Montgomery.)

Bishop Ryle’s conversion

Bishop Ryle, of Liverpool, was converted, when an undergraduate in Oxford, by the eighth verse of the second chapter of Ephesians, which was read in his hearing in church in the second lesson, with a pause between each clause by a stranger whose name he never knew.

We are saved by grace only

Mr. Maclaren and Mr. Gustart were both ministers at the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh. When Mr. Maclaren was dying, Mr. Gustart paid him a visit, and put the question to him, “What are you doing, brother?” His answer was, “I’ll tell you what I’m doing, brother: I am gathering together all my prayers, all my sermons, all my good deeds, all my evil deeds; and I am going to throw them all overboard, and swim to glory on the plank of free grace.”

We are saved by faith—not of ourselves

It is not what I do that I trust in, but what Christ has done for me. You’ve been down the shaft into the mine, sir. This will help me to tell you what I mean. For a long time I was trying to do what was right—to live as I ought to; and so was trusting to my own works for salvation. But all the while I felt as if I was still down at the bottom of the shaft. All I could do didn’t get me out of the pit. Then God showed me that all my righteousness was but filthy rags, as the Bible says. But how was I to get out of the shaft? Why, at last I found that the only way out of the deep mine into which sin had brought us was to do just as I do when I want to get out of the coal mine. To do this, I have only to get into the bucket when it comes down, and trust to the men at the windlass to draw me out. And so I find it is about my soul. I can’t draw myself out of the pit; but I trust in Jesus, and leave it all to Him. (D. L. Moody.)

Saved

There was, some years ago, a shipwreck on the Cornish coast. The wind was blowing an awful gale; no lifeboat was near, but a pilot boat, with a brave crew, put out to rescue the perishing. The ship was on a sand bank, and the pilot boat got alongside her, and as the waves ran higher and higher, the sailors, one after another, sprang from the ship on to the deck of the boat, till there was but one left on the sinking vessel, and just as he was in the act of springing, a tremendous billow struck the ship on her broadside; she heeled over, and the returning wave swept the pilot boat back to a considerable distance. At that moment a scream was heard from the stern of the pilot boat. A hoary-headed man, with tears starting from his eyes, and agony depicted on his countenance, was heard to cry out, “Captain, for God’s sake, save my boy I save my boy!” It was his only son who was in the sinking ship. And as his cry rose, there was another voice to meet it; from the sinking vessel there came back a shout clear and strong amidst the tumult of the tempest, “Never mind, father; thank God, I am saved.” They were the last words he ever spoke. Another moment the mighty billows swept him away, and his soul was in eternity, in the very bosom of its God. Could you have said what that young man said? Could you have said, “Thank God, I am saved”? Perhaps you say, “No, I could not.” Then don’t sleep tonight until you can. What! may you have it tonight? Yes, the gift is at your door. “How am I to have it?” Trust Jesus for it. Take that poor weary soul of yours, and lay it in His hand. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)

Salvation by grace

I. Set forth man’s state by nature, and show that there could be nothing in him to move God to bestow so great a gift upon him.

II. Such being man’s stare by nature, it is manifest that salvation must be entirely of free grace. (R. Shutte, M. A.)

Salvation a gift

Once there was a poor woman who greatly desired a bunch of grapes from the king’s greenhouse for her sick child; so she took half a crown, and went to the king’s gardener, and tried to purchase the grapes, but was rudely sent away. A second effort with more money met with a similar repulse. It so happened that the king’s daughter heard the angry words of the gardener, and the crying of the poor woman, and inquired into the matter. When she had related her story, the princess said, “My good woman, you were mistaken. My father is not a merchant, but a king: his business is not to sell, but to give”; whereupon she plucked a fine bunch from the vine, and gently dropped it into the woman’s apron. So the poor woman obtained as a free gift what the labour of many days and nights had been unable to procure for her.

God’s gift

As the earth engendereth not rain, nor is able, by its own strength, labour, or travail, to procure the same, but receiveth it of the mere gift of God from above, even so faith, grace, forgiveness of sins, and Christian righteousness, are given us of God without our works or deservings. (Cawdray.)

How we are saved

It is evident that the first intention of these words is to show what a very, very easy thing it is to be saved if we would only take it rightly. And secondly, to take away all the honour and all the desert from those who are saved, and to place it where all belongs—on God only. But now I come to a very important part. Let us be careful, very careful, here to discriminate and see clearly the distinction. Remember what we are speaking about. We are not speaking about holiness! We are not speaking about going to heaven; we are speaking only of being saved. We are speaking of the initiatory step, of the becoming a Christian; of the entrance into a life of holiness, and of safety. Remember that is what the word “salvation” means. It means no less, and it means no more. Being safe! Still it is only safety, only safety! There is a great deal to be done after that. Conflict; love; prayer; penitence; conversion of heart; sanctification; a useful life; a brightness in death; a brightness in heaven. In all these, indeed, it is still God who “works in you” to do it; but still you do it, you do it. You work out the grace of the salvation which God has given you; but for your pardon, for your safety, you do nothing at all, but simply accept it. You accept it. More than that—the power to accept it, the will to accept it—they are given you. The triple chain of salvation has three links, and no more—“grace,” “faith,” “safety.” Then come afterwards—love, holiness, heaven. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Faith: its meaning, source, and power

I. The nature of faith.

Faith, in ordinary language, means the assent of the understanding to some statement as true—propounded upon the authority of another. It seems, however, in Scripture to be most commonly used in a somewhat more extensive sense, as comprehending what in strictness (metaphysical correctness) might be regarded rather as consequences of faith than as faith itself. Saving faith, according to the views of it given in Scripture, may be described as such an assent to the doctrines of the gospel as leads men to receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation, and to submit themselves entirely to His authority.

II. How faith is produced.

Faith implies certain objects presented to our minds—a capacity to perceive, and a disposition to attend to them, and to act under their influence. Now, in regard to the faith of the gospel, God both given us the objects, and enables us to perceive them. Faith, therefore, is His gift, not merely in the sense in which any other ordinary exercise of our faculties is His gift, but in a higher and more peculiar manner. It is God who sets before us those objects which faith embraces, and without which it could never have existence. We had known nothing of God unless He had chosen to reveal Himself to us. We have no certain knowledge of His character except what He is pleased to acquaint us with. We could have known absolutely nothing of Jesus Christ, who is the great Object of Faith—of all that He has done and suffered for us—of the whole scheme of redemption that is founded upon His work, and of the covenant of grace that is sealed with His blood—of the authority which He now exercises, and of the great and glorious purposes to which the exercise of that authority is directed—unless God had seen fit, not only to bring all these important results into existence, but to transmit them to us in His Word. We could have learned nothing of the future and unseen world, unless God had undertaken to remove the veil that conceals it, and open it up to our view. Thus there would have been no objects for our faith; and of course faith could never have existed unless God had made revelation of Himself, of His character, and ways—unless He had brought certain events to pass, and then made them known to us. But faith appears still further to be God’s gift, from this, that men are naturally indisposed to attend to the objects set before them in the sacred Scriptures, and, according to the principles of our natural constitution, there can be no clear knowledge of anything without some degree of attention being directed towards it; whilst without clear knowledge there can be no sound and rational faith.

III. The effect of faith as uniting us to Christ, and thus saving the soul.

Now, when a man believes in Christ, he is, according to God’s appointment, united to Him. There is a union formed between them. God regards him as if he were Christ, and treats him as if he had suffered the full punishment for his sins which Christ endured in his room—as if he had in his own person performed that full and perfect obedience to the Divine law which our Saviour’s conduct exhibited. It is this imputation of Christ’s sufferings and of His righteousness—or, as it is often called, of His active and passive obedience—it is this communion of suffering and of merit, in which the union of believers with Christ mainly consists; and this union and communion with Him is the foundation of their salvation, in all its parts and in all its aspects. Viewing them thus, as united to Christ, as one with Him—God bestows upon them the blessings which Christ purchased for all who should believe on His name; they obtain through faith the forgiveness of their sins, acceptance with God as righteous persons, the renovation and sanctification of their natures, and, finally, an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Christ is the great Head of Influence; all spiritual blessings are the fruits of His purchase; it is only by abiding in Him that we are enabled to bring forth fruits unto eternal life: as it is written (), “I am the Vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” You see now the great importance of faith in the salvation of sinners. It is the instrument by means of which we receive everything necessary to our peace. None can be saved without it, and every one who has it will assuredly be saved. (W. Cunningham, D. D.)

Faith: what is it? how can it be obtained?

Faith occupies the position of a channel or conduit pipe. Grace is the fountain and the stream: faith is the acqueduct along which the flood of mercy flows down to refresh the thirsty sons of men. It is a great pity when the acqueduct is broken. It is a sad sight to see around Rome the many noble acqueducts which no longer convey water into the city, because the arches are broken and the marvellous structures are in ruins. The acqueduct must be kept entire to convey the current; and, even so, faith must be true and sound, leading right up to God, and coming right down to ourselves, that it may become a serviceable channel of ,mercy to our souls. Still, I again remind you that faith is the channel or acqueduct, and not the fountain head, and we must not look so much to it as to exalt it above the Divine source of all blessing which lies in the grace of God. Never make a Christ out of your faith, nor think of it as if it were the independent source of your salvation.

I. Faith: what is it? What is this faith concerning which it is said,” By grace are ye saved through faith”? What is faith? It is made up of three things—knowledge, belief, and trust.

1. Knowledge comes first. Know God, know His gospel, and know especially Christ Jesus, the Son of God and Saviour of men. Endeavour to know the doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ, for that is the point upon which saving faith mainly fixes itself.

2. Then the mind goes on to believe that these things are true. The soul believes that God is, and that He hears the cries of sincere hearts; that the gospel is from God; that justification by faith is the grand truth that God hath revealed in these last days by His Spirit more clearly than before. Then the heart believes that Jesus is verily and in truth our God and Saviour, the Redeemer of men, the prophet, priest, and king unto His people.

3. So far you have made an advance towards faith, and one more ingredient is needed to complete it, which is trust. Trust is the life blood of faith: there is no saving faith without it. The Puritans were accustomed to explain faith by the word “recumbency.” You know what it means. You see me leaning upon this rail, leaning with all my weight upon it; even thus lean upon Christ. It would be a better illustration still if I were to stretch myself at full length and rest my whole person upon a rock, lying fiat upon it. Fall flat upon Christ. Cast yourself upon Him, rest in Him, commit yourself to Him. That done, you have exercised saving faith. Faith is not a blind thing; for faith begins with knowledge. It is not a speculative thing; for faith believes facts of which it is sure. It is not an unpractical, dreamy thing; for faith trusts, and stakes its destiny upon the truth of revelation.

II. Let us inquire, why faith is selected as the channel of salvation?

1. There is a natural adaptation in faith to be used as the receiver. Suppose that I am about to give a poor man an alms: I put it into his hand—why? Well, it would hardly be fitting to put it into his ear, or to lay it under his foot; the hand seems made on purpose to receive. So faith in the mental body is created on purpose to be a receiver: it is the hand of the man, and there is a fitness in bestowing grace by its means.

2. Faith, again, is doubtless selected because it gives all the glory to God. It is of faith that it might be of grace, and it is of grace that there may be no boasting; for God cannot endure pride.

3. It is a sure method, linking man with God. When man confides in God there is a point of union between them, and that union guarantees blessing.

Faith saves us, because it makes us cling to God, and so brings us into connection with Him. I am told that years ago, above the Falls of Niagara, a boat was upset, and two men were being carried down the current, when persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to them, which rope was seized by them both. One of them held fast to it, and was safely drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a great log come floating by, unwisely let go the rope, and clung to the log, for it was the bigger thing of the two, and apparently better to cling to. Alas, the log, with the man on it, went right over the vast abyss, because there was no union between the log and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed a connection with the shore to produce safety. So when a man trusts to his works, or to sacraments, or to anything of that sort, he will not be saved, because there is no junction between him and Christ; but faith, though it may seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hand of the great God on the shore side; Infinite Power pulls in the connecting line, and thus draws the man from destruction. Oh, the blessedness of faith, because it unites us to God!

4. Faith is chosen, again, because it touches the springs of action.

I wonder whether I shall be wrong if I say that we never do anything except through faith of some sort. If I walk across this platform, it is because I believe my legs will carry me. A man eats because he believes in the necessity of food. Columbus discovered America because he believed that there was another continent beyond the ocean: many another grand deed has also been born of faith, for faith works wonders. Commoner things are done on the same principle; faith in its natural form is an all-prevailing force. God gives salvation to our faith, because He has thus touched the secret spring of all our emotions and actions. He has, so to speak, taken possession of the battery, and now He can send the sacred current to every part of our nature.

5. Faith, again, has the power of working by love; it touches the secret spring of the affections, and draws the heart towards God.

Faith is an act of the understanding; but it also proceeds from the heart. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness;” and hence God gives salvation to faith because it resides next door to the affections, and is near akin to love, and love, you know, is that which purifies the soul. Love to God is obedience, love is holiness; to love God and to love man is to be conformed to the image of Christ, and this is salvation.

6. Moreover, faith creates peace and joy; he that hath it rests, and is tranquil, is glad, and joyous; and this is a preparation for heaven.

God gives all the heavenly gifts to faith, because faith worketh in us the very life and spirit which are to be eternally manifested in the upper and better world. I have hastened over these points that I might not weary you on a day when, however willing the spirit may be, the flesh is weak.

III. How can we obtain and increase our faith? A very earnest question this to many. They say they want to believe but cannot. “What am I to do in order to believe?”

1. The shortest way is to believe, and if the Holy Spirit has made you honest and candid, you will believe as soon as the truth is set before you.

2. But still, if you have a difficulty, take it before God in prayer. The Lord is willing to make Himself known; go to Him, and see if it be not so.

3. Furthermore, if faith seem difficult, it is possible that God the Holy Spirit will enable you to believe, if you hear very frequently and earnestly that which you are commanded to believe.

4. Consider the testimony of others. I

believe there is a country called Japan, although I never have been there. I believe I shall die: I have never died, but a great many have done so whom I once knew, and I have a conviction that I shall die also; the testimony of many convinces me of this fact. Listen, then, to those who tell you how they were saved, how they were pardoned, how they have been changed in character: if you will but listen you will find that somebody just like yourself has been saved. As you listen to one after another of those who have tried the word of God, and proved it, the Divine Spirit will lead you to believe. Have you not heard of the African who was told by the missionary that water sometimes became so hard that a man could walk on it? He declared that he believed a great many things the missionary had told him; but he never would believe that. When he came to England it came to pass that one frosty day he saw the river frozen, but he would not venture on it. He knew that it was a river, and he was certain that he would be drowned if he ventured upon it. He could not be induced to walk on the ice till his friend went upon it; then he was persuaded, and trusted himself where others had ventured. So, mayhap, while you see others believe, and notice their joy and peace, you will yourself be gently led to believe. It is one of God’s ways of helping us to faith. A better plan still is this—note the authority upon which you are commanded to believe, and this will greatly help you. He bids you believe in Jesus Christ, and you must not refuse to obey your Maker. The foreman of a certain works in the north had often heard the gospel, but he was troubled with the fear that he might not come to Christ. His good master one day sent a card round to the works—“Come to my house immediately after work.” The foreman appeared at his master’s door, and the master came out, and said somewhat roughly, “What do you want, John, troubling me at this time? Work is done, what right have you here?” “Sir,” said he, “I had a card from you saying that I was to come after work.” “Do you mean to say that merely because you had a card from me you are to come up to my house and call me out after business hours?” “Well, sir,” replied the foreman, “I do not understand you, but it seems to me that, as you sent for me, I had a right to come.” “Come in, John,” said his master, “I have another message that I want to read to you,” and he sat down and read these words—“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Do you think after such a message from Christ that you can be wrong in going to Him?” The poor man saw it all at once, and believed, because he saw that he had good warrant and authority for believing. So have you, poor soul; you have good authority for coming to Christ, for the Lord Himself bids you trust Him. If that does not settle you, think over what it is that you have to believe—that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the room and place and stead of men, and is able to save all who trust Him. Why, this is the most blessed fact that ever men were told to believe: the most suitable, the most comforting, the most Divine truth that ever was set before men. If none of these things avail, then there is something Wrong about you altogether, and my last word is, submit yourself to God. May the Spirit of God take away your enmity and make you yield. You are a rebel, a proud rebel, and that is why you do not believe your God. Give up your rebellion; throw down your weapons; yield at discretion; surrender to your King. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The clinging power of faith

God gives to His people the propensity to cling. Look at the sweet pea which grows in your garden. Perhaps it has fallen down upon the gravel walk. Lift it up against the laurel or the trellis, or put a stick near it, and it catches hold directly, because there are little hooks ready prepared with which it grasps anything which comes in its way: it was meant to grow upwards, and so it is provided with tendrils. Every child of God has his tendrils about him—thoughts, and desires, and hopes with which he hooks on to Christ and the promise. Though this is a very simple sort of faith, it is a very complete and effectual form of it, and, in fact, it is the heart of all faith, and that to which we are often driven when we are in deep trouble, or when our mind is somewhat bemuddled by our being sickly or depressed in spirit. We can cling when we can do nothing else, and that is the very soul of faith. O poor heart, if thou dost not yet know as much about the gospel as we could wish thee to know, cling to what thou dost know. If as yet thou art only like a lamb that wades a little into the river of life, and not like leviathan who stirs the mighty deep to the bottom, yet drink; for it is drinking, and not diving, that will save thee. Cling, then I Cling to Jesus; for that is faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The realizing power of faith

Faith also realizes the presence of the living God and Saviour, and thus it breeds in the soul a beautiful calm and quiet like that which was seen in a little child in the time of tempest. Her mother was alarmed, but the sweet girl was pleased; she clapped her hands with delight. Standing at the window when the flashes came most vividly, she cried in childish accents, “Look, mammal How beautiful! How beautiful!” Her mother said, “My dear, come away, the lightning is terrible;” but she begged to be allowed to look out and see the lovely light which God was making all over the sky, for she was sure God would not do His little child any harm. “But harken to the terrible thunder,” said her mother. “Did you not say, mamma, that God was speaking in the thunder?” “Yes,” said her trembling parent. “Oh,” said the darling, “how nice it is to hear Him. He talks very loud, but I think it is because He wants the deaf people to hear Him. Is it not so, mamma Thus she went talking on; as merry as a bird was she, for God was real to her, and she trusted Him. To her the lightning was God’s beautiful light, and the thunder was God’s wonderful voice, and she was happy. I dare say her mother knew a good deal about the laws of nature and the energy of electricity; and little was the comfort which her knowledge brought her. The child’s knowledge was less showy, but it was far more certain and precious. We are so conceited nowadays that we are too proud to be comforted by self-evident truth, and prefer to make ourselves wretched with questionable theories. For my own part I would rather be a child again than grow perversely wise. Faith, is to be a child towards Christ, believing in Him as a real and present person, at this very moment near us, and ready to bless us. This may seem to be a childish fancy; but it is such childishness as we must all come to if we would be happy in the Lord. “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Faith takes Christ at His word, as a child believes his father, and trusts him in all simplicity with past, present, and future. God give us such faith! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The mistake of relying upon faith considered

In this discourse I shall take notice of and examine the mistake of those men who appear to be induced, by some texts of the New Testament, to rely upon faith, or their believing in Jesus Christ, and confident application of His merits to themselves; and to expect salvation from this, considered as distinct and separate from obedience to the moral laws of the gospel.

I. It will be very proper to lay before you the plain meaning of St Paul in the text.

The apostle’s design here is to raise the gratitude of the Ephesians to Almighty God, and to inspire them with all possible regard to Him, by putting them in mind that they were formerly in a helpless and miserable condition, dead in sins, void of the true life of reasonable creatures; that they had no thought themselves of such salvation as had been offered them by the Christian religion, that they had no merit to engage God Almighty to make them such an offer, and preach such a state of reconciliation and salvation to them.

II. That no such pretence as that which makes faith alone, separated from a good life and conversation, the condition on which we shall be accepted at last;

that no such pretence as this, I say, can be built upon this passage of the New Testament, which will lead us likewise to the further consideration of this mistake, and to give a true account of what St. James and St. Paul, upon other occasions, have affirmed upon this subject.

1. St. Paul saith that Abraham was justified without and before such works as circumcision.

St. James saith that Abraham was not justified by an empty faith without works of obedience, and would never have been accepted of God unless he had shown the reality of his faith by obedience to the call and command of God. Here is no contradiction between them. So likewise Christians will be justified by means of believing the gospel dispensation, without any such works as circumcision, or any other works of the ceremonial law; as St. Paul argued: but they will never be justified, and finally acquitted by any belief in Christ, without bringing forth, as they have opportunity, such good fruits, and walking in any such good works, as the gospel of Christ directs, and commands them to practise; as St. James saith. Again—

2. Abraham was, for one signal act of faith and trust in God, called by Him righteous, taken for such, and reputed as a person free from the guilt of his past sins; as saith St. Paul.

But it is manifest, saith St. James, that this faith of Abraham was not such an empty faith as some Christians pretend to rely upon; nay, that he would not have been justified finally by God, unless he had, when he was tried by God, shown by the obedience of his life that his faith was real and sincere. Neither in this is there any contradiction between them. St. Paul had to deal with a sort of Jewish Christians, who retained an affection for the works of the law, and circumcision particularly; and therefore found occasion to tell them that their father Abraham himself was justified without such works; that is, eminent faith was one time counted to him for righteousness, or justification; that for the sake of that faith he was esteemed by God free from all the guilt he had contracted by sin before that time; and that therefore it was nothing but what was agreeable to that great example which they pretended to love and honour, that God should accept such as believed in His Son Jesus Christ, without their adhering to such works as circumcision; and for the sake of that faith in reward, and for encouragement of it, should acquit them from the guilt of all their sins committed before that time. But St. James found that some misunderstood and perverted such doctrine as this, and that some Christians began to pretend that no works at all—not even those of piety and charity—were necessary to their justification at the great day; and that their believing in Christ would acquit them from the guilt of all their sins that they should commit after this belief, and during the time of their Christian profession. And therefore he found it necessary to tell them that Abraham showed his obedience to God’s will in the highest instances, and trusted not in an empty faith.

III. St. Paul doth, in this very Epistle, as well as in many other places, sufficiently declare against any such pretence; as our blessed Lord did likewise before him in the plainest words

. See . Although in some places St. Paul doth vilify the merits of the world and their behaviour, before the coming of the gospel; and though in others he vilifies the works of the law of Moses, with which some would have burthened the evangelical profession: yet no one can show any one text, or any one single passage, in which he vilifies, and sets at nought, the works of evangelical righteousness, or obedience to the moral laws of virtue. To vilify and decry the behaviour and works both of Jew and Gentile before the faith of Christ prevailed, was not to set at nought good works, but bad ones; and only to observe the corrupt and sad estate of mankind. To vilify the ceremonial law, after the coming in of justification by faith (or the gospel) was not to vilify such works as we are speaking of: but, indeed, to take men’s minds off from shadows and ceremonies; and to fix upon them good works that are more substantial. Nay, when he ever toucheth upon the moral duties; with how much vehemence doth he recommend them? When he speaks of the Ephesians, or other Christians, having improved in virtue, since their conversion to Christianity; what commendations doth he give them! And with how much joy doth he offer up his thanks to God for it? But we never find him depressing that sort of works; or setting up faith against them; or taking off the bent of men’s minds from them; but pressing them into the love and practice of them with all the earnestness possible. And then, if he mentions the sins of any professed Christians; doth he do it as if he thought their faith would avail them? Or rather, doth he not do it with such a spirit and zeal against them, as if no words were bad enough for them? And yet they had an easy reply to make to him, had he taught them any such doctrine, as that a strong faith would save them at last, though separate from good works.

IV. To show you in what sense faith, or believing the gospel, is said to save Christians.

1. This may be well said of them, because it is their faith, or believing, which saves them from the guilt of all their sins committed before this faith: a privilege which peculiarly belonged to the first Christians converted, at years of discretion, from a life of sin and impurity.

2. We may be well said to be saved through faith, because it is by believing in Jesus Christ that we come to know and embrace those terms which are offered by God for our salvation and happiness.

3. Christians are saved by faith, because it is the foundation of their obedience and of all their good actions. It is the tree which bears good fruit. (Bishop Hoadly.)

The qualities of justifying faith

These are the properties of faith which justifies.

1. It is persevering; a shield against all the fiery darts of the devil. It cannot be lost or overcome of any creature, because it is built on the Rock, Christ.

2. It is lively, working by love. It makes that we shall neither be idle nor unprofitable. It is no dead thing which will stand us in stead. There are, indeed, many kinds of these dead faiths; some are blind presumptions, which are merely counterfeit; some are historical persuasions, touching the truth of the articles of religion, without any particular confidence; some are common illuminations in the points of the gospel with misgrounded persuasions, like that of Haman, “What shall be done to the man whom the king will honour?” He no sooner heard it was in the heart of the king to honour a man, but who should the person be except himself?

3. Saving faith is sincere and sound.

4. It is a precious faith; within itself a pearl, rare, and of greatest worth, the least grain better than a kingdom. (Paul Bayne.)

Works excluded

1. No works of ours can merit salvation. Even the justified merit nothing.

(1) Works even of sanctification cannot merit salvation, because they are the motions of us already saved; they are the effects of salvation already revealed in us, not the causes of that we have not.

(2) Works are imperfect in us, the flesh and spirit so striving, that the action even of that which is predominant is brought forth (by reason of this strife) with great imperfection.

(3) Infants are saved, but they have no merits; for the habits of holiness are not meritorious, as being freely received. Salvation, therefore, is grounded on some other thing than works, or infants could not be heirs of heaven.

2. There is not anything left in man wherein he may rejoice, as deserving salvation. Whatever he is, or can do, it must be all reckoned as loss in this business; for this is the end of the whole mystery of our salvation, that we might be all in God, out of ourselves.

3. Whatsoever we receive in Christ cannot stand in desert of salvation. The reason is plain.

(1) Whatsoever must be meritorious in salvation and righteousness, must be given us in creation.

(2) Whatsoever is received in Christ, must stand with grace; for, Grace, Christ, Faith, stand together. But whatsoever in us should deserve, cannot stand with grace; therefore, whatsoever we are in Christ cannot deserve; faith is not of doing; grace is not of working.

(3) If this which we become in Christ should enable us to justify and save ourselves, then Christ should bring us back again to the law. But we are dead to the law.

(4) If we should, by that we are in Christ, deserve our salvation, then Christ should make us our own saviours. If Christ have deserved it, we have not; if we have, He hath not.

(5) It is a contradiction to say, Christ has deserved heaven for us, so that He makes us deserve it;

as if it should be said, One has paid my debt for me, so I will pay it myself: One has purchased such a thing for me, but so that I must purchase it myself. But it may be said, It is no prejudice that Christ should merit in us: as God is more glorious that He does many things mediately, than if He should do them alone; as He gives light, but by the sun. Answer: Christ merited, not that we should merit, but be accepted. What we come to receive in Christ, is salvation and glory. If Christ should make us also by grace to deserve, then He should make us able to make His death in vain. Anything joined with Christ overturns Christ. Christ has not deserved, that His own desert should be in vain. (Paul Bayne.)

Not of works

I have read that Dr. Moxey once had as an inquirer an old woman, and he drew her attention to the forty-first and forty-second verses of the seventh chapter of St. Luke! “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.” Now he said, “Which debtor will you be?” She replied, “The one that owes five hundred pence.” “Now,” he said, “what have you got to pay?” She replied, “I am very anxious to be saved.” “Well,” he said, “we will put that down to the credit side.” Immediately after she said, “No, I have made a mistake, I’ve got nothing to pay.” “Then,” he said, “we will go on with the story.” And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.’” He said, “That’s just the way of the Lord towards us.”

Works, no sure foundation

He (Baxter on his death bed) said, “God may justly condemn me for the best duty I ever did; and all my hopes are from the free mercy of God in Christ.” He had often said before, “I can more readily believe that God will forgive me than I can forgive myself. After a slumber he waked, saying, “I shall rest from my labours.” A minister present said, “And your works will follow you.” He replied, “No works; I will leave out works, if God will grant me the other.” When a friend comforted him with the remembrance of the good many had received from his writings, he replied, “I was but a pen in God’s hand, and what praise is due to a pen?” (Bishop Ryle.)

Christian humility

Remember, the ears of barley which bear the most grain always hang the lowest. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)

Humility delights in concealment

The nettle mounteth on high, while the violet shrouds itself under its own leaves, and is chiefly found out by its fragrance. Let Christians be satisfied with the honour that cometh from God only. (H. G. Salter.)

No room for pride

Had God given His saints a stock of grace to have set up with, and left them to the improvement of it, He had been magnified indeed, because it was more than God did owe the creature; but He had not been omnified as now, when not only the Christian’s first strength to close with Christ is from God, but he is beholden still to God for the exercise of that strength, in every action of his Christian course. As a child that travels in his father’s company, all is paid for, but his father carries the purse, not himself; so the Christian’s shot is discharged in every condition; but he cannot say, This I did, or that I suffered; but God wrought all in me, and for me. The very comb of pride is cut here; no room for any self-exalting thoughts. (W. Gurnall.)

All glory to God

Doth the Christian’s strength lie in God, not in himself? This may forever keep the Christian humble, when most enlarged in duty, most assisted in his Christian course. Remember, Christian, when thou hast thy best suit on, who made it, who paid for it. Thy grace, thy comfort, is neither the work of thy own hands, nor the price of thy own desert; be not for shame proud of another’s cost. (W. Gurnall.)

Good works not to be boasted of

If the king freely, without desert of mine, and at the mediation of another, give me a place about him, and never so much right unto it, yet I am bound, if I will enjoy it, to come unto him and do the things that the place requireth. And if he give me a tree growing in his forest, this his gift ties me to be at cost to cut it down and bring it home, if I wilt have it. And when I have done all this, I cannot brag that by my coming and service I merited this place, or by my cost in cutting down and carrying home the tree made myself worthy of the tree, as the Jesuits speak of their works. But only the deed is the way that leads to the fruition of that which is freely given. There cannot be produced a place in all the Scripture, nor a sentence in all the Fathers, which extends our works any further, or makes them exceed the latitude of a mere condition or way whereby to walk to that which not themselves, but the blood of Christ hath deserved. (E. White.)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship.

The respective places of faith and works in salvation

I. Consider now we are saved by or through faith.

1. Without faith we cannot be saved.

(1) Faith is necessary in the appointment of God.

(2) Faith is necessary in the nature of the case.

2. All who have faith will be saved. But remember, faith is not a mere assent to and profession of the truth; but such a belief as purifies the heart and governs the life.

II. Consider what place and influence works gave in our salvation.

1. In one sense our Salvation is not of works.

(1) We are not saved by works, considered as a fulfilment of the original law of nature.

(2) Nor are we saved by virtue of any works done before faith in Christ, for none of these are properly good.

2. Yet there is a sense in which good works are of absolute necessity to salvation.

(2) A temper disposing us to good works is a necessary qualification for heaven.

(3) Works are necessary as evidences of our faith in Christ, and of our title to heaven.

(4) Good works essentially belong to religion.

(5) Works are necessary to adorn our professions and honour our religion before men.

(6) Works are necessary, as by them we are to be judged in the great day of the Lord.

III. The necessity of works does not diminish the grace of God in our salvation, nor afford us any pretence for boasting. The whole scheme of redemption originated in God’s self-moving mercy. And our spiritual services are acceptable only by Jesus Christ, not by their own intrinsic worth. Practical reflections:

1. Humility essentially belongs to the Christian temper.

3. It infinitely concerns us to comply with the proposals of the gospel.

4. Let no man flatter himself that he is in a state of salvation as long as he neglects good works. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

The source and way of salvation

I. The source from which our salvation flows is “grace”—the grace of God.

1. It is the grace of God which gave origin and existence to the scheme of our salvation by the death of the Messiah.

2. It is the grace of God which has given execution or accomplishment to the scheme of our Christian salvation.

3. It is the grace of God which gives application and effect to this scheme of salvation.

II. The way in which the Christian salvation is to be obtained—“through faith.”

1. An exceedingly plain and simple way.

2. A divinely appointed way.

3. A humiliating way.

4. A holy and practical way. (John Hannah, D. D.)

Salvation of God through faith

Salvation

1. Look at salvation in its origin—it is “by grace.”

2. Look at it in its reception—it is “through faith.”

3. Look at it in the manner of its conferment—it is “a gift.” (J. Eadie, D. D.)

Saved by grace

The freeness of grace and love

I. It is a great matter and of infinite concernment to be saved and to go to heaven forever. For—

1. You are thereby saved from wrath to come. Yea—

2. You shall be delivered from all sorrow, both inward and outward; and if so, how blessed and happy are you, for you shall die in the Lord.

3. You shall not only be freed from these troubles, but you shall also be brought into a possession, into an “inheritance that is incorruptible, that fadeth not away.”

6. If you be saved, you shall have the knowledge of the continuance of this condition.

II. But in what way does a man come to this attainment? How and in what way is a man saved? Why, in a way of free love and grace; for, if God bestow anything in a way of gift, it is free, for what is more free than gift? Now do but consider what these things are which are called in Scripture, salvation; and you may observe that they all come in a way of gift. Sometimes salvation is put for the Author of salvation, Jesus Christ (Luk_2:29-30). Sometimes salvation is put for eternal glory. “Who would have all men to be saved, both Jew and Gentile.’” And this salvation is the gift of God too. “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom_6:23). Now salvation, as to the Author of it, as to the means of it, and as to the salvation itself; it is all of free grace.

III. But you will say, If it be so, that by free grace we are saved, then why need we use the means of salvation; you say we are saved by grace, by free grace, wherefore then need we endeavour? Yes, we are to endeavour: do you not use your endeavour to get your daily bread? and yet that is the gift of God.

IV. Wherein doth the freeness of the grace of God appear in the matter of our salvation? There is a great deal of free grace in this, that God should ordain us to eternal life and salvation (2Ti_1:9). Yet, further, it is in the matter of our salvation, as it is in the matter of our consolation and comfort; and as I said of that, so I say also of this: That the greater and the more glorious any mercy is, and the more worthy and great the person is that giveth it, and the more unworthy the person is that receives it, the more doth the grace of him appear who giveth it; now what greater mercy, what more glorious mercy, than heaven and salvation? It is called the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven; it is called the kingdom of glory, and eternal glory; it is called joy, enter into the joy of our Lord: and great is the joy of our Lord; that joy which was set before Christ, that is the joy of the saints in heaven. Now, what are the arches and pillars of free grace and love, upon which our salvation under Christ is laid? I shall name some of them. The absoluteness of the covenant. That God justifies the ungodly. Thus our righteousness is not in us, but in Christ. That the guilt of our sins by which we lay liable to condemnation is removed. That a little sincerity covers a great deal of infirmity. That what God calls ours is not indeed ours, but God’s, as our graces, our duties, which are not indeed ours but God’s. That God will in due time glorify us and honour us. Sin doth provoke God and cause Him to be angry with us, but grace doth provoke Him to love us; and, therefore, the pillars of our salvation are laid under Christ upon grace, upon free grace and love: and thereby the freeness of the grace of God doth the more appear in the matter of our salvation.

V. Salvation is a work of grace; and seeing we are saved by grace alone, why then doth God choose to save men in this way of free grace? I answer, It is because this is the most honourable way unto God. If there was somewhat of the good pleasure of God in the world’s condemnation, all the reason in the world then that there should be free grace in the way of salvation. Pray, how came Adam to stand for the whole world? He was not chosen by us, why it was the good pleasure of God that he should stand for the whole world, and that he sinning, we should be all guilty of sin by, and through him: so, I say, if there was, as I may speak with reverence, somewhat of the good pleasure of God in the old world’s condemnation, why then should there not be free grace in the soul’s salvation. God would have heaven and salvation to be of one piece; He would have the work of heaven to be the same; now there were many angels that fell, and many thousands that stood, why how came they to stand that did stand, more than the others that fell? it was only by free grace, they were elect angels. Now men and angels in heaven are of the same choir and sing the same song; and therefore those men that are saved, oh, who are they? why they are the elect, and they have great cause to glorify the grace, the free grace of God. God saves men in a way of free love and grace, because none shall miss of salvation. As God will punish and condemn all the proud, all the wicked, that none shall escape; so He will also save all that He hath a mind to save, by free grace because they shall not miss of salvation. God will save men in such a way as whereby He may be glorified to all eternity, and therefore He saves them in a way of free grace and love; for what have we to praise God for in heaven, but only for free grace, free grace, to glorify His name for that; therefore, I say, God will save men in this way of free love and grace, that He may be thereby glorified hereafter to all eternity. (W. Bridge.)

Salvation all of grace

I. This doctrine should inspire every sinner with hope.

1. If salvation be of mercy only, it is clear that our sin is by no means an impediment to our salvation.

2. Remember, too, that any spiritual unfitness which may exist in a man should not shut him out from a hope, since God deals with us in mercy. I hear you say, “I believe God can save me, but I am so impenitent.” Yes, and I say it again, if thou wert to stand on terms of debt with God, thy hard heart would shut thee out of hope. How could He bless such a wretch as thou art, whose heart is a heart of stone? But if He deal with thee entirely upon another ground, namely, His mercy, why I think I hear Him say, “Poor hard-hearted sinner, I will pity thee, and take away thy heart of stone, and give thee a heart of flesh.” Do I hear thee confess that thou canst not believe? Now, the absence of faith from thee is a great evil, yea a horrible evil; but then the Lord is dealing with thee on terms of grace, and does not say, “I will not smite thee because thou dost net believe,” but He saith, “I will give thee faith,” for faith is “not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

II. This doctrine affords direction to the sinner, as to how to act before his God in seeking mercy. Clearly, O soul, if salvation he of grace alone, it would be a very wrong course of action to plead that thou art not guilty, or to extenuate thy faults before God. Take care that all your pleas with God are consistent with the fact that He saves by His grace. Never bring a legal plea, or a plea that is based upon self, for it will be an offence to God; whereas, if thine argument be based on grace, it will have a sweet savour to Him. Let me teach thee, seeking sinner, for a moment how to pray. Plead with God thy miserable and undone condition; tell Him that thou art utterly lost if He do not save thee. Show Him the imminence of thy danger. Then argue with Him the plenteousness of His grace, Say to Him, “Lord, Thy mercy is very great, I know it is.”

III. A full conviction of this truth will reconcile. Our hearts to all Divine ordinances with regard to salvation. I feel in my own heart, and I think every believer here does, that if salvation be of grace, God must do as He wills with His own. None of us can say to Him, “What doest Thou?” If there were anything of debt, or justice, or obligation, in the matter, then we might begin to question God; but as there is none, and the thing is quite out of court as to law, and far away from rights and claims, as it is all God’s free favour, we will henceforth stop our mouths and never question Him. As to the instrument by whom He saves, let Him save by the coarsest speaker, or by the most eloquent; let Him do what seemeth Him good.

IV. A most powerful motive for future holiness. A man who feels that he is saved by grace says, “Did God of His free favour blot out my sins? Then, oh, how I love Him. Was it nothing but His love that saved an undeserving wretch. Then my soul is knit to Him forever.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Salvation by grace

I. Definition of grace. Grace has been too often represented in forms which dishonoured the righteousness of God, and were unfriendly to the righteousness of man. In our modern religious language it occurs less frequently than in the language of our fathers. But the word is too precious to be surrendered. Among the Greeks it stood for all that is most winning in personal loveliness, for the nameless fascination of a beauty which is not cold and remote but irresistibly attractive and charming. It was also used for that warm, free handed, and spontaneous generosity which is kind where there is no claim or merit, and kind without hope of return; a disposition lovely in itself, and winning the admiration and affection of all who witness it. This beautiful word, with all its beautiful associations, has been exalted and transfigured in its Christian uses.

1. Grace transcends love. Love may be nothing more than the fulfilment of the law. We love God, who deserves our love. We are required to love our neighbour, and we cannot refuse to love him without guilt. But grace is love which passes beyond all claims to love. It is love which, after fulfilling the obligations imposed by law, has an unexhausted wealth of kindness.

2. Grace transcends mercy. Mercy forgives sin, and rescues the sinner from eternal darkness and death. But grace floods with affection the sinner who has deserved anger and resentment, trusts penitent treachery with a confidence which could not have been merited by ages of incorruptible fidelity, confers on a race which had been in revolt honours which no loyalty could have purchased, on the sinful joy beyond the deserts of saintliness.

3. Grace transcends majesty. The eternal righteousness of God is that which constitutes His dignity and majesty, makes Him venerable and august; but His grace adds to His dignity an infinite loveliness, to His majesty an ineffable charm, blends with the awe and devout fear with which we worship Him a happy confidence, and with our veneration a passionate affection.

II. Achievement of grace. Our salvation is the achievement of God’s grace: this is the central thought of the Epistle to the Ephesians. God’s free, spontaneous lave for us, resolved that we who sprang from the dust, and might have passed away and perished like the falling leaves after a frail and brief existence, should share through a glorious immortality the sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. This was the wonderful idea of human greatness and destiny which was formed by the grace of God. The race declined from the lofty path designed for it by the Divine goodness. But as by the grace of God Christ was to be the root of our righteousness and blessedness, and as the ground and reason of our ethical and spiritual greatness were in Him, so in Christ God has revealed the root, the ground, the reason of our redemption. We have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of God’s grace. There is nothing abnormal in the forgiveness of our sin being the result of Christ’s death; all our possible righteousness was to be the fruit of the perfection and energy of His eternal life. The original idea of the Divine grace, according to which we were to find all things in Christ, and Christ was to be the root of a perfection and glory surpassing all hope and all thought, was tragically asserted in the death of Christ for human salvation. Our fortunes—shall I say it?—were identified with the fortunes of Christ; in the Divine thought and purpose we were inseparable from Him. Had we been true and loyal to the Divine idea, the energy of Christ’s righteousness would have drawn us upwards to height after height of goodness and joy, until we ascended from this earthly life to the larger powers and loftier services and richer delights of other and diviner worlds; and still, through one golden age of intellectual and ethical and spiritual growth after another, we should have continued to rise towards Christ’s transcendent and infinite perfection. But we sinned; and as the union between Christ and us could not be broken without the final and irrevocable defeat of the Divine purpose, as separation from Christ meant for us eternal death, Christ was drawn down from the serene heavens to the shame and sorrow of the confused and troubled life of our race, to pain, to temptation, to anguish, to the cross and to the grave, and so the mystery of His atonement for our sin was consummated. In His sufferings and death, through the infinite grace of God, we find forgiveness, as in the power of His righteousness and as in His great glory we find the possibilities of all perfection. Our union with Him is not dissolved. Through His death we receive forgiveness, through His death we die to the sin which brought the death upon Him; and in His resurrection and ascension we see the visible manifestation of that eternal life which we have already received, and which will some day be manifested in us as it has been manifested in Him. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

God’s grace and man’s salvation

1. The ground of all our salvation is the free favour of God. Much comfort for us in this; for if our salvation be of mere grace, and depend not on our own worth, endeavour, and holiness, why should we fear? If it were for anything in us to be procured, we might utterly despair; but since it is of God, we may boldly accept, and confidently trust in this free grace of God, although we are unworthy of it. It is not true humility, but a foolish pride, to put away, and judge ourselves unworthy of this salvation, whereof it has pleased God (in rich mercy) to deem us worthy.

2. To the full glorifying of us in heaven, all is from the free, mere grace of God. He does nothing by halves. What He has begun, He will complete (Php_1:6).

3. God’s grace and man’s faith ever stand together (Gal_3:22; Joh_3:16). To this it may be objected that the grace of God cannot stand with anything in man. How then (you will ask) can it stand with faith? Answer: It is true, that the grace of God does not brook anything inherent in man, and of man; and yet, notwithstanding, it may well agree with faith. For

(1) Faith is not of man, no, not in man by nature; but it is in man renewed, and as a gift of mere grace.

(2) Faith does not justify, as it is an inherent quality in us, but as it apprehends Christ Jesus the Redeemer.

(3) Faith receives only, and shows to God the righteousness and merit of Christ.

(4) It is therefore the Lord’s grace that accepts faith for the righteousness of the believer.

4. No power in man can quicken him; and no virtue, quality, or dignity, when he is quickened, can merit his salvation. (Paul Bayne.)

Salvation by the sovereign love and free grace of God

I. Salvation.

1. We are delivered from death. So long as we continued under the impending curse, there was nothing due to us but death. Death temporal, spiritual, and eternal, were all included in the threatening. Death temporal is the separation of the soul from the body. Death spiritual is the separation of the soul from God. And death eternal is the separation of both soul and body from God forever. But from all these we are saved. Death temporal, no doubt, performs its work, but it is not now penal; in its rapacity to devour it caught Jesus, but He was too mighty for death! He overcame it, and left it vanquished in the grave; so that it is now in the hand of the Mediator, converted into a mean for bringing His saints to glory. And spiritual death shall have no dominion over us; now and then, indeed, we may experience a compunction of conscience and a pang of mind, because we carry about with us bodies of sin and death. But these shall no longer prove destructive, but are all so many incentives to bring us to Jesus, and to cause us to rely upon Him more fully. And death eternal shall have no place; whenever the soul is set free from the body, that moment shall it be in paradise, carried by the angels, and so shall it be forever with the Lord.

2. We are delivered from the love of sin. By the covenant transgression of Adam, there is a sinful bias given to our minds. Because we have broken the law, there is a deep-rooted enmity in our hearts to all that is holy; and we cannot think of returning to God, for that would be calling our sins to remembrance, and setting before our face the curse which awaits us from an offended Judge. But when we obtain salvation from the Lord, we have no more desire for sin. But now does the Lord become the supreme object of our delight. We see in Him a beauty and an all-sufficiency suited to give true comfort to the saint, something which is congenial to our celestial part, and which in life and in death continues alike calculated to give deliverance, and to present with a crown of glory.

3. We are saved from the power of sin; for whom we serve, His we are.

4. We are saved from the practice of sin.

II. The source whence this salvation flows. The sovereign love and free grace of God.

1. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation; because when man had sinned, and all the clouds of wrath were thickening around him, and all the thunders of Jehovah’s justice were ready to burst around man’s guilty head, it remained with God to manifest whether justice should take its course, or He would stretch out His strong arm to deliver; whether He would be reconciled to man, or punish him according to his iniquities, by everlastingly secluding him from His presence. And, until the decree was declared, there must have been a solemn pause, as if the pulse of nature stood. All the angels in glory must have looked on with intense interest, and devils must have trembled in dire suspense for the declaration of the Divine will, which made fully known whether man was to be restored to the favour of his God, or eternally to expiate his guilt, by bearing the punishment due to his crimes. And, at that all-important moment, in the riches of His grace, and gave the intimation of His pleasure, “Deliver from going down to the pit; for I will be merciful.”

2. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation, inasmuch as, in the bowels of His compassion, God so loved the world, that He gave the Son of His bosom for the sin of man’s soul, and thus provided a ransom. When the rebellion of man had plunged him into the depth of distress, and he was altogether helpless as an infant abandoned in the open field, then did God make known the Deliverer. This no ingenuity of man could ever have discovered, nor could the united prowess of the human race ever have procured the Mediator.

3. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation, inasmuch as salvation can be applied to the soul only by the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit. “Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but God alone can give the increase.” There is both a natural and a moral inability about man to prevent him from being saved. His moral inability lies in the utter perversion of his will; he has no desire for that which is good; but his whole affections are set on things which are evil, and his natural inability lies in the utter incompetency of created capacity to change itself.

III. The medium through which salvation is applied to the souls of men. Faith.

3. Salvation through faith is by grace; because, even when we are made to believe, faith gives no remuneration to God for what we receive.

I shall now conclude this discourse with a few remarks.

3. From this subject learn the complete disappointment which all those shall receive who trust to the law for the salvation of their souls.

Bishop Ryle’s conversion

We are saved by grace only

We are saved by faith—not of ourselves

Saved

Salvation by grace

I. Set forth man’s state by nature, and show that there could be nothing in him to move God to bestow so great a gift upon him.

II. Such being man’s stare by nature, it is manifest that salvation must be entirely of free grace. (R. Shutte, M. A.)

Salvation a gift

God’s gift

How we are saved

Faith: its meaning, source, and power

I. The nature of faith. Faith, in ordinary language, means the assent of the understanding to some statement as true—propounded upon the authority of another. It seems, however, in Scripture to be most commonly used in a somewhat more extensive sense, as comprehending what in strictness (metaphysical correctness) might be regarded rather as consequences of faith than as faith itself. Saving faith, according to the views of it given in Scripture, may be described as such an assent to the doctrines of the gospel as leads men to receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation, and to submit themselves entirely to His authority.

II. How faith is produced. Faith implies certain objects presented to our minds—a capacity to perceive, and a disposition to attend to them, and to act under their influence. Now, in regard to the faith of the gospel, God both given us the objects, and enables us to perceive them. Faith, therefore, is His gift, not merely in the sense in which any other ordinary exercise of our faculties is His gift, but in a higher and more peculiar manner. It is God who sets before us those objects which faith embraces, and without which it could never have existence. We had known nothing of God unless He had chosen to reveal Himself to us. We have no certain knowledge of His character except what He is pleased to acquaint us with. We could have known absolutely nothing of Jesus Christ, who is the great Object of Faith—of all that He has done and suffered for us—of the whole scheme of redemption that is founded upon His work, and of the covenant of grace that is sealed with His blood—of the authority which He now exercises, and of the great and glorious purposes to which the exercise of that authority is directed—unless God had seen fit, not only to bring all these important results into existence, but to transmit them to us in His Word. We could have learned nothing of the future and unseen world, unless God had undertaken to remove the veil that conceals it, and open it up to our view. Thus there would have been no objects for our faith; and of course faith could never have existed unless God had made revelation of Himself, of His character, and ways—unless He had brought certain events to pass, and then made them known to us. But faith appears still further to be God’s gift, from this, that men are naturally indisposed to attend to the objects set before them in the sacred Scriptures, and, according to the principles of our natural constitution, there can be no clear knowledge of anything without some degree of attention being directed towards it; whilst without clear knowledge there can be no sound and rational faith.

III. The effect of faith as uniting us to Christ, and thus saving the soul. Now, when a man believes in Christ, he is, according to God’s appointment, united to Him. There is a union formed between them. God regards him as if he were Christ, and treats him as if he had suffered the full punishment for his sins which Christ endured in his room—as if he had in his own person performed that full and perfect obedience to the Divine law which our Saviour’s conduct exhibited. It is this imputation of Christ’s sufferings and of His righteousness—or, as it is often called, of His active and passive obedience—it is this communion of suffering and of merit, in which the union of believers with Christ mainly consists; and this union and communion with Him is the foundation of their salvation, in all its parts and in all its aspects. Viewing them thus, as united to Christ, as one with Him—God bestows upon them the blessings which Christ purchased for all who should believe on His name; they obtain through faith the forgiveness of their sins, acceptance with God as righteous persons, the renovation and sanctification of their natures, and, finally, an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Christ is the great Head of Influence; all spiritual blessings are the fruits of His purchase; it is only by abiding in Him that we are enabled to bring forth fruits unto eternal life: as it is written (Joh_15:5), “I am the Vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” You see now the great importance of faith in the salvation of sinners. It is the instrument by means of which we receive everything necessary to our peace. None can be saved without it, and every one who has it will assuredly be saved. (W. Cunningham, D. D.)

Faith: what is it? how can it be obtained?

I. Faith: what is it? What is this faith concerning which it is said,” By grace are ye saved through faith”? What is faith? It is made up of three things—knowledge, belief, and trust.

II. Let us inquire, why faith is selected as the channel of salvation?

2. Faith, again, is doubtless selected because it gives all the glory to God. It is of faith that it might be of grace, and it is of grace that there may be no boasting; for God cannot endure pride.

3. It is a sure method, linking man with God. When man confides in God there is a point of union between them, and that union guarantees blessing. Faith saves us, because it makes us cling to God, and so brings us into connection with Him. I am told that years ago, above the Falls of Niagara, a boat was upset, and two men were being carried down the current, when persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to them, which rope was seized by them both. One of them held fast to it, and was safely drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a great log come floating by, unwisely let go the rope, and clung to the log, for it was the bigger thing of the two, and apparently better to cling to. Alas, the log, with the man on it, went right over the vast abyss, because there was no union between the log and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed a connection with the shore to produce safety. So when a man trusts to his works, or to sacraments, or to anything of that sort, he will not be saved, because there is no junction between him and Christ; but faith, though it may seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hand of the great God on the shore side; Infinite Power pulls in the connecting line, and thus draws the man from destruction. Oh, the blessedness of faith, because it unites us to God!

4. Faith is chosen, again, because it touches the springs of action. I wonder whether I shall be wrong if I say that we never do anything except through faith of some sort. If I walk across this platform, it is because I believe my legs will carry me. A man eats because he believes in the necessity of food. Columbus discovered America because he believed that there was another continent beyond the ocean: many another grand deed has also been born of faith, for faith works wonders. Commoner things are done on the same principle; faith in its natural form is an all-prevailing force. God gives salvation to our faith, because He has thus touched the secret spring of all our emotions and actions. He has, so to speak, taken possession of the battery, and now He can send the sacred current to every part of our nature.

5. Faith, again, has the power of working by love; it touches the secret spring of the affections, and draws the heart towards God. Faith is an act of the understanding; but it also proceeds from the heart. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness;” and hence God gives salvation to faith because it resides next door to the affections, and is near akin to love, and love, you know, is that which purifies the soul. Love to God is obedience, love is holiness; to love God and to love man is to be conformed to the image of Christ, and this is salvation.

6. Moreover, faith creates peace and joy; he that hath it rests, and is tranquil, is glad, and joyous; and this is a preparation for heaven. God gives all the heavenly gifts to faith, because faith worketh in us the very life and spirit which are to be eternally manifested in the upper and better world. I have hastened over these points that I might not weary you on a day when, however willing the spirit may be, the flesh is weak.

III. How can we obtain and increase our faith? A very earnest question this to many. They say they want to believe but cannot. “What am I to do in order to believe?”

1. The shortest way is to believe, and if the Holy Spirit has made you honest and candid, you will believe as soon as the truth is set before you.

2. But still, if you have a difficulty, take it before God in prayer. The Lord is willing to make Himself known; go to Him, and see if it be not so.

3. Furthermore, if faith seem difficult, it is possible that God the Holy Spirit will enable you to believe, if you hear very frequently and earnestly that which you are commanded to believe.

4. Consider the testimony of others. I believe there is a country called Japan, although I never have been there. I believe I shall die: I have never died, but a great many have done so whom I once knew, and I have a conviction that I shall die also; the testimony of many convinces me of this fact. Listen, then, to those who tell you how they were saved, how they were pardoned, how they have been changed in character: if you will but listen you will find that somebody just like yourself has been saved. As you listen to one after another of those who have tried the word of God, and proved it, the Divine Spirit will lead you to believe. Have you not heard of the African who was told by the missionary that water sometimes became so hard that a man could walk on it? He declared that he believed a great many things the missionary had told him; but he never would believe that. When he came to England it came to pass that one frosty day he saw the river frozen, but he would not venture on it. He knew that it was a river, and he was certain that he would be drowned if he ventured upon it. He could not be induced to walk on the ice till his friend went upon it; then he was persuaded, and trusted himself where others had ventured. So, mayhap, while you see others believe, and notice their joy and peace, you will yourself be gently led to believe. It is one of God’s ways of helping us to faith. A better plan still is this—note the authority upon which you are commanded to believe, and this will greatly help you. He bids you believe in Jesus Christ, and you must not refuse to obey your Maker. The foreman of a certain works in the north had often heard the gospel, but he was troubled with the fear that he might not come to Christ. His good master one day sent a card round to the works—“Come to my house immediately after work.” The foreman appeared at his master’s door, and the master came out, and said somewhat roughly, “What do you want, John, troubling me at this time? Work is done, what right have you here?” “Sir,” said he, “I had a card from you saying that I was to come after work.” “Do you mean to say that merely because you had a card from me you are to come up to my house and call me out after business hours?” “Well, sir,” replied the foreman, “I do not understand you, but it seems to me that, as you sent for me, I had a right to come.” “Come in, John,” said his master, “I have another message that I want to read to you,” and he sat down and read these words—“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Do you think after such a message from Christ that you can be wrong in going to Him?” The poor man saw it all at once, and believed, because he saw that he had good warrant and authority for believing. So have you, poor soul; you have good authority for coming to Christ, for the Lord Himself bids you trust Him. If that does not settle you, think over what it is that you have to believe—that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the room and place and stead of men, and is able to save all who trust Him. Why, this is the most blessed fact that ever men were told to believe: the most suitable, the most comforting, the most Divine truth that ever was set before men. If none of these things avail, then there is something Wrong about you altogether, and my last word is, submit yourself to God. May the Spirit of God take away your enmity and make you yield. You are a rebel, a proud rebel, and that is why you do not believe your God. Give up your rebellion; throw down your weapons; yield at discretion; surrender to your King. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The clinging power of faith

The realizing power of faith

The mistake of relying upon faith considered

I. It will be very proper to lay before you the plain meaning of St Paul in the text. The apostle’s design here is to raise the gratitude of the Ephesians to Almighty God, and to inspire them with all possible regard to Him, by putting them in mind that they were formerly in a helpless and miserable condition, dead in sins, void of the true life of reasonable creatures; that they had no thought themselves of such salvation as had been offered them by the Christian religion, that they had no merit to engage God Almighty to make them such an offer, and preach such a state of reconciliation and salvation to them.

II. That no such pretence as that which makes faith alone, separated from a good life and conversation, the condition on which we shall be accepted at last; that no such pretence as this, I say, can be built upon this passage of the New Testament, which will lead us likewise to the further consideration of this mistake, and to give a true account of what St. James and St. Paul, upon other occasions, have affirmed upon this subject.

1. St. Paul saith that Abraham was justified without and before such works as circumcision. St. James saith that Abraham was not justified by an empty faith without works of obedience, and would never have been accepted of God unless he had shown the reality of his faith by obedience to the call and command of God. Here is no contradiction between them. So likewise Christians will be justified by means of believing the gospel dispensation, without any such works as circumcision, or any other works of the ceremonial law; as St. Paul argued: but they will never be justified, and finally acquitted by any belief in Christ, without bringing forth, as they have opportunity, such good fruits, and walking in any such good works, as the gospel of Christ directs, and commands them to practise; as St. James saith. Again—

2. Abraham was, for one signal act of faith and trust in God, called by Him righteous, taken for such, and reputed as a person free from the guilt of his past sins; as saith St. Paul. But it is manifest, saith St. James, that this faith of Abraham was not such an empty faith as some Christians pretend to rely upon; nay, that he would not have been justified finally by God, unless he had, when he was tried by God, shown by the obedience of his life that his faith was real and sincere. Neither in this is there any contradiction between them. St. Paul had to deal with a sort of Jewish Christians, who retained an affection for the works of the law, and circumcision particularly; and therefore found occasion to tell them that their father Abraham himself was justified without such works; that is, eminent faith was one time counted to him for righteousness, or justification; that for the sake of that faith he was esteemed by God free from all the guilt he had contracted by sin before that time; and that therefore it was nothing but what was agreeable to that great example which they pretended to love and honour, that God should accept such as believed in His Son Jesus Christ, without their adhering to such works as circumcision; and for the sake of that faith in reward, and for encouragement of it, should acquit them from the guilt of all their sins committed before that time. But St. James found that some misunderstood and perverted such doctrine as this, and that some Christians began to pretend that no works at all—not even those of piety and charity—were necessary to their justification at the great day; and that their believing in Christ would acquit them from the guilt of all their sins that they should commit after this belief, and during the time of their Christian profession. And therefore he found it necessary to tell them that Abraham showed his obedience to God’s will in the highest instances, and trusted not in an empty faith.

III. St. Paul doth, in this very Epistle, as well as in many other places, sufficiently declare against any such pretence; as our blessed Lord did likewise before him in the plainest words. See Eph_1:10. Although in some places St. Paul doth vilify the merits of the world and their behaviour, before the coming of the gospel; and though in others he vilifies the works of the law of Moses, with which some would have burthened the evangelical profession: yet no one can show any one text, or any one single passage, in which he vilifies, and sets at nought, the works of evangelical righteousness, or obedience to the moral laws of virtue. To vilify and decry the behaviour and works both of Jew and Gentile before the faith of Christ prevailed, was not to set at nought good works, but bad ones; and only to observe the corrupt and sad estate of mankind. To vilify the ceremonial law, after the coming in of justification by faith (or the gospel) was not to vilify such works as we are speaking of: but, indeed, to take men’s minds off from shadows and ceremonies; and to fix upon them good works that are more substantial. Nay, when he ever toucheth upon the moral duties; with how much vehemence doth he recommend them? When he speaks of the Ephesians, or other Christians, having improved in virtue, since their conversion to Christianity; what commendations doth he give them! And with how much joy doth he offer up his thanks to God for it? But we never find him depressing that sort of works; or setting up faith against them; or taking off the bent of men’s minds from them; but pressing them into the love and practice of them with all the earnestness possible. And then, if he mentions the sins of any professed Christians; doth he do it as if he thought their faith would avail them? Or rather, doth he not do it with such a spirit and zeal against them, as if no words were bad enough for them? And yet they had an easy reply to make to him, had he taught them any such doctrine, as that a strong faith would save them at last, though separate from good works.

IV. To show you in what sense faith, or believing the gospel, is said to save Christians.

2. We may be well said to be saved through faith, because it is by believing in Jesus Christ that we come to know and embrace those terms which are offered by God for our salvation and happiness.

3. Christians are saved by faith, because it is the foundation of their obedience and of all their good actions. It is the tree which bears good fruit. (Bishop Hoadly.)

The qualities of justifying faith

These are the properties of faith which justifies.

1. It is persevering; a shield against all the fiery darts of the devil. It cannot be lost or overcome of any creature, because it is built on the Rock, Christ.

3. Saving faith is sincere and sound.

4. It is a precious faith; within itself a pearl, rare, and of greatest worth, the least grain better than a kingdom. (Paul Bayne.)

Works excluded

1. No works of ours can merit salvation. Even the justified merit nothing.

(2) Works are imperfect in us, the flesh and spirit so striving, that the action even of that which is predominant is brought forth (by reason of this strife) with great imperfection.

3. Whatsoever we receive in Christ cannot stand in desert of salvation. The reason is plain.

(1) Whatsoever must be meritorious in salvation and righteousness, must be given us in creation.

(3) If this which we become in Christ should enable us to justify and save ourselves, then Christ should bring us back again to the law. But we are dead to the law.

(4) If we should, by that we are in Christ, deserve our salvation, then Christ should make us our own saviours. If Christ have deserved it, we have not; if we have, He hath not.

(5) It is a contradiction to say, Christ has deserved heaven for us, so that He makes us deserve it; as if it should be said, One has paid my debt for me, so I will pay it myself: One has purchased such a thing for me, but so that I must purchase it myself. But it may be said, It is no prejudice that Christ should merit in us: as God is more glorious that He does many things mediately, than if He should do them alone; as He gives light, but by the sun. Answer: Christ merited, not that we should merit, but be accepted. What we come to receive in Christ, is salvation and glory. If Christ should make us also by grace to deserve, then He should make us able to make His death in vain. Anything joined with Christ overturns Christ. Christ has not deserved, that His own desert should be in vain. (Paul Bayne.)

Hot of works

Works, no sure foundation

Christian humility

Remember, the ears of barley which bear the most grain always hang the lowest. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)

Humility delights in concealment

No room for pride

All glory to God

Good works not to be boasted of

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

Justified persons are God’s workmanship

Grace here means God’s free gift. Our salvation is entirely God’s gift to us; and it must be so, because we cannot make it or get it for ourselves; we have no power of our own to make it for ourselves, nothing of our own to offer in exchange for it. If our salvation does not come to us as God’s free gift it can never come to us at all. But, though our salvation is entirely God’s free gift to us, it is never forced upon us without our consent. Freely as it is offered to us, we must, on our parts, freely accept it when it is held out to us; we must acknowledge it thankfully; and unless we do acknowledge it and lay hold on it, it can never become curs. It may go on lying within arm’s length of us all our lives through, and yet be of no more service to us than if it were hundreds of miles away; we must reach out our hand to take it, and this hand of ours which we have to put forth to take it with is faith. “By grace are ye saved, through faith.” This reaching out of faith, in answer to God’s stretching out His hand to save us, is the second step which is necessary to be taken in the matter of our salvation. But here St. Paul finds it necessary to put in a word of caution to those who are the very foremost in accepting his teaching, and the most earnest in looking to their faith as the sole instrument of their justification. He foresaw that men would come to pride themselves upon this faith of theirs as something peculiarly their own, which very few besides themselves had any share in, and which entitled them to look down upon the rest of mankind with something like a feeling of contempt. And so, after saying, “By grace are ye saved through faith,” he goes on to say, “and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Your salvation, yes, and your faith, too, by which you lay hold of your salvation, is all God’s free gift to you; you did not make your faith for yourselves any more than you made your salvation; you had nothing of your own with which to make it. And how dare you, then, presume upon your faith, and pride yourselves upon it, as if it were your own creating? And now that St. Paul has secured his position against attack on one side, he turns cautiously round, like a skilful general, to secure it on the other: “Not of works,” he proceeds to say, “lest any man should boast.” And here, after all, is the quarter from which an attack is chiefly to be looked for. It is in man’s nature to make as much of himself as he can; it is in his nature to seek to justify himself, to work all out by himself, to set his own account straight with God. But now, of course, if he can earn his salvation for himself, he can make a merit of what he has done, he can claim his justification as his own work. And so, in order to put a stop, once for all, to such notions and attempts on the part of man to justify himself, the apostle lays down his next great principle in the doctrine of justification: “Not of works, lest any man should boast. For,” he proceeds to say, “we are His workmanship.” So far from having any works of our own with which to purchase our salvation, we are ourselves nothing but a piece of work of another’s making. God made us, and not we ourselves; He put us together, just as a workman puts a piece of machinery together, piece by piece, and we have no more ground for boasting or making a merit of what we do than a clock has ground for boasting of being able to point to the time or to strike the hours. We are simply, then, a piece of workmanship, designed and put together by God. Still, a piece of machinery is designed for some set purpose or other, and so are we; we have been made, and made over again, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.” (H. Harris, B. D.)

Believers are God’s workmanship

The apostle, having shown that our salvation is only of grace, and the means by which we are made capable of all saving good in Christ, by faith, excluding all causes in man, and that from the end lest he should boast himself: he now gives a reason why God’s grace is all in all, drawn from our redemption by Christ. As in the first creation there was no disposition in man to make himself a man, so no virtue in man now created to make him able to bring himself to eternal life; he confers nothing to the works of his new creation in Christ, no motion of man’s will, thought, or desire, or any preparatory work; all proceeds from the infinite creating power of God, He gives all.

1. All the faithful are new creatures in Christ.

(1) This proves to many that they are not believers as yet. Why? Because they live in their old sins. So long as the love of any sin is retained there is no part of new creation in that person.

(2) To prove we are in Christ we must approve ourselves new creatures.

(a) The parts of this new creation are—holiness of the spirit, and of the body, mind, will, affections, and every member of the body.

(b) Degrees—babes in Christ; young ones; old men, the perfection of stature.

(c) Signs—change; spiritual motion in the heart; desire for the sincere milk of the Word; desire to draw on others to grace.

2. God is the author of our new creation.

(1) This shows the dignity of the saints. They are God’s children.

(2) It teaches us to whom we are to ascribe all that we are.

3. God gives us our new creation through Christ. Let us magnify Him accordingly.

4. The new creature has new works. The two go together; there cannot be the one without the other. As is the fountain, such will be the streams which flow from it.

5. We come to have good works when we are made new in Christ. Before that we can do nothing, not only meritorious, but even good (Joh_15:15). If the things which are necessary conditions of a good work be considered, this will be clear. It must be done

(1) From the heart.

(2) In the obedience of faith.

(3) To God’s glory.

6. Good works are the very end of our new creation. As we plant our orchards, to the end that they may bring us fruit, so does the Lord plant us on purpose that we may bring Him fruit. Hence His people are called “Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, in whom He may be glorified.” “Herein is My Father glorified,” said Christ, “that ye bear much fruit.” Honour God with thy graces. It is reasonable that every one should have the honour of his own. We see plainly that other creatures glorify God in their kind, and fulfil the law of their creation; man alone, who has the greatest cause and best means, comes behind.

7. We must walk in the ways which are prepared by God. Our life must be a tracing of the commandments; we must not salute the ways of God as chapmen coming to fairs; we must walk in them. Men in the world may become so prosperous that they may give over trading, and live comfortably on what they already possess; but it is not thus with the soul, which, where it ceases to profit, waxes gross.

(1) As thou wouldst have comfort that thou art a new creature in Christ, made alive by the Spirit, try it by this—how thou walkest.

(2) Ever strive to be going forward, exercising the faculties we have, and looking to God for all. (Paul Bayne.)

Christian men God’s workmanship

These words suggest far-reaching speculations about the Divine ideal of humanity, and about how that ideal is suppressed by human folly and sin; they suggest inquiries about the ideal relations of all men to Christ, relations which are only made real and effective by personal faith in Him. But Paul was thinking of those who by their own free consent were in Christ, of those who, as he says, had been “saved by faith.” Of these it was actually true that they were “God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.” How are we to get at the gospel which these words contain? Let us try. Most of us, I suppose, who have any moral earnestness, are at times very dissatisfied with ourselves; yes, with ourselves. We think it hard that we should be what we are. We complain not only of the conditions of our life, which may have made us worse than there was any need that we should be, but of our native temperament, of tendencies which seem to belong to the very substance of our moral nature. We have ideals of moral excellence which are out of our reach. We see other men that have a goodness that we envy, but which is not possible to ourselves. There is something wrong in the quality of our blood. The fibre of our nature is coarse, and there is nothing to he made of it. There is a wretched fault in the marble which we are trying to shape into nobleness and beauty, and no skill or strength of ours can remove it, And ours is not an exceptional wretchedness. The special infirmities of men vary. One man finds it hard to be just, another to be generous; one man finds it hard to be quiet and patient under suffering, another to be vigorous in work; one man has to struggle with vanity, another with pride, another with covetousness, another with the grosser passions of his physical nature; one man is suspicious by temperament, another envious, another discontented; one man is so weak that he cannot hate even the worst kinds of wrong-doing, the fires of his indignation against evil never burst into flame; another is so stern that even where there is hearty sorrow for wrong-doing he can hardly force himself to forgive it frankly. The fault of our nature assumes a thousand forms, but no one is free from it. I look back to the ancient moralists, to Plato and to Seneca and to Marcus Antoninus, and I find that they are my brethren in calamity. The circumstances of man have changed, but man remains the same. How are we to escape from the general, the universal doom? We want to remain ourselves, to preserve our personal identity, and yet to live a life which seems impossible unless we can cease to be ourselves. It is a dreadful paradox, but some of us know that this is the exact expression of a dumb discontent which lies at the very heart of our moral being. Is there any solution? Paul tells us what the solution is. Christian men are “God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.” Yes, we were made for this, for something higher than is within our reach, apart from the reception of the life of God. There are vague instincts within us which are at war with the moral limitations which are born with us. Our aspirations are after a perfect righteousness and a diviner order, but we cannot fulfil them. They will die out through disappointment; they will be pronounced impossible unless we discover that they come from the fountains of a Divine inspiration, unless we have the faith and patience of the saints of old who waited, with an invincible confidence in the goodness and power of God, until the words of ancient prophecy were fulfilled, and more than fulfilled, in Christ. The prophets of the earlier centuries prophesied of the grace that was to come to later generations; their prophecies were dark and indistinct, and even to themselves almost unintelligible. They inquired and searched diligently concerning the salvation which they knew was to come, though they could not tell the time or the manner of its coming. And these aspirations of the individual soul are also prophecies; by them the Spirit of Christ is signifying to us the hopes which are our inheritance; they come from the Light which lighteth every man. But their fulfilment is not reserved for others; they may be fulfilled to ourselves. All that we have vaguely desired is now offered us in the glorious gospel of the blessed God; in Christ we become “His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” The Divine idea is moving towards its crowning perfection. Never let us forget that the life which has come to us is an immortal life, At best we are but seedlings on this side of death. We are not yet planted out under the open heavens and in the soil which is to be our eternal home. Here in this world the life we have received in our new creation has neither time nor space to reveal the infinite wealth of its resources: you must wait for the world to come to see the noble trees of righteousness fling out their mighty branches to the sky and clothe themselves in the glorious beauty of their immortal foliage. And yet the history of Christendom contains the proof that even here a new and alien life has begun to show itself among mankind; a life not alien indeed, for it is the true life of our race, but it is unlike what had been in the world before. The saints of every Church, divided by national differences, divided by their creeds, divided by fierce ecclesiastical rivalries, are still strangely akin. Voice answers to voice across the centuries which separate them; they tell in different tongues of the same wonderful discovery of a Divine kingdom; they translate every man for himself into his own life the same Divine law. We of obscurer rank and narrower powers read their lives, and we know that we and they are akin; we listen to their words, and are thrilled by the accent of home. Their songs are on our lips; they seem to have been written for us by men who knew the secret we wanted to utter better than we knew it ourselves. Their confessions of sin are a fuller expression of our own sorrow and trouble than we ourselves had ever been able to make. Their life is our life. We and they belong to a new race. A new type of character has been created. Christ lives on in those whose life is rooted in Him. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

God’s workmanship

We have in this verse three things.

I. The power that acts on the sinner to bring him into obedience to his God. The power of God alone. Man is dead; God is the quickener.

II. The mode in which that power acts upon him so as to produce this effect. “In Christ Jesus.”

III. The certain security for the operation of this power, and for the effect it will produce. God has appointed it. He has ordained that His people should walk in good works. You perceive, then, why throughout the Scriptures the works of man are made the test of his salvation. He is not to he justified by them, but he is to be judged by them, and this is a difficulty that often occurs to the mind, How is man to be judged by his works if he is not to be justified by them? The answer is—because they are taken as the test of his faith, as the proof of his sincerity. A cup of cold water could not purchase salvation for the sinner; but a cup of cold water, given in the name of Jesus, shall in no wise lose its reward, because it is the test that the believer loves his Master. (R. J. McGhee, M. A.)

The heavenly Workman

I. God works with skill and industry in elevating and refining human nature; and let us not overlook the fact that there is a great difference in the material. It is useless to say that all men are equal. We are not all born alike. From the fault or misfortune of our progenitors, we may start on the race with heavy burdens that we cannot shake off. Besides, we differ in both physical and mental constitution. We use terms which are very suggestive when we speak of a “hard” man, or when we say, “He is soft,” “He is coarse,” or “He is a fine man.” Some we describe as Nature’s gentle men, while others are born mean. Let it be understood that the Great Workman does not expect the same results from every kind of material. There is one thing He expects from all, and something He has a right to expect, and that is what all can do: we must love God.

II. It is well for us to have confidence in the workman. What a different fate awaits some of the blocks of marble which come into London as compared with others. They will all be used, but how differently. One is taken to the studio of the sculptor, to be carved into some statue to be admired for ages; another is sawn into slabs to make the counter of some gin palace! If the former block could know and feel the difference, how glad it would be to find itself in the places where statues are made. Let those of us who are lovers of God never forget that we are in the studio. It is not the purpose of the heavenly Workman to put us to any of the baser uses we might have been fit for but for His grace.

III. We must not forget that the workman has a plan. Life in any of us is a very complicated affair. Things are always happening—births, deaths, and marriages. Business relations alter. Circumstances differ: there seems no order or arrangements. It is chaos to us. And yet God knows all, and knows the precise bearing of each event on our lives. It does not seem like it, and yet, if we look hack, we may often see that God has been working all along in harmony with one idea. Some time ago, when in Manchester, the writer saw the men at work pulling down whole streets of houses to make room for a new railway station. All appeared ruin and disorder. Here was a party digging out foundations; in another place the bricklayers were building walls; elsewhere some one was setting out for other walls; beyond them they were still pulling down. It seemed like chaos, and yet in the architect’s office could be seen the elevation and picture of the complete whole. Every man was working to a plan. And so God has His elevation, but He does not show it. “It doth not yet appear.” When Joseph was in jail, he was in the path of Providence, and the fetters of iron were as much part of the plan as the chain of gold he wore when brought to the summit of greatness. What a variety of tools! What are the so-called means of grace but tools in the hand of the Great Workman? What are preachers but God’s chisels and hammers? Books, too, are tools. How important is the work of those who write them! But the finest work is often done by those sharp-edged chisels called Pain and Bereavement. How many of us are to be made perfect by suffering! It is not the dull tool that can cut the fine lines. Will the work ever be completed? Not in this world certainly. There is no room for self-complacence. (T. Champness.)

The nature and necessity of good works

That those who are God’s workmanship are created in Christ Jesus to good works; or, in plainer terms, all those who belong to God, and are created anew by His Spirit, are enabled by virtue of that new creation to perform good works. In pursuance of this proposition, I will show—

1. What good works are.

2. What are the qualifications of them.

3. Why they must be done.

4. Apply all.

I. That we may understand what is meant by good works, we must know that there are habits of grace, and there are acts and exertments of grace; and these two are different from one another, because these acts flow from those habits. These acts are two-fold, either inward or outward. The inward are such as these—a fear and reverence of the Almighty, a love of God and all goodness, and a love of our neighbours (which is called the work and labour of love, Heb_6:10), which, though they be not outwardly acted, yet are properly the works of the soul, for the not producing them into outward action hinders not their being works. For the mind of man may as properly be said to work as the body; yea, if we consider the true nature of things, we may rightly assert that the soul is the principal worker in man, and that all the outward exertments of virtue in the body flow from the mind of man, and take thence their denomination. These outward acts of grace which are exerted by the members of the body, and are apparent in the practices of holy men, are the good works generally spoken of in the Scripture. They are no other than visible exertments and actual discoveries of the inward graces before mentioned. Thus our reverencing of God is discovered by our solemn worshipping Him, and that in the most decent and humble manner. Our faith in Him, and love to Him, are showed by our readiness to do His will and obey all His commands. It is true good works in general comprehend all works morally good, whether they be adjusted to the law of nature or the revealed law; but I shall chiefly and principally consider good works as they are conformable to the revealed rule of the gospel. And so I proceed to the—

II. Thing I undertook, viz., to show what are the qualifications of these good works, that is, what is absolutely required in these works to make them good. I shall speak only of those qualifications which are requisite in evangelical good works, namely, such as are necessary to eternal salvation.

1. In a good work it is requisite that the person who doth it be good. By which I mean not only that he be inwardly good and righteous, according to that of our Saviour, make the tree good and his fruit good (Mat_12:33); but I understand this also, that the person who performs good works be one that is reconciled to God; for if the person be not accepted, the work cannot be good. It is said, “The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering” (Gen_4:4). First unto Abel, and then to his offering. The sacrificer must be accepted before the sacrifice.

2. As the works are good because of the person, so both the person and works are good because of the righteousness of Christ, in whom God is well pleased. “He hath made us acceptable to the Beloved” (Eph_1:6). What we do is favourably received as we are considered in Christ. By virtue of our relation to Him, who is our Righteousness, our performances are accounted righteous. This qualification of a good work the devout Mr. Herbert assigns, saying, “It is a good work if it be sprinkled with the blood of Christ.”

3. A good work in the gospel sense and meaning is a work done by the grace of God and the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

4. It must be done in faith, for the apostle tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb_11:6), and, consequently, as he adds in another place, “what is not of faith is sin.”

5. In all actions that are really good there must be lawful and right means used. Acts of justice and honesty must be clone by ways that are lawful and good. We must not be just among ourselves by being unjust to others. I must not steal that I may be charitable to the poor. I must not promote the best cause either by persecution or by rebellion. Though it be God’s cause, it ought not to be fought with the devil’s weapons.

6. Good works must be adjusted to a right rule; they must be according to the will and commandment of God. They must not be after our own inventions, but according to this Divine command (Mic_6:8). That is good which God requires.

7. Every good work must proceed from a right principle; and by a right principle I mean these following things—

(1) That our works proceed from sufficient knowledge. No action done ignorantly is good. He that acts without knowledge cannot be said to act morally, much less Christianly. We must first know that what we do is our real duty, and we must also understand why it is so. Religion must not be blind; reason must always go first, and carry the light before all our actions, for the heart and life cannot be good if the head be not enlightened. The understanding must make way for the will. Which brings me to the next particular.

(2) Good works must proceed from a free and voluntary principle. As he that acts ignorantly, so he that acts unwillingly cannot be said to act well. To the will is to be imputed whatsoever is ill or well done by us. There is nothing good or bad but what is matter of choice and consultation.

(3) With the understanding and will must be joined the affections. And this includes in it these following things—

(a) Integrity of heart. As servants are bid to discharge their duty in singleness of heart (Col_3:22).

(b) An entire love of God is required in every good work. All our actions must flew from this principle, for if we love not God, we cannot do the works of God.

(c) There must be an entire love, not only of God, but of goodness itself, and the intrinsic excellency and perfection that is in it. There must be a delight and pleasure in the ways of God, and in all those good and virtuous actions which we do, and that for their own sakes.

(d) Not only a love of God, but a fear of Him, must be a principle from whence all our holy actions are to proceed, a fear of acting contrary to the purity of God’s nature, a fear of displeasing and offending Him. Joseph acted out of this excellent principle when he cried out, “How shall I do this wickedness and sin against God?”

(e) Humility is another principle from whence we must act. Every good and righteous man lays his foundation low; he begins his works with a submissive and self-denying spirit; he proceeds with lowliness of mind, and a mean opinion of himself, and of all he can do.

(f) Alacrity, joy, and cheerfulness, and so likewise a due warmth, zeal, and ardency, are other principles from whence our good works should spring. We must with gladness undertake and perform them, and we must serve the Lord with a fervency of spirit (Rom_12:11).

8. This is another indispensable qualification of a good work, that it be done for a good end. As there are fountains or principles of actions, so there are ends or designs belonging to them all. You must necessarily distinguish between principles and ends if you would speak properly and significantly. Fountains and springs of actions are those from whence the actions flow; ends and aims are those to which the actions tend. There is a vast difference between these. I have told you what the former are; now I will set before you the latter. The right ends which ought to be in all evangelical actions (for of such I intend chiefly to speak) are these three—our own salvation, the good of others, and in pursuance of both God’s glory. This was it which spoiled and blasted the most solemn and religious duties of the Pharisees. When they did their alms, they sounded a trumpet before them, that they might have glory of men (Mat_6:2). Whey they prayed, they did it standing in the corners of the streets, that they might be seen of men (5:5). Likewise when they fasted, they disfigured their faces, that they might appear unto men to fast (5:16). Yea, all their works they did to be seen of men (Mat_23:5). All was to gain esteem and reputation, all was for applause and vainglory. This wrong end and intention made all they did sinful. When I say all our works are to be done for the ends above named, I do not by this wholly exclude all other ends. As two of the great aims of our actions, namely, our own happiness and that of others, are subordinate to the third, God’s glory, so there are other lesser and inferior ends which are subordinate to all these. He evidences this by such ways as these—He never lets these temporal things stand in competition with, much less in opposition to, those which are greater and higher. He never so seeks his own as not to seek the things which are Jesus Christ’s. He doth not one with the neglect of the other.

9. To comprehend all, a good work is that which is done in a right manner. Good actions are such as have good circumstances and qualities, and evil actions are such as have undue and evil ones.

III. Having instructed you in the nature of good works, I am to show you, in the next place, how reasonable a thing it is that we should take care to do these good works. I will present you with those arguments and motives which I apprehend are most powerful to incite you to this. First, I might mention the reason in the text, where first we are said to be created unto good works, that we might walk in them. This is the very design of the spiritual creation or new birth, that we should exert all these acts of piety and religion which I have before mentioned. It is the purpose of heaven in regenerating us that we should walk in the ways of holiness, and conscientiously perform all the parts of our duty towards God, towards men, and towards ourselves. Again, it is said, we are said to be created in Christ Jesus to this. This is the end of Christ’s undertakings. “He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works” (Tit_2:14). Moreover, it is added that God hath before ordained these works. This was the good will and pleasure of the blessed Trinity in their eternal consults before man was made. Why then should we, as much as in us lieth, frustrate the purpose and decree of heaven concerning us I Further, this (as the apostle saith of sanctification) is the will of God (1Th_4:3). This is that which is commended to us by the example of the saints; they have all been zealous practisers of good works. This is the grand evidence of the truth of our inward graces. This is that whereby you show your thankfulness to God for your election and redemption. I add, this is that which is the great ornament and lustre of our Christian profession; this will set forth and commend our religion to the world. But there are these two arguments yet behind which I will more amply insist upon—good works are necessary to salvation; good works glorify God.

1. Though our good works are conditions of salvation, yet they are not conditions as to God’s election, for He decreed from eternity out of His free will and mercy to save lost man, without any consideration of their good works. Predestination to life and glory is the result of free grace, and therefore the provision of works must be excluded. The decree runs not thus, I choose thee to life and blessedness on supposal or condition of thy believing and repenting; but thus, I freely choose thee unto eternal life, and that thou mayest attain to it, I decree that thou shalt believe and repent.

2. Though faith and obedience be conditions of happiness, yet the performance of them is by the special help and assistance of a Divine and supernatural power. God, who decrees persons to good works, enables them to exert them.

3. Nor are they conditions in this sense that they succeed in the place of perfect obedience to the law which the covenant of works required. I am convinced that no such conditions as these are consistent with the new covenant, the covenant of grace. Works, if they be considered as a way leading to eternal life, are indeed necessary to salvation; they are necessary by way of qualification, for no unclean thing shall enter into heaven. Graces and good works fit us for that place and state; they dispose us for glory. We are not capable of happiness without holiness. It may be some will not approve of saying, We are saved by good works, but this they must needs acknowledge that we cannot be saved without them; yea, we cannot be saved but with them. Some are converted and saved at the last hour, at their going out of the world; but even then good works are not wanting, for hearty confession of sin, and an entire hatred of it, sincere and earnest prayers, hope and trust in God, desire of grace, unfeigned love, and zealous purposes and resolves, all these are good works, and none can be saved without them. In the next place, good works are for God’s glory, therefore they must be done by us. As I have showed before that it is a necessary qualification of good works that they be done out of an intention to glorify God, so now it will appear that this is one great reason why we are obliged to perform them, viz., because thereby God is glorified. “Let your light so shine before men,” saith our Saviour, “that others seeing your works may glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Mat_5:16). The light of our works came from God, and it must be reflected to him again.

(1) Because of the wicked, that you may stop their mouths, and take away all occasion of speaking evil against you. Again, for the sake of good men, we are obliged to be very careful how we walk; we are concerned to do all the good we can, that they may not be scandalized and hurt by our evil examples, and consequently that God’s name may not be dishonoured thereby. By our holy and exemplary lives, we may be serviceable to stir up the hearts of the godly to praise God on our behalf. “They glorified God in me,” saith the apostle, of those Christian Jews who took notice of his miraculous conversion, and of his extraordinary zeal in preaching the faith (Gal_1:24).

IV. By way of inference, from what hath been said of good works, we may correct the error of the Antinomians, we may confute the falsehood of the Roman Church, we may make a discovery of other false apprehensions of men concerning good works; we are hence also obliged to examine whether our works be good; and lastly, if we find them to be such, we must continue in the practice of them.

1. What I have delivered on this subject is a sufficient check to the Antinomian error, viz., that because Christ hath satisfied for us, therefore there is no need of good works; Christ’s obedience serves for ours. What need we do anything since He hath done all? And all this is conformable to the doctrine of our blessed Lord and Saviour, who tells us that He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it, and make it more complete and perfect. By His doctrine and practice He taught the world that the moral law obligeth the faithful under the evangelical dispensation, and that obedience to the former is not opposite to the grace of the latter. He constantly promoted good works and holy living, and bid His disciples show their love to Him by keeping His commandments (Joh_14:15). You see then how fondly they discourse who say that, because Christ hath done and suffered all things for man’s redemption, therefore there is nothing left for us to do. Indeed, we have nothing to do that can further our salvation by way of merit, but we have something to do whereby we may show our thankfulness for Christ’s undertakings; we have a great deal to do whereby we may discover our obedience to the Divine commands and injunctions. Though good works and obedience are not conditions of justification, yet they are of salvation; they are requisite in the person who is justified, although they are wholly excluded from justification itself. Or we may say, though they do not justify meritoriously, yet they do it declaratively, they show that we are really of the number of those who God accounteth just and righteous.

2. The falsehood of the Romanists is hence confuted. They cry out against us, as those who utterly dislike, both in doctrine and practice, all good works. They brand us with the name of Solifidians, as if faith monopolized all our religion. Indeed, all that profess the reformed religion affirm that faith is the root of all graces, that Divine virtue is the basis and foundation of all good works; this they maintain, and have good reason to do so; but still they hold that good and holy works are indispensably requisite in Christianity, and that no man can be excused from performing them, and that those whose lives are utterly devoid of them have no right faith and no true religion. This is our unanimous belief, profession, and doctrine, and the Papists are maliciously reproachful when they accuse us Of the contrary.

3. From what hath been said, we may discover the wrong notions and apprehensions which most men have of good works. I will instance more particularly in charity, which is eminently called a good work, but there is a great and common mistake about it. And so as to other good works, all understanding men agree that they ought to be done, but they greatly mistake what good works are. They think if they do the outward acts of religion they do very well; if they fast and pray, and hear God’s Word, and receive the eucharist; if they perform the external acts of justice and charity, their doings cannot but be good and acceptable, and they need look after no more. They never consider whether their fasting and praying and other exercises of devotion and piety proceed from God’s grace and Holy Spirit in them, whether they be accompanied with faith, and be the result of good and holy principles, and be done for good ends, and in a good manner. Alas! these and the like things are not thought of. This discovers the gross mistakes in the world.

4. Then you are really concerned to examine your lives and actions, and to see whether you be not of the number of the mistaken persons.

5. When you have examined the true nature of good works, then urge upon yourselves that you are indispensably obliged to do them. Being thoroughly persuaded of the necessity of them, press the practice of them on yourselves and on others.

That you may successfully do so, observe these four plain and brief directions—

1. Beg the assistance of the Spirit. These are no mean and common works which I have set before you as that duty. They require great strength and power to exert them.

2. Study the Scriptures. There, and there only, you will find instructions for the performing of works acceptable to God.

3. Set before you the example of the saints, for by viewing of them you will not only learn what to do, but you will be taught not to be weary in well doing.

4. Redeem and improve the time. Fix it on your thoughts that you have a good deal of work to do, but your time to do it in is short and soon expiring. (J. Edwards, D. D.)

The singular origin of a Christian man

I. The singular origin of a Christian man. As many as are truly saved, and brought into union with Christ, are the workmanship of God. No Christian in the world is a chance production of nature, or the outcome of evolution, or the result of special circumstances. Of regeneration we must say once for all, “This is the finger of God.” The spiritual life cannot come to us by development from our old nature.

1. We are God’s workmanship from the very first. The first stroke that helps to fashion us into Christians comes from the Lord’s own hand. He marks the stone while yet in the quarry, cuts it from its natural bed, and performs the first hewing and squaring, even as it is He who afterwards exercises the sculptor’s skill upon it.

2. We shall remain the Lord’s workmanship to the very last. The picture must be finished by that same Master-hand which first sketched it. If any other hand should lay so much as a tint or colour thereupon, it would certainly mar it all.

3. This is very beautiful to remember, and it should stir up all that is within us to magnify the Lord. I was surprised when I was told, the other day, by a friend, who was a maker of steel-plate engravings, how much of labour had to be put into a finely executed engraving. Think of the power that has cut lines of beauty in such steel as we are! Think of the patience that lent its arm, and its eye, and its heart, and its infinite mind, to the carrying on of the supreme work of producing the image of Christ in those who were born in sin!

4. If we are God’s workmanship, never let us be ashamed to let men see God’s workmanship in us. Let us be very much ashamed, though, to let them see the remains of the devil’s workmanship in us; hide it behind a veil of repentant grief. Christ has come to destroy it; let it be destroyed.

II. Secondly, here in the text we see the peculiar manner of this origin. “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” “Created in Christ Jesus.” Our new life is a creation. This goes further than the former expression; for workmanship is less than creation. Man may produce a picture, and say, “This is my workmanship”: a piece of mosaic, or a vessel fresh from the wheel, may be a man’s workmanship, but it is not his creation. The artist must procure his canvas and his colours, the maker of a mosaic must find his marbles or his wood, the potter must dig his clay, for without these materials he can do nothing; for he is not the Creator. To One only does that august name strictly belong. In this world of grace, wherever we live, we are a creation.

1. Our new life is as truly created out of nothing as were the first heavens, and the first earth. This ought to be particularly noticed, for there are some who think that the grace of God improves the old nature into the new. That which is of God within us is a new birth, a Divine principle, a living seed, a quickening spirit; in fact, it is a creation: we are new creatures in Christ Jesus.

2. Creation was effected by a word. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made.” “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Is not that again an accurate description of our entrance into spiritual light and life? Do we not confess, “Thy word hath quickened me”? “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

3. In creation the Lord was alone and unaided. The prophet asks, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsellor hath taught Him?” Creation is the prerogative of Jehovah, and none can share it with Him. So it is in the regeneration of a soul; instrumentality appears, but the real work is immediately of the Spirit of God.

III. We come, thirdly, to dwell upon the special object of this creation: “Unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” When Adam was created, the Lord made him for His own glory. When the Lord creates us the second time, in the second Adam, He does not make us that we may be merely comfortable and happy. We may enjoy all that God has given us, for of every tree of this garden you may freely eat, since in the paradise into which Christ has introduced you there is no forbidden fruit. Around you is the garden of the Lord, and your call is that you may dress it, and keep it. Cultivate it within; guard it from foes without. Holy labours await you, good works are expected of you, and you were created in Christ Jesus on purpose that you might be zealous for them.

1. Works of obedience.

2. Works of love.

3. Good works include the necessary acts of common life, when they are rightly performed. All our works should be “good works”; and we may make them so by sanctifying them with the Word of God and prayer.

4. God has not created us that we may talk about our good works, but that we may walk in them. Practical doing is better than loud boasting.

5. And they are not to be occasional merely, but habitual. God has not created us that we may execute good works as a grand performance, but that we may walk in them.

IV. Fourthly, the remarkable preparation made for that object, for so the text may be rendered, “which God hath prepared that we should walk in them.”

1. The Lord has decreed everything, and He has as much decreed the holy lives of His people as He has decreed their ultimate glorification with Him in heaven. Concerning good works, “He hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” The purpose is one and indivisible: there is no ordination to salvation apart from sanctification.

2. But, next, God has personally prepared every Christian for good works. “Oh,” say some, “I sometimes feel as if I was so unfit for God’s service.” You are not unfit, so far as you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. When God creates a bird to fly, it is the best flying machine that can be manufactured; indeed, none can equal it. If God creates worms to plough the soil, and bring up the more useful ingredients to the surface, they are the best fertilizers under heaven. God’s purpose is subserved by that which He makes, else were He an unwise worker. We are in a special degree God’s workmanship, created to this end, that we may produce good works; and we are fitted to that end as much as a bird is fitted to fly, or a worm is fitted for its purpose in the earth.

3. Everything around you is arranged for the production of good works in you. On the whole, you are placed in the best position for your producing good works to the glory of God. “I do not think it,” says one. Very well. Then you will worry to quit your position, and attain another footing; mind that you do not plunge into a worse. It is not the box that makes the jewel, nor the place that makes the man. A barren tree is none the better for being transplanted. A blind man may stand at many windows before he will improve his view. If it is difficult to produce good works where you are, you will find it still difficult where you wish to be. Oh, sirs, the real difficulty lies not without you, but within you. If you get more grace, and are more fully God’s workmanship, you can glorify him in Babylon as well as in Jerusalem. Moreover, the Lord has prepared the whole system of His grace to this end—that you should abound in good works. Every part and portion of the economy of grace tends toward this result, that thou mayest be perfect even as thy Father which is in heaven is perfect. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Christian is the noblest work of God

Men can admire a statue; it is breathing with life, and the fire of genius has succeeded in imparting almost animation to the figure. You remember that once it was but an unmeaning block of marble, but the sculptor’s imagination has succeeded in portraying a man, and the human face divine meets your enraptured eyes. You are filled with rapture and astonishment at the power of genius to call forth such a beautiful creation of art. And have you no eyes to see, nor heart to appreciate, the noble work of God in the new creation of a soul that was dead in trespasses and sins? That man was once a blank in the creation of God; he was spiritually dead, but now he has a soul instinct with the breath of heaven, which lives for its Maker, which hears and obeys His voice, and beats high with the generous sentiments of redeeming love. It is a soul that is restored to its original place in the creation, fulfilling the high purposes of its God, and glowing with ardour to live for His honour and glory. It has not, like the statue, the mock appearance of life; it is not a beautiful illusion of your fancy which vanishes at one effort of your sober reason. It has not its useless and inanimate form to reign and hold its empire only in your imagination. No! look on it, it is the living work of God; it has His own resemblance imparted to it; it is immortal, and destined to run an endless race of glory, to the everlasting praise of the infinite Jehovah—behold it—angels are enamoured with it, and yet you, who can break forth in rapture at that lifeless statue, can see no beauty here; no loveliness to draw forth your love; no admiration of this soul “born of God”!

Professors without good works

Many Christians are of a retiring disposition, and their retiring disposition is exemplified somewhat in the same way as that of the soldier who felt himself unworthy to stand in the front ranks. He felt that it would not be too presumptuous a thing for him to be in front, where the cannon balls were mowing down men on the right hand and on the left, and therefore he would rather not be in the vanguard. I always look upon those very retiring and modest people as arrant cowards, and I shall venture to call them so. I ask not every man and woman to rush into the front ranks of service, but I do ask every converted man and woman to take some place in the ranks, and to be prepared to make some sacrifice in that position they choose or think themselves fit to occupy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

A Christian Christ’s workmanship

It is told of Michael Angelo, the famous Italian sculptor and painter, that he invariably selected the marble block on which he was to operate from the quarry himself. He would allow no other hand to touch it, not even in its rudest state, lest it should be marred. After such a fashion does the Master-Sculptor of souls proceed. He performs the entire work of refashioning the human soul from beginning to end. In this work, it is true, He employs various tools—His Word, His Spirit, His Providential arrangements; but no hand save His touches them.

We are His workmanship.

Man’s creation unto good works

Human boasting is excluded, because human merit there is none. We are God’s workmanship, not our own.

I. The Divine workmanship.

1. Characterized by truth, reality, thoroughness, Not on the surface—not merely intellectual or mental; but a deep, subterraneous power heaving from the depth of the spiritual nature, and working from the centre to the circumference. Born again. Created anew.

2. When complete it will be perfect in beauty. He who made these bodies of ours so beautiful, so kingly, so majestic, so unutterably wonderful; He who bent with such majestic grace the arch of the firmament; He who clothed the earth with its infinite variety of beautiful objects; will make His spiritual creation in harmony with the material; so that, when finished, it shall be said, “He hath made this also beautiful in his season.” God will look upon it, and say, “Yes, it is My workmanship, and I am pleased with it.” That is the highest thing that can be said. His heart will rest in it.

II. The compass of this workmanship. “Created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Good works here, and good works hereafter. We are to serve God in the best way we can here, and we shall serve Him in another world in the distant future more perfectly than now.

1. Good works have their origin in love. Nothing noble is done from any other motive.

2. Good works are always inspired by the Holy Ghost. He inspires the love, and the love gives existence to the good works.

3. The good works we are to do are ordained by God. God thought of you before you were; He resolved that you should be—that you should be to do good works—to do good works which belong to you alone, just as in nature the tree is created to bear a particular fruit. How shall we know what we ought to do?

(1) By the predispositions of our own minds, which are themselves the creation of God.

(2) From our abilities. All we can do we are bound to do. Not much is expected from a mere mountain brook. Let it flow through its narrow channel; let it make a little green on its banks; let it murmur as it goes—and that is all you can ever expect of it. It is only a mountain brook. But, of a vast river starting at one end of a continent, and flowing through the heart of it, gathering to itself volumes of water, much is expected, for is it not a great river? And so, you who have education and genius, you whom God has richly endowed, you who have noble opportunities and fine talents—God expects great things of you; you must water the continent, as it were; and the question for each one is, to what work does my heart gravitate, and what work can I do? It is a great mistake—a mistake often committed—to try to do what we cannot, and to leave undone the thing which God has ordained for us to do, and which we could do with perfect ease.

(3) We are bound to pray, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Life oftentimes seems a pathless region, and it is evening with us, and the clouds are lowering, and the dark, black forest is before us, and there is no pathway, and a kind of bewilderment comes over a man at times; he does not know what to do, or which way to go—a conscientious man, especially. If God has placed him in a position in which others are dependent upon him for all blessing whatsoever, it becomes a great question, and a bewilderment sometimes, what he is to do. Rut we are not alone in this pathless place. There is always the invisible presence, the Eternal Friend at hand, and to Him we must go in solemn prayer. This if we do, we shall not go astray, but when life ends shall find that accomplished which He desired. (Thomas Jones.)

The new creation of believers

The doctrine of the text is, That those who are renewed and recovered out of the apostasy of mankind, are, as it were, created anew through the power of God and grace of the Redeemer.

I. Explain the text.

1. Our relation to God. “We are His workmanship.”

(1) By natural creation, which gives us some kind of interest in Him, and hope of grace from Him.

(2) By regeneration, or renovation, which is called a second or new creation (2Co_5:17).

(a) A change wrought in us, so that we are other persons than we were before, as if another kind of soul came to dwell in our bodies.

(b) This change is such as must amount to a new creation. Nor merely a moral change, from profaneness and gross sins to a more sober course of life; nor a temporary change, which soon wears off; nor a change of outward form, which does not affect the heart; nor a partial change. The renewed are “holy in all manner of conversation.” They drive a new trade for another world, and set upon another work to which they were strangers before; must have new solaces, new comforts, new motives. The new creature is entire, not half new half old; but with many the heart is like “a cake not turned.”

(c) When thus new framed and fashioned, it belongeth to God; it hath special relation to Him (Jas_1:18). It must needs be so; they have God’s nature and life.

(d) This workmanship on us as new creatures far surpasses that which makes us creatures only.

2. God’s way of concurrence to establish this relation. It is a “creation.”

(1) This shows the greatness of the disease; in that so great a remedy is needed.

(2) It teaches us to magnify this renewing work if you think the cure is no great matter, it will necessarily follow that it deserves no great praise, and so God will be robbed of the honour of our recovery.

3. How far the mediation of Christ is concerned in this effect. We are renewed by God’s creating power, but through the intervening mediation of Christ.

(1) This creating power is set forth with respect to His merit. The life of grace is purchased by His death, “God sent His only-begotten Son into the world that we might live by Him” (1Jn_4:9); here spiritually, hereafter eternally; life opposite to the death incurred by sin. And how by Him? By His being a propitiation.

(2) In regard of efficacy. Christ is a quickening Head, or a life-making Spirit (1Co_15:45). Whatever grace we have comes from God, through Christ as Mediator; and from Him we have it by virtue of our union with Him (2Co_5:17).

(3) With respect to Christ: “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,” who is the Head of the new world, or renewed estate.

(4) With respect to the use for which this new creation serveth. One is mentioned in the text: “Created unto good works”; but other things must be taken in.

(a) In order to our present communion with God. Till we are created anew, we are not fit to converse with a holy and invisible God earnestly, frequently, reverently, and delightfully, which is our daily work and business.

(b) In order to our service and obedience to God. Man is unfit for God’s use till he be new moulded and framed again.

(c) In order to our future enjoyment of God, and that glory and blessedness which we expect in His heavenly kingdom; none but new creatures can enter into the new Jerusalem. Application: Use.

1. Of information.

(1) That there is such a thing as the new nature, regeneration, or the new birth, and the new creature. It is one thing to make us men, another to make us saints or Christians.

(2) That by this new nature a man is distinguished from himself as carnal; he hath somewhat which he had not before, something that may be called a new life and nature; a new heart that is created (Psa_51:10), and may be increased (2Pe_3:18). In the first conversion we are mere objects of grace, but afterwards instruments of grace. First God worketh upon us, then by us.

(3) How little they can make out their recovery to God, and interest in Christ, who are not sensible of any change wrought in them. This is a change indeed, but in many that profess Christ, and pretend to an interest in Him, there is no such change to be sensibly seen; their old sins, and their old lusts, and the old things of ungodliness are not yet cast off. Surely so much old rubbish and rotten building should not be left standing with the new. Old leaves in autumn fall off in the spring, if they continue so long; so old things should pass away, and all become new.

(4) It informeth us in what manner we should check sin, by remembering it is an old thing to be done away, and ill becoming our new estate by Christ (2Pe_1:9).

2. To put us upon self-reflection; are we the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus? that is, are we made new creatures? It will be known by these things—a new mind, a new heart, and a new life.

3. To exhort you to look after this, that you be the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus. You will say, “What can we do? This is God’s work in which we are merely passive.” I answer—It is certainly an abuse of this doctrine if it lull us asleep in the lap of idleness; and we think that because God doth all in framing us for the new life, we must do nothing. The Spirit of God reasoneth otherwise, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Php_2:12-13). This principle can neither be a ground of looseness nor laziness. You are under an obligation both to return to God and to use the means whereby you may return. Your impotency doth not dissolve your obligation. A drunken servant is a servant, and bound to do his work; his master loseth not his right by his default. An insolvent debtor is a debtor, and if he cannot pay all, he is bound to pay as much as he can. Besides, you are creatures in misery; if you be sensible of it, your interest will teach you to do what you can to come out of it; and God’s doing all is an engagement to wait upon Him in the use of means, that we may meet with God in His way, and He may meet with us in our way.

II. The end why we are brought into this estate. Not to live idly or walk loosely, but holily and according to the will of God.

1. The object: good works; that is, works becoming the new creature; in short, we should live Christianly.

2. God’s act about it.

(1) God has prepared these works for us.

(2) God has prepared us for them.

3. Our duty: that we should walk in them. Walking denotes both a way and an action.

(1) Good works are the way to obtain salvation, purchased and granted to us by Jesus Christ. Unless we walk in the path of good works we cannot come to eternal life.

(2) An action. Walking denotes—

(a) Spontaneity in the principle; not drawn or driven, but walk—set ourselves a-going.

(b) Progress m the motion. (T. Manton, D. D.)

New creatures prepared for good works

I. What is meant by good works.

1. The kinds. All acts of obedience.

(1) Acts of God’s immediate worship, both internal and external.

(2) Every man must labour in the work to which he is called.

(3) Works of righteousness and justice; to hurt none, to give every one his due, to use fidelity in our relations (Act_24:15).

(4) Works of charity and mercy; as to relieve the poor, to be good to all, to help others by our counsel or admonition.

(5) I think there is another sort of good works which concern ourselves, and that is sobriety, watchfulness, mortification, self-denial. A man oweth duty to himself (Tit_2:12).

2. The requisites.

(1) That the person be in a good state (Mat_7:17).

(2) The principles of operation must be faith, love, and obedience.

(3) A due regard of circumstances, that it may be not only good, but done well (Luk_8:15).

(4) The end—that it be for God’s glory (Php_1:11).

II. How new creatures are obliged to these good works.

1. With respect to God, He hath ordained that we should walk in them. If you refer to His decree, He will have His elect people distinguished from others by the good they do in the world, that they may be known to be followers of a good God, as the children of the devil are by their mischief (2Pe_1:10). If you take it for His precept and command, surely we should make conscience of what our Father giveth us in charge.

2. With respect to Christ, who died to restore us to a capacity and ability to perform these good works (Tit_2:14).

3. With respect to the Spirit, who reneweth us for this end; we are new made, that we may look upon doing good as our calling and only business. All other things are valuable according to the use for which they serve; the sun was made to give light and heat to inferior creatures, and we are enlightened by grace, and inclined by grace, that our light may shine before men (Mat_5:16).

4. With respect to heaven and eternal happiness, they are the way to heaven. We discontinue or break off our walk when we cease to do good; but the more we mind good works the more we proceed in our way (Php_3:14).

III. How are they fitted and prepared by this new nature that is put into them for good works? There is a remote preparation, and a near preparation.

1. The remote preparation is an inclination and propensity to all the acts of the holy and heavenly life. All creatures have an inclination to their proper operations, so the new creature. As the sparks fly up and the stones downward by an inclination of nature, so are their hearts bent to please and serve God. The inclination is natural, the acts are voluntary, because it is an inclination of a free agent.

2. The near preparation is called promptitude and readiness for every good work, or “a ready obedience to every good work.” (See Tit_3:1; 1Ti_6:18; Heb_13:1). This is beyond inclination. The fire hath an inclination to ascend upwards, yet something may violently keep it down; so a Christian may have a will to good, a strong, not a remiss will, but yet there are some impediments (Rom_7:18). (T. Manton, D. D.)

A bird’s-eye view of life

I. The aim of life. “Good works.” Is it Paul who speaks thus? Is not he the enemy of good works? Is not this the doctrine of the Old Testament? Answer: Paul was the enemy of a certain doctrine of good works, and of a party who took good works as its motto. But it is quite possible to object to a thing in the wrong place, and appreciate it in the right place. The voice of conscience tells a man he shall be justified or condemned by his works. Are the words of our Lord, in Mat_25:35, mock thunder? If not, then it is plain that what we shall be asked for at the judgment seat will be our good works.

II. The line by which this aim is limited.

1. The line of talent. One has ten talents, another has only one. No man can do the work of an angel. A common man cannot do the work of a genius. All have some talent. One has social charm; another, the gift of song; another, moral attractiveness.

2. The line of circumstances. The circumstances and places of our lives are arranged by God, as well as the persons we influence and who influence us. We must see to it that our own plot is well cared for. The invalid cannot do as much as the man of good health, nor the mother of a family as much as she who has no such care.

3. The line of time. How different would our life have been, had we lived in the last century. Now, or never, is our time to work. God has appointed the length of time we are to work.

III. The power by which it is accomplished. We are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Our destination to do our good works dates from our new birth. If we have not been born again, we have not begun to do our good works. This change is a creation. It is compared to the change that took place when God said, “Let there be light.” “In Christ Jesus,” united to Him, so that we can say, “It is no more I that do it, but Christ who dwelleth in me.” No man is fit to do the work of life till he is created in Christ Jesus. His life is a failure unless he is a new creature. Let those who are in Christ Jesus remember why they have been so created, and that it is entirely in the power derived from Christ they can do their good works.

IV. The Divine artist behind the human workman. Life is our task, but it is also Another’s. We are “His workmanship.” The Greek is, “God’s poem.” Every Christian’s life is a poem of God. In opening a book of poems we find an elegy, a lyric, an ode of battle, or a love song. There are lives of Christians like all these. This is God’s book of poems. Its name is, “The book of free grace, and undying love,” Will your life be in it? (James Stalker, M. A.)

The Divine workmanship

I. Its characteristics.

1. Truth.

2. Reality.

3. Thoroughness.

4. When complete, perfection in beauty.

We, beaten and tossed by the stormy waves of circumstance, shall be so perfect as to please God Himself.

II. Its purpose. There are good works here and hereafter. When we lay down our wearied heads and die, we are not done with service. We shall serve God in another world more perfectly than now.

1. Good works have their origin in love, i.e., they are inspired by the Holy Ghost.

2. Good works are ordained of God.

3. How shall we know what we ought to do amongst the multiplicity of good works?

(1) We must be guided to a certain extent by our own predispositions. Some are disposed to self-culture; let them, then, go on and cultivate their natures. Some love to teach. Some delight in practical benevolence. For all there is a work.

(2) We must look at our abilities—what we can do.

(3) We must seek God’s direction. (Thomas Jones.)

Good works are God-inspired

Good works are always inspired by the Holy Ghost, or, to speak more correctly perhaps, He inspires the love, and the love gives existence to the good works. “There is none good, save God.” Thus the Saviour taught. Goodness in Him is like light in the sun. You meet with rivers, and streamlets, and fountains, and lakes among the mountains, and in the valleys of the earth; but the origin of them all is in the sea, they all begin there. So all goodness in individuals, in the Church, in the world, in the whole universe, is inspired of God, and I wish I could make you feel it as seriously as I do. This gives unspeakable grandeur to our practical religion, to good works. They are inspirations of God, they are beams from the central light, they are streams from the uncreated fountain. Flippantly have men sometimes spoken of good works, contrasting faith with works. They have twisted laurel wreaths of glory round the brows of faith; they have kept good works in the distance. Another day has dawned upon England; we begin to think that the grandest thing of all is to be good. To do good works inspired by love and inspired by God’s Holy Spirit—this is the grand thing. (Thomas Jones.)

Good works prepared

Six ways in which God prepares good works for us to do.

1. In predestinating them (Rom_1:1; Jer_1:5; Isa_54:16).

2. In His commandments He reveals them to us. The law of God rules them out before our eyes.

3. God has set us samples, both His own, and His children’s.

4. God supplies us with the grace, which enables us to do this or that work.

5. He excites the will; for such is our dulness, that we must have our will raised by Him to will.

6. He preserves us; so that now willing we may work. (Paul Bayne.)

Prepared works

It would be impossible to conceive words which could better express at once the dignity and the nothingness of all human “works.” Their dignity, seeing that for their sake we are both made of God and re-made of Christ. Their nothingness—because both the “works” we do—and we ourselves who do them—are nothing but a piece of “workmanship” which God has formed and created. If any man think much of his “works,” I say, “You are only a bit of mechanism, that God has trained to carry out His mind; to evolve those preplanned works.” If any man think little of “works,” I say, “It is for works that you were created and redeemed; and God has thought so much of those ‘works’ of yours, that He designed them before you were born; and you were brought into existence that you might do them.” Look at that body of yours—so curiously framed together, and knit, and fitted for action. Look at that mind, so capable and so furnished. Look at that heart, with all its powers of sympathy and affection. Look at that soul, with all that has been done for it, and done in it. And then ask yourself—I do not say—“Is not all this ‘prepared’ for something, and something very great?”—but, “Must not there be something ‘prepared’ for it? Must not the ‘preparation’ be reciprocal? Must not that which is ‘prepared’ for this complicated and wonderful being of mine, be something worthy Of its structure and its composition? God makes nothing for waste. Surely, every evidence that I am ‘prepared’ for a work, is a proof that a work is ‘prepared’ for me.” It would, of course, be a great question—concerning every particular work as it comes before you whether it is the work which God has” prepared” for you. To guide you into a decision in this matter, there should always be at least two vocations to every work: the inward vocation of your own conscience, and the outward vocation of Providence. And if to these two vocations there can be added the vocation of the Church, or of Christian friends, it would be more conclusive still. The three vocations very seldom mislead. Sanctified common sense is the true rule of life. And this brings me to one characteristic of all “prepared work.” It never goes before God. He must open a door. He must soften a heart. He must give an impulse. For every “prepared work” has its limitations; and here is the line of the limitation—that God’s footsteps must be there. But once receive anything you have to do—or equally, anything you have to suffer—as a “work” long ago “prepared” for you; and then see what a comfort, what an energy, what a power that one single thought will give!

1. In itself it is a token for good. It is a proof of love. Not only that God uses you at all, but that He has been at the pains to arrange long beforehand the exact thing which you are to do for Him.

2. You may be quite sure that any “work” which God hath “prepared” for you, will have a particular adaptation to your character, to your position, and to your strength. God never gives His work indiscriminately. To each his own. His “works” are not suited to everybody alike. You could not do mine; and I cannot do yours.

3. In the fact that the “work”—whatever it be—is God’s own appointment for you, there is a sure warrant of success. He planned and constructed it before you touched it. What God begins, He always ends. I cannot tell you, in detail, each of you, what your “prepared work” is. This I know, “the prepared work” of every one is to believe; and then to live the faith he professes; to be happy, and then to make others happy; to glorify God. But I should sadly narrow my subject if I confined the “good works” which God has “prepared” for us to do, to this world. We are “created in Christ Jesus to good works” in heaven. For assuredly we shall “work” there. And a part of the work is this, that your work is rest. And the more we grow towards heaven, the more we approach to that—work is rest because we do it restfully. But, be sure of this, there will be “work” in heaven. More “prepared” than even the “work” which we are doing here. And for this reason, that all the “work” we are doing here is in itself “preparatory” to that “work.” We are practising now that we may do it well by and by! (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Good works

1. Good works cannot be judged by appearances. To the eye of man good and bad may appear precisely the same. The eye of God alone can discern, and His judgment alone determine, their character.

2. Hence we must go to His Word to enable us in any measure to judge of them rightly. And that Word teaches us that whatsoever is not of faith is sin; without faith it is impossible to please God.

3. What, then, are good works, as the fruit of faith? Any work done believing with the heart, and done, therefore, to the glory of God, is a good work. Faith purifies the heart; works by love; overcomes the world.

4. We should specially mark that works in no way justify us before God, for we are accounted righteous: only for the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ through faith. But works, as the fruit of a lively faith, justify us before men; and a faith which produces no works is dead. A tree is the same good tree in winter without leaf or fruit, as it is in the autumn when laden with fruit; and the fruit does not make the tree good, but the tree makes the fruit good, and good fruit shows that the tree is good.

5. We should be very zealous in bringing forth the fruit of good works, for we are apt to be slothful and weary in well-doing, and much hindered through world, flesh, devil. (C. J. Goodhart, M. A.)

Good works for believers

The words being opened, enlarge upon—

I. Good works as the things in which God’s people are to walk. Illustrate this in a young convert passing through various connections in life to old age.

II. God as the Author of these good works in them. Shew how the Scripture speaks of this. “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean,” etc. (Eze_36:25, etc.). “Hath not the potter power over the clay,” etc. (Rom_9:21). “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php_1:6). “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Php_2:13).

III. Good works wrought in us as consequences of union with Christ. “I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman,” etc. (Joh_15:1, etc.). “For if thou wert cut out of the olive, tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree,” etc. (Rom_11:24). “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things,” etc. (Eph_4:15, etc.).

IV. The commands of God in His Word, and the work of His grace in us, as corresponding; like the seal and the wax. “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin,” etc. (Rom_6:17). Exemplified in Zaccheus—Paul—Prodigal. Address to the careless—the Antinomian—the self-righteous—the regenerate. (H. Foster, M. A.)

Perseverance in good works

It is not one or two good actions, but a good conversation, which will speak a man to be a right Christian. A true believer, like the heavenly orbs, is constant and unwearied in his motion and actings. Enoch “walked with God”; it is not taking a step or two in a way which denominates a man a walker, but a continued motion. No man is judged healthy by a flushing colour in his face, but by a good complexion. God esteems none holy for a particular carriage, but for a general course. A sinner in some few acts may be very good: Judas repents, Cain sacrifices, the scribes pray and fast; and yet all were very false. In the most deadly diseases, there may be some intermissions, and some good prognostics. A saint in some few acts may be very bad: Noah is drunk, David defiles his neighbour’s wife, and Peter denies his best friend; yet these persons were heaven’s favourites. The best gold must have some grains of allowance. Sheep may fall into the mire, but swine love day and night to wallow in it. A Christian may stumble, nay, he may fall, but he gets up and walks on in the way of God’s commandments; the bent of his heart is right, and the scope of his life is straight, and thence he is deemed sincere. (G. Swinnock.)

The use of good works

“God,” said a minister to a boy who stood watching a caterpillar spinning a very beautiful cocoon, “God sets that little creature a task to do: and diligently and very skilfully he does it; and so God gives us good works to perform in His name and for His sake. But, were the insect to remain satisfied forever in the silken ball which he is weaving, it would become, not his home, but his tomb. No; by not resting in it, but forcing a way through it, will the winged creature reach sunshine and air. He must leave his own works behind, if he would shine in freedom and joy. And so it is with the Christian.”

Conversion, the soul, and God

There is produced in a soul an image of God. When does the image of the star start up in the chamber of the telescope? Only when the lenses are clear and rightly adjusted, and when the axis of vision in the tube is brought into exact coincidence with the line of the rays of light from the star. When does the image of God, or the inner sense of peace and pardon spring up in the human soul? Only when the faculties of the soul are rightly adjusted in relation to each other, and the will brought into coincidence with God’s will. How much is man’s work, and how much is the work of the light? Man adjusts the lenses and the tube; the light does all the rest. Man may, in the exercise of his freedom, as upheld by Divine power, adjust his faculties to spiritual light, and when adjusted in a certain way God flashes through them. (Joseph Cook.)

Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed (see ).

The believer not ashamed

That is either—

I. Shall not be ashamed by the non-fulfilment of that which is the object of their confident expectation.

It is a confidence which they might well cherish and avow—secure as they are from the mockery of any failure or disappointment in their hopes. All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and amen; and it is because of their certain and punctual accomplishment, that the hope which they inspire is a hope which “maketh not ashamed.” When the verse is thus regarded, its reference is to the future, when the promises will all be made good. Then will the believer lift up his head and rejoice. Otherwise, ashamed of the vain and illusory imagination on which he had before rested, he would sink into despair.

II. Or shall not be ashamed now when the promises are only as yet believed.

Even at this stage might faith have a present and powerful effect in repressing shame, and more especially the shame of making the avowal of itself, and so of testifying for Christ. Like every other principle of strong and felt urgency within, it may delight in the vent and forthgoing of its own utterance, and in bearing down the restraints whether of shame or of fear, which might have otherwise intercepted the expression of it (; ; ). The apostle was not ashamed, because of the certainty he felt in Him whom he believed, and the firm persuasion he had of His ability to save him. And so he bids Timothy not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, who Himself tells us that whosoever shall be ashamed of Him and of His words, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed. We like this view of the text. It binds so together the belief of its first clause with the confession of its second, and harmonises the saying that “confession is unto salvation” with the saying that “the end of our faith is the salvation of our souls.”

III. From the proposition of this verse a certain converse proposition might be drawn that might well be used as a criterion by which to test and to ascertain the reality of our faith.

If it be true that whosoever believeth on Him is not ashamed, then it should be true that whosoever is ashamed of Him doth not believe. Or, whosoever maketh not confession of Him with the mouth, believeth Him not with the heart. How comes it, then, that Christ and all which is expressly Christian are so systematically excluded from society as topics of conversation? The general emigration of a whole neighbourhood from one country to another in this world would be the constant talk of all its parties. How is it that we meet with nothing like this on the subject of that universal emigration from one world to another? Is it because there are no outfits, no preparations, and therefore no prospects to talk about?—these having no place in the converse just because they have no place in the business or in the hearts of men? They are seldom or never the subjects of speech, just because they are seldom or never the subjects of thought. Or if there be any who think of them, but are ashamed to speak of them—such we say is the overbearing magnitude of the interest at stake that it needs but a realising sense of them to put to flight both the fear and the shame of this world. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)

The Christian not ashamed

I. Of Christ (; ).

II. Of the gospel ().

III. At Christ’s coming ().

IV. Of God’s people (; Php 5:16).

V. Of God’s revelation (; ; ; ).

VI. To suffer as a Christian ().

VII. To own his former state ().

VIII. To bear the reproach of Christ (; ).

IX. In the last great day ().

X. Of “nothing” (). “They shall not be ashamed that wait for Thee.” (Homiletic Monthly.)

The believer not ashamed

I. Whosoever trust in anything but in christ shall be ashamed.

The Jews of their confidence in the law. They also which, with King Asa, trust in the physicians and not in God in the day of sickness, so they which trust in their riches contrary to the commandment of the Spirit, whom Christ calls fools. These also who seek in losses to wizards and not to God. Many trust in outward things without God, but there are few who trust in God without outward things.

II. There is much fear and doubting where faith is, but in the end believers shall not be ashamed.

This makes them confident against the reproach cast upon them by the world. Though the gospel be spoken against in every place, yet Paul will not be ashamed of it. This also comforts against the guiltiness of sin, which is the true cause of shame. Faith obtains pardon, and therefore we shall never be put to shame, and the more we believe the less do we fear shame. Peter walked upon the water and shamed himself, for he began to sink. What was the cause? Not the wind or waves, but the defect of faith. Make precious account therefore of thy faith, and labour to increase it. A certain captain, being in a hot skirmish, was stricken down, and taken up for dead. As soon as he came to himself he first asked if his target were safe, being loth his enemies should get that. So look to thy faith, for the devil, thy enemy, will look to it, and thou shalt not be ashamed.

III. Wicked men and unbelievers are miserable because of the shame which follows them.

There can be almost no stronger argument against sin than to say it will make ashamed. Some, like shameless beasts, glory in their shame, making a pastime of that with Solomon’s fool (), which they should bewail with tears of blood. It is a face of brass that is not ashamed of blasphemy, drunkenness, adultery, and pride. Though many of these things be not now ashamed, yet at the day of death or judgment they shall be put to shame, and then there shall be no covering for their shame. If thou be one of these and couldst blush, there were hope of thee. When a thief is taken how doth he hang down his head before men. Alas! if thou believest not, nor repentest, how shalt thou be able to look Christ in the face when He comes to judgment? Let us therefore so live that when He shall appear we may be bold, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)

The believer not ashamed

Faith is a frequent source of shame. How often has unfounded trust in ourselves or others brought disgrace and disappointment? In one direction, and in one direction only, can we with unlimited confidence say that whosoever believeth shall not be ashamed.

I. The believer might be ashamed.

1. Of Christ, were He—

(1) Ignoble—were, e.g., He proved to be merely the Nazarene and not the Word made flesh; the Son of Mary and not the Son of God.

(2) Morally imperfect. Were He, who declared Himself sinless, shown to be overtaken in a fault.

2. Of His service. Could it be demonstrated to be—

(1) Ignominious, involving baseness and servility;

(2) Wicked, and against conscience;

(3) Grievous and impracticable—then might the believer be ashamed of his credulous compliance.

3. Of His teaching. Were it—

(1) Frivolous and unworthy of intelligent study.

(2) Immoral and offensive to the moral sense.

(3) Impracticable and unsuited to everyday life.

4. Of His influence, if it were—

(1) Inoperative;

(2) Transient; or

(3) Not for good.

5. Of His promised rewards, if they were—

(1) Baseless, or

(2) Worthless. Tried by these tests, who could come out scatheless?

Mention one of whom in all these regards it could be said that he that believeth in him shall not be ashamed? Is Christ an exception? Yes.

II. The believer cannot be ashamed—

1. Of Christ. Consider—

(1) The dignity of His person. “The brightness of God’s glory,” etc.

(2) The perfection of His character. “He did no sin.” “He went about doing good.”

2. Of His service.

(1) It is of the noblest, as is shown from—

(a) Its character;

(b) Those who have engaged in it.

(2) It is of the holiest. Its animating motive is perfect love to God and man.

(3) It is the most blessed—perfect freedom and fulness of joy.

3. Of His teaching, which is

(1) The most profound. The combined labour of the greatest intellects have failed to exhaust its meaning.

(2) The only instruction which meets with the perfect approval of the unbiassed conscience.

(3) Perfectly practicable. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” “Ye are My friends if ye do,” etc.

4. Of His influence. How can one be ashamed of that which everywhere makes for righteousness. We are ashamed of much that we did before we came under His influence; but we are ashamed now only that we did not come under it before.

5. Of His promised rewards. These are—

(1) Pure. We know this because we have already received the earnest.

(2) Of the highest and of endless value. “In Thy presence is fulness of joy,” etc.

III. Then do not be ashamed—

1. To confess Christ. He is worthy.

2. To engage in His service, and that with the utmost earnestness.

3. To study and practise His teaching. It will live when the wisdom of this world is forgotten.

4. To yield utterly to His influence.

5. To fulfil the conditions upon which He has promised His rewards. “Be thou faithful unto death,” etc. (J. W. Burn.)

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.

True equality

There is no difference, for—

1. There is the same Lord.

2. He is rich to all.

The Jews need not grudge the coming in of the Gentiles; they shall not have the less, for God is able to enrich all. As the sun, though it every day give his light to everybody, yet neither hath it or we the less, so though thousands from one end of the earth to the other flock to the receiving of mercy yet God hath store, and the fountain is above our thirst.

3. An equal condition propounded to all, “If they call on Him,” which, if the Gentile do, the gate of mercy was open and free to him as to the Jew.

The favours of God concerning justification and salvation are dispensed, without any respect of persons, to them which believe and call upon Him (; ; ).

I. In this world, for the most part, the poor are condemned.

If there be any favour it falls into the rich man’s mouth. If there be any danger the rich man gets through, when the poor is taken in the net of the law. The poor is scanted in the things of this earth, but in the favour of God and heavenly things he shareth with the best. The rich cannot bribe for these. God respected the low estate of Mary His handmaiden; yea, Lazarus went to heaven when Dives went to hell.

II. If thou be rich be humble.

Do not disdainfully overlook thy poor neighbour. He is heir of the same grace, serves the same Master, and, it may be, in as great favour with Him as thyself. The rich and poor are all one by creation; there is the same entrance into the world and the same way to depart to them both, unless the rich man’s fulness open more doors of death than the emptiness of the poor man. In the worst things, as sin and corruption, the richest is equal with the poorest. In the best things, as justification and eternal life, the poorest is equal with the richest.

III. There is no difference between the rich and the poor in spiritual things.

In civil there is great difference, even by God’s ordinance. For the gospel abolisheth not order. We must honour our superiors. We may not say, Wherein is he better than I? We all come of Adam. When the counters are put up into the bag there is no difference between them, but while the account is casting there is great difference. One stands for a pound, another for a penny. So at the day of judgment and in Christ there is no difference; but while we here live there is difference, and it is to be acknowledged.

IV. Be at unity, for there is the same Lord.

We are all servants to one Master; He will prefer us all; we need not envy one another. We are all of a family, and wear all one livery, and the badge is love. Will any man endure that his servants or children shall be quarrelling? Indeed, if we served divers masters there might sometimes naked swords be seen, but now contentions must needs be odious. A Church in division is like a house on fire. Quench and increase not this flame by thy brainless opinions.

V. The way to be rich in all grace is to ask.

Ask, and you shall have; He is rich to all that call upon Him. He gives bountifully, and casts no man in the teeth. Plead not thine own deservings, thou must sue in forma pauperis. Beggars obtain; the rich are sent empty away.

VI. Every man desires to serve a liberal master, that he may be preferred.

Serve god and thou shalt be made rich. Why dost thou by swearing, lying, etc., serve that beggarly master the devil, that hath nothing to give his followers but hell? If God be thy Master thou art made for ever. No marvel that Paul breaks out into such pathetical thanksgivings because God entertained him into His service. Get into God’s service, and, when thou art in, keep thee there.

There are two things to be done that we may keep our service.

1. To know our Master well.

2. To do it. And then as God was rich to Abraham for his faith, to David for his zeal, to Stephen for his constancy, so will He be rich to thee.

As God is rich in mercy to the good, so in judgments, plagues, woes, curses, is He rich to all ungodly and wicked men. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)

The universality of the gospel

The gospel is admirably adapted to meet the wants of man. At whatever time, in whatever place, and under whatever circumstances, it satisfies his inquiries respecting salvation and a future world. It recognises no differences—

I. Of a national kind.

The Jew and the Greek are on perfect equality as regards the gospel. Our Saviour says, “Go ye into all the world,” etc. Thus the gospel cuts at the root of all national selfishness and animosity, and extends its blessings to all; for “God hath made of one blood all nations of the earth”; and the redeemed sing, “Worthy is the Lamb … who hath redeemed us out of all nations.”

II. Of a social kind.

Great as are the differences of social condition amongst men, the gospel recognises none. The gospel says to the prince, “Believe,” and if he believes he is saved; but if he does not he is damned, though he be a prince. It just says the same to the slave. The rich and the poor, the master and servant, must partake of salvation by the same faith in the Son of God.

III. Of a denominational kind.

The Independent and the Baptist, the Churchman and the Dissenter, each and all through Christ can be saved. The bigot in religion erects his little barrier, and having enclosed all within it who agree with him, excludes all others and regards them as outside the pale of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ knocks down all such barriers, and standing on their ruins, proclaims salvation to each and to all who believe in His name.

IV. Of a mental kind.

The refined scholar, and the untutored boor; the man of acute intellect, and the one of dull apprehension, each and all through Jesus Christ can be saved. Paul was debtor both to the wise and to the unwise. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the uninstructed despair. Christ offers the riches of His grace to all.

V. Of a moral kind.

None are shut out from the blessings of the gospel on account of their bad character. (C. Hargreaves.)

The gospel and its publication

I. The salvation revealed in the gospel.

It consists in a deliverance from the punishment and power of sin, and is effected by the death of Jesus Christ. Notice—

1. The richness of its blessings.

According to the necessities of the sinner, so are the blessings presented in the gospel. Is he bowed down under a sense of the guilt of his transgressions? The gospel tells him, “God so loved the world,” etc. Is he sensible of the deep pollution of his soul? He learns that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.” Does he feel his inability to honour God, by keeping the whole law? The gospel shows him that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth,” etc. Is the soul harassed by the power of temptation, and ready to despair? The gospel reveals the promises of deliverance and support. Does he shudder at the approach of death as the king of terrors? The gospel says, “Christ came to deliver those who, from fear of death, were subject to bondage,” etc. Does Satan excite doubts and fears as to the final result? The gospel reveals God as swearing to him by two immutable things, etc., that he might have strong consolation.

2. The extensiveness of its efficiency.

Its blessings are confined to no particular nation, but are suited to all, in every place ().

3. The means by which its blessings are to be secured.

We must “call upon God.” But this must be much more than the address of the lips, which in many is only the result of education and example. The calling upon God here spoken of, is the result of heartfelt convictions of the truth of the gospel, and the importance of salvation. There can be no repentance without a discovery of the awful nature of sin, and without right views of the holiness of God. It is only in proportion as we see the blessings of salvation to be suitable and necessary that we shall call upon God for them.

II. The necessity of publishing the gospel throughout the whole earth.

This necessity is great, and it is heightened—

1. By the natural state of the human mind.

Reason brought out great results in arts and sciences, etc.; it has enabled man to trace out the being and attributes of Jehovah (). By this also the knowledge of sin is attainable (). But, great as are the powers of the human mind, they fail to reveal the way in which the wrath of God may be appeased, the way in which man must be just with God (). Man is conscious of guilt, of merited punishment: self-preservation induces a wish to escape, but whither he knows not. Christ is set forth as a propitiation for the sins of the world—through faith in Him alone pardon and salvation are to be obtained; but millions of our fellow-creatures have never heard of Him, and therefore how shall they believe in Him? Hence the necessity of publishing it to them.

2. By the Divine appointment of Jehovah.

We are blessed with the light of Divine truth; the spirit of true Christian benevolence, therefore, should prompt us to diffuse it. The gospel is designed both for Jews and Gentiles. This doctrine is to be found in the Old Testament as well as in the New. In the accomplishment of his designs, however, God works by means. He has appointed the preaching of His gospel. “Go ye into all the world, and preach,” etc. Salvation is by faith; and if faith be essential to salvation, it is necessary to hear; for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” And we may well ask, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” etc.

Conclusion: Let us learn from this subject—

1. The unspeakable privilege of those who profess the gospel.

2. The duties which attach themselves to the possessors of these privileges. (J. C. Williams.)

For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.—

The Lordship of Christ

I. Christ is Lord.

1. The word is frequently an equivalent for Jehovah.

Whether it is so here or not, the apostle recognised Christ’s oneness with God even as Christ professed the same. Upon this is rooted our Lord’s claim to the homage of the race.

2. The least that the word can mean is Sovereign.

Christ is the King of men. This office is in danger of being overlooked in favour of His priestly and prophetic offices. It is more agreeable to be saved by His sacrifice and to listen to His gracious words than to fight His battles and to do His will. Yet what honour to be the subjects of such a King; what safety to be under His protection; what honour must come from obedience to His rule.

II. Christ is Lord over all.

1. There is but one Lord—“The same Lord.”

Heathenism had lords many, which entailed religious confusion. Hence moral confusion and unrest. Christ is the only authoritative and perfectly self-consistent moral ruler.

2. He is over all, without distinction. His rights are based on—

(1) Creation;

(2) Preservation;

(3) Redemption.

He who created, who preserves, and who redeemed all, must be Lord of all. The inference is the essential equality of the race. Differences of rank, etc., are accidental and will pass away. That rich and poor, etc., are common subjects of the same King will never pass away. Let this soften racial, social, and sectarian asperities.

III. Christ, being Lord over all, is rich unto all. Rich Himself, He does not use His wealth for Himself.

“For our sakes He” once “became poor”; but now, being again highly exalted, He gives gifts to men.

1. This is to be understood in the widest sense. His providential riches are distributed universally. Good and bad, enemies and friends, are partakers of His bounty.

2. This is to be understood in a more limited sense. His choicest favours are indeed offered to all, and the condition of their acceptance is possible to all; but they are confined to those who “call upon Him.”

(1) Those who acknowledge His Lordship.

All can do this, but it is only reasonable that those who do do it should receive the benefit. A monarch may extend the benefit of his government to all his subjects, but he will scarcely confer his court favours on the disloyal.

(2) Those who ask for them.

What can be more reasonable and easy than this. To ask implies to want, and can we expect Christ to lavish the riches of His grace on those that will not appreciate them? (J. W. Burn.)

God’s riches

The word “rich” is here used in its ethical import, as equivalent to liberal or bountiful. Hence the remarkable expression “rich unto.” In the sphere of ordinary life, when men become rich, they are in general simply said to be rich—at times it may be said that they are rich in this world’s possessions, or that they are rich in the possession of devoted friends, or rich in genius, but God is here represented as “rich unto”—i.e., He is abundant in goodness. (J. Morison, D.D.)

If men are not saved the fault is their own

because—

I. God is willing to save all.

1. He makes no difference.

2. Is rich unto all.

3. Offers salvation to all who call upon Him.

II. God provides means for all.

1. He sends His gospel to all ().

2. Convinces men of unbelief ().

3. Makes His word effective in producing faith ().

III. Men rob themselves of their salvation by their unbelief.

1. They do not improve the means ().

2. Are often more unfaithful than others less favoured ().

3. Make the purpose of God of no effect through their disobedience. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall he saved.—

The inclusive “whosoever”

John Berridge once said, after having given out these words as his text, “I would much rather it be written, ‘Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’—than ‘If John Berridge shall call out the name of the Lord he shall be saved’; because” said he, “how do I know that there might not be another John Berridge in the world to whom those words were addressed? But when I read, ‘Whosoever shall call,’ etc., I know I must be included.”

Salvation

1. Its import.

2. Its conditions.

3. Its universal offer. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Salvation

This is the substance of the grand gospel. It implies—

1. That we are not saved by our opinions, theories, Churches, or ordinances.

2. That we are saved by Christ.

3. That application to Him for salvation must be made.

4. That in granting salvation Christ is no respecter of persons.

How thankful should we be for this simple, comprehensive declaration. How instant and earnest should be our application. How hopeful and assured of a favourable reply. (J. Parker, D.D.)

Salvation is

I. Needed by all.

II. Is intended for all.

III. Is within the reach of all.

IV. May be secured by all. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Salvation, its Author and condition

Paul opened this chapter with an expression of heartfelt desire for the salvation of Israel; but the mass cf the nation were acting in direct antagonism to the only method of salvation. In his estimation, their rejection of the Divine plan of saving men was a crime which admitted of no palliation. There were no physical difficulties in the way (verses 6, 7). There were no intellectual difficulties in the way (verse 8). There were no moral difficulties in the way, save in their own voluntary ignorance and unbelief. Hell is self-chosen, both by Jew and Gentile. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

I. Man wants salvation—

1. From present evil. “The whole world is guilty before God.”

2. From future evil. Living to sin, the tendency of his soul is downwards, and no plumb-line can fathom the depths to which he may descend. Perish is the dark dissyllable used to describe the final state of the impenitent.

II. The salvation man wants is attainable. “Shall be saved.” Salvation includes—

1. Deliverance from the great moral evils of the present.

2. Fitness for the enjoyment of the great realities of the future. The saving power creates a heaven in the heart, ere it introduces a heaven to the eye.

III. The salvation man wants is attainable only by Christ.

1. He procured it as the world’s Saviour. “He redeemed us to God with His blood.” He could have destroyed; but while we were yet sinners He died for us.

2. He bestows salvation as the world’s Sovereign.

IV. The salvation man wants and is attainable only by Christ, is suspended on the condition of prayer.

1. This condition embodies all that is instrumentally necessary to man’s salvation. It implies—

(1) Self-condemnation.

(2) Confession of sin to God.

(3) Faith. The prayer of the publican blended these elements.

There was self-condemnation. Smiting upon his burdened conscience, he exclaimed, “God be merciful to me.”… There was a confession of sin to God: “God be merciful to”… “a sinner.” There was faith.

2. This condition is strikingly simple compared with the great results of its exercise. “Whosoever shall call … shall be saved.” We have not to traverse sandy deserts, and climb rugged steeps with the Mohammedan, nor to endure maceration with the papist, in order to obtain salvation. We have no work of supposed merit to perform; not to purchase, not to suffer, but to beg.

3. This condition is bound up with a name that renders salvation the certain result of its exercise. The condition is, that we pray to Christ. Complying with this condition, the name of Christ is a guarantee of success.

4. This condition may be exercised with success by any one cf the race. “Whosoever shall,” etc. Christianity invites the confidence of the world. Catholicity appears—

(1) In all the Saviour has done for man.

(2) In the calls and offers of the gospel.

“Whosoever” is a word utterly neutralising the attempts which men have rashly made to limit the compassion of God, and obstruct the way of the sinner’s approach to the mercy-seat. Conclusion: The subject reminds us—

1. That only one method of salvation exists. “There is none other name given among men,” etc.

2. To perish with a knowledge of this, man must commit soul-suicide. (G. Wallis.)

Free salvation

I. The blessing. Salvation from—

1. The guilt.

2. The power.

3. The results of sin.

II. The duty. To call—

1. Upon God.

2. Through the mediation of Christ.

3. By the aid of the Spirit.

4. With a disposition to be saved.

III. The promise. To all—

1. Nations.

2. Ranks.

3. Conditions.

4. Characters. (W. W. Wythe.)

The glad tidings

I. Their nature.

II. Dispensation.

III. Reception.

IV. Effect. (W. W. Wythe.)

Calling on the name of the Lord

To call upon the name of the Lord implies—

I. Right faiths, to call upon Him as He is.

II. Right trust in Him, leaning upon Him.

III. Right devotion, calling upon Him, as He has appointed.

IV. Right life, ourselves who call upon Him being, or becoming, by His grace, what He wills.

They call not upon the Lord, but upon some idol of their own imagining, who call upon Him as other than He has revealed Himself, or remaining themselves other than those whom He has declared that He will hear. (E. B. Pusey, D.D.)

Calling in earnest

I. This call does not always express itself in words, but is the speech of the Spirit, and is well understood by the heavenly Father, who seeks to hear those who worship Him in spirit and in truth.

II. It is not an artificial call. The mere saying of prayers is an act of gross superstition; the form is useless unless your heart feels and prompts the expression.

III. It is not a call for form’s sake, but a dying cry for help. A Frenchman going to the chapel to pray, found that workmen were in the chapel, and the altar covered up with a dirty cloth. So walking quietly up the centre of the chapel and making a courteous bow, he placed his card upon the altar and retired. But there was also in the place a poor woman, who had been led, perhaps by poverty and cruel temptation, into sin. Crouching upon the floor, her tears fell upon the sawdust, and her soul cried to God. In the one case it was a matter of form, in the other it was an earnest desire for the forgiveness and peace of God.

IV. It is a call that is intensely earnest. The call that shall move God to save us is not a mere chaunted prayer, but the cry within the heart, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

V. It is the call of the helpless one, who is broken down under the load of sin.

VI. It is the call of the easily tempted. VII. It is the call of a captive. VIII. It is a call of the despairing soul. (W. Birch.)

A simple sermon for seeking souls

1. Inasmuch as our text talks of men being saved, it implies that men need saving; but if men had been as God created them, they would have needed no saving. We must not, however, throw the blame on Adam; no man was ever yet damned for Adam’s sin alone. Children dying in infancy are, without doubt, saved through the atonement. But we are not children. We need not talk just now of Adam’s sins. We have our own to account for.

2. Salvation means our escaping from the punishment of sin, and also from the habit of sin.

3. How may men be saved? The answer is in the text.

I. Explanation. What is meant by calling upon the name of the Lord?

1. Worship. “When men began to multiply upon the face of the earth, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord,” i.e., they builded altars in His name, offered sacrifice, bowed their knee, and lifted their voice. Now, whosoever is enabled by grace to worship God, in God’s way, shall be saved.

2. Prayer. Elijah, when the prophets of Baal sought to get rain from their false god, said, “I will call upon God,” i.e., “I will pray to God, that He may send the rain.” Now, whosoever prayeth to God through Christ, with sincere prayer, shall be saved. Thou canst not pray and perish. It may be a groan, a tear, or a prayer in broken English; but if it be a prayer from the inmost heart, thou shalt be saved.

3. Trust. A man cannot call upon the name of the Lord, unless he trusts in that name, and he that trusteth in Christ, calling on His name, shall be saved.

4. Professing His name. Ananias said to Saul, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord.” Now some of you say, “We will believe and be secret Christians.” Hear this, then—“If any man be ashamed of Me,” etc. What would Her Majesty think of her soldiers, if they should prefer not to wear anything that would mark them as being soldiers?

II. Refutation. There are some popular errors which need to be cured by refutation., viz.—

1. That a priest or a minister is absolutely necessary to assist men in salvation. The necessity of a preacher lies in telling what the way of salvation is; but his office goes no further. Neither Paul, nor an angel from heaven, can help you in salvation. We must each of us go to the fountain-head, pleading this promise.

2. That a good dream is a most splendid thing in order to save people. Rowland Hill, when a woman pleaded that she was saved because she dreamed, said, “Well, it is very nice to have good dreams when you are asleep; but I want to see how you act when you are awake; for if your conduct is not consistent in religion when you are awake. I will not give a snap of the finger for your dreams.” Some people have been alarmed by dreams; but to trust to them is to trust to a shadow.

3. That a certain kind of feeling must be experienced in order to salvation. Now, the only feeling I want is that I am a sinner and that Christ is my Saviour. You may keep your ecstasies and raptures to yourselves; the only feeling necessary is deep repentance and humble faith; and if you have got that you are saved.

4. That somehow or other salvation is connected with learning. Now, I would advise you to know as much as ever you can; but in regard to going to heaven, the way is so plain, that “the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein.” All you want to know is, the two things that begin with S—Sin and Saviour.

III. Exhortation. Believe the message. Does it seem hard to believe? Nothing is too hard for the Most High. I will use a few reasons to induce you to believe this truth. If thou callest on Christ’s name thou wilt be saved.

1. Because thou art elect. That doctrine which puzzles many and frightens more, never need do so. If you call on the name of Christ you are elect.

2. Because thou art redeemed. Christ has bought thee, and paid for thee.

3. Because Christ says, “In My Father’s house there are many mansions,” and there is one there for you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The obligation of Christian missions

I. The gospel is designed for the world (verse 13).

II. The world needs it (verse 14).

III. The church is commissioned to dispense it. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Steps essential to faith

I. Faith is essential to worship (verse 13). “He that cometh to God must believe that He is,” etc. Acceptable worship is not speech, ritual, or bodily service, but the devotions of a soul quickened by a living faith.

1. Not a corporate faith, the current faith of a community to which we belong.

2. Not a traditional faith.

3. But an individual faith which has been reached by our own examination of facts and evidence, and which has become a living power within us.

II. Information is essential to faith (verse 14). Faith implies objects known to us. We cannot believe in something, however true, that is unknown. Men know nothing of God until they are informed. The knowledge does not come either as an intuition, or as a truth conveyed by nature. “The world by wisdom knew not God.” There must come a special revelation.

III. Preaching is essential to knowledge. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” Let the word “preacher” stand for all who convey from God necessary information—prophets, apostles, and all true modern expositors of the blessed Book. Had not such messengers appeared whom God made organs of communications to men, what should we have known of Him? What to produce a living faith? The publication of the gospel by preaching is God’s established instrumentality for giving the world a knowledge of the great things of faith.

IV. Divine commission is essential to preaching. “How shall they preach except they be sent?” The men who give the true knowledge are the men only whom God sends. There are many unsent preachers proclaiming their notions. Who are the sent ones? What are the criteria by which to determine the point—volubility, animal warmth, popularity? Not necessarily so. He is the sent who is divinely qualified by having the right conceptions, the right sympathies, the right speech. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Links in the soul’s redemptive chain

I. Prayer. “How then shall they call on Him?” etc. This implies—

1. Consciousness of dependence upon Him.

2. An earnest desire after Him.

II. Faith. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” Faith in—

1. His personal existence.

2. The entreatability of His nature.

III. Knowledge. “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” Faith is at the basis of all knowledge—soul redemptive faith requires knowledge, not of the creative, sustaining God, but of the redeeming God, God in Christ.

IV. Preaching. The redeeming God has been made known to man by preaching. Enoch, Noah, Moses, the prophets, the apostles, and Christ all preached. And the subject of all their preaching was the redeeming God. No one can preach this properly unless he be sent. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

God’s readiness to forgive

Macaulay speaks of as being hard and as glorying in the opportunity of crushing another. One of the most affecting pictures in the Royal Academy of this year depicts the king in the act of crushing the poor defeated Duke of Monmouth. In a room hung with tapestry the king stands erect, lank, sickly, and contemptuous. The poor duke whose rebellion had roused the hatred of the king, thought to move him to pity. His arms were “bound behind him with a silken cord, and thus secured he was ushered into the presence of the implacable kinsman whom he had wronged. Then Monmouth threw himself on the ground and crawled to the king’s feet.” The artist represents him with face on the smooth floor, eyes swollen with weeping and watching, striving to move the king to pity. It was in vain. The king only crushed with hardness and contempt. No wonder that the historian says strongly, “To see him, and not to spare him, was an outrage on humanity and decency.” How many such outrages are committed in a day by those of lower rank 1 Those who feel that they have sinned and who come imploringly to the feet of Divine mercy, have no need to fear that they will be treated with hardness. God “will not break the bruised reed,” He is gentle towards us. He forgives, uplifts, strengthens, and saves. (Mother’s Treasury.)

Crying for salvation

Some years ago a vessel struck on the rocks. They had only one lifeboat. In that lifeboat the passengers and crew were getting ashore. The vessel had foundered, and was sinking deeper and deeper, and that one boat could not take the passengers very swiftly. A little girl stood on the deck waiting for her turn to get into the boat. The boat came and went, came and went, but her turn did not seem to come. After awhile she could wait no longer, and she leaped on the taffrail and then sprang into the sea, crying to the boatman, “Save me next! Save me next!” Oh, how many have gone ashore into God’s mercy, and yet you are clinging to the wreck of sin! Others have accepted the pardon of Christ, but you are in peril. Why not, this moment, make a rush for your immortal rescue, crying until Jesus shall hear you, and heaven and earth ring with the cry, “Save me next! Save me next”?

Titus 3:4–7 KJV 1900

4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

But after that the kindness and love of God

The power of God’s kindness

In the incarnation of Christ, His life and miracles and mercies and divinest teaching; in His sacrificial death upon the cross, His resurrection and ascension, we have that manifestation of the kindness of God which is intended and calculated to lift us up out of our sins, and to bring us into His own most holy fellowship.

And see how broad and far-reaching this kindness is; it is not for the elect nor for the Church, though these of course are included, but for man as such—for the whole human family, without exception. Wide as the world is Thy command, vast as eternity Thy love! We know something of this power of kindness to subdue the evil and develop the good even between man and man. It has many a time succeeded where everything else has failed, and where it fails we know of nothing else likely to succeed. Pinel, the celebrated Frenchman, was the first to introduce into Europe a more humane treatment of the insane. In the madhouse at Paris there had been confined for some twenty years a sea captain, furious in his madness, ferocious and untameable. Two of the keepers had been struck dead by him with a blow from his manacled hands. He was chained to his seat when Pinel approached him, and with cheerful face and kindly manner, said, “Captain, I am going to release you and take you into the open air.” The mariner laughed out right and said, “You dare not do it.” It was done, the poor wretch staggered to the door accompanied by Pinel, and lifting up his eyes to the blue heavens above, a sight he had not seen for twenty years, said, as the tears coursed down his face, “Oh, how beautiful!” and from that hour became perfectly docile. If human kindness meets such returns, shall God’s love go unrequited, no echo answering to the Divine from the human? (J.W. Lance.)

St. Paul’s gospel

Note at the outset two points.

First, the central words, on which as on a peg the whole structure both of thought and of expression hangs, is the proposition—“He saved us.”

In what sense is man lost? In what must his salvation consist?

What is necessary in order to it?

In proportion as these questions are answered in a profound or in a shallow way will be our appreciation of those redemptive actions of God—the mission of His Son and the outpouring of His Spirit.

Next, let it be noted that in this saving of man by God three leading points have to be attended to:

The source or origin of it; the method of it; the issues and effects of it.

What we have to ask from St. Paul is a distinct reply to these three great queries

1. From what source did God’s saving activity on our behalf take its rise?

2. Through what methods does it operate upon us?

3. To what ultimate issues does it conduct those who are its objects?

I. The answer to the first of these need not detain us long.

True, it is a point of primary importance for the immediate purpose of the writer in the present connection. What he is engaged in enforcing upon Cretan Christians is a meek and gentle deportment toward their heathen neighbours. With this design, it is most pertinent to observe that they have not themselves to thank for being in a better state than others—saved Christians instead of lost heathen; not themselves, but God’s gratuitous kindness. It is worth remarking too in this connection, how singularly human are the terms selected to express the saving love of God. Two terms are used. The one is God’s “kindliness” or sweet benignity, like that gentle friendliness which one helpful neighbour may show to another in distress. The other is God’s “love for man,” literally, His philanthropy, or such special benevolence to all who wear the human form as might be looked for indeed among the members of our race themselves, but which it startles one to find is shared in by Him who made us. These curiously human phrases are chosen, it is to be presumed, because St. Paul would have us imitate in our dealings with one another God’s behaviour towards us. In substance, however, they describe just the same merciful and compassionate love in God our Saviour, to which the whole New Testament traces back man’s salvation as to its prime or fontal source. It is quite in harmony with this ascription of our salvation to God’s love as its fountainhead, that, throughout his account of the process, Paul continues to make God the subject of his sentence, and man its object. All along the line God appears as active and we as receptive; He is the doer or giver, man the field of His operations and the recipient of His benefits.

II. We pass next from the epiphany of God’s unmerited kindness in the advent of the Saviour, to that process by which individuals, at Crete or elsewhere, become partakers in His salvation.

The conversion of one born a heathen wears a conspicuous character, which is usually awanting to cases of conversion among ourselves. The day of their baptism, on which they sealed their conversion to the Christian faith, had marked a complete revolution in every department of their life. It had in many cases severed family ties. It had in all cases made them marked men in society. It had brought them into the circle of a strange community, and affiliated them to new comrades under the badges of a foreign religion. Outwardly, no less than inwardly, they were become new creatures; the old had passed away and all things were become new. The font at which they sealed their vows of discipleship had proved to be a second birth—the starting point for a changed life. Of course it is still the same among the converts who are won at our mission stations abroad; and we require to keep the condition of an infant missionary church well in mind if we would do justice to such language as St. Paul has here employed to describe the conversion of his readers. He speaks of the change in phrases borrowed both from its outer and inner side, its ritual and its spiritual elements. Inwardly, the convert was saved by the power of the Holy Spirit regenerating and renewing him. Outwardly, this spiritual second birth found its expressive seal in the bath or laver of holy baptism. Paul’s language could not mislead his Cretan readers. But it was admirably adapted to revive their most touching recollections. As they read his words, each one of them seemed to himself to stand once more, as on the most memorable and solemn day of his life, beside the sacred font. Once more he saw himself descend into the laver to symbolise the cleansing of his conscience from idol worship, from unbridled indulgence, from a vain conversation, by the precious death and burial of his Lord. By that act how utterly had he broken once for all with his earlier life and its polluted associations, leaving them behind like a buried past! Coming up afresh to commence the new pure career of a Christian disciple, he had received the symbolic white robe amid the congratulations of the brotherhood, who thronged around to welcome the newborn with a kiss of love—to welcome him among that little band who, beneath the cross, had sworn to fight the devil in Jesus’ strength, and, if need arose, to shed their blood for Jesus’ name! How keenly, as all this rushed back upon the Christian’s recollection, must he have felt that a change so wonderful and blessed was the Lord’s doing. What power, save God’s, could have turned backward the currents of his being, reversing the influences of education with the traditions of his ancestry and the usages of his fatherland? What hand but the Almighty’s could have snatched him out of the doomed nations over which Satan reigned, to translate him into that kingdom of light—the kingdom of God’s dear Son? Where was the spiritual force that could have opened his eyes, cleansed his conscience, quickened his heart, and made a new man out of the old one, save that Divine Spirit whose advent at Pentecost had been the birthday of a new era for the human family? The grateful praise which could not fail to mount to the lips at such a recollection, was a doxology to the Triune God, into whose name he had been baptized: to the Father unseen, eternal fountainhead of mercy; to the Incarnate Son, sole channel for its manifestation to guilty men; to the Holy Ghost, who, like a stream of life, had been plentifully poured forth from the Father, through the Son, to be the effectual giver of life in sinful souls!

III. Consider, in the last place, whither this saving activity on the part of the Godhead is carrying such as surrender themselves to it.

What is to be the outcome of His redemptive undertaking? In this alone, that the sinner is justified freely by His grace? Is the release of the guilty from condemnation and penalty the issue of all that God has done in His kindness? No; but that, “having been justified, we should be made heirs.” Birth of the Divine Spirit involves sonship to God Himself. The privilege of sons is to inherit; “heirs,” therefore, of “life eternal.” The word is one which opens, as it were, a door into heaven. It is true that it is not yet apparent what the children of God shall hereafter be, for purity, for freedom, for wisdom, for felicity. But forth from that opened door, how there streams to meet us a radiance of the unseen glory, which in the twilight of this lifetime dazzles our earthly eyes! For that undiscovered heritage of the saints in light we can only hope. To this point, therefore, and no further, does the Christian gospel conduct its disciple. Here for the present it leaves him, sitting patient and expectant by the gate of Paradise, to await, with steadfast heart, the moment that shall disclose to him his patrimony of bliss. While he sits and waits, shall he not behave himself as a child of God, and strive to grow more meet for the heritage of the holy? (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)

God’s kindness

The sun that shines on you shall set, summer streams shall freeze, and deepest wells go dry; but God’s love is a stream that never freezes, a fountain that never fails, a sun that never sets in night, a shield that never breaks in fight.

God’s kindness only partially seen by the soul

The sun appears red through a fog, and generally red at rising and setting, the red rays having a great momentum which gives them power to traverse so dense an atmosphere, which the other rays have not. The increased quantity of atmosphere which oblique rays must traverse, loaded with the mists and vapours which are usually formed at those times, prevents the other rays from reaching us. It is thus that but a few of the rays of God’s love—like the red rays—reach the soul. Sin, passion, and unbelief surround it as with a dense atmosphere of mists and vapours; and, though the beams of God’s love are poured out innumerable as the sun’s rays, they are lost and scattered, and few of them shine upon the soul. (H.G. Salter.)

God’s love incomparable

If an angel were to fly swiftly over the earth on a summer morning, and go into every garden—the king’s, the rich man’s, the peasant’s, the child’s—and were to bring from each one the choicest, loveliest, sweetest flower that blooms in each, and gather them all in one cluster in his radiant hands, what a beautiful bouquet it would be! And if an angel were to fly swiftly over the earth into every sweet and holy home, into every spot where one heart yearns over another, and were to take out of every father’s heart, and every mother’s heart, and out of every heart that loves, its holiest flower of affection, and gather all into one cluster, what a blessed love garland would his eyes behold! What a holy love would this aggregation of all earth’s loves be! Yet infinitely sweeter and holier than this grouping of all earth’s holiest affections is the love that fills the heart of our Father in heaven. (John R. Miller.)

God’s love to men

I was leaving a gentleman’s house where I had been paying a visit, said a minister of the gospel, when I put this question to the servant maid who was about to open the door: “My friend, do you love God?” “I am afraid not,” she answered, “and I fear I never shall.” “Well.” I said,” you may at least depend on this—it is certain that God loves you.” “How can you possibly tell that?” asked the master of the house, who was going downstairs with me. “This is the first time you have ever seen this woman; you know nothing about her character. You cannot tell whether she attends to her duties properly or not.” “Never mind about that,” I said, “It is certain that God loves her, and you too. I am quite sure of this, because God has told us that His love to us does Hot depend on what we are, or what we deserve. The Bible tells us, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’ to die for it; and again it tells us, ‘Herein is love; not that we loved God; but that God loved us, and sent His Son to die for our sins’” (1Jn_4:10). “If that is so,” said the gentleman, “and your words seem to prove it, what a shame it is that I don’t love Him. May I say to myself, without any fear of making a mistake, ‘It is certain that God loves me’?” “Indeed you may,” I said; “and I pray to God you may soon be able to say, ‘It is certain that I love Him.’” And Jesus may well be called a loving messenger, because He came into the world, not only to tell us this great truth, but also to be Himself the proof of it. (Richard Newton.)

The disposition of God

God’s forgiveness is unspeakably generous, and, if I may so say, unspeakably more fine, delicate, and full of strange gentleness than ours. I believe the more we come to know the disposition of Almighty God, the more we shall find in it, in magnitude and power, those traits which we call, among men, rare in their excellence. And when God undertakes for us, if we have thrown our selves upon His mercy, and we have really meant to be His, and are really striving to be His, I believe that His feeling toward us transcends that of the tenderest love, of the most generous parentage, and of the most romantic friendship in men; that He is not less than men in these emotions of friendship and of generosity in it, but transcendently more; that in Him they spread over a broader ground, and take on a more wondrous experience. And instead of being likely to over estimate the volume of the Divine goodness and mercy towards those who fear Him, we are always under the mark. We always think less of God, and more meanly of the Divine nature than we ought to do. (H. W. Beecher.)

Not by works of righteousness

Salvation, not of works, but of grace

I. Works of righteousness we cannot performs and therefore they cannot save us.

1. Could we render such works, they would save us.

2. Without rendering such works, we cannot be saved.

II. Redemptive mercy has been vouchsafed to us, and therefore we may be saved.

1. The special work of this redemptive mercy.

(1) Cleansing.

(2) Renewal.

2. The Divine Administrator of this redemptive mercy—the Holy Ghost.

3. The glorious medium of this redemptive mercy—Jesus Christ.

4. The sublime result—“That being justified,” etc.

(1) This rectitude inspires with the highest hope.

(2) Inaugurates the highest relationship—“Him.” (Homilist.)

The source of salvation

I. Salvation based upon Divine mercy. “Kindness” or goodness, “Love.” Margin “pity” Literally, “philanthropy”; that is “the love of man” ().

II. Salvation independent of human merit.

1. There is in the best of us an absence of good (i.e., meritorious)

works.

2. Redemption can only be attained by a new creation. “Regeneration,” or “new birth.”

III. Salvation provided abundantly.

1. Abundantly—as an exhibition of abundant mercy.

2. Abundantly—as a remedy for great sin.

3. Abundantly as a provision for all who will repent.

IV. Salvation everlasting.

1. Justification a ground of hope.

2. Hope of eternal life. (F. Wagstaff.)

The way of salvation

I. Salvation is not effected by human agency.

1. Where there is no salvation, there are no works of righteousness (; ).

2. Works of righteousness, even where they exist, possess no saving effect. They are the evidences, not the causes, of salvation.

3. The Bible disclaims the merit of human agency in salvation (; ; Rom_3:20-28; ; ; ).

II. Salvation originates in the Divine compassion. “According to His mercy He saved us,” etc.

1. Our salvation accords with the tender sympathies attributed to that mercy (; ; ; ; ).

2. It accords with the readiness ascribed to that mercy (; ; ).

3. It accords with the description given of the greatness, fulness, and extent of that mercy ( : ; ; ; ).

4. It accords with the perpetuity of that mercy ().

III. Salvation is attended by an important chance. We are saved “by the washing of regeneration,” that is, delivered from sin and all its tremendous consequences in the other world.

1. Delivered from the love of sinful pleasures and carnal delights, by having the “love of God shed abroad in our hearts.”

2. From the guilt of sinful practices, by having a knowledge of salvation by the remission of our sins.

3. From the prevalence of sinful habits, by the principles of holiness, and the power of the Divine Spirit.

4. From the commission of sinful acts, by the total regeneration of our natures (1Jn_5:18).

IV. Salvation is accomplished by a Divine influence. “By the renewing of the Holy Ghost,” All the influences of God upon the human soul are effected by the agency of the Holy Ghost.

1. The light and information which we receive on Divine subjects are communicated by the Holy Ghost (; ; ).

1. The light and information which we receive on Divine subjects are communicated by the Holy Ghost (Joh_14:26; 1Co_2:11-12; 1Jn_2:20).

2. The conviction we have of our personal danger is derived from the same source ().

3. The change which is produced in the minds of Christian believers is attributed to the Holy Ghost (; ; ).

4. The assurance of salvation is by the witness of the Holy Ghost—the Comforter (; ).

Inferences:

1. How awful the delusion of those who depend on themselves or their works for salvation!

2. How deeply we are indebted to the Divine mercy for salvation! Let us sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.

3. How indispensable is regeneration! Salvation without it is impossible.

4. How deeply anxious should we be to secure the influences and agency of the Holy Ghost (). (Sketches of Sermons.)

Salvation

I. Salvation is not by works.

1. Because of our relation to God. We are His creatures; we owe Him everything always; and therefore never can acquire any surplus merit to place to the account of past shortcomings and offences.

2. Because of our moral inability to perform works of righteousness, on account of the depravity and corruption of our nature.

3. Because every attempt to procure salvation by works implies the principle of “value for value,” and our works would be no equivalent for the salvation required.

II. The true source and character of salvation.

1. It has its origin in God’s kindness and love toward man ().

2. His kindness and love were manifested through Jesus Christ our Saviour ().

3. This salvation includes justification by His grace, adoption into His family by His love, regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost, the blessed hope of eternal life while here, and the blessed reality of eternal life hereafter (; ). (O. McCutcheon.)

Salvation by grace

I. Previous character. Two great lessons

1. Adoring gratitude.

2. Deep humility.

II. Present state. Sinners saved by grace.

1. The originating cause of salvation.

2. The efficient means of salvation.

III. Future expectations.

1. This hope is supporting.

2. Sanctifying. (Expository Outlines.)

Salvation viewed from God’s side

In this passage, which is a brief but pregnant epitome of the gospel, the scheme of man’s salvation is regarded only from the side on which it is wholly God’s work, without taking note of the conditions and qualifications which, however much they too are God’s work, are required from the cooperation of man. The apostle was dwelling on the truth that the change referred to in Tit_3:3 is not due to ourselves or our own merit, but to God’s grace. He therefore had no occasion to allude here to the qualifications or stipulations required at baptism, nor to the faith by which man is justified, nor to “the working out his own salvation,” which is one of the instruments by which the Holy Ghost renews us day by day, nor to the holiness which is the character and badge of the heirs of eternal life. All this is needed; but, viewed from God’s side, it is not by anything which man has done or could do, but by His own free mercy that God has saved him. (Bp. Jackson.)

Working hard for salvation

A Christian lady was visiting a poor, sickly woman, and after conversing with her for a little she asked her if she had found salvation yet. “No,” she replied, “but I am working hard for it.” “Ah, you will never get it that way,” the lady said. “Christ did all the working when He suffered and died for us, and made complete atonement for our sins. You must take salvation solely as a gift of free, unmerited grace, else you can never have it at all.” The poor woman was at first amazed beyond measure, and felt for the moment as if all hope had been taken from her; but very soon the enlightenment came, and she was enabled to rest joyously on Jesus alone. When speaking afterwards of the friend who had been so helpful, she said, “Oh, how I will welcome her into heaven, for she guided me to the Saviour.”

Good work, no ground of acceptance with God

A man whom I knew in Chicago failed in business, and got into difficulties. He had paid his creditors what proved to be worthless notes, for he had no assets. He coolly proposed to put matters right by handing to his creditors more worthless notes. Now, many of you are trying to act like that. You have no spiritual assets, you have nothing with which to pay, and yet you are proposing to pay God with what is worthless to save you. Suppose you owe a grocer £20, and you go and tell him that you are not going in debt in future, what answer would you expect? He would say: “All very well so far as it goes; I’m glad to hear it. But your keeping out of debt in the future won’t pay what you owe me now. What about that £20 already due?” A hundred years ago, when Prince Charles the Pretender headed a rebellion, many risked their lives and property for his sake, feeling sure that if he succeeded he weald reward them handsomely. But he did not succeed. He lost, and so they lost. What could they get from him, when he had nothing to pay? At the close of our late American Civil War, between the Federals and rebel Confederates, a man in Georgia wanted to pay, as his tax, money issued by the Confederate Government. But of course the officer representing the revenue of the Federal Government said, “That won’t do. Your money is worthless. It was issued by rebels, and we cannot accept it.” The man who expects God to accept him on the ground of his good works, or of anything that he can do, is acting like that. In America no man lost his life or his estate through engaging in that great rebellion, because mercy was shown. But for all that the government could not recognise the currency of rebels. Mercy is offered to all men, but everything with which they hope to purchase pardon and peace is simply worthless. (Major Whittle.)

Good works not to be relied on

Though good works may be our Jacob’s staff to walk with on earth, yet they cannot be our Jacob’s ladder to climb to heaven with. To lay the salve of our services upon the wound of our sins, is as if a man who is stung by a wasp should wipe his face with a nettle; or as if a person should busy himself in supporting a tottering fabric with a burning firebrand. (T. Secker.)

The washing of regeneration

Regeneration

The main thoughts which run through these verses are the cause and method of redemption. These are set against the old state of sin, in which we were “foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.”

I. Salvation as to its primary cause. The cause is Divine, lodged within the Divine heart, and is twofold.

1. Love. The love of God for a “world of sinners lost,” is the first cause of man’s redemption. That love is like Himself—free, boundless, inexplicable, and eternal. “For God so loved the world,” etc. “God is love.”

2. Mercy. The object of love can only be touched by the hand of mercy. This speaks of the sinfulness of our nature, and that compassion which has found a way for love to operate on the human heart. The original of the gospel is not a human device, or the work of righteousness, but the gift of God to fallen man.

II. Salvation as to its method. There are here also two observations made by the apostle.

1. The removal of guilt. The washing of regeneration means the removal of the guilt of the soul, and the acceptance of the peace of the Father. It was the custom to sprinkle the proselytes with water, in token of their renouncing their idolatry, and be made clean to enter the service of the true God.

2. The renewal of Divine influences. The Spirit rests on believers to light them, and to guide them; also to comfort them. Regeneration must be followed by the indwelling Spirit. This is a comparison taken from nature, where all living things are renewed in the spring of the year. Thus we are reminded of the necessity for the constant power of the Holy Ghost in our daily life. (Weekly Pulpit.)

Regeneration

I. The renewing.

1. It creates a new thing in man ().

Like a vessel with a new commander, steering a new course, by a now compass, to a new haven. The old nature remains, though the new nature has come, and there are now in the one man the carnal and the spiritual mind—the human and the Divine life—that which is born of the flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit—the old man of sin that is to be crucified, and the new man that is to be renewed daily in the image of Him that created him, until he shall come to the full stature of a man in Christ Jesus.

2. It is a restoration of a former state. That which was lost by sin is restored by regeneration,

3. It is a renovation of the whole man.

Though every part be not thoroughly sanctified, yet the regenerate are sanctified in every part. They have a perfection of parts, though not of degrees. The renewing is going on in every part, though every part is not perfectly renewed. The seat and centre of this renewing work is the heart. The might of the Spirit is exerted in the inner man. And from thence He works outwardly to the utmost extremity. Just as the vital fluid is driven by the propelling power of the animal heart to every extremity of the body, so is the renewing energy sent forth from the centre of moral and spiritual life—the inner man by the power of the indwelling spirit. And so will He continue to work until the day of perfection shall come, when we shall be presented faultless before the throne of glory, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing,

II. The renewer. “The Holy Ghost.”

1. Not an influence, but a Person, having ascribed to Him in Holy Scripture the attributes and actions of a person, and that a Divine and omnipotent person.

To Him is confided the work of carrying out the purposes of the Father by applying the truth and work of the Son. It is by the Spirit’s overshadowing of the soul that the new creature is conceived and brought forth. The babe of grace can call no man on earth father. And while a man’s regeneration is not of his fellow man, neither is it of himself. They which are born of the flesh contribute nothing to their own being, neither do they that are born of the Spirit; they are begotten of God.

2. But the Holy Ghost, in His renewing, uses—Instrumentality. The one grand instrument is the Word (; ).

(1) It may be by the Word read. Augustine and Luther tell us they were converted by the reading of the Word; so have many thousands of others. In Madagascar we have a striking illustration of this, in the conversion of many thousands by reading only fragments of the Word of God, left in their country by the banished missionaries.

(2) It may be by the Word remembered. I read once of an aged man, who had lived an ungodly life, and had wandered thousands of miles away from his native home, who one day, while he was sitting under a tree, had suddenly brought to his remembrance truths he had read and heard when a child and youth, but which had been long forgotten. They came with such irresistible power that his conversion was the result.

(3) It may be by the Word lived and acted out. There are those who will not read the written Word, neither will they go to hear the Word preached, but who are willing readers—unconscious readers of the lives of Christians among whom they dwell. God expects His people, whom He has regenerated, to be “living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men.” Was it not in this sense that Paul exhorted believing wives to win their unbelieving husbands “without the Word,” by their “chaste conversation, coupled with fear.”

(4) It may be by the Word spoken—as a man would speak to his friend. The kind and faithful teachings of friendship have often proved the instrument, in the hands of the Holy Ghost, for the accomplishment of this great object. “I owe much to the public ministry of the Word,” said a recent convert to his minister; “but it was the Word spoken by a friend that was made by God the immediate instrument of my conversion.”

(5) But it is principally by the preached Word that God works. The public ministry of the Word is God’s appointed institution for the accomplishment of this glorious end. The preacher is the spiritual husbandman, sowing broadcast the incorruptible seed of the Word, which shall spring up and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred-fold. This is all the minister can do; sow the seed in prayer, and faith, and hope—God must give the increase. (H. Quick.)

I. We must conceive that in every sacrament there be three essential pasts, the absence of any of which destroys the whole.

1. The sign.

2. The thing signified.

3. The analogy between them, which is the union of them both.

The first is some outward and sensible thing; the second, inward and spiritual; the third, mixed of them both. As in baptism the sign is water, the thing signified the blood of Christ. The analogy or union standeth in this resemblance, that as the former outwardly washeth the filthiness of the body, so the latter inwardly purgeth the soul from all sin. By reason of which relation and near affection between the sign and the thing signified, it is usual in the Scriptures by an improper, but sacramental speech.

1. To call the sign by the name of the thing signified, and contrarily. And thus baptism is called the washing of the new birth, because it is a sign, seal and instrument of it.

2. To ascribe that to the sign which is proper to the thing signified, and so baptism is here said to save, as also 1Pe_3:21, which is indeed the property of the blood of Christ (1Jn_1:7), but by the near affinity of these two in the sacrament it is said so to do, to note unto us

(1) Not to conceive of the sacramental elements as bare and naked signs, so to grow into the contempt of them.

(2) As we may not conceive them idle sins, so neither idle signs by insisting in them as though they were the whole sacrament, for they are but outward, whereas the principal matter of a sacrament is spiritual and inward.

(3) That then we truliest conceive of a sacrament, when by looking at the one of these we see both, neither making the sign a vain symbol, nor yet ascribing anything to it transcending the nature of it, such as are the peculiars and the prerogatives of God, but in the sign and action, which is outward, be led to those which are spiritual and inward.

II. How is baptism then the laver of regeneration?

1. As it is an institution of God signifying the good pleasure of God for the pardoning of sin, and accepting to grace in Christ; for as the word signifieth this, so doth also the sacrament which is a visible word. And thus is it truly said of the Word and sacraments too that they save and sanctify, because they signify the good pleasure of God in saving and sanctifying us, even as we say a man is saved by the king’s pardon, not that the pardon properly doth it, for that is the mere merciful disposition of the king, but because the pardon (written and sealed perhaps by another), signed by the king, is the ordinary instrument to manifest the merciful mind of the king in pardoning such a malefactor,

2. As it is a seal or pledge of our sanctification and salvation, as certainly assuring these to the soul of the believer, as he is or can be assured of the other, that as a man having a bond of a thousand pounds sealed him may truly say of it, here is my thousand pound, that is, a security, as surely confirming it unto me as if I had it in my hands, or as I have this even so may the believing party baptized say of his baptism, Here is my regeneration, here is my salvation.

3. As it is a means to excite and provoke the faith of the receiver to lay hold upon the grace of the sacrament, and apply it to these purposes, in which regard it be as truly said to renew as faith is said to justify, and that is only as it may be a means or hand to lay hold on Christ our righteousness; so baptism is a means helping forward our renewing by the true understanding and conscionable and serious meditation of it.

4. In that in the right use of it, it giveth and exhibiteth Christ and all His merits to the fit receiver, for then God’s grace putteth forth itself, and after a sort conveyeth itself in and by this instrument into the heart of the worthy receiver. And thus principally it is the laver of regeneration, because in it and by it as a means and organ the Holy Ghost freely worketh His grace in such as in whom He delighteth. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

The laver of regeneration

On man’s aide there is the washing with water; and on God’s side there is the washing away of sin and pouring out of the Spirit. The body is purified, the soul is purified, and the soul is hallowed. The man is washed, is justified, is sanctified. He is regenerated: he is “a new creature.” “The old things,” his old principles; motives, and aims, then and there “passed away”: “behold, they are become new” (2Co_5:17). Can any one reasonably doubt that, when the apostle speaks of “the washing of regeneration,” he means the Christian rite of baptism, in which, and by means of which, the regeneration takes place? We are fully justified by his language here in asserting that it is by means of the baptismal washing that the regeneration takes place; for he asserts that God “saved us through the washing of regeneration.” The laver or bath of regeneration is the instrument or means by which God saved us. Such is the natural, and almost the necessary meaning of the Greek construction. And there are numerous analogies which throw light upon the question, proving to us that there is nothing exceptional in God (who of course does not need any means or instruments) being willing to use them, doubtless because it is better for us that He should use them. In what way is the employment of perceptible means a help to us? In two at least. It serves the double purpose of being both a test to faith and an aid to faith.

1. The acceptance of divinely appointed means is necessarily a test of faith. Human intellect is apt to assume that Omnipotence is above using instruments. “Is it likely,” we ask, “that the Almighty would employ these means? Are they not altogether beneath the dignity of the Divine nature? Man needs tools and materials; but God needs neither. It is not credible that He has ordained these things as conditions of His own operation.” All which is the old cry of the captain of the host of Syria. Therefore humbly to accept the means which God has revealed as the appointed channels of His spiritual blessings is a real test of the recipient’s faith. He is thus enabled to perceive for himself whether he does sincerely believe or not; whether he has the indispensable qualification for receiving the promised blessing.

2. The employment of visible means is a real aid to faith. It is easier to believe that an effect will be produced, when one can perceive something which might contribute to produce the effect. It is easier to believe when one sees means than when none are visible; and it is still easier to believe when the means seem to be appropriate. The man who was born blind would more readily believe that Christ would give him sight when he perceived that Christ was using spittle and clay for the purpose; for at that time these things were supposed to be good for the eyes. And what element in nature is more frequently the instrument both of life and of death than water? What could more aptly signify purification from defilement? What act could more simply express death to sin and a rising again to righteousness than a plunge beneath the surface of the water and a re-issuing from it? Faith in the inward gift, promised by God to those who believe and are baptized, becomes more easy when the outward means of conferring the gift, not only are readily perceived, but are recognised as suitable. In this way our faith is aided by God’s employment of means. Is the “renewing of the Holy Ghost” the same thing as the “washing of regeneration”? In this passage the two expressions refer to the same fact, but in their respective meanings they are not co-extensive. The Greek construction is ambiguous like the English; and we cannot be sure whether St. Paul means that God saved us by means of the washing and by means of the renewing, or that God saved us by means of a laver, which is both a laver of regeneration and a laver of renewal. The latter is more probable: but in either case the reference is to one and the same event in the Christian’s life. The laver and the renewing refer to baptism; and the regeneration and the renewing refer to baptism; viz., to the new birth which is then effected. But, nevertheless, the two expressions are not co-extensive in meaning. The laver and the regeneration refer to one tact, and to one fact only: a fact which takes place once for all and can never be repeated. A man cannot have the new birth a second time, any more than he can be born a second time: and hence no one may be baptized twice. But the renewing of the Holy Spirit may take place daily. (A. Plummer, D. D.)

Spiritual washing

The following is related in the life of the late Dr. Guthrie. James Dundee, a weaver, lived on a lone moor, where, beyond his wife’s, he had no society but that of God and nature. James might have been a poet, though I don’t know that he ever cultivated the muse; a man he was of such an impassioned nature, lofty thoughts, and singularly vivid imagination. On the morning of a communion Sabbath he rose, bowed down by a sense of sin, in great distress of mind. He would go to church that day, but, being a man of a very tender conscience, he hesitated about going to the Lord’s table. He was in a state of great spiritual depression. In this state of mind he proceeded to put himself in order for church, and while washing his hands, no one being by, he heard a voice say, “Cannot I, in My blood, as easily wash your soul, as that water does your hands?” “Now, minister,” he said, in telling me this, “I do not say there was a real voice, yet I heard it as distinctly, word for word, as you now hear me. I felt a load taken off my mind, and went to the table and sat under Christ’s shadow with great delight.”

The renewing of the Holy SpiritThe word “renewing” is used in the Scriptures in reference to the starting point of the Christian life—regeneration, and to the progressive development of it, day by day. Consider it now in the latter sense, that is in connection with the Holy Spirit’s work in those who have “life eternal.”

The word “renewing” is used in the Scriptures in reference to the starting point of the Christian life—regeneration, and to the progressive development of it, day by day. Consider it now in the latter sense, that is in connection with the Holy Spirit’s work in those who have “life eternal.”

I. Establishing.

1. Bringing back the wanderer (Hos_14:1-2; Job_22:23).

2. Settling the unstable (Psa_51:10; Psa_57:7; Eph_3:17).

3. Comforting the fearful (Psa_23:3; Psa_51:12).

II. Strengthening.

1. Separating us from the things that hinder our growth (2Co_6:16-18).

2. Bringing us into closer contact with the Fountain of Supply (Isa_40:31; Eph_3:17).

3. Enlarging our capacity and powers of reception (2Co_4:16).

III. Transforming.

1. Illuminating the mind (Rom_12:2; Col_3:10).

2. Gladdening the heart (Rom_15:13; Rom_14:17).

3. Energising the will (Eph_3:16; Eph_4:23).

4. Transfiguring the character (2Co_3:18). (E. H. Hopkins.)

Renewing of the Holy Ghost

The renewing of the Holy Ghost

I. Bring together some oe the more striking Scripture testimonies to the necessity of this agency.

1. As embodied in the devotional sentiments of holy men. Hear David. “Create in me a clean heart,” etc. “Cast me not away from Thy presence,” etc. “Teach me to do Thy will,” etc. “Thy Spirit is good; lead me,” etc. And so Paul. “Now the God of peace fill you with all joy,” etc.

2. As a fulfilment of ancient promise.

“I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.” “I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring.” “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” “And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes.” If from these examples we pass to the New Testament, to consider how far the supposition of this great spiritual change enters into the pleas and arguments by which the sacred writers exhort their converts to the duties of practical godliness, we find the great promise of Whitsuntide sharing equally with our Lord’s proper oblation a claim to be received as among the very necessities of our salvation. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His.” “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God.” “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” “Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.” These passages, with numberless others which might be quoted, show to us how completely the work of Christ for man, and the work of the Spirit in man, are looked upon by the inspired penman as joint and co-equal parts of a common salvation, the constituent elements of one great truth, successive and inseparable links in that chain of mercy by which sinners are to be lifted up from earth’s lowest pit, and set down with Christ on heaven’s highest throne.

3. As practically attested by the great facts of gospel history.

The great miracle of Pentecost is one standing witness that without the agency of the Divine Spirit there never was, and never can be, such a thing as true conversion. It was not Peter’s preaching that turned the hearts of those three thousand. He might have exhibited truth to the understanding of that great audience; he might have addressed powerful appeals to their consciences; he might even have lodged a deep conviction of the truth of all he said in their very souls; but so to convince them as to make them yield, so to prick their hearts that into its open pores there should be received and welcomed “the truth as it is in Jesus,” this was a work to be done, “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” The manner in which the notorious Earl of Rochester describes his conversion is strikingly illustrative of some great influence from without, acting upon, though still concurrently with his own natural faculties. He was reading, he tells us, the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, and his language is that there was some inward force upon him which convinced him that he could resist no longer, for the words had an authority which did shoot like rays or beams in his mind; and this power did so effectually constrain him that he did, ever after, as firmly believe in his Saviour as if he had seen Him in the clouds.

II. How this renewing of the Holy Ghost in the soul of man is accomplished.

1. First, we attribute to Him a true and proper indwelling in our souls (Joh_14:17).

2. Again, by the influences of this Spirit alone, are both produced and maintained within us all those affections and dispositions which constitute the renewed man.

3. Further, it is helpful to that renewing process which the Spirit of God carries on within us, that He testifies to the reality of His own work.

Without raising the question of how much or how little of assurance must be inseparable from true conversion, the various expressions, witness of the Spirit, earnest of the Spirit, seal of the Spirit, must imply that one office of this Divine Agent is to supply some form of corroborative testimony to our own minds that we are the children of God. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.”

4. Once more, the renewing power of the Holy Ghost is to be looked for in the daily sanctification of our souls, and the preparing them for a condition of endless life. (D. Moore, M. A.)

The difficulty of removing the pollution of sin

At Portland navy yard one of the United States ships came in for repair and fumigation, as yellow fever had broken out amongst her crew during her previous voyage. She was thoroughly scraped and repainted, and then put into commission again, but she was less than a month at sea when the fever once more appeared. It was decided to open her up and expose the fever spores to a thorough freezing during the winter, as medical men said that the spores could not live in cold weather. In the spring she was again painted and refurnished, but the fever appeared again. Then it was found that, though a noble-looking vessel, death was in her, and she was towed to sea and sunk. So is it with all who have not been born again; they carry within their hearts the seeds of a fatal fever, and unless they are completely cleansed from it by Christ they will one day go down in the sea of the Divine wrath.

Which He shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ

Abundant supply of grace

I. The graces of the Spirit are plentifully poured out upon us as out of a full and rich mercy. For

1. We have the accomplishment of many prophecies and promises, as Isa_11:9; Dan_12:4. Many prophecies were then sealed, and the book shut until the term of time; but then many should run to and fro, and knowledge should be increased.

2. We have the truth of many types and resemblances, as of the waters running from under the threshold of the sanctuary, still rising to increase; and of the proceedings of the New Testament, typified in the cloud which at the first appearance was no bigger than a man’s hand, but after rose to that greatness as to cover the whole heavens.

3. If we compare our Church with that of the Jews’ we shall observe that the Lord did but drop and sprinkle these graces here and there upon a few persons where He pleased, but now hath poured out His Spirit and opened a fountain of grace to the house of Judah and Jerusalem, even for all true believers.

(1) If such plenty of grace be poured out upon us, our care must be to be found answerable thereunto, that according to our proportion our increase may be; for we may not think the return of one talent sufficient if we have received five or ten, seeing where much is given much will be required. Hath the Lord so richly shed out His Spirit that whereas the most excellent patriarchs saw Christ only afar off, the most simple of our age may see Him in the Word and sacraments even crucified before his eyes, and will it not be expected that in all things we should be made rich in Him? And thus have we ministered unto us a ground of examination whether we find the fruits and work of these waters upon us.

(2) If upon this examination we feel not this plenty of grace, we must beware of accusing God, but condemn ourselves in whom all the fault is, as who refuse and despise so great grace. If any ask how it can come to pass that such excellent grace should be refused, I answer there are three main causes of it

1. Ignorance and blindness of mind.

2. Hardness of heart.

3. Security, which three destitute us of so abundant grace as is offered.

II. All the grace that is bestowed on us is by means of Jesus Christ, for with Him is the fountain and headspring; yea, He is the head which sendeth life, sense, motion, and direction into all the members, resembled in that holy ointment which ran down from Aaron’s head and beard even to the skirts of his garment. The evangelist, after he had affirmed that Christ was full of grace and truth, addeth that of His fulness we receive grace for grace, so the apostle ().

(1) Want we any grace? call upon God in the name of Christ. “Whatsoever ye ask the Father in My name, He will give it unto you.” Get Christ to be thine own, become a true believer, that thou mayest in Him begin thy prayer with Our Father; this is the way to be rich in grace.

(2) Hast thou received any spiritual grace? sacrifice not unto thine own net, but be thankful unto God in Christ.

(3) Take heed of quenching that grace, neither grieve that good Spirit of God by thy sin, for thou camest hardly by it, for Christ must come down from heaven, humble Himself to the death, rise again, ascend, and now make continual intercession before He could procure thee the least grace. A thing very little thought of. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Eminent holiness

Our text combines doctrine and practice, faith and morals, and makes the one the proper foundation of the other. That, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs. This is a faithful saying—that they which have believed be careful to maintain good works. It is worthy of remark that there are four passages of Scripture in which the expression “a faithful saying” is employed, and each faithful saying is worthy of all acceptation (; ; ; ). And they all mark out the connection between faith and obedience—between holiness and happiness—between principle and practice.

I. That the doctrine of our acceptance in Christ, while it forms the only foundation of a sinner’s hope, has a direct tendency to promote eminent holiness.

1. The doctrine of justification by faith, through the merits and advocacy of Christ, constitutes the alone basis of our acceptance with God. We are said to be justified by His grace. This doctrine forms the only answer to the question which in every age has baffled the wisdom of the wise, and brought to nought the understanding of the prudent. How shall man be just with God? A cordial reception of Jesus Christ as the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, entitles the returning offender to life by a merciful appointment, and brings him into a state of personal acceptance with God. This doctrine may well be considered as the cardinal doctrine of Christianity, and as lying at the very foundation of all our hopes for eternity. So deep and aggravated is our guilt, that it is quite evident that if we be not accepted by the merits and righteousness of another we cannot be accepted at all; for it is clear we have no righteousness of our own. This therefore forms, as the text states, a singular exhibition of Divine benignity and grace. Grace provided the Saviour revealed in the gospel—grace accepted His substitution in the sinner’s place—grace communicated the principle of piety implanted in the human heart—grace preserves that principle from extinction, amidst all the storms and tumults of this opposing world—and grace crowns the subjects of its influences with glory at last.

2. The doctrine of justification, so far from lessening the obligations to obedience, furnishes the most powerful of all inducements to eminent holiness. The pardoned offender is not rendered lawless; a justified state is not exempted from obligation. We are not without law to God, but under the law to Christ. It is no part of the Divine design to raise up one light in order to extinguish another. What was once truth is always truth; what was once duty is always duty. All the original grounds of moral obligation remain. If God was our Creator before our conversion, He is our Creator still—a faithful Creator. If God was our Judge before, He is our Judge still. Neither does Divine grace destroy or change any of the relations in which we previously stood to each other, nor cancel any of the duties arising out of those relations. Neither does Divine grace alter the nature of sin, nor render it one whir less than before the abominable thing which God hateth. The plague does not cease to be the plague because a remedy has been mercifully provided for it. The gospel has produced no change in our moral relation to God, nor in our relation to our fellow man; and, therefore, all the antecedent obligation to obedience remains unchanged; and they that have believed in God are enjoined carefully to maintain good works. The gospel superadds motives and inducements unknown before to induce conformity to the Divine will. The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, teacheth us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly. All false religions attempt to lower the standard of morals, in order to fall in with the weakness or wickedness of mankind. But Christianity presents us with raised views of the spirituality of the Divine law. It presents us with the most powerful motives to holiness—derived from the love of God—the Cross of Christ—the glories of the coming world, and especially from the great work of redemption.

raise up one light in order to extinguish another. What was once truth is always truth; what was once duty is always duty. All the original grounds of moral obligation remain. If God was our Creator before our conversion, He is our Creator still—a faithful Creator. If God was our Judge before, He is our Judge still. Neither does Divine grace destroy or change any of the relations in which we previously stood to each other, nor cancel any of the duties arising out of those relations. Neither does Divine grace alter the nature of sin, nor render it one whir less than before the abominable thing which God hateth. The plague does not cease to be the plague because a remedy has been mercifully provided for it. The gospel has produced no change in our moral relation to God, nor in our relation to our fellow man; and, therefore, all the antecedent obligation to obedience remains unchanged; and they that have believed in God are enjoined carefully to maintain good works. The gospel superadds motives and inducements unknown before to induce conformity to the Divine will. The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, teacheth us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly. All false religions attempt to lower the standard of morals, in order to fall in with the weakness or wickedness of mankind. But Christianity presents us with raised views of the spirituality of the Divine law. It presents us with the most powerful motives to holiness—derived from the love of God—the Cross of Christ—the glories of the coming world, and especially from the great work of redemption.

II. That these principles, in their connection with each other, are to be explicitly asserted and maintained. “These things I will that thou affirm constantly.” They are to be affirmed in their connection with each other—that is, the doctrine of justification is to be affirmed—and the doctrine of sanctification is to be affirmed too: the one as the cause, the other as the effect; the one as the root, the other as the fruitful branch. And observe to what class of characters the exhortations and commands of the gospel are to be specifically addressed That they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works; plainly proving that the most advanced Christians require to be frequently admonished. Our text says these truths are to be constantly affirmed. These good works are to be expressly enjoined upon those who believe. We are not to leave them to implication and inference, as though we presumed that they would follow as a necessary result from the mere belief of the doctrine of justification, but they are to be plainly stated and enforced. This is to be done in defiance of opposition and contradiction, which supposes objection and denial on the part of some. The reasons why we should thus constantly urge these truths will be perceived at a glance.

1. Because we are always liable to overlook and forget them amidst the active engagements and snares of life. The gospel ministry was instituted for this purpose.

2. Because the personal sanctity of Christians is the final object of the dispensation of mercy. To this everything in the Divine economy tends; in this everything terminates. It is no inferior degree of excellence to which we are taught to aspire; we are not to begin only, but to advance and persevere—we are to maintain good works, and to be careful to maintain them. The marginal rendering is more emphatic still—the force of the Greek word being to go before in good works—to excel, to emulate—to attain eminence in holiness and devotion. Plutarch tells us that it was the aim of Tully, that it was his ambition, to be eminent in all that he undertook. How much more should Christians desire to attain the highest measures of moral and religious excellence.

3. Because advancement in holiness is essential to the enjoyment of all genuine consolation. The state of grace is only evidenced by the sanctities of the Christian character.

4. Because the absence of these good works proves the destitution of Christian principle, and leaves the individual exposed to a fearful disappointment and a final doom.

III. That from the faithful exhibition of these truths the happiest results are to be anticipated to the Church and the world. These things are good and profitable to men. They are good in themselves, and good in their influence upon the mind. Many things may be good that are not profitable, and some may be thought profitable that are not good; but these are both good and profitable. They are good in the Divine esteem—good as the transcript of His own infinite excellence—good as perfectly accordant with all His revelations to man—good in their origin—good in their progress—good in their end. They come from heaven and lead to it. They are good and profitable, as opposed to those “foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law,” which we are told in the next verse to avoid as unprofitable and vain. (The Evangelist.)

That being justified by His grace

Justification; faith; works

I. The moral rectification of the soul.

1. All souls in their unrenewed state are unrighteous.

2. Restoration to righteousness is the merciful work of God.

3. In this moral rectification of soul there is the heirship of eternal good.

II. The essential foundation of all true faith. To believe in God implies

1. To believe in what He is in Himself—the only absolute existence, without beginning, without succession, without end, who is in all and through all, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise, the All-Good Creator and Sustainer of the universe.

2. To believe in what He is to us—the Father, the Proprietor, and the Life.

III. The supreme purpose of moral existence is to maintain good works.

1. Good works are

(1) Works that have right motives.

(2) Works that have a right standard.

2. The maintenance of these works requires strenuous and constant effort.

3. The great work of the Christian ministry is to stimulate this effort. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

God’s method of justification

1. The originating cause is the grace, the free, sovereign, undeserved, and spontaneous love of God towards fallen man (; ; ).

2. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the sole meritorious cause. All He did, and all He suffered, in His mediatorial character, may be said to have contributed to this great purpose.

3. The instrumental cause of justification. The merit of the blood of Jesus does not operate necessarily so as to produce our pardon as an immediate and unavoidable effect, but through the instrumentality of faith.

Hence

1. We are not justified, in whole or part, by the merit of our own works, whether past, present, or future.

2. Our repentance is neither the meritorious course, nor the immediate instrument of justification.

3. The Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration and sanctification is not the previous condition of our free justification or the prerequisite qualification of it.

4. Our justification is not by the merit of faith itself; but only by faith, as that which embraces and appropriates the merit of Christ. (J. Bunting.)

Relation of justification to regeneration

Justification is a qualification of title; regeneration of nature. Justification alters the relative character; regeneration the personal. Justification reconciles us to the Divine favour; regeneration to the Divine service. Justification removes every obstacle of law; regeneration every obstacle of disposition. Justification destroys the incapacity of guilt; regeneration the resistance of depravity. Justification makes us one with God in acceptance; regeneration makes us one with Him in will. Justification opens heaven; regeneration causes us to walk in its white. Justification furnishes the song of deliverance; regeneration teaches us to modulate it. (R. W. Hamilton, D. D.)

The finished work of Christ

A poor man was very anxious about his soul. Though he knew the Bible well, yet he could not get over one difficulty, which was that he wanted to do something to save himself; it was too easy a way to be saved by Christ without doing anything to merit salvation himself; at least so he thought. One day an evangelist called at his workshop, and saw a gate all painted and varnished, ready to be hung in its place. “John,” he said, “is this gate complete?” “Yes, sir; it is quite finished; it has got the last coat of varnish.” “You are perfectly certain?” “Yes, quite.” The evangelist took up a plane, and in a moment had taken a shaving off the top bar. “Stop, stop, sir!” cried John, “you are spoiling the gate.” “Ah, John, that is what you want to do with Christ’s work; He has completed the work of your salvation, yet you want to spoil it by doing something—you don’t know what—to improve upon it!” This practical hint was just what John needed, and there and then he gave up trying to improve upon the work of Christ, and gave himself up to be saved at once, just as he was, in the workshop.

We should be made heirs

Heirs of eternal life

In these words is laid down the second end of that new condition into which believers are brought. In which for the meaning two parts must be considered

1. The right and privilege of believers who, being once justified by faith, are made heirs of life eternal.

2. Their present tenure of this their inheritance by hope.

I. For the former, the word heir in the first and proper signification betokeneth a lot, and is used sometimes in the New Testament with allusion unto the twelve tribes, whose portions were divided and distributed unto them by lot, as , whence that people were more peculiarly called the lines and heritage of the Lord, as whom Himself made partakers of all the good things of that land; and by proportion those also who by faith laid, or shall lay, hold upon His covenant, for all those spiritual and eternal good things shadowed out thereby. But commonly it signifieth those who after a man’s death succeed him in his goods and possessions, especially children, whose right it is to inherit their father’s lands and possessions; and thus must we become heirs by becoming the sons and children of God. Now, whereas children are either natural or adopted, our title to this inheritance cometh in by the grace of adoption, seeing Christ is the only natural Son, as we confess in our creed; and the phrase of the text is observable, which faith we are made heirs, but not so born; so as this inheritance belongeth properly unto Christ the natural son, the heir, and firstborn of many brethren, and consequently through Him communicated unto us, who are sons by adoption ().

II. The present tenure of this inheritance is by hope, for our inheritance is not so much set before our bodily eyes as the eyes of our faith, which is not of things present, but of things to come. And yet although it be an estate to come, the Lord would not leave us without such graces as being conversant about it might serve us in this life to retain our hold and comfort therein, such as are faith, hope, and patience. Now hope signifieth two things

1. The thing hoped for. “Hope which is seen is not hope” (). “What is the hope of the calling” ().

2. For the gift whereby we hope and expect good things promised, and this must of necessity here be meant, because life eternal of which we have spoken is the thing hoped for.

This grace hath the Lord for our encouragement and comfort, in and for the state of this life only, put into the hearts of His elect, that they might hereby have a certain hold and expectation of all that good which God of His mercy through the merit of His Christ hath promised; the which shall cease when they come once to see that which they now hope for, seeing hereafter can be no hope, not in heaven, for the godly shall enjoy all blessedness their hearts can wish; not in hell, for the damned can never hope for any good.

1. That which the apostle specially aimeth at is that heaven is not merited, but a free gift; here it is called eternal life, which is the gift of God (Rom_6:23). It is called here an inheritance, in that the elect are called heirs; it is against the nature of an inheritance to come any way but by free gift, legacies we know are most free without desert, without procurement, and what an absurd thing were it for a child to go to his father to offer to buy his inheritance? It is said here further that we are made heirs, that is adopted, not born to the inheritance, and therefore it is so much the more free. And lastly, it is here called an eternal inheritance, which, if it be so, how can it be merited, being so far disproportionable to anything we can do.

2. It teacheth us if we would have right to eternal life to become the sons of God, and consequently heirs; seek to be resolved that thou hast a child’s part in heaven. How shall I come to know this? A man may know himself an heir of grace by two things

(1) By the presence of faith, for this intitleth into the covenant. Noah by faith was made heir of the righteousness which is by faith (). Faith in the Son of God it is which maketh thee the King’s son and free born; this is the means of thy freedom, here cometh in thy title, if thou reliest only upon the mercy of God in Christ for thy salutation.

(2) By the presence of sanctification of heart, sanctimony of life ().

3. This doctrine teacheth us to set our hearts upon this inheritance; a man that hath any possibility to befal him cannot keep his mind, but it will be running after it, insomuch as many wicked children in regard of their patrimony will inquire into their fathers’ years, and grow sick of their mothers, and it is ordinary that such as look for windfalls by decease will be feeding their hearts with their hopes; so should it be with us, who may, without injury to our Father, long after our inheritance in heaven; and as we see men take no content in any part of the earth, no nor in the whole, comparable to that peace or portion which is their own, even so should not we suffer our hearts so to wander after earth or earthly things, as that we settle our contentment anywhere but where our inheritance and our treasure is. The which desire if it filled our hearts, three worthy fruits of it would manifest themselves through our lives.

(1) It would moderate the eager cares of this life, and would not suffer men to become drudges, or sell themselves as slaves unto the earth, for he that taketh himself to be an heir of heaven is well enough provided and cared for already, his Father hath left him so well as he need not basely shift for himself.

(2) It would content the mind with any present condition.

4. Set thyself well to keep this inheritance and the deeds of it, lay up the covenant safe in the closet of the soul, hide the Word, which is the indenture of God passing it unto thee, in the midst of thy heart, let not Satan nor any cheater defraud thee of it.

5. This doctrine affordeth sundry grounds of most sweet consolation.

(1) The meanest believer is a great heir, and that to all God’s best blessings, a truth which few see as they might and ought, and therefore fail of that comfort which God hath put into their hands.

(2) God’s children being such heirs, they cannot but in the meantime be well provided for till their patrimony fall. We know that great heirs in their minority are well and honestly maintained, their fathers being rich and kind will not suffer them to want things fit for them, and what they want in the purse they have in their education, and if they be any way scanted for the present they shall afterward find it with much advantage.

(3) In any want thou, being thy Father’s heir, mayest boldly repair to thy Father, with good hope to speed in any request which He seeth fit for thee and making for thy good. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

Looking for the hope of eternal life

One bright morning last summer, while travelling in Switzerland, I took my seat on the top of a diligence as we passed along the magnificent country from Geneva to Chamounix. I was full of expectation to see Mont Blanc. Our driver said, as we drew nearer the object of our journey, “Unless a cloud sails up and covers its forehead you will see it leaning up against the clear blue sky.” I need not tell you I kept looking up, feeling that every moment brought me nearer to the sight I so much wanted to see. (Mrs. Bottome.)

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Key words concernng Salvation

Key words concerning Salvation

WORD NUMBER ONE KEY WORD CONCERNING SALVATION

“ born again”

THE NEW BIRTH

A. Nicodemus and the new birth.

1. () Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night.

b. This man came to Jesus by night: Why did Nicodemus come by night? Perhaps he was timid, or perhaps he wanted an uninterrupted interview with Jesus.

c. No one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him: Is this statement of Nicodemus true? Can someone not from God do miraculous signs? The answer is “Yes,” according to and .

i. It was taught widely among the Jews at that time that since they descended from Abraham, they were automatically assured of heaven. In fact, some Rabbis taught that Abraham stood watch at the gate of hell, just to make sure that none of his descendants accidentally wandered in there.

ii. Most Jews of that time looked for the Messiah to bring in a new world, in which the Jews would be pre-eminent. But Jesus came to bring new life, in which He would be preeminent.

e. Born again: The ancient Greek word translated again (anothen) can be also translated “from above.” This is the sense in which John used this word in and in and . Either way, the meaning is essentially the same. To be born from above is to be born again.

2. () Nicodemus answers: How can this be?

b. In His description of new birth, Jesus recalls a familiar theme from Old Testament promises of the New Covenant (, , , , , , ; ). These passages essentially make three promises in the New Covenant:

• The regathering of Israel.

• The cleansing and spiritual transformation of God’s people.

• The reign of the Messiah over Israel and the whole world.

i. That’s why Jesus’ statement about the new birth was so strange to Nicodemus. He thought that the Jewish people already had it; they certainly weren’t looking for it. They only looked for a triumphant Messiah.

3. () Jesus explains the new birth.

a. Most assuredly . . . you must be born again: Jesus is emphatic in saying that man does not need reformation, but a radical conversion by the Spirit of God. We must be born of water and the Spirit.

b. What does it mean to be born of water? We know from that whatever being born of water is, it should have been familiar to Nicodemus from the Old Testament.

i. Some have thought born of water means to be baptized. Water here may represent baptism, but there is no real Old Testament foundation for this.

ii. Some have thought that born of water refers to our physical birth, since we come forth from a sack of water. This approach is more attractive, but doesn’t it simply state the obvious? However, it does make a good parallel with the idea of that which is born of the flesh in .

iii. Some have thought that born of water means to be born again by the Word of God. In other passages of Scripture, water represents the Word, as we are washed by the water of the word ().

iv. Some have thought that born of water means to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, the living water of .

c. That which is born of the flesh is flesh: Without the new birth of the Spirit, all works of righteousness are tainted by the flesh. Yet, everything that a Spirit-led man does can be pleasing to God.

i. We should not forget whom Jesus said this to. Nicodemus was a religious leader and a Pharisee. By all outward appearance, he was already transformed unto God. If Nicodemus must be born again, what about you and I?

4. () Jesus responds to the question “how can these things be?”

a. How can these things be? Nicodemus is confused. He is so set in his thinking that the new birth has already happened to him and all of faithful Israel, that he has a hard time thinking out of that “box.” Jesus needs to keep explaining.

d. No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven: Jesus “makes it clear that He can speak authoritatively about things in heaven, though no one else can.” (Morris)

5. () Jesus and the brazen serpent.

a. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness: How can the serpent of a picture of the holy Jesus?

i. Serpents are often used as pictures of evil in the Bible ( and ). However, Moses’ serpent in was made of bronze, and bronze is a metal associated with judgment in the Bible, because bronze must be made by passing through the “fires” of judgment.

ii. So, a bronze serpent does speak of sin, but of sin judged. In the same way Jesus, who knew no sin became sin for us on the cross, and our sin was judged in Him. A bronze serpent is a picture of sin judged and dealt with.

iii. We would have wanted to diminish our sense of sin, and put the image of a man up on the pole. Our image of man might represent “both good and bad” in man. But a serpent is more apparently sinful, and shows us our true nature and true need of salvation.

vi. As it says in : Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. We might be willing to do a hundred things to earn our salvation, but God commands us to only trust in Him - to look to Him.

b. Remember that even though Jesus bore our sins, He never became a sinner. Even His becoming sin for us was a holy, righteous, act of love. Jesus remained the Holy One throughout the entire ordeal of the cross.

c. Lifted up is a term later used to describe both Jesus’ crucifixion () and His ascension (). Both meanings are in view, His suffering and exaltation. Jesus was lifted up in both ways.

6. () God’s gift of salvation and sin’s condemnation.

a. For God so loved the world: has long been celebrated as a powerful, succinct, declaration of the gospel. Of the 31,373 verses in the Bible, it may be the most popular single verse used in evangelism.

i. We learn the object of God’s love: For God so loved the world. God did not wait for the world to turn to Him before He loved the world. He loved and gave His only begotten Son to the world when it was still the world!

ii. We learn the expression and the gift of God’s love: He gave His only begotten Son. God’s love didn’t just feel for the plight of a fallen world. God did something about it, and He gave the most precious thing to give: His only begotten Son.

iv. We learn the intention of God’s love: Should not perish. God’s love actually saves man from eternal destruction. God looks at fallen humanity, does not want it to perish, and so in His love He extends the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.

v. We learn the duration of God’s love: Everlasting life. The love we receive among people may fade or turn, but God’s love will never change. He will never stop loving His people, even unto the furthest distance of eternity.

b. The Seven Wonders of .

God

The Almighty Authority

So loved the world

The Mightiest Motive

That He gave His only begotten Son

The Greatest Gift

That whoever

The Widest Welcome

Believes in Him

The Easiest Escape

Should not perish

The Divine Deliverance

But have everlasting life

The Priceless Possession

c. What Jesus told Nicodemus in (You must be born again) refuted the popular Jewish idea of the way to salvation. Now Jesus refutes the popular Jewish idea of the scope of salvation is refuted: for God so loved the world.

i. The Jews of that day rarely thought that God loved the world. They thought that God only loved. The universal offer of salvation and life in Jesus was absolutely revolutionary.

d. This is the condemnation: Jesus came to bring salvation, but those who reject that salvation condemn themselves. We never need to leave the reason for anyone’s condemnation at God’s door. The responsibility is theirs alone.

e. Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil: What keeps people from belief in Jesus and salvation? It is sin, or is it unbelief? Really it is both, because people will not believe because they love their sin.

i. This cuts right through many of the “intellectual” excuses or dishonest doubts some proclaim. Many opponents of Christianity have a vested interested in fighting against the truth of Jesus, because they love their sin and don’t want to face it, or face a God who will judge their sin.

ii. When we think of the love of sin that sends people to hell, we often other think of notorious sin. But the simple demand to be lord of my own life is enough of a sin to deserve condemnation before God.

f. Everyone practicing evil hates the light: How do people hate the light of God’s truth? Some express their hatred by actively fighting against it, and others express their hatred by ignoring God’s truth - by saying to Jesus “You are not worth my time.”

3. We might say that is a “must read” chapter of the Bible. There are three prominent “musts” in .

• The Sinner’s must: you must be born again ().

• The Savior’s must: so must the Son of Man be lifted up ().

• The Sovereign’s must: He must increase ().

• The Servant’s must: I must decrease ().

KEY WORDS CONCERNING SAVATION NUMBER TWO

I. These verses DESCRIBE THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE OF ST. JOHN.

In this point of view the order of time is different from the order of the statements. The several steps are these

1. The apprehension of the glory of Jesus,

2. The receiving Him and believing on His name.

3. The effect of the power to become sons of God.

​

This agrees with the actual experience of the evangelist.

1. He sees Jesus as pointed out by the Baptist. But where was the glory?