1829. The Unique Origin Of A Christian Man

No. 1829-31:145. As Sermon Delivered On Thursday Evening, February 7, 1884, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, March 22, 1885.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has previously ordained that we should walk in them. {Eph 2:10}

For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1829, “Singular Origin of a Christian Man, The” 1830}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2210, “Agreement of Salvation by Grace with Walking in Good Works, The” 2211}
   Exposition on Eph 2; Mt 11:1-6 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3389, “Soul’s Awakening, The” 3391 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Eph 2 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2267, “Life from the Dead” 2268 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Eph 2 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2770, “Go in Peace” 2771 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Eph 2 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2841, “Prayer — Its Discouragements and Encouragements” 2842 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Eph 2 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3198, “What Christians Were and Are” 3199 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Eph 2 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3474, “Blessings Many and Marvellous” 3476 @@ "Exposition"}

1. This text is written by the apostle as a reason why salvation cannot be a thing of human merit: “not by works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship.” The for indicates an argument. It is a conclusive reason why salvation cannot be by our good works, because even when we have an abundance of the best of works, they are far more due to God than to ourselves. We ourselves, in our saved condition, are the workmanship of God, and with each of us the argument holds good, — “Not by works, for we are his workmanship.”

2. We are so completely the Lord’s workmanship, that we are also called a creation. We are “created in Christ Jesus,” and a creation cannot possibly be the creature’s own work; such a supposition would be absurd upon the face of it. It would be a misuse of language to speak of anything as creating itself. Whatever, therefore, we are in Christ Jesus is the result of God’s work upon us, and cannot be the cause of that work.

3. Moreover, our good works, whatever they may be, are the subjects of an ordinance of God: — “which God has previously ordained that we should walk in them.” Truly they are purposed by ourselves, and our will and heart determine them; but far behind all this lies the divine purpose by which they were settled from of old. If good works are ordained, as well as the salvation of which they are the evidence, then the whole matter is of divine ordaining, and there is no room left to impute salvation to human works. The tree is not created by its fruit, for the fruit is created with the tree, and is one purpose for which the tree was created. Good works are not the cause of salvation, for they are the result of it, and were contemplated as a result by God when he saved us. The argument deserves to be worked out at greater length, but we do not have time for it now.

4. I want, at this time, to call your attention to four things in the text; and if you can carry in your mind’s eye the first creation, and the making of Adam, and what he was made for, and where he was put when he was made, it will serve as a background to the picture of the second creation, which I shall attempt to paint. I would dwell upon man as God’s workmanship in a still higher sense than by his first making. I would present him as created anew “to good works, which God has previously prepared,” — for that is the word properly used in the new translation — “which God has previously prepared that we should walk in them.”

5. I. To begin, then; notice first, THE UNIQUE ORIGIN OF A CHRISTIAN MAN, — of all Christian men, whether Jews or Gentiles; of all Christian men, even if they are the highest apostles, like Paul, or the least of all the family of love, such as we may be. As many as are truly saved, and brought into union with Christ, are the workmanship of God.

6. No Christian in the world is a chance production of nature, or the outcome of evolution, or the result of special circumstances. “By the grace of God I am what I am,” may be said by every man who is saved. To nothing can we ascribe the fact that we are in Christ except this — that we are God’s workmanship. Concerning regeneration we must say once and for all, “This is the finger of God.”

7. The spiritual life cannot come to us by development from our old nature. I have heard a great deal about evolution and development, but I am afraid that if any one of us were to be developed to our utmost, apart from the grace of God, we should come out worse than before the development began. Our flesh would be apt to produce by evolution something extremely brutish and devilish. Mr. Whitfield once raised a great outcry against himself by saying that man by nature was half beast, half devil: I have never seen any reason why the description should be altered; but I have sometimes wondered which was the worse of the two — the devil in the man, or the beast in him.

8. As for spiritual life coming out of our unrenewed nature, it is impossible. “Out of nothing comes nothing.” There is no spiritual life in men dead in trespasses and sins; how then can life come out of them? Out of death truly there comes something congruous to it: horrible are the forms of corruption that arise from the body in which death holds sway; but this is dissolution and destruction, and not life. What the corruption of a human soul may be, I cannot attempt to say. Terrible as hell must be, there is nothing in the pit more awful than those who are in it. The lost themselves are more unutterably dreadful than any punishment that justice may have imposed upon them. Developed manhood, developed without any restraining influences, if it is shut up in vast numbers, must be a fermenting mass of hate, envy, malice, lust, cruelty, and pride. Speak of evolution, — here it is, — “When lust has conceived, it produces sin: and sin, when it is finished, results in death.” Darkness never begets light, filth never creates purity, hell never yields heaven, and depravity never produces grace.

9. But the point is that we are God’s workmanship. We are his workmanship from the very first. The first stroke that helps to forms 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. It was the Lord who first taught us our need of a Saviour, and gave us our sense of sin, and our early tremblings, and our new desires. The faintest breath of spiritual life that was ever breathed by any one of us, came from God himself. We might almost use the same words concerning our new nature as the Psalmist used when he spoke of his body, — “Your eyes saw my substance, yet being imperfect; and all my members were written in your book, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.”

10. 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 on it, it would certainly mar it all. God has begun the character of his people in so marvellous a way that no human mind as yet fully comprehends the full design of infinite love, for no one knows perfectly the matchless character of Jesus, our Lord. “It does not yet appear what we shall be.” Since, then, we do not even know what we are to be, we cannot intrude into the work, and take the pencil from the hand of the great Artist, and complete his design, but the Author must be the Finisher of what he has begun.

11. This is very beautiful to remember, and it should stir up all that is within us to magnify the Lord. If it is so, that from the first the Lord has performed all our works in us, what an amount of patience, what an amount of power, what an amount of skill, what an amount of love, what an amount of grace, has God spent upon us so far! 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! Think of the skill which makes heirs of God out of heirs of wrath! It seemed impossible when Jesus said that “God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham,” but it is more than fulfilled in us. Miracles of grace have been accomplished in us as many as the sands on the sea-shore. How graciously has the Lord endured our opposition to his gracious operations; never violating the freedom of our will, but making us willing in the day of his power! This is one of the greatest of the marvels. See how he has continued to work on us, year after year, with final perseverance of undiminished love! How much more of power will still be needed, and how much more of longsuffering, and how much more of careful wisdom, before we shall be perfect and complete! According to his riches in grace he will deal with us; and if that should not suffice, he will take a higher standard, and treat us “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” This we know, that we shall certainly receive all that is needed for completion, for he who has begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Christ. It is good for us that “we are his workmanship!”

12. Now, ought we not, dear friends, as far as the Lord has gone with us already, to bless and praise his holy name? Do you not think that it is becoming in all of us, who know that God has been at work with us, to adore him continually for what he has done? I know you sigh because a part of the picture still looks rough and incomplete. Consider that the Artist has not finished his labour upon that portion of us. Sanctification in its practical issues is not yet ended. But do not sigh so much over the incomplete part as to fail in rejoicing over what is accomplished. Rejoice that a hand has been laid upon the canvas which is matchless even in its outlines, and foundation colours; a hand, moreover, which was never yet known to throw away a canvas upon which it had once begun a masterpiece. Remember that you magnify his work. “He who has created us for the very same thing is God, who also has given the pledge of the Spirit to us.”

13. One thing I would say to you who are God’s people: if we are his workmanship, never let us be ashamed to let men see God’s workmanship in us. “Let your light so shine before men, so that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Let us be very much ashamed 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. Yet let your simple faith be known and spoken of, even though it is ridiculed by the wise men of the age, who by wisdom do not know God. Do not be ashamed of your confidence in your God at any time, even though men burst into a fit of laughter over it as if you must be raving mad; for this also is God’s workmanship. Nothing that God has created is unfit to be seen. Search from the summit of the highest Alp to the bottom of the deepest cavern, and there is neither plant, nor beast, nor insect, nor even grain of dust which is not beautiful in its season. I have heard foolish people half scream at the sight of some poor little insect, or frog, or lizard; but this is from lack of knowing more of the beauty of the creature which our great Father has formed. If these are quietly looked at, especially if they are examined under the microscope, they amaze us with the marvellous skill displayed in them. Nothing that God has made should be despised. Assuredly this is most true in the spiritual kingdom, where the lowest form of grace is lovely as an angel’s countenance. All the new creatures of God are surpassingly beautiful; and so far as you, my brother, are God’s workmanship, so far you are attractive with the beauty which he has bestowed upon you. See how the Bridegroom in Solomon’s Song extols his Bride, fair metaphor of the manner in which the Lord Jesus praises his church. He is an impartial Judge of all that is excellent; but when he views his people as God’s work, he is full of admiration. What is your own work, you may well blush to acknowledge; what is the devil’s work, you are bound to detest; but what is the work of the Holy Spirit in you, will bear inspection, and no guilty fear should cause you to conceal it. Let your meekness, your kindness, your uprightness, your truth, your purity appear to all men. Never let it be a question whether you are a Christian. Do not tremble at the persecution which the enmity of the ungodly may indict upon you because you belong to Christ, but rather accept it as an honour, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

14. As for any of you who hear me at this time, and feel forced to say, “Ah, me! I do not see how I am to be a Christian”; let me speak with you. I am thinking of the matter very differently. I see very plainly how you can become Christians; for all of us who are believers are God’s workmanship, and that God who has made us his workmanship can make you to be the same. “Oh, but I cannot do anything!” Who said you could? Who asked you to do any part of God’s work? We are God’s workmanship. There is in your fallen nature no power or will towards good, and if the question were about your workmanship, the answer would be full of despair; but while God works there is hope.

15. “Oh, but I have a withered hand!” When Jesus tells you to stretch it out, do not enquire about your own power, but look to his power who gives the command. Do not say, “I cannot save myself. I cannot make myself holy.” Look, then, to him who is a Saviour, able to save to the uttermost, who was born for this purpose, so that he might save his people from their sins. “We are his workmanship,” cry all the saints: do you want to be your own workmanship? He who can work upon one can work upon another. Oh, that you would lie at his feet! Oh, that you would put off all idea of what you can do for yourself, and draw comfort from these few words of my text: “We are his workmanship!” What is there that God cannot do for you? Rough material as you are, he can make you what you should be; he can make you what it will delight you to be. May God grant that we may learn to look to the strong for strength, and no longer waste our time in enquiring for it where there is nothing but perfect weakness!

16. Here, then, is the origin of a Christian man: he comes from the workshop of God.

17. II. Secondly, here in the text we see THE UNIQUE MANNER OF THIS ORIGIN. “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.”

18. “Created in Christ Jesus.” Catch that thought. Our new life is a creation. This goes further than the former expression; for workmanship is less than creation. A 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. No one else could create a gnat, or the beam of light in which it dances, or the eye with which it is seen. In this world of grace, wherever we live, we are a creation. 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. It does nothing of the kind. What we possess since the fall is corrupt and dead, and has to be buried, of which our baptism is the type and the testimony. What 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. What a sweeping statement! This goes back to the very beginning of grace within us. As we read, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” so may we say of every man who is born again to God, that he had no true beginning until God created him, and made him spiritually to exist. Creation is the calling of something out of nothing, of light out of darkness, of life out of death. Is this not a fair description of the new birth? Has this not happened to us? When we were nothing, God, in the greatness of his grace, created us in Christ Jesus.

19. Creation was accomplished by a word. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.” “He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood firm.” “God said, ‘Let there be light’: and there was light.” Is that not again an accurate description of our entrance into spiritual light and life? Do we not confess, “Your word has quickened me?” “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and remains for ever.” “Who were born, not by blood, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by God.” The Lord breathed upon us by his Spirit, and we lived; he spoke; and we were created in Christ Jesus.

20. In creation the Lord was alone and unaided. The prophet asks, “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor has taught him? With whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?” After all was done, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy; but they did not — could not, aid in the work. Creation is the prerogative of Jehovah, and no one can share it with him. So it is in the regeneration of a soul; instrumentality appears, but the real work is immediately by the Spirit of God.

21. See, then, poor sinners who may hear these words, that they have an application for you. You are saying, “How can we become Christians?” Why, you can become Christians by being created, and there is no other way. “But we cannot create ourselves,” one says. It is even so. Stand back, and quit all pretence of being creators; and the further you retreat from self-conceit the better, for it is God who must create you. How I wish that you felt this! “It would drive us to despair,” you say. It might drive you to such despair as would be the means of your fleeing to Christ, and that is precisely what I desire. It would be greatly to your gain if you never again indulged a shred of hope in your own works, and were forced to accept the grace of God. I do not seek to arouse in you a proud activity, but a humble reliance in the mercy of God, and a submissive acceptance of his plan of salvation by free grace. Oh, that this might be done! The gospel does not call upon you to save yourselves; but its voice is the echo of that of the Lord in Isaiah, “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no one else.” {Isa 45:22} The Lord does not even ask for your help in your own salvation. When he has worked in you, you may work it out, but that is all. Be ready to be as clay in the hands of the potter, malleable to the touch of the All-Creating God, and you shall find that he is the God of salvation, and to him belongs the issues from death. Out of black sinners he can make bright saints. Hearts of stone he can take away, and give hearts of flesh. He can take the infidel, and create in him a mighty faith; the prostitute, and make her a pattern of purity; the lowest of the low, and the vilest of the vile, and put them among the princes — even the princes of his people. Granted that a Christian is the result of a creation, then nothing is needed to begin with, and no help is required in the process; the Lord can work, and no one can hinder him. This truth lifts the whole matter out of the region of the creature’s merit, worth, or ability, and puts it on another footing, full of hope to man, and of glory to God. I would be glad and rejoice for ever in what God creates: it fills me with comfort for my fellow men, and with reverence for my God.

22. But the text speaks of this creation as “in Christ Jesus.” This is a deeply instructive subject, which at this present cannot fully be discussed, partly from lack of time, and partly from lack of ability on my part fully to explain it. It would require a series of discourses, such as Dr. John Owen, or Stephen Charnock might have been able to deliver; the theologians of today, if there are any, cannot come near it. Herein is a great depth: — “created in Christ Jesus.” This much, however, I may note, for it rises to the surface: in the first creation you and I were created in Adam. We wear the image of the earthly Adam by our natural descent, and as such we are the creatures of God. It is of our natural birth that the Psalmist said, “Your hands have made me and formed me.” Thus we received our being, and that is a blessing; but the blessing would have soured into a curse had not Jesus come to work our well-being. Creation in the first Adam has brought us into a world of misery, and to reach a better world we require to be created in some such way that we come into union, and connection, and relationship with the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. This is what the Lord does when he newly creates each believer; he creates him in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus is his federal Head, and his Representative — his hope is hidden in him. By this we are put under a new economy, and are dealt with under a new system and order of things. I could tell you something more that I do believe, namely, that when the glorious Jehovah created the Christ, as the Man Christ Jesus, and when the Godhead came into union with this human nature of our blessed Lord, all of us were viewed as in him. What does the Lord say? “In your book all my members were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of them.” That God saw you, and me, and all the redeemed in Christ from all eternity, is a matter of faith to me; and we were in Christ when he died, in him when he rose, and we are in him even now that he sits at the right hand of God, even the Father. Who can separate the Head from the members, or the members from the Head? We are regarded as one in the thought and acts of Jehovah. Beloved, there is a mystical unity between Christ and the twice-born, into which I will not further go. I point to a chest which just now I will not unlock. But to return to the text, here is the glory of it: first, we are God’s workmanship, and the unique manner in which we have been created is that we have been created “in Christ Jesus.”

23. III. We come, thirdly, to dwell upon THE SPECIAL OBJECT OF THIS CREATION: “to good works, which God has previously ordained that we should walk in them.”

24. When Adam was created, the Lord made him for his own glory. This always was, and is, and must be the chief end of man. As soon as he was created, the Lord placed Adam in the garden, and what did he give him to do? “He only had to enjoy himself,” one says. I do not read such a statement in the Scriptures. “He put him there,” says another, “that he might eat of every fruit that grew in the garden.” Truly he did permit him freely to partake of all that nature yielded, but he tells us himself that he put him in the garden “to dress it, and to keep it.” An occupation was found for him which would keep him always busy. A gardener’s business is healthful and interesting, but it offers no temptation to idleness, for every season has its demands; and if the work is not kept well in hand, it is hard to overtake it again. That noble man, who was the founder of our race, trimmed the vine, and trained the tree, picked the fruit, and planted the herb. Paradise itself required to make it perfect that a man should have something to do. Slavish drudgery involved by unreasonable hours is not of God, but of the cruel greed of man; poorly remunerated toil, by which the worker cannot earn his daily bread, is the result of human tyranny, not by divine purpose; but a fair share of healthy, useful labour is necessary for us all, and if ever this world becomes a paradise again, each one of us shall have to something to do as the price of our bread.

25. When the Lord creates us the second time, in the second Adam, he does not make us so that we may be merely comfortable and happy. We may enjoy all that God has given to 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. You may eat and drink abundantly of heavenly food, but you are not created anew with so poor a purpose as your pleasure only. 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 so that you might be zealous for them. To you the great Father says, “Son, go work today in my vineyard.” He who died for you calls you to do works like his own. The Holy Spirit within you prompts you to consecration, urges you to diligence.

26. And what are good works? In that question lies another large subject. Tell me, you who talk so much about good works, what are they? I should say that they are works such as God commands — works of obedience. When we heartily keep the divine precepts, we must be right; for it can never be evil for a man to do what God tells him to.

27. Next, I should say that they are works of love; of love for God, and love for man; works done out of a pure affection for the great Father, and out of unselfish regard for men. What we do to display our own liberality is done to self, and so is spoiled; but where there is only an eye for God’s glory, the work is good. Works done out of love for Christ, and love for saints, and love for the poor, and love for lost sinners, are good works.

28. Furthermore, I should say that works of faith are good works; works done in confidence in God, undertaken in reliance upon his help, and in the firm belief that he will accept them even though men might censure them. The proclamation of his gospel with faith in its power, the pleading of the promise with expectation of its fulfilment, the sacrifice of personal gain for the service of truth, — works such as these are good, and pleasing to God; for without faith it is impossible to please him.

29. I am bound to add that good works include the necessary acts of common life when they are properly performed. We are to produce good works in our home, in our shop, in our work-room, in our travel abroad, or on our sick-bed: everywhere we are to be filled with good works for God’s glory. All our works should be good works, and we may make them so by sanctifying them with the Word of God and prayer, according to that precept, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

30. Observe that God has not created us so that we may talk about our good works, but that we may walk in them. Practical doing is better than loud boasting. God has not created us that we may occasionally perform good works, but that we may walk in them — that they may be so habitual to us that the common course of our conduct may be full of them. God has not created us that we may execute good works as a grand performance, but that we may walk in them; not that we may jump up to them, or seem to be walking on stilts, and making a great display every now and then; but that easily, naturally, out of a fully renewed heart, our newly created spirit may display itself in good works. May God grant that his holy object may be carried out in us to such a degree that our path may be luminous with holiness, so that we may leave behind a shining wake, like that of a vessel upon the sea! Oh, that our way may be strewn with gracious acts, as when a cloud passes over a thirsty land, and blesses it with silver showers! I have known in a certain village a place called “The Poet’s Walk,” and another called “The Lovers’ Walk.” Oh, that ours may be “The Christian’s Walk!” May the good Lord perfect us in every good work to do his will, working in us what is well pleasing in his sight!

31. IV. And now I close with this last point. Fourthly, THE REMARKABLE PREPARATION MADE FOR THAT OBJECT, for so the text may be rendered, “which God has prepared that we should walk in them.”

32. God has decreed the salvation of his people; but do not accept that statement as it is at times delivered, but clearly understand what it means. 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 has previously ordained that we should walk in them.” If God has really and truly met with you in a way of grace, and worked on you by his Spirit, and newly created you, then take it for certain that you are ordained to be a prayerful, godly, upright, sanctified man. The purpose is one and indivisible: there is no ordination to salvation apart from sanctification. The Lord has not ordained any man to eternal life with the proviso that he may continue in sin. No, but he has ordained him that he shall become a new creature in Christ Jesus, and then shall forsake his evil ways, and walk in good works until that walk shall end in perfection before the eternal throne. Understand, then, that the walk of a Christian man is predestinated by God, as much as the safety of a Christian; and so we, whom he has predestinated, are as eager to fulfil our holy destiny here as to enjoy our heavenly destiny hereafter. Foreordination to holiness is indissolubly joined to foreordination to happiness. Note that. So, in the eternal purpose due provision is made for the good works of believers.

33. But, next, God has personally prepared every Christian for good works. “Oh,” some say, “I sometimes feel as if I was so unfit for God’s service.” You are not unfit, as far as you are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works. When God creates a bird to fly, it is the best flying machine that can be manufactured; indeed, no one can equal it. If God creates worms to plough the soil, and bring up the more useful nutrients to the surface, they are the best fertilizers under heaven. God’s purpose is served by what he makes, otherwise he would be an unwise worker. We are in a special degree God’s workmanship, created for this purpose, that we may produce good works; and we are designed for that purpose as much as a bird is designed to fly, or a worm is designed for its purpose in the earth.

34. “Oh,” one says, “but I find it so difficult to walk in good works.” Then you are not your true and real self. Pray God to suppress the flesh, and to let that dead and carnal part of you be gone; and ask that the new life, which he has infused, may have good scope to carry out its own natural instincts; for it is a holy thing, created on purpose to walk in good works, and it will do so if it is not hindered. Give it liberty. Give it opportunity. Feed it. Bring it before God to strengthen it; and it must, it will, as certainly produce good works as a good tree produces good fruit. Spontaneous holiness comes from sincere piety. A pure fountain yields clear streams, it cannot do otherwise. The new nature cannot sin because it is born by God. He who has a clean heart will necessarily have clean hands. An impure sea casts up mire and dirt, but the river of the water of life, when it overflows its banks, deposits no mud, but leaves grains of gold behind it.

35. Once more, observe with contentment that everything around you is arranged for the production of good works in you. “I do not see that,” one says. But listen. When God made Adam, when did he make him? He did not create him until he had made a place for him to live in. The great Father’s dear child could not be created until the garden had its roses blooming and its fruits ripening for him, so that he might be delighted with it. When the Lord God created you in Christ Jesus, as you believe he did, he had prepared for you a position of service and usefulness, exactly designed for your capacity. That place for the present is the position which you now occupy. “No,” one says, “but I am in the place of poverty.” That is it: it is God’s intention that you may in that place produce the sweet fruits of contentment and patience. “Alas!” cries another, “I live among the ungodly.” It is intended by your Lord that your light may shine among them, and that you, having your graces tried, may become all the stronger and the better man. “Oh,” one says, “I am a Christian, but I believe that I am in the worst place that ever was. I am all alone, like a plant in the desert.” Is it not written, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose?” Very often the most advantageous place for our manhood is what is surrounded with splendid difficulties. A soldier is trained by battles, and a mariner by storms. What can a man do when he has everything at hand? Everything is possible for him, but so it is for every simpleton. He is truly a man who has nothing to assist him, and yet is aided by the opposition which confronts him. To sail against wind and tide would be more notable than to drift with gale and current. Is he not a true man who can turn to advantage the worst possible circumstances in order to produce the best possible results? He has an opportunity for distinguishing himself who is placed amid temptations and perils. In your life, good works are provided for, — “God has previously prepared that we should walk in them.”

36. On the whole, you are placed in the best position for your producing good works for the glory of God. “I do not think so,” one says. Very well. Then you will worry until to change your job, and attain another one; be careful that you do not plunge into a worse situation. The wise man says, “just as a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his place.” It is not the box that makes the jewel, nor the place that makes the man. “Oh, but anywhere rather than this!” Yes, and when you get into the place you now covet, you will pine to be back again. 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. He who said that he leaped so many yards at Rhodes, was asked to do the same feat at home; surely the place could not take away his strength, nor give it to him.

37. Oh, sirs, the real difficulty does not lie outside 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. Were you placed within the confines of perdition, you would glorify God if God has sanctified you. If you were called to walk through Pandemonium, {a} you would startle it with a message from the Most High if the Spirit of God is truly within you. Your present possibilities are the best for this present, use them as they fly. At any rate, rest assured that divine wisdom has not only prepared you for the hour, but the hour for you. All things are in a divine sense your friends; “For you shall be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.”

38. Moreover, the Lord has prepared the whole system of his grace for this purpose — that you should abound in good works. Every part and portion of the economy of grace tends towards this result, that you may be perfect even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. I long to be holy; the Holy Spirit is given to be my Sanctifier. I desire to live near to God; the Holy Spirit dwells in me, and this is nearness of the highest order. Did I hear you sigh — “I pine to know more of God?” This precious Book is in your hand, and its Author is among us, ready to expound it to you. “Oh, but I agonize to conquer sin!” This is not denied you, for it is written, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Another says, “I yearn to be more like Christ.” You are taken into communion with Christ on purpose so that this may be. Looking at him you are changed into his image, from glory to glory. Everything necessary for your holiness is available in the covenant of grace. All the helps that you need in your pilgrim way are already placed along the sacred road. The Lord, in the scriptural sense of the word, “meets” you with the blessings of his goodness. All events, whether terrible or joyful, shall be made to work together for this highest form of good, namely, your sanctification. January’s snow, February’s cold, April showers, March winds, and July suns, all co-operate to prepare the wheat for the granary; and all earthly changes are sent by God to ripen us for the eternal future. Yes, I may even say that the glories of heaven call us to a sublime life of holiness, and the thunders of hell urge us to conquer the temptations which are in the world through lust. The crown which Christ holds over our heads inspires us with ardour in our race; while the cross on which he died stirs us to a fervent enthusiasm for his praise. Nothing in heaven, or on earth, or in hell, properly used, will excuse us in lukewarmness, but everything will impel us to intense zeal for holiness. Even the sin, which so sadly abounds around us, should make us all the more watchful and careful in life. When manure is put around the roots of the vine, it is not defiled by it, but even out of the foul decay it finds nutriment by which to swell its delicious clusters; so, even the wickedness of man, by driving us nearer to our God, should prove a motive power for producing more exemplary lives in the midst of an untoward generation. Oh, sirs, if God calls you his workmanship, take care that no one can justly find fault with the Worker! If you are indeed God’s creation in Christ Jesus, take care that no one despises the second birth, or the second Adam. And if it is so, that the Lord has previously prepared all things that we may walk in good works, let us get into gear with creation; let us be in harmony with providence; let us keep step with the march of God’s purpose. What more shall I say? I will only breathe a wish. Oh, that you who have not yet believed in my Lord Jesus would do so now; for “to as many as received him, he gave power to them to become the sons of God, even to those who believe in his name!” Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Eph 2]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “God the Father, Attributes of God — The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth” 181}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Work of Grace as a Whole — Grace Claims The Glory” 237}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “God the Father, Acts, Predestinating Grace — Electing Love Adored” 222}

{a} Pandemonium: The abode of all the demons; a place represented by Milton as the capital of Hell, containing the council chamber of the Evil Spirits. OED.

Letter From Mr. Spurgeon

Dear Friends, — I shall be very glad when the weekly sermon will be that preached in my own pulpit on the previous Sabbath; and I hope that such will be the case in two or three weeks. Still I think the present sermon is somewhat better than those of an ordinary Sunday morning; certainly I enjoyed it much in preparing it for the press, and I send it out very hopefully, believing that God will feed his people by it.

I cannot say that I am quite well, but I am progressing upon the whole, and feel much rested and refreshed. Pray that I may soon get to work; and may do so under a double anointing of the Spirit of God.

I heartily thank a few friends who have sent help to Evangelists and Colportage, and I would not forget those who intend to do so soon.

                    Yours ever heartily,
                    C. H. Spurgeon
Mentone, March 14, 1885.

God the Father, Attributes of God
181 — The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth
1 The Lord is King; lift up thy voice,
   Oh earth, and all ye heavens rejoice:
   From world to world the joy shall ring,
   The Lord Omnipotent is King.
2 The Lord is King: who then shall dare
   Resist his will, distrust his care,
   Or murmur at his wise decrees,
   Or doubt his royal promises?
3 The Lord is King: child of the dust,
   The Judge of all the earth is just;
   Holy and true are all his ways,
   Let every creature speak his praise.
4 He reigns! ye saints, exalt your strains:
   Your God is King, your Father reigns;
   And he is at the Father’s side,
   The Man of love, the Crucified.
5 Come, make your wants, your burdens known;
   He will present them at the throne;
   And angel bands are waiting there,
   His messages of love to bear.
6 Oh! when his wisdom can mistake,
   His might decay, his love forsake,
   Then may his children cease to sing,
   The Lord Omnipotent is King.
                     Josiah Conder, 1824.

The Work of Grace as a Whole
237 — Grace Claims The Glory
1 Not for the works which we have done,
   Or shall hereafter do,
   Hath God decreed on sinful worms
   Salvation to bestow.
2 The glory, Lord, from first to last,
   Is due to thee alone:
   Aught to ourselves we dare not take,
   Or rob thee of thy crown.
3 Our glorious Surety undertook
   To satisfy for man,
   And grace was given us in him
   Before the world began.
4 This is thy will, that in thy love
   We ever should abide;
   And lo, we earth and hell defy
   To make thy counsel void.
5 Not one of all the chosen race
   But shall to heaven attain;
   Partake on earth the purposed grace,
   And then with Jesus reign.
6 Of Father, Son, and Spirit, we
   Extol the threefold care;
   Whose love, whose merit, and whose power
   Unite to lift us there.
                  Augustus M. Toplady, 1774.

God the Father, Acts, Predestinating Grace
222 — Electing Love Adored
1 Oh, gift of gifts! Oh, grace of faith!
   My God, how can it be
   That thou, who hast discerning love,
   Shouldest give that gift to me!
2 How many hearts thou might’st have had
   More innocent than mine!
   How many souls more worthy far
   Of that pure touch of thine!
3 Ah, Grace! into unlikeliest hearts
   It is thy boast to come;
   The flory of thy light to find
   In darkest spots a home.
4 Thy choice, oh God of goodness! then
   I lovingly adore;
   Oh, give me grace to keep thy grace,
   And grace to long for more!
            Frederick William Faber, 1849.