2197. Christ’s Resurrection And Our Newness Of Life

No. 2197-37:181. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Morning, March 29, 1891, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. {Ro 6:4}

For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1627, “Baptism — a Burial” 1627}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2197, “Christ’s Resurrection and Our Newness of Life” 2198}
   Exposition on Ro 6 Isa 53 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3347, “Things to be Remembered” 3349 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Ro 6:1-19 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3400, “Day of Atonement, The” 3402 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Ro 6 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2938, “Jesus the Way” 2939 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Ro 6 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3298, “Lessons from Christ’s Baptism” 3300 @@ "Exposition"}

1. I have previously preached upon the whole verse, {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1627, “Baptism — a Burial” 1627} so that this morning I shall take the liberty to dwell chiefly upon the latter part of it — “Just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

2. The idea that the grace of God should lead us to licentiousness is utterly loathsome to every Christian man. We cannot endure it. The notion that the doctrines of grace give licence to sin, comes from the devil, and we scorn it with a detestation more deep than words can express. “How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer in it?”

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

4. The basis of this confession lies in the union of every believer with Christ Jesus. We are dead with him, because we are one with him. We are risen with him, because we are one with him. Every believer is, in the purpose of divine grace, identified with Jesus. He was given to the Lord Jesus from before the foundation of the world, and placed under his covenant-headship. The Lord Jesus suffered for the believer as his substitute, and virtually each saved one died in Christ, who represented him. The believer rose in Christ by virtue of the eternal union which exists between the saint and his Saviour. Therefore the believer continues to live, for the Lord has said, “Because I live, you shall live also.” Our destiny is identified with that of our Covenant-Head. His life is the model of our experience: he makes us to be conformed to his image now, and we shall be like him when we shall see him as he is. Oh my hearer, if you are not in Christ you have nothing. Outside of Christ you are in the wilderness: with him you are in a paradise. In Christ believers possess all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and grace, and power, and love. All things are yours, if you are Christ’s. From our union to Christ follows our sanctification: we cannot follow after sin, for Christ does not follow after it. He died to sin once, and we are henceforth dead to it. He is risen by the glory of the Father, and we are risen with him into righteousness, and acceptance, and joy.

5. I. Follow me in the text, taking as your first thought the fact that THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD WAS ATTENDED WITH GLORY: he was “raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.” Christ’s resurrection is linked with the fulness of eternal glory.

6. In itself it was a great marvel. Our Lord was assuredly dead: the Roman guards at the cross took care that no condemned person escaped the death-penalty; in our Lord’s case his heart was pierced with the spear to make sure that no life remained in him. Joseph begged for his body, and by the loving hands of those who were sure that he was dead he was wrapped in spices and fine linen, and laid in the rocky tomb. There lay our Lord, in the grave, with a stone rolled at the cave’s mouth, and a seal set upon it by those in authority, whose envy made them take double precautions. Just as when a prince lies slumbering in his pavilion he is watched by a guard, so our Lord’s sepulchre was watched by a guard of Roman soldiers, so that no man might steal his body. There he lay in the heart of the earth, for a portion of three days and nights. He was really dead, and in the grave he wore all the marks of decease: a napkin was bound around his head, and the linen clothes enwraped his limbs. On the morning of the third day it was truly said, “The Lord has risen indeed”; for he actually, literally, and in very fact awoke to life, unbound the napkin and laid it by itself, leisurely folded his grave-clothes, and when the angel had rolled away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre, the First Begotten from the dead came out in a material body to live among his disciples for forty days. During the time of his sojourn, his resurrection was established by many infallible proofs: he was seen, and heard, and touched, and handled. One of his disciples put his finger into the print of the nails, and thrust his hand into his side. He possessed a real body, for he ate a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb before them all. It was Jesus of Nazareth, and none other than he, who met his disciples at Galilee. On this firm basis of fact we build our holy faith; but, certain as it is, it is none the less a marvel. All glory be to him “who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”

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

8. His resurrection is glorious in its effects. He was “delivered for our offences,” but “he was raised again for our justification.” In death he discharged our debt: in resurrection he displayed the receipt of all our liabilities. He was surety for us, and therefore he smarted and went down to the prison of the grave; but by death he discharged his suretiship and was set free. Our Lord has risen, and therefore we shall rise in the day of his appearing. The Breaker leads the way, and behind the mighty champion the whole company of his redeemed pass through the portals of the tomb in the power of his resurrection. The stone is rolled away for them as well as for him. They cannot be held by the bonds of death, for he could not be detained a captive. What a glory there is in our Lord’s resurrection, when we further remember that he lives for ever to make intercession for us, and, therefore, he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him! The fulness of salvation comes to us because he has risen from the dead, and is now making intercession for the transgressors. Oh brethren, the resurrection of Jesus is as bright as the sun with glory! Faith in it thrills our hearts. Well might each line of our hymn end with a Hallelujah. When we say to each other, “The Lord is risen indeed,” we feel like singing all the time, for now our faith is not vain, we are not in our sins, and those who have fallen asleep have not perished.

9. Our Lord’s resurrection was glorious as for its cause, for it was a display of the glory of the Father. For “glory” you may read “power,” if you please; for it was a great work of power to raise Jesus from the dead. But it was more than a miracle of power, for all the attributes of God united their glory in the resurrection of Christ. God’s love came there, and opened those closed eyes; his delight bejewelled those deadly wounds; his wisdom set in motion that pierced heart. Divine justice claimed his loosing from the grave, and mercy smiled as she lit up his face with an immortal smile. Then and there Jehovah made all his glory to pass before us, and he proclaimed the name of the Lord. If you ask where God’s glory is seen most, I will not point to creation, nor to providence, but to the raising of Jesus from the dead. It is true that in the silence of the tomb there were no spectators, but God himself was there. After the deed was done, there were many who beheld his glory; and when at the close of his sojourn below he ascended beyond the clouds all heaven came out to meet him, and to behold the conqueror of death and hell. In his resurrection the glory of God was laid bare. The veil which concealed the sacred presence was torn from top to bottom; and the glory of the Lord was seen in the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

10. That resurrection is glorious, because of its sequel in reference to our Lord. Of this I have already spoken in measure; only let me remind you that he rose to die no more. He has suffered once, but it is once and for all. His victory is final. Like Samson, the fierce lion of death roared upon him in the vineyard. The monster had so far overcome everyone whom he assailed; but this time he met his match. Our greater Samson tore him as though he were a kid; and though our deliverer fell in the act of victory, he rose from the death-struggle with fulness of life. Behold, he comes to us today, bearing handfuls of honey, on which he invites us to feed. He has taken it from the carcass of the lion which he slew. Now death is a supply of sweets, rather than a cup of gall. To the child of God, death furnishes a couch of rest, and is no longer a dark and noxious prison cell. Death is the refining pot for this poor flesh and blood: the body is sown in corruption, but it is raised in incorruption and immortality. We shall with these eyes behold our Lord when he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth. Oh glorious resurrection, which has turned our poison into medicine! Oh miracle of love, which has made death to be the gate of life! When you were singing the Easter hymn just now, it seemed to me as if we filled the whole earth with silver bells; and when you came to the last verse, you were so fully getting into the music of the truth, that I had half a mind to cry, “Let us begin again.” In the rising of Jesus death itself is locked up in prison, and ten thousand Hallelujahs come flying down from heaven to teach us how to sing —

   Vain the watch, the stone, the seal
   Christ has burst the gates of hell;
   Death in vain forbids him rise,
   Christ hath open’d paradise.

11. II. Let me introduce you to our second point, which is this — THE PARALLEL IN OUR EXPERIENCE IS ALSO FULL OF GLORY.

12. When the time of love had fully come, we also rose in our spirits; that “just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Partakers of his death, we are also partakers of his resurrection. This body of ours will have its share in that blessing of adoption in due time. As yet, it remains subject to pain, and weakness, and death; for it is as the apostle puts it, “If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.” The spirit has its resurrection even now; but we are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” At the second coming of the Lord the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living shall be changed. We have the first-fruits of the Spirit, inasmuch as we are spiritually risen from the dead; and the rest will follow in due course.

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

14. Remember that quickening is a necessary part of the process of sanctification. Sanctification, in its operation upon our character, consists of three things. First, we die to sin. A wondrous death! By this Jesus strikes at the heart of evil. The death of Christ makes us die to sin. After this comes burial. We are buried with Christ, and of this burial baptism is the type and sign. Covered up to be forgotten, we are to sin as a dead shepherd to his flock. As the sheep pass over the dead shepherd’s grave, or even feed on it, and yet he does not regard them, so our old sins and habits come around us, but we, as dead men, know them no more. We are buried to them. To complete our actual sanctification we receive heavenly quickening. “If we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” Yes, we do live in him, and by him, for “he who believes in him has everlasting life.” I trust you know what this means. Have you been dead and buried with Christ? Are you now quickened in the likeness of his resurrection? This is your joyful privilege, if you are indeed believers in Christ, and joined to the Lord in one spirit.

15. Being quickened you are partakers of a new life. You are not like Lazarus, who, when he was raised from the dead, had the same life restored to him. True, you have that same life about you. Alas, that you should have it! for it will be your burden and plague. But your true life has come to you by your being born again from above. “This is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life.” The Holy Spirit has created in us a higher life than nature possessed. “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who is begotten by God keeps himself, and that wicked one does not touch him.” We have received “a living and incorruptible seed which lives and endures for ever.” In this there is a striking display of the glory of God. Just as in the resurrection of Christ we see all the glorious attributes of God, so there is in every believer’s spiritual quickening a manifestation of the divine presence. I do not know how much there is of God in the regeneration of each new-born soul; but I know this, that God compares it to a new creation, and to the resurrection; and therefore we may be sure that it is one of the highest displays of divine power. We talk about conversion, but how lightly do we estimate the full meaning of conversion! Do you not know that regeneration is one of the greatest miracles that God himself can perform? To be begotten again to a living hope is a mass of wonders. We who previously lay under spiritual death, have become possessors of a heavenly life; who shall fully comprehend this? This is a miracle indeed; and we ourselves are the subjects of it. Surely, we do not think highly enough of the notable deed which has been performed upon our impotent selves. Lazarus raised from the dead was the object of wonder to everyone. The Jews came to Bethany, not to see Jesus only, but to see Lazarus, who was raised from the dead. What must Lazarus have thought of being brought back from the land of darkness to visit again the haunts of men? Lazarus must have felt himself a strange and unique man; even his sisters, Mary and Martha, could not understand his experience. Christian man, you have felt what you can never tell; you have received what you can never explain, you possess a secret something which can never be described in words. May God help you to show it by your life!

16. In this parallel of our history with the story of Christ, in our being spiritually raised from the dead, we have a preeminent security for future perfection. “He who has created us for the very same thing is God, who also has given to us the pledge of the Spirit.” If he raised us up when we were dead in sin, will he not keep us alive now that we live for him? If he called us out of our graves when we were under the bondage of death, will he not preserve us now by the life of him who dies no more? If the life of God has really been infused into us, who shall destroy it? Has not our Master said, “I give to my sheep eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand?” He would not have given us this life unless he had intended to bring it to perfection. As surely as you live by the Father, you live as Jesus does, beyond the range of further death. “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.” Do you tremblingly ask me, “May I not go back to sin.” Listen to this. It is written in the covenant, “I will put my fear in their hearts, so that they shall not depart from me.” The life which is in you springs up to eternal life. You shall surely behold his face whose life is already within your heart. What a blessed thing this is! I cannot declare to you the measureless glory of God which I perceive in this quickening of souls to God; and yet what I perceive is the mere fringe of the glory. He might have left us to our corruptions, and then at last he would have said, “Bury my dead out of my sight. Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” But instead of that, in his free love he has come in the person of his dear Son and died for us that we might die in him, and he has quickened his Son that we should live in him. Soon he will say, “Come, you blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Wondrous grace! “He who sits on the throne says, ‘Behold, I make all things new’ ”; and never is he to our hearts more truly on the throne than in this new creation of which we are today the happy subjects.

   Raised from the dead, we live anew;
      And, justified by grace,
   We shall appear in glory too,
      And see our Father’s face.

17. If I gave you only those two things to think about, you might, by God’s blessing, find a good Sabbath’s meal in them. May God sanctify this teaching to all our hearts!

18. III. But now I want your special attention while I notice, in the third place, that THE LIFE THEN GIVEN IS EMPHATICALLY NEW.

19. Read our text: “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” — I expected that we should then read, “even so we also should be raised by the glory of the Father”; but it is not so. Paul sometimes takes great leaps of thought. It is in his mind that we are raised together with Christ; but his thought has gone further, even to the activity which comes from life; and we read, “that we also should walk in newness of life.” As much as to say, “I need not tell you that you have been quickened as Christ was; but since you have been made alive, you must show it by your walk and conduct.” But he reminds us that this life has much newness about it.

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

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

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

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

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

23. Your new life has new objects. You aim higher; yes, you aim at the highest of all; for you live for the glory of God, and seek that your light may so shine, “that men may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” The will of God has now become your law. You consider yourself only happy as you may fulfil his purposes, honour his name, and extend his kingdom.

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

25. Now we are cheered by new hopes: we have a hope of immortality; a hope so glorious, that it causes us to purify ourselves in preparation for its realisation. We wait for the glorious appearing of our Lord. We look for new heavens and a new earth. We have a living hope which defies death.

26. Now we have new possessions. We used to wonder what the Christian meant when he spoke of “possessing all things.” Now we know. God has made us “rich in faith,” and he has given us greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. When the Lord lifts up his countenance upon us, we no longer cry for grain and wine and oil. Though flocks die, and crops fail, our estate is permanently secured; our bread shall be to given us, and our waters shall be certain. Instead of groaning that life is not worth having, we bless God for our being, because of our well-being in Christ. Behold the desert now rejoices and blossoms as the rose. Where we heard only the hooting of the owl and the cry of the dragon, we hear music as of a song which has just begun, which is every moment swelling and increasing, and shall soon burst into a thunder of hallelujahs which shall never end. We are happy creatures now. Once we were doleful enough, except when we were in our cups and inflamed with a delirious mirth; but now we have peace like a river, and a secret joy which no man takes from us. We drink from a well which no one can dry up: we have bread to eat that the world does not know about. Truly our fellowship is with the Father; and this, even to ourselves, is so vast a joy that it overwhelms us. When we are nearest to God, and are absorbed in him, we cannot comprehend our own delight.

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

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

29. IV. I must close, though the subject is sweetly absorbing, and one would like to go further into it. Our fourth point is this — THE WALK WHICH COMES OUT OF THIS LIFE IS NEW. You were dead, but you have been raised from among the dead, and now you walk in “newness of life.”

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

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

32. This walk is to be in newness of life. We are not to act or grow in the energy of the old life, but in newness of life. The conduct of a Christian is in newness of life: and therefore others cannot understand him because he acts so differently from themselves. But, alas, all professors are not of this kind! I see a Christian man coming back one evening from a place of questionable amusement. Did he go there in newness of life? The old man used to go in that direction. When a man is doubtfully honest, and has made a bargain which will not bear the light of day; is that done in newness of life? When an employer grinds down the workman to the last farthing; is that done in the newness of life? Surely, you will see what I am aiming at. Brethren, be finished with the things of the flesh. Put off the old man. If Christ has quickened you, walk in newness of life. Say to the old man, “Down with you, sir! I am finished with walking in your way.”

33. Let the new man come to the forefront, and follow his guidance. Say in your soul, “Oh life of God within me, be supreme. Take the upper hand, and let every thought be captive to your power.” Let us not live in oldness of spiritual death, but in newness of spiritual life. What a change is accomplished by the perception and possession of better things! Dr. Chalmers, in his Exposition of Romans, pictures a man engaged with full and earnest ambition on some humble walk of retail merchandise. He cares about petty things, and makes great account of his little enterprise. His hopes and fears range within his circumscribed business; and he aspires to nothing more than to reach a few shillings a week to retire on. But a splendid property is willed to him, or he is introduced into a sublime walk of high and honourable adventure. Henceforth everything is made new. The man’s cares, hopes, habits, tastes, desires, are all new. His expenditure alters; his valuation of money alters; his fear about the state of the stock disappears; his joy in the prospect of a small competency is no more before his eyes. He has risen to a different level altogether. New conditions have silently changed all things. The whole man is built on a bigger scale: his house, his table, his garments, his company, and his speech, are all of another kind. In the same way the Lord, by all that he has done for us, and in us, has changed everything. No point is unaffected. Newness of life affects our manhood from head to foot. The Lord has made us rich in himself, by the gift of Jesus, and by the work of his Spirit, and he would not have us grieving and fretting about the little matters which once were so extremely great to us. “The Gentiles seek after all these things.” Let us have higher cares and more divine aspirations. Let us seek to live the life of heaven on earth. We are called to righteousness; let us not follow after mammon. We are new creatures; may the Lord renew us day by day! Let us leave the old ways; for the time we have spent in it may well suffice. Now to a nobler destiny our soul aspires.

34. The Christian life should be one of joyful vivacity. We cannot always be what we should like to be, especially if we have a sluggish constitution or an aching head; but I would now speak of our normal condition. The Christian man, living in newness of life, should find life new around him. Our inner man is renewed day by day. A healthy Christian is one of the liveliest creatures on earth. When he is at work you may hear him sing. He cannot help it; do not blame him for a little noise. Let him sing, and laugh until he cries. Sometimes he cannot help it; he will burst if his soul may not have vent. When he begins to talk about his Lord his eyes flash fire. Some people hint that he is out of his mind; but those who know best assure us that he was never before so sane as now. Of course, the world thinks religion is such poor stuff that no one could grow excited about it. To my mind, cold religion is the nastiest dish ever brought to the table. True godliness is served up hot. Newness of life means a soul aglow with love for God, and therefore earnest, zealous, happy. Let the believing man have room for his larger life, swing for his grander joy. Indeed, do not gag him; let him sing his new song. If any man outside of heaven has a right to be happy, it is the man who lives in newness of life. Come, beloved, I want you to go home today with the resolve that the newness of life shall be more apparent in your walk. Do not live the old life over again. Why should you? What good would come of it?

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

36. Let me finish by a picture, which will show you what I mean by whole-heartedness. I have seen boys bathing in a river in the morning. One of them has just dipped his toes in the water, and he cries out, as he shivers, “Oh, it is so cold!” Another has gone in up to his ankles, and he also declares that it is fearfully chilly. But see! another runs to the bank, and takes a dive. He rises all aglow. All his blood is circulating, and he cries “Delightful! What a beautiful morning! I am all aglow. The water is splendid!” That is the boy for enjoying a bath! You Christian people who are paddling about in the shallows of religion, and just dipping your toes into it — you stand shivering in the cold air of the world which you are afraid to leave. Oh, that you would plunge into the river of life! How it would brace you! What tone it would give you! In for it, young man! In for it! Be a Christian, out-and-out. Serve the Lord with your whole being. Give yourself wholly to him who bought you with his blood. Plunge into the sacred flood by grace, and you will exclaim —

   Oh, this is life! Oh, this is joy,
      My God, to find thee so!
   Thy face to see, thy voice to hear,
      And all thy love to know.

May we walk like this in newness of life! Amen.

[Portions Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Mt 28 Ro 6:1-14]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Resurrection and Ascension — ‘He Is Risen’ ” 307}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Resurrection and Ascension — ‘The Lord Is Risen Indeed’ ” 309}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Resurrection and Ascension — ‘I Go To Prepare A Place For You’ ” 318}

Jesus Christ, Resurrection and Ascension
307 — “He Is Risen” <7s.>
1 Angels, roll the rock away;
   Death, resign thy mighty prey:
   See the Saviour quit the tomb,
   Glowing with immortal bloom.
                           Hallelujah.
2 Shout, ye seraphs! Gabriel, raise
   Fame’s eternal trump of praise:
   Let the earth’s remotest bound
   Hear the joy inspiring sound.
                           Hallelujah.
3 Saints on earth, lift up your eyes,
   Now to glory see him rise;
   Troops of angels on the road
   Hail and sing the incarnate God.
                           Hallelujah.
4 Heaven unfolds its portals wide,
   Gracious hero, through them ride;
   King of glory, mount thy throne,
   Boundless empire is thine own.
                           Hallelujah.
5 Praise him, ye celestial choirs,
   Praise, and sweep your golden lyres,
   Shout, oh earth, in rapturous song;
   Let the strains be sweet and strong!
                           Hallelujah.
6 Every not with wonder swell,
   Sin o’erthrown, and captived hell,
   Where is hell’s once dreaded king?
   Where oh death, thy mortal sting?
                           Hallelujah.
                  Thomas Scott, 1769;
                  Thomas Gibbons, 1784.

Jesus Christ, Resurrection and Ascension
309 — “The Lord Is Risen Indeed”
1 “The Lord is risen indeed”;
   Now is his work perform’d;
   Now is the mighty Captive freed,
   And death’s strong castle storm’d.
2 “The Lord is risen indeed”:
   The grave has lost its prey;
   With him is risen the ransom’d seed,
   To reign in endless day.
3 “The Lord is risen indeed”;
   He lives to die no more;
   He lives the sinner’s cause to plead,
   Whose curse and shame he bore.
4 “The Lord is risen indeed”;
   Attending angels, hear!
   Up to the courts of heaven, with speed,
   The joyful tidings bear.
5 Then tune your golden lyres,
   And strike each cheerful chord;
   Join all ye bright celestial choirs,
   To sing our risen Lord!
                     Thomas Kelly, 1804, a.

Jesus Christ, Resurrection and Ascension
318 — “I Go To Prepare A Place For You”
1 Th’ eternal gates lift up their heads,
   The doors are open’d wide;
   The King of glory is gone up
   Unto his Father’s side.
2 Thou art gone in before us, Lord,
   Thou hast prepared a place,
   That we may be where now thou art,
   And look upon thy face.
3 And ever on our earthly path
   A gleam of glory lies;
   A light still breaks upon the cloud
   That veils thee from our eyes.
4 Lift up our thoughts, lift up our songs,
   And let thy grace be given,
   That while we linger yet below
   Our hearts may be in heaven.
5 That where thou art, at God’s right hand
   Our hope, our love may be:
   Dwell in us now, that we may dwell
   For evermore in thee.
         Cecil Frances Alexander, 1852, a.