2370. “Christ First, Me Last: Nothing Between But Love.”

No. 2370-40:337. A Sermon Delivered On Thursday Evening, May 10, 1888, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, July 22, 1894.

The faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. {Ga 2:20}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 781, “Christus et Ego” 772}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1599, “Everyday Religion” 1599}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2370, “Christ First, Me Last: Nothing Between But Love” 2371}
   Exposition on Ga 1:11-2:21 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3202, “ ‘It Pleased God’ ” 3203 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Ga 2:15-3:29 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3062, “Spirit’s Office Towards Disciples, The” 3063 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Ga 2:16-3:29 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2370, “Christ First, Me Last: Nothing Between But Love” 2371 @@ "Exposition"}

1. Paul looks at the matter of salvation from the point of view suggested by grace. If any man might have said, “The Son of God, whom I have loved, and to whom I have given myself,” it would have been the apostle. On another occasion, speaking of the Lord, he said, “Whose I am, and whom I serve”; but here he does not think of himself, or of what he had been led to do for the Lord, but only of what the Lord had done for him. He dug down to the foundation of salvation; he traced the stream of grace back to the fountain-head; and therefore he spoke of “the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

2. You will not do wrong, my beloved friends, if you meditate on what the grace of God has enabled you to do, if you do it humbly, and if you praise God for it. I think that we sometimes forget to give glory to the Lord for the sanctification we have already received. I have heard people thank God for their health, and for their wealth; but I have not so often heard them express gratitude for grace. I do not know that I wish to hear them praise God for their virtue; but still, if they have any, and they know that they have it, let them praise God for it, for what virtue do they have which they have not received? If you have any faith, if you have any hope, if you have any love, if there is any difference between you and your fellow men, if you possess anything by which God is glorified, you ought to thank him for it, and to praise and bless his holy name. Still, there would always be a tendency, in dwelling even on what we have done by the grace of God, to begin to get unduly exalted; and on the whole it is far wiser to think of what Christ has done for you than of what you have done for him. I say, again, you may think of what you have done for Christ, and give God the glory for it; but it will not be good to dwell on that thought to any great extent. I am sure it will not do to think on it in the hour of deep distress of mind, and especially in the prospect of death. Then we gather up all our good works, and throw them overboard; we look at the best things that we have ever done, even by the power of the Spirit of God, as quite secondary to what Christ has worked out for us, and brought in and laid before his Father as the basis of our acceptance with him.

3. I like to think of our text, and I invite you to think of it, in the light of free grace. “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” I cannot preach much at this time; but I can talk to you a little of what I have tasted, and handled, and felt, and I pray the Holy Spirit to help you, not so much to hear the text explained, as to feel its gracious influence moving over your spirit, and awakening in your heart happy memories of gratitude for blessings received.

4. I. Our first division shall be, THE FACT REMEMBERED: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

5. Paul speaks of it as a fact ascertainable, and one which he had himself ascertained, that Jesus Christ loved him, and gave himself for him. He is not speaking now of the love of benevolence which the Lord Jesus Christ has towards all men, or even of that aspect of his work which bears on every creature under heaven; but he is thinking of that special love, that discriminating grace which had been bestowed on him. That is the point around which our thoughts are to gather as we meditate on Paul’s words, “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The apostle knew that Christ had loved him, and had given himself for him; and we also may know it. It is not necessary for us to go through life merely hoping and fearing, questioning and enquiring; we may come to the certain knowledge of the fact, if it is a fact, that we have an interest in the special love of Jesus Christ, that we are redeemed from among men, that we are called and separated to be the Lord’s special people, so that each of us may be able to say of the Lord Jesus Christ, “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” I would not distress the mind of anyone who is feeble in faith, and who is clinging to Christ, but has never yet received full assurance of salvation; but I would encourage such a person never to rest until he gets rid of all questions, and is able to say without the slightest trepidation, “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

6. Christ died to save sinners; the sinners who are saved by him are those who trust him; I trust him, therefore he has saved me. This is a good, sound argument. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.” I believe in him; therefore I have everlasting life. This is solid ground to rest on. “He loved me, and gave himself for me,” of which the evidence is that I trust him. I rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. To this will be added the evidences of a work of grace in the heart. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” “One thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see.” We know this also by the witness of the Holy Spirit, for “the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God,” and so at last we come to say with as much confidence as Paul himself could say it, “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Away, then, with all doubts and questions; begone, you evil birds that pollute the sacrifice! By a simple childlike faith we come to Jesus, and we take him to be our Saviour. We know that we cannot come to Jesus unless the Father, who sent him, draws us. Therefore we know that we are drawn by divine grace, and that he has loved us with an everlasting love, because with lovingkindness he has evidently drawn us to himself. So, you see, Paul is speaking of a fact that is ascertainable, and a fact that in his own case was ascertained. If we do not get to know it for ourselves, we cannot rejoice in it.

7. Now just think for a few minutes of some well-known but very blessed truths which gather around this fact: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” And first, it is a divine love. Paul speaks of “the Son of God, who loved me.” There are some people who would be greatly delighted if they heard that some nobleman loved them; and if we were informed that some prince or princess loved us, we might feel ourselves elevated; yet there would be very little in it to make us proud. If we were informed that an angel loved us with all the great heart of an unfallen spirit, we might take comfort from the fact; but the text reminds us that it is the Son of God who has loved us. I cannot talk about this divine love as it deserves, but I want you to try and feel in your soul, “Jesus Christ loves me; not merely feeds me, thinks on me, is favourably inclined to me; but he loves me.” Love is a grand word, even in its silver use among men and women; but love in its golden use with God in heaven, what does it not mean? Oh, marvellous indeed is the love of God towards his people! I say again that I cannot worthily speak of it; words seem such poor things to express the love of God. They break their backs in trying to convey the wondrous weight of meaning. If this love is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit, your heart’s love will best read and understand this wondrous fact that the Divine Being, the everlasting Father, and his ever-blessed Son, and the sacred Spirit, the great Trinity in Unity, loves you. Oh, delight yourselves in this glorious truth! It is a sea of sweetness, dive into it, and be filled with it.

8. The language of the text also suggests to me that I should remind you that the love of Jesus was an ancient love. It is true that he loves us now, but Paul also wrote truly, “Who loved me.” The verb is in the past tense. Jesus loved me on the cross; loved me in the manger of Bethlehem; loved me even before the earth was. There never was a time when Jesus did not love his people. “Or even before the earth was,” I said just now, and I repeat it, he saw us in the telescope of his eternal purposes, he foreknew us, he looked ahead, and saw what we would be, and who we would be, and his love went out to us even before the day-star ever began to shine. Think of that! “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.’ ” That he should love us at all, is a wonder; that he should have loved us always, is a wonder of wonders; and this love is a part of his eternal purposes, and is as old as his arrangements for the history of the universe. “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Truly, this was an ancient love.

9. Note further that, just as this love was divine, and ancient, so it was a preeminently practical love: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Jesus could not give any more than himself. He not only gave his crown, his throne, his manhood, his life, his sufferings, his death, his offices, his excellencies, his merits, but he gave himself, his Godhead, his humanity: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” It is not possible for you to measure the unknown depths of Christ’s sufferings; but if you could, you would not have arrived at “himself.” It is not merely what he did and said that Jesus gave for us; but he gave himself. It was not simply what belonged to him which Jesus handed over to us, but he gave himself: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

10. Oh beloved, I wish I had the strength and the ability to think and to speak to you on this practical display of our Lord’s love as it deserves; but I have not. Please meditate on it. He gave himself for you in the everlasting covenant when he stood as your Surety and Representative. He gave himself for you through the long ages in which he waited to come to earth to redeem you. He gave himself for you when he assumed your nature, and became bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh. He gave himself for you through a life of toil, and righteousness. He gave himself for you as your Substitute when he, “himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree.” In the scourging, the shame, the spitting, the bloody sweat, the crucifixion, he gave himself for you. Take these blessed words of the apostle, and put them in your mouth, and let them lie there as wafers made with honey, until they melt into your very soul: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” In all these wondrous senses, keeping back nothing, reserving for himself nothing, no, not even the name of himself, he loved me, and gave himself for me. Truly, this was practical love.

11. And I may say of it, in the next place, that it was a love altogether immeasurable. If you measure a love by its gifts, you have certainly an immeasurable love here, because it was proved by an immeasurable gift. The nature of the Lord Jesus Christ is not to be comprehended. The wondrous union of Godhead and manhood made him, I was about to say, something more than God, for he had added to all the infinity of his Godhead the capacity to suffer as a man. But he gave himself at his utmost, — the boundless, the inconceivable, the indescribable, — he gave himself for me. There is a limit to everything else, but not to the love of God. You say to the sea, “You shall come so far, but no farther,” but you cannot say that to this boundless sea of divine love. You do not know by experience how much God loves you; you have only drunk a little of the sweetness of this wondrous well of living water; but you cannot tell the depth of it. There is no bottom to it; you cannot exhaust its supply, you may drink, and drink, and drink again, through a long life, indeed, and throughout eternity you may go on receiving from this love, but you will never measure its heights, and depths, and lengths, and breadths. That is quite beyond your power. You can only love, dear mother, to a certain degree, though you love your child to the death; you can only love, dear husband, up to a certain point, though you are willing to lay down your life to raise your spouse from a sick-bed; but God stops nowhere in his love, it is boundless and infinite as he is himself.

12. Our Lord Jesus Christ cannot possibly or conceivably be limited in his love. I want you to try to get hold of this thought. Please notice it. HE loved me; such a one as he is, HE loved me.

    “Christ first, me last: nothing between but love.”

Those words are very sweet to me, I read them somewhere, and they cling to my memory. {a} “Who loved me,” the first word is “who,” the last word is “me,” and there is “nothing between but love.” Oh, that is a blessed position for anyone to be in! Christ shall be first, I will be glad to be anywhere, to be nothing, to be last, as long as there shall be this sweet link of love between my soul and my Saviour: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

13. Let us reflect yet a moment further that this love is an enduring love: “Who loved me.” But he is unchanging, so that he still loves me. He cannot love me more, he will not love me less; he has loved me at no time more than he loves me now, and if just now I may be groaning because of my imperfections, and mourning because of my tribulations, yet he loved me so as to give himself for me, and he never has abated from that love, and he never will. It is a very fine thing, no doubt, to have worldly wealth; but it melts like the hoar-frost in the sun. It is a very great mercy to have bodily health; but how little a thing soon takes it away, and turns the joy of life into the shadow of death! But if you get this love of Christ, you have a treasure which never can be lost, a blessing that never will be exhausted. “Who loved me, and gave himself for me?” Sit down, dear child of God, and say to yourself, “Here I have something which I shall never lose; it cannot be taken from me. Oh, that by grace I may be enabled to rejoice in it, and to return the love of my poor heart to him who does not cease to love me!”

14. There is a great deal that might be said of such a Saviour as this; but I feel a consolation in my heart in being unable to say any very new and fresh thing tonight, for the subject in itself ought to be full of joy for you; and if your heart is right, it will be. If your heart is not right with God, you will be craving for fine expressions and pretty phrases. Judge your own spiritual condition, then, by this test, does this theme in itself touch you? “Who loved me, and gave himself for me?” I will use it as a thermometer, and drop it into your heart to see the warmth of your affection for Christ. If you are as you should be, full of a devout attachment to him, you will say, “Indeed, that is all I want to feel and know, he loved me, and gave himself for me!”

15. So much, then, on the fact remembered.

16. II. Now, secondly, beloved friends, let me speak to you just for a few minutes on THE FAITH CONFESSED. Paul says, “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

17. Observe, first, that the faith which made Paul live was faith in a Person, “the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Possibly, some of you are trying to get faith, and yet you do not know what saving faith is. You have heard a great deal about it; but it is an astonishing thing that the best definition of faith in the world does not make men see what faith is. The light may be very bright; but a man who is blind does not see any the better because of the brilliance of the light. The eyes of our soul must be opened if we are to see what faith is. Now, saving faith is faith in a Person, faith in the living, loving Lord, who gave himself for us. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? I do not merely mean, do you believe in his teachings? You must believe in them. But to be saved you must believe in him, “who loved me, and gave himself for me.” There he stands; my faith seems to see him, even now, at the right hand of God, risen from the dead and gone into glory, and I come and trust him, and take him to be my Saviour. If he is my Saviour, it is his business to save me; I am not to save myself. I put myself into his hands so that he may keep me. I bring my foul self to him, so that he may cleanse me; my dead self to him, so that he may quicken me; my naked self to him, so that he may clothe me; my good-for-nothing self to him so that he may be precious to me, and that I may be made precious in him. He is to be everything to me. It is not merely what I read about him that I am to believe, but I am to trust him. Now, beloved, let those of us who have believed in Jesus long ago exercise that faith afresh in this gracious loving way by now living by faith in the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us.

18. This faith, you perceive, is a faith in a clear and distinct fact: “the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” To go over the sacred ground again on which we trod just now, the apostle does not say, “I have faith in the Son of God, of whom I hope that he loved me.” He knows it, he is sure of it; and there is no comfort to come out of faith until it learns to speak without stammering, and to say of the Lord Jesus, “who loved me, and gave himself for me.” This either is a fact, or it is not; and if it is a fact, full of every consolation, why should I not know it? Ought you to give sleep to your eyes until you know that he loves you, and that you are his? This can be proved, as I have shown you already. He who believes in Jesus has the true sign of divine love. If you do trust him, trust him entirely and only, then he loved you, and gave himself for you; for you the manger at Bethlehem, for you the cross at Calvary, for you the empty sepulchre, for you his pleading before the eternal throne. He loved you, and gave himself for you, and it is for your faith to learn to speak this great truth plainly.

19. This faith was, next, an appropriating faith: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” No faith except a personal faith will save the soul; another man’s faith will not save me. I must have a Christ of my own. The love that Christ has for others is pleasant to reflect on; but it cannot give me peace. It must be love which he has for me if it is to save me: “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Someone says that such a desire as that is selfish. I answer that it is nonsense to talk like that. A wife is not thought to be selfish because she rejoices in her husband’s love. A child is not selfish because he is happy in his father’s love. How, dear friends, can I take any joy in the love of Christ for men in general, if I have no sense whatever of his love for me? Of what use could it be to me? In order that I may love my fellow men, I must first come to know that Christ loves me. How can I have a blessing in the saving of the souls of others if my own soul is not first saved? Let your religion begin at home; and when you make sure of its presence there, then you may sing, —

    Now will I tell to sinners round
    What a dear Saviour I have found.

20. It would be a poor occupation to go out and tell them of a dear Saviour that you had not found, to tell them of manna that you had never gathered, and of waters of which you had never drunk from. No, in order to be truly useful in the Lord’s service, you must first of all know in your own experience the truth of Paul’s words, “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Our text is the language of faith. Unbelief says, “Yes, Christ is very loving”; but if you have true faith, you will say, “He loved me.” Unbelief says, “I know that Christ loves his people, but I am afraid that he never would love me.” Such talk as this is doubting, and ruinous to the soul; but faith, as soon as it ever opens its mouth, begins to make a personal appropriation of the blessings of the grace of God. What do you do when you come to the communion table? Do you come there to see other people eat bread, and drink wine? No, but each of you eats in communion, and each of you drinks, and that is the very essence of communion. So must each of you take Christ to be yours personally, and say, “He loved me, and gave himself for me.” This is the faith which is mentioned by the apostle, an appropriating faith.

21. And as I read the text, it looks to me as if it was a faith full of astonishment. Though the apostle speaks of it as a matter of fact, yet he seems to be much astonished, as he says, “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” I am sure that, if the Lord will flash into your soul a sense of the love of Christ, it will ravish your heart, it will carry you away with astonishment. You will go home, and say to yourself, “The greatest wonder in the two worlds of heaven and earth is this, that he loved me, and gave himself for me,” and as a result you will be filled with holy joy and rejoicing. “He loved me, and gave himself for me,” will ring like marriage bells in your heart. Not all the harps of heaven can sound out sweeter music than this text when the Holy Spirit speaks it to our soul, “the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

22. III. I must not tarry longer on this sweet theme, but must finish with this point, THIS FAVOUR ENJOYED. There is a certain power that lies in this fact remembered, and that grows out of this faith confessed. Paul says that he lived by the faith of the Son of God who loved him, and gave himself for him.

23. Beloved friends, a sense of the love of Christ for you personally will affect your whole life. It will change it at first; but it will keep it changed for ever afterwards, and it will go on increasing in its power over you until, when you fully know it, every thought, and every word, and every action will seem to be set in the key of love: “who loved me, and gave himself for me.” That religion which does not affect the whole life is a dead and worthless religion; but this essence of our holy faith, “who loved me, and gave himself for me,” is divinely operative on the entire man. Alone, or with others in the family, or in the business, whatever his calling is, this will tincture it all with a heavenly sweetness, “who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

24. And this will be particularly seen in the assuaging of your griefs. Full of pain, you will say to yourself, “Yet he loved me. He has not sent this pain for nothing; he does not afflict willingly, for he loved me, and gave himself for me.” If you are very poor, you will say to yourself, “He gave the riches to the rich man, but Lazarus lay in his bosom. He loved me, and gave himself for me, and that is better than wealth.” And if ever you come to be despised for his sake, and men cast out your name as evil, you will say, “I do not mind it at all, I can even rejoice in it, for he loved me, and gave himself for me; and I may well give up myself, and my reputation, and everything else for him.” Sorrow ceases to be sorrow when once there is in the heart a sweet sense of the infinite love of Christ.

25. This thought will also help you in your labour. When you have something to do for Jesus that rather tries you, when you feel disappointed and baffled, and the devil tempts you to give it all up, and run away, you will say to yourself, “How can I? He loved me, and gave himself for me.” By Gethsemane and Calvary you will bind yourself to the sternest labour for his dear sake. Nothing is too hot or too heavy for a man whose heart is on fire with divine love. When the torrents of love sweep through the soul, then every obstacle is overcome. I can go as a missionary to the Congo, and joyfully die in that malarious climate, when I know that he loved me, and gave himself for me. I can try to preach in the streets of London, amid the jeers and the noise of the passers-by, when I know that he loved me, and gave himself for me. You will go cheerfully to the slums, you will visit the lodging-houses, you will teach the ignorant, you will look after the foul and the depraved, when you get this truth impressed on your heart, “He loved me, and gave himself for me.”

26. And, beloved friends, this will help you in prayer. When you are at the mercy seat, tremblingly asking for some great favour, tempted to fear that you will not receive it, your faith will become very strong when you hear the whisper, “who loved me, and gave himself for me.” He who did not spare himself, how shall he not give me all things? We ask with great confidence and assurance when we feel the force of this blessed truth.

27. Eventually we shall come to die. I am constantly reminded of this fact. During the last two or three weeks we have lost more friends than I remember being taken away in a similar period at almost any other time. We are getting old together, and so there are more dying than there used to be when the young people first joined the church. Well, I shall soon be going, and so will you; but we shall not dread the grave, for Jesus loved us, and gave himself for us. Will he not be with me even in my last moments? Certainly, he will. I shall not dread the terrors of the great judgment day, for “He loved me, and gave himself for me.” Who is he who condemns, now that Christ has died, and risen again, and sits at the right hand of God to plead for us? The terrors of the world to come, the quivering earth, the burning sky, the falling stars, — all these will cause no perturbation of mind when we are fully assured that he loved us, and gave himself for us.

28. Thinking of this sublime passage one seems to feel his wings growing; and is ready to take flight to the upper sky, for what even in heaven is there brighter or more blessed than this Jesus, “who loved me, and gave himself for me?” Is this not heaven’s own song, “To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood?”

29. Oh my dear hearers, I stand here, and try to talk to you in my feeble way about these great truths; but do you know them yourselves? If you do, you know more than Solomon ever knew. If you know this love of Christ, you know more than all the Greek philosophers put together. You need not be ashamed in any company; the knowledge of the love of Christ is the most excellent of all the sciences, there is nothing that can be compared with it. But if you do not know it, I pray my Lord, in his infinite mercy, to disturb and disquiet you, until you do know it. What right have you to rest without faith in Jesus? You have no safety; indeed, you have no hope. Without God, without Christ, you will die without forgiveness or hope of heaven. May God bring you to seek his face tonight, even before another sun has risen! Seek him. Seek him. Trust in the Saviour’s finished work, and I hope we shall yet see you again as you come forward and say, “Yes, he loved me, and gave himself for me, and here I am to confess it to the glory of his grace.” May God grant it, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 116” 116 @@ "(Song 2)"}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Work of Grace as a Whole — Grace Causing Love” 248}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Privileges, Unchanging Love — The Refiner Sitting By The Fire” 731}

{a} Since the sermon is shorter than usual, we insert the verses referred to by Mr. Spurgeon, from which the title of the discourse has been selected. The lines can be obtained from Messrs. Penman and Co., 33 Furnival Street, London, 6d. per dozen, or 3s. per 100, post free.

    “Who Loved Me.”
    (Ga 2:20)
    Three blessed sunbeams, gilding all I see.
    Three tender chords, each full of melody,
    Three healing leaves, balm for my agony.
    He lovèd me, — the Father’s only Son,
    He gave himself, — the precious, spotless One;
    He shed his blood, and thus the work was done.
    HE LOVED, not merely pitied. Here I rest:
    Sorrow may come, I to his heart am pressed.
    What should I fear while sheltered on his breast?
    Wonder of wonders! Jesus lovèd me!
    A wretch! lost, ruined, sunk in misery!
    He sought me, found me, raised me, set me free.
    My soul the order of the words approve,
    Christ first, me last: nothing between but love.
    Lord, keep me always down, — thyself above!
    Trusting to thee, — not struggling restlessly,
    So shall I daily gain the victory:
    “I,” — “yet not I, but Christ,” — WHO LOVÈD ME.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ga 2:16-3:29}

16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

This is the primary truth to be proclaimed by the Christian ministry. It is the foundation-stone of all gospel preaching; and yet, somehow or other, such is the hardness of the human heart, that it is the most difficult thing to induce our hearers to build on this foundation. Many of them are always trying to lean on their own works, and so struggling to get back under the old legal covenant, instead of rejoicing in the liberty of the covenant of grace. One objection to the doctrine of grace rather than the doctrine of law is this, that some think it will lead to sin. The apostle puts it like this: —

17. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are also to be found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

For the tendency of the gospel of grace is to stir up gratitude in those who receive it. If I am freely pardoned, then I must love him who has so generously forgiven me. Gratitude is the root of true virtue, and the mainspring of all holiness. If there are base-minded men who can suck poison out of this honeycomb, is Christ to be blamed for their evil-doing? God forbid! But if, on the other hand, you and I go back to trusting in works, then we are indeed guilty in the sight of God.

18. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

If I once said I would not trust in my good works, and now go back to trust in them, I have already, whatever may be my outward conduct, perpetrated a great sin.

19, 20. For I through the law am dead to the law, so that I might live for God I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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.

I do not know a better epitome of Christian experience than this. This is the daily walk of a true child of God, if he lives in any other way, then he does not live a Christian’s life at all. Christ living in us, ourselves living on Christ, and our union to Christ being visibly maintained by an act of simple faith in him, this is the true Christian’s life.

21. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

If a man can be saved by his own works, and willings, and doings, then Christ’s death was an unnecessary piece of torture; and, instead of being the most glorious display of divine love, it was a shameful waste, putting on Christ a terrible burden of suffering which was totally unnecessary.

1. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

These Galatians thought that they were very philosophical, and very intellectual; but the apostle says, “Oh foolish Galatians!” They thought that they had been led by reason, and guided by the learning of their teachers; but Paul calls it witchery: “Who has bewitched you?” he asks, as if anything which led a man to trust in his own works should be as much abhorred as the incantations of a witch, “Who has bewitched you?” It is a dangerous state, it is a devilish snare to be brought into; to be led to trust in moods, and feelings, and experiences, and doings, and prayings, or in anything else but Christ. It is a strange thing that those who have seen Christ should ever go back to these things. Lord, keep us every day, among our other sins, from our own self-righteous nature!

Now the apostle is going to reason with the Galatians against their self-righteousness.

2. This only would I learn from you, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

“You know that the Spirit of God is necessary for salvation. You have received that; did you get the Spirit through the works of the law, or by simply hearing the gospel, and believing it?” The answer comes at once; if we have received the Spirit, it was by the hearing of faith, and not by the works of the law.

3. Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?

Surely, the way in which the Christian life begins is the method in which it is to be sustained. “As you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord,” the apostle says in another place, “so walk in him.” If you have begun in the flesh, go on in the flesh, but if you really know that your beginning was in the Spirit, then do not go back to the flesh.

4. Have you suffered so many things in vain? if it is still in vain.

This is another pertinent question.

5. Therefore he who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

They had miraculous gifts among them as a church, and the apostle asks them whether these were works of the law, or whether they were not exercised as the result of faith. The answer is clear. It was the believing man who performed the miracle, not the self-righteous man.

Paul is now going to take the Galatians far back in Jewish history.

6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

He was not saved by his works, but by his faith. His faith was the means of the imputation to him of the righteousness of the Saviour who was yet to come.

7. Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

He was called the father of the faithful, therefore the faithful, those who believe as he did, and are full of his faith, are his children.

8-10. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all nations be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as rely on the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

Now, if everyone who has once violated God’s law is cursed for ever, how mad are those who hope to enter heaven by that very law which is the gate to shut them out! How dare they confide in what is their worst enemy, which is sworn to curse them, in time and in eternity?

11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, “The just shall live by faith.”

Scripture lays it down as a rule, that justified men live by faith; if this is the rule, then certainly they do not live by works.

12. And the law is not based on faith: but, “The man who does them shall live in them.”

So that the justified man is not justified by the law, but by faith. He stands before God, not in what he does, not even in what the Spirit enables him to do; his own prayers, and tears, and communings with Christ, his own labours, his earnest and indefatigable attempts to extend the kingdom of Christ, all count for nothing in the matter of his justification. He hangs them all on the cross of Christ, and relies only on the cross, looking in no manner whatever to anything which comes from himself.

13, 14. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”: that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

We were all under the curse of the law, but Christ voluntarily took our place, and was made a curse for us, so that the blessing might be ours.

15, 16. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no man annuls, or adds to it. Now the promises were made to Abraham and his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many; but as of one, “And to your seed,” which is Christ.

Notice how important a single letter of the Scriptures may be. If vital doctrine may depend on the use of a singular or plural noun, therefore let us jealously guard the smallest jot or tittle of the inspired Word of God.

17-19. And I say this, that the covenant, that was confirmed before by God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot annul, that it should make the promise of no effect. Or if the inheritance is by the law, it is no more by promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. What purpose then does the law serve?

Some might argue that, since the law cannot justify, it is useless, but, on the contrary, it serves a very definite purpose, as Paul goes on to show.

19-22. It was added because of transgressions until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, so that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Paul constantly comes back to this point, that salvation is all of grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

23-25. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Therefore the law was our school teacher to bring us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a school teacher.

The apostle is not speaking of a school teacher, as we understand that word; but of the slave or servant who took the boys to school, watched over them in school and out, and even used the rod if occasion demanded.

26. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

The fatherhood of God is common to all believers; but there is no universal fatherhood, as many teach it in these days.

27-29. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

May this be true of all of us, for Christ’s sake! Amen.

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 116 (Song 1)
1 I Love the Lord: he heard my cries,
   And pitied every groan:
   Long as I live, when troubles rise,
   I’ll hasten to his throne.
2 I love the Lord: be bow’d his ear,
   And chased by griefs away;
   Oh let my heart no more despair,
   While I have breath to pray!
3 My flesh declined, my spirits fell,
   And I drew near the dead;
   While inward pangs, and fears of hell,
   Perplex’d my wakeful head.
4 “My God,” I cried, “Thy servant save
   Thou ever good and just;
   Thy power can rescue from the grave,
   Thy power is all my trust.”
5 The Lord beheld me sore distress’d,
   He bid my pains remove:
   Return, my soul, to God thy rest,
   For thou hast known his love.
6 My God hath saved my soul from death,
   And dried my falling tears;
   Now to his praise I’ll spend my breath,
   And my remaining years.
                        Isaac Watts, 1719.

Psalm 116 (Song 2)
1 What shall I render to my God,
   For all his kindness shown?
   My feet shall visit thine abode,
   My songs address thy throne.
2 Among the saints that fill thine house,
   My offerings shall be paid:
   There shall my zeal perform the vows
   My soul in anguish made.
3 How much is mercy thy delight,
   Thou ever blessed God!
   How dear thy servants in thy sight!
   How precious is their blood!
4 How happy all thy servants are!
   How great thy grace to me!
   My life, which thou hast made thy care,
   Lord, I devote to thee.
5 Now I am thine, for ever thine,
   Nor shall my purpose move!
   Thy hand hath loosed my bands of pain,
   And bound me with thy love.
6 Here in thy courts I leave my vow,
   And thy rich grace record:
   Witness, ye saints, who hear me now,
   If I forsake the Lord.
                           Isaac Watts, 1719.

Psalm 116 (Song 3)
1 Redeem’d from guilt, redeem’d from fears,
   My soul enlarged, and dried my tears,
   What can I do, oh love divine,
   What, to repay such gifts as thine?
2 What can I do, so poor, so weak,
   But from thy hands new blessings seek?
   A heart to feel my mercies more,
   A soul to know thee and adore.
3 Oh! teach me at thy feet to fall,
   And yield thee up myself, my all;
   Before thy saints my debt to own,
   And live and die to thee alone!
4 Thy Spirit, Lord, at large impart!
   Expand, and raise, and fill my heart;
   So may I hope my life shall be
   Some faint return, oh Lord, to thee.
                  Henry Francis Lyte, 1834.

The Work of Grace as a Whole
248 — Grace Causing Love
1 We love thee, Lord, because when we
   Had err’d and gone astray,
   Thou didst recall our wandering souls
   Into the heavenward way.
2 When helpless, hopeless, we were lost
   In sin and sorrow’s night,
   Thou didst send forth a guiding ray
   Of thy benignant light.
3 Because when we forsook thy ways,
   Nor kept thy holy will,
   Thou wert not the avenging Judge,
   But gracious Father still:
4 Because we have forgot thee, Lord,
   But thou hast not forgot;
   Because we have forsaken thee,
   But thou forsakest not:
5 Because, oh Lord, thou lovedst us
   With everlasting love;
   Because thou send’st thy Son to die,
   That we might live above:
6 Because, when we were heirs of wrath,
   Thou gav’st us hope of heaven;
   We love because we much have sinn’d,
   And much have been forgiven.
                  Julia Anne Elliott, 1835.

The Christian, Privileges, Unchanging Love
731 — The Refiner Sitting By The Fire
1 God’s furnace doth in Zion stand;
      But Zion’s God sits by,
   As the refiner views his gold
      With an observant eye.
2 His thoughts are high, his love is wise,
      His wounds a cure intend;
   And though he does not always smile,
      He loves unto the end.
3 Thy love is constant to its line,
      Though clouds oft come between:
   Oh could my faith but pierce these clouds,
      It might be always seen.
4 But I am weak, and forced to cry,
      Take up my soul to thee:
   Then, as thou ever art the same,
      So shall I ever be.
5 Then shall I ever, ever sing,
      Whilst thou dost ever shine:
   I have thine own dear pledge for this;
      Lord, thou art ever mine.
                           John Mason, 1683.