2587. “Much More”

No. 2587-44:433. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, May 13, 1883, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, September 11, 1898.

Much more, having being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. {Ro 5:10}

1. The first great message of mercy for a sinner is put into four short words in the eighth verse of this chapter: “Christ died for us.” A preacher can never be wrong in lifting up Christ crucified; it is the glory of a congregation if it can be truly said, “Before your eyes Jesus Christ has been clearly portrayed, crucified among you.” Well did the apostle make this his boast: “We preach Christ crucified.” Still, we must always remember that there is a great deal about Christ besides his crucifixion; and however glorious his death may be, — and we are not disposed to rank it second to anything else, — yet there is another glory, another form of his excellency, which is seen, not in his death, but in his life. It is of this that the apostle speaks here: “Much more, having being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

2. Before we come to the consideration of that subject, dear friends, let us think of what the death of Christ has done for some of us. The former part of the verse from which our text is taken says, “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” What was that reconciliation? What did it consist of? We will not talk so much doctrinally, as practically, and from experience. We were once enemies to God, but we are not enemies to God any longer. God was once angry with us, but God is not angry with us any more. If we have believed in Jesus Christ, a complete reconciliation has been accomplished between the offended God and the offending sinner. In this reconciliation, I see, first, that God, who is always love, and has always loved his people, being just, was unable to deal with the guilty sinner except on the basis of justice, and justice demanded that the sinning soul should die; but Christ has come so that God, as the great moral Ruler, might be able, without violation of his holiness, to deal mercifully with sinful men. Let there be no mistake about the object and purpose of Christ’s sacrifice. John Kent’s hymn rightly says, —

    ’Twas not to make Jehovah’s love
       Towards the sinner flame,
    That Jesus from his throne above,
       A suffering man became.
    ’Twas not the death which he endured,
       Nor all the pangs he bore,
    That God’s eternal love procured,
       For God was love before.

He was always love towards his people; but, until Christ came to earth and died, the Just for the unjust, that love could not flow freely. There was a dam that blocked up the stream, there was a great rock in the channel, and the rivers of love could not flow; but by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, that impediment has been removed. God can now be “just, and the Justifier of him who believes in Jesus.” I have already said that, in his heart of hearts, there was always love towards his people; but as the Judge on the judgment seat, he could not display that love, he could only reveal his indignation against every soul of man who does evil.

3. Now, this most righteous wrath of God was removed by the death of Jesus Christ, and could not have been removed in any other way. The sword must find its victim, and Christ bared his breast to let infinite justice spend its full force on him. The debt had to be paid, and Jesus paid it to the last farthing with his own life which he poured out on the tree. The cup of wrath must be drained, there was no putting it aside; so Jesus took it, and after saying, “Oh my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, unless I drink it, your will be done,” he put it to his lips, and never took it away until he had drained it to its last drop. There was a necessity for Christ’s death, “it behoved Christ to suffer”; and by his suffering he appeased the wrath of the great Judge of all, so that he could justly look on guilty men with satisfaction. That wonderful change was accomplished by Christ’s death, and now the very justice of God demands our salvation. It is indeed marvellous that the righteousness of God, which was against us, should be made to be for us, and that the justice of God, which pronounced the sentence of death on us, should be so transformed that justice itself now decrees our eternal life. This is a wonderful part of the reconciliation.

4. But the apostle speaks of our having being reconciled, — our being reconciled. Well, that comes about in this way. We felt in our conscience that we had sinned against God; I am not speaking of all present here, but I am speaking of all those on whom the Spirit of God has brought to salvation; — our conscience felt a secret sting, as though a burning poison had entered into the veins of our spirit. I remember when the thought that I had offended God seemed to drink up my very life. Of course I did not love him, and I could not, for it is according to the nature of our sinful heart that, if we do anyone an injury, we are sure to hate him. We do not always hate the man who injures us, but if we injure him, our hatred is almost certain to follow. And inasmuch as we had broken all God’s laws, and did not wish to admit it, we hated the law itself, we kicked against it, and tried to persuade ourselves that it was the root of the offence, instead of our own wilful hearts being the source of the evil. We knew God to be holy, but we did not love holiness; in fact, having no holiness of our own, we could not endure even to hear or read about it. We set up a counterfeit righteousness of our own, and pretended that we were good, and all the while we were despising the true holiness and the perfect righteousness of God. But, beloved, when we saw Christ dying in our place, “the Just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God,” then conscience said, “God is satisfied, and so am I.” When we saw that God’s anger was removed because Christ had died, then our pettish, proud anger was removed, too, and we said, “Now we are reconciled to God by the death of his dear Son.” Oh, with what swift feet we fled to the mercy seat! With what confidence, though with a holy trembling, we pleaded the merits of the dear Redeemer, and what joy and peace filled our mind! Then, we no longer hated God, or hated holiness, or hated the law, but we submitted ourselves unconditionally. We said, “The law is holy, and God is gracious; blessed be his glorious name.” So, the death of Christ accomplished reconciliation, the anger of God was removed, and so was the trouble of our conscience. Then our hearts were won. Shall I speak for all God’s people here? I think I shall if I speak for myself, and say, —

    Law and terrors do but harden
       All the while they work alone;
    But a sense of blood-bought pardon
       Soon dissolves a heart of stone.

Oh, how our hearts were dissolved when we found that Christ loved us, and that he had given himself for us! When we saw God to be reconciled, how we longed for him! Our heart and our flesh cried out for God, for the living God, and we said, “When shall we come and appear before God?” And that longing is still in us; we delight in fellowship with him. We are longing to be like him, and we are expecting to be with him where he is; and this is all the heaven that we desire. Oh, blessed be God, it is a bleeding Christ who has reconciled us even on earth! It is a bleeding Christ who has put out the fires of enmity; it is a bleeding Christ who has slain for ever the warfare in our spirit against God. Now we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son.

5. Do not let me go a step further, dear friends, until you can all get as far as this. If there is any man here who is not reconciled to God, let him remember what a terrible state he is in. He is God’s enemy; how would any one of you like to have that title branded on your brow tonight, “God’s enemy”? Remember that you will never be reconciled to God except through the bleeding Saviour, and seek him now! Before even a word is said about the ever-living Christ, come and put your finger into the print of the nails of the dead Christ; come and wash in the fountain which he has filled from his own veins; come and accept the great atoning sacrifice just now. May God help you, by his Divine Spirit, to do so, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake!

6. This brings us to the special subject mentioned in our text: “Much more, having being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” The apostle Paul here tells us to remember that Christ is still alive, and that, although we are reconciled to God, we still need to be kept and preserved, or, as he calls it, “saved,” and he tells us that, since Christ’s death has been sufficient to reconcile us, we may be quite sure that his life will be more than sufficient to save us. Indeed, he says, “Much more”; if the death of Christ has reconciled us, “much more, having being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

7. I want you, dear friends, to do three things as you think of our text. First, consider what the life of Christ is to us; secondly, consider why the words “much more” may be applied to it; and, thirdly, consider how we can use this life.

8. I. First, then, briefly consider WHAT THE LIFE OF CHRIST IS TO US.

9. If a man were to show me a picture of Christ on the cross, I should say to him, “What is that?” If he were to answer, “A picture of my Lord,” I should reply, “It is not a picture of my Saviour as he now is. It may be a representation of him as he once was, but not as he is now, enthroned in glory.” If a person were to carry around in his pocket the picture of his mother taken after death, and were to take it out, and say, “That is my mother,” I should say, “I should prefer to remember her as she was at her best, not as she was in the agonies of death, or after death.” So, please do not look on any representation of Christ on the cross as the main representation of our Lord Jesus. He was dead for only a very little while, he was on the cross for only a few hours; but our Saviour lives, never more to die. The Christ of the Church of Rome, as I have often told you, is a dead Christ on the cross, or else a baby Christ in Mary’s arms; but the Christ of the Church of God is a living Christ. We say of the grave, as the angel said to the women, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.” We say of the cross, “He is not here; he has put an end to death in making an end of sin by his own death.” The main thought, concerning Christ, for those of us who really know him, should be that he is the living Christ.

    He lives, the great Redeemer lives,
    What joy the blest assurance gives!

10. What has Christ’s risen life to do with us? Well, first, Christ’s resurrection from the dead is for us who believe in him the pledge that he has saved us. When our Lord Jesus Christ died, he was, as it were, put in prison as a hostage for his people; and there he was kept until Divine Omniscience had searched his sacrifice and searched his obedience to see whether they were complete; and when it was certified that Christ had finished all the work which his Father had given him to do, then the sheriff’s officer of heaven, “the angel of the Lord,” was sent down to roll away the stone, and tell the captive to come out. And when Jesus Christ came out of the grave, all his people came out of prison with their great Representative. In his own release from the tomb there was a sign given to him from God that their sins were forgiven, and that his righteousness was accepted on their behalf. “He died for our sins,” says the apostle, but he also “rose again for our justification.” Therefore, do not wrap your hearts in the grave-clothes which he left behind, but clothe them in the golden apparel with which the rising Christ girded himself, for you are justified because he has risen.

11. Believing in the resurrection of Christ, we view him as living and continuing to live: “Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over him.” What has that to do with us? Why, just what our Lord said to his disciples: “Because I live, you shall also live.” Beloved, because Christ has risen from the dead, so all his people shall rise; and because, having once risen, Christ dies no more, so his rising saints shall be perfectly safe through all the future; they shall live for ever because they are partakers of his eternal life. Is that not a subject for great rejoicing? I live because he died, for that death redeemed me from death; but even more, I live because he lives. “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then you shall also appear with him in glory.”

12. Now follow with me this living Christ; we have seen that he is risen and living, what comes next? A few days after this living Christ rose from the grave, a little throng gathered around him on “the mount called Olivet,” and, to their surprise, he began to ascend. Scattering blessings with both his hands, he continued to ascend until, at last, “a cloud received him out of their sight.” What has that ascension to do with us? Why, just this. He said to his disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you.” He has gone up into glory, as our Representative, to take possession of eternal joy for us. He has gone within the veil, that he may represent us before his Father’s face, that, eventually, we may join him, and be with him where he is, to go out no more for ever. Therefore, beloved, let us rejoice. Just as the Lord our Saviour has ascended into heaven, so shall we, in his own good time. I always admire that line of Dr. Watts, where he says that our Lord, in his ascension to heaven, has “taught our feet the way.”

    Up to our God our feet shall fly,
       On the great rising day.

Earth cannot permanently hold us down now that Christ has gone up into his glory; the living Christ is a greater attraction than any other force. We who believe are one with him, and, since he has ascended, we also shall rise to him, and be for ever with him.

13. After he had ascended, he took his seat at the right hand of God, even the Father, clothed with honour, and majesty, and power, and dominion, and might. Listen, brothers and sisters. What has this fact to do with us? Why, just this; you who believe cannot perish, for Christ lives; you must conquer, for Jesus reigns. All power is given to him in heaven and on earth, and “he is able also to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him, since he lives for ever to make intercession for them.” A reigning Christ, an enthroned Christ, — this is the Christ to depend on. I can risk my whole soul on his blood, and know that there is no risk in the matter; but I feel a deep and growing confidence in the life that he now lives on the throne.

14. But what else? Well, our glorified Redeemer spends much of his time in intercession; up there at the right hand of God, he continues to plead for his people. He can truly say in the fullest meaning of the words, “For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until its righteousness goes out like brightness, and its salvation like a lamp that burns.” He continually presents the rich incense of his merit before the eternal throne; and here is something more for us, for if Jesus pleads for us, we are safe for ever. If he is pleading before the throne, we may come to it with holy confidence. If Christ is there, the way is clear for you and for me to approach. We only have to get behind him, and to look through his wounds at God, as God will look through the wounds of Christ at us, and all must be well. Oh, what do we not owe to the living Christ! My theme expands as I try to handle it; how my heart rejoices in it! Do you not know, beloved, how every part of that risen life of Jesus — his second coming, his final conquest of Satan and of the world, his eternal glory, — all has to do with us, for we are sharers in all that Christ has; we are joint-heirs with him of all his glories and his triumphs?

15. This, then, is just a brief summary of what the life of Christ has to do with us.

16. II. Now, secondly, WHY DOES THE APOSTLE PUT A “MUCH MORE” IN HERE? “Much more, having being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

17. I think it is because we are so apt to put a “much less” to it. It is not often that we preach and talk as we ought about this living Saviour of ours. Brethren, the great Testator is dead; that makes his last will and testament valid. Listen once more: he who made the will is alive again, so he is his own Executor to carry out his own will. Is that not a blessing for you and for me? He made the will valid by his death; but, by rising again, he has come to see that every jot and tittle of it shall be carried out. We do not have to depend on someone else executing our dying Saviour’s will. He has risen from the dead, clothed with all power and might, to accomplish what he has set his heart on.

18. Paul says, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, having being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” How can it be much more? I answer, first, because, when our Saviour reconciled us by his death, it was the time of his weakness. See, he is nailed to the cross, the fever burns him up, he cries, “I thirst”; he says, “I am a worm, and no man”; weakness has come over him to the uttermost; he closes his eyes in the last dread sleep of death. They take down his poor body, and wrap it in white linen, with sweet spices, and put it away in Joseph’s tomb. There could not be greater weakness, could there, than in the crucified Christ? Yet, even then, he reconciled us; but now, he is clothed with power, Head over all things, Lord of angels, King of kings; all heaven resounds with his praises. Do you not see the drift of my argument? If, when he was in his uttermost weakness, he redeemed us by his death, “much more,” now that he is in all his power and glory, he must be able to save his people by his life.

19. Look at this expression again. When our Lord died, he was in the servant’s place. He had, for our sake, laid aside his glory; “he made himself of no reputation.” He emptied himself. He had become like ourselves, feeble and weak; but, besides that, he was bound to do the Father’s will, and to suffer it even to the last extremity. As the Mediator between God and man, he had made himself inferior to God; he had taken a subordinate place, so that he could truly say, “My Father is greater than I.” But remember, brethren, —

    The head that once was crown’d with thorns,
       Is crown’d with glory now;
    A royal diadem adorns
       The mighty Victor’s brow.
    The highest place that heaven affords
       Is his, is his by right,
    The King of kings, and Lord of lords,
       And heaven’s eternal light.

Now he wears the glory again which he had with his Father even before the earth was. Do you not see, then, that it is “much more” that he can do for his people under such circumstances? If, when he took an inferior place, and condescended for our sake to be a servant, so that —

    With cries and tears he offered up
       His humble suit below; —

if then he reconciled us, “much more” can he now save us when he has taken to himself his great power, and with authority pleads before his Father’s face: “I will that they also, whom you have given to me, be with me where I am; so that they may behold my glory, which you have given to me: for you loved me before the foundation of the world.” If I can trust a dying Saviour with my soul, and feel perfectly safe in doing so, how easy it is to trust a living Saviour, and to roll myself on his almighty love, and feel eternally secure!

20. Furthermore, dear brethren, when our Lord took on himself the work of saving us, he, in a certain sense, came under the displeasure of God. Not that he ever could be really displeasing to God, for in him was no sin, and the Father never had a greater delight in Christ than when he hid his face from him; yet still, according to the Word of God, Jehovah bruised him, Jehovah hid his face from him until Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He came under the curse, for “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” For your sakes and mine, he bore the scourgings of infinite justice, and the frown of the offended majesty of heaven. This was diving very low; and if, even then, he was able to reconcile us to God, how “much more” must he be able to save us now that the Father’s well-beloved Son has come home again, and lives in the eternal sunlight of his dear Father’s smile, — now that God delights in him, and all heaven is lit up with the gleaming of the Father’s joy, and every angel bows before him, and, night and day, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” rises in perpetual waves of praise up to the throne of glory where he is adored and worshipped!

21. Yet once again, when the Saviour died, there was a certain aspect of defeat about his death. He stood alone, that dreadful day, in deadly conflict with the powers of darkness. All the battalions of hell were mustered, and they made one tremendous attack on the Prince of life and glory. Single-handed, he fought them all, and his own right hand and his holy arm gained him the victory. But, for a while, it looked like defeat. He closed his eyes in death, saying, “It is finished,” and he gave up the ghost. Those nail-prints, and that gory side, and that pallid countenance, looked as if death had won the victory, though it was not really so. Yet, beloved, he reconciled us even then! Oh, could we see him now! I suppose we could not; our eyes are not yet formed for that beautiful vision. But what a sight it would be if we could see him with his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like fine bronze, as if they burned in a furnace! One said, “You cannot see Christ’s face, and live”; and another answered, “Well, so be it; then let me see his face and die.” And I have often felt that I could say the same, and I have sung, with good Dr. Watts, —

    Oh, for a sight, a pleasing sight,
    Of our Almighty Father’s throne!
    There sits our Saviour crown’d with light,
    Clothed in a body like our own.
    Adoring saints around him stand,
    And thrones and powers before him fall;
    The God shines gracious through the Man,
    And sheds sweet glories on them all.
    Oh, what amazing joys they feel
    While to their golden harps they sing,
    And sit on every heavenly hill,
    And spread the triumphs of their King!
    When shall the day, dear Lord, appear,
    That I shall mount to dwell above,
    And stand and bow amongst them there,
    And view thy face, and sing, and love?

22. Well now, if, when he lay there, all blood-spattered and dead, defeated as it seemed, he reconciled us to God, my brothers, what can he not do now that he is in all the splendour of his majesty, the delight of heaven and of all holy beings? He must be able to save us. Well may we entrust our souls to him, and say, with the apostle, “I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him against that day.”

23. III. So now I close by asking you to CONSIDER HOW WE CAN USE THIS LIFE OF CHRIST.

24. If Christ is still alive, and if there is, in a certain sense, “much more” power to save in his life than there was of power to reconcile in his death, then, first, all fear of our being overcome ought in vanish. He is victorious; therefore we shall be victorious. Christ was assaulted by all the powers of death and hell, and yet he conquered, and he lives. We, too, shall conquer, for he is in us, he is with us, he is over us; and we shall live though we die, and we shall win though we are apparently overcome.

25. How shall we use this life of Christ? Why, next, let us use it in prayer. When you feel that you cannot pray, — and there are such times with all of us, — then say, “He can pray, he lives for ever to make intercession for us.”

    Give him, my soul, thy cause to plead,
       Nor doubt the Father’s grace.

When it goes hard with you on your knees, and you seem as if you could not prevail, then remember that Jesus is pleading, and he must prevail. Put your case into his hands, and he will present his mighty pleas on your behalf, and then you cannot be baffled. Is that not a sweet thought?

26. Another use to make of Christ’s life is this. Are you very solitary? In this modern Babylon of London, there are many people who are quite alone; and there is no solitude so terrible as what can be found in a great city. Perhaps you live on a street where there are hundreds of Christians, but you do not know one of them. I will tell you what to do; Jesus lives, go away to him, for there is no company like his. If he comes into that little room of yours, it will be like a temple. Solomon’s temple, in all its glory, was never so bright as that upper room of yours will be when Christ comes there. I know how you have to stitch away all day long to earn a scanty living. I know, too, how sometimes you cannot sleep at night because of the severe pain you have to suffer; but if your Lord is there, it shall be sweet work, and sweet suffering, too, with that best of workers and sufferers to sit at your side. Jesus lives! Jesus lives! You do not have to go to Calvary to think about his cross; you do not have to go to the tomb, and weep there because he is dead. He lives, and he is always with his people, even to the end of the age. Therefore, in your prayers, and in your solitude, comfort yourselves.

27. I suppose, too, that many of you are severely tempted. Is there a Christian man or woman among us who is not tempted by the devil? Well, Jesus lives, and he was tempted in all points like we are, though without sin. He is able to sympathize with you, for he himself was encompassed with infirmity. Go to your living High Priest; tell him what the devil is trying to do to you. It is a good thing never to argue with the devil. I have heard that, if a man brings a lawsuit against you, you had better not say anything to him, but transfer the whole affair to your lawyer, and when the man writes to you, say, “I have nothing to do with the matter; you must apply to my legal adviser, he will attend to it for me.” “He who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client,” says one of our proverbs; so, whenever the devil comes to you, remember that he knows a great deal more than you do, and if you try to answer him, he will soon trip you up. You had better say to him, “I will have nothing to do with you, Satan. I refer you to my Solicitor, my Advocate.” Then the devil will ask his name, and when you give him the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he will drop that suit, for he has suffered severe defeats many a time from that same Jesus Christ, ages and ages ago. He remembers the wilderness, and how the Master there soon sent him on his way; so, refer him to Christ. Do not be your own champion; let Christ be Champion for you, and all will be well.

28. In conclusion, dear brothers and sisters, since Christ lives, let us live with him, let us make the Lord Jesus Christ our daily Companion. I know that there are some Christians who cannot understand this advice, or cannot believe that they may put it into practice. But you will never know the very juice and marrow of the gospel until you do understand it, and get to feel that Christ is not a mere historical Personage who was on the earth hundreds of years ago, but a living, personal Christ who is even now accessible, who can be spoken to, and who can speak to us in reply, and with whom we may live even now. Oh, if you can get into personal contact with Jesus Christ, then you have learned how to live! Then the dying Saviour is inexpressibly dear to you, but then also the living Christ is, if possible, even more dear, and you live through him, — with him, — for him, — and he lives in you. So may God make it to be, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ro 5}

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

Let us not simply read these words, but let each one of us say in our hearts, “That is true; I have believed in Christ, therefore I am justified in the sight of God, and therefore I have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” There is nothing in the world that is half as valuable as the two precious gems in this verse, — justification and the peace which follows it.

2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

See what we owe to Christ, — not only justification and peace, but we have access into the grace in which we stand; for, when a man is at peace with God, then he longs to get to God, and to speak with God. Christ is the door, and Christ is the way; we come to God by Jesus Christ. This is a great privilege. Oh, you who have ever felt what it is to be shut out from God, let your heart sing since you know that you now have access by faith into this grace in which you stand!

Well may the apostle add, “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God”; for, if there is any man who may and must rejoice, it is the man who has peace with God, and expects to dwell with God for ever, having access to God by Jesus Christ.

3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:

Paul is going upstairs, as it were, — rising from one platform to another. There is enough of glory in Christ to wrap up all our troubles in; it makes the black white, and the dark bright.

3. Knowing that tribulation works patience;

A man who never suffers does not know what patience means; but trial works patience, yet not by itself. Trials work peevishness and murmuring and discontentment; but grace brings sweet out of bitter, and — “tribulation works patience”; —

4, 5. And patience, character; and character, hope: and hope does not disappoint; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.

Do you know what this means, dear friend, or is it all Greek to you? May the Lord make it indeed plain every-day English to you! May you understand it, feel it, know it, prove it, taste it, enjoy it! If you do so, you are happy indeed.

6. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Not, “Christ died for saints, because the saints were such gracious people.” No, no; but, “when we were still without strength,” — when we could lift neither hand nor foot to help ourselves, — “in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die:

For a man who is perfectly just, — there are few who would be willing to die for him.

7. Yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die.

For a generous, noble-hearted man, some might be willing to die; yet there is a perhaps even about that.

8. But God commends his love towards us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

When we were not righteous, when we certainly were not good, when the whole description of our character could be summed up in that one word “sinners” — rebels offending against God: “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

9. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

He died for us when we were unrighteous; so, now that he has made us righteous in his own righteousness, he will never cast us away. That doctrine of believers falling from grace, and perishing, is completely contrary to Scripture: “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

10, 11. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, having being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also rejoice in God —

See, the apostle has gone up to another platform. The gospel is a story that we may be always telling, but it can never be fully told. It is a light that keeps on breaking in on us more and more; and even when we have come to what we suppose is the full noontide of it, there is still seven times as much glory yet to be revealed. Yes; we go “from strength to strength”: “and not only so, but we also rejoice in God” —

11-21. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation. Therefore, just as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed on all men, for that all have sinned: (for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is the type of him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offence. For if through the offence of one many are dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded to many. And the gift is not like what came through the one who sinned: for the judgment which came from one offence resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offences resulted in justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; how much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore just as through the offence of one, judgment came on all men to condemnation; even so through the righteousness of one, the free gift came to all men to justification of life. For just as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, so that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded grace did much more abound: that just as sin has reigned to death, even so might grace reign through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Resurrection and Ascension — Sing, Oh Heavens” 317}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, In Heaven — The Glory Of Christ In Heaven” 337}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, In Heaven — Faith Triumphant In Her Living Lord” 329}

Just published. 384 pages Demy 4to. 59 illustrations. Price 10s. 6d. Also issued in monthly shilling parts.

C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Compiled from His Diary, Letters, and Records, By his Wife and his Private Secretary. Vol. II., 1854 — 1860.

Press Notices: —

“This period with which the second volume of Mr. Spurgeon’s ‘Life’ deals is comparatively brief, but it was one of great happenings in his career. …… Naturally, the most interesting part of this volume is the three chapters in which ‘Love, Courtship, and Marriage,’ are related by Mrs. Spurgeon. The story is told with much literary grace and fine feeling. …… The volume is one of great interest for the many thousands who are capable of being interested in the career of the remarkable preacher.” — The Daily Chronicle.

“Mrs. Spurgeon proves herself to be a most graceful and eloquent wielder of the biographical pen. The task must have been a painful one for her, but she has not hesitated to reveal the inner everyday life of her famous husband. The most beautiful feature of the book is the domestic interior to which Mrs. Spurgeon introduces us. It is good to know that the man whose eloquence moved thousands to tears and enthusiasm, and who thundered out, in that marvellous voice of his, fiery denunciations of unrepentant sinners, was in his own home all that was humble, gentle, and tender.” — The Evening News.

“The most attractive part of the book is the very simple, winning, and tender account of Mr. Spurgeon’s love, courtship, and marriage, which has been written by his widow. Every generous heart will read these chapters with much sympathy, and it is impossible to imagine how they could have been done better. With great frankness Mrs. Spurgeon has mixed a due measure of reserve, and her story will be read everywhere with respectful interest. …… The volume as a whole is one of great value and interest. What is most striking in it is the evidence it gives to Mr. Spurgeon’s early development, and the slowness of many to recognise it. The estimates — even those written by friends — are curiously patronizing. Few seem to have known that an orator of the first force, a Doctor of the Church, and a supreme master of the English tongue, had appeared in the young minister of New Park Street Chapel.” — The British Weekly.

London: Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings; and from all Booksellers.

Jesus Christ, Resurrection and Ascension
317 — Sing, Oh Heavens <7s.>
1 Sing, Oh heavens! Oh earth, rejoice!
   Angel harp, and human voice,
   Round him, as he rises, raise
   Your ascending Saviour’s praise.
                           Alleluia!
2 Bruised is the serpent’s head,
   Hell is vanquish’d, death is dead
   And to Christ gone up on high,
   Captive is captivity.
                           Alleluia!
3 All his work and warfare done
   He into his heaven is gone,
   And beside his Father’s throne,
   Now is pleading for his own:
                           Alleluia!
4 Asking gifts for sinful men,
   That he may come down again,
   And, the fallen to restore,
   In them dwell for evermore.
                           Alleluia!
5 Sing, Oh heavens! Oh earth, rejoice!
   Angel harp, and human voice,
   Round him, in his glory, raise
   Your ascended Saviour’s praise.
                           Alleluia!
                  John S. B. Monsell, 1863.

Jesus Christ, In Heaven
337 — The Glory Of Christ In Heaven
1 Oh the delights, the heavenly joys,
   The glories of the place
   Where Jesus sheds the brightest beams
   Of his o’erflowing grace!
2 Sweet majesty and awful love
   Sit smiling on his brow,
   And all the glorious ranks above
   At humble distance bow.
3 Those soft, those blessed feet of his,
   That once rude iron tore,
   High on a throne of light they stand,
   And all the saints adore.
4 His head, the dear majestic head
   That cruel thorns did wound,
   See what immortal glories shine,
   And circle it around!
5 This is the Man, th’ exulted Man,
   Whom we unseen adore;
   But when our eyes behold his face,
   Our hearts shall love him more.
                        Isaac Watts, 1709.

Jesus Christ, In Heaven
329 — Faith Triumphant In Her Living Lord
1 Who shall the Lord’s elect condemn?
   ‘Tis God that justifies their souls;
   And mercy like a mighty stream,
   O’re all their sins divinely rolls.
2 Who shall adjudge the saints to hell?
   ‘Tis Christ that suffer’d in their stead;
   And, their salvation to fulfil,
   Behold him rising from the dead.
3 He lives, he lives, and sits above,
   For ever interceding there;
   Who shall divide us from his love?
   Or what should tempt us to despair?
4 Shall persecution, or distress,
   Famine, or sword, or nakedness?
   He that hath loved us bears us through,
   And makes us more than conquerors too.
5 Faith hath an overcoming power,
   It triumphs in the dying hour:
   Christ is our live, our joy, our hope,
   Nor can we sink with such a prop.
6 Not all that men on earth can do,
   Nor powers on high, nor powers below,
   Shall cause his mercy to remove,
   Or wean our hearts from Christ our love.
                        Isaac Watts, 1709.