3204. The Saints’ Riches

A Sermon Published On Thursday, June 30, 1910.

He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? {Ro 8:32}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 869, “Gospel of Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac, The” 860}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3204, “Saints Riches, The” 3205}

   Exposition on Ps 138 Isa 55:1-11 Ro 8:28-39 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3422, “Call to the Depressed, A” 3424 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 3:9-27 5:6-11 8:1-32 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2974, “Wafer of Honey, A” 2975 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 7:22-8:34 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3486, “God’s Desire for Us, and His Work in Us” 3488 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 8:1-17,28-39 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3502, “Powerful Persuasives” 3504 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 8:14-39 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2626, “Peace in Believing” 2627 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 8:18-39 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2872, “Lord’s Supper, The” 2873 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 8:19-39 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2550, “Joy in God” 2551 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 8:26-39 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3204, “Saints Riches, The” 3205 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 8:26-39 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3398, “Love’s Great Reason” 3400 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 8 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3255, “Pearl of Patience, The” 3257 @@ "Exposition"}

1. Many of you, dear friends, are coming to the Lord’s table at the close of this service. Our blessed Redeemer instituted that simple but sublime ordinance so that we might constantly remember him. The bread is nothing but bread, yet it is the very suggestive emblem of Christ’s flesh; and it shall be well with you if, in a spiritual way, you shall eat the flesh of Christ. The wine is nothing but wine, yet it is the emblem of Christ’s blood; and they are thrice blessed who from experience understand the meaning of Christ’s words, “Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life.” Christ is yours, believer; you know that he is more yours than even your own life, for you may lose that; when God gave you your existence, he gave it to you without any covenant concerning its duration, but he has given Christ to you by an everlasting covenant, to be yours for ever and ever. Christ is yours, beloved; oh, that you knew how to make the best use of this blessed property! Christ is yours to live on and to spend, yours to have and to hold, to keep and to enjoy, yours not only to look at that you may be saved, and to wear that you may be justified, but yours, to eat that you may be refreshed by him, and live on him. Christ is yours to the fullest extent possible; there is no reservation, he is your absolute, indefeasible, {what cannot be forfeited} and inalienable property; yours today as perfectly as he will be when you are in heaven, yours as certainly as you are his. Oh, that you may now, knowing that Christ is your property, live on him, and rejoice in him, and feel that you are indeed immeasurably rich!

2. When we come to this communion table to partake of these emblems of Christ’s death, it will be a very happy thing for us if we remember that, possessing Christ, we have everything. There is no need that you have which will not be supplied if you really know that Christ is yours; there is no necessity, however great, which may press on you which shall not be instantaneously supplied if Christ is truly yours. You come to Christ’s table to meet Christ, and you know that, when you have him, you have everything, so you do well to sing,—

   “Thou, oh Christ, art all I want,”—

for in him you have all that you can possibly need. And, moreover, the gift of Christ is God’s solemn pledge that he will keep nothing back from you that you really need. “No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” “Whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Having given you Christ, he must, he will, with him, freely give you all things.

   How vast the treasure we possess!

   How rich thy bounty, King of grace!

   This world is ours, and worlds to come:

   Earth is our lodge, and heaven our home.

   All things are ours; the gift of God,

   The purchase of a Saviour’s blood;

   While the good Spirit shows us how

   To use and to improve them too.

I am going to make it my business, in a very simple but earnest manner, to try and exhort the children of God to cast aside all thoughts of their being poor, and to rejoice now in their boundless riches in Christ Jesus.

3. I. First, let me remind you, believer, that, whatever you may really require, God will not deny it to you, for he has already given you Christ. THINK WHAT THIS GIFT WAS TO THE FATHER; it was his only-begotten and well-beloved Son.

4. Perhaps you have a wilful, wayward boy, one who costs you much, but brings you little comfort; yet, would you like to lose him? If you saw him in his coffin tomorrow, would you not cry over him as David cried over his son, “Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Oh that I had died for you, oh Absalom, my son, my son?” Vile he may be, and a disgrace to your name, yet he is still your child, and you could not bear to give him up. But what shall I say of the child who, from his youth up, has been obedient to you; who, having grown up to manhood, has become your friend as well as your offspring, who has been with you in every holy enterprise, and has proved himself to be worthy of his father’s love and esteem? Could you give him up? Mother, you know how dear your firstborn son is to you. Of all griefs that rend a mother’s heart, perhaps the greatest is to lose her firstborn. Even if he is only in his infancy, it is a wound from which the mother’s tender heart does not soon recover; but to lose that son in manhood, to see the hale strong man suddenly cut down, this is a great sorrow; and many, under such trying circumstances, have found it no easy task to say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

5. To lose one’s child even for some object which is nearest and dearest to our heart, is pain and grief indeed; then what must it have cost God to give up his Son to die for his people? What must God’s love for his only-begotten Son be? We can only speak of God according to the manner of men, for we know of no other way to speak of him; and inasmuch as God is infinitely greater than we are, his love is infinitely greater than ours. We can only love to the finite degree of which humanity is capable; but God loves beyond all degree. The heart of God is filled with fathomless oceans of eternal affection, and this affection has always been fixed on his Son. Christ is infinitely more dear to God than your son can ever be to you, because of the greatness of the heart of the Father who loves his Son who has always been with him, and always his delight, who has never offended him, who takes his share in all the Father’s plans, and who said of old, and always says, “I delight to do your will, oh my God.”

6. Besides, Christ is one with his Father in essence. What that mysterious unity is, we cannot tell; and how Christ is the Son of God, we do not know. We know that his sonship does not imply any inferiority in the Son, nor that the Father existed before the Son. He was not the Father until the Son was his Son; and the names “Father” and “Son” are not to be understood as they are used among us, although the marvellous, indescribable relationship which we cannot fully understand cannot be better expressed than by the terms used, “the Father” and “the Son.” Again I ask,—what must it have cost such a Father’s heart to give up such a Son,—a Son so near and so dear to him? Yet the Father gave up his Son to die for you and for me, beloved. Theologians lay it down as an axiom that God cannot suffer, but I am not sure that they are right. I cannot understand God’s love for me, I cannot rejoice as I should in his goodness to me unless I believe that the gift of his Son cost his heart divine and awful pangs. I know that I am treading on delicate ground, and that I am standing where thick darkness gathers; but I am not certain that what theologians take for granted is necessarily true. That God can do everything, I do believe; and that, if he wills to suffer he can do so, I also believe. I cannot think of God as an insensitive being when he gave his Son to die for sinners; I cannot imagine him giving his only-begotten Son, and feeling no more than a heathen idol of stone could have done. I do think that the Father, in giving up that Son who had always given him such intense joy, must have suffered in his Son’s death.

7. Well then, since God has given up his only-begotten and well-beloved Son, how can he deny anything to you who believe in him? Do you feel anxious about the bread that perishes? Is that worthy to be compared with God’s only-begotten Son? Are you concerned about how you are to get food and clothing? How can God deny you such trifles as these when he has given you his Son? Perseverance in grace,—is that what you ask for? Even that is only a crumb under the Master’s table compared with his Son. You need certain virtues, you need help in trouble, you need sustenance under stern difficulties;—I do not know what you need, but this I know, all the needs of all of us put together could only make one little drop in comparison with the tremendous ocean of benevolence which flowed out of God’s heart when he did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all. As we look at Christ, whom God has given to us, we must believe that, with him, he will give us whatever we need.

8. II. I shall try to knock a second time at the door of your hearts to comfort you by reminding you HOW PRECIOUS CHRIST WAS INTRINSICALLY IN HIMSELF.

9. The wonder is, not only that God gave his Son, but that his Son was what he was. Paul says he is “over all, God blessed for ever.” Jesus himself said, “Before Abraham was, I am,”—claiming the very name of the eternal Jehovah. In due time, Christ became man; and, as man, he was very dear to his Father; even his earthly mother could not look at her Child with half the affection that his Father had for him. He was a perfect man, and therefore lovely in his Father’s sight; he was, indeed, himself God, and therefore one with the Father even while he was man. The loftiest angel could not adequately preach to you on this point; to what, then, shall I compare the preciousness of this gift? Similes fail me, metaphors I have none; “no mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for the price of Jesus is more than, rubies”; he shall not be given for gold, no, not for much fine gold; as for topaz, and onyx, and sapphire, and all other precious stones, these must not be mentioned in comparison with him. Paul’s expression is the only appropriate one, “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.” Only eternity can reveal the value of Christ. By the miseries of the hell from which he saves us, let us measure him; by the bliss of the heaven to which he lifts us, let us estimate his worth; by the depths of ignominy and shame into which he dived, let us conceive of him; by the glories he relinquished, and by the agonies he bore, let us attempt to form some faint idea of his value. But this pearl of great price is so precious that I am bold to say that, if heaven, and earth, and all the starry orbs could be sold, their united price could not buy another such pearl as this one which God has given to us in Christ Jesus.

10. So, beloved, since God has already given you this priceless pearl, will he not also give you everything else that you need? If a man gave you ten thousand pounds, would you doubt his willingness to give you a farthing? If he should give you a splendid income, to last throughout all your life, would you doubt his willingness to give you a penny if you were ever in need of one? I think I need not attempt to draw the inference, you can draw it for yourselves. See, then, the amazing treasure you possess if you are a believer in Jesus; God is yours, the perfect man is yours, Christ’s life, his death, his blood, his righteousness, his intercession, his incarnation, his second advent are all yours; and everything else that you need. Only ask boldly, receive gratefully, wait patiently, hope trustfully, and walk rejoicingly; for, since God has given you his Son, shall he not with him also freely give you all things? Sing, with good old John Ryland,—

   He that has made my heaven secure,

      Will here all good provide;

   While Christ is rich, can I be poor?

      What can I want beside?

11. III. But now, as a third blow at your unbelief, I want you to remember, beloved, THE WAY IN WHICH THIS GIFT WAS GIVEN.

12. The text says, “He who did not spare his own Son.” A mother may give up her tall strong son to fight in the army of her country, and he may perish by an enemy’s hand; but I cannot conceive of a mother slaughtering her own son for her country’s good. We have wondered as we have read of Brutus, {a} who, when his sons had entered into a conspiracy against the Republic, could say, “Lictors, do your duty.” The father saw the corpses of his sons with the pangs of a father, but with the stern serenity of a judge; they had offended, so they must die. Strong must be a man’s sense of justice to be able to overcome his love so as to give up his own son to die; but our gracious God not only gave up his Son to die for us, but he was himself (if I may use such an expression,) the executioner of Christ. Isaiah tells us, in his wonderful, fifty-third chapter, that “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.…It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief:…you shall make his soul an offering for sin.…We did esteem him struck, struck by God, and afflicted.” This indeed was the very sting of Christ’s death, for he cried out in his worst agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Oh, what love God must have had for you and me, for it overcame his love for his only-begotten Son! So we read in Zechariah, “‘Awake, oh sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow,’ says the Lord of hosts: ‘strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’” {Zec 13:7} My tongue cannot tell the story of this marvellous grace of God bestowed on you and me; but I again remind you that, although God knew that his plan of salvation involved his striking his own Son, and deserting him in his hour of deepest need, yet, so that you and I should not perish, the Father strikes, and wounds, and kills his own Son; and there on the accursed tree, in pangs intense, unutterable, unknown, the Son of God dies, “the Just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God.”

13. Well, then, beloved, since God has given you his Son, will he not also give you everything else that you need? You are about to ask for fellowship with Christ, but that will not cost the Father the striking of his Son again, so he will surely give it to you. You are going to ask God for holiness, but it will give him pleasure, and nothing but pleasure, to make you holy; it will certainly not involve his lifting up his hand against his only-begotten Son any more, so it shall be God’s delight to give you your heart’s desire. Having given you his Son, will he not, with him, give you whatever you believingly ask of him? He still says, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Tell him what your present need is, and you shall have all that you need. Cast all your care on him, for he cares for you, and he will take all your care away. Shame on you, Christian, if you shall give way to sadness now; surely you will not let unbelief vex you now. You know that God has given Christ for you, then can you fear that he will deny you anything, or leave you at last in trouble to sink? That is impossible; God forbid that you should slander him by thinking that he can act like that! What were you saying, poor aged Christian? “I shall need bread.” How can it be? How can it be? The God who out of his amazing love for you, has struck his only-begotten Son, will certainly give to you whatever your soul or body may need.

   Seek first his kingdom’s grace to share,

      Its righteousness pursue;

   And all that needs your earthly care

      Will be bestow’d on you.

   Why then despond in life’s dark vale?

      Why sink to fears a prey?

   Th’ almighty power can never fail,

      His love can ne’er decay.

14. IV. Now, as a fourth stroke of the axe at the root of unbelief, let me remind you of THE SPIRIT IN WHICH CHRIST WAS GIVEN.

15. The Father gave his Son, but who asked him to do so? Not you, certainly; for, even after the Father had given Christ, you despised the wonderful gift. Who asked him? Not one of the whole human race. The thought never crossed any created mind. Angels did not throw themselves down between justice and the sinner, and intercede for him. I have never read of any burning seraph crying to God, “Spare the guilty, Lord, spare the guilty; give up your only-begotten Son to die, and let the guilty live.” I cannot conceive of anyone proposing to the Most High to make so tremendous a sacrifice. The Father did it according to his own sovereign will, unswayed by anything outside himself. That self-sustained, almighty Being condescended to give this matchless display of his inflexible justice and his infinite love for the sons of men; it was his own conception freely welling up from the depths of his own loving heart. Well, beloved, if he gave his Son unsolicited, will he not give you all you need now that you have learned to ask him, now that you understand the art of the widow woman who came to the unjust judge, and can plead with the Lord in holy persistence? Now that you have been taught to knock and knock again at God’s door,—as the man knocked at his friend’s door until, at last, he arose at midnight to give him the loaves he needed,—surely he will not deny you what you ask for. Since he gave you Christ unasked, unsought, when you were dead in sin, when you were his enemy, when you hated him, how much more—now that you are his son, adopted into his family, and taught by his Spirit to pray, and to plead the promises he has given you,—how much more will he give you all things that you need! If you do not have, surely it must be because you do not ask, or because you ask amiss. Ask now, ask in faith, ask in the name of Jesus, and all you need shall be given to you.

16. V. A fifth time let me try to strike down that old giant, Incredulity, by telling you to remember THE PEOPLE TO WHOM THIS GIFT WAS GIVEN: “delivered him up for us all.”

17. Not one child of God is left without that gift. Little Benjamin has as great a share in Christ as Reuben or Judah has. Mr. Ready-to-Halt has as true an interest in the blood of Jesus as Mr. Great-Heart himself has. The ancient Jews, on the day they were numbered, had to pay half a shekel each as a ransom for their souls. The Lord said to Moses, “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less.” The redemption money was the same for all, and Christ has paid the redemption money equally for all who believe in him. Not one of those whom he bought with his blood is left out, not one of his chosen, not one whom he calls, not one whom he justifies; but all are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. I know you are apt to say, “No doubt the Lord will give much to So-and-so, for he is an eminent saint, but not to me.” Yet, since he gave Christ to you, why should he not give you everything else that you need? “Oh, but I am so obscure, no one will take notice of me.” Did not the Lord take notice of you when he gave you Christ? Then why should he not, with him, freely give you all things?

18. “Ah!” says another, “but I have been such a backslider; not only my faith, but all my other graces are so feeble, I do not feel fit to be numbered with the Lord’s people.” Ah, poor heart, that may be true; yet, since God has given you Christ, why should he deny you anything that you need? I wish I could put this truth in words that would never be forgotten; I should like to help every heir of heaven to carry this truth with him even to his tomb. It is certain that, since you believe in Christ, he is yours; then it must be equally certain, no matter who you may be, that “all things are yours.” Go, you lonely ones, up from the house of your mourning, take down your harps from the willows, and make every string in them praise the name of the Lord. Come, you afflicted ones, wherever you wander; come, you who think yourselves poverty-stricken, and find yourselves infinitely rich in Christ Jesus. It always delights me to know how many poor people there are, and some very poor ones too, who say that this house of prayer is the happiest place to which they ever go. Dearly do they love the truth, and the preacher too for the truth’s sake; and he often thinks, with gratitude, when other things have failed to cheer him, that there are poor and needy ones who will come up to the sanctuary, seeking comfort, and finding it, while critics, who come only to judge, will go away thinking there is nothing notable here; and the wise men of the world and the disputers will criticize this, and carp at that, and get no good out of it all. But these afflicted and poor people of God know the joyful sound of his truth, and they walk in the light of his countenance, and find it sweet indeed to know that Christ is theirs and that all good is theirs in Christ.

19. VI. Now let us turn to another argument from THE VALUE OF CHRIST TO US.

20. What is the value of Christ to us? Christ is to us———I pause, for what shall I say? I cannot tell all that Christ is to us, for what is he not to us? He is the sun of our day; he is the star of our night; he is our life; he is our life’s life, he is our heaven on earth, and he shall he our heaven in heaven. How sweetly does Madame Guyon {b} sing of Christ and of his very great preciousness to her soul! I was reading, only yesterday, an account that she gives of herself and of the persecutions she endured for Christ’s sake; yet she says that it seemed to her to be just the same whether she was a prisoner in the Bastille or in the carefree society of Paris as long as she was in communion with Christ, for Christ was everything to her; and the grace-taught Christian will tell you that he has had his happiest times on a bed of sickness, or when losses and crosses have come quickly one upon another. Fellowship with Christ transforms a desert into a garden, a wilderness into a paradise; it makes the beggar a prince, and sets the prince above the angels. Give a man Christ,—and this is no dream I speak of, no vision of a heated imagination, but in sober solemn earnest I say it,—and he has everything that a believer can desire; yes, there is more in Christ than a Christian can hold, and, like good John Welsh, the old Covenanter, he is ready to cry, at times, when Christ’s love is very sweet to him, “Hold, Lord, hold! for I can bear no more; the joy of your love is too great for me.” Beloved by God—not beloved by kings, though men grow great if they have a king’s affection,—not beloved by angels, yet it would be no trifle to have a seraph’s affection, but beloved by Jesus, the eternal Son of God, to have our names written on his heart, and inscribed on his hands, oh, how very precious Christ is to us!

   Precious in his death victorious,

      He the host of hell o’erthrows;

   In his resurrection glorious,

      Victor crown’d o’er all his foes.

   Precious, Lord! beyond expressing,

      Are thy beauties all divine;

   Glory, honour, power, and blessing

      Be henceforth for ever thine.

21. Well then, I hope you never set your food and clothing in comparison with Christ. He who gave you his unspeakable gift will give you such trifles as those. I hope you never put your worldly estate, nor even your spiritual comforts, in comparison with your blessed Lord Jesus; for, since God has given you him, what can he deny you? Take heart, poor fainting one; be of good courage, and face the foe again; you have no armour for your back, so show your breast-plate to your adversary, and never even dream of defeat. He who has brought you so far, and enriched you with such a priceless gift, can deny you nothing that you really need.

22. VII. And, lastly, remember THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH GOD GAVE HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST, FOR US.

23. His purpose was our salvation, and it is inconsistent with all right ideas of Deity to believe that the purposes of God can be frustrated. We know that our God made the heavens and the earth, and that the Word of our God shall stand for ever. Our God is not a lackey to the will of men, and his purposes are not like footballs to be kicked around as men may please. What God says, is done; what he commands, stands firm for ever; and what his heart devises, that his hand does. “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent”; and if he wills to save, no one can damn. He has proved the honesty and sincerity of his purpose to save us by giving us Christ; and if my faith has laid hold of Christ, and Christ is mine, then I know that it is God’s purpose to save me, and I also know that all things that are necessary for my being saved must surely be bestowed on me. I have never yet been able to put my mind into such a condition as to understand that God would give Christ to die with the intention of saving a man, and yet that man would not be saved.

24. I know that you and I, in ordinary business transactions, are accustomed to expect, if we pay the price for anything, that we should have what we buy. I am sure that I could not speculate with another man’s blood, and especially I know that I could make no speculation with the blood of my own son; I must know beforehand what so great a sacrifice would accomplish. In the same way, we believe that God well knew what Christ’s blood would buy, and what Christ’s death would accomplish; and we cannot think that Calvary was a venture, that the cross was a speculation, and that the death of Christ was a lottery. God forbid! Be of good courage, then, you who are redeemed, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, all things must be yours. How can he, who has already given Christ to be the Way to heaven, leave you without shoes for your feet, or without armour for the fight, or without anything else that you will need? He who has given the greater must and will give the less. Lay your many needs before him; throw yourself, penniless, at his feet; and plead like this, “Lord, you have given me Christ with the purpose of saving me, such and such a thing I need for my soul’s salvation, Lord, give it to me, so that your eternal purpose may be fulfilled.” This is a plea that must prevail, a knock that shall make heaven’s gates ring until the porter shall open them, and the favour that you need shall be given with open hands.

25. The only question I have to ask before I am finished is this,—Is Christ yours? Is Christ yours, my hearer? Answer “Yes,” or “No,” tonight; he is yours, or he is not yours, there is no third answer. Is Christ yours? Do you say “No”? Alas, poor wretch, how miserable is your state now!—“condemned already.” How wretched shall your state be hereafter, when “Depart, you cursed,” shall be your sentence! “I do not know,” one says, “whether Christ is mine or not.” Do you trust him? This is the deciding question. If you do trust yourself with Christ fully and implicitly, he is yours. If you rest in any degree on your own works, feelings, doings, or willings, he is not yours; but if you do take him now to be your All in all, trusting him, and him alone, he is yours, and he shall be yours for ever and ever. Let there be no aching heart at this communion table tonight, let every one of us come to this feast of love with joy and gladness, because, when we can say that Christ is ours we—

   Can smile at Satan’s rage,

   And face a frowning world.

May the Lord give Christ to each one of us, and to him shall be the glory world without end! Amen.

{a} Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC.…During his consulship the royal family made an attempt to regain the throne, firstly by their ambassadors seeking to subvert a number of the leading Roman citizens in the Tarquinian conspiracy. Amongst the conspirators were two brothers of Brutus’ wife Vitellia, and Brutus’ two sons, Titus Junius Brutus and Tiberius Junius Brutus. The conspiracy was discovered and the consuls determined to punish the conspirators with death. Brutus gained respect for his stoicism in watching the execution of his own sons, even though he showed emotion during the punishment. See Explorer "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Junius_Brutus"
{b} Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (commonly known as Madame Guyon) (April 18, 1648-June 9, 1717) was a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism, although she never called herself a Quietist. Quietism was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, and she was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing a book on the topic, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer. See Explorer "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Guyon"

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ro 8:26-39}

26. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities:

Oh, how many these are! Lack of memory, lack of faith, lack of earnestness, ignorance, pride, deadness, coldness of heart,—these are some of our infirmities; but, thank God, we have the omnipotent Spirit of God to help us.

26. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

These groanings are too deep, too full of meaning to be expressed in words. There are some things the Christian needs for which he cannot ask; perhaps he does not even know what it is that he needs. There is a vacuum in his heart, but he does not know what would fill it. There is a hunger in his spirit, but he does not know what the bread is, nor where the bread is, that can satisfy his needs. But the Holy Spirit can articulate these unuttered groans, and so the deepest needs of our soul can be brought before God by his own Spirit. You, then, who find it difficult to pray, do not give up praying. The devil tells you that such poor prayers as yours are can never reach the ear of God. Do not believe him. The Spirit helps your infirmities: and when he helps you, you shall, you must prevail.

27. And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1532, “The Holy Spirit’s Intercession” 1532}

It cannot be supposed that the Father does not know what is the mind of the Spirit, since they are one God; and, moreover, inasmuch as the Spirit of God never intercedes for anything which is not according to God’s will, we are sure that our heavenly Father will grant every Spirit-uttered prayer.

28. And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 159, “The True Christian’s Blessedness” 152}

Almost everything in this world looks to us to be in confusion, but to God’s eye everything is in order. One wave dashes this way, and another that, but they are all working together, and they are all working with one great purpose too. Do not say, Christian, “All these things are against me.” Ah, poor soul! this is the verdict of your unbelief, but you will know better than that one of these days. All things are working for you, and not one of them is working against you; therefore, do not be dismayed. They are all working together for good for those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.

29. For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 355, “Portraits of Christ” 345} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1043, “Glorious Predestination” 1034}

That was the very purpose and object of their predestination that they might become like Christ, their great perfect elder Brother.

   “Christ, be my first elect,” he said,

   Then chose our souls in Christ our Head

   Before he gave the mountains birth

   Or laid foundations for the earth.

30. Moreover whom he predestinated, those he also called: {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 241, “Predestination and Calling” 234}

My soul, have you been called by God? Has the Spirit of God ever called you? If so, rejoice in your predestination. Have no doubts and fears concerning that matter, for he would never have called you if he had not intended to save you from before the foundation of the world.

30. And whom he called, those he also justified: and whom he justified, those he also glorified. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 627, “Justification and Glory” 618}

My soul, do you believe in Jesus? Have you trusted in his precious blood? Then you are justified. Never give way, then, to any fears concerning your eternal salvation; for, as surely as there is a heaven, you shall be a partaker of its glories, for there never was a soul justified who was not glorified afterwards.

31. What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 580, “God is With Us” 571}

Do you have the world against you, Christian? What is the opposition of the world when God is on your side? Is your own heart against you? What then? God is greater than your heart. Is the devil against you? Ah! he is mighty, but God is almighty, and he shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Paul was no fanatic; he was a man of great experience and of sound sense; yet he makes nothing of all our foes when God is on our side.

32. He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

When God gave us Christ, he gave us everything, for all the blessings of this life and of the life that is to come lie hidden in Christ as the kernel is within the shell of the nut. What encouragement we have here for believing prayer! Christian, Christ is the golden key of God’s treasuries; you only have to use him properly, and whatever you need shall be yours.

33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?

Here is true boldness; Paul, who called himself the very chief of sinners, dares to challenge anyone to lay anything to the charge of God’s elect! Surely God can do so. “No,” says Paul,—

33. It is God who justifies.

He is both just and the Justifier of all who believe in Jesus, and they are “God’s elect.”

34. Who is he who condemns? {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 256, “The Believer’s Challenge” 249} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2240, “A Challenge and a Shield” 2241}

“Why,” one says, “Christ, the great Judge, will condemn.” No, that he will not do, for—

34. It is Christ who died, yes rather, who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Christian, since Christ makes intercession for you, he will never condemn you. Did he shed his blood for you, and yet will he cast you into hell? Did he rise from the dead for you, and yet will he leave you among the dead and the lost? Do not think so strangely of the Christ of God, who is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever, and who will never condemn those who trust in him.

35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

They have been tried again and again.

36. As it is written, “For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

What was the result of this persecution? Were the saints turned away from Christ by it?

37-39. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2492, “Paul’s Persuasion” 2493}

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