3304. Grace Abounding

A Sermon Published On Thursday, May 30, 1912.

But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. {Ro 5:20}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 37, “Law and Grace” 37}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2012, “Grace Abounding Over Abounding Sin” 2013}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3115, “Sin and Grace” 3116}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3304, “Grace Abounding” 3306}

   Exposition on Jon 3:1-4:2 Ro 5 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2544, “One and the Many, The” 2545 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ps 116:1-6 Ro 5:10-21 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3413, “God’s Mercy Going Before” 3415 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 5:6-21 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2744, “Lost Through One; Saved Through One” 2745 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 5 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2341, “Undying Gospel for the Dying Year, The” 2342 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 5 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2587, “Much More” 2588 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ro 5 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3115, “Sin and Grace” 3116 @@ "Exposition"}

1. There has been a long battle in this world between man’s sin and God’s grace. If it had been a fight between man’s sin and God’s justice, it would soon have come to an end. Picture for yourself the flames of hell, and see there what God’s justice can do when it comes into conflict with human guilt. When God goes out to war against the ungodly, his might is indeed terrible. Divine justice makes short work of sin; it treads it underfoot, and stamps it out, even as men do with sparks of fire; for God hates sin with a perfect hatred, and when his anger is aroused against it, he tears it in pieces as the lion rends his prey in his fury. But, happily for us, the conflict with which we are just now concerned is not that between justice and sin but that between grace and sin. God’s milder attribute of mercy has entered the field, and in our text Paul tells us the result of the battle. It looked for a time as if sin would gain the victory, for it abounded more and more; but at last the banner of grace waved triumphantly over the battle-field, for “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”

2. I. Without any further preface, I am going to give you several illustrations of the truth of our text, beginning with those we find in the chapter itself. Paul has been writing concerning the principle of representation, THE FEDERAL HEADSHIP, FIRST OF ADAM AND THEN OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

3. He has been telling us about our fall in the first man, and our salvation in the second Man, the Lord from heaven. He has been describing our ruin under our first federal head, and our redemption by our second Covenant Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in both cases our text is clearly illustrated. It does seem at first sight as if the setting up of Adam as the representative man had been the means of making sin to abound; because, as soon as sin overcame Adam, it overcame the whole race of mankind. It appears as if it would have been better to have put every man on probation on his own account, and to have let him stand or fall according to his own good or bad behaviour. It seems as if it must have been a comparatively easy victory for sin to overthrow the whole race by a single blow. Certainly, sin did gain a great victory in the garden of Eden, and by it sin abounded; but Paul shows that it was by this very principle of representation that “grace abounded much more,” for it is through the death of One, even Jesus Christ our Lord, that all believers live. It is the righteousness of this One that a multitude whom no man can number shall attain to everlasting life. Now it appears to me that, if the other system had been adopted, the plan of each one standing or falling by himself, there would have been no hope of salvation for any one of the whole race of mankind. We believe that the angels did stand or fall, each on his own account. Satan was not the federal head of all the angels, and consequently, when he fell, they did not all fall, but a considerable number of them did; and no hope of their restoration to the favour of God is given, but we are told that “the angels who did not keep their first state, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” I think it is more than probable that, had you and I been left to stand or fall on our own account, we should all have fallen, and then we should have fallen to rise no more. But now, since we fell in the person of one representative, it has become possible for us to rise through another Representative; and as many of us as have believed in Jesus have risen from the fall of Adam, are delivered from the death which was the consequence of Adam’s sin, and are made alive in Christ Jesus by a new spiritual life in virtue of our union with our risen Lord. By the federal headship of Adam sin indeed abounded; the flood-gates were pulled up, and torrents of iniquity inundated the whole human race; but by the federal headship of Christ grace abounds much more, so that all who believe in him shall be eternally saved. I think this was the meaning of the apostle when he wrote the words of our text, and this is one illustration of the general truth that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”

4. II. A second illustration of this truth can be found in the first part of the verse from which our text is taken: “The law entered, so that the offence might abound.” Through no fault in itself, but through our depravity, THE LAW INCREASES THE GRAVITY OF OUR OFFENCES.

5. You know that, if you give your child no commands, he cannot disobey you; but the moment you give a command, the natural inclination of the child to disobedience turns the command into an occasion for sin. The more commands God gives, the more possible it is for man to sin. When water is cast on lime, there follows great heat and steam. Yet the water was not hot; put your lips to it, and you will find that it is a sweet and cooling draught, but it produced heat when mixed with the lime because of the inherent heat in the lime. So, when God’s commandment is cast on a man, and he kicks against it, the fault is not in the commandment, but in the man’s wicked heart which rebels against it. Paul says, “I had not known sin, except by the law.” He would have been just as truly a sinner in himself, but the sinfulness would not have come out if it had not been for the law’s prohibitions and restrictions against which he rebelled. The law of God is something like the medicine which a doctor gives to a patient who has some disease internally, but the medicine throws it out on the skin; yet it is far better that it should be thrown out than that it should lie hidden in the system, and lead to the patient’s death. The law acts like this, especially on those who are under conviction; it throws out the sin that is within them, and lets them see it in its true character. The law comes like a policeman with a search-warrant, and says, “There is a criminal concealed here, and I have come to arrest him.” Perhaps you say, “There is no criminal here, I never harbour thieves or other bad characters.” But the officer produces his warrant, and searches you through and through, and at last you have to admit that he is right even though you did not suspect the true state of affairs.

6. It seems a very dreadful thing that the effect of the law should be to make the sinner worse than he was before: “the law entered so that the offence might abound.” But that is just where our text comes in: “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” The more necessary the law’s exposure of sin is, the more glorious is the grace that cleanses from the sin. The law, like a candle, shows me my blackness; but that same revelation, of which the law is only a part, also shows me the precious blood of Jesus which takes all my blackness away, and makes me whiter than snow. As I hear the thunders of Sinai, and am full of terror as the lightning sets the sky ablaze, I turn to the dear, patient Lamb of God, and as I see him suffering for me, I say to him, “Oh, what amazing grace it must have been by which you delivered me from all this terrible wrath! Blessed Lamb of God, how much I owe to you, for you have hushed the law’s loud thunder, and given my soul a quiet and safe hiding-place!” The work of the law on the enlightened conscience is a very healthy operation; it is like a sharp needle that goes through the soul, but it draws the golden thread of mercy after it; or like the sharp plough which breaks up the ground, and prepares it for the seed which in due time shall produce the harvest to God’s praise and glory. Whenever the entrance of the law makes the offence to abound, may God grant us grace to receive the gospel so that grace shall abound much more!

7. III. Now follow me in thought while I conduct you to a place where we shall find a third illustration of the truth of our text, that is, THIS PLACE CALLED CALVARY; surely that is the place where sin most abounded, yet where grace abounded even more.

8. Look in at the council-chamber of the Sanhedrin, and hear them charge the Son of God with blasphemy, and say if sin did not abound there. See him, hurried away to Pilate’s hall and to Herod’s judgment seat, “despised and rejected by men”; behold how they set him at naught, and mocked him, how they pulled out his hair, defiled his blessed visage with their accursed spittle, crowned him with thorns, and assailed him with insult upon insult, and cruelty upon cruelty, and then say if sin did not indeed abound there. See him toiling painfully through the crowded streets, scoffed at by the ribald multitude, but mourned by the daughters of Jerusalem; watch him as at last he ascends the hill of doom, see him hanging on the cross in indescribable agony while the heartless spectators jeer and scoff, and make a jest even of his dying cries, and then say if sin did not abound there. What foaming billows of iniquity rolled up around that accursed tree, swelling and rising until they completely immersed the Lord of life and glory in their horrible depths! Yes, truly sin abounded there; surely it was the darkest day in human history. Wicked men had killed kings before, but that day they killed the King of kings; they had been regicides before, but now they became decides. They killed the Son of God, and cast him out of the vineyard, saying, “This is the heir, and now that we have killed him the inheritance shall be ours.” Sin abounded so much that it put out the light of the sun; so heavy was it that it cracked the solid earth, and split the rocks asunder, and caused the graves to open, while the great veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.

9. Yet “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” Oh, for an angel’s tongue to proclaim the amazing mystery! My poor lips are quite unequal to this tremendous task; it is vain for me to attempt to describe the grace that so gloriously abounded in our Lord on the cross; the grace that flashed benignantly from those languid eyes, the grace that fell in cleansing drops from those opened veins, the grace that poured in torrents from that pierced side, the grace that heaved, and tossed, and struggled convulsively in those tortured limbs, the grace that fought, and wrestled, and at last conquered in that anguished spirit, the grace that even then began interceding for the transgressors as Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” the grace that cried with a mighty voice, “It is finished,” before the Saviour bowed his head, and gave up the ghost, the grace that ascended up on high, leading captives captive and giving gifts to men. Of this grace I will not dare to speak further than to say, — may it be your happy lot to sail on that sea of grace, for you never can fathom it! May you drink from that fountain of divine grace, for you shall never be able to drink it dry! May God give you the bliss of knowing in your own experience how much grace abounds through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross!

10. Oh, that I had the tears of Baxter, and that my soul were all aglow as the soul of Whitfield used to be, while I plead my Master’s cause! Oh my hearers, nothing so clearly shows the terrible depravity of human nature as this, that man has become so utterly wicked and debased as to believe that Christ is not still “mighty to save!” What a vile wretch man must be, and what a base thing human nature must be, when anyone can deliberately doubt the power of Christ to save the lost! The inspired declaration is that “he is able to save those to the uttermost who come to God by him since he lives for ever to make intercession for them”; yet this wicked heart of ours finds it impossible to believe this until the Holy Spirit comes, and with supernatural energy enlightens the understanding, sways the will, controls the judgment, and brings the soul to rest in Jesus Christ. Oh, how guilty we must be that we will not believe that what God says it true, that we will not believe though millions of witnesses before the throne attest to the truth that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”

11. IV. So we have had three illustrations of the truth of our text, and we may find a fourth IN MAN’S NATURE, for there also “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”

12. Look at Adam in the garden of Eden, a noble being, supreme among all the creatures around him. The lion crouches at his feet, the leopard sports about him, the dove nestles in his bosom, and all birds and beasts come at his call, and yield obedience to his command. But do you see that serpent coiled around a tree? That is the brute embodiment of sin, and it has come there to do incalculable mischief. Wait for a little while, and you may see Adam and Eve driven out of the garden where they were once so happy, for the sin to which they so readily yielded has brought a heavy curse on them and on all their descendants. As you read the stern sentences pronounced on each of them by the lips of Jehovah himself, you realize that in their case sin has indeed abounded. Then, remembering what I have already said to you about the principle of representation, you will realize that Adam’s fall involved the fall of every one of us. What Mark Anthony is supposed to have said concerning the death of Julius Caesar might well be said with regard to the effect of Adam’s fall on us, —

   Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen!

   Then I, and you, and all of us fell down.

13. If you want to see how sin has abounded, go down the street, and look at some of those who have been drinking what has been truly called “liquid damnation.” I need not describe the sight, for all of us are, alas! more or less familiar with it; nor need I picture other fallen creatures in whom sin is to be seen in some of its most repulsive aspects. We will not think of them in the self-righteous spirit of the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not as other men, but we will sorrowfully confess that what they now are any of us might have been had providence and grace not prevented it.

14. If you want to see further what ruin sin has done, I would take you to the graveyard. We will not ask the sexton {grave-digger} to open the graves, the sight and smell would be more than we could endure; but he could tell us some strange tales of the remains of the noble being whom God made to have dominion over all the works of his hands. This is what he has come to now, — an empty skull and a few dry bones! This is what sin has brought him down to, — to be food for worms!

15. But I will not linger over that dark part of the subject; think how grace has abounded much more even where sin most abounded. Grace comes in, and finds man under sentence of death, hopeless and polluted, and full of everything that is obnoxious in God’s sight. What does grace do in such a case as that? I answer by pointing you to that wonderful vision that John had in Patmos when he saw “One like the Son of man … his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like fine bronze, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in its strength.” Who is this for whom all heaven rings with hallelujahs, while hell trembles at his word, and millions on earth acknowledge allegiance to him? Who is this? Why, it is the man Christ Jesus, who once slept as a helpless babe in his mother’s arms, who afterwards toiled at the carpenter’s bench at Nazareth, and who breathed out his earthly life amid the untold agonies of Calvary; but who is now exalted to his Father’s right hand, “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in what is to come.” “Ah!” you say, “that is all true concerning him, but we are not up there with him.” But faith says that we are if we are truly trusting in Jesus, for “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the very great riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.” Now you see how gloriously true our text is. Sin did us untold damage, but grace has given us more than sin ever took away. Sin robbed us of silver, but grace has given us gold. Sin slew this body of flesh, but grace has given us a spiritual body which shall live for ever. Sin threw us down among the masses of this fallen race but grace has lifted us up, and set us among the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Yes, beloved, “now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Truly, “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”

16. V. There is a further illustration of the truth of our text in SOME WHO ARE NOW PRESENT WITH US.

17. There are some now in this house in whom sin abounded in certain special ways at which I shall only just hint. They were drunkards, swearers, unchaste; they dishonoured their father and mother, they sinned against light and knowledge; they disregarded God’s Word, they stifled the rebukes of conscience; in brief, “sin abounded” in them. But now, through grace, a great change has come over them, and they have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus; and among us all there are none who love Christ more than they do, and none who serve him more zealously than they do. You know that it is very often the case that those who have been the greatest sinners became the greatest saints; those who were the devil’s corporals and sergeants, indeed, his captains and generals, when they are truly converted, become the boldest and bravest soldiers of the cross. It is hardly necessary to remind you of John Bunyan, once a very notable sinner, who became a very prince in our Israel, and who felt that, in his case, grace had indeed abounded to the chief of sinners. Many of us ought indeed to love much, as I trust we do, because we have been forgiven much. Divine mercy has covered and blotted out a vast mass of sin that we had committed; and now, remembering with humility and shame all our past offences, we pray that we may prove in all our future lives, what holy and useful men and women God’s grace can make of us. Surely, dear friends, you will not serve God worse than you served the devil; when you had a bad master, you were a good servant to him; but now that you have a good Master, the best Master you can ever have, do not be a bad servant to him. May the Lord grant that great grace may abound in all who have been great sinners!

18. But since there are exceptional cases, I will come to something that will include us all. Kindly turn to the little book that records your life history written out on the pages of memory. As you look over those pages, you who have known the Lord for some years, what do you think of yourselves? The men who think much of themselves must surely be those who do not think at all, but those who really do think must see very much in their past lives which causes them to blush. Looking back on the years since we first came to Christ, what a multitude of sins we have committed! If our own children had treated us as badly as we have treated our heavenly Father, what should we have done with them? What a marvel of patience our heavenly Father has been in his dealings with us! I look at my pulpit work, and I have to confess that sin has abounded there. I look at my private life, and I have to admit that sin has abounded there. As you look at your Sunday School class, my brother or sister, I think that you too must admit that sin has abounded there. As a husband, as a wife, as a child, as an employer, as an employee, as a tradesman, as a statesman, — whatever may be your position in society, do you not have to say with sorrow that sin has abounded there. But, dear friends, has not grace also abounded? Indeed, that it has, for “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” Do not ever get into such a state of heart as to groan over yourselves so that you cannot praise the Lord for his abounding grace. Oh, do praise him, do bless him, for he well deserves to be praised! Sin abounds, so be humble; but grace much more abounds, therefore be thankful. Sin abounds, so be watchful; but grace abounds much more, therefore be confident that God will give you the victory through him who has loved you.

19. VI. Now, lastly, IN THIS WORLD SIN ABOUNDS ON A VERY LARGE SCALE.

20. Stand on your watch-tower, Christian, and look over the world as far as you can. A great proportion of it is still shrouded in the dense darkness of heathenism; and uncounted millions are bowing down before blocks of wood and stone. Think too of the vast multitudes who put their trust in the false prophet, Mohammed, and are quite content with the parody of Christianity that they find in the Koran. Then remember with sorrow how large a proportion of those who are called Christians are simply worshippers of Mary instead of believers in Jesus, or who bow down before images, icons, relics, crosses, and I do not know what else. If we turn to Protestant Christianity, what a vast mass of hypocrisy, formality, inconsistency, and everything else that is evil is mixed with what is genuine and true! All over the world sin abounds. See how many lands are still cursed by war. What infamies are perpetuated in all our great cities; indeed, and in many of our little country villages too! God must have been amazingly patient to have borne so long with our wicked race. Just as the flood in Noah’s day was universal, so sin covers the earth today; it prevails over the tops of the mountains, it abounds in all the valleys and plains.

21. This prospect is very alarming, and for missionaries it would be very depressing if they did not believe that, where sin abounds, grace shall abound much more. But the day is coming oh, — hasten, you wheels of time, and bring the happy hour! — when suddenly the pedestal on which any false god is seated shall shake, and totter to its fall, when the crescent of Mohammed shall wane for ever, when the prostitute of the seven hills shall cease to corrupt the earth with her fornication, and when the beast, and the false prophet, and the devil and all his hosts shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Yes, the day is coming — God speed it! — when the people on every island and of every continent shall hear the joyful sound of the gospel of God’s grace. The day is coming when Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands to God, when India’s many millions and the far-off Chinese and Japanese and other children of the East shall no longer sound the praises of any false god, but shall delight in confessing that Jesus Christ, the Son of David, is also the Son of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords, and their one and only Saviour. The little spring that burst up like a rippling rivulet from the foot of Calvary’s cross has swollen into a mighty river even now; its tides are increasing, its floods are swelling, its depth is growing, and the day is coming when, like a mighty ocean, it shall cover the whole earth as the waters cover the deep, and floating across that sea of glory shall be heard the millennial anthem, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

22. Then, at the last, so many of us as have believed in Jesus shall be gathered with him in that great city, the new Jerusalem, whose twelve gates are twelve pearls, whose walls are jasper, and whose street is of “pure gold, just as if it were transparent glass,” — that city of which John says, “I saw no temple in it: for the Lord God almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light.” Well may we sing, —

   Jerusalem! my happy home!

      Name ever dear to me;

   When shall my labours have an end,

      In joy, and peace, and thee?

   Oh when, thou city of my God,

      Shall I thy courts ascend,

   Where congregations ne’er break up,

      And Sabbaths have no end?

Ah, well! in due time we shall get there; and then, when looking down from our serene abode, we shall be able to read the whole drama of human history, from the creation to the fall of Adam, from the fall to the cross of Christ, and then to the final consummation of all things, this will be the summary of it all at least as far as we are concerned, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” If it should be my happy privilege up there, on some sunny mount, to discourse on this theme in more flaming words than I can use tonight, all of you who are of a kindred spirit with me will help to tell the story to the principalities and power in heavenly places, and the harpists standing on the sea of glass will play their harps afresh, and sing again the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, and their songs will be in harmony with our theme tonight, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” So let us go out to our various occupations tomorrow believing that, though sin abounds, grace shall abound even more; let us live so that all may see how grace abounds in us; and let us help to spread the wonderful story of what this grace has done for us, that others may seek that grace for themselves, — that grace which abounds to the chief of sinners, that grace which is the portion of all who believe in Jesus, that grace which shall in God’s good time be crowned with glory, that “grace by which he has made us accepted in the Beloved!” Oh, that all here might be sharers in that grace! May God grant it, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ro 5:1-11}

1. Therefore being justified by faith, —

But why “therefore”? Because of the verse preceding it: “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Christ died to atone for our sins, Christ rose again to secure our justification, “Therefore being justified by faith,” —

1. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1456, “Peace: a Fact and a Feeling” 1450}

We have peace, we know that we have, we enjoy it; it is not a thing of the future, we have peace, a deep calm like what came to the disciples when Christ hushed the winds and waves to sleep. “We have peace with God,” his peace has entered into us, we possess it now; but it is all “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is all war apart from him, but all peace through him. We poor sinners, being justified by faith, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. By whom also we have access by faith —

That is to say, we come near to God; we have the entry of the King’s palace; “we have access by faith” —

2. Into this grace by which we stand,

With firm foot and confident heart, we stand in God’s presence. Happy people!

2. And rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

What a window hope is! It looks towards heaven; we only have to look out that way, and then we can “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

3. And not only so, but we glory —

We hope for glory, — “the glory of God,” and we already “glory.” But in what do we glory? “We glory” —

3. In tribulations also: —

That is the blackest thing a Christian has, — his tribulations; so, if we can glory in them, surely we can glory in anything. “We glory in tribulations also:” —

3. Knowing that tribulation works patience;

A man cannot prove that he has patience if he has never been tried. Christian patience is not a weed, it is a cultivated plant; we only get patience through our trials.

4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

You cannot make an experienced Christian without trouble. You cannot make an old sailor on shore, nor make a good soldier without fighting.

Here is that window of hope again, standing behind our experience, we look out of the window, and what God has done for us is a sign of what God will do for us.

5. And hope does not make ashamed;

Peace gives us courage; hope takes the blush out of the cheek when we confess Christ, for we remember the glory that is to be revealed in him and in us, so how can shame come in?

5. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 829, “The Perfuming of the Heart” 820} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1904, “The Personal Pentecost and the Glorious Hope” 1905}

God’s love is like sweet perfume in an alabaster box; the Holy Spirit breaks that box, pours out the love of God into our souls, and the perfume fills our entire nature.

6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1191, “For whom Did Christ Die?” 1182} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1345, “For whom is the Gospel Meant?” 1336}

When we had no power to do anything that was good, when we were without strength and hope, then Christ died for us. This is a wonderful gospel expression, which ought to bring comfort to those here who have no pretence of godliness, “Christ died for the ungodly.”

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

However upright and just a man may be, no one thinks of dying for him.

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

That is to say, for a generous, kind, noble-hearted man, some might dare to die.

8. But God commends his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 104, “Love’s Commendation” 99}

We were neither righteous nor yet good, yet Christ died for us. “Oh!” said a little boy once to his mother, “I do not think so much of Christ dying for men, I think I would be willing to die if I could save a hundred men by dying.” But his mother said, “Suppose it was a hundred mosquitoes, — would you die for them?” “Oh, no!” he said, “I would let the whole lot of them die.” Well, we were much less, in comparison with Christ than mosquitoes are in relationship to men, yet he died for us, good-for-nothing creatures that we are. Well does one say, “God shows part of his love to us in many different ways, but he shows all of his love in giving Christ to die for us.” Here you see his heart laid bare, the very heart of God laid open for the inspection of every believing soul. To die for saints would be great love; but to die for sinners, while they are yet sinners, and regarding them as sinners, — this is love with emphasis, the very highest commendation that even divine love can have.

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

See; it is a less thing for God to preserve us when we are justified than it is for him to justify us while we are yet sinners. The final perseverance of the saints may well be argued from their conversion, their entrance into glory is guaranteed by the ransom price that Christ has paid for their redemption. He died to save sinners, so how is it possible that he should let saints perish? Oh, no; that can never be! “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2587, “Much More” 2588}

Notice that while we were his enemies, he blessed us, so now that we are reconciled to him, will he not still bless us? If he reconciled us to him by the death of his Son, will he not save us by his life now that we are reconciled to him? Does he make us his friends, intending afterwards to destroy us? Perish such a thought. This verse is like a trident, it is a three-pronged argument for our eternal safety. I will read it again: “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

11. And not only so, —

Surely we have gotten high enough when we have reached an absolute certainty of our eternal salvation. Yet we are to go still higher: “And not only so,” —

11. But we also rejoice in God —

Even now we rejoice in God, “although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines; the labour of the olives shall fail, and the field shall yield no crops; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls,” yet “we rejoice in God” —

11. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, —

Every blessing comes to us through him. How Paul delights to harp on that string! He says continually, “through our Lord Jesus Christ,” —

11. By whom we have now received the atonement. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1045, “Joy in a Reconciled God” 1036} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2550, “Joy in God” 2551}

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we are at one with God, we are reconciled to him by the death of his Son. All our sin is put away for ever; we have received the atonement, and we rejoice in the God of our salvation. Glory be to his holy name for ever and ever!

C. H. Spurgeon’s Useful Books at Reduced Prices.

The Salt-Cellars. Being a Collection of Proverbs, together with Homely Notes on them. By C. H. Spurgeon. “These three things go to the making of a proverb: Shortness, Sense, and Salt.” In 2 vols., cloth gilt, published at 3s. 6d. each, offered at 2s. 6d. each; Morocco, 7s. 6d. each.

“For many years I have published a Sheet Almanac, intended to be hung up in workshops and kitchens. This has been known as ‘John Ploughman’s Almanac,’ and has had a large sale. It has promoted temperance, thrift, kindness to animals, and a regard for religion, among working people. The placing of a proverb for every day for twenty years has cost me great labour, and I feel that I cannot afford to lose the large collection of sentences which I have brought together; yet lost they would be, if left to die with the ephermeral sheet. Hence these two volumes. They do not profess to be a complete collection of proverbs, but only a few out of many thousands.” — Extract from Preface.