3377. The Greatest Wonder of Grace

A Sermon Published On Thursday, October 23, 1913.

And I was left. {Eze 9:8}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2807, “Spared!” 2808}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3377, “Greatest Wonder of Grace, The” 3379}

1. Salvation never shines so brightly for any man’s eyes as when it comes to him. Then grace is illustrious indeed when we can see it working with divine power in us. To our apprehension, our own case is always the most desperate, and mercy shown to us is the most extraordinary. We see others perish, and wonder that the same doom has not befallen us. The horror of the ruin which we dreaded, and our intense delight at the certainty of safety in Christ unite with our personal sense of unworthiness to make us cry in amazement, “And I was left.”

2. Ezekiel, in a vision, saw the slaughtermen striking right and left at the bidding of divine justice, and as he stood unharmed among the heaps of the slain, he exclaimed with surprise, “I was left.” It may be, the day will come when we, too, shall cry with solemn joy, “And I, too, by sovereign grace, am spared while others perish.” Special grace will cause us to marvel. It will be emphatically so at the last dread day.

3. Read the story of the gross idolatry of the people of Jerusalem, as recorded in the eighth chapter of Ezekiel’s prophecy, and you will not wonder at the judgment with which the Lord at length overthrew the city. Let us set our hearts to consider how the Lord dealt with the guilty people. “Six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies towards the north, and every man with a slaughter weapon in his hand.” The destruction accomplished by these executioners was swift and terrible, and it was typical of other solemn visitations. All through history the observing eye notices lines of justice, red marks on the page where the Judge of all the earth has at last seen it to be necessary to decree a terrible visitation on a guilty people. All these past displays of divine vengeance point at the coming judgment even more complete and overwhelming. The past is prophetic of the future. A day is surely coming when the Lord Jesus, who came once to save, will descend a second time to judge. Despised mercy has always been succeeded by deserved wrath, and so it must be in the end of all things. “But who may endure the day of his coming? Or who shall stand when he appears?” When sinners are struck down, who will be left? He shall lift the balances of justice, and make bare the sword of execution. When his avenging angels shall gather the vintage of the earth, who among us shall exclaim in wondering gratitude, “And I was left?” Such a one will be a wonder of grace indeed; worthy to take rank with those marvels of grace of whom we have spoken in many former discourses in this place. To each one of you, I make this enquiry, will you be an example of sparing grace, and cry, “And I was left?”

4. We will use the incredibly descriptive vision of this chapter that we may with holy fear behold the character of the doom from which grace delivers us, and then we will dwell on the exclamation of our text, “I was left,” considering it as the joyful utterance of the people who are privileged to escape the destruction; and lastly, the emotions which the escaped feel.

5. I. By the help of the Holy Spirit, let us then solemnly consider: — THE TERRIBLE DOOM from which the prophet in a vision saw himself preserved, regarding it as a foretaste of the judgment which is yet to come upon all the world.

6. Observe, first, that it was a just punishment inflicted on those who had been often warned; a punishment which they wilfully brought on themselves. God had said that if they set up idols he would destroy them, for he would not endure such an insult on his Godhead. He had often pleaded with them, not with words only, but with severe providences, for their land had been laid desolate, their city had been besieged, and their kings had been carried away captive; but they were bent on backsliding to the worship of their idol-gods. Therefore, when the sword of the Lord was drawn from its scabbard, it was no novel punishment, no freak of vengeance, no unexpected execution. So, in the close of life, and at the end of the world, when judgment comes on men, it will be just and according to the solemn warnings of the word of God. When I read the terrible things which are written in God’s book in reference to future punishment, especially the awful things which Jesus spoke concerning the place where their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched, I am greatly depressed in spirit. There are some who sit in judgment on the great Judge, and condemn the punishment which he inflicts as too severe. As for myself, I cannot measure the power of God’s anger; but let it burn as it may, I am sure that it will be just. No needless pang will be inflicted on a single one of God’s creatures: even those who are doomed for ever will endure no more than justice absolutely requires, no more than they themselves would admit to be the due reward of their sins, if their consciences would judge properly. Note that, this is the very hell of hell that men will know that they are justly suffering. To endure a tyrant’s wrath would be a little thing compared with suffering what one has brought on himself by a wilful deliberate choice of wrong. Sin and suffering are indissolubly bound together in the constitution of nature; it cannot be otherwise, nor ought it to be. It is right that evil should be punished. Those who were punished in Jerusalem could not turn on the executioners and say, “We do not deserve this doom”; but every cruel wound of the Chaldean sword, and every fierce crash of the Babylonian battle-axe fell on men who in their consciences knew that they were only reaping what they themselves had sown. Brethren, what wonders of grace shall we be if, from a judgment which we have so richly deserved, we shall be rescued at the last!

7. Let us notice very carefully that this slaughter was preceded by a separation which removed from among the people those who were distinct in character. Before the slaughtermen proceeded to their stern task, a man appeared among them clothed in linen with a writer’s ink-horn by his side, who marked all those who in their hearts were grieved at the evil done in the city. Until these were marked, the destroyers did not begin their work. Whenever the Lord lays bare his arm for war he first gathers his saints into a place of safety. He did not destroy the world by the flood until Noah and his family were safe in the ark. He would not allow a single drop of fire to fall on Sodom until Lot had escaped to Zoar. He carefully preserves his own; nor flood, nor flame, nor pestilence, nor famine shall do them any harm. We read in the Revelation that the angel said, “Do not harm the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” Vengeance must sheath her sword, until love has housed its darlings. When Christ comes to destroy the earth, he will first catch away his people. Before the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the pillars of the universe shall rock and reel beneath the weight of wrathful deity, he will have caught up his elect into the air, so that they shall be with the Lord for ever. When he comes he shall divide the nations as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats; no sheep of his shall be destroyed: he shall without fail take the tares from among the wheat, but not one single grain of wheat shall be in danger. Oh that we may be among the selected ones, and prove his power to keep us in the day of wrath. May each one of us say, amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds, “And I was left.” Dear friend, do you think that you are marked in the forehead? If at this moment my voice were drowned by the trumpet of resurrection, would you be among those who would awaken to safety and glory? Would you be able to say, “The multitude perished around me, but I was left?” It will be so if you hate the sins by which you are surrounded, and if you have received the mark of the blood of Jesus on your souls; if not, you will not escape, for there is no other door of salvation but his saving name. May God grant us grace to belong to that chosen number who wear the covenant seal, the mark of him who counts up the people.

8. Next, this judgment was placed in the Mediator’s hands. I want you to notice this. Observe that, according to the chapter, there was no slaughter done, except where the man with the writer’s ink-horn led the way. So, again, we read in the tenth chapter, that “One cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubims to the fire that was between the cherubims, and took some of it and put it into the hands of him who was clothed with linen; who took it, and went out,” and cast it over the city. Note this. God’s glory of old shone out between the cherubim, that is to say, over the place of propitiation and atonement, and as long as that glow of light remained, no judgment fell on Jerusalem, for God in Christ does not condemn. But eventually “the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, on which he was, to the threshold of the house,” and then judgment was near to come. When God no longer deals with men in Christ, his wrath burns like fire, and he commissions the ambassador of mercy to be the messenger of wrath. The very man who marked with his pen the saved ones threw burning coals on the city, and led the way for the destruction of the sinful. What does this teach but this, “The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son?” I know of no truth more dreadful to meditate on. Think of it, you careless ones: the very Christ who died on Calvary is he by whom you will be sentenced. God will judge the world by this man Christ Jesus: it is he who will come in the clouds of heaven, and before him shall be gathered all nations; and when those who have despised him shall look at his face, they will be terrified beyond conception. Not the lightnings, not the thunders, not the dreadful sound of the last tremendous trumpet shall so alarm them as that face of injured love. Then they will cry to the mountains and hills to hide them from the face of him who sits on the throne. Why, it is the face of him who wept for sinners, the face which scoffers stained with bloody drops extracted by the thorny crown, the face of the incarnate God, who, in infinite mercy, came to save mankind! But because they have despised him, because they would not be saved, because they preferred their own lusts to infinite love, and would persist in rejecting God’s best proof of kindness, therefore they will say, “Hide us from the face,” for the sight of that face shall be to them more accusing, and more condemning, than everything else besides. How dreadful is this truth! The more you consider it, the more it will fill your soul with terror! Oh that it might drive you to flee to Jesus, for then you will behold him with joy on that day.

9. This destruction, we are told, began at the sanctuary. Suppose the Lord were to visit London in his anger, where would he begin to strike? “Oh,” someone says, “of course, the destroying angel would go down to the low music halls and dancing rooms, or he would sweep out the back slums and the gin palaces, {a} the jails and places where women of ill repute congregate.” Turn to the Scripture which surrounds our text. The Lord says, “Begin at my sanctuary.” Begin at the churches, begin at the chapels, begin at the church members, begin at the ministers, begin at the bishops, begin at those who are teachers of the gospel. Begin at the chief and heads of the religious world, begin at the high professors who are looked up to as examples. What does Peter say? “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begins with us, what shall the end be of those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

10. The first thing the slaughtermen did was to kill the ancient men who were before the temple, even the seventy elders of the people, for they were secret idolaters. You may be sure that the sword which did not spare the chief men and fathers made very short work with the baser kind. Elders of our churches, ministers of Christ, judgment will begin with us; we must not expect to find more lenient treatment than others at the last great assize; no, rather, if there shall be a specially careful testing of sincerity, it will be for us who have taken on ourselves to lead others to the Saviour. For this reason let us look well to it that we are not deceived or deceivers, for we shall surely be detected in that day. To play the hypocrite is to play the fool. Will a man deceive his Maker, or delude the Most High? It cannot be. You church members, all of you, should look well to it, for judgment will begin with you. God’s fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. In the olden time the people fled to churches and holy places for sanctuary; but how vain will this be when the Lord’s avengers shall come out, since the havoc will begin there! How fiercely shall the sword sweep through the hosts of carnal professors, the men who called themselves servants of God, while they were slaves of the devil; who drank from the cup of the Lord, but were drunk with the wine of their own lusts; who could lie, and cheat, and commit fornication, and yet dared to approach the sacred table of the Lord? What cutting and hewing will there be among the base-born professors of our churches! It would be better for such men that they had never been born, or being born, that their lot had fallen amid heathen ignorance, so that they might have been unable to add sin to sin by lying to the living God. “Begin at my sanctuary.” The word is terrible to all those who have a name to live and are dead. May God grant that in such testing times, when many fail, we may survive every ordeal and, through grace, exclaim in the end, “And I was left.”

11. After the executioners had begun at the sanctuary, it is to be observed that they did not spare anyone, except those on whom the mark was. Old and young, men and women, priests and people, all were slain who did not have the sacred sign; and so in the last tremendous day all sinners who have not fled to Christ will perish. Our dear babes who died in infancy we believe to be all washed in the blood of Jesus, and all saved; but for the rest of mankind who have lived to years of responsibility, there will be only one of two things — they must either be saved, because they had faith in Christ, or else the full weight of divine wrath must fall on them. Either the mark of Christ’s pen, or of Christ’s sword, must be on everyone. There will be no sparing of one man because he was rich, nor of another because he was learned, nor of a third because he was eloquent, nor of a fourth because he was held in high esteem. Those who are marked with the blood of Christ are safe! Without that mark all are lost! This is the one separating sign — do you wear it? Or will you die in your sins? Bow down at once before the feet of Jesus, and beseech him to mark you as his own, so that you may be one of those who will joyfully cry, “And I was left.”

12. II. Now, secondly, I have to call your very particular attention to: — THE PEOPLE WHO ESCAPED, who could each say, “And I was left.”

13. We are told that those were marked for mercy who “sighed and cried for the abominations that were done in the midst of it.” Now, we must be very particular about this. It is no word of mine, remember: it is God’s word, and therefore I ask you to hear and weigh it for yourselves. We do not read that the devouring sword passed by those quiet people who never did anyone any harm: no mention is made of such an exemption. Neither does the record say that the Lord saved those professors who were judicious, and maintained a fair name and reputation until death. No; the only people who were saved were those who were exercised in heart, and that heart-work was of a painful kind: they sighed and cried because of abounding sin. They saw it, protested against it, avoided it, and, last of all, wept over it continually. Where testimony failed, it remained for them to mourn; retiring from public labours, they sat down and sighed their hearts away because of the evils which they could not cure; and when they felt that sighing alone would do no good, they took to crying in prayer to God that he would come and put an end to the dreadful evil which brooded over the land. I would not say a harsh thing, but I wonder, if I were able to read the secret lives of professors of religion, whether I should find that they all sigh and cry over the sins of others? Are the tenth of them engaged like this? I am afraid that it does not cause some people much anxiety when they see sin rampant around them. They say that they are sorry, but it never frets them much, or causes them as much trouble as would come of a lost sixpence or a cut finger. Did you ever feel as if your heart would break over an ungodly son? I do not believe that you are a Christian man if you have such a son, and have not felt an agony on his behalf. Did you ever feel as if you could lay down your life to save that daughter of yours? I cannot believe that you are a Christian woman if you have not sometimes come to that. When you have gone through the street and heard an oath, has your blood not chilled in you? Has not horror taken hold on you because of the wicked? There cannot be much grace in you if that has not been the case. If you can go up and down in the world fully at ease because you are prospering in business, and things go smoothly with you, if you forget the woe of this city’s sin and poverty, and the even greater woe which comes on it, how can the love of God dwell in you? The saving mark is only set on those who sigh and cry, and if you are heartless and indifferent, there is no such mark on you. “Are we to be always miserable?” one asks. Far from it. There are many other things to make us rejoice, but if the sad state of our fellow men does not cause us to sigh and cry, then we do not have the grace of God in us. “Well,” one says, “but every man must look out for himself.” That is the language of Cain — “Am I my brother’s keeper?” That kind of talk is in keeping with the spirit of the wicked one and his seed, but the heir of heaven abhors such language. The genuine Christian loves his race, and therefore he longs to see it made holy and happy. He cannot bear to see men sinning, and so dishonouring God and ruining themselves. If we really love the Lord, we shall sometimes lie awake at night sighing to think how his name is blasphemed, and how little progress his gospel makes. We shall groan to think that men should despise the glorious God who made them, and who daily loads them with benefits. It sometimes lies on my heart like a huge mountain, which crushes my spirit, to think that Jesus should be rejected, and that in this land of Bibles, where Latimer lit a candle which shall never be put out, the old madness is returning, and many are again bowing before the images of jealousy which the priests have set up. Yes, we have priests among us again. You can see them in their long and ugly garments on every street. And women have begun to confess to them! Shame! Shame! I marvel that the crimson blush does not mantle the cheek of everyone who dares to ask or answer the questions appointed for the confessional, and yet the questions are asked, and modesty is outraged, and the multitudes tamely look on. My countrymen are going back to Rome. Their fathers’ noble blood was shed for God, and none was left for the veins of their sons. In vain were the conflicts of the years gone by! In vain a Cromwell’s mighty arm, and the purging of the land! In vain the Puritans driven from their pulpits and witnessing in poverty and persecution! England needs to go back again to wear the fetters forged by papal Rome. My God, prevent it! Prevent it if it costs the lives of thousands of us, for we would be glad to die to save our country from so dire a curse. If you never sigh and cry because of the spread of Ritualism, I do not understand you. What stuff are you made of? “Oh, but my business goes on extremely well.” Yes, and so does mine when souls are saved, but when they are led away into error, my business cannot prosper, but I have loss after loss. I am happy enough when I think Christ’s kingdom comes; but nothing beneath the sky can give me solid satisfaction if my Lord’s work is at a standstill. I wish we were all so taken up with the glory of God that the wickedness of mankind would grieve us to the heart.

14. But it was not their mourning which saved those who escaped — it was the mark which they all received which preserved them from destruction. We must all bear the mark of Jesus Christ. What is that? It is the mark of faith in the atoning blood. That sets apart the chosen of the Lord, and that alone. If you have that mark — and you do not have it unless you sigh and cry over the sins of others — then in that last day no sword of justice can come near you. Did you read that word, “But do not come near any man on whom is the mark.” Do not come even near the marked ones lest they be afraid. The grace-marked man is safe, even from the near approach of evil. Christ bled for him, and therefore he cannot, must not, die. Leave him alone, you bearers of the destroying weapons. Just as the angel of death, when he flew through the land of Egypt, was forbidden to touch a house where the blood of the lamb was on the lintel and the two side-posts, so it is sure that avenging justice cannot touch the man who is in Christ Jesus. Who is he who condemns since Christ has died? Do you have, then, the blood-mark? Yes, or no. Do not refuse to question yourself on this point. Do not take it for granted, lest you be deceived. Believe me, your all hangs on it. If you are not registered by the man clothed in linen, you will not be able to say, “And I was left.”

15. III. This brings me to this last point which I desire to speak on. What were: — THE PROPHET’S EMOTIONS WHEN HE SAID, “AND I WAS LEFT?” He saw men falling right and left, and he himself stood like a lone rock amid a sea of blood; and he cried in wonder, “And I was left.”

16. Let us hear what he further says — “I fell on my face.” He lay prostrate with humility. Do you have a hope that you are saved? Fall on your face, then! See the hell from which you are delivered, and bow before the Lord. Why are you to be saved more than anyone else? Certainly not because of any merit in you. It is due to the sovereign grace of God alone. Fall on your face and acknowledge your indebtedness.

   Why was I made to hear thy voice,

      And enter while there’s room,

   When thousands make a wretched choice,

      And rather starve than come?

“And I was left.”

17. If a man has been a drunkard, and has at length been led to flee to Christ, when he says, “And I was left,” he will feel the hot tears rising to his eyes, for many other drinkers have died in delirium. One who has been a public sinner, when she is saved, will not be able to think of it without astonishment. Indeed, each saved man is a marvel to himself. No one here wonders more about divine grace in his salvation than I do myself. Why was I chosen, and called, and saved? I cannot figure it out, and I never shall; but I will always praise, and bless, and magnify my Lord for casting an eye of love on me. Will you not do the same, beloved, if you feel that you by grace are left? Will you not fall on your face and bless the mercy which makes you to differ?

18. What did the prophet do next? Finding that he was left he began to pray for others. “Ah, Lord,” he said, “will you destroy all the remnant of Israel?” Intercession is an instinct of the renewed heart. When the believer finds that he is safe, he must pray for his fellow men. Though the prophet’s prayer was too late, yet, blessed be God, ours will not be. We shall be heard. Pray, then, for perishing men. Ask God, who has spared you, to spare those who are like you. Someone has said, there will be three great wonders in heaven, first, to see so many there whom we never expected to meet in glory; secondly, to miss so many of whom we felt sure that they must be safe; and thirdly, the greatest wonder of all will be to find ourselves there. I am sure that everyone who has a hope of being in glory feels it to be a marvel; and he resolves, “If I am saved, I will sing the loudest of them all, for I shall owe the most to the abounding mercy of God.”

19. Let me ask a few questions, and I am finished. The first — and let each man ask it of himself — shall I be left when the ungodly are slain? Answer it now to yourselves. Men, women, children, will you be spared in that last great day? Are you in Christ? Do you have a good hope in him? Do not lie to yourselves. You will be weighed in the balances; will you be found wanting or not? “Shall I be left?” Let that question burn into your souls.

20. Next, will my relatives be saved? My wife, my husband, my children, my brother, my sister, my father, my mother — will these all be saved? Happy are we who can say, “Yes, we believe they will,” as some of us can joyfully hope. But if you have to say, “No, I fear that my boy is unconverted, or that my father is unsaved,” then do not rest until you have wrestled with God for their salvation. Good woman, if you are obliged to say, “I fear my husband is unconverted,” join me in prayer. Bow your heads at once and cry to your God, “Lord, save our children! Lord, save our parents! Lord, save our husbands and wives, our brothers and sisters; and let all of our families meet in heaven, unbroken circles, for your name’s sake!”

21. May God hear that prayer if it has come from the lips of sincerity! I could not endure the thought of missing one of my boys in heaven. I hope I shall see them both there, and therefore I am in deep sympathy with any of you who have not seen your households brought to Christ. Oh for grace to pray earnestly and labour zealously for the salvation of your whole households.

22. The next earnest enquiry is, if you and your relatives are saved, how about your neighbours, your fellow workmen, your companions in business? “Oh,” you say, “many of them are scoffers. A good many of them are still in the gall of bitterness.” A sorrowful fact, but have you spoken to them? It is amazing what a kind word will do. Have you tried it? Did you ever try to speak to that person who meets you every morning as you go to work? Suppose he should be lost! Oh, it will be a bitter feeling for you to think that he went down to the pit without your making an effort to bring him to God. Do not let it be so. “But we must not be too pushy,” one says. I do not know about that. If you saw poor people in a burning house, no one would blame you for being officious if you helped to save them. When a man is drowning in the river, if you jump in and pull him out, no one will say, “You were rude and intrusive, for you were never introduced to him!” This world has been lost, and it must be saved; and we must not mind manners in saving it. We must get a grip of sinking sinners somehow, even if it is by the hair of their heads, before they sink, for if they sink they are lost for ever. They will forgive us very soon for any roughness that we use; but we shall not forgive ourselves if, for lack of a little energy, we permit them to die without a knowledge of the truth.

23. Oh, beloved friends, if you are left while others perish, I beseech you, by the mercies of God, by the heart of compassion which is in Christ Jesus, by the bleeding wounds of the dying Son of God, love your fellow men, and sigh and cry about them if you cannot bring them to Christ. If you cannot save them, you can weep over them. If you cannot give them a drop of cold water in hell, you can give them your heart’s tears while they are still in this body.

24. But are you in very deed reconciled to God yourselves? Reader, are you cured of the awful disease of sin? Are you marked with the blood-red sign of trust in the atoning blood? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, may the Lord have mercy on you! May you have enough sense to have mercy on yourself. May the Spirit of God instruct you to that end. Amen.

{a} Gin Palace: A gaudily decorated public house.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ro 8:14-30}

14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Not those who say they are “the sons of God,” but those who undoubtedly prove that they are, by being led, influenced, and gently guided, by the Spirit of God.

15. For you have yet received the spirit of bondage again to fear: but you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”

We did receive the spirit of bondage once. We felt that we were under the law, and that the law cursed us. We felt its rigorous taxation, and that we could not meet it. Now that spirit has gone, and we have the spirit of freedom, the spirit of children, the spirit of adoption. I suppose that the apostle, when he spoke like this and said, “you,” felt so much of the spirit of adoption in his own heart that he could not talk about it as only belonging to others. He was obliged to include it, and so he puts it like this, “You have received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” He wanted to intimate that he himself also was a partaker of this blessed spirit. And woe to the preacher who can preach an adoption which he never enjoyed. Woe to any of us if we can teach to others concerning the spirit of sonship, but never feel it crying in our own souls, “Abba, Father.”

16. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

It corroborates the testimony of conscience. We feel that we are the children of God; and the Spirit of God comes forward as a second, but an even greater and higher witness, to confirm the testimony that we are the children of God.

17. And if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

It is to be all with him. With him in the suffering; with him in the glory; with him in the reproach of men; with him in the honour at the right hand of the Father. But if we shun the path of humiliation with him, we may expect that he will deny us in the day of his glory.

18. For I consider

Judge, count it up, and calculate.

18. That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

These sufferings, however, sharp, are short, compared with eternal glory, infinitesimal, not worthy to be taken account of; like one drop falling into a river and lost in it.

19-21. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the unveiling of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

There is a future even for materialism. That poor, dusky clod in which we dwell is yet to be illuminated with the light of God; and these poor bodies which are akin to the dust of the earth, and still remain as if they were not delivered, being subjected to pain, and weakness, and death — even they are yet to be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

22, 23. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body.

The soul has obtained its redemption. Therefore, our heart is glad, and our glory rejoicing. But our body has not yet obtained its redemption. That is to come at the resurrection. Then will be the adoption. “Waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body.” Oh! blessed fact! Though now, in common with the whole creation, the body is subjected to bondage, yet it shall be delivered, and we — the whole man, body as well as soul and spirit — shall be brought into the liberty of the children of God.

24, 25. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, then we wait for it with patience.

Ah! brethren, if we could be all we should like to be, there would then be no room for the exercise of hope. If we had all that we are to have, then hope, which is one of the sweetest of the graces, would have no room in which to exercise herself. It is a blessed thing to have hope. Though I have heard that faith and hope are not to be found in heaven, I very much question it. I do not think they will ever die. “Now these three continue — faith, hope, and love”; for in heaven there will be room, surely, for trust in the ever-blessed God that he will never cast us out from our blessedness — room for the expectation of the second advent — room for the expectation of the conquest of the world — room for the fulfilled promise of bringing all the elect to glory; still something to be hoped for; still something to be believed. Yet here is the main sphere of hope, and therefore let us give it full scope; and when other graces seem to be at a nonplus, let us still hope. I believe the New Zealand word for hope is “swimming thought,” because that will swim when everything else is drowned. Oh! happy is that man who has a hope that swims on the crest of the stormiest billow.

26. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities.

And especially our infirmities in prayer, for that is the place where infirmities are mostly seen.

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.

I should have thought that it would have read, “But the Spirit himself teaches us what we should pray for.” But he does more than that. He goes beyond teaching us what we should pray for. He “makes intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Do you know what those groanings are? I am afraid that those who never had groanings which cannot be uttered will never know anything of that glory which cannot be expressed, for that is the way to it. The groanings that cannot be uttered lead on to unutterable joy.

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.

That is the philosophy of prayer. Whatever God’s will is, the Spirit of God writes it on the hearts of praying saints, and they pray for the very thing which God intends to give. Just as the barometer often foretells the weather that is coming, so the spirit of prayer in the Christian is the barometer which indicates when showers of blessing are coming. It is well with us when we can pray. If we cannot do anything else, if we feel that we can pray, times are not so bad with us as we might think.

28. And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are the called according to his purpose.

We know it: we are assured of it.

29, 30. For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he predestinated, those he also called: and whom he called, those he also justified: and whom he justified, those he also glorified.

There is no breaking of these links. Where God gives one of these blessings, he gives the rest. There is no intimation of a failure somewhere in between. The predestinated are called, and the called are justified, and the justified are glorified.

31-33. What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?

Who shall? Who may? Who dares?

33-35. It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

All these have done their worst.

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

But have they separated the saints from the love of Christ? Have they made the saints stop loving Christ, or Christ cease from loving his people?

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.

For which blessed be the name of the adorable Trinity, world without end!