For Whom is the Gospel

Meant?
Scripture: Mark 2:17 Sermon No. 1,345
“They that are whole have no need of the physician, hut they that are sick: I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”— Mark ii. 17.
Christ died for the ungodly.”— Romans v. 6. “God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”— Romans
v. 8. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”— 1 Timothy i. 15.
 
LAST Thursday evening, with considerable difficulty, I stood here to
preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I handled one of the simplest
imaginable texts full of nothing but the very plainest elements of the
gospel. Within a very few minutes I had a harvest for the sermon. The
congregation was slender, for you know how ill a night it was, and how
little you expected that your pastor would be able to preach, but three
souls came forward uninvited to acknowledge that they had found peace
with God. How many more there were I do not know, but these three
sought out the brethren, and bore a good and hearty confession to the
blessed fact that for the first time in their lives they had understood the
plan of salvation. Now, it seemed to me that if a plain gospel theme was
so promptly profitable, I had better keep to the like subjects. If a farmer
finds that a certain seed has paid him so well that he never had a better
crop before, then he will keep to that seed, and sow more of it. Those
processes of husbandry which have been successful should be
persevered in, and even used upon a larger scale. So this morning I shall
just preach the A B C of the gospel, the first rudiments of the art of
salvation, and I thank God this will be no new thing to me. May God the
Holy Spirit, in answer to your prayers, grant us a reward this morning
after the same proportion as last Thursday, and, if so, our heart will be
exceeding glad.
     Out of a very great number I have selected the four texts which I
have read just to set forth the truth that the mission of our Lord related to
sinners. What did Christ come into the world for? For whom did he
come? These are questions of the greatest importance, and they are
clearly answered in Scripture. When the children of Israel first found
manna outside the camp they said to one another, “Manna?” or, what is
it? for they wist not what it was. There it lay, a small round thing, as
small as the hoar frost upon the ground. No doubt they looked at it and
rubbed it m their hands, and smelt it, but how glad they were when
Moses said, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.”
They were not long before they put the good news to the test, for each
man gathered his omer full and took it home, and prepared it according
to his liking. Now, concerning the gospel, there are many who might call
out “Manna?” for they know not what it is. Very frequently, too they
make a mistake as to its bearings and its objects, dreaming that it is a
kind of improved law, or an easier system of salvation by works; and
hence they err also in their idea of the persons for whom it is designed.
They imagine that surely the blessings of salvation must be meant for
deserving persons, and Christ must be the Redeemer of the meritorious.
On the principle of “good for the good” they infer that grace is for the
excellent and Christ for the virtuous. Hence it is a most useful thing for
us continually to be reminding men what the gospel is, and for whom it
is sent into the world; for, though the great mass of you know full well,
and do not need to be told, yet there are multitudes around us who
persist in grave mistakes, and need to be instructed over and over again
in the very simplest of the doctrines of grace. There is less need for
laborious explanations of profound mysteries than for simple
explanations of plain truths. Many men need only a simple latchkey to
lift the latch and open the door of faith, and such a key I hope God’s
infinite mercy may put into their hands this morning. Our business is to
show that the gospel is intended for sinners, that it has an eye to guilty
persons; that it is not sent into the world as a reward for the good and for
the excellent, or for those who think they have any measure of fitness or
preparation for the divine favour; but that it is intended for law breakers,
for the undeserving, for the ungodly, for those who. have gone astray
like lost sheep, or left their father’s house like the prodigal. Christ died
to save sinners, and he justifieth the ungodly; The truth is plain enough
in the Word, but since the human heart kicks against it we will the more
earnestly insist upon it.
     First, EVEN A SUPERFICIAL GLANCE AT OUR LORD’S
MISSION SUFFICES TO SHOW THAT HIS WORK WAS FOR THE
SINFUL. For, dear brethren, the descent of the Son of God into this
world as a Saviour implied that men needed to be delivered from a great
evil by a divine hand. The coming of a Saviour who should by his death
provide pardon for human sin supposed men to be greatly guilty, and to
be incapable of procuring pardon by any doings of their own. Yon
would never have seen a Saviour if there had not been a fall Eden’s
withering was a necessary preface to Gethsemane’s groaning. Yon
would never have heard of a cross and a bleeding Saviour on it if you
had. not first heard of the tree of the- knowledge of good and evil, and of
a disobedient hand which plucked the forbidden fruit. If the mission of
our Lord did not refer to the guilty it was- an unnecessary errand
altogether, so far as we can see. What justifies the incarnation except
man’s ruin? What explains our Lord’s suffering life but man’s guilt?
Above all, what explains his death and the cloud, under which he died
but human sin? “All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all” — that is the answer to an otherwise
unanswerable riddle.
     If we give a glance at the covenant under which our Lord came we
soon perceive that its bearing is towards guilty men. The blessing of the
covenant of works has to do with men who are innocent, and to them it
promises great blessings. If there had been salvation by works it would
have been by the law, for the law is upright and just and good; but the
new covenant evidently deals with sinners, for it does not speak of the
reward of merit, but it freely promises, “I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no
more.” If there had been no sins and iniquities, and no unrighteousness,
then there had been no need of the covenant of grace, of which Christ is
the messenger and the ambassador. The slightest glimpse at our Lord’s
official character as the Adam of a new covenant should suffice to
convince us that his errand is to guilty men. Moses comes to show how
the holy should behave, hut Jesus comes to reveal how the unholy may
be cleansed.
     Whenever we hear the mission of Christ spoken of it is described as
one of mercy and of grace. In the redemption which is in Christ Jesus it
is always the mercy of God that is extolled— according to his mercy he
saved us. He for Christ’s sake, according to his abundant mercy,
forgiveth us our trespasses. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and
truth by Jesus Christ.” “The grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is
by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” The apostle Paul,
who most fully expoundeth the gospel, makes grace to be the one word
upon which he rings the changes: “where sin abounded grace did much
more abound.” “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God.” “Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” But, brethren, mercy implies
sinfulness: there can be no mercy extended to the just, for justice itself
secures every good thing to them. Grace, too, can only be for offenders.
What grace is wanted by those who have kept the law, and deserved
well at Jehovah’s hands? To them eternal life would be a matter of debt,
a fairly earned reward; but when you talk of grace you at once shut out
merit and introduce another principle. Mercy can only he exercised
where there is sin and grace cannot be manifested except to the
undeserving. This is plain enough, and yet the whole tenor of some
men’s religion is based on another theory.
     The fact is, when we begin to study the gospel of the grace of God
we see that it turns its face always towards sin, even as a physician looks
towards disease, or as charity looks towards distress. The gospel issues
its invitations; but what are the invitations? Are they not addressed to
those who are burdened with a load of sin, and labouring to escape from
its consequences? It invites every creature because every creature has its
needs, but it specially says “Let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts.” It invites the man who has no money, or,
in other words, no merit. It calls to those who are needy, and thirsty, and
poor, and naked, and all these are but used as figures of states produced
by sin. The very gifts of the gospel imply sin; life is for the dead, sight is
for the blind, liberty is for the captives, cleansing is for the filthy,
absolution is for the sinful. No gospel blessing is proposed as a reward,
and no invitation is issued to those who claim the blessings of grace as a
matter of right; men are invited to come and receive them freely
according to the grace of God. And what are the commands of the
gospel? Repent. But who repenteth save a sinner? Believe. But believing
is not according to the law; the law speaks only of doing. Believing has
to do with sinners, and with the method of salvation by grace.
     The gospel representations of itself usually look sinnerward. The
great king who makes a feast finds not a guest to sit at the table among
those who were naturally expected to come, but from the highways and
hedges men are compelled to come in. If the gospel describes itself as a
feast it is a great feast for the blind, the halt, and the lame; if it describes
itself as a fountain it is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.
Everywhere, in all that it does and says and provides to men, the gospel
proves itself to be the sinner’s friend. The motto of its Founder and Lord
still is “this man receiveth sinners.” The gospel is an hospital for the
sick, none but the guilty will ever accept its benefits; it is medicine for
the diseased, the whole and the self-righteous will never relish its saving
draughts. Those who imagine that they have some excellence before
God will never care to be saved by sovereign grace. The gospel, I say,
looks sinnerward. That way and that way only doth it cast its blessings.
     And brethren, ye know that the gospel has always found its greatest
trophies amongst the most sinful: it enlists its best soldiers not only from
amongst the guilty but from amongst the most guilty. “Simon,” said our
Lord, “I have somewhat to say unto thee— A certain man had two
debtors, the one owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty, and
when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both. Tell me
therefore, which of them will love him most?” The gospel goes upon the
principle that he who has had much forgiven the same loveth much, and
so its gracious Lord delights to seek out the most guilty and to manifest
himself to them with abundant and overflowing love, saying “I have
blotted out thy sing like a cloud, and like a thick cloud thy
transgressions.” Among great transgressors it finds its warmest lovers
when once it has saved them, from these it receives the heartiest
welcome and in them it obtains the most enthusiastic adherents. Great
sinners when saved crown free grace with its most illustrious diadems.
Well may we be sure that it has its eye towards sinners, since it is
amongst the chief of sinners that it finds its highest glory.
     There is one other reflection which also lies very near the surface,
namely, that if the gospel do not look towards sinners, to whom else
could it look? There seems to have been a revival lately of the old
cavilling spirit, so that proud Pharisees constantly tell us that the
preaching of justification by faith is overdone, and that we are leading
people to think less of morality by preaching up the grace of God. This
oft refuted objection is coming forth again, because Protestantism is
losing its sap and soul. The very force and backbone of the Reformers’
teaching was that great doctrine of grace, that salvation is not of works
but of the grace of God alone; and because men are getting away from
the Reformation, and drifting into Romanism, they are casting into the
background this grand truth of justification by faith alone, and
pretending to be afraid of it. But O, knaves and fools that most men are
upon this matter! I put to all such this one question— To whom, sirs,
would the gospel look if mot towards sinners, for what are you but
sinners? You who talk about morality being injured, about holiness
being ignored, what have you to do with either? The people who usually
urge these objections, as a rule, had better be quiet on such topics. In
general these fierce defenders of morality and holiness are exceedingly
lax, while believers in the grace of God are frequently charged with
Puritanism and rigidity. He who stands out most to speak against the
doctrines of grace is frequently the man who needs grace most, while the
very man who cries down good works as a ground of trust is just the
person whose life is carefully directed by the statutes of the Lord. Know
ye, O men, that there lives not on the face of   the earth a man upon
whom God can look with pleasure if he consider that man on the ground
of his law. “They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become
unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one,”— not one is
sound and right before God by nature, not one life is pure and clean
when the Lord comes to examine it with his all-searching eye. We are
shut up in the same prison as all guilty: if not alike guilty, yet guilty
according to the proportion of our light and knowledge, and each one
justly condemned, for we have erred in heart and have not loved the
Lord. To whom, then, could the gospel look if it did not cast its eyes
sinnerward? For whom else could the Saviour have died? Who is there
in the world for whom the benefits of grace could be designed?
     II. Secondly, THE MORE CLOSELY WE LOOK THE MORE
CLEAR THIS FACT BECOMES, for, brethren, the work of salvation
was certainly not performed for any one of us who are saved on account
of any goodness in us. If there be any goodness in us, it was put there by
the grace of God and it certainly was not there when first the bowels of
Jehovah’s love began to move towards us. If you take the first ensign of
salvation that was actually visible on earth, namely, the coming of
Christ, we are told concerning it that “when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a
righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some
would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” So that our
redemption, my brother, was effected before we were born. This was the
fruit of the Father’s great love “wherewith he loved us, even when we
were dead in sins.” There was nothing in us going before which could
have merited that redemption, indeed the very idea of meriting the death
of Jesus is absurd and blasphemous. Yes, and when we were living in
sin and loving it, there were preparations made for our salvation j divine
love was busy on our behalf when we were busy in rebellion. The gospel
was brought near to us, earnest hearts were set a praying for us, the text
was written which would convert us; and as I have already said, the
blood was spilt which cleanses us, and the Spirit of God was given, who
should renew us. All this was done while as yet we had no breathings of
soul after God. Is not that a wonderful passage in Ezekiel, where the
Lord passed by and saw the helpless infant cast out in the open field
while it was yet unswaddled and unwashed, but was foul and polluted in
its own blood? He says that it was a time of love, and yet it was a time
of pollution and loathing. He did not love the chosen babe because it
was well washed and fitly clad, but he loved it when it was foul and
naked. Let every believing heart admire the freeness and compassion of
divine love.
“He saw me ruin’d in the fall.
Yet loved me, notwithstanding all;
He saved me from my lost estate,
His loving-kindness, oh, how great!”
When thy heart was hard, when thy neck was obstinate, when thou
wouldst not repent nor yield to him but rebelled yet more and more, he
loved thee, even thee, with supreme affection. Why such grace? Why
indeed, but because his nature is full of goodness and he delighteth in
mercy. Is not mercy seen to be evidently extended towards the sinful and
not exerted because of some goodness moving thereto?
     Look a little closer still. What did our Lod come into the world to do?
Here is the answer. “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.” He came that he might be a sin-
bearer: and do you think he came to bear only the little, trifling sins of
the best sort of men, if such sins there ‘be? Do you suppose that he is a
little Saviour, who came to save us from little offences? Beloved, it is
Jehovah’s darling Son that comes to earth and bears the load of sin, a
load which, when he bears it, he finds to be no fictitious burden, for it
forces from him the bloody sweat. So heavy is that load that he bows his
head to the grave, and even unto death, beneath it. That stupendous load
which lay on Christ was the heap of our sins; and hence as we look into
the subject we perceive that the gospel must have to do with sinners. No
sin! Then is the cross a mistake. No sin! Then the lama sahachthani was
a just complaint against unnecessary cruelty. No sin! Then, O Redeemer,
what are those glories which we have so eagerly ascribed to thee? How
canst thou put away sin which does not exist? The existence of great sin
is implied in the coming of Christ, and that coming was occasioned and
rendered necessary by sin, against which Jesus comes as our Deliverer.
He declares that he has opened a fountain, filled with the blood of his
own veins. But what for? A cleansing fountain implies filth. It must be,
sinner, that somewhere or other there are filthy people, or else there had
not been such an amazing fountain as this, filled from the heart of
Christ. If thou be guilty thou art one who needs the fountain, and it is
opened for thee. Come thou with all thy sin and foulness about thee and
wash this morning, and be clean.
“’Twas for sinners that he suffer’d
Agonies unspeakable;
Canst thou doubt thou art a sinner?
If thou canst — then hope farewell.
“But, believing what is written—
‘All are guilty’— ‘dead in sin,’
Looking to the Crucified One
Hope shall rise thy soul within.”
     Brethren, all the gifts which Jesus Christ came to give, or at least
most of them, imply that there is sin. What is his first gift but pardon?
How can he pardon a man who has not transgressed? With all reverence
do I speak, there can be no such thing as pardon where there is no
offence committed. Propitiation for sin and blotting out of iniquity both
require that there must be sin to be blotted out, or what is there real
about them? Christ comes to bring justification, and this shows that
there must be a lack of natural holiness in men, for if not they would be
justified by themselves and by their own works. And why all this outcry
about justification by the righteousness of the Son of God if men are
already justified by a righteousness of their own? Those two blessings,
and others of the same kind, are clearly applicable only to sinful men.
To no other men can they be of any use.
     Our Lord Jesus Christ came girded also with divine power. He says,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” To what end was he girded with
divine power unless it be because sin had taken all power and strength
from man, and man was in a condition out of which he could not be
lifted except by the energy of the eternal Spirit? And what does this
imply but that Christ’s errand bears upon those who through sin are
without strength and without merit before God? The Holy Spirit is given
because man’s spirit has failed: because sin has taken the life out of
man, and made him dead in trespasses and sins, therefore comes the
Holy Spirit to quicken him into newness of life, and that Spirit comes by
Jesus Christ. Therefore the errand of Jesus Christ is manifestly to the
guilty.
     I will not omit to say that the great deeds of our Lord, if you look at
them carefully, all bear upon sinners. Jesus lives; it is that he may seek
and save that which is lost. Jesus dies; it is that he may make a
propitiation for the sins of guilty men. Jesus rises; he rises again for our
justification, and as I have shown, we should not want justification
unless we had been naturally guilty. Jesus ascends on high, and he
receives gifts for men; but note that special word, “Yea, for the
rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell among them.” Jesus lives
in heaven, but he lives there to intercede. “Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them.” So take whatever part of his
glorious achievements you please you will find that there is a distinct
bearing towards those who are immersed in guilt.
     And beloved, all the gifts and blessings that Jesus Christ has brought
to us derive much of their radiance from their bearing upon sinners. It is
in Christ Jesus that we are elect, and to my mind the glory of electing
love lies in this, that it pitched upon such undeserving objects. How had
there been any election had it been according to merit? Then men would
have taken rank by right according to their own deeds, but election’s
glories are brilliant with grace, and grace always has for its foil and
background the unworthiness of the objects towards whom it is
manifested. The election of God is not according to our works, but it is a
gracious election of sinners. Adore and wonder.
     Turn you to effectual calling, and see how delightful it is to view that
calling as a calling from among the dead, as a calling of the things that
are not as though they were, as a calling of condemned ones into
forgiveness and favour. Turn ye next to adoption. What is the glory of
adoption, but that God has adopted those who were strangers and rebels
to make them his children? What is the peculiar beauty of regeneration,
but that he has been able of these stones to raise up children unto
Abraham? What is the beauty of sanctification, but that he has taken
such unholy creatures as we are to make us kings and priests unto God,
and to sanctify us wholly— spirit, soul, and body? To my mind it is the
glory of heaven to think that yonder white-robed choristers were once
foully defiled; those happy worshippers were once rebels against God. It
is a happy sight to see the unfallen angels who have kept their first
estate, perfectly pure and for ever praising God; but the vision of fallen
-men divinely restored is more full of the glory of God. Lift as they may
their joyful voices in perpetual chorales the angels can never reach the
special sweetness of that song— “We have washed our robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.” They cannot experimentally enter
into that truth which is of Jehovah’s name its crowning glory— “Thou
wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.”
    Thus I have abundantly shown that the further we look the more clear
it is that the gospel is aimed at sinners and especially intended for their
benefit.
     III. Now, thirdly, it is evident that IT IS OUR WISDOM TO
ACCEPT THE SITUATION. I know that to many this is very
UDPALATABLE doctrine. Well, friend, you had better have your
palate altered, for you will never be able to alter the doctrine. It is the
truth of the everlasting God, and cannot be changed. The very best thing
you can do, since the gospel looks towards sinners, is to get where the
gospel looks; and I can recommend this to you, not merely on the
ground of policy, but on the ground of honesty, because you will be only
in your right place when you get there. I think I hear you raising
objections. “I do not admire this system. Am I to be saved in the same
way as the dying thief?” Precisely so, sir, unless there should happen to
be even more grace shown towards you than to him. “But you do not
mean to assert that in the matter of salvation I am to be put on a level
with the woman that was a sinner? I have been pure and chaste, and am I
to owe my salvation just as much to the absolute mercy of God as she
did?” Yes, sir, I do say that, exactly as it stands. There is but one
principle upon which the Lord saves men, and it is that of pure grace. I
want you to understand this. Even if it grinds like grit between your
teeth, and makes you angry; I shall not regret it so long as you know
what I mean; for the truth may yet find entrance into your soul, and you
may yet bow before its power. Oh, you children of godly parents, you
young people of excellent morals and delicate consciences, to you I
speak, even to you. Rejoice in your privileges, but do not boast in them,
for you too have sinned, you have sinned against light and knowledge,
you know you have. If you have not plunged into the grosser sins in act
and deed, yet in desire and in imagination you have gone far enough
astray, and in many things you have offended grievously against God. If,
with these considerations before you, you take your place as a sinner
you will not be disgraced, but be merely standing where you certainly
are.
     And then remember, if you get the blessing this way, you will have
obtained, it in the safest possible way. Suppose there are a number of
guest chambers, and I have my seat in one of the best of them, I may
have no right to be there. I am eating and drinking of what is provided
for superior guests, but my ticket does not mark me out as one of these,
and therefore I am ill at ease. Every mouthful that I eat I think to myself,
“I do not know whether I shall be allowed to remain here, perhaps the
Lord of the feast will come in and say to me, ‘Friend how earnest thou
in hither?’ and I must begin with shame to take the lowest room.”
Brethren, when we begin at the bottom, and sit in the lowest room we
feel safe, we are satisfied that what we do get is meant for us, and will
not be taken away from us. Perhaps, also, when the king comes he may
take us up to a higher room. There is nothing like beginning, in the
lowliest place. When I lay hold of the promise as a saint I have my
doubts about it, but when I grasp it as a sinner I can have no question. If
the Lord bid me feed on his mercy as his child I do it, but the devil
whispers that I am presuming, for I never was really adopted by grace;
but when I come to Jesus as a guilty, undeserving sinner, and take what
the Lord freely presents to me upon believing, the devil himself cannot
tell me that I am not a sinner, or if he does the lie is too transparent, and
causes me no distress. There is nothing like having an indefeasible title,
and if the description given to you in the title is that you are a sinner, it
is an indisputable one, for depend upon it a sinner you are. So the
sinner’s place is your true place and your safest place.
     Another blessing is, it is a place into which you can get directly, even
at this very moment. If the gospel looks towards men in a certain state of
heart in which there are commendable virtues, then how long will it take
me to raise my heart to that state? If Jesus Christ comes into the world to
save men who have a certain measure of excellence, then how long will
it take me to obtain that excellence? I may be taken sick and die within
half-an-hour, and hear the sentence of eternal judgment, and it would be
poor gospel to tell me that I might possibly obtain salvation if I attained
a state which would take me several months to reach. At this hour I, a
dying man, do know that I may be gone out of this world and beyond the
reach of mercy within an hour; what a comfort it is that the gospel
comes to me and gives itself to me just now, even as it finds me! I am
already in that position in which grace begins with men, for I am a
sinner, and I have only to own that I am so. Now then, poor soul, just sit
thee down before the Lord and say, “Lord, does thy Son come to save
the guilty? I am such, and I trust him to save me. Did he die for the
ungodly? L am such, Lord, I trust in his blood to cleanse me. Was his
death for sinners? Lord, I take up the position. I plead guilty. I accept the
sentence of thy law as being just, but save me, Lord, for Jesus died.” It is
done; you are saved. Go in peace, my son; thy sins, which are many, are
forgiven thee. Go, my daughter, go thy way, and rejoice: the Lord hath
put away thy sin; thou shalt not die, for he that believeth is justified from
all sin. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and
in whose spirit there is no guile. Get, then, into your true position, accept
the situation in which grace considers you to be; Do not talk of justice
and merit; but appeal to pity and love. A certain man had several times
plotted against the first Napoleon, and eventually, being entirely in the
emperor’s hands, sentence of death was pronounced upon him. His
daughter earnestly pleaded for his life, and at last, having obtained an
audience with the emperor, she fell upon her knees before him. “My
girl,” said the emperor, “it is of no use to plead for your father, for I
have the clearest evidence of his repeated crimes, and it is but justice
that he should die.” The girl replied, “Sire, I do not ask for justice, I beg
for mercy. It is upon the mercifulness of your heart and not upon the
justice of the case that I rely.” She was heard patiently, and her father’s
life was spared at her request. Imitate this appeal, and cry, “Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness.” Justice owes you
nothing but death, mercy alone can spare you. Have done with every
idea of making out a good case: admit it to be a bad one and plead
guilty. Cast yourself upon the mercy of the court and ask for mercy, free
mercy, undeserved mercy, gratuitous favour: this is what you must ask
for, and as in law they have a form of suing called in forma pauperis,
that is, in the form of a pauper, do you adopt the method, and as a man
full of necessities do you beg for favour at the hands of God, in forma
pauperis, and it shall be bestowed upon you.
     IV. Now I close this discourse with the next point, which is, THIS
DOCTRINE HAS A GREAT SANCTIFYING INFLUENCE. “There,”
Says One, “I do not believe that. Surely you have been holding out a
premium to sin by saying that Christ came to save nobody but sinners,
and does not call anybody to repentance but the sinful.” My dear sirs, I
have heard all that sort of talk so many times that I know it by heart; the
same objections were raised against this doctrine in Luther’s day by the
Papists, and since then by workmongers of all classes. There is nothing
substantial in their notion that free grace is opposed to morality: it is
only their fancy. They dream that the doctrine of justification by faith
will lead to sin, but it can be proved by history that whenever this
doctrine has been best preached men have become most holy, and
whenever this truth has been darkened, all manner of corruption has
abounded. Gracious, doctrine and gracious living fitly go together, and
legal teaching and unlawful living are generally found associated.
     Let us show you the sanctifying power of this gospel. Its first
operation in that direction is this: when the Holy Spirit brings the truth
of free pardon home to a man it completely changes his thoughts
concerning God. “What,” says he, “has God freely forgiven me all my
offences for Christ’s sake? And does he love me notwithstanding all my
sin? I did not know he was such an one as this, so gracious and kind! I
thought he was hard; I called him a tyrant, gathering where he had not
strewed; but does he feel towards me like this?” “Then,” saith the soul,
“I love him in return.” There is a complete revulsion of feeling; the man
is turned right round as soon as ever he understands redeeming grace
and dying love. Conversion follows on a sight of grace.
     Moreover, this grand truth does more than turn a man, it inspires,
melts, enlivens, and inflames him. This is a truth which stirs the deeps of
the heart, and fills the man with lively emotions. You talked to him
about doing good, and about right, and justice, and reward, and
punishment, and he heard it all, and it may have it had a measure of
influence over him, but he did not deeply feel it. Such teaching is too
cold to warm the heart. The truth which comes home to the man appears
to him to be new and exciting. It runs like this,— God out of his free
mercy forgives the guilty, and he has forgiven you. Why, this awakens
him, stirs him up, touches the fountain of his tears, and moves his whole
being. Perhaps at the first hearing of the gospel he does not care for it,
and even hates it, but when it comes with power it obtains a wonderful
mastery over him. When he really receives its message as his own, then
his cold heart of stone is turned to flesh; warm emotion, tender love,
humble desire, and a sacred longing after the Lord are all excited in his
bosom. The quickening power of this divine truth, as well as the
converting power of it, can never be too much admired.
     Besides, this truth when it enters the heart deals a deadly blow at the
man’s self-conceit Many a man would have become wise only he
thought he was so already; and many a mam would have been virtuous
only he concluded that he had already attained thereto. Behold, this
doctrine smites upon the skull all confidence in your own goodness, and
makes you feel your guilt; and in so doing it removes the great evil of
pride. A sense of sin is the very threshold of mercy. A consciousness of
shortcoming, a grief because of past offences, is a necessary preparation
for a higher and a nobler life. The gospel digs out the foundation, makes
a great vacuum, and so makes room to lay in their places the glorious
stones of a noble spiritual character.
     Moreover, where this truth is received there is sure to spring up in the
soul a sense of gratitude. The man who has had much forgiven will be
sure to love much in return. Gratitude to God is a grand mainspring for
holy action. Those who do right in order to be rewarded for it are acting
selfishly. Selfishness is at the bottom of their character, they abstain
from sin only lest self should suffer, and they obey only that self may be
safe and happy. The man who does right, not because of heaven or hell
but because God has saved him, and he loves the God who saved him, is
the truly right-loving man. He who loves right because God loves it has
risen out of the bog of selfishness and is capable of the loftiest virtue,
yea, he has in him a living spring, which will well up and flow forth in
holy living so long as he exists.
     And, dear brethren, I think: you will all see that free forgiveness to
sinners is very conducive towards one part of a true character, namely,
readiness to forgive others, for he who has been forgiven much himself
is the very man who finds it easy to pass by the transgressions of others.
If he do not so he may well doubt whether he has been himself forgiven;
but if the Lord has blotted out his debt of a thousand talents he will
readily enough forgive the hundred pence which his brother owes him.
     Last of all, some of us know, and we wish that all knew by personal
experience, that a sense of undeserved favour and free forgiveness is the
very soul of enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is to Christianity what the
lifeblood is to the body. Were you ever made enthusiastic by a cold
discourse upon the excellence of morality? Did you ever feel your soul
stirred within you by listening to a sermon upon the rewards of virtue?
Were you ever made enthusiastic by being told of the punishments of
the law? No, sirs; but preach up the doctrines of grace, let the free
favour of God be extolled, and mark the consequences. There are people
who will walk for many miles and stand without weariness by the hour
together to hear this. I have known them labour many a weary mile to
listen to this doctrine. What for? Because the man was eloquent, or
because he put it well? Not so: it has sometimes been badly spoken, and
in uncouth language, and yet this doctrine has always aroused the
people. There is something in the soul of man that is looking out for the
gospel of grace, and when it comes there is a hungering to hear about it.
Look at the Reforming times, when death was the penalty of listening to
a sermon: how the people crowded at midnight; how they journeyed into
the deserts and the caves to listen to the teaching of these grand old
truths. There is sweetness about mercy, divine mercy, freely given,
which holds the ear of man and stirs his heart. When this truth enters the
soul it breeds zealots, martyrs, confessors, missionaries, saints. If any
Christians are in earnest, and full of love to God and man, they are those
who know what grace has done for them. If any remain under
reproaches faithful, under losses and crosses joyful, they are those who
are conscious of their indebtedness to divine love. If any delight in God
while they live, and rest in him as they die, they are the men who know
that they are justified by faith in Jesus Christ who justifieth the ungodly.
All glory be to the Lord, who lifteth the beggar from the dunghill and
setteth him among princes, even the princes of his people. He takes the
very cast-offs of the world and adopts them into his family, and makes
them heirs of God by Jesus Christ. The Lord give us all to know the
power of the gospel upon our sinful selves. The Lord endear to us the
name, work, and person of the Sinner’s Friend. May we never forget the
hole of the pit whence we were drawn, nor the hand which rescued us,
nor the undeserved kindness which moved that hand. Henceforth let us
have more and more to say of infinite grace. “Free grace and dying
love.” Well does the negro song say, “Ring those charming bells.” Free
grace and dying love— the sinner’s windows of hope! Our hearts exult
in the very words. Glory be unto thee, O Lord Jesus, ever full of
compassion. Amen.