The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

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СКАЧАТЬ portion of three days in his tomb. It was declared that the ratification was to be this: the surety was to go his way as soon as ever his suretyship engagements had been fulfilled. Now let your minds picture the buried Jesus. He is in the sepulchre. It is true he has paid all the debt, but the receipt is not yet been given; he slumbers in that narrow tomb. Fastened in with a seal upon a giant stone, he sleeps still in his grave; not yet has the acceptance been given from God; the angels have not yet come from heaven to say, “The deed is done, God has accepted your sacrifice.” Now is the crisis of this world; it hangs trembling in the balance. Will God accept the ransom, or will he not? We shall see. An angel comes from heaven with exceeding brightness; he rolls away the stone; and out comes the captive, with no manacles upon his hands, with the grave clothes left behind him; free, never more to suffer, never more to die. Now,

      If Jesus had not paid the debt,

      He ne’er had been at freedom set.

      If God had not accepted his sacrifice, he would have been in his tomb at this moment; he never would have risen from his grave. But his resurrection was a pledge of God’s accepting him. He said, “I have had a claim upon you to this hour; that claim is paid now; go your way.” And death gave up his royal captive, the stone was rolled into the garden, and the conqueror came forth, leading captivity captive.

      9. And, moreover, God gave a second proof of acceptance; for he took his only begotten Son to heaven, and set him at his right hand, far above all principalities and powers; and in it he meant to say to him, “Sit upon the throne, for you have done the mighty deed; all your works and all your miseries are accepted as the ransom for men.” Oh my beloved, think what a grand sight it must have been when Christ ascended into glory; what a noble certificate it must have been of his Father’s acceptance of him! Do you not think you see the scene on earth? It is very simple. A few disciples are standing upon a hill, and Christ mounts into the air in slow and solemn movement, as if an angel sped his way by gentle degrees, like mist or exhalation from the lake into the skies. Can you imagine what is going on up there? Can you for a moment conceive how, when the mighty conqueror entered the gates of heaven, the angels met him,

      They brought his chariot from on high,

      To bear him to his throne;

      Clapp’d their triumphant wings, and cried,

      ‘The glorious work is done!’

      Can you think how loud was the applause when he entered the gates of heavens? Can you conceive how they pressed on one another, to behold how he came conquering and red from the fight? Do you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the saints redeemed, come to behold the Saviour and the Lord? They had desired to see him, and now their eyes behold him in flesh and blood, the conqueror over death and hell! Do you think you see him, with hell at his chariot wheels, with death dragged as a captive through the royal streets of heaven? Oh, what a spectacle was there that day! No Roman warrior ever had such a triumph; no one ever saw such a majestic sight. The pomp of a whole universe, the royalty of entire creation, cherubim and seraphim and all created powers did swell the show; and God himself, the Everlasting One, crowned all, when he pressed his Son to his bosom, and said, “Well done, well done; you have finished the work which I gave you to do. Rest here for ever, my accepted one.” Ah, but he never would have had that triumph, if he had not paid all the debt. Unless his Father had accepted the ransom price, the ransomer would never been so honoured; but because it was accepted, therefore he did triumph so majestically. So far, then, concerning the ransom.

      10. II. And now, by the help of God’s Spirit, let me address myself to THE EFFECT OF THE RANSOM; being justified — “justified freely by his grace through the redemption.”

      11. Now, what is the meaning of justification? Divines will puzzle you, if you ask them. I must try the best I can to make justification plain and simple, even to the comprehension of a child. There is not such a thing as justification to be had on earth for mortal men, except in one way. Justification, you know, is a forensic term; it is employed always in a legal sense. A prisoner is brought to the bar of justice to be tried. There is only one way by which that prisoner can be justified; that is, he must be found not guilty; and if he is found not guilty, then he is justified — that is, he is proven to be a just man. If you find that man guilty, you cannot justify him. The Queen may pardon him, but she cannot justify him. The deed is not a justifiable one, if he was guilty concerning it, and he cannot be justified on account of it. He may be pardoned; but royalty itself can never wash that man’s character. He is as much a real criminal when he is pardoned as before. There is no means among men of justifying a man of an accusation which is laid against him, except by his being proven not guilty. Now, the wonder of wonders is, that we are proven guilty, and yet we are justified: the verdict has been brought in against us, guilty; and yet, notwithstanding, we are justified. Can any earthly tribunal do that? No, it remained for the ransom of Christ to effect what is an impossibility to any tribunal here on earth. We are all guilty. Read the verse immediately preceding the text — “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” {Romans 3:23} There the verdict of guilty is brought in, and yet we are immediately afterwards said to be justified freely by his grace.

      12. Now, allow me to explain the way by which God justifies a sinner. I am about to suppose an impossible case. A prisoner has been tried, and condemned to death. He is a guilty man; he cannot be justified, because he is guilty. But now, suppose for a moment that such a thing as this could happen — that some second party could be introduced, who could take all that man’s guilt upon himself, who could change places with that man, and by some mysterious process, which of course is impossible with men, become that man; or take that man’s character upon himself. He, the righteous man, putting the rebel in his place, and making the rebel a righteous man. We cannot do that in our courts. If I were to go before a judge, and he should agree that I should be committed for a year’s imprisonment, instead of some wretch who was condemned yesterday to a year’s imprisonment, I could not take his guilt. I might take his punishment, but not his guilt. Now, what flesh and blood cannot do, that Jesus Christ by his redemption did. Here I stand, the sinner. I mention myself as the representative of you all. I am condemned to die. God says, “I will condemn that man; I must, I will — I will punish him.” Christ comes in, puts me aside, and stands himself in my place. When the plea is demanded, Christ says, “Guilty”; takes my guilt to be his own guilt. When the punishment is to be executed, Christ comes forth. “Punish me,” he says; “I have put my righteousness on that man, and I have taken that man’s sins on me. Father, punish me, and consider that man to have been me. Let him reign in heaven; let me suffer misery. Let me endure his curse, and let him receive my blessing.” This marvellous doctrine of the changing of places of Christ with poor sinners, is a doctrine of revelation, for it never could have been conceived by nature. Let me, lest I should have made a mistake, explain myself again. The way by which God saves a sinner is not, as some say, by passing over the penalty. No; the penalty has been all paid. It is the putting of another person in the rebel’s place. The rebel must die. God he says must. Christ says, “I will be substitute for the rebel. The rebel shall take my place; I will take his.” God consents to it. No earthly monarch could have power to consent to such an exchange. But the God of heaven had a right to do as he pleased. In his infinite mercy he consented to the arrangement. “Son of my love,” he said, “you must stand in the sinner’s place; you must suffer what he ought to have suffered; you must be accounted guilty, just as he was accounted guilty; and then I will look upon the sinner in another light. I will look at him as if he was Christ; I will accept him as if he was my only begotten Son, full of grace and truth. I will give him a crown in heaven, and I will take him to my heart for ever and ever.” This is the way we are saved. “Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”

      13. And now, let me further go on to explain some of the characteristics of this justification. As soon as a repenting sinner СКАЧАТЬ