The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

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СКАЧАТЬ quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”

      3. What a solemn sight is presented to us by a dead body! Last evening when trying to comprehend the thought, it utterly overcame me. The thought is overwhelming, that soon this body of mine must be a carnival for worms; that in and out of these places, where my eyes are glistening, foul things, the offspring of loathsomeness, shall crawl; that this body must be stretched in still, cold, abject, passive death, must then become a noxious, nauseous thing, cast out even by those who loved me, who will say, “Bury my dead out of my sight.” Perhaps you can scarcely, in the moment I can afford you, appropriate the idea to yourselves. Does it not seem a strange thing, that you, who have walked to this place this morning, shall be carried to your graves; that the eyes with which you now behold me shall soon be glazed in everlasting darkness; that the tongues, which just now moved in song, shall soon be silent lumps of clay; and that your strong and stalwart frame, now standing in this place, will soon be unable to move a muscle, and become a loathsome thing, the brother of the worm and the sister of corruption? You can scarcely get hold of the idea; death does such an awful work with us, it is such a Vandal with this mortal fabric, it so rends to pieces this fair thing that God has built up, that we can scarcely bear to contemplate his works of ruin.

      4. Now, endeavour, as well as you can, to get the idea of a dead corpse, and when you have so done, please try to understand, that that is the metaphor employed in my text, to set forth the condition of your soul by nature. Just as the body is dead, incapable, unable, unfeeling, and soon about to become corrupt and putrid, so are we if we are unquickened by divine grace; dead in trespasses and sins, having within us death, which is capable of developing itself in worse and worse stages of sin and wickedness, until all of us here, left by God’s grace, should become loathsome beings; loathsome through sin and wickedness, even as the corpse through natural decay. Understand, that the doctrine of the Holy Scripture is, that man by nature, since the fall, is dead; he is a corrupt and ruined thing; in a spiritual sense, utterly and entirely dead. And if any of us shall come to spiritual life, it must be by the quickening of God’s Spirit, bestowed upon us sovereignly through the good will of God the Father, not for any merits of our own, but entirely from his own abounding and infinite grace.

      5. Now, this morning, I trust I shall not be tedious; I shall endeavour to make the subject as interesting as possible, and also endeavour to be brief. The general doctrine of this morning is, that every man that is born into the world is dead spiritually, and that spiritual life must be given by the Holy Spirit, and can be obtained from no other source. That general doctrine, I shall illustrate in rather a singular way. You remember that our Saviour raised three dead people; I do not find that during his lifetime he caused more than three resurrections. The first was the young maiden, the daughter of Jairus who, when she lay on her bed dead, rose up to life at the single utterance of Christ, “Talitha cumi!” The second was the case of the widow’s son, who was on his bier, about to be carried to his tomb; and Jesus raised him up to life by saying, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” The third, and most memorable case, was that of Lazarus, who was not on his bed, nor on his bier, but in his tomb, indeed, and corrupt too; but notwithstanding that, the Lord Jesus Christ, by the voice of his omnipotence, crying, “Lazarus, come forth,” brought him out of the tomb.

      6. I shall use these three facts as illustrations of the different states of men, though they are all thoroughly dead: secondly, as illustrations of the different means of grace used for raising them , though, after all, the same great agency is employed; and, in the third place, as illustrations of the later experience of quickened men; for though that to a great degree is the same, yet there are some points of difference.

      7. I. I shall begin by noticing, then, first of all, THE CONDITION OF MEN BY NATURE. Men by nature are all dead. There is Jairus’s daughter; she lies on her bed; she seems as if she were alive; her mother has scarcely ceased to kiss her brow, her hand is still in her father’s loving grasp, and he can scarcely think that she is dead; but dead she is, as thoroughly dead as she ever can be. Next comes the case of the young man brought out of his grave; he is more than dead, he has begun to be corrupt, the signs of decay are upon his face, and they are carrying him to his tomb; yet though there are more evidences of death in him, he is no more dead than the other. He is just as dead; they are both dead, and death really knows no degrees. The third case goes further still in the manifestation of death; for it is the case of which Martha, using strong words, said, “Lord, by this time he stinks; for he has been dead four days.” And yet, notice that the daughter of Jairus was just as dead as Lazarus; though the manifestation of death was not so complete in her case. All were equally dead. I have in my congregation some blessed beings, fair to look upon; fair, I mean, in their character, as well as their outward appearance; they have about them everything that is good and lovely; but notice this, if they are unregenerate they are still dead. That girl, dead in the room, upon her bed, had little about her that could show her death. Not yet had the loving finger closed the eyelid; there seemed to be a light still lingering in her eye; like a lily just nipped off; she was as fair as life itself. The worm had not yet begun to gnaw her cheek, the flush had not yet faded from her face; she seemed almost alive. And so it is with some I have here. You have all that heart could wish for, except the one needful thing; you have all things except love to the Saviour. You are not yet united to him by a living faith. Ah! then, I grieve to say it, you are dead! you are dead! As much dead as the worst of men, although your death is not as apparent. Again, I have in my presence young men who have grown to riper years than that fair damsel who died in her childhood. You have much about you that is lovely, but you have just begun to indulge in evil habits; you have not yet become the desperate sinner; you have not yet become altogether noxious in the eyes of other men; you are only beginning to sin, you are like the young man carried out on his bier; you have not yet become the confirmed drunkard; you have not yet begun to curse and blaspheme God; you are still accepted in good society; you are not yet cast out; but you are dead, thoroughly dead, just as dead as the third and worst case. But I dare say I have some characters that are illustrations of that case too. There is Lazarus in his tomb, rotten and putrid; and so there are some men not more dead than others, but their death has become more apparent, their character has become abominable, their deeds cry out against them, they are put out of decent society, the stone is rolled to the mouth of their tomb, men feel that they cannot hold acquaintance with them, for they have so utterly abandoned every sense of right, that we say, “Put them out of sight, we cannot endure them!” And yet these putrid ones may live; these last are not more dead than the maiden upon her bed, though the death has more fully revealed itself in their corruption. Jesus Christ must quicken the one as well as the other, and bring them all to know and love his name.

      8. 1. Now, then, I am about to enter into the minutiae of the difference of these three cases. I will take the case of the young maiden. I have her here today; I have many illustrations of her present before me; at least, I trust so. Now, will you allow me to point out all the differences? Here is the young maiden; look upon her; you can bear the sight; she is dead, but oh! beauty lingers there; she is fair and lovely, though the life has departed from her. In the young man’s case there is no beauty; the worm has begun to eat him; his honour has departed. In the third case, there is absolute rottenness. But here there is beauty still upon her cheek. Is she not amiable? Is she not lovely? Would not all love her? Is she not to be admired, even to be imitated? Is she not fairest of the fair? Indeed that she is; but God the Spirit has not yet looked upon her; she has not yet bent her knee to Jesus, and cried for mercy; she has everything, except true religion. Alas! for her; alas! that so fair a character should be a dead one. Alas! my sister; alas! that you, the benevolent, the kind one, should yet be, after all, dead in your trespasses and sins. As Jesus wept over that young man who had kept all the commandments, and yet one thing he lacked, so I weep over you this morning. Alas! you fair one, lovely in your character, and amiable in your conduct, why should you lie dead? For you are dead, unless you have faith in Christ. Your excellence, your virtue, and your goodness, shall avail you nothing; you are dead, and dead you must be, unless he makes you live.

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