A GOSPEL WORTH DYING FOR – Charles Spurgeon
A GOSPEL WORTH DYING FOR
“To testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24.
Paul says that, in comparison with his great objective of preaching the gospel, he did not count even his life to be dear to himself. Yet we are sure Paul highly valued life. He had the same love of life as other men, and he knew besides that his own life was of great consequence to the churches, and to the cause of Christ. In another place, he said, “To abide in the flesh is more necessary for you.” He was not weary of life, nor was he a vain person who could treat life as though it were a thing to fling away in sport. He valued life, for he prized time, which is the stuff that life is made of, and he turned to practical account each day and hour, “redeeming the time because the days are evil.” Yet he soberly said to the elders of the church at Ephesus that he did not regard his life as a dear thing in comparison with bearing testimony to the gospel of the grace of God.
According to the verse before us, the apostle regarded life as a race which he had to run. Now, the more quickly a race is run the better; certainly, length is not the object or desire. The one thought of a runner is how he can most speedily reach the winning post. He spurns the ground beneath him, he cares not for the course he traverses except so far as it is the way over which he must run to reach his desired end. Such was life to Paul. All the energies of his spirit were consecrated to the pursuit of one objective—namely, that he might everywhere bear testimony to the gospel of the grace of God. And the life which he lived here below was only valued by him as a means to that end.
He also regarded the gospel and His ministry in witnessing to it as a sacred deposit which had been committed to him by the Lord Himself. He looked upon himself “as put in trust with the gospel” and he resolved to be faithful though it should cost him his life. He says he “desired to fulfill the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Before his mind’s eye, he saw the Savior taking into His pierced hands the priceless case which contains the celestial jewel of the grace of God, and saying to him—“I have redeemed you with My blood, and I have called you by My name, and now I commit this precious thing into your hands, that you may take care of it, and guard it with your heart’s blood. I commission you to go everywhere in My place, and to make known to every people under heaven the gospel of the grace of God.”
All believers occupy a somewhat similar place. We are none of us called to the apostleship and we may not all have been called to the public preaching of the Word of God, but we are all charged to be valiant for the truth upon the earth, and to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Oh, to do this in the spirit of the apostle of the Gentiles! As believers, we are all called to some form of ministry, and this ought to make our life a race, and cause us to regard ourselves as the guardians of the gospel, even as he that bears the colors of a regiment regards himself as bound to sacrifice everything for their preservation.
Paul was a true hero, a hero of even a nobler stamp than those brave Greeks whose stories still stir the blood and fire the soul. Their heroism to a large extent depended upon public note, the present approval of their fellow citizens, or upon the animal excitement of the battlefield. But Paul’s heroism, so far as man was concerned, was self-contained, deliberate and as sure to display itself in the solitude of a dungeon as in the assembly of the faithful. He was parting with his weeping friends, and going forward to trials of unknown intensity, but he was altogether unmoved by fear and advanced on his way without a question. His leave-taking of the elders irresistibly reminds me of the old historian’s record of Epaminondas the Theban general, who, when he was mortally wounded by a Spartan spear, the head of which remained in his flesh, bade his friends leave it alone a little, “for” he said, “I have lived long enough if I die unconquered.” And when they told him that the battle was won, and that his comrades were victorious, he bade them draw out the head of the spear that his life might end. One observed to him that he had fallen but that he had not lost his shield, and that the victory was won, to which he replied with his last breath, “Your Epaminondas thus dying does not die.”
So Paul has lived long enough if the gospel is prospering in its course, and though he lays down his life, he does not die if his ministry is fulfilled. Let me read you his words, and you shall judge if they have not this heroic ring. “And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save that the Holy Spirit witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”
We shall this morning first of all inquire, what was this gospel which Paul judged to be worth dying for?—“The gospel of the grace of God.” When we have made that inquiry, I think we shall be prepared for another. If we cannot die for it, how can we live for it? And then, thirdly, I shall press this consecration upon you by answering the question—why should we? Oh, that the Holy Spirit may work in us the holy devotion and self-sacrifice of Paul!
I. WHAT WAS THIS GOSPEL FOR WHICH PAUL WOULD DIE?
It is not everything called, “gospel,” which would produce such enthusiasm, or deserve it. For, my brethren, we have gospels nowadays which I would not die for, nor recommend anyone of you to live for, inasmuch as they are gospels that will be snuffed out within a few years. It is never worth while to die for a doctrine which will itself die out. I have lived long enough to see half-a-dozen new gospels rise, flourish, and decay. They told me long ago that my old Calvinistic doctrine was far behind the age, and was an exploded thing. And next, I heard that evangelical teaching in any form was a thing of the past, to be supplanted by “advanced thought.” I have heard of one improvement upon the old faith and then of another. And the philosophical divines are still improving their theology. They have gone on advancing and advancing, till heaven knows and perhaps hell knows what next they will advance to, but I am sure I do not. I would not die for any one of all the modern systems.
I should like to ask broad church divines whether there is any positive doctrine in the Bible at all, and whether any form of teaching could for a moment be judged worth dying for, and whether the martyrs were not great fools to die for truths which might be valuable to them, but which the advance of thought has cast into disuse. Those men and women who went to Smithfield and were burnt to death for Christ, were they not fools every one of them, to die for a set of ideas which “modern thought” has quite exploded? I do verily think that to our modern divines there is no such thing as fixed truth, or that, if there is, they are not sure of having yet reached it. They have dug and dug, and dug, look at the dark pits of unbelief which they have opened, but they have not come yet to the rock. Wait a little longer, they may one of these days find out something solid, but as yet they have only bored through layers of sand.
Yet there used to be a gospel in the world which consisted of facts which Christians never questioned. There was once in the church a gospel which believers hugged to their hearts as if it were their soul’s life. There used to be a gospel in the world which provoked enthusiasm and commanded sacrifice. Tens of thousands have met together to hear this gospel at peril of their lives. Men, to the teeth of tyrants, have proclaimed it, and have suffered the loss of all things, and gone to prison and to death for it, singing psalms all the while. Is there not such a gospel remaining? Or have we arrived at cloudland, where souls starve on suppositions, and become incapable of confidence or ardor? Are the disciples of Jesus now to be fed upon the froth of “thought” and the wind of imagination, on which men become heady and high-minded? No! We will return to the substantial meat of infallible revelation, and cry to the Holy Spirit to feed us upon His own inspired word.
The Gospel of Grace
What is this gospel which Paul valued before his own life? It was called by him, “the gospel of the grace of God.” That which most forcibly struck the apostle in the gospel was that it was a message of grace, and of grace, alone. Amid the music of the glad tidings, one note rang out above all others and charmed the apostle’s ear, that note was grace—the grace of God. That note he regarded as characteristic of the whole strain. The gospel was “the gospel of the grace of God.”
In these days that word “grace” is not often heard. We hear of moral duties, scientific adjustments, and human progress, but who tells us of “the grace of God” except a few old-fashioned people who will soon be gone? As one of those antiquated folk I am here this morning, and I shall try to proclaim that word “GRACE” so that those who know its joyful sound shall be glad, and those who despise it shall be cut to the heart.
Grace is the essence of the gospel. Grace is the one hope for this fallen world! Grace is the sole comfort of saints looking forward for glory! Perhaps Paul had a clearer view of grace than even Peter, or James, or John, and therefore he has so much larger space in the New Testament. The other apostolic writers excelled Paul in certain respects, but Paul as to his depth and clearness in the doctrine of grace, stood first and foremost. We need Paul again, or at least the Pauline evangelism and definiteness. He would make short work of the new gospels, and say of those who follow them, “I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another; but there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
Let me try to explain in a brief manner how the gospel is the good news of grace. The gospel is an announcement that God is prepared to deal with guilty man on the ground of free favor and pure mercy. There would be no good news in saying that God is just, for in the first place, that is not news—we know that God is just. The natural conscience teaches man that. That God will punish sin and reward righteousness is not news at all, and if it were news, yet it would not be good news, for we have all sinned, and upon the ground of justice we must perish.
But it is news and news of the best kind, that the Judge of all is prepared to pardon transgression, and to justify the ungodly. It is good news to the sinful that the Lord will blot out sin, cover the sinner with righteousness, and receive him into His favor, and that not on account of anything he has done, or will do, but out of sovereign grace. Though we are all guilty without exception, and all most justly condemned for our sins, yet God is ready to take us from under the curse of His law, and give us all the blessedness of righteous men, as an act of pure mercy. Remember how David saw this and spoke of it in the 32nd Psalm—“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”
This is a message worth dying for, that through the covenant of grace, God can be just and yet the justifier of him that believes in Jesus. That He can be the righteous Judge of men, and yet believing men can be freely justified by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That God is merciful and gracious, and is ready to bless the most unworthy, is a wonderful piece of news, worth a man’s spending a hundred lives to tell. My heart leaps within me as I repeat it in this Hall and tell the penitent, the desponding and the despairing that, though their sins deserve hell, yet grace can give them heaven, and make them fit for it, and that as a sovereign act of love, altogether independent of their character or what they deserve.
Because the Lord has saId, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,” there is hope for the most hopeless. Since “it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy” (Rom 9:16), there is an open door of hope for those who otherwise might despair. It is as though there had been held a great judgment and the judge had passed from county to county, and a number of prisoners had been condemned, and there remained nothing further in the course of justice but that their sentences should be carried into execution.
Lo, suddenly, by the silver trumpets of messengers clothed in silken apparel, it is proclaimed that the king has discovered a method by which, without violating justice, he can deal with the condemned in pure mercy and so grant them free pardon, immediate release from prison and a place in his majesty’s favor and service. This would be glad tidings in the condemned cells, would it not? Would you not be glad to carry such news to the poor prisoners?
Ah, Paul, I can understand you getting into a holy excitement over such a revelation as that of free grace. I can understand your being willing to throw your life away that you might tell to your fellow sinners that grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.
But the gospel tells us much more than this, namely, that in order to His dealing with men upon the ground of free favor, God the Father has Himself removed the grand obstacle which stood in the way of mercy. God is just; that is a truth most sure, man’s conscience knows it to be so, and man’s conscience will never rest content unless it can see that the justice of God is vindicated. Therefore, in order that God might justly deal in a way of pure mercy with men, He gave His only-begotten Son, that by His death the law might receive its due, and the eternal principles of His government might be maintained.
Jesus was appointed to stand in man’s place, to bear man’s sin, and endure the chastisement of man’s guilt. How clearly does Isaiah state this in his 53rd chapter! Man is now saved securely, because the commandment is not set aside, nor the penalty revoked. All is done and suffered which could be exacted by the sternest justice and yet grace has her hands untied to distribute pardons as she pleases. The debtor is loosed, for the debt is paid. See a dying Savior, and hear the prophet say, “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.”
Here, too, everything is of grace. Brethren, it was grace on God’s part to resolve upon devising and accepting atonement, and especially in His actually providing that atonement at His own cost. There is the wonder of it. He that was offended provides the reconciliation. He had but one Son and sooner than there should be any obstacle in His way as to dealing with men on the footing of pure grace, He took that Son from His bosom, allowed Him to assume our frail nature, and in that nature permitted Him to die, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.
You admire Abraham’s giving up his son to God? Much more admire Jehovah’s giving up His Son for sinners. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
This, then, is the gospel of the grace of God—that God is able, without injustice, to deal with men in a way of pure mercy, altogether apart from their sins or their merits because their sins were laid upon His dear Son Jesus Christ, who has offered to divine justice a complete satisfaction, so that God is glorious in holiness and yet rich in mercy. Ah, beloved Paul, there is something worth preaching here.
In the gospel there is also revealed a motive for mercy which is in agreement with the grace of God. There is always needed in the action of every wise man, a competent motive. Men do not act without reason if they are reasonable men. The same is true with God, the highest of all intelligences. He acts upon the highest reasons. His motive for dealing with men on the footing of free grace is the revealing of His own glorious character. He says, “Not for your sakes do I do this, says the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.” He works the wonders of His grace “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He finds a motive in His own nature and mercy since He could not find it anywhere else. He will deal with guilty men according to the sovereignty of His will, “to the praise of the glory of His grace in which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.” He saves men that His own beloved Son Jesus Christ may be magnified and extolled, and be very high, and that His Holy Spirit may be honored in the new-creating of rebellious natures.
Listen to this, you that feel your guilt. God is able without infringement of His justice to deal with you on the footing of pure grace, and He has found a reason for so doing, a reason which will apply as much to the worst of men as to the best. If it is for His own glory’s sake that He saves guilty sinners, then a window is opened by which light can come to those who sit in the thickest gloom of despair.
II. WHY WE SHOULD LIVE TO MAKE KNOWN THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD
First, we should because it is, after all, the only gospel in the world. These mushroom gospels of the hour, which come and go like a penny newspaper, which has its day and then is thrown aside, have no claim on any man’s zeal. These changing moons of doctrine; what are they doing for England? They are doing much evil in this city—they are alienating the mass of the people from going to any place of worship at all. Why should they come to hear uncertainties? Why should they come merely to be taught their duty, and to be moralized, and so on? Men are not led to assemble in multitudes by such poor attractions. I do not think that I would go across the street Sunday after Sunday merely to hear a moral essay. I might as well stay at home and read the paper. But to hear the gospel of the grace of God is worth many a mile’s walk.
And if it was plainly set forth in all our churches and chapels, I guarantee we should see very few empty pews; the people would come and hear it, for they always have done so. It is your graceless gospel which starves the flock till they forsake the pasture. It is your Socinian reasoning which leads men to treat ministry and public worship with contempt. The old gospel is a sweet savor which attracts the masses. When Whitefield sounded it forth, what common was big enough to hold the thousands?
Man needs something that will cheer his heart in the midst of his labor, and give him hope under a sense of sin. As the thirsty, need water, so does man need the gospel of the grace of God. And there are no two gospels in the world any more than there are two suns in the heavens. There is but one atmosphere for us to breathe, and one gospel for us to live by. “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Therefore tell out the gospel, lest men die for lack of the knowledge of it. Do it, next, because it is for God’s glory. Do you not see how it glorifies God? It lays the sinner low; it makes man nobody, but God is all in all. It sets God on a throne and trails man in the dust, and then it sweetly leads men to worship and reverence the God of all grace, who passes by transgression, iniquity, and sin—therefore spread it. Spread it, because thus you will glorify Christ.
Oh, if He should come on this platform this morning, how gladly would we all make way for Him! How devoutly would we adore Him! If we might but see that head, that dear majestic head, would we not all bow in worship? And if He then spoke and said, “My beloved, I have committed to you My gospel. Hold it fast as you have received it! Give not way to the notions and inventions of men, but hold fast the truth as you have received it, and go and tell My Word, for I have other sheep, that are not yet of My fold, who must be brought in; and you have brothers that yet are prodigals and they must come home.”
I say, if He looked you, each one in the face, and addressed you so, your soul would answer, “Lord, I will live for You! I will make You known! I will die for You if necessary, to publish the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Now, if you and I awaken ourselves this day, and God’s Holy Spirit shall help us to do so, and we begin to proclaim the gospel of the grace of God, do you know what I think is sure to happen? I prophesy the best results. They tell us that all sorts of evils are growing strong, and brethren, darkly prophetic, tell us that awful times are coming—I cannot tell you how dreadful they are to be. Popery is to come back according to some, and once again the harlot of the Seven Hills is to dominate over all the earth. Is she? We shall see. If you boldly proclaim the gospel, I tell you it will not be so. If the gospel of the grace of God is fully and fairly preached, it cannot be so.
Listen to what John saw—“I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to Him.” Do you see that angel? Observe what follows! Close behind him flies another celestial herald. “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
Fly, angel of the everlasting gospel! Fly, for as surely as you do speed your flight, that other angel will follow who shall proclaim the downfall of Babylon, and of every other system that opposes itself to the grace of the Lord God Almighty! The Lord stir you up for His name’s sake. Amen.