JOY IN A RECONCILED GOD – Charles Spurgeon

Joy in a Reconciled God

“And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement.” Romans 5:11.

Our text begins with these words, “And not only so.” It is the second time in which they occur in the chapter, and I might almost have said the third, for a similar expression is used in another verse. The Apostle had been mentioning very great and amazing privileges; he had gone from great benefits to yet greater; he had advanced, I might say, from silver to gold, and from gold to the priceless crystal. When he had reached the highest point that we could have thought to be conceivable, he adds, “And not only so.” There is always in Christian privilege a beyond. The ancient mariners spoke of the pillars of Hercules and the Ultima Thule, and they supposed that when once their sails had whitened the sea in that direction, they had come to the end of the universe and could go no further; but, more venturesome ships forced their way to a new world and proved that the former boundaries were imaginary. Even so, we may have concluded in the early days of our Christian experience that we never could be happier, that we never could enjoy greater privileges, that there could not be greater treasures than we had discovered. But even at the present time we have pushed far beyond our young attainments, and are preparing for yet more far-reaching endeavors. We have not yet attained. Far be it from us to imagine that we are or have all that the Lord intends. Let us not sit down contented with the notion that the Gospel contains no more, for rest assured, to him who is able to follow after it, there are whole worlds of privileges yet to be discovered. We are only at the foot of the mountain as of yet. We may take for our motto the words, “Higher, higher, higher,” and may soar aloft again and again on eagle’s wings, for Heaven is higher than our loftiest flight. At the end of all we have known and experienced, there may be written, “And not only so.” A nobler future allures us, a higher line of spiritual things invites us; let us, by faith and patience, press forward to it. The borders of Immanuel’s land have yielded us choice fruit, but the inner valleys are rich with Eshcol clusters, and the brooks in the heart of the country overflow with milk and honey.

The present passage indicates a high attainment in spiritual life when the soul learns not only to rejoice in salvation, which is an early experience, or to rejoice in tribulation, which is a far riper fruit, but advances even beyond that, and learns to make her joy, her glory, and her boast in God, in God alone. “And not only so, but we also joy in God.” There is the point of elevated experience of which the Apostle speaks with such confident familiarity; it certainly touches the confines of Heaven, if it is not altogether Heaven; this is the joy of angels and of spirits purified from all stain; they joy in God. Yet this is an attainment possible to us here. I might confine my thoughts to that subject, but it might be for profit if I use the text in another way: embracing that thought and making it the main topic of discourse, but taking a somewhat wider range. My text seems to me to describe the progress of a soul towards God. There is the first step visible in it, though somewhat in shadows, and rather implied than expressed. The second step is very clear; it is “receiving the Atonement,” or more correctly “the Reconciliation.” The third step shines in a yet brighter light—having received the Reconciliation, “we joy in God.” And so we complete our fellowship with Him and ascend to an elevation which, if it is not in Heaven, lies in the confines of it.

The First Step in Coming to God

I. Our text shadows out, by implication at any rate, the first step of a soul in coming to God. It lies here: We begin to be conscious that God is angry with us. The text declares that we have received the Reconciliation; there was, therefore, a time when we had not received it, and before we could receive it, we were made sensible that we needed it. Before we could be conscious of that need, we were led to see that from necessity of His Nature, God must be angry with such sinful creatures as we were. It is the dawn of Divine Grace in the soul when the heart perceives that there is a Holy God, and that such a God cannot be on terms of amity with an unholy thing like itself.

God is not angry with men arbitrarily because He chooses to take a dislike to them; oh, no, God is necessarily angry with evil because He is Holy, and pure, and good. A being who has no anger against evil has no love towards goodness. This is one mark of Righteousness—that it of necessity takes fire and burns with indignation against unrighteousness. Now, I may preach this Truth of God to this present congregation and many, when they hear my words, will carelessly inquire, “Well, and what concern is that of ours? What does it matter?” But, if God’s Grace has begun a work in any heart, that soul will say, “Alas, alas, how true it is! How could the great Lawgiver in the heavens allow me to break His Laws with impunity? How could He be God and yet smile on sin? How could He be worthy of the seraphic song, ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth,’ and yet look with complacency upon one so unholy, so depraved, so unrighteous as I am by nature?”

The awakened soul perceives that unless God could cease to be God, He could not look with complacency upon sin, nor upon the sinner, either, as long as sin lies upon him. This is a discovery which is very painful but very simple. One would think that every man ought to see this fact, but no man does see it till the Spirit of God convinces him of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment—and even then the natural heart endeavors to shut its eyes to it. That God is angry with us for sin is so unpleasant a thought that the convinced sinner would, if he could, escape from it; he would willingly take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, that he might escape from his dread of Divine Wrath for sin; but there is no land of peace for such a soul! A guilty conscience will follow a man like his shadow; it will dog his footsteps; it will embitter his food; it will disturb his sleep; it will molest his waking hours. Neither will he be content till by some better method than forgetting it, he shall have escaped from its force.

The avenger of blood never ceases to pursue the manslayer till he has gained the City of Refuge. That God is justly and of necessity angry with him as a sinner, is a thought which haunts every convinced person. If I believed that God were angry with me simply out of arbitrary whim, and that He might not be angry with me if He chose, my heart would harden itself like steel in enmity against Him! But, when it comes home to me that He is rightly angry with me; that if I were God I would be angry with such a one as I am; that if I could be perfectly Holy as God is, I would be equally indignant as God is with sin; then my soul feels the sting of wrath! Its justice cuts my conscience to the quick, and makes my heart bleed. It is a blessed thing when the heart is thus awakened from its fatal slumber; for then there is hope that it will seek out the divinely appointed way of escape from sin!

The Second Step: Receiving the Reconciliation

II. Secondly, the text sets forth before us in the far clearer light of actual statement a second step: “We have now received the Reconciliation.” The word “atonement” is a very improper translation here. It is the only case in which our translators have used the word at all in the New Testament, and it is very unfortunate that they should have used it in the wrong place, because the word is as plainly as possible, Reconciliation, and does not so much refer to the Atonement by which the Reconciliation is made as to the Reconciliation itself. I believe that here our excellent translators used the word in the sense of “at-one-ment,” or bringing two together. We have “received” an “at-one-ment”; we are made to come into oneness with God through Jesus Christ.

Now, the second step God-ward, and the truly vital one, is receiving the Reconciliation. Observe how we are reconciled. It is not by working out a Reconciliation; please observe that. The first instinct of man when he finds himself with an angry God gazing upon him, and with enmity in his own heart towards God, is to set to work to try and better this state of things. “What shall I do? How shall I avert the Divine anger?” The heart suggests a multitude of expedients; sometimes it runs into the enchantment and fascination of ceremonialism, but more commonly among us it falls back upon its own natural self-righteousness and dreams of Reconciliation by amendment, and by future carefulness, and by a diligent obedience in the future which it hopes to be able to render.

Now, observe, the text does not say that we have made any Atonement for sin, neither does any Scripture ever tell us that we can do so, or that by any good deeds of our own we are to be reconciled to God! I tell you, awakened souls, that all your struggles to be reconciled to God apart from Christ are only another form of the rebellion of your hearts against God; you are evidently opposed to Him because you reject His plan of Reconciliation, and in defiance of His will, you make a pretense of offering to be reconciled on other terms than those which He ordains. While talking of peace, you insult the Lord again by rejecting the blood of His Son, which is the only Atonement!

The Third Step: Rejoicing in God

III. By the third step we get into the brightest light—“We joy in God”; He becomes our highest and loftiest joy. I must take you back a step for a minute. No man ever rejoices in God except the man who receives the Atonement by Jesus Christ. Suppose a man should say, “I do not need an atonement; I am a good man and always have been; I have not broken the Law.” Well, Friend, I will tell you what is according to nature, and what I am certain is the fact—you will rejoice in yourself! I know if I were half as good as you say you are, I would rejoice in myself, indeed! If I had kept the Law from my youth up, and had never broken one of the Commandments of God, I assure you I would boldly say, “God, I thank You that I am not as other men are! I have kept Your Law! I have done no sin in thought, word, or deed!” I would rejoice in myself!

Dear Friends, you will never know anything of what it is to rejoice in God while you are self-righteous; neither does any man rejoice in God who feels that he has obtained reconciliation with God by his own self-reforms. Reforms are admirable, and I would not say a word against them, but, suppose a man who was once far from God were able to boast that he refined himself into fellowship with God—in whom, do you think, would he rejoice? Why, in himself, certainly! Did I hear a man say, “I have had moral courage and resolution enough to make myself all I ought to be; I have brought myself up from the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and this is no small thing”?

My dear Man, you are a fine fellow; let me pat you on the back! What? Do you say that you don’t need to be patted on the back? Don’t be angry, I quite agree with you! You do that quite sufficiently for yourself, and I should do the same if I had so much to say for myself as you have! Why should I care to rejoice in God? Samson crying, “Heaps upon heaps” is nothing to a man fighting in his own strength, and conquering all his spiritual foes. Why, my valiant Friend, when you get to Heaven, you will throw your cap up and say, “Glory be to myself!” No doubt you will, if ever you get there! No, joy in God never could result from a man’s saving himself; the only way a man comes to joy in God is by receiving Reconciliation by Divine Grace, and I think that is clear to any thoughtful mind.

If there is anything of our own of merit, or endeavor which can bring us into a state of Reconciliation with God, then we shall rejoice in it. But if there is nothing of our own, and we have simply to stand still and receive Salvation, and take it all as a matter of the free Grace of God through Jesus Christ—then we joy in God! Let me dwell on this for a moment. The moment a man is reconciled to God, his view of God alters entirely. Have you not noticed how your opinions of persons will vary? A neighbor has done you a displeasure, and therefore, you do not esteem him; very likely that person is a very excellent man, but you read everything he does in the evil limit of suspicion; if he meets you with frank courtesy, you think him a fawning hypocrite, and if he passes you by, you set it down to haughty contempt. If he should offer to serve you, you would suspect that he wished to place you under a humbling obligation, and if he stands aloof, you feel sure that he gloats over your necessities! His name is no sweet sound to your ears, and you have no joy in him; if, however, by a discovery of his kindness you escape from prejudice, his whole conduct wears another aspect! When a soul becomes reconciled to God by the way of the Cross, as I have described, then its whole mind with regard to God alters. And from that moment, it reads Him aright, understands Him, and delights in Him!

I will show you wherein a soul which is reconciled to God delights in Him: first, in His very Existence and Person. That there is a God is to the Christian supreme bliss! “Oh,” he says, “what should I do without my God? The infidel may say there is no God, but if that were true, I should have lost my Father, my Friend, my All.” The Christian feels that his hope of prevailing over injustice and wrong lies in the fact that there is a reigning God who will set all things right at last; his hopes for preservation and sustenance spring from God’s being the Source of all life, and the Giver of all good gifts to His people. If there were a place in the world where God never came, no Christian would ever go there! But, if there is a spot where God peculiarly reveals Himself, beloved Brothers and Sisters, is not that where you would delight to meet? And since we believe there is to be a fuller revelation of Himself in Heaven, is not that our main reason for longing to be there?

Not because the angels are there, or because the harps of gold ring out superior melodies, but because we shall be with God, and shall be like He! Oh, yes, I do but speak your inmost hearts when I say you joy in the very Existence of God; as loyal subjects rejoice that they have a king; as affectionate children rejoice that they have a father; as a loving spouse rejoices that she has a husband, so do we, but infinitely beyond all this, rejoice that we have a God!

Next, we rejoice in His Character. All the Attributes of God are themes of joy and rejoicing to a Christian. “Why,” he says, “He is a merciful God; blessed be His name for that, else I had never been saved! He is a gracious God; glory be to Him for that, for He can save the souls of my children by His Grace; He is a powerful God, and I would not have Him otherwise. This, indeed, is a well of joy.”

“The God that rules on high,
And thunders when He pleases,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas;
This amazing God is ours,
Our Father and our Love!
He shall send down His heavenly powers
To carry us above!”

We are glad that we have a God who can do all things on our behalf! The Lord is also Immutable, and oh, what a sun of consolation that is—without variableness or shadow of a turning! I shift and change like the winds and the waves, but He is always the same! Many a fainting Believer has drunk from this fountain when all others have failed him. Moreover, the Lord is faithful to His Promises; what a joy is this! And He is Holy, and just, and good—here, too, is joy, for if He is Holy, He cannot do an unrighteous action, and it were unrighteous of Him not to save His people for the sake of His Anointed!

Every Attribute of God darts thunder and lightning upon an unreconciled man, and, on the other hand, every part of the Divine Character smiles with eternal sunlight upon a spirit which has received the Atonement. Beloved, when we come to joy in God’s Person and Attributes, we further learn to glory in His Sovereignty. Before our Reconciliation, we quibble at the Divine Will; if there is one Doctrine in the world which reveals the enmity of the human heart more than another, it is the Doctrine of God’s Sovereignty. Men will bear with you unto that word, but when they hear the Lord’s Voice saying, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,” they gnash their teeth, and call the preacher an Antinomian, a High Calvinist, or some other hard name! They do not love God except they can make Him a little god! They cannot bear for Him to be Supreme! They would gladly take His Will away from Him, and set up their own will as the first cause, and say, “These are your gods, O Israel.”

But the moment we are reconciled to God, we consent that Jehovah should do as He wills! What better rule could be than the absolute empire of Love? What can be better as a government for all mankind than the absolute authority of One so good, so true, so Holy, and so Just? Set up a limited monarchy in the universe; yes, it were proper enough if the devil were the ruler—but with God for the King, we need no check upon His superlative Justice, and immaculate Holiness! He cannot do unrighteously or unmercifully; He must act according to His Nature, and His Nature and His name are Love. Let Love reign without limit! Let Love be Sovereign! Let Love bear the keys of government upon her shoulder, and let her name be called the Mighty God.

Much of men’s hatred to the Doctrine of Sovereignty is rooted in their enmity to the Sovereign Himself—but when the heart is reconciled to God we can read the sternest passages of the 9th of Romans, or any other Scripture, and say, “Amen, so let it be! What God ordains must be right.” When the soul becomes reconciled to God, again, it joys in God under all His dispensations. Of course, we joy in God under comfortable dispensations; there is no question whether we do not, then, very much divide our joy between the comforts and God. But in dark times, when the comforts all go, we can joy in God if we can act as David did at Ziklag—when they spoke of stoning him, when his goods and his wives were gone, and all his followers’ wives, too, David “Encouraged himself in his God.” “Oh,” he said to the soldiers round about him, “do not fret. It is true we are beggars, but we have not lost our God! Let us sing a Psalm to His praise.” Then might they have sung, “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice,” while they sharpened their swords to strike the foe.

Beloved, I will only add these two or three thoughts. Joy in God is the happiest of all joys. There are other sweets, but this is the virgin honey dropping fresh from the comb. Joy in God is also a most elevating joy. Those who joy in wealth grow greedy; those who joy in their friends too often lose nobility of spirit; but he who boasts in God grows like God! It is a solid joy, and he who joys in God has good reasons for rejoicing; he has arguments which will justify his joy at any time; he who rejoices in God shall never be confused or ashamed, world without end; it is an abiding joy. If I rejoice in the sun, it sets; if in the earth, it shall be burnt up; if in myself, I shall die. But to triumph in One who never fails, and never changes, but lasts forever—this is lasting joy! In a word, it is celestial joy. It flows like the river of God which rises at the foot of His Throne, and waters the celestial streets, while trees on either side bear all manner of fruits. Blessed is the man whose nature strikes its roots deep into the banks of this river; he shall bring forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.

The only sad reflection is, and with that I close, that there are so many who know nothing about joy in God. They could never gaze upon yon stars and say, “My God, You have made all these, and I love You; I love You not as I fancy You are, but as You have said You are in the Scripture; I would not alter Your Nature if I could; I would not tempt You by saying, ‘Do not this or that.’ Whatever You do I admire, for I am reconciled to You, and I joy in You.” When Mungo Park looked at that little piece of moss growing in the desert where he was lost, he thought, “God is here taking care of that little moss,” and his heart was full of gladness! I know a Christian woman who was in great family trouble and was near despairing, but she saw a little feather on the floor which the draft of air from under the door blew to and fro, and the thought came into her mind, “God knows the motion of every filament of that feather, and He is moving it; God is here.” And all her sorrow disappeared, and she rejoiced in God! Did you ever feel like that?

You know how your child feels when you put it to bed; as long as its mother is there, it does not cry, but when she goes, it is sad. Did you ever feel towards God as the child does to its parent? At this moment my soul is lying on God’s bosom, and I am happy; God is mine and I love Him; oh, how I love Him! You unconverted ones cannot say that. I wish you could, for if you are unreconciled to God, your state is a very perilous one, and at the same time a very mean one. I would not like to be at enmity with a good man who had always shown me kindness; I would not like to feel that I did not love good men. I must be a wretch if I do not respect and love the only perfect Being! If I am good for anything, I shall be pleased to call the good my friends. Look at yourselves in that light and see, Sinners, what mean creatures you are. I pray you may say, “We will not be so mean any longer; we will be at peace with God.”

There is only one way of Reconciliation, and that is you must receive the Atonement Christ Jesus worked out by His death; that way is most suitable to you, and I hope you will agree with it at once. Oh, may the Spirit of God make you put out your receiving hand. Is it palsied? Does it quiver and shake? Never mind! A palsied hand is sufficient to receive with! I have seen many a shivering beggar beg in the streets, but he could always receive; I have never found his hand too feeble for that! Put forth that trembling hand and take the Savior by trusting in Him! The moment you trust Him, you are saved! God is reconciled to every soul that trusts Christ. May God grant that you may feel the power of the Reconciliation by His Holy Spirit. Amen.

Portion of Scripture Read Before Sermon: Romans 5:1-11; Isaiah 12

Charles Spurgeon