Sermons of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, Series 10

I do not hesitate to say that this is one of the most wonderful texts in the whole compass of revelation. It sets forth the mystery of mysteries, the very pith and marrow of the loftiest divinity. It is fitted rather to be the theme for a hundred elaborate discourses than for one brief homily. Most assuredly it is a deep that knows no sounding, an abyss where thought plunges into never-ending contemplations. He who handles it had need, first of all, to be filled with all the fulness of God. Hence we feel incapable of dealing with it as it should be dealt with; it is all too great and vast for us, we can no more hope to compass it than a child can hold an ocean in his hand. Beloved, it is a text that must not be looked upon with the eyes of cold, theological orthodoxy, which might make us content to say, “Yes, that is a great and important truth,” and there leave it. It is a text to be treated as the manna was that fell from heaven; namely, to be tasted, to be eaten, to be digested, and to be lived upon from day to day. It is a text for the quietude of your meditation, when you can sit still and turn it over, and, like Mary, ponder it in your hearts. Long and loving should be your gaze upon the facets of this diamond of truth, this Koh-i-noor of revelation. It is a golden sentence fitted foi those choice hours when the King brings ns into his banqueting house, and his banner over us is love; when the distance between earth and heaven has become less and less, till it scarce exists — those halcyon times when all is rest round about us, because he who is our rest enables us to lean upon his bosom and to feel his heart of love beating true to us.

I ask you, 0 my brethren, therefore, as though you were quite alone in your own chamber, to pray for that frame of mind which is suitable to the subject, and to pray for me that I may be placed in that condition of heart which shall best enable me to speak upon it. We need our thoughts to be focused before they can reveal to us the great sight before us. Get to the place where Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, and then will this text sound like music in your ears. Without any accompaniment of exposition from me, it will have all heaven’s music in it; “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Seven fold will be the happiness of the spirit which knows how to sit down and to taste of the marrow and the fatness, to drink of the “wine on the lees well refined,” which are to be found in this inspired declaration.

Ere I preach upon it, there is one thing which it is necessary for us to do. They have a way in Scotland, before the communion, of “fencing the tables; “that is to say, warning all those who have no right to come to the table to avoid the sin of unlawful intrusion, and so of eating and drinking condemnation unto themselves. They help the hearers to self-examination, lest they should come thoughtlessly and participate in that which does not belong to them. Now, my text is like a table of communion richly loaded, and far hence be ye to whom it does not belong, except ye learn the sacred way of coming in by the door into this sheepfold, where the pasture is so rich and green. If ye come by Christ the way, come and welcome; if ye rest in him, if his dear wounds are the fountains of your life, and his atoning sacrifice is your soul’s only peace, come and welcome; for of you, and such as you, and all of us who are trusting in Jesus, it may be truly said,” “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” But if not believers in him, this heavenly verse has nothing to do with you. It is “the children’s bread;” it belongs only to the children. It is Israel’s manna; it falls for Israel. It is the stream which leaps from Israel’s smitten rock, and flows neither for Edom, nor for Amalek, but for the chosen seed alone.

Look back, then, to the beginning of the epistle, and 6ee of whom the apostle was speaking when he said “we.” This little word “we” is like the door of Noah’s ark, it shuts out and shuts in. Does it shut us out or in?

Now, the apostle wrote his epistle to those of whom he said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” Answer thou this question, thou who wouldst enjoy this text, Hast thou made thy calling and election sure? Has that matter ever been decided in thy spirit after honest search and inquiry into the grounds of thy confidence? Hast thou been led to choose thy God, for if so thy God had long ago chosen thee, and that matter is ascertained beyond all question, and out of it springs the undoubted assurance that you are one with him, since of all whom he has chosen it is true, “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”

The apostolic description is before you, I pray you read on: “Having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” Knowest thou anything about adoption? Hast thou been taken out of the family of Satan and enrolled in the family of God? Hast thou the Spirit of adoption in thee? Does thy soul cry “Abba, Father,” at the very thought of God? Art thou an imitator of God as a deal ^hild? Dost thou feel that thy nature has been renewed, so that, whereas thou wast a child of wrath, even as others, thou hast now become a child of God? Judge, I pray thee, and discern concerning these things, for on thine answer to this question depends thy condition before God, thy union with Christ, or thy separateness from him.

Note, still, the apostle’s words as you read on, “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved.” Dear hearer, dost thou know the meaning of those last words, “Accepted in the beloved “? Thou canst never be accepted in thyself; thou art sinful, and undone, and unworthy; but hast thou come and cast thyself upon the work, the blood and the righteousness of Jesus, and art thou therefore accepted, “Accepted in the beloved “? Hast thou ever enjoyed a sense of acceptance, so that thou couldst draw near to God, as no longer a servant beneath the curse, but a son beneath the blessing? If so, come and welcome to the text: it is all thine own.

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