Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 355
“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Romans 8:29.
IT is not so much predestination which will occupy our attention this morning, as the fact that Believers are predestinated to be conformed to thee image of God’s dear Son.
Perhaps nothing in the world is a surer sign of littleness than a slavish imitation of any man. Men lose that which is an honor to them—individuality—and then they lose that which is a power to them—originality—the moment they commence walking in another man’s shoes. When one painter slavishly copies another, he is only known as the satellite of the greater luminary; he himself is neither respectable nor respected. But this is not the case when men select models which are confessed to be perfect. You never hear a man accused of a lack of originality because he studies the models in sculpture of Ancient Greece. It is not usual to hear the accusation of imitation brought against painters who have studiously examined the works of Michelangelo or of Raphael. These men are put at the head of their respective schools and the following of these masters of the art is voted to be no folly, but true wisdom. ‘Tis even so with the imitation of Christ. To imitate other men is weakness; to copy Christ is strength. Christ is the perfect type of manhood. He who should imitate Him the most nearly, would be the most original man upon earth! It may seem a paradox, but it is one which nevertheless needs only to be tried to be proved; no man will be looked upon as so strange, so singular a being among his fellows, as the man who shall nearest approach to the image of the Lord Jesus! He imitates, we grant you; he copies, we confess it; but he is himself, despite his copying, an original to other men, and he stands out from the common herd as being a distinguished and celebrated individual—he will be “known and read of all men.” If I should stand here this morning, my Hearers, to exhort you to imitate any one model in manhood except Christ, I would feel that I had a difficult task with sensible men. There is not in all the annals of our race, a single name which I could bid you love and reverence as much as to shut your eyes to the faults connected therewith. There is not a single biography truthfully written which I would have you read, and then say, “I will re-live this man’s life precisely as he lived it.” You would make shipwreck if you should blindly steer in the wake of the noblest of your brethren! You may take a virtue here, and a virtue there, and then in God’s strength seek to imitate those men who excelled in those points—but to imitate an Abraham in all things, would not make you an Abraham—nor would it make you what you should be. To seek to follow a Job in all respects would not bring you to be perfect, even as your Father who is in Heaven is perfect. There remains but one model we can ever commend to you, and only one which a man of strong mind can accept as his copy in every jot and tittle. That I shall endeavor to present to you this morning, while I preach the great Doctrine that all Believers are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus.
In what sense? Why? And is itpossible? Three points each interesting.
I. In What Sense Is a Believer to Be Conformed to the Image of Christ?
There are some views which would be taken of this subject, which I think would be shallow and would not reach the full meaning of the Word of God. Some men conceive that they are to bear the image of Christ to warrant them as being His followers, although their works tell another tale! They are to be called Christians, and then under the garb and cover of Christianity, they are to make their vices appear like virtues, and their crimes are to be dignified as though they were of the highest morality. Now a Christian is not to bear the image of Christ as a penny bears the superscription of the Queen! That image is put there to make the coin current among men. but a penny is not the image of the Queen, it is only stamped with it. There are some Christians who think that they have the seal of the Spirit upon them, the stamp of Christ’s warranty, and that they can claim to be accepted as Christians because they imagine they have the seal of the
Spirit and the stamp of Christ’s warranty upon them. Now, as the penny is not conformed after all to the image of the person whose face it bears, so such a man is not, by any pretended warranty he thinks he has, really conformed to the image of Christ. There is something more required of us, and something more will be bestowed upon us by the Spirit, than having in some dark corner the name of Jesus tattooed into the skin of our profession.