Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2370
“The faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me,” Galatians 2:20.
Paul looks at the matter of salvation from the point of view suggested by Grace. If any man might have said, “The Son of God, whom I have loved, and to whom I have given myself,” it would have been the Apostle. On another occasion, speaking of the Lord, he said, “Whose I am, and whom I serve.” But here he thinks not of himself, or of what he had been led to do for the Lord, but only of what the Lord had done for him! He dug down to the foundation of salvation—he traced the stream of Grace back to the Fountainhead and, therefore, he spoke of “the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
You will not do wrong, my Beloved Friends, if you meditate on what the Grace of God has enabled you to do—if you do it humbly and if you praise God for it. I think that we sometimes forget to give Glory to the Lord for the sanctifi-cation we have already received. I have heard persons thank God for their health and for their wealth, but I have not so often heard them express gratitude for Divine Grace. I do not know that I wish to hear them praise God for their virtue, but still, if they have any, and they know that they have, let them praise God for it—for what virtue have they which they have not received? If you have any faith, if you have any hope, if you have any love—if there is any difference between you and your fellow men, if you possess anything by which God is glorified—you ought to thank Him for it and to praise and bless His holy name. Still, there would always be a tendency, in dwelling even on what we have done by the Grace of God, to begin to get unduly exalted and, on the whole, it is far wiser to think of what Christ has done for you than of what you have done for Him!
I say, again, you may think of what you have done for Christ and give God the Glory for it, but it will not be well to dwell upon that thought to any great extent. I am sure it will not do to think upon it in the hour of deep distress of mind, or especially in the prospect of death. Then we gather up all our good works and throw them overboard! We look upon the best things that we have ever worked, even by the power of the Spirit of God, as quite secondary to what Christ has worked out for us and brought in and laid before His Father as the ground of our acceptance with Him.
I like to think of our text and I invite you to think of it in the light of Free Grace. “Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” I cannot preach much at this time, but I can talk to you a little of what I have tasted, handled and felt—and I pray the Holy Spirit to help you—not so much to hear the text explained, as to feel its gracious influence moving over your spirit and awakening in your heart happy memories of gratitude for blessings received.
I. Our first division shall be THE FACT REMEMBERED—“Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
Paul speaks of it as a fact ascertainable and one which he had, himself, ascertained—that Jesus Christ loved him and gave Himself for him. He is not speaking, now, of the love of benevolence which the Lord Jesus Christ has towards all men, or even of that aspect of His work which bears upon every creature under Heaven. He is thinking of that special love, that discriminating Grace which had lighted upon him. That is the point around which our thoughts are to gather as we meditate upon Paul’s words, “Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” The Apostle knew that Christ had loved him and had given Himself for him. And we, also, may know it. It is not necessary for us to go through life merely hoping and fearing, questioning and enquiring—we may come to the certain knowledge of the fact, if it is a fact, that we have an interest in the special love of Jesus Christ, that we are redeemed from among men, that we are called and separated to be the Lord’s peculiar people, that each of us may be able to say of the Lord Jesus Christ—“Who loved me, and gave Him-
self for me.” I would not distress the mind of anyone who is feeble in faith and who is clinging to Christ, but has never, yet, received full assurance of salvation. But I would encourage such a person never to rest until he gets rid of all questions and is able to say without the slightest trepidation, “Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
Christ died to save sinners—the sinners who are saved by Him are those who trust Him. I trust Him, therefore He has saved me. This is a good, sound argument. “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life.” I believe on Him, therefore I have everlasting life. This is solid ground to rest upon. “He loved me, and gave Himself for me,” of which the evidence is that I trust Him. I rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. To this will be added the evidences of a work of Grace in the heart. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” “One thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see.” We know this, also, by the witness of the Holy Spirit, for, “the Spirit, Himself, bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” And so, at last, we come to say with as much confidence as Paul, himself, could say it, “Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Away, then, with all doubts and questions! Be gone, you evil birds that pollute the Sacrifice! By a simple childlike faith we come to Jesus and we take Him to be our Savior. We know that we cannot come to Jesus unless the Father, who sent Him, draws us. Therefore we know that we are drawn by Divine Grace and that He has loved us with an everlasting love, because with loving kindness He has evidently drawn us to Himself. So, you see, Paul is speaking of a fact that is ascertainable, and a fact that, in his own case, was ascertained. If we do not get to know it for ourselves, we cannot rejoice in it.