Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2550
“And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (or, as it should be, “the reconciliation”). Romans 5:11.
You notice, dear Friends, in reading this verse, the “not only so,” and the, “also. ” And, if you look back to the earlier verses of the chapter, you will see that there is a continual rising, as of one ascending a golden staircase. You get an, “also,” and a, “not only so,” and then a long succession of Christian attainments rising, one out of the other— “Tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope makes not ashamed,” and so forth—from all which it clearly appears that the Christian life is one of continuous progress. It would be so without a break if we were more careful and lived nearer to God. We would go steadily on from our spiritual childhood and youth and manhood till we became fathers in Christ and, by-and-by, perfect men in Christ Jesus, having reached the fullness of the stature of men in Christ Jesus. I am afraid that we, sometimes, sadly hinder that progress by our lack of prayer and our neglect of communion with God. Still, this is what true Christian life should be—a continuous going from strength to strength till we, every one of us, appear before God in the Zion above.
Let each Believer ask himself how far it is so with him. It is to be feared that there are some who, after many years of Christian profession, are not holier, or stronger in faith, or fuller of wisdom than they were 20 years ago! Some Believers seem to be like the children of Israel in the wilderness—they go forward and backward—their path is very intricate and they make but slow progress towards the heavenly Canaan. Let us, Beloved, labor to grow in Grace! Let us cry to God to enable us to grow. Let us not be satisfied with what we have already attained, but let us always feel an insatiable craving to acquire more and more of the good gifts of the Covenant of Grace, that we may have all things and abound, seeing that all things are provided for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!
But I want, just now, to bring this thought especially under the notice of young beginners in Grace, for I am about to speak of an experience which belongs, rather, to the full-grown Christian than to the newly-born Believer, and it may be that I shall cause trouble of heart to some of the little ones of the Lord’s family while I speak of what is more commonly enjoyed by the greater ones and the stronger ones. I do not mean to do so, but quite the reverse. You, dear Friend, who have been lately brought to Christ, must not judge and condemn yourself if you do not, as yet, possess all the Graces which belong to the more matured saint. No one would think of condemning a child three years old because he was not six feet high! No one would blame him because his little feet would not carry him upon a long journey. No one would expect from him the wisdom which we look for in his father. “You cannot put old heads on young shoulders, “says our proverb, and it is very true, and it would be a pity that we should try to do so, for the old heads would be out of place upon young shoulders—let the whole man be of the same age. If, therefore, I talk at this time about a high and noble joy which you have not yet tasted, long for it—and go the right way to gain it—but do not begin to say, “I do not know that joy and, therefore, I am no child of God. I have not partaken of that delight and, therefore, I cannot be a sincere Believer in Jesus.” If you do so, you will be acting very unwisely—you will be acting toward yourself in a way in which a father would not think of acting toward his own child! Christian life is a life ofprogress—it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we are going forward, and onward, and upward—and we hope to continue doing so until we behold the face of Him we love! And then “we shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is.”
A second observation I want to make is that the Christian life has its own peculiar joys. If you look through the chapter from which our text is taken, you will see that it begins with a joy—“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” That is a smoothly flowing current, fathomless and full of infinite sweetness! I do not know, if I had my choice of the state of heart in which I would wish to be between here and Heaven, whether I would not prefer continual peace to any other condition of mind. It is a blessed thing, sometimes, to soar aloft, as on the wings of eagles, and to seem to play with the young lightning that is at home with the sun! It is a grand thing to live even herein the very Presence of God and feel that Earth has grown into a little Heaven! But I find that such an ecstatic state as that is frequently followed by deep depression. Elijah runs before Ahab’s chariot, but the next morning he runs away from a woman and asks that he may die. Our great “ups” are not far off equally great “downs.” We climb the mountains and then we slip down the cliffs. We descend into the Valley of Humiliation soon after we have been on the tops of the Hills of Communion. If one could always be just quiet and peaceful, it would be best.