PART I, SKETCH XXXV: MANASSEH

“Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God” (2 Chronicles 33.13.)

Introduction. Manasseh is one of those men who greatly sinned, and yet found great mercy. He ‘shed innocent blood very much,’ but found mercy through the Saviour whom God foresaw should die. 

(1) As a Sinner. He sinned against great light, a pious education, and early training. He was the son of Hezekiah, who ‘did right in the sight of the Lord.’ Manasseh pulled down what his father had built up, and built up the idol temples which his father had pulled down. The worst of men are those, who, having much light, still run astray. Such a one was Manasseh. He was a very bold sinner. He set up an idol right in the temple, as if to insult God to his face. He was a desperado in sin. Give me a coward—you give me nothing; give me a bold man, and you give me one that can do something, whether for Christ’s cause or the devil’s. Manasseh was a man of this kind. Yet this man, who had trampled on his father’s prayers, who had stifled the convictions of his conscience, and had gone to an extremity of guilt, was humbled to acknowledge that God was God alone. Let no man, therefore, despair of his fellow. Let no man despair of himself. Don’t give yourself up to Satan when he tells you your doom is cast. Manasseh had the power of leading others. As a king, he had great influence; what he commanded was done. It was the song and glory of the false priests that the king of Judah was on the side of the gods of the heathen. He was their great Goliath. He ‘caused his children to pass through the fire.’ Are there any here who have dedicated their children to the enemy? Even your case is not hopeless.

(2) As an Unbeliever. As an unbeliever of truth, Manasseh must have believed in the all-imaginary deities of the heathens. A man believes that atoms floated through space and came to certain shape, that man came to be in this world through the improvement of certain creatures, and that he is cousin-german to an ourang-outang. Then I may believe that Samson slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass! It requires the hardest faith to deny the Scriptures, because man, in his secret heart, knows they are true. ‘Lie down, conscience,’ he says, ‘or I cannot deliver my lecture tomorrow.’ The unlimited power Manasseh possessed tended to make him disbelieve in God. Unless governed by grace, power leads us to that. He was an unbeliever because he was proud. Pride lies at the root of infidelity; it is the germ of opposition to God. The intellectual will not become as a child to enter the kingdom! ‘I will not,’ says he. Manasseh was an unbeliever because he loved sin too well. Because the thought of God would check his lust, the unbeliever cries out, ‘There is no God.’ You would believe the gospel if you could believe it and live in your sin too. The gospel cries, ‘Down with sin.’ So men cry down the gospel. 

(3) As a Convert. Manasseh has just put his name to another murderous edict against the saints of God. But then he is taken captive to Babylon, and shut in prison. And now see what God can do. The proud king is on his knee. He weeps at how he ever could have sinned against a God so kind. Mercy whispers that promise from the murdered Isaiah: “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions.” O! can you conceive the joy of believers on that day? There was joy in heaven too; the bells of heaven rang merry peals the day Manasseh prayed. He believed in God because of answered prayer and because his sin was forgiven. He believed because he had a sense of pardoned sin. The wisest infidel cannot pervert the poorest saint who senses his blood-bought pardon. 

Selection from Conclusion. “’Once in Christ, in Christ for ever,/Nothing from his love can sever.’” 

PART I, SKETCH XXXIV: JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE

“Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3.24.)

Introduction. You will confess, brethren, it was not at Olivet, on Sinai, or on Tabor that you found comfort. The bitter herbs of Gethsemene have often taken away the bitters of your life; the scourge of Gabbatha has scourged your cares; the groans of Calvary have put all other groans to flight.

(1) The Redemption that is by Christ Jesus. In Scripture, a captive must be ransomed before he is set free. By the fall of Adam and because of our guiltiness, we were given up to the vengeance of the law. We could find no ransom. Then Christ stepped in to take the place of all believers, and paid the ransom price to deliver us from the curse of the law and the vengeance of God so we could go our way, clean, free, and justified by his blood. He has redeemed a multitude ‘that no man can number,’ and these from every kingdom, nation, tongue, color, and rank. This ransom was all paid at once. This payment obtained a perfect and complete remittal of all the debts of all believers, past, present, and future, to the very end of time. He did this all himself! Two thieves hung beside him, not righteous men. The whole of the punishment of his people was distilled into one cup. He nearly spurned it: ‘Let this cup pass from me.’ But his love was so strong, that ‘At one tremendous draught of love/He drank damnation dry’ for all his people. They must, they shall, go free. The ransom was accepted. There lay Jesus in the grave. Now is the crisis of this world; it hangs trembling in the balance. Will God accept the ransom? The resurrection was a pledge of God’s accepting him. The second proof of his acceptance was the place he was given: at God’s right hand. O, what a spectacle was there that day!

(2) The Effect of the Ransom. ‘Justified freely by his grace through the redemption.’ What is the meaning of justification? Justification is always employed in a legal sense. The only way a prisoner can be justified is to be found not guilty. Now, the wonder of wonders is that we are proved guilty, and yet justified. Can any earthly tribunal do that? No, only the ransom of Christ can. The way God justifies a sinner. I might take a man’s punishment, but not his guilt. Christ takes my guilt to be his guilt. ‘Father, punish me,’ says he, ‘and consider that man to have been me. Let me endure his curse, and let him receive my blessing.’ This is a doctrine of revelation. It never could have been conceived by nature. Some characteristics of justification. Here stands a man all guilty. The moment he believes in Christ, he receives pardon, and his sins are no longer his. They were laid on the shoulders of Christ, and they are gone for good. The man stands guiltless in the sight of God. ‘What!’ say you, ‘do you mean that literally?’ Yes, that is the doctrine of justification by faith. Even more, the man ceases to be guilty in God’s esteem; he becomes righteous and meritorious, for he is looked upon by God with as much love as he ever looked upon the Son. Does this not pass all thought? Well, it is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The glorified spirits are no more accepted than the poor man below, who is once justified by grace. 

(3) The Manner of Giving the Justification. ‘Will Christ take my black sins, and am I to take his righteousness?’ Yes, poor soul, if God has made you willing, if you confess your sins. ‘Freely by his grace’ because there is no price to be paid for it; it is not of your deservings. If you bring any of your deservings, you shall never have it. The worse you are, the better to come to Christ.

Selection from Conclusion. “If he gives you the grace to make you believe, he will give you the grace to live a holy life afterward. If he gives you faith, he gives you good works afterward.” 

PART I, SKETCH XXXIII: THE BLOOD-SHEDDING

“Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9.22.)

Introduction. I will show you three fools. The first is the wounded soldier who asks the surgeon, not if there are any means of healing, but about what sword or Russian he was wounded by. He is bereft of his senses. The second is the captain speculating on where the storm took its rise instead of engaging himself to avert disaster. The man is clean gone mad. The third fool I will find among yourselves. You are sick and wounded with sin. And you ask, ‘Sir, what is the origin of evil?’ You are mad, sir, spiritually mad. You should ask, ‘How can I get rid of the evil? Are there any medicines? Is there a physician?’ Ah! you trifle with subtleties while you neglect certainties. The fact is, there is evil. And the solution is our chosen text. It is a worldwide truth, an essential law of God’s moral government. The very heathen have an inkling of it; the truth lies deep in the human breast. The blood-shedding that is meant is that of a Man—a God. There dripped blood in his sweat, blood from his brow, his back, his hands, his feet, and his side. This is the shedding of blood without which there is no remission of sin for you. Were our hearts what they should be, we would bleed away our lives in sorrow over this death. This murder was a deicide, the killing of a God. 

(1) A Negative Expressed. There is no remission without blood—the blood of Jesus Christ. You may disbelieve many things the preacher utters. But this is God’s utterance. The negative is divine in its authority. Bow yourselves to it. Some men will say that God’s way of saving men is cruel, though in truth it exhibits boundless love. So it must be, sirs; you despise your own salvation. Our text is decisive in its character. Can’t I get my sins forgiven by repentance? Not without shedding of blood. By sinning no more? Not without shedding of blood. The text is universal in its character. May a king get pardon without it? ‘Without shedding blood there is no remission.’ May the wise man? No. The benevolent man? No. ‘Without shedding of blood there is no remission.’ This is a leveling gospel. Put away your money-bags; roll up your diploma; cover that coat of arms. No hope for the best, any more than for the worst, without this shedding of blood! The text is perpetual in its character. The truth will never alter. Forgiveness can never be procured, nor the conscience cleansed, except by faith in that sacrifice. There is no use for you to satisfy your hearts with any thing less than what satisfied the Father and appeased his justice.

(2) A Positive Implied. With shedding of blood there is remission. This is a present fact. The law had demanded his blood. Death had held him. Why the open, untenanted tomb? I will tell you. The debts are paid; the sins are canceled; the remission and redemption are obtained. He has ascended into heaven with his blood to appear before God for us. God is merciful, but just also. God is just, and yet the justifier through the death of Christ. None of us ever met a man who thought he had his sins forgiven except through the blood of Christ. The Muslim does not say so, nor the infidel, nor the legalist. Do you feel you are lost? I am so glad of it, for there is remission by the blood-shedding. Do you see that Man on the cross? If Jesus died for you, you cannot be lost. Christ died in vain for no one. Are you convinced of sin? Believe in his name and you cannot be lost. Do you say you are no sinner? Then I do not know that Christ died for you. Sir, I have nothing to say to you except this, ‘The wrath to come! the wrath to come!’

Selection from Conclusion. “Do you feel yourself to be guilty, my hearer?…Let this verse be the language of your heart; adopt it and make it your own: ‘A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,/In Christ’s kind arms I fall;/He is my strength and righteousness,/My Jesus and my all.’”

PART I, SKETCH XXXII: RAHAB'S FAITH

“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace” (Hebrews 11.31.)  

Introduction. The apostle Paul undertook to raise a grand pillar in the name of faith in the chapter before us. Faith triumphs over death when Enoch reaches heaven by another road; it triumphs over infirmity when Abraham begets a son in his old age; it divides the seas and casts down strong walls; and as though the greatest victory should be recorded last, here we have faith conquering sin. What! faith, did you fight with hideous lust? Yes, says faith, and I delivered this woman from the chambers of vice, and now her name shall be recorded in the roll of faith’s triumphs.  

(1) Rahab’s Faith was Saving. Her salvation was not merely a deliverance of her body from the sword, but redemption of her soul from hell. Nothing can snatch the soul from perdition but an atonement which is as divine as God himself. Yet faith is the instrument of accomplishing the whole work. A heroic man can tell you what a great thing it is to save a fellow-creature. But only our Lord Jesus Christ can know what it is to save a soul. Are you literally one of Rahab’s sisters in guilt? The same faith that saved Rahab can save you, if God shall grant you repentance. The greatest sinners are as welcome to Christ as the best of saints. The fountain filled with blood was opened for black ones; the robe of Christ was woven for naked ones. 

(2) Rahab’s Faith was Singular. The people of Jericho knew right well that death would come to each one if they should be attacked. Yet only this harlot repented and asked for mercy. It is hard to have singular faith, to believe a thing alone. O! it is a noble thing to be the lonely follower of despised truth. Worldly religious men will go along with the current. Rahab was ‘faithful among the faithless found.’ If you have grace in your heart you will dare to do right. 

(3) Rahab’s Faith was Stable. True faith exclaims, ‘The thing is unlikely, yet I believe it.’ Unbelief communed with Rahab this way: ‘Why put your life in jeopardy for these spies, when it is so improbable that their people, who are nothing but a parcel of slaves, will defeat the mighty Canaanites?’ All glory to God’s grace! the great sinner may become great in faith. 

(4) Rahab’s Faith was Self-Denying. She dared to risk her life for the sake of the spies. O men and brethren, trust not your faith unless it has self-denial with it. Faith and self-denial are like twins.

(5) Rahab’s Faith was Sympathizing. She desired mercy, not for herself only, but for her relations too. You are worse than a heathen and a publican if you care not for your own household. The spirit of proselyting is the spirit of Christianity. It is impossible to know the value of salvation without desiring to see others brought in. This is a first-fruit of the Spirit. It is a kind of instinct in a young Christian. Unless we desire others to taste the benefits we have enjoyed, we are either inhuman monsters or outrageous hypocrites; I think the last is more likely. 

(6) Rahab’s Faith was Sanctifying. Did Rahab continue a harlot after she had faith? No, she did not, but the name still stuck to her, as such names will. You cannot have faith, and yet live in sin. 

Selection from Conclusion. “The world has been trying all manner of processes to reform men: there is but one thing that ever will reform them, and that is, faith in the preached gospel.” 

PART I, SKETCH XXXI: FAITH

“Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11.6.) 

Introduction. The Old Assembly’s Catechism is correct in saying that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever. It is equally truthful to say that man’s end is to please God, for in doing so he will also please himself. He that pleases God is, by divine grace, journeying to the ultimate reward. He who is ill-pleasing to God must be banished from God’s presence. Do what you may, be as lovely and of good repute as can be, yet you will not be pleasing to God without faith. This is an old law. Cain and Abel brought their best offerings to God. Only Abel’s was accepted, being seasoned with faith. This rule will hold until the last man ascends to heaven. 

(1) An Exposition. What is faith? The old Puritan writers, by far the most sensible, tell us that faith consists of three things: knowledge, assent, and affiance. The first thing in faith is knowledge. A man cannot believe what he does not know. Some have heard the minister cry, ‘Believe! believe! believe!’ And they have got it into their heads that they are believers. There must be some degree of knowledge before there can be faith. By searching and reading comes knowledge, and by knowledge comes faith, and through faith comes salvation. But a man may know a thing and not have faith. Therefore assent is necessary. We must agree with what we know. Whosoever would be saved must know the Scriptures, and give his full assent to them. But a man may have all this, and yet not possess true faith. The chief part of faith is affiance to the truth: taking hold of it and resting on it for salvation. I shall not be saved and delivered from wrath by knowing Christ is a Saviour and that his atonement is sufficient. I shall be saved by making his atonement my refuge. With faith men are saved; without it men are damned. 

(2) An Argument. Why is it impossible to please God without faith? There is not one case in Scripture of a man pleasing God without faith. Judas repented, and then hanged himself. Saul confessed his sins, and yet went on as before. Like those who cast their crowns at God’s feet, we must bow in order to be saved. And faith is necessary because works can’t save. The key of works is broken, for you have broken the commandments. Christ alone can open heaven for you. If you think to enter heaven by your good works, they will be kindled into a flame wherein you must suffer for ever. Take heed of your good works; get them after faith. To be saved and to please God, there must be union with Christ. Christ is on the shore, so to speak, holding the rope of faith, and when we lay hold on that, he pulls us to shore. Grappling on your works with hooks of steel will avail you nothing. Without faith it is impossible to please God because it is impossible to preserve holiness without faith. Many Christians are tremendously religious in pious parlors and chapels. But if they are exposed to ridicule, it is all over with religion until the next fine day. That kind of religion is worse than irreligion. There is no shame in being a follower of Jesus. The only thing to be ashamed of is hypocrisy. Be true to your profession. 

(3) A Question. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart? If so, you may hope to be saved. He that has faith has renounced his own righteousness. True faith begets love to Christ. True faith begets good works. No one can have faith unless he also has holiness. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Cast yourselves upon his love and blood, his doing and his dying, his miseries and his merits; and if you do this you shall never fall, but you shall be saved now, and saved in that great day, when not to be saved will be horrible indeed.”

PART I, SKETCH XXX: CONFESSION OF SIN, A SERMON WITH SEVEN TEXTS

Introduction. Without a hearty confession of sins to God, we have no promise of mercy through the blood of the Redeemer. “Whosoever confesseth his sins and forsaketh them shall find mercy.” 

(1) The Hardened Sinner. Pharaoh—‘I have sinned.’ Why this confession from the proud tyrant? Because the Lord sent hail and fire upon Egypt. Pharaoh is a type of multitudes of the same class. When cholera strikes, churches are crammed with confessors. But once the cholera has done its work, conviction stops. Sirs, God has not forgotten the vows you then made. Do you think to lie against God and go unpunished? This first style of penitence is utterly worthless.

(2) The Double-Minded Man. Balaam—‘I have sinned.’ This man feels his sin deeply, but is worldly-minded. To quote Ralph Erskine, ‘To good and evil equal bent/And both a devil and a saint.’ He refuses to curse Israel, but advises the king of Moab to entice Israel from her God. Some men seem born with two characters. Balaam offered sacrifices to God on the altar of Baal. Many offer sacrifices to God on the shrine of Mammon. They give to the church, then enrich themselves by grinding the poor for bread. The double-minded man’s confession is of no avail. 

(3) The Insincere Man. Saul—‘I have sinned.’ To some extent Balaam was sincere in two things. Saul was the opposite, insincere in every thing. There are many such in every Christian assembly: men easily molded! Say what you please to them, they always agree. They confess their sins only to please someone. To say ‘I have sinned’ in an unmeaning manner is a mockery of God.

(4) The Doubtful Penitent. Achan—‘I have sinned.’ Achan stole some prey from Jericho and was put to death for it. He seems to have made a full confession of his sin. The most we can say is that we hope he was saved at last. His case, like the deathbed conversion, is doubtful. A physician once kept a record of a thousand persons who thought they were dying, but didn’t, and whom he thought were penitents. He says they all returned to their sins afterward except for two. 

(5) The Repentance of Despair. Judas—‘I have sinned.’ This is the worst case, the remorse of conscience. You tell such a man that Christ died for sinners. He answers, ‘There is no hope for me. I have cursed God to his face.’ Ah! there may be a man here who may have such a death as that. I warn him before he comes to it. May the Holy Spirit grant his turning unto God.  

(6) The Repentance of the Saint. Job—‘I have sinned.’ Job was a saint, but he sinned. This is the repentance of one who is a child of God already, an acceptable repentance before God. David was of this specimen. Study his penitential Psalms, which are full of weeping humility. 

(7) The Blessed Confession. The Prodigal—‘I have sinned.’ He has run away from a good home and a kind father. He has spent all his money on harlots. Look, there he is, with the fellow-commoners of the pigsty, hungry and miserable. Off he goes back to his father. He confesses, ‘I am not worthy to be called thy son.’ The father answers, ‘No more of that. I forgive you all.’ 

Selection from Conclusion. “’Ah, sir, I am so black, so filthy, so vile.’ Well, come along with you—you cannot be blacker than the prodigal…‘Him that cometh unto me I will no wise cast out.’”

PART I, SKETCH XXIX: SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2.1.)

Introduction. What a solemn sight is a dead body! Death is a Vandal with this mortal fabric. Left by God’s grace, our soul must be loathsome through sin, even as the corpse through natural decay. In his lifetime our Saviour raised three dead persons; I shall use these three facts as illustrations. 

(1) The Condition of Man by Nature. Men by nature are dead. The first case is Jairus’ daughter, the flush not yet faded from her face. Next is the young man, with signs of decay apparent. The third is Lazarus, who had begun to stink. All three are dead; death knows of no degrees. And so it is in this congregation. There are fair beings, both in appearance and character; others a little older, but beginning to indulge evil habits; and then characters who are so rotten that they are put out of decent society. These last are not more dead than the first, though their death is more fully revealed. Jesus Christ must quicken the one as the other. Now each case more particularly. Look at the fair maiden; isn’t she lovely? Alas! her excellence, virtue, and goodness avail nothing. She must be made alive. Note also, the maiden is still caressed. So with some of you. You are loved by God’s people. Alas! that you should still be dead! This maiden has no grave-clothes on yet. So with you. You have no evil habits yet. Alas! you are dead, even in your fairest raiment. The maiden’s death was confined to her chamber; the young man was carried to the city gate; Lazarus was in the tomb. Alas! my sister, that you have sins in the chamber of your heart. Take heed, you fairest and most upright; unless you are regenerated, you must be cast away. Now the second case. He is not more dead than the first, but he is further gone. The cheek is sunken, corruption begun. So with the young man here. Maybe he has been enticed by the strange woman. The maiden was still caressed; but good men shrink from this young man. He is still received among the people of God, but somewhat coldly, for they understand that he is not a living one. The maiden was yet in her garments of life; you are wrapped in grave-clothes. You are not yet the blasphemous infidel. But you will go further. You cannot stop the worm from eating. You have gone so far that your habits are openly wicked. O, Lord! touch the bier! Stop some young man in his evil habits, and say to him, ‘Arise!’ Now the last case. There is not even the gloss of life left. O, hideous spectacle! But the last stage of sin, hideous far more! I cannot describe the lusts and vices of full-grown sinners. Their deeds must be done in tombs, perpetrated at midnight. Yet, the most desperately abominable may be quickened. 

(2) The Quickening. These three were all quickened by Jesus—each in a different manner. The maiden was raised with a gentle touch, and the soft voice was heard, ‘Maiden, arise.’ Usually when God converts young people in the first stage of sin, he does it gently. The young man’s life was given more publicly, in the street by his companions. There comes the outspoken voice, ‘Young, man, I say unto thee, arise!’ About the maiden, Jesus said, ‘She is not dead, but sleepeth.’ To the mother of the young man, he said, ‘Weep not.’ But in Lazarus’ case he wept, then cried, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ The thunders of Sinai may be needed to arrest you.   

(3) The After-Experience of Each. To the maiden the command is, ‘Give her meat.’ Young people lack knowledge. Give them plenty of meat. The young man is delivered to his mother. Grace knits the ties that sin has loosed. Lazarus is loosed and let go. Christ breaks the older sinner’s habits. 

Selection from Conclusion. “O that he would quicken you and lead you to believe!”