The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon

Then, to conclude, you have the freedom of Jerusalem, the mother of us all. That is the best gift. We are free to heaven. When a Christian dies, he knows the open sesame that can open the gates of heaven, he knows the password that can make the gates fly wide open; he has the white stone by which he shall be known as a ransomed one, and that is his pass him at the barrier, he has the passport that shall let him into the dominions of Jehovah; he has liberty to enter into heaven. I think I see you, you unconverted, in the land of shades, wandering up and down to find your portion. You come to the porch of heaven. It is great and lofty. The gate has written over it, “The righteous only are admitted here.” As you stand, you look for the porter. A tall archangel appears from above the gate, and you say, “Angel, let me in.” “Where is your robe?” You search, and you have none; you have only some few rags of your own spinning, but no wedding garment. “Let me in,” you say, “for the fiends are after me to drag me to yonder pit. Oh, let me in.” But with a quiet glance the angel lifts up his finger and says, “Read up there”; and you read, “No one but the righteous enter here.” Then you tremble; your knees knock together; your hands shake. If your bones were of brass they might melt; and if your ribs were of iron they might be dissolved. Ah! there you stand, shivering, quaking, trembling; but not long, for a voice which frightens you from your feet and lays you prostrate, cries, “Depart you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Oh dear hearers, shall that be your portion? My friends as I love you, — I do this morning and hope I ever shall, — shall this be your lot? Will you not have freedom to enter into the city? Will you not seek that Spirit which gives liberty? Ah! I know you will not have it if left to yourselves; some of you perhaps never will. Oh God, grant that that member may be but few, but may the number of the saved be great indeed!

      Turn, then my soul to your rest,

      The ransom of your great High Priest,

      Has set the captive free.

      Trust to his efficacious blood,

      Nor fear your banishment from God,

      Since Jesus died for you.

      {a} Sylph: One of a race of beings or spirits supposed to inhabit the air. OED.

      {b} Sisyphus: In Greek mythology, was a king punished in Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity. See Explorer “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus”

      {c} Daughters of Danaus: The Daughters of Danaus were the fifty daughters of Danaus that were to marry the fifty sons of his twin brother Aegyptus, who was a mythical king of Egypt. Danaus did not want his daughters to go ahead with the marriages and he fled with them in the first boat built to Argos, which is located in Greece near the ancient city of Mycenae … Some accounts tell that their punishment was in Tartarus being forced to carry a jug that leaked water to a bathtub to wash their feet. Because the jug was leaky they would for ever try to fill the tub. See Explorer “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughters_of_Danaus”

      The Kingly Priesthood Of The Saints

      No. 10-1:69. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, January 28, 1855, By C. H. Spurgeon, At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

      And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth. {Revelation 5:10}

      1. “Music has charms.” I am sure sacred music has; for I have felt something of its charms while we have been singing that glorious hymn just now. There is a potency in harmony; there is a magic power in melody, which either melts the soul to pity, or lifts it up to joy unspeakable. I do not know how — it may be with some minds; they possibly may resist the influence of singing; but I cannot. When the saints of God, in full chorus, “chant the solemn lay,” {lay, song, chorus} and when I hear sweet syllables fall from their lips, keeping measure and time, then I feel elevated; and, forgetting for a time everything terrestrial, I soar aloft towards heaven. If such is the sweetness of the music of the saints below, where there is much of discord and sin to mar the harmony, how sweet must it be to sing above, with cherubim and seraphim. Oh, what songs must those be which the Eternal ever hears upon his throne! What seraphic sonnets must those be which are thrilled from the lips of pure immortals, untainted by a sin, unmingled with a groan: where they ever sing hymns of joy and gladness, never intermingled with one sigh, or groan, or worldly care. Happy songsters! When shall I join your chorus? There is one of your hymns that runs —

      Listen! how they sing before the throne!

      and I have sometimes thought I could “listen! how they sing before the throne.” I have imagined that I could hear the full burst of the swell of the chorus, when it pealed from heaven like mighty thunders, and the sound of many waters, and have almost heard those full toned strains, when the harpers harped with their harps before the throne of God; alas, it was only my imagination. We cannot hear it now; these ears are not fitted for such music; these souls could not be contained in the body, if we were once to hear some stray note from the harps of angels. We must wait until we get up yonder. Then, purified, like silver seven times, from the defilement of earth, washed in our Saviour’s precious blood, sanctified by the purifying influence of the Holy Spirit —

      We shall, unblemished and complete,

      Appear before our Father’s throne,

      With joys divinely great.

      Then loudest of the crowd we’ll sing,

      While heaven’s resounding mansions ring

      With shouts of sovereign grace.

      2. Our friend John, the highly favoured apostle of the Apocalypse, has given us just one note from heaven’s song; we shall strike that note, and sound it again and again. I shall strike this tuning fork of heaven, and let you hear one of the key notes. “And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” May the great and gracious Spirit, who is the only illumination of darkness, light up my mind while I attempt, in a brief and hurried manner, to speak from this text. There are three things in it: first, the Redeemer’s doings — “and have made us”; secondly, the saints’ honours — “and have made us kings and priests to our God”; and, thirdly, the world’s future — “and we shall reign upon the earth.”

      3. I. First, then, we have THE REDEEMER’S DOINGS. Those who stand before the throne sing of the Lamb — the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who took the book and broke the seals of it — “You have made us kings and priests to our God.” In heaven they do not sing —

      Glory, honour, praise, and power

      Be to ourselves for ever;

      We have been our own redeemers;

      — Hallelujah!

      They never sing praise to themselves; they do not glorify their own strength; they do not talk of their own free will and their own might; but they ascribe their salvation from beginning to end, to God. Ask them how they were saved, and they reply; “The Lamb has made us what we are.” Ask them from where their glories came, and they tell you, “They were bequeathed to us by the dying Lamb.” Ask from where they obtained the gold of their harps, and they say, “It was dug in mines of agony and bitterness by Jesus,” Enquire who stringed their harps, and they will tell you that Jesus took each sinew of his body to make them. Ask them where they washed their robes and made them white, and they will say —

      In yonder ‘fountain filled with blood

      Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins.’

      Some people on earth do not know where to put the crown; but those in heaven do. They place the diadem on the right head; and they ever sing — “And he has made us what we are.”

      4. Well, then, beloved, would not this note well become us here? For “what have we that we have not received?” Who has made us to differ? I know, this morning, that I am a justified man; I have the full assurance that —

      The terrors