The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon

rejoice in the fact, “I am a king, and all the dominions of the earth shall be mine!”

      20. One last idea and I am finished with this part of the subject. Kings have dominion. Do you know I am a fifth monarchy man? In Cromwell’s time some said there had been four monarchies, and the fifth would come and overturn every other. Well, I never wish to do as they did; but I believe with them, that a fifth monarchy shall come. There have now existed four great empires, arrogating universal dominion, and there never shall be another worldwide monarchy until Christ shall come. Jesus, our Lord, is to be King of all the earth, and rule all nations in a glorious spiritual, or personal reign. The saints, as being kings in Christ, have a right to the whole world. Here am I this morning, and my congregation before me. Some people say, “Keep to your own place and preach,” and I have heard the advice, “Do not go out of your parish.” But Rowland Hill used to say he never went out of his parish in his life; his parish was England, Scotland, and Wales, and he never went out of it. I suppose that is my parish, and the parish of every gospel minister. When we see a city full of sin and iniquity, what should we say? That is ours, we will go and storm it. When we see a street or some crowded area, where the people are very bad and wicked, we should say, “That is our alley, we will go and take it.” When we see a house where people will not receive the gospel, we should say, “That is our house, we will go and attack it.” We will not go with the strong arm of the law; we will not ask the policeman, or government to help us; but take with us “the weapons of our warfare,” which “are not carnal but spiritual, and mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds.” We will go, and by God’s Spirit we shall overcome. There is a town where the children are running about the street, uneducated; we will go and take those children — kidnap them for Christ. We will have a Sunday School. If they are ragged urchins who cannot come to a Sunday School, we will have a Ragged School. {a} There is a part of the world where the inhabitants are sunk in ignorance and superstition: we will send a missionary to them. Ah! those who do not like missionary enterprise, do not know the dignity of the saint. Talk of India; talk of China; “it is mine,” says the saint. All the kingdoms of the earth are ours. “Africa is my washpot — I will triumph over Asia. They are mine! they are mine!” “Who shall bring me into the strong city?” Is it not you, oh Lord? God shall give us the kingdom of Christ. The whole earth is ours; and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Bel shall bow, Nebo shall stoop, the gods of the heathen, Buddha and Brahma shall be cast down, and all nations bow before the sceptre of Christ. “He has made us kings.”

      21. Our second point, upon which I shall be very brief, is, “He has made us kings and PRIESTS.” Saints are not only kings, but priests. I shall go to it at once, without any preface.

      22. We are priests, because priests are divinely chosen people, and so are we. “No man takes this honour to himself, but he who is called of God, as was Aaron.” But we have that calling and election; we were all ordained to it from the foundations of the world. We were predestinated to be priests, and in process of time we had a special effectual call, which we could not and did not resist, and which at last so overcame us, that we became at once the priests of God. We are priests, divinely constituted. When we say we are priests, we do not talk as certain parties do, who say they are priests, wishing by it to arrogate to themselves a distinction. I always have an objection — I must state it strongly — to calling a clergyman, or any man that preaches, a priest. We are no more so than you are. All saints are priests. But, for a man to stand up and say he is a priest, any more than those he preaches to, is a falsehood. I detest the distinction of clergy and laity. I like scriptural priestcraft, for that is the craft or work of the people, who are all priests; but all other priestcraft I abhor. Every saint of the Lord is a priest at God’s altar, and is bound to worship God with the holy incense of prayer and praise. We are priests, each one of us, if we are called by divine grace; for thus we are priests by divine constitution.

      23. Then, next, we are priests, because we enjoy divine honours. No one but a priest might enter within the veil; there was a court of the priests into which no one might ever go, except the called ones. Priests had certain rights and privileges which others had not. Saint of Jesus! heir of heaven! you have high and honourable privileges, which the world does not know about! Have you ever been within the veil in communion with Christ? Have you ever been in the court of the Lord’s house, the court of the priests, where he has taught you, and showed himself to you? Have you? Yes, you know you have; you enjoy constant access to God’s throne; you have a right to come and tell your griefs and sorrows into the ear of Jehovah. The poor worldling must not come there; the poor child of wrath has no God to tell his troubles to. He must not go within the veil; he has no wish to go; but you may; you may come to God’s ear, swing the censer before the throne, and offer your petition in the name of Jesus. Others do not have these divine honours. You are divinely honoured, and divinely blessed.

      24. Then another remark, to finish up with, shall be, we have a divine service to perform; and as I want you all, this morning, to turn this chapel into one great altar — as I want to make you all working priests, and this the temple for sacrifice — look earnestly at your service. You are all priests, because you love his dear name and have a great sacrifice to perform; not a propitiation for your sins, for that has been once offered, but a sacrifice this day of holy thanksgiving. Oh! how sweet in God’s ear is the prayer of his people! That is the sacrifice that he accepts; and when their holy hymn swells upwards towards the sky, how pleasant it is in his ears; because then he can say, “My hosts of priests are sacrificing praise.” And do, you know, beloved, there is one point in which most of us fail in our oblations before God? We offer our prayer, we present our praise; but how little do we sacrifice of our substance to the Lord! I had thought this morning, seeing I desire to make you amazingly liberal, to have made this my text, “Honour the Lord with your substance, and with the firstfruits of all your increase: so shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst out with new wine”; and I had thought of showing that our substance was the Lord’s, that we were bound to devote no small portion of it to him, and that if we did do so we might expect prosperity even in worldly business, for he would make our barns full and our presses burst with new wine. However, I conceive it to be needless to preach a collection sermon — I thought I would rather tell you about your honour and dignity, and then you shall just give what you like, for the only free will I like, is a free will offering. Suffer, you beloved, a few words. God has said in his Word that you are to honour him with your substance. As a priest of the Lord, will you not sacrifice something to the Lord this day? Here we have a great object before us; we want more room for the crowds who come to hear the gospel. It seems important, when such a throng is gathered, that no one should go away. Ought we not to bless God that they come? There was a time you were few indeed, and the cry was, “Who has believed our report?” But God has given us great success, the ministry here has been blessed to the conversion of not a few souls; I have many cases, now in this chapel, of broken hearts and contrite spirits; doubtless, there are many more than I know of, and I believe the blessed Spirit will bring them out in due time. Oh! do you not grieve that any should have to turn away from the voice of the ministry — that any who come here should have to go away, perhaps to spend Sunday in sin. You do not know where they have to go, when they cannot get within these walls. The thing is, we have come to the resolution that this chapel should be enlarged, so that there should be accommodation for a larger number. Now, you priests, sacrifice to the Lord. Let the priests build the house of Lord; let those who worship in the sanctuary take up the trowel today; let the mortar and the brick be laid, and let this house be once more filled with the glory of the Lord, and an abundant congregation.

      25. III. Now, I have to close up with THE WORLD’S FUTURE. “We shall reign on the earth.” I have not much time for this, and I dare say it is expected that I shall tell you about the millennium and the personal reign of Christ. I shall not at all, because I do not know anything about it. I have heard a great many people talk about it; and, if anyone shows me a book on the millennium, I say, “I cannot read it just yet.” A good man has lately written a book on it, and a gentleman recommended it to me so strongly, that I could not but buy it out of courtesy; but I elevated it to the aristocratic region of my library, in the higher ranks, and there it rests in quiet repose. I do not think myself capable of threading the labyrinths of the subject, and