The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon

then I will pass on to my third point. There is a poor soul over there, who is desirous of coming to Jesus, but he is in very great trouble, lest he should not come correctly; and I know many Christians who say, “Well, I hope I have come to Christ; but I am afraid I have not come correctly.” There is a little footnote to one of the hymns in dear Mr. Denham’s collection, in which he says, “Some people are afraid they do not come correctly. Now, no man can come except the Father draw him; so I apprehend, if they come at all, they cannot come incorrectly.” So do I apprehend, if men come at all, they must come correctly. Here is a thought for you, poor coming sinner. “Why are you afraid to come?” “Oh!” you say, “I am so great a sinner, Christ will not have mercy upon me.” Oh! you do not know my blessed Master, he is more loving than you think him to be. I was once wicked enough to think the same; but I have found him ten thousand times more kind than I thought. I tell you, he is so loving, so gracious, so kind, there never was one, half so good as he. He is kinder than ever you can think; his love is greater than your fears, and his merits are more prevalent than your sins. But still you say, “I am afraid I shall not come correctly, I think I shall not use acceptable words.” I tell you why that is: because you do not remember that Christ was taken from the people. If Her Majesty were to send for me tomorrow morning, I dare say I should feel very anxious about what kind of clothing I should wear, and how I should walk in, and how I should observe court etiquette, and so on; but if one of my friends here were to send for me, I would go immediately and see him, because he is one of the people, and I am like him. Some of you say, “How can I go to Christ? What shall I say? What words shall I use?” If you were going to one above you, you might say so: but he is one of the people. Go as you are, poor sinner — just in your rags, just in your filth — in all your wickedness, just as you are. Oh conscience stricken sinner, come to Jesus! He is one of the people. If the Spirit has given you a sense of sin, do not study how you are to come; come anyway; come with a groan, come with a sigh, come with a tear, — come, if you only come, it will do, for he is one of the people. “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come; let him that hears say, Come.” Here I cannot resist giving an illustration. I have heard, that in the deserts, when the caravans are in need of water, and they are afraid they shall not find any, they are accustomed to send ahead a camel with its rider, some distance in advance, then after a little time follows another; and then, at a short interval, another: as soon as the first man finds water almost before he stoops down to drink, he shouts aloud, “Come!” The next one, hearing the voice, repeats the word, “Come!” while the nearest again takes up the cry, “Come!” until the whole wilderness echoes with the word “Come!” So in that verse, “The Spirit and the Bride say, first of all, Come: then let him that hears say, Come: and whoever is thirsty, let him come, and take of the water of life freely.” With this picture I leave our list of the reasons for the election of Christ Jesus.

      16. III. And now I am to close up with his EXALTATION. “I have exalted one chosen from the people.” You will remember, while I am speaking upon this exaltation that it is really the exaltation of all the elect in the person of Christ; for all that Christ is, and all that Christ has, is mine. If I am a believer, whatever he is in his exalted person, that I am, for I am made to sit together with Christ in heavenly places.

      17. 1. First, dear friends, it was exaltation enough for the body of Christ to be exalted into union with the divinity. That was an honour which none of us can ever receive. We never hope to have this body united with God. It cannot be. Once has incarnation happened — and only once. Concerning no other man can it be said, “He was one with the Father, and the Father was one with him.” Concerning no other man shall it be said, that the Deity tabernacled in him, and that God was revealed in his flesh, seen by angels, justified in the Spirit, and received up in glory.

      18. 2. Again: Christ exalted by his resurrection. Oh! I should have liked to have stolen into that tomb of our Saviour, I suppose it was a large chamber; within it lay a massive marble sarcophagus, and very likely a ponderous lid was laid upon it. Then outside the door there lay a mighty stone, and guards kept watch before it. Three days did that sleeper slumber there! Oh! I could have wished to lift the lid of that sarcophagus, and look upon him. Pale he lay; blood streaks there were upon him, not all quite washed away by those careful women who had buried him. Death exulting cries, “I have slain him: the seed of the woman who is to destroy me is now my captive!” Ah! how grim death laughed! Ah! how he stared through his bony eyelids, as he said, “I have the boasted victor in my grasp.” “Ah!” said Christ, “but I have you!” And up he sprang, the lid of the sarcophagus fell off; and he, who has the keys of death and hell, seized death, ground his iron limbs to powder, dashed him to the ground and said, “Oh death, I will be your plague; Oh hell, I will be your destruction.” Out he came, and in turn the watchmen fled away. Startling with glory, radiant with light, effulgent with divinity, he stood before them. Christ was then exalted in his resurrection.

      19. 3. But how exalted was he in his ascension! He went out from the city to the top of the hill, his disciples attending him while he waited the appointed moment. See his ascension! Bidding farewell to the whole circle, up he went gradually ascending, like the rising of a mist from the lake, or the cloud from the steaming river. Aloft he soared: by his own mighty buoyancy and elasticity he ascended up on high — not like Elijah, carried up by fiery horses; nor like Enoch of old, it could not be said he was not, for God took him. He went himself; and as he went, I think I see the angels looking down from heaven’s battlements, and crying, “See the conquering hero comes!” while at his nearer approach again they shouted, “See the conquering hero comes!” So his journey through the plains of ether is complete — he nears the gates of heaven — attending angels shout “Lift up your heads, you everlasting gates; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors!” The glorious hosts within scarcely ask the question, “Who is the king of glory”; when from ten thousand thousand tongues there rolls an ocean of harmony, beating in mighty waves of music on the pearly gates and opening them at once, “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” Lo! heaven’s barriers are thrown wide open and cherubim are hastening to meet their monarch.

      They brought his chariot from afar,

      To bear him to his throne;

      Clapp’d their triumphant wings and said,

      “The Saviour’s work is done.”

      Behold he marches through the streets. See how kingdoms and powers fall down before him! Crowns are laid at his feet, and his Father says, “Well done, my Son, well done!” while heaven echoes with the shout, “Well done! well done!” Up he climbs to that high throne, side by side with the Paternal Deity. “I have exalted one chosen from the people.”

      20. 4. The last exaltation of Christ which I shall mention is that which is to come, when he shall sit upon the throne of his father David, and shall judge all nations. You will observe I have omitted that exaltation which Christ is to have as the king of this world during the millennium. I do not profess to understand it, and therefore I leave that alone. But I believe Jesus Christ is to come upon the throne of judgment, “and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.” Sinner! you believe that there is a judgment; you know that the tares and wheat cannot always grow together — that the sheep and the goats shall not always feed in one pasture; but do you know of that man who is to judge you — that he who is to judge you is a man? I say a man — a man once despised and rejected.

      The Lord shall come, but not the same

      As once in lowliness he came:

      A humble man before his foes;

      A weary man, and full of woes.

      Ah! no. Rainbows shall be around his head; he shall hold the sun in his right hand as the token of his government; he shall put the moon and stars beneath his feet, as the dust of the pedestal of his throne, which shall be of solid clouds of light. The books shall be opened — those massive books, which contain the deeds of both quick and dead. Ah! how shall the despised Nazarene sit triumphant over all his foes. No more the taunt, the jeer, the scoff; but one hideous cry of misery, “Hide us