Spiritual Blessings in
Christ
Preached by John Kershaw at Zoar Chapel London, on April
18th, 1848.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ" (Ephesians 1:3).
Beloved, many of you will recollect that we had these
words under consideration last Thursday evening. We endeavored to prove, in
the first place, from the Word of God and Christian experience, that
we shall never find anything in ourselves but sin and weakness, unworthiness
and unprofitableness; and secondly, that as all the fullness of grace
and salvation is treasured up in the Lord Jesus Christ, there must be
corresponding weakness, emptiness and unprofitableness felt in us. But when
it pleases the Lord, in the riches of his grace, to bless the soul with an
enjoyment of himself and his precious truth, and with the comforts and
consolations of his salvation, the result is, as in our text, that poor soul
in return will bless, praise and magnify the God of his salvation.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ." God has blessed his people from the beginning with every needful
new covenant blessing, treasured up in Christ Jesus their covenant Head.
There is not a single blessing of grace and salvation which is not secured
and deposited in him. Ah, my friends, it is well for us they are treasured
up in Christ Jesus, because in him they are safe and secure. The Holy
Spirit, in his appointed time, convinces the heart of the poor sinner of the
need of these spiritual blessings; he gives him deeply to feel his need, and
puts a cry in his heart after them. The Lord says, "I will yet for this be
enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them." The poor sinner will
never come to Christ, bow down before him and seek the Lord's blessing,
until he is brought into poverty, destitution and indigent circumstances. He
will never flee to Christ for refuge until every other resource fails him,
and he is at his wits' end and knows not what to do. But, blessed be his
name, Christ is a refuge for the helpless and the destitute.
We have these things blessedly set forth and traced out
in the history of Joseph. He was a type of Christ. "Let the blessing come
upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him who was
separated from his brethren." The spiritual Joseph is to be seen in it. When
was it, my friends, that Joseph's brethren went to him, and made application
for food? Not until they were in famine, when need and starvation stared
them in the face. But why did they go to Joseph? Because all the supplies in
Egypt were treasured up by him, and there was no getting them but through an
application to Joseph. And when the sons of Jacob came to Joseph, they
entered into his presence just like the poor sinner does into the presence
of Jesus they fell down before him. But Joseph knew his brethren; he
remembered his dreams, and thought of the time when in the simplicity of his
heart he told them how he dreamt they were all binding sheaves in the field,
and how his sheaf arose and stood uppermost, while all the sheaves of his
brethren fell down before him; and in consequence of revealing this dream to
them, how they had envied him and conspired together to take away his life.
But now he sees the fulfillment of it. In the time of their destitution and
famine they come to him and fall down at his feet, entreating him to supply
them with provision.
And just so it is with the convinced sinner. He comes in
his poor and needy circumstances and falls down before the Lord Jesus
Christ, our spiritual Joseph. Now Joseph knew his brethren and felt for
them; they were near his heart; and though he appeared to speak roughly at
first, yet he could not long refrain from acknowledging them. He quickly
turns aside to weep, for his affections of compassion were moved towards
them.
But, however strong the feeling of love and affection
might have been that Joseph had towards his brethren, it was not one ten
thousandth part so strong as Christ, our spiritual Joseph, has towards his
people. Bless his precious name, he has made provision for them and
treasured it up in himself. He brings the poor soul to his blessed feet, to
fall down and supplicate for mercy. It is the hungry that are filled with
good things, while the rich are sent empty away. And when the sinner is
brought to feel his spiritual destitution, wretchedness, guilt and misery;
when he finds that the world cannot afford him any help, and that he cannot
help himself; when all creature refuge fails him; when all the streams of
earthly comfort dry up, and they are proved to be broken cisterns that can
hold no water, then it is that he comes and falls prostrate before the Lord
at his blessed feet. The Lord draws him to himself, and says, "All that the
Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes" in a destitute,
lost, ruined and undone condition "I will never cast out."
But I must pause a moment or two to notice the characters
here expressed. There are some it appears who will be "cast out." Who are
those that will be "cast out"? Those who come with a price in their hand;
those who are rich and high-minded; those who fancy they have some worth or
worthiness, and use it as a plea with the Lord why they should have the
blessing all these he will cast out and send empty away. But those who
come to him guilty, weak, helpless, ignorant, naked and filthy, without
money and without price (bless his name forever!) he will never cast them
out. He knows your destitution, poverty and every spiritual blessing you
stand in need of; and the supply is all treasured up in himself, that you
may receive grace for grace. It is for such as you I desire tonight so to
speak that the Word may be made a blessing to your never-dying souls.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ."
I.
We have already spoken of the spiritual
blessing of a finished and complete salvation
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the enjoyment of it is inseparably
connected with faith and repentance. Salvation is wholly and entirely of the
Lord. His people are saved in him with an everlasting salvation. Faith and
repentance are spiritual blessings communicated by the Lord to the heirs of
promise, his elect people, and are wrought by the Holy Spirit in their
hearts as fruits and effects of the salvation of the dear Redeemer.
II.
But to proceed a little further into this
blessed subject, we observe, in the second place, in the Lord Jesus
Christ we have the spiritual blessing of a
justifying righteousness. We can never stand justified before
a holy God in his righteous law on the ground of works, or of any worth or
worthiness done by us. I do not know of a greater impossibility or absurdity
than to suppose that justification before God can be obtained by anything
the sinner can do, or by anything he may have done, or ever expects to do,
either in whole or in part. The law demands purity and perfection, and the
poor sinner is all impurity and imperfection; all therefore that the law can
do is to curse and condemn the transgressor.
But let us hear what Paul says upon this subject: "Now we
know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the
law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty
before God." God will stop the mouth of every elect vessel of mercy in this
world. But those who are left in sin, and have not their mouth stopped here,
will have it stopped at the judgment of the great day. God's elect are
brought in guilty and condemned in their souls before God in a righteous
law. They are made to feel what Paul says in the next verse: "Therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by
the law is the knowledge of sin." My friends, do we feel this? Has the Lord
taught us this truth in our own souls? If so, we want the blessing of a free
grace justification, which is only to be had in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
shall find it nowhere else, I am sure. Hence the apostle says, "All have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
Now friends, look where the blessing is: "Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Our
justification by grace and acceptance with God is only to be found where it
is treasured up in Christ. You cannot find it in yourselves. It has
pleased the Father that in the Lord Jesus Christ all fullness should dwell
for every poor, sensible soul who is brought by God the Spirit to confess
his guilt and misery, feel his need, and have earnest desires, hungerings
and thirstings after Christ's justifying righteousness. The Lord brings his
people to know that in his solemn presence they are altogether as an unclean
thing, and that all their doings and righteousness are as filthy rags. They
find that when they would do good evil is present with them; that the good
they would they do not, while the evil they would not that they do.
So that the poor soul who is brought more and more to
feel his own evils, and to see that he has nothing in self to glory in, but
that he is as an unclean thing before the Lord, will be led by the Holy
Spirit to discover that his justification and acceptance is treasured up in
a precious Christ; and he will burst out in the language of the church of
old, "Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength";
and again, "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall
glory." Our justification, our acceptance and our glory before a holy God is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Boasting is excluded on every side. Hence the
apostle says, "To declare at this time his righteousness: that he might be
just, and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus. Where is boasting
then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No, but by the law of faith."
This is the way, my friends, whereby we are considered
just and accepted in Jesus Christ. "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and
brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of
sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which
you could not be justified by the law of Moses." The righteousness of Christ
is imputed to the poor sinner. "Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord
imputes not iniquity." The poor sinner's unrighteousness is washed away in
the atoning blood of the Lamb; he is constituted righteous in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, my friends, as we stand on the Rock of Ages, sin is done
away; we are clad in the Redeemer's righteousness, and stand complete and
accepted in the sight of Jehovah. But it is in Christ, my friends. And
blessed be God that it is there.
But the children of God need not merely to know
the doctrine of justification and acceptance in Christ; they need to have a
blessed revelation of their interest in it powerfully made known to their
heart and conscience by the Holy Spirit. Now the enjoyment of this is by
faith; hence the apostle says, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ." "The just shall live by faith." But
faith is the gift of God. May the Lord enable you, poor soul, to look from
yourself to a precious Christ, to see that his perfect obedience is yours.
May the Lord enable you to look to the atonement of Christ on the cross,
whereby your sins are done away. May the Lord enable you, poor sinner, to
look to Jesus, and see the curse removed, sin atoned for, righteousness
brought in, heaven opened, death abolished, and life and immortality brought
to light. Wherever the blessed Spirit has begun the work of grace in the
heart of a poor sinner, he will land that precious soul in immortal bliss
and blessedness at last. O may he therefore now enable you, poor soul, to
look to and see the ability of Christ, to join in the language of the poet,
and sing
"A feeble saint shall win the day,
Though death and hell obstruct the way."
But it is in Christ, my friends; it is in Christ.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."
III.
But again; we observe, thirdly, there is
the spiritual blessing of redemption
redemption from sin, iniquity and the curse of the law. But it is only to
be found in Christ. Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, is the great Redeemer
of his church and people. "Our Redeemer," says the prophet, "is strong"; he
is strong to redeem, strong to deliver, and mighty to save. O that I could
speak of him as I have him in my heart, bless his precious name! All might,
power and ability is in Christ, and all to redeem us from sin, the curse of
the law and the pit of destruction. But what is the ransom? What is the
price, my friends? Silver and gold and corruptible things? O no! If a man
had all the silver and gold in the earth, and the cattle upon a thousand
hills, and could give them all for the sin of his soul, it would be scorned;
yes, ten thousand rivers of oil would be a sacrifice insufficient.
But we have redemption in Christ. He is not only the
great Redeemer; but marvelous to tell, he is also the ransom price. "Walk in
love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." Mark the reading: he
gives himself, his life, his blood, as an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling savor. When on the cross he suffered "the Just for the
unjust"; when he bled, groaned and died for our sins, it was to redeem us
from all iniquity, and to deliver us from the curse of the divine law by
being made a curse for us. When he shed his precious blood for the remission
of our sins, it was our ransom price. Bless his precious and immortal name,
by sacrificing and offering himself up once for all, he has "obtained
eternal redemption for us." Though it is lofty language, yet it is firm and
sure "eternal redemption"! "We have redemption." Where? "Through
his blood," through his atoning sacrifice, "even the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace." He has redeemed his church and
people, even millions of men by his blood; so that, my friends, he is of God
"made unto us redemption."
Now this just suits the captive soul held in bondage and
chains; he stands in need of just such a redemption price. When God arrests
the poor soul by convincing him of sin, he is held fast in the chains and
fetters of legal bondage, he is a captive soul in prison, shut up unto the
faith of the gospel. I would not give a groat for a man's religion if he has
never been in the prison and the low dungeon. Christ can never be precious
to him as his salvation, nor his sacrifice prized, unless he has been there.
"Bring my soul out of prison," says David, "that I may praise your name."
"Let the sighing of the prisoner come up before you; according to the
greatness of your power preserve you those that are appointed to die."
Now, when the poor soul is in prison, in chains and in
condemnation, he needs deliverance from his captivity, but he feels that
none upon earth can help or deliver him. O no; the blessed Savior alone can
deliver and save him. His atoning blood is the ransom price. He says, "The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the
broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to those that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord." When this deliverance is proclaimed in the conscience of the poor
sinner, the effect is as the Bible describes it is "liberty to the
captives." Our religion to stand the test must be according to the
Scriptures; and the language of the inspired Word is, "Deliver him" (the
poor, captive, bowed-down soul) "from going down to the pit; I have found a
ransom for him" the blood of the incarnate God. "As for you," says Jehovah
the Father to the dear Redeemer, "by the blood of your covenant, I have sent
forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein there is no water." Mark it, my
friends, God delivers the poor sinner by the blood of the covenant, the
blood of the dear Redeemer. The Holy Spirit applies the atoning blood of
Immanuel to the conscience of the convinced sinner, and he discovers to him
that the debt of sin is paid, law and justice satisfied, hell defeated,
death vanquished and glory obtained. And when the poor sinner sees and feels
this in his conscience, he has the spiritual blessing of deliverance from
guilt and condemnation, and is brought into the glorious liberty of the
gospel. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us
free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." And again, "If
the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."
Our freedom from the curse is a spiritual blessing in our
covenant Head. Paul felt it, and said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ." The spirit of liberty, gospel freedom, sweet
peace in the conscience, pardon and redemption is all in Christ, my friends.
And if we are blessed with these spiritual blessings in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we are safe and secure to all eternity. The soul that has a saving
interest in Christ, the great Redeemer, is as sure of heaven as if he were
there already. It is not as some freewillers wickedly tell their hearers:
"There are thousands in hell for whom Christ shed his blood." O no, this can
never be the case; for the Father has declared of the Son, "He shall see of
the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." He could never be
satisfied if the purchase of his blood, the ransom of his life, were to be
lifting up their eyes in hell. "The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and
come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall
obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." It is in
Christ, my friends. The Lord keep you and me looking by precious faith to
the Person of the great Redeemer, to his blood shedding and justifying
righteousness, for peace and salvation. It is the test of the household of
faith.
Now, let us speak a word or two on Christian experience,
in reference to the feelings that a Christian man finds working in his mind.
Sin is the bane and plague of a child of God. It is in his heart and
in his thoughts, and he cannot get rid of it. It goes with him wherever he
goes, and abides with him wherever he stays; and the misery which he feels
on account of these things often makes him cry out with Job, "O Lord, I am
vile." "What a wretch I am!" I tell you, my friends, if I were called by
others what I frequently call myself, it would make me very angry; I would
not like to be called such ugly names. But I cannot find any language vile
enough to call myself in my own mind. The poor soul finds language beggared
in describing what he sees of the depravity, guilt and wretchedness of his
evil heart and fallen nature.
But the mercy is, poor sinner, though you are black in
yourself, you are beautiful and lovely and without spot in a precious
Christ. You are quite safe and secure in his blessed hands. He has put away
all your sins and iniquities, and has blotted them out as a thick cloud, and
says, "When they are sought for, they shall not be found." He has removed
forever the curse of the law from you; therefore it is written, "Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." We can,
therefore, now sing with the poet,
"Believing, we rejoice,
To see the curse remove;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing his bleeding love."
Yes, poor soul, you will find it all right at last; you
are as sure of heaven as though you were there already. It is the will of
your Father that when you are absent from the body, you shall be present
with the Lord. The dear Redeemer will have the purchase of his soul with
him; and he says, "Father I will that they also, whom you have given me, be
with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." This is often a degree
of strength, comfort and consolation to living souls. The poor sinner knows
and feels what he is in himself as a worthless worm; but he rejoices in
Christ Jesus, while he can put no trust or confidence in himself.
The spiritual blessings of redemption, peace, pardon,
gospel liberty and rest for the soul come through the dear Redeemer alone. I
do not know whether you London folks find rest, peace and comfort anywhere
else, but I know I do not. I find no rest, no confidence, no joy for my
heart but in the glorious Person, the finished work, the justifying
righteousness and complete salvation of my incarnate God; and that has
hitherto, and I believe it will continue to sustain me through every storm,
tempest and trial that I may have to meet with to the end of my days. But it
is all in a precious Christ. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ."
IV.
But we observe, fourthly, that
another spiritual blessing which is treasured up in Christ is his
atoning blood. O what a blessed
remedy this is for the worst of all maladies, the worst of all diseases! No
disease ever did or can exist equal to the malady of sin, and for that very
reason it is called a plague. There are many disorders which come upon the
body, but they fall short of a plague. A plague is the worst kind of disease
that can break out among mortals. When a plague bursts out in a populous
district, it has been known to make dreadful work. We have heard, and some
of us have read, of the plague that once broke out in this great metropolis,
and how it swept away thousands upon thousands.
At the dedication of the temple, when Solomon, who was a
type of the Lord Jesus Christ, stood praying for the Lord's blessing to rest
on his church and people, among other things in his petition he particularly
makes use of this plea before the Lord, that he would hear and regard from
heaven every man that should know "the plague of his own heart" the
torment of his carnal heart, his refractory, rebellious, fretful heart,
where swarms of evil thoughts and vain imaginations abound, which often
makes the child of God so sick and weary of himself that he knows not what
to do.
I knew a simple man in the country who was so plagued
with the workings of his evil heart that to get a little ease from his
torments, he thought he would try to walk it away. He set off walking and
walking, and then he took to running as fast as he could until he was out of
breath. But there it was in his heart, working, fretting and foaming. He
could not get rid of it, nor run away from it; he felt the plague of his
heart, and could only cry, "O wretched man that I am!" But after a time the
Lord applied his precious, atoning blood to his conscience, and that gave
him ease. And nothing but the blood of the Lamb can take away the hurt or
stop the plague of sin in the heart.
Blessed be God, in our text we have a great Deliverer set
forth; and that Deliverer is a precious Christ. He is the great High Priest
over the house of God, and the remedy is his atoning blood, the balm of
Gilead. Poor soul, do you want your conscience to be cleansed, your heart to
be purified, and your sin and guilt to be washed away? Where can you look
for these things but to a precious Christ? The blessing is in Christ, my
friends, and nowhere else. My soul lives upon the truths I preach, and God
forbid that I should speak anything to you but what I have experienced the
blessedness of in my own soul.
Now the Lord says by the prophet, "In that day there
shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness." This is the precious blood of Jesus,
Immanuel, the incarnate God. And what is this fountain opened for? "For sin
and for uncleanness." So that if you have no knowledge of sin and
uncleanness, the fountain is not opened for you; it is opened for the
guilty, the vile and the filthy in their feelings. Come then, poor black and
leprous sinners, to the fountain. I love the song
"Black, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior, or I die."
Come to the fountain; it is opened for those who feel the
plague of their heart, who are burdened with sin and uncleanness, and whose
cry is with the leper of old, "Unclean, unclean." This fountain is opened to
cleanse you from sin and to purify you from uncleanness. "Ah," says the poor
child of God, "I want to get at it, and cannot." You may want to get at it
by your own wisdom and strength; but, blessed be the Lord, it is not left to
your getting. If you could get it when you would, then you could do the work
of the Holy Spirit.
But God has determined that you shall not do his work;
hence the dear Redeemer tells his disciples that "when he, the Spirit of
truth has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show
you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and
shall show it unto you." The blessed Spirit takes the atoning blood of the
Lamb and applies it to the conscience of the poor sinner; he removes the
burden of sin and softens the heart; and the dear child of God feels the
blessedness of that text, which I cannot speak without feeling its blessed
and solemn import: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all
sin." This is its blessed effect. And the redeemed soul for a while sings in
this valley of tears the same song as the glorified spirits above: "Unto him
that has loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us
kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever." "For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an
heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh; how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God." It is in Christ, my friends. The Holy Spirit takes the
atoning blood of the Lamb, applies it afresh to the conscience with power,
and bears witness to the spirit of the living family that they are the
redeemed of the Lord. May we glory only in a precious Christ! "Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."
Now my friends, your time is gone, and the strength of my
body begins to fail me through much preaching. By way of CONCLUSION,
therefore, let me ask, what do you know of these things for yourself? Let me
pause then for a moment and give you time to think. Do you see your lost,
ruined and undone state and condition as a sinner before the Lord? Do you
feel the need of that salvation which is in Christ? Are you led by the
teachings of the blessed Spirit of God never to expect acceptance or
justification before him on the ground of you own doings? Is it the earnest
desire and prayer of your soul to be saved completely by the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus? Are you looking by faith to the great Redeemer for the
washing away of all your sins through his precious blood? Is the Lord Jesus
Christ the Rock on which your soul rests for life and salvation? Are you
confiding and trusting in him as your great High Priest before the throne?
If so, the Spirit has begun the work of grace in your soul; and he that has
begun it will surely carry it on; and when the great conflagration of all
things shall take place, you shall shout the triumphs of the Lamb, exalt his
precious name, and glorify his great salvation forever and ever.
But am I speaking to any individuals present who are
strangers to these great and glorious truths in the experimental feelings of
their heart and soul before the Lord? If I am, it is my province to declare
to such of you as are careless about these solemn and eternal things that
you are living without God and without hope in the world; that "God is angry
with the wicked every day"; and that if you live and die in this state,
enemies to God and his Word, you will die under the wrath of God and the
curse of his holy law. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God." God, outside of Christ, is "a consuming fire." If you live and
die in impenitency and hardness of heart, you will fall into a fire that
never can be quenched.
But how different the state and prospect of the poor
child of God, who is resting by faith upon the dear Redeemer! Pondering over
these things in my mind this afternoon, I was desirous that I might be made
a blessing to the Lord's children this evening. I felt a little comfort in
my own soul while meditating on the words of the text; and I wanted to
preach to the people of God the things which I have looked upon and handled
and felt in my own experience of the Word of life.
And now, may we drop into the hands and everlasting arms
of the dear Redeemer as poor guilty sinners. Then we shall be safe in every
storm and tempest, while passing through this valley of tears, and at last
live and reign with him in glory above forever and ever.