A Gospel Worth Dying For
“To testify the gospel of the grace of God.”—Acts 20:24
PAUL says that, in comparison with his great object of preaching the gospel, he did not count even his life to be dear to himself; yet we are sure Paul highly valued life. He had the same love of life as other men, and he knew besides that his own life was of great consequence to the churches and to the cause of Christ. In another place he said, “To abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Phi 1:24). He was not weary of life, nor was he a vain person who could treat life as though it were a thing to fling away in sport. He valued life, for he prized time, which is the stuff that life is made of, and he turned to practical account each day and hour, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:16). Yet he soberly said to the elders of the church at Ephesus that he did not regard his life as a dear thing in comparison with bearing testimony to the gospel of the grace of God. According to the verse before us, the Apostle regarded life as a race that he had to run. Now, the more quickly a race is run the better: certainly, length is not the object of desire. The one thought of a runner is how he can most speedily reach the winning post. He spurns the ground beneath him; he cares not for the course he traverses except so far as it is the way over which he must run to reach his desired end.
Such was life to Paul: all the energies of his spirit were consecrated to the pursuit of one object, namely, that he might everywhere bear testimony to the gospel of the grace of God. The life that he lived here below was only valued by him as a means to that end. He also regarded the gospel and his ministry in witnessing to it as a sacred deposit that had been committed to him by the Lord Himself. He looked upon himself as “put in trust with the gospel” (1Th 2:4), and he resolved to be faithful though it should cost him his life...Before his mind’s eye, he saw the Savior taking into His pierced hands the priceless casket which contains the celestial jewel of the grace of God and saying to him, “I have redeemed thee with My blood, and I have called thee by My name, and now I commit this precious thing into thy hands, that thou mayest take care of it and guard it even with thy heart’s blood. I commission thee to go everywhere in My place and stead and to make known to every people under heaven the gospel of the grace of God.” All believers occupy a somewhat similar place. We are none of us called to the apostleship, and we may not all have been called to the public preaching of the Word of God; but we are all charged to be valiant for the truth upon the earth and to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Oh, to do this in the spirit of the Apostle of the Gentiles! As believers, we are all called to some form of ministry. This ought to make our life a race and cause us to regard ourselves as the guardians of the gospel, even as he that bears the colors of a regiment regards himself as bound to sacrifice everything for their preservation...
What was this gospel for which Paul would die?
It is not everything called “gospel” that would produce such enthusiasm...we have gospels nowadays that I would not die for nor recommend anyone of you to live for, inasmuch as they are gospels that will be snuffed out within a few years. It is never worthwhile to die for a doctrine that will itself die out. I have lived long enough to see half-a-dozen new gospels rise, flourish, and decay. They told me long ago that my old Calvinistic doctrine was far behind the age and was an exploded thing. Next, I heard that evangelical teaching in any form was a thing of the past, to be supplanted by “advanced thought”...
Yet there used to be a gospel in the world that consisted of facts that Christians never questioned. There was once in the Church a gospel that believers hugged to their hearts as if it were their soul’s life. There used to be a gospel in the world which provoked enthusiasm and commanded sacrifice. Tens of thousands have met together to hear this gospel at peril of their lives. Men, to the teeth of tyrants, have proclaimed it, have suffered the loss of all things, and gone to prison and to death for it, singing psalms all the while. Is there not such a gospel remaining? Or are we arrived at cloudland,1 where souls starve on suppositions and become incapable of confidence or ardor?2 Are the disciples of Jesus now to be fed upon the froth of “thought” and the wind of imagination, whereon men become heady and high-minded? Nay, rather will we not return to the substantial meat of infallible revelation and cry to the Holy Ghost to feed us upon His own inspired Word?
What is this gospel that Paul valued before his own life?
It was called by him “the gospel of the grace of God.” That which most forcibly struck the Apostle in the gospel was that it was a message of grace and of grace alone. Amid the music of the glad tidings, one note rang out above all others and charmed the Apostle’s ear. That note was grace—the grace of God. That note he regarded as characteristic of the whole strain: the gospel was “the gospel of the grace of God.” In these days, that word grace is not often heard. We hear of moral duties, scientific adjustments, and human progress; but who tells us of “the grace of God” except a few old-fashioned people who will soon be gone? As one of those antiquated folk...I shall try to sound out that word grace, so that those who know its joyful sound shall be glad, and those who despise it shall be cut to the heart.
Grace is the essence of the gospel. Grace is the one hope for this fallen world! Grace is the sole comfort of saints looking forward for glory! Perhaps Paul had a clearer view of grace than even Peter, James, or John; and hence he has so much larger space in the New Testament. The other apostolic writers excelled Paul in certain respects, but Paul as to his depth and clearness in the doctrine of grace stood first and foremost. We need Paul again, or at least the Pauline evangelism and definiteness. He would make short work of the new gospels and say of those who follow them, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:6-7).
Let me try to explain in a brief manner how the gospel is the good news of grace. The gospel is an announcement that God is prepared to deal with guilty man on the ground of free favor and pure mercy. There would be no good news in saying that God is just; for, in the first place, that is not news. We know that God is just; the natural conscience teaches man that. That God will punish sin and reward righteousness is not news at all. And if it were news, yet it would not be good news; for we have all sinned, and upon the ground of justice we must perish. But it is news, and news of the best kind, that the Judge of all is prepared to pardon transgression and to justify the ungodly. It is good news to the sinful that the Lord will blot out sin, cover the sinner with righteousness, and receive him into His favor, and that not on account of anything he has done or will ever do, but out of sovereign grace. Though we are all guilty without exception, and all most justly condemned for our sins, yet God is ready to take us from under the curse of His Law and give us all the blessedness of righteous men, as an act of pure mercy...
This is a message worth dying for, that through the covenant of grace God can be just, and yet the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus; that He can be the righteous Judge of men, and yet believing men can be justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus! That God is merciful and gracious and is ready to bless the most unworthy is a wonderful piece of news, worth a man’s spending a hundred lives to tell. My heart leaps within me as I repeat it in this hall and tell the penitent, the desponding, and the despairing that, though their sins deserve hell, yet grace can give them heaven and make them fit for it—and that as a sovereign act of love, altogether independent of their character or deservings. Because the Lord hath said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Rom 9:15), there is hope for the most hopeless. Since “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Rom 9:16), there is an open door of hope for those who otherwise might despair...Ah, Paul, I can understand your getting into a holy excitement over such a revelation as that of free grace! I can understand your being willing to throw your life away that you might tell to your fellow sinners that grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.
But the gospel tells us much more than this, namely, that in order to His dealing with men upon the ground of free favor, God the Father has Himself removed the grand obstacle which stood in the way of mercy. God is just; that is a truth most sure. Man’s conscience knows it to be so, and man’s conscience will never rest content unless it can see that the justice of God is vindicated. Therefore, in order that God might justly deal in a way of pure mercy with men, He gave His only-begotten Son, that by His death, the Law might receive its due and the eternal principles of His government might be maintained. Jesus was appointed to stand in man’s stead, to bear man’s sin and endure the chastisement of man’s guilt. How clearly doth Isaiah state this in his fifty-third chapter! Man is now saved securely, because the commandment is not set aside, nor the penalty revoked. All is done and suffered which could be exacted by the sternest justice, and yet grace has her hands untied to distribute pardons as she pleases. The debtor is loosed, for the debt is paid. See a dying Savior, and hear the prophet say, “The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa 53:5). Here, too, everything is of grace.
Brethren, it was grace on God’s part to resolve upon devising and accepting an atonement, and especially in His actually providing that atonement at His own cost. There is the wonder of it! He that was offended Himself provides the reconciliation! He had but one Son, and sooner than there should be any obstacle in His way as to dealing with men on the footing of pure grace, He took that Son from His bosom, allowed Him to assume our frail nature, and in that nature permitted Him to die, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God...“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1Jo 4:10). This, then, is the gospel of the grace of God: that God is able, without injustice, to deal with men in a way of pure mercy, altogether apart from their sins or their merits, because their sins were laid upon His dear Son Jesus Christ, Who hath offered to divine justice a complete satisfaction, so that God is glorious in holiness and yet rich in mercy. Ah, beloved Paul, there is something worth preaching here.
In order to the accomplishment of the designs of grace it was necessary further that a gospel message should be issued full of promise, encouragement, and blessing. Truly, that message has been delivered to us; for that gospel that we preach today is full of grace to the very brim. It speaks on this wise: Sinner, just as you are, return unto the Lord, and He will receive you graciously and love you freely. God hath said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb 8:12). For Christ’s sake, and not because of any agonies, tears, or sorrows on your part, He will remove your sins as far from you as the east is from the west (Psa 103:12). He saith, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa 1:18). You may come to Jesus just as you are, and He will give you full remission upon your believing in Him.
The Lord says today, “Look not within, as though you would search for any merit there; but look unto Me, and be ye saved. I will bless you apart from merit, according to the atonement of Christ Jesus.” He says, “Look not within as though you looked for any strength for future life: I am become both your strength and your salvation; for when you were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly”...The gospel message is of grace because it is directed to those whose only claim is their need. The whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Come, therefore, ye morally sick; ye whose brows are white with the leprosy of sin; come and welcome, for to you is this free gospel proclaimed by divine authority. Assuredly such a message as this is worth any exertion for its spreading; and it is so blessed, so divine, that we may gladly pour out our blood to proclaim it.
Further, brethren, that this gospel blessing might come within the reach of men, God’s grace has adopted a method suitable to their condition. “How can I be forgiven?” saith one, “tell me truly and quickly!” “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Act 16:31). God asks of you no good works, nor good feelings either, but that you be willing to accept what He most freely gives. He saves upon believing. This is faith: that thou believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that thou trust thyself with Him: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (Joh 1:12). If thou believest, thou art saved. Salvation “is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed” (Rom 4:16).
Dost thou say, “But faith itself seems beyond my reach”? Then, in the gospel of the grace of God we are told that even faith is God’s gift and that He works it in men by His Holy Spirit. For apart from that Spirit they lie dead in trespasses and sins. Oh, what grace is this! The faith that is commanded is also conferred! “But,” saith one, “if I were to believe in Christ and have my past sins forgiven, yet I fear I should go back to sin; for I have no strength by which to keep myself for the future.” Hearken! The gospel of the grace of God is this: that He will keep thee to the end, that He will preserve alive within thee the fire that He kindles; for He saith, “I give unto my sheep eternal life.” Again He saith, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (Joh 4:14). The sheep of Christ shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of Christ’s hand. Dost thou hear this, thou guilty one, thou who hast no claim upon God’s grace whatever? His free grace comes to thee, even to thee. And if thou art made willing to receive it, thou art this day a saved man, and saved forever beyond all question. I do say it again, this is a gospel so well worth the preaching that I can understand Paul saying, “Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God”...
Do you seem inclined to accept the way and method of grace? Let me test you. Some men think they love a thing and yet they do not, for they have made a mistake concerning it. Do you understand that you are to have no claim upon God? He says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Rom 9:15). When it comes to pure mercy, then no one can possibly urge a claim. In fact, no claim can exist. If it be of grace it is not of debt, and if of debt it is not of grace. If God wills to save one man, and another be left to perish in his own willful sin, that other cannot dare to dispute with God. Or if he does, the answer is, “Can I not do as I will with my own?” Oh, but you seem now as if you started back from it! See, your pride revolts against the sovereignty of grace. Let me beckon you back again. Though you have no claim, there is another truth that smiles upon you; for, on the other hand, there is no bar to your obtaining mercy. If no goodness is needed to recommend you to God, since all must be pure favor that He gives, then also no badness can shut you out from that favor. However guilty you may be, it may be God may show favor to you. He has in other cases called out the chief of sinners: why not in your case also? At any rate, no aggravation of sin, no continuance in sin, no height of sin, can be a reason why God should not look with grace upon you; for if pure grace and nothing else but grace is to have sway then the jet black transgressor3 may be saved. In his case, there is room for grace to manifest its greatness. I have heard men make excuse out of the doctrine of election, and they have said, “What if I should not be elected?” It seems to me far wiser to say, “What if I should be elected?” Yea, I am elected if I believe in Jesus; for there never was a soul yet that cast itself upon the atonement of Christ but what that soul was chosen of God from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4)!
This is the gospel of the grace of God, and I know that it touches the heart of many of you. It often stirs my soul like the sound of martial music,4 to think of my Lord’s grace from old eternity, a grace that is constant to its choice and will be constant to it when all these visible things shall disappear as sparks that fly from the chimney. My heart is glad within me to have to preach free grace and dying love...There is something in a free-grace gospel worth preaching, worth listening to, worth living for, and worth dying for! My friend, if the gospel has done nothing for you, hold your tongue or speak against it. But if the gospel has done for you what it has done for some of us, if it has changed the current of your life, if it has lifted you up from the dunghill and made you to sit as on a throne, if it is today your meat and your drink, if to your life it is the very center and sun—then bear constant witness to it. If the gospel has become to you what it is to me, the light of my innermost heart, the core of my being, then tell it, tell it wherever you go. Make men know that even if they reject it, it is to you the power of God unto salvation and will be the same to every man that believeth…[I conclude by] reminding you of reasons why we, my brethren, should live to make known the gospel of the grace of God:
First, because it is the only gospel in the world, after all. These mushroom gospels of the hour, which come and go like a penny newspaper, which has its day and then is thrown aside, have no claim on any man’s zeal...But to hear the gospel of the grace of God is worth many a mile’s walk, and if it were plainly set forth in all our churches and chapels I warrant we should see very few empty pews: the people would come and hear it, for they always have done so. It is your graceless gospel which starves the flock till they forsake the pasture...Man wants something that shall cheer his heart in the midst of his labor and give him hope under a sense of sin. As the thirsty need water, so does man want the gospel of the grace of God. And there are no two gospels in the world any more than there are two suns in the heavens. There is but one atmosphere for us to breathe and one gospel for us to live by...
Do it, next, because it is for God’s glory. Do you not see how it glorifies God? It lays the sinner low; it makes man nobody, but God is all in all. It sets God on a throne and trails man in the dust; and then it sweetly leads men to worship and reverence the God of all grace, Who passeth by transgression, iniquity, and sin.
Therefore, spread it. Spread it because thus you will glorify Christ. Oh, if He should come on this platform this morning, how gladly would we all make way for Him! How devoutly would we adore Him! If we might but see that head, that dear majestic head, would we not all bow in worship? And if He then spoke and said, “My beloved, I have committed to you my gospel. Hold it fast as ye have received it! Give not way to the notions and inventions of men, but hold fast the truth as ye have received it; and go and tell My word, for I have other sheep that are not yet of My fold, who must be brought in. And you have brothers that yet are prodigals, and they must come home!” I say, if He looked you each one in the face and addressed you so, your soul would answer, “Lord, I will live for Thee! I will make Thee known! I will die for Thee if needs be to publish the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
From a sermon delivered on Lord’s Day morning, August 12, 1883, at Exeter Hall, reprinted by Pilgrim Publications.