By Charles H. Spurgeon (1834 – 1892)
“Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).
In Christ believers possess all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and grace, and power, and love. All things are yours, if you are Christ’s. From our union to Christ follows our sanctification. He died unto sin once, and we are henceforth dead to it. He is risen by the glory of the Father, and we are risen with Him into righteousness, and acceptance, and joy.
A Display of the Glory of God
It is a blessed thing that we should be made alive in Christ. In you has the LORD repeated the miracle which He performed on His beloved Son. Your true life has come to you by your being born again from above. “…This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son has life…” (1 John 5:11-12). The Holy Spirit has worked in us a higher life than nature possessed. We have received a living and incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever (1 Pet. 1:23). In this there is a striking display of the glory of God. As in the resurrection of Christ we see all the glorious attributes of God, so is there in every believer’s spiritual quickening a manifestation of the divine presence.
Know you not that regeneration is one of the greatest miracles that God Himself can perform? To be begotten again unto a lively hope is a mass of wonders. We, who before lay under spiritual death, have become possessors of a heavenly life; who shall fully comprehend this? This is a miracle indeed, and we ourselves are the subjects of it.
The life which is in you springs up unto eternal life. You shall surely behold His face whose life is already within your breast. What a blessed thing is this! I cannot declare to you the measureless glory of God which I perceive in this quickening of souls unto God, and yet that which I perceive is the bare fringe of the glory. Wondrous grace! He that sits on the throne says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5), and never is He to our hearts more truly on the throne than in this new creation of which we are this day the happy subjects –
Raised from the dead, we live anew;
And, justified by grace,
We shall appear in glory, too,
And see our Father’s face.
New Life and Hope
Notice that the life then given is emphatically new. When we are born again we receive a life which we never before possessed. We begin to feel, to think and to act as we never did before. In your quickening you received a light which had never before shone in your bosom – a life that came not from men, neither by men. It is not a development of something which was hidden in our constitution, it is not the evolution of a principle which really exists, only it is hampered and hindered. “…You hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). You had no life; you had nothing out of which life could come. Eternal life is the gift of God.
You live now to please God; before you lived to please yourself, or to please your neighbors. Once you lived for what you could get for yourself; you lived for the passing pleasures of a fleeting life, but now you have launched upon eternal seas. Eternity holds your treasures; eternity excites your efforts; eternity elevates your desires. You live as seeing Him who is invisible, and your conduct is controlled, not by the judgment of fallible men, but by the rule of the heart-searching God.
Your new life has new objectives. You aim higher, yes, you aim at the highest of all, for you live for the glory of God, and seek that your light may so shine, “that [men] may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). The will of God has now become your law. You count yourself only happy as you may fulfill His purposes, honor His name, and extend His kingdom.
Now are we cheered by new hopes; we have a hope of immortality; a hope so glorious, that it causes us to purify ourselves in preparation for its realization. We wait for the glorious appearing of our Lord. We look for new heavens and a new earth. We have a lively hope which defies death. Now have we new possessions. We used to wonder what the Christian meant when he spoke of “possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:10). We know now. God has made us “rich in faith” (Jas. 2:5), and He has given us greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.
Behold the desert now rejoices and blossoms as the rose. Now we have peace like a river, and a secret joy which no man takes from us. We drink of a well which none can dry up; we have bread to eat that the world knows not of. Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and this, even to ourselves, is so vast a joy that it overwhelms us. We have come into a new world altogether; a world far more grand than that which nature reveals. That text has come true to some of us, “…Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isa. 55:12). It is a wonderful thing, this new life.
A Holy, Active Walk
You were dead, but you have been raised from among the dead, and now you walk in “newness of life.” The new life that God gives us is exceedingly active. God’s children are not of a sluggish race. There is vigor and fervency about them. The new life in a Christian is quick, energetic, forceful. The new life produces a holy walk as soon as it is created. If you have been born unto God, you have cast off your lethargy, and are ready to run the race set before you.
When in spiritual health, you will glow with divine ardor and burn with holy fervency, delighting yourself in serving the Lord. This activity of life induces progress. If we are really quickened, we are to walk in newness of life; that is to say, we shall move on. We march on, going from strength to strength. We are not at the end yet; we must advance. It is true we have the new life in us, but we have not yet obtained everything; we must climb higher, and go further. We are not to act or grow in the energy of the old life, but in newness of life.
Brethren, have done with the things of the flesh. Put off the old man. If Christ has quickened you, walk in newness of life. Say to the old man, “Down with you, sir! I have done with walking in your way.” Let the new man come to the front, and do follow his guidance. Say in your soul, “O life of God within me, be supreme. Take the upper hand, and let every thought be captive to your power.” Let us not live in oldness of spiritual death, but in newness of spiritual life.
The Lord, by all that He has done for us, and in us, has changed everything. No point is unaffected. Newness of life affects us from head to foot. The Lord has made us rich in Himself, by the gift of Jesus, and by the work of His Spirit, and He would not have us grieving and fretting about the little matters which once were so exceedingly great to us. “…After all these things do the Gentiles seek…” (Matt. 6:32). Let us have higher cares and more divine aspirations. Let us seek to live the life of heaven on earth. We are called unto righteousness; let us not follow after mammon.
We are new creatures; may the Lord renew us day by day! Let us quit the old, for the time we have spent in it may well suffice. Now to a nobler destiny our soul aspires. The Christian life should be one of joyful vivacity. The Christian man, living in newness of life, should find life fresh about him. Our inner man is renewed day by day.
A healthy Christian is one of the liveliest creatures on earth. When he is at work you may hear him sing. He cannot help it; do not blame him for a little noise. Let him sing, and laugh till he cries. Sometimes he cannot help it; he will burst if his soul may not have vent. When he begins to talk about his Lord, his eyes flash fire. Some people hint that he is out of his mind, but those who know best assure us that he was never before as sane as now.
Of course, the world thinks religion is such poor stuff that nobody could grow excited about it. To my mind, cold religion is the nastiest dish ever brought to the table. True godliness is served up hot. Newness of life means a soul aglow with love to God, and therefore earnest, zealous, happy.
Do not live the old life over again. Why should you? Come, my soul, if Christ has raised you from the dead, do not live after the fashion of the dark grave which you have left.
Oh, that you would plunge into the river of life! How it would brace you! What tone it would give you! Be a Christian, out and out. Serve the Lord with your whole being. Give yourself wholly to Him who bought you with His blood. Plunge into the sacred flood by grace, and you will exclaim – “Oh, this is life! Oh, this joy, my God, to find You so! Your face to see, Your voice to hear, and all Your love to know.” May we thus walk in newness of life! Amen.