Charles H. Spurgeon

They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. —Matthew 1:23

If Jesus Christ be “God with us,” let us come to God without any question or hesitancy. Whoever you may be, you need no priest or intercessor to introduce you to God, for God has introduced Himself to you.

Are you children? Then come to God in the child Jesus, Who slept in Bethlehem’s manger. Oh, ye grey heads, ye need not keep back, but like Simeon come and take Him in your arms, and say, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luk 2:29- 30)…O man, God comes to you as one like yourself. Do not be afraid to come to the gentle Jesus. Do not imagine that you need to be prepared for an audience with Him, or that you [lack] the intercession of a saint or the intervention of priest or minister. Anyone could have come to the babe in Bethlehem. The horned oxen, I think, ate of the hay on which He slept and feared not. Jesus is the friend of each one of us, sinful and unworthy though we be. You, poor ones, you need not fear to come, for, see, in a stable He is born, and in a manger He is cradled. You have not worse accommodation than His; you are not poorer than He is. Come and welcome to the poor man’s Prince, to the peasants’ Savior. Stay not back through fear of your unfitness; the shepherds came to Him in all their dishabille.¹ I read not that they tarried to put on their best garments; but in the clothes in which they wrapped themselves that cold midnight, they hastened just as they were to the young child’s presence. God looks not at garments, but at hearts, and accepts men when they come to Him with willing spirits, whether they are rich or poor. Come, then! Come, and welcome, for God indeed is “God with us.”

But, oh, let there be no delay about it. It did seem to me, as I turned this subject over yesterday, that for any man to say, “I will not come to God,” after God has come to man in such a form as this, is an unpardonable act of treason. Peradventure, you knew not God’s love when you sinned, as you did; [perhaps], though you persecuted His saints, you did it ignorantly in unbelief; but, behold—your God extends the olive branch of peace to you, extends it in a wondrous way, for He Himself comes here to be born of a woman that He may meet with you who were born of women too and save you from your sin. Will you not hearken now that He speaks by His Son?…

And as for you who have given up all hope, you that think yourselves so degraded and fallen that there can be no future for you—there is hope for you yet; for you are a man, and the being [seated] next to God is a man (Heb 1:3). He that is God is also man, and there is something about that fact that ought to make you say, “Yes, I may yet discover, mayhap,² brotherhood to the Son of man Who is the Son of God. I, even I, may yet be lifted up to be set among princes, even the princes of His people, by virtue of my regenerated manhood, which brings me into relation with the manhood of Christ, and so into relation with the Godhead.” Fling not yourself away, oh man…Turn you to your God with full purpose of heart, and you shall find a grand destiny in store for you.

Now, my brethren, to you is the last word: let us be with God since God is with us. I give you for a watchword through the year to come: “Emmanuel, God with us.” You, the saints redeemed by blood, have a right to all this in its fullest sense, drink into it and be filled with courage. Do not say, “We can do nothing.” Who are ye that can do nothing? God is with you. Do not say, “The church is feeble and fallen upon evil times”—nay, “God is with us!” Whatever is possible or whatever is impossible, Christians can do at God’s command, for God is with us. Do you not see that the word, “God with us,” puts impossibility out of all existence? Hearts that never could else be broken will be broken if God be with us. Errors that never else could be [proven false] can be overthrown by “God with us.” Things impossible with men are possible with God…Let us live with it upon our hearts: “The best of all is God with us.” Blessed Son of God, we thank Thee that Thou hast brought us that word. Amen.

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1. dishabille – dressed in a negligent or careless style.
2. mayhap – perhaps; possibly.

From a sermon delivered on Lord’s Day morning, December 26, 1875, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892): Influential English Baptist preacher; born at Kelvedon, Essex, England.

Courtesy of Chapel Library