# “God with us” by Charles Spurgeon

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2021/12/16/god-with-us-by-charles-spurgeon/
- Published: 2021-12-16T12:00:17-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“Do you know what ‘God with us’ means? Has it been God with you in your tribulations,
by the Holy Ghost’s comforting influence?

Has it been God with you in searching the Scriptures? Has the Holy Spirit shone 
upon the Word?

Has it been God with you in conviction, bringing you to Sinai? Has it been God with
you in comforting you, by bringing you again to Calvary?

Do you know the full meaning of that name Immanuel, ‘God with us’? No; he who knows
it best knows little of it.

Alas, he who knows it not at all is ignorant indeed; so ignorant that his ignorance
is not bliss, but will be his damnation. Oh! may God teach you the meaning of that
name Immanuel, ‘God with us’!

Now let us close. ‘Immanuel.’ It is wisdom’s mystery, ‘God with us.’

Sages look at it, and wonder; angels desire to see it; the plumb-line of reason 
cannot reach half-way into its depths; the eagle-wing of science cannot fly so high,
and the piercing eye of the vulture of research cannot see it.

‘God with us.’ It is hell’s terror. Satan, trembles at the sound of it; his legions
fly apace, the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it.

Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, ‘God with us,’ back
he falls, confounded and confused. Satan trembles when he hears that name, ‘God 
with us.’

It is the labourer’s strength; how could he preach the gospel, how could he bend
his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the
martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men
labour if that one word were taken away? ‘God with us.’

’Tis the sufferer’s comfort, ’tis the balm of his woe, ’tis the alleviation of his
misery, ’tis the sleep which God giveth to his beloved, ’tis their rest after exertion
and toil.

Ah! and to finish, ‘God with us,’—’tis eternity’s sonnet, ’tis heaven’s hallelujah,’
tis the shout of the glorified, ’tis the song of the redeemed, ’tis the chorus of
angels, ’tis the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. “God with
us.”

_“Hail thou Immanuel, all divine,_
 _In thee thy Father’s glories shine,_ _Thou 
brightest, sweetest, fairest One,_ _That eyes have seen or angels known.”_

Now, a happy Christmas to you all; and it will be a happy Christmas if you have 
God with you.

I shall say nothing today against festivities on this great birthday of Christ. 
I hold that, perhaps, it is not right to have the birthday celebrated, but we will
never be amongst those who think it as much a duty to celebrate it the wrong way
as others the right.

But we will tomorrow think of Christ’s birthday; we shall be obliged to do it, I
am sure, however sturdily we may hold to our rough Puritanism.

And so, “let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of 
malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Do not feast as if you wished to keep the festival of Bacchus; do not live tomorrow
as if you adored some heathen divinity.

Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. Go to the house of feasting
tomorrow, celebrate your Saviour’s birth; do not be ashamed to be glad, you have
a right to be happy.

Solomon says, “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry
heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let
thy head lack no ointment.”

_“Religion never was designed_
 _To make our pleasures less.”_

Recollect that your Master ate butter and honey. Go your way, rejoice tomorrow; 
but, in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem; let Him have a place in your
hearts, give Him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived Him, but think most
of all of the Man born, the Child given.

I finish by again saying,—’A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!'”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “[The Birth of Christ](https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-birth-of-christ/#flipbook/),”
in[_ The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 40 _](https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-birth-of-christ/#flipbook/)(
London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1894), 40: 610–611.

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