Salvation by Knowing the Truth
January 16th, 1880
by
C. H. Spurgeon
(1834-1892)
"God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."-1 Timothy 2:3, 4.
May God the Holy Spirit guide our meditations to the best practical result
this evening, that sinners may be saved and saints stirred up to diligence. I
do not intend to treat my text controversially. It is like the stone which
makes the corner of a building, and it looks towards a different side of the
gospel from that which is mostly before us. Two sides of the building of
truth meet here. In many a village there is a corner where the idle and the
quarrelsome gather together; and theology has such corners. It would be
very easy indeed to set ourselves in battle array, and during the next
half-hour
to carry on a very fierce attack against those who differ from us in
opinion upon points which could be raised from this text. I do not see that
any good would come of it, and, as we have very little time to spare, and
life is short, we had better spend it upon something that may better tend to
our edification. May the good Spirit preserve us from a contentious spirit,
and help us really to profit by his word.
It is quite certain that when we read that God will have all men to be saved
it does not mean that he wills it with the force of a decree or a divine
purpose, for, if he did, then all men would be saved. He willed to make the
world, and the world was made: he does not so will the salvation of all
men, for we know that all men will not be saved. Terrible as the truth is,
yet is it certain from holy writ that there are men who, in consequence of
their sin and their rejection of the Savior, will go away into everlasting
punishment, where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
There will at the last be goats upon the left hand as well as sheep on the.61
right, tares to be burned as well as wheat to be garnered, chaff to be blown
away as well as corn to be preserved. There will be a dreadful hell as well
as a glorious heaven, and there is no decree to the contrary.
What then? Shall we try to put another meaning into the text than that
which it fairly bears? You must, most of you, be acquainted
with the general method in which our older Calvinistic friends deal with
this text. "All men," say they,- "that is, some men": as
if the Holy Spirit could not have said "some men" if he had meant some men. "All
men," say
they; "that is, some of all sorts of men": as if the Lord could not
have said
"all sorts of men" if he had meant that. The Holy Spirit by the
apostle has
written "all men," and unquestionably he means all men. I know how
to get
rid of the force of the "alls" according to that critical method
which some
time ago was very current, but I do not see how it can be applied here with
due regard to truth. I was reading just now the exposition of a very able
doctor who explains the text so as to explain it away; he applies
grammatical gunpowder to it, and explodes it by way of expounding it. I
thought when I read his exposition that it would have been a very capital
comment upon the text if it had read, "Who will not have all men to be
saved, nor come to a knowledge of the truth." Had such been the inspired
language every remark of the learned doctor would have been exactly in
keeping, but as it happens to say, "Who will have all men to be
saved," his
observations are more than a little out of place. My love of consistency
with my own doctrinal views is not great enough to allow me knowingly to
alter a single text of Scripture. I have great respect for orthodoxy, but my
reverence for inspiration is far greater. I would sooner a hundred times
over appear to be inconsistent with myself than be inconsistent with the
word of God. I never thought it to be any very great crime to seem to be
inconsistent with myself; for who am I that I should everlastingly be
consistent? But I do think it a great crime to be so inconsistent with the
word of God that I should want to lop away a bough or even a twig from
so much as a single tree of the forest of Scripture. God forbid that I should
cut or shape, even in the least degree, any divine expression. So runs the
text, and so we must read it, "God our Savior; who will have all men to
be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."
Does not the text mean that it is the wish of God that men should be
saved? The word "wish" gives as much force to the original as it
really
requires, and the passage should run thus- "whose wish it is that all
men
should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." As it is my wish.62
that it should be so, as it is your wish that it might be so, so it is God’s
wish that all men should be saved; for, assuredly, he is not less benevolent
than we are. Then comes the question, "But if he wishes it to be so, why
does he not make it so? " Beloved friend, have you never heard that a
fool
may ask a question which a wise man cannot answer, and, if that be so, I
am sure a wise person, like yourself, can ask me a great many questions
which, fool as I am, I am yet not foolish enough to try to answer. Your
question is only one form of the great debate of all the ages,- "If God
be
infinitely good and powerful, why does not his power carry out to the full
all his beneficence?" It is God’s wish that the oppressed should go
free, yet
there are many oppressed who are not free. It is God’s wish that the sick
should not suffer. Do you doubt it? Is it not your own wish? And yet the
Lord does not work a miracle to heal every sick person. It is God’s wish
that his creatures should be happy. Do you deny that? He does not
interpose by any miraculous agency to make us all happy, and yet it would
be wicked to suppose that he does not wish the happiness of all the
creatures that he has made. He has an infinite benevolence which,
nevertheless, is not in all points worked out by his infinite omnipotence;
and if anybody asked me why it is not, I cannot tell. I have never set up to
be an explainer of all difficulties, and I have no desire to do so. It is the
same old question as that of the negro who said, "Sir, you say the
devil
makes sin in the world." "Yes, the devil makes a deal of sin."
"And you say
that God hates sin." "Yes." "Then why does not he kill
the devil and put an
end to it?" Just so. Why does he not? Ah, my black friend, you will grow
white before that question is answered. I cannot tell you why God permits
moral evil, neither can the ablest philosopher on earth, nor the highest
angel in heaven.
This is one of those things which we do not need to know. Have you never
noticed that some people who are ill and are ordered to take pills are
foolish enough to chew them? That is a very nauseous thing to do, though
I have done it myself. The right way to take medicine of such a kind is to
swallow it at once. In the same way there are some things in the Word of
God which are undoubtedly true which must be swallowed at once by an
effort of faith, and must not be chewed by perpetual questioning. You will
soon have I know not what of doubt and difficulty and bitterness upon
your soul if you must needs know the unknowable, and have reasons and
explanations for the sublime and the mysterious. Let the difficult doctrines.63
go down whole into your very soul, by a grand exercise of confidence in
God.
I thank God for a thousand things I cannot understand. When I cannot get
to know the reason why, I say to myself, "Why should I know the reason
why? Who am I, and what am I, that I should demand explanations of my
God?" I am a most unreasonable being when I am most reasonable, and
when my judgment is most accurate I dare not trust it. I had rather trust my
God. I am a poor silly child at my very best: my Father must know better
than I. An old parable-maker tells us that he shut himself up in his study
because he had to work out a difficult problem. His little child came
knocking at the door, and he said "Go away, John: you cannot understand
what father is doing; let father alone." Master Johnny for that very
reason
felt that he must get in and see what father was doing -a true symbol of our
proud intellects; we must pry into forbidden things, and uncover that which
is concealed. In a little time upon the sill, outside the window, stood
Master Johnny, looking in through the window at his father; and if his
father had not with the very tenderest care just taken him away from that
very dangerous position, there would have been no Master Johnny left on
the face of the earth to exercise his curiosity in dangerous elevations. Now,
God sometimes shuts the door, and says, "My child, it is so: be content
to
believe." "But," we foolishly cry. "Lord, why is it
so?" "It is so, my child,"
he says. "But why, Father, is it so?" "It is so, my child,
believe me." Then
we go speculating, climbing the ladders of reasoning, guessing,
speculating, to reach the lofty windows of eternal truth. Once up there we
do not know where we are, our heads reel, and we are in all kinds of
uncertainty and spiritual peril. If we mind things too high for us we shall
run great risks. I do not intend meddling with such lofty matters. There
stands the text, and I believe that it is my Father’s wish that "all
men
should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." But I know,
also, that he does not will it, so that he will save any one of them, unless
they believe in his dear Son; for he has told us over and over that he will
not. He will not save any man except he forsakes his sins, and turns to him
with full purpose of heart: that I also know. And I know, also, that he has a
people whom he will save, whom by his eternal love he has chosen, and
whom by his eternal power he will deliver. I do not know how that squares
with this; that is another of the things I do not know. If I go on telling
you
of all that I do not know, and of all that I do know, I will warrant you that
the things that I do not know will be a hundred to one of the things that I.64
do know. And so we will say no more about the matter, but just go on to
the more practical part of the text. God’s wish about man’s salvation is
this,-that men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Men are saved, and the same men that are saved come to a knowledge of
the truth. The two things happen together, and the two facts very much
depend upon each other. God’s way of saving men is not by leaving them
in ignorance. It is by a knowledge of the truth that men are saved; this will
make the main body of our discourse, and in closing we shall see how this
truth gives instruction to those who wish to be saved, and also to those
who desire to save others. May the Holy Spirit make these closing
inferences to be practically useful.
Here is our proposition: IT
IS BY A KNOWLEDGE
OF THE TRUTH THAT
MEN ARE SAVED.
Observe that stress is laid upon the article: it is the truth, and not every
truth. Though it is a good thing to know the truth about anything, and we
ought not to be satisfied to take up with a falsehood upon any point, yet it
is not every truth that will save us. We are not saved by knowing any one
theological truth we may choose to think of, for there are some theological
truths which are comparatively of inferior value. They are not vital or
essential, and a man may know them, and yet may not be saved. It is the
truth which saves. Jesus Christ is the truth: the whole testimony of God
about Christ is the truth. The work of the Holy Spirit in the heart is to
work in us the truth. The knowledge of the truth is a large knowledge. It is
not always so at the first: it may begin with but a little knowledge, but it
is
a large knowledge when it is further developed, and the soul is fully
instructed in the whole range of the truth.
This knowledge of the grand facts which are here called the truth saves
men, and we will notice its mode of operation. Very often it begins its
work in a man by arousing him, and thus it saves him from carelessness. He
did not know anything about the truth which God has revealed, and so he
lived like a brute beast. If he had enough to eat and to drink he was
satisfied. If he laid by a little money he was delighted. So long as the days
passed pretty merrily, and he was free from aches and pains, he was
satisfied. He heard about religion, but he thought it did not concern him.
He supposed that there were some people who might be the better for
thinking about it, but as far as he was concerned, he thought no more.65
about God or godliness than the ox of the stall or the ostrich of the desert.
Well, the truth came to him, and he received a knowledge of it. He knew
only a part, and that a very dark and gloomy part of it, but it stirred him
out of his carelessness, for he suddenly discovered that he was under the
wrath of God. Perhaps he heard a sermon, or read a tract, or had a
practical word addressed to him by some Christian friend, and he found out
enough to know that "he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed on the Son of God." That startled him. "God is
angry
with the wicked every day: "-that amazed him. He had not thought of it,
perhaps had not known it, but when he did know it, he could rest no
longer. Then he came to a knowledge of this farther truth, that after death
there would be a judgment, that he would rise again, and that, being risen,
he would have to stand before the judgment-seat of God to give an
account of the things which he had done in the body. This came home very
strikingly to him. Perhaps, also, such a text as this flamed forth before
him,- "For every idle word that man shall speak he must give an account
in
the day of judgment." His mind began to foresee that last tremendous
day,
when on the clouds of heaven Christ will conic and summon quick and
dead, to answer at his judgment-seat for the whole of their lives. He did
not know that before, but, knowing it, it startled and aroused him. I have
known men, when first they have come to a knowledge of this truth,
become unable to sleep. They have started up in the night. They have asked
those who were with them to help them to pray. The next day they have
been scarcely able to mind their business, for a dreadful sound has been in
their ears. They feared lest they should stumble into the grave and into
hell.
Thus they were saved from carelessness. They could not go back to be the
mere brute beasts they were before. Their eyes had been opened to futurity
and eternity. Their spirits had been quickened-at least so much that they
could not rest in that doltish, dull, dead carelessness in which they had
formerly been found. They were shaken out of their deadly lethargy by a
knowledge of the truth.
The truth is useful to a man in another way: it saves him from prejudice.
Often when men are awakened to know something about the wrath of God
they begin to plunge about to discover divers methods by which they may
escape from that wrath. Consulting, first of all, with themselves, they think
that, if they can reform-give up their grosser sins, and if they can join
with
religious people, they will make it all right. And there are some who go and
listen to a kind of religious teacher, who says, "You must do good
works..66
You must earn a good character. You must add to all this the ceremonies
of our church. You must be particular and precise in receiving blessing
only through the appointed channel of the apostolical succession." Of
the
aforesaid mystical succession this teacher has the effrontery to assure his
dupe that he is a legitimate instrument; and that sacraments received at his
hands are means of grace. Under such untruthful notions we have known
people who were somewhat aroused sit down again in a false peace. They
have done all that they judged right and attended to all that they were told.
Suddenly, by God’s grace, they come to a knowledge of another truth, and
that is that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in the
sight of God. They discover that salvation is not by works of the law or by
ceremonies, and that if any man he under the law he is also under the curse.
Such a text as the following conies home, "Not of blood, nor of the will
of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God"; and such another text as
this,
"Ye must be born again," and then this at the back of it-
"that which is
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit."
When they also find out that there is necessary a righteousness better than
their own -a perfect righteousness to justify them before God, and when
they discover that they must be made new creatures in Christ Jesus, or else
they must utterly perish, then they are saved from false confidences, saved
from crying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. It is a grand
thing
when a knowledge of the truth stops us from trusting in a lie. I am
addressing some who remember when they were saved in that way. What
an opening of the eyes it was to you! You had a great prejudice against the
gospel of grace and the plan of salvation by faith; but when the Lord took
you in hand and made you see your beautiful righteousness to be a moth-eaten
mass of rags, and when the gold that you had accumulated suddenly
turned into so much brass, cankered, and good for nothing,-when you
stood stripped naked before God, and the poor cobwebs of ceremonies
suddenly dropped from off you, oh, then the Lord was working his
salvation in your soul, and you were being saved from false confidences by
a knowledge of the truth.
Moreover, it often happens that a knowledge of the truth stands a man in
good stead for another purpose; it saves him from despair. Unable to be
careless, and unable to find comfort in false confidences, some poor
agitated minds are driven into a wide and stormy sea without rudder or
compass, with nothing but wreck before them. "There is no hope for
me,"
says the man. "I perceive I cannot save myself. I see that I am lost. I
am.67
dead in trespasses and sins, and cannot stir hand or foot. Surely now I may
as well go on in sin, and even multiply my transgressions. The gate of
mercy is shut against me; what is the use of fear where there is no room for
hope?" At such a time, if the Lord leads the man to a knowledge of the
truth, he perceives that though his sins be as scarlet they shalt be as wool,
and though they be red like crimson they shall be as white as snow. That
precious doctrine of substitution comes in-that Christ stood in the stead of
the sinner, that the transgression of his people was laid upon him, and that
God, by thus avenging sin in the person of his dear Son, and honoring his
law by the suffering of the Savior, is now able to declare pardon to the
penitent and grace to the believing. Now, when the soul comes to know
that sin is put away by the atoning blood; when the heart discovers that it
is
not our life that saves us, but the life of God that comes to dwell in us;
that
we are not to be regenerated by our own actions, but are regenerated by
the Holy Spirit who comes to us through the precious death of Jesus, then
despair flies away, and the soul cries exultingly, "There is hope. There
is
hope. Christ died for sinners: why should I not have a part in that precious
death? He came like a physician to heal the sick: why should he not heal
me? Now I perceive that he does not want my goodness, but my badness;
he does not need my righteousness, but my unrighteousness: for he came
to save the ungodly and to redeem his people from their sins. I say, when
the heart comes to a knowledge of this truth, then it is saved from despair;
and this is no small part of the salvation of Jesus Christ.
A saving knowledge of the truth, to take another line of things, works in
this way. A knowledge of the truth shows a man his personal need of being
saved. O you that are not saved, and who dream you do not need to be,
you only require to know the truth, and you will perceive that you must he
saved or lost for ever.
A knowledge of the truth reveals the atonement by which we are saved: a
knowledge of the truth shows us what that faith is by which the atonement
becomes available for us: a knowledge of the truth teaches us that faith is
the simple act of trusting, that it is not an action of which man may boast;
it
is not an action of the nature of a work, so as to he a fruit of the law; but
faith is a self-denying grace which finds all its strength in him upon whom
it
lives, and lays all its honor upon him. Faith is not self in action but self
forsaken, self abhorred, self put away that the soul may trust in Christ, and
trust in Christ alone. There are persons now present who are puzzled about
what faith is. We have tried to explain it a great many times to you, hut we.68
have explained it so that you did not understand it any the better; and yet
the same explanation has savingly instructed others. May God the Holy Spirit open your understandings that you may practically know what faith
is, and at once exercise it. I suppose that it is a very hard thing to
understand because it is so plain. When a man wishes the way of salvation
to be difficult he naturally kicks at it because it is easy; and, when his
pride
wants it to be hard to be understood, he is pretty sure to say that he does
not understand it because it is so plain. Do not you know that the
unlettered often receive Christ when philosophers refuse him, and that he
who has not called ninny of the great, and many of the mighty, has chosen
poor, foolish, and despised things? That is because poor foolish men, you
know, are willing to believe a plain thing, but men wise in their own
conceits desire to be, if they can, a little confounded and puzzled that they
may please themselves with the idea that their own superior intellect has
made a discovery; and, because the way of salvation is just so easy that
almost an idiot boy may lay hold of it, therefore they pretend that they do
not understand it. Some people cannot see a thing because it is too high up;
but there are others who cannot see it because it is too low down. Now, it
so happens that the way of salvation by faith is so simple that it seems
beneath the dignity of exceedingly clever men. May God bring them to a
knowledge of this truth: may they see that they cannot be saved except by
giving up all idea of saving themselves; that they cannot be saved except
they step right into Christ, for, until they get to the end of the creature,
they will never get to the beginning of the Creator. Till they empty out
their pockets of every moldy crust, and have not a crumb left; they cannot
come and take the rich mercy which is stored up in Christ Jesus for every
empty, needy sinner. May the Lord be pleased to give you that knowledge
of the truth!
When a man comes in very deed to a knowledge of the truth about faith in
Christ, he trusts Christ, and he is there and then saved from the guilt of
sin;
and he begins to be saved altogether from sin. God cuts the root of the
power of sin that very day; hut yet it has such life within itself that at
the
scent of water it will bud again. Sin in our members struggles to live. It
has
as many lives as a cat: there is no killing it. Now, when we conic to a
knowledge of the truth, we begin to learn how sin is to be killed in us-how
the same Christ that justifies, sanctifies, and works in us according to his
working who worketh in us mightily, that we may he conformed to the
image of Christ, and made meet to dwell with perfect saints above..69
Beloved, many of you that are saved from the guilt of sin, have a very hard
struggle with the power of sin, and have much more conflict, perhaps, than
yon need to have, because you have not come to a knowledge of all the
truth about indwelling sin. I therefore beg you to study much the word of
God upon that point, and especially to see the adaptation of Christ to rule
over your nature, and to conquer all your corrupt desires, and learn how by
faith to bring each sin before him that, like Agag, it may be hewed in pieces
before his eyes. You will never overcome sin except by the blood of the
Lamb. There is no sanctification except by faith. The same instrument
which destroys sin as to its guilt must slay sin as to its power. "They
overcame by the blood of the Lamb," and so must you. Learn this truth
well, so shall you find salvation wrought in you from day to day.
Now, I think I hear somebody say, "I think I know all about this."
Yes, you
may think you know it, and may not know anything at all about it. " Oh,
but," says one, "I do know it. I learned the ‘Assembly’s
Catechism’ when I
was a child. I have read the Bible ever since, and I am well acquainted with
all the commonplaces of orthodoxy." That may be, dear friend, and yet
you
may not know the truth. I have heard of a man who knew how to swim,
but, as he had never been in the water, I do not think much of his
knowledge of swimming: in fact, he did not really know the art. I have
heard of a botanist who understood all about flowers, but as he lived in
London, and scarcely ever saw above one poor withered thing in a
flowerpot, I do not think much of his botany. I have heard of a man who
was a very great astronomer, but he had not a telescope, and I never
thought much of his astronomy. So there are many persons who think they
know and yet do not know because they have never had any personal
acquaintance with the thing. A mere notional knowledge or a dry doctrinal
knowledge is of no avail. We must know the truth in a very different way
from that.
How are we to know it, then? Well, we are to know it, first, by a believing
knowledge. You do not know a thing unless you believe it to be really so.
If you doubt it, you do not know it. If you say, "I really am not sure
it is
true," then you cannot say that you know it. That which the Lord has
revealed in holy Scripture you must devoutly believe to be true. In addition
to this, your knowledge, if it becomes believing knowledge, must be
personal knowledge-a persuasion that it is true in reference to yourself. It
is true about your neighbor, about your brother, but you must believe it
about yourself, or your knowledge is vain-for instance, you must know that.70
you are lost-that you are in danger of eternal destruction from the presence
of God-that for you there is no hope but in Christ-that for you there is
hope if you rest in Christ-that resting in Christ you are saved. Yes, you.
You must know that because you have trusted in Christ you are saved, and
that now you are free from condemnation, and that now in you the new life
has begun, which will fight against the old life of sin, until it overcome,
and
you, even you, are safely landed on the golden shore. There must be a
personal appropriation of what you believe to be true. That is the kind of
knowledge which saves the soul.
But this must be a powerful knowledge, by which I mean that it must
operate in and upon your mind. A man is told that his house is on fire. I
will suppose that standing here I held up a telegram, and said, "My
friend,
is your name so-and-so?" "Yes." "Well, your house is on
fire." He knows
the fact, does he not? Yes, but he sits quite still. Now, my impression is
about that good brother, that he does not know, for he does not believe it.
He cannot believe it, surely he may believe that somebody’s house is on
fire, but not his own. If it is his house which is burning, and he knows it,
what does he do? Why he gets up and goes off to see what he can do
towards saving his goods. That is the kind of knowledge which saves the
soul-when a man knows the truth about himself, and therefore his whole
nature is moved and affected by the knowledge. Do I know that I am in
danger of hell fire? And am I in my senses? Then I shall never rest till I
have escaped from that danger. Do I know that there is salvation for me in
Christ? Then I never shall be content until I have obtained that salvation by
the faith to which that salvation is promised: that is to say, if I really am
in
my senses, and if my sin has not made me beside myself as sin does, for sin
works a moral madness upon the mind of man, so that he puts bitter for
sweet and sweet for bitter, and dances on the jaws of hell, and sits down
and scoffs at Almighty mercy, despises the precious blood of Christ and
will have none of it, although there and there only is his salvation to be
found.
This knowledge when it comes really to save the soul is what we call
experimental knowledge-knowledge acquired according to the exhortation
of the psalmist, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good"-
acquired by
tasting. Now, at this present moment, I, speaking for myself, know that I
am origin ally lost by nature. Do I believe it? Believe it? I am as sure of
it
as I am of my own existence. I know that I am lost by nature. It would not
be possible for anybody to make me doubt that: I have felt it. How many.71
weary days I spent under the pressure of that knowledge! Does a soldier
know that there is such a thing as a cat when he has had a hundred lashes?
It would take a deal of argument to make him believe there is not such a
thing, or that backs do not smart when they feel the lash. Oh, how my soul
smarted under the lash of conscience when I suffered under a sense of sin!
Do I know that I could not save myself? Know it? Why, my poor,
struggling heart labored this way and that, even as in the very fire with
bitter disappointment, for I labored to climb to the stars on a tread wheel,
and I was trying and trying and trying with all my might, but never rose an
inch higher. I tried to fill a bottomless tub with leaking buckets, and
worked on and toiled and slaved, but never accomplished even the
beginning of my unhappy task. I know, for I have tried it, that salvation is
not in man, or in all the feelings, and weepings, and prayings, and Bible
readings, and church goings, and chapel goings which zeal could crowd
together. Nothing whatsoever that man does can avail him towards his own
salvation. This I know by sad trial of it, and failure in it.
But I do know that there is real salvation by believing in Christ. Know it? I
have never preached to you concerning that subject what I do not know by
experience. In a moment, when I believed in Christ I leaped from despair to
fullness of delight. Since I have believed in Jesus I have found myself
totally new-changed altogether from what I was; and I find now that, in
proportion as I trust in Jesus, I love God and try to serve him; but if at
any
time I begin to trust in myself, I forget my God, and I become selfish and
sinful. Just as I keep on being nothing and taking Christ to be everything,
so am I led in the paths of righteousness. I am merely talking of myself,
because a man cannot bear witness about other people so thoroughly us he
can about himself. I am sure that all of you who have tried my Master can
bear the same witness. You have been saved, and you have come to a
knowledge of the truth experimentally; and every soul here that would be
saved must in the same way believe the truth, appropriate the truth, act
upon the truth, and experimentally know the truth, which is summed up in
few words:- "Man lost: Christ his Savior. Man nothing: God all in all.
The
heart depraved: the Spirit working the new life by faith." The Lord
grant
that these truths may come home to your hearts with power.
I am now going to draw two inferences which are to be practical.
The first one is this: in regard TO YOU THAT ARE SEEKING SALVATION.
Does not
the text show you that it is very possible that the reason why you have not
found salvation is because you do not know the truth? Hence, I do most.72
earnestly entreat the many of you young people who cannot get rest to be
very diligent searchers of your Bibles. The first thing and the main thing is
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but if you say," I do not
understand it,"
or "I cannot believe," or if there be any such doubt rising in your
mind,
then it may be because you have not gained complete knowledge of the
truth. It is very possible that somebody will say to you, "Believe,
believe,
believe." I would say the same to you, but I should like you to act upon
the
common-sense principle of knowing what is to be believed and in whom
you are to believe. I explained this to one who came to me a few evenings
ago. She said that she could not believe. "Well," I said, "now
suppose as
you sit in that chair I say to you, ‘Young friend, I cannot believe in you’:
you would say to me, ‘I think you should.’ Suppose I then replied, ‘I
wish
I could.’ What would you bid me do? Should I sit still and look at you till
I
said, ‘I think I can believe in you’? That would be ridiculous. No, I
should
go and enquire, ‘Who is this young person? What kind of character does
she bear? What are her connections?’ and when I knew all about you, then
I have no doubt that I should say, ‘I have made examination into this
young woman’s character, and I cannot help believing in her.’" Now,
it is
just so with Jesus Christ. If you say, "I cannot believe in him,"
read those
four blessed testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and especially
linger much over those parts where they tell you of his death. Do you
know that many, while they have been sitting, as it were, at the foot of the
cross, viewing the Son of God dying for men, have cried out, "I cannot
help believing. I cannot help believing. When I see my sin, it seems too
great; hut when I see my Savior my iniquity vanishes away." I think I
have
put it to you sometimes like this: if you take a ride through London, from
end to end, it will take you many days to get an idea of its vastness; for
probably none of us know the size of London. After your long ride of
inspection you will say," I wonder how those people can all be fed. I
cannot make it out. Where does all the bread come from, and all the butter,
and all the cheese, and all the meat, and everything else? Why, these people
will be starved. It is not possible that Lebanon with all its beasts, and the
vast plains of Europe and America should ever supply food sufficient for all
this multitude." That is your feeling. And then, to-morrow morning you
get
up, and you go to Covent Garden, you go to the great meat-markets, and
to other sources of supply, and when you come home you say, "I feel
quite
different now, for now 1 cannot make out where all the people come from
to eat all this provision: I never saw such store of food in all my life.
Why,
if there were two Londons, surely there is enough here to feed them."
Just.73
so-when you think about your sins and your wants you get saying, "How
can I be saved?" Now, turn your thoughts the other way; think that
Christ
is the Son of God: think of what the merit must be of the incarnate God’s
hearing human guilt; and instead of saying, "My sin is too great,"
you will
almost think the atoning sacrifice too great. Therefore I do urge you to try
and know more of Christ; and I am only giving you the advice of Isaiah,
"Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall
live."
Know, hear, read, and believe more about these precious things, always
with this wish- "I am not hearing for hearing’s sake, and I am not
wishing
to know for knowing’s sake, but I am wanting to hear and to know that I
may be saved." I want you to be like the woman that lost her piece of
silver. She did not light a candle and then say, "Bravo, I have lit a
candle,
this is enough." She did not take her broom and then sit down content,
crying, "What a splendid broom." When she raised a dust she did not
exclaim, "What a dust I am making! I am surely making progress
now."
Some poor sinners, when they have been seeking, get into a dust of
soul-trouble,
and think it to be a comfortable sign. No, I’ll warrant you, the
woman wanted her silver: she did not mind the broom, or the dust, or the
candle; she looked for the silver. So it must be with you. Never content
yourself with the reading, the hearing, or the feeling. It is Christ you
want.
It is the precious piece of money that you must find; and you must sweep
until you find it. Why, there it is! There is Jesus! Take him! Take him!
Believe him now, even now, and you are saved.
The last inference is for YOU
WHO DESIRE TO SAVE SINNERS.
You must,
dear friends, bring the truth before them when you want to bring them to
Jesus Christ. I believe that exciting meetings do good to some. Men are so
dead and careless that almost anything is to be tolerated that wakes them
up; but for real solid soul-work before God’ telling men the truth is the
main thing. What truth? It is gospel truth, truth about Christ that they
want. Tell it in a loving, earnest, affectionate manner, for God wills that
they should be saved, not in any other way, but in this way-by a knowledge
of the truth. He wills that all men should be saved in this way-not by
keeping them in ignorance, but by bringing the truth before them. That is
God’s way of saving them. Have your Bible handy when you are reasoning
with a soul. Just say, "Let me call your attention to this
passage." It has a
wonderful power over a poor staggering soul to point to the Book itself.
Say, "Did you notice this promise, my dear friend? And have you seen
that
passage?" Have the Scriptures handy. There is a dear brother of mine
here.74
whom God blesses to many souls, and I have seen him talking to some, and
turning to the texts very handily. I wondered how he did it so quickly, till
I
looked in his Bible, and found that he hind the choice texts printed on two
leaves and inserted into the book, so that he could always open upon them.
That is a capital plan, to get the cheering words ready to hand, the very
ones that you know have comforted you and have comforted others. It
sometimes happens that one single verse of God’s word will make the light
to break into a soul, when fifty days of reasoning would not do it. I notice
that when souls are saved it is by our texts rather than by our sermons.
God the Holy Spirit loves to use his own sword. It is God’s word, not
man’s comment on God’s word, that God usually blesses. Therefore, stick
to the quotation of the Scripture itself, and rely upon the truth. If a man
could be saved by a lie it would be a lying salvation. Truth alone can work
results that are true. Therefore, keep on teaching the truth. God help you
to proclaim the precious truth about the bleeding, dying, risen, exalted,
coming Savior; and God will bless it.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Spurgeon Collection" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986