Charles Haddon Spurgeon November 6, 1881
Scripture: John 20:30
From: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 27
The Main Matter
“Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye
might have life through his name.”— John xx. 30,31.
THE public life of our most blessed Lord Jesus Christ was
brief; few suppose it to have exceeded three and a half years; but yet what a
full life it was. It had in it not only enough to compose the four gospels,
each one of which contains sufficient to lead men to saving faith, but so much
remained over and above that the apostle John makes this remarkable statement:—
“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they
should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not
contain the books that should be written.” Our Lord’s life was as ample as his
own festivals; it feeds thousands, and with the fragments that remain many
baskets might be filled. A man may complete a great and fruitful life in two or
three years, while another may have existed as long as an antediluvian and yet
his life may be poor and powerless.
Not only did the
Lord Jesus speak and do great things as to number, but there was a world of
power in each word and work. He did not display a multitude of feeblenesses,
but each individual outcome of his life was grand enough to have been a marvel
if considered by itself alone. As was the doer, in whom “dwelt all the fulness
of the godhead bodily,” such were the deeds; they also were full of grace and
truth. There was a fulness of divine wisdom, grace, and power about each act of
Jesus. Hence the apostle here speaks of the Lord’s acts as signs— “many other
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples.” There was a mass of
instruction in all our Lord’s movements; nothing about him was trivial. He
preached by his entire life, preached a marvellous array of truths, and.
preached them with living freshness. Never is he twice the same, though always
the same. When we find him repeating his discourses, as we sometimes do, if the
Sermon on the Mount sounds very like the Sermon on the Plain, yet a different
drift, and aim, and tone create a singular variety. Each separate act of the
Lord is a sign of something beyond itself, and the whole of the acts put
together display an ocean of doctrine without bottom or shore. What a Christ
was this! Oh that his Spirit may dwell in us, that our lives also may be rich
and full; rich to the glory of God, and full to the blessing of our fellow-men.
Yet, dear
friends, though the whole of Christ’s life has not been written, we perceive in
our text that what has been recorded is the most useful part of it, and that it
was preserved for our benefit. The inspired record was written with a purpose:
the facts were wisely culled and collected out of the entire mass on account of
their bearing upon the desired object, and sufficient has been preserved to
effect a design which, above all others, is most important to us: “these are
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and
that, believing, ye might have life through his name.” May our reverence to the
inspired gospels lead us to give earnest heed to their design and object, for
it would be profane to baffle their purpose by refusing their testimony.
First, this
morning, let me speak a little with you upon the design of all Scripture, which
is faith; secondly, upon the great object of true faith, which is Jesus the
Christ, the Son of God; and then, thirdly, let us further commune together upon
the true life of the soul which is linked and wrapped up with the name of Jesus
Christ, in whom we are led to believe by the testimony of the things written
concerning him.
I. First, then,
dear friends, THE DESIGN OF ALL SCRIPTURE IS TO PRODUCE FAITH. There is no text
in the whole Book which was intended to create doubt. Doubt is a seed
self-sown, or sown by the devil, and it usually springs up with more than
sufficient abundance without our care. The practice of reading sceptical works
is a very dangerous one; we have enough tendency to sickness in our own
constitutions without going to fever hospitals to test the atmosphere. Holy
Scripture is no mother or nurse of doubt; it is the creator of a holy
confidence by revealing a sure line of fact and truth. It has been thought by
many expositors that John here refers only to the things which Jesus did after
his resurrection— “Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples;” but I think there are abundant reasons, with which I need not trouble
you just now, to show that John must have referred to the whole of our
Saviour’s life, and to all the acts of it, and that the book which he speaks of
is his own book, the evangel which contains his own life of Christ. John
includes the whole story of Jesus of Nazareth in the reference of the text. I
venture to go much further, and to say that the statement that John here made,
though it must refer to his own gospel, is equally true of the entire
Scriptures. We may begin at Genesis and go on to the Book of Revelation, and
say of all the holy histories, “These are written that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” Though this Bible is a wonderful library
of many books, yet there is such a unity about it that the mass of the people regard
it as one book, and they are not in error when they do so: this one book has
but one design, and every portion of it works to that one end. Of the whole
canon of inspiration we may say, as we read every detail, “These are written
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
Observe, then, no
part of Holy Scripture was written with any wish to magnify the writer of it.
Many human books are evidently intended to let you see how profound are the
thoughts of their authors or how striking is their style. Self-consciousness is
full often apparent, and the man is seen as well as the fruit of his mind. If
some authors can at any time introduce themselves they do not hesitate to do
so, even though they have to go out of their way to do it: but you shall never
detect the least degree of this in any of the writers of sacred Scripture.
True, they did not set that foolish fashion of certain “brethren” in modern
times who call attention to their own modesty by placing their initials on
their title-pages instead of their names. We have no prophet of the Lord named
D. N. J., or M. C. H., and those who bear such initials in these days are by no
means veiled writers, but are as well known as if their names were written out
in full. The inspired authors freely write David, Job, Israel, John, Matthew,
and why should they not? Having given their names, how very little of
themselves will you ever find in their books. They lose themselves in their
theme, and hide themselves behind their Master. A most striking instance of
this is found in John’s Gospel. John was a man above all others fitted to write
the life of Christ. Did he not know more of Jesus both by observation, by
intimate fellowship, and by hearty sympathy with him than any other of the
evangelists? and yet he has left out many interesting facts which the others
have recorded,— others, mark you, who did not actually see the facts as he
did. Speaking, others after, mark the
manner you, who of men did, this silence is very wonderful. Can you guess how
much this abstinence cost the apostle? The other three evangelists received
much at second hand, though, truly, by the Spirit of God; but John literally
and personally saw these things, and beheld them with his own eyes, and yet he
gives us fewer incidents in the life of Christ than the other evangelists. What
self-forgetfulness was this! He is silent because his speech would not serve
the end he aimed at. And the most striking point is this,— he omits, as if of
set purpose, those places of the history in which he would have shone. He and
James and Peter were frequently selected by the Master to be with him when
others were excluded, but of these occasions he says nothing. At the
resurrection of the daughter of Jairus it is said of the disciples, as well as
of the relatives and the multitude, that the Lord put them all out, and only
suffered the three to be with him. This was a singular honour, but John does
not say a word about the raising of the daughter of Jairus. What self oblivion!
I should not have omitted it if I had been writing, nor would you. If we had
been writing apart from the inspiration of the Spirit, we should have treasured
up those special incidents of favour, and we should not have thought ourselves
egotistical either, but should have considered ourselves as specially called to
record a miracle which was witnessed by so very few. The Spirit of God in
moving John to write, took such full possession of him that he wrote only that
which wrought towards the one great design. No matter how interesting the
event, ha leaves it unrecorded if he judges it to be aside from his design.
Notice, next,
that three only were with our Lord in his Transfiguration, and John was one of
them. John does not mention that august event except it be that he says, “We
beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth,” in which there may be a reference to it, but it is by no
means clear; at any rate, he does not narrate the circumstance, but leaves it
to other pens. This is a moral miracle! What uninspired man could have left out
such a vision from his page? Even more striking is the fact that the Master
when he took with him the eleven to the garden, left the major part of them at
the gate, but he led the three further into the garden, and bade them wait at
about a stone’s-cast distance, where some of them heard his prayers, and
observed his bloody sweat. John, who was one of them, says nothing about it.
Had he forgotten it? That was impossible. Did he doubt it? Certainly not; but
the omission shows you that these incidents were not written with the view of
honouring John, but that the reader may be led to believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. He leaves out that which would have brought John into
the front, in order that he may fill up the whole foreground of his canvas with
the portrait of his Lord. Everything is subordinated to the one grand end “that
ye should believe that Jesus is the Christ.”
What a lesson is
all this to us who write or speak for God! Let us labour for this one thing,
that we may lead men to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. If
any sort of preaching would exalt ourselves, let us choose another, lest we
hide the cross of Christ. If we can occupy the space with something more
forcible, let us omit the choicest piece of oratory. Let us prune the vine of
our speech that all its sap may go to fruit, and let that fruit be the bringing
of men to believe that Jesus is the Christ.
Further, notice
that Holy Scripture was not written with the mere view of imparting knowledge
to men by presenting them with a complete biography of Jesus Christ. The one
intent of Scripture is that ye may believe on Jesus Christ. It was not the aim
of either of the evangelists to present us with a complete life of Jesus
Christ. Observe the difference between such a writer as John and an ordinary
biographer. Usually when you see a biography advertised it will be your wisdom
to save your money, for scarcely ever is there a biography written that is
fully worth the money asked for it. I can point you to biographies stuffed full
of letters which might just as well have been burned, and commonplaces which
might as well have been forgotten. The good man never did anything in his life,
except that he married a wife, and took a holiday and travelled through
Switzerland, and went to Venice and Rome. Every scrap that he wrote home about
the commonest incident of travel is secured, and inserted as if it were a
priceless gem. It is just the same that every Tom and John and Mary would have
said, and yet it is paraded as something heavenly. The book must be swelled
out, and so the biographer gives us every bit of sense or nonsense that he can
find. There must have been great searching of drawers, great writing to first
cousins, and uncles and aunts, to know if they have an old letter anywhere of
the dear deceased. All manner of small talk is inserted because, to speak the
truth, our lives are mostly so little that if we do not blow them up with wind
there will not be enough to make a volume for the book-market. How different is
the biography of Jesus of Nazareth. The signs and wonders which he did are not
written to make a book; they are not even written that you may be informed of
all that Jesus did; these are written with an end, an aim, an object,— “that ye
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” Matthew when he writes
of “Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham,” leaves out everything
that does not bring out Christ in connection with the kingdom: he paints
Messiah the Prince, and he will not be taken off from his work. Luke brings
forth Jesus as the man, and you see how wondrously he keeps to that one line of
things. But when you get to John, and he is about to bring forth the Lord Jesus
as the Son of God, he omits numbers of details that show our Lord in other
lights and other aspects. Here Jesus is not so much the King in his kingdom— he
leaves that to Matthew, he sticks to his own point which is indicated by his
opening sentences “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.” He desires to set forth our Lord’s glorious Messiahship,
and personal Sonship, and Deity, and he adheres to that, and to that alone. The
evangelists do not attempt merely to increase our knowledge, but they aim to
win our understandings, and to conquer our hearts for Christ.
Notice yet again,
dear friends, that the gospels and the other books of Scripture were not
written for the gratification of the most godly and pious curiosity. Truly, I
would have liked to have acted to our Lord as Boswell did to his friend Dr.
Johnson. I would have thought it an honour to have noted down every choice word
he dropped, and every act he did. I would have recorded the very colour of his
hair, and you should have known whether his eyes were blue or hazel: I would
have left on record every incident about the very fabric of that hem of his
garment which the woman touched. Would not any of you have done so? Do you not
love him so much, and prize him so greatly, that you would have thought the
smallest trifle about him to be a gem of knowledge. Our love ennobles
everything that has to do with our adorable Lord. But the writers inspired of
the Holy Spirit were not led astray by this feeling; they knew their object and
gave their whole strength to it. The Holy Ghost did not send his- servants to
gather up interesting details and preserve curious facts. None of them wrote to
gratify your curiosity, even about the things which concern your Lord and Master.
You shall be told that which shall lead you to believe him to be the Son of
God, but you shall be told no more; for had all been written you might have
spent all your time in trying to know Christ after the flesh, but now he hath
preserved only that which by his blessing shall teach you to know him after the
spirit. It is not to gratify curiosity but to beget faith within the soul that
the memoirs of our Lord are written by the evangelists.
Again, the
Scriptures are not even written with the view of setting before us a complete
example. I want you to notice that. It is true that the gospels set before us a
perfect character, and we are bound to imitate it. It is true that when we read
the life of Christ we may learn how to live, and how to die; but that was not
the first and chief design of the writers: they wrote that we might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, by believing, we might have
life through his name. Good works are best promoted, not as the first, but as
the second thing. They come as the result of faith, and he that would promote
that which is pure and honest and holy, had best promote faith in Jesus Christ,
the Saviour. The Scripture does not go in for flowers first, nor even for
fruit, but it plants roots, and hence it aims at implanting faith in Jesus
Christ, for when we have believed in him, the faith that worketh by love will
be sure to produce a sacred imitation of his most beloved and perfect
character. Yes, let the truth stand as I have put it, “these are written,”
first and last, with no other end and object but this, “That ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God.”
Open his gospel
and see how John all through keeps to his design. It would be worth while to
spend the whole morning, and a half a dozen other mornings, in showing you that
John never takes his eye from this one point. You will soon perceive that his
Book contains a series of testimonies borne by persons led to faith in Jesus as
the Christ. John in the first chapter teaches the truth which he was about to
prove; read the seventeenth and eighteenth verses, “The law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”: here you see that Jesus is the
Christ. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” There is “the only begotten
Son,” and the two verses show us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. John
had been convinced of this at our Lord’s baptism by the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon him; and therefore he bore this witness at the commencement. Almost
immediately after follows the conversion of Andrew, and what does Andrew
witness? He says to his brother Simon, “We have found the Messias, which is,
being interpreted, the Christ.” Close on the heels of that comes Nathanael’s
testimony, and he says, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of
Israel.” Directly after follows the changing of the water into wine at the
marriage of Cana in Galilee, one of the seven miracles which John mentions, and
he never mentions any more than that seven, and of this, the first of the
seven, he says, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus In Cana of Galilee, and
manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.” The miracle was
intended to produce faith, and did produce it. At the end of each record of a
miracle, John tells us that some believed in him, and generally that they came
to believe that he was the Christ, the Son of God. That memorable third chapter
concerning Nicodemus, shows us how that enquiring master of Israel came to
believe in him; and how the Lord was revealed to Nicodemus as both the sent one
and the Son, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but ‘have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the
world through him might be saved.” In the fourth chapter you get to the well at
Sychar, where the Lord manifests himself to a poor fallen woman, and she is
convinced, and hastens to toll her friends, and they by-and-by know that this
is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world. In the case of the raising up of
the nobleman’s son in the same chapter, you are reminded by John that the
father was led to faith in Jesus, and the natural inference is that you ought
to be led to display alike confidence. In the fifth chapter the healing of the
impotent man at the pool is narrated in order to introduce the statement “But I
have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath
given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the
Father hath sent me” When five thousand had been fed, we read, “Those men, when
they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet
that should come into the world.” In the sixty-ninth verse of the sixth chapter
you find Simon Peter saying, “We believe and are sure that thou art that
Christ, the Son of the living God,” and so in the seventh chapter, “others said
this is the Christ,” being convinced by that which he had spoken. To the man
born blind Jesus said, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” and the man’s
practical answer was an avowal of faith and an immediate act of worship. But I
am afraid you would soon grow weary if I were to dwell upon every incident
which would prove my point. The whole Book is made up of modes of reasonings by
which men have been led to believe in Jesus: it might have been written for the
sake of the Unitarians of our own time. It contains repeated declarations that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and a series of testimonies of persons
brought to see this by the signs that Jesus wrought amongst them. Study John’s
gospel with that view, and you will see how the Lord brings one to believe on
him by a call which came with divine authority, a second by unveiling the
secrets of her life, another by answering his prayers, another by enlightening
his mind. Of the whole of his disciples our Lord gives the secret reason of
their discipleship in his matchless prayer, “For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely
that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.”
Throughout the whole book the strain is the same, for it begins with Andrew’s
confession, “We have found the Messias,” and ends with Thomas, to whom Jesus
said, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands.” Thomas cries in ecstasy,
“My Lord and my God,” and this is almost the topstone of the confessions and
achievements of faith, but not quite, for here is the crown of all, “Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not
seen, and yet have believed.”
You Bible
readers, who have never believed in Jesus as the Christ, have read in vain: you
have read to your own condemnation, but not to your salvation. Oh, you that are
afraid that you may not be allowed to believe in Jesus, dismiss that foolish
fear, for this holy book is written on purpose that you may believe, and
therefore it is clear that you have full liberty to do so. Every time John
dipped his pen into the ink he breathed the prayer, “Lord, bring men to believe
in Jesus by that which I have written,” and he closed his gospel by declaring
the innermost longing of his living soul, “These are written that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” My dear hearer, your
immediate conversion to faith in the Lord Jesus is the object of this book. God
grant it may be fulfilled in you!
II. We turn, in
the second place, to a subject which is a step further on— THE GREAT OBJECT OF
TRUE FAITH IS CHRIST JESUS. The text does not say, “These are written that ye
might believe the Nicene creed,” for, good as that creed is, it was not then
composed, and is not the chief object of faith. It does not say, “These are
written that ye might believe the Athanasian creed;” a very good creed, but
rather savage, and also not then devised. No, no: “These are written that ye
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye
might have life through his name.” That is to say, the faith which brings life
to the soul is faith in the person, offices, nature, and work of Jesus; and
though you may be in the dark about a thousand things, and may make mistakes
about ten thousand more, yet if you believe in the Messiah, the Son of God, you
have eternal life.
First, I am to
believe in Jesus that he is the Christy that he is the promised Messiah,
anointed of God to deliver the human race. I must believe that this is he whom
God promised at the gate of Eden, when he said, “The seed of the woman shall
bruise the serpent’s head.” This is the sent One, who is come to seek and to
save that which is lost: in him we are to believe, for it is written, “Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”
Next we are to
believe that he is the Son of God— not in the sense in which men are sons of
God, but in that higher sense in which he is the only-begotten Son of God, one
with the Father, eternally and indissolubly one. “The Word was with God;” but
more than that, “the Word was God.” Now, this is to be believed if we would
live unto God. “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God.” “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he
that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” A Jesus who is not divine could
give us no power to overcome the world; but in his Godhead we find our
strength.
Put the two
together, that he, the divine One, became man, and was sent into the world to
redeem us, and we have the right idea of Immanuel, God with us. Will this
belief save us? Assuredly it will, but listen while I explain.
First, believe
this to be a matter of fact Having believed it to be a matter of fact, go on to
look into the record concerning him till you are undoubtedly sure of it; for
these are written that ye might believe with the fullest confidence that Jesus
is God and Saviour. When you are sure of the fact, the next thing is to accept
it for yourself: agree that Jesus shall be your anointed, through whom you will
get the anointing which comes upon him as the Head, and descends to you as the
skirts of his garment. At the same time unfeignedly consent that he shall be
your God, and cry with Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” You are getting on now to
complete faith; go one step further. Yield yourself up to the grand truth which
you have received, for that is saving faith, the submission of yourself to the
truth. Acting upon the conviction of its truth, I must say,— since Jesus is now
my Saviour he shall save me. Since he is the Christ anointed for me I will
trust him, and share his anointing. Since Christ is the Son of God I will rest
in him, that I also may become in him a child of God. That is the point. “He
that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not
life.” Accept Jesus as he is set forth, for to “as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the
will of man, but of God.” The faith which receives Christ as he is revealed as
the Messiah, and as the Son of God, is the faith which hath eternal life, and
the Scriptures are written that you may have this faith.
I want you to
notice one thing more, and that is, we are to receive Jesus of Nazareth as
being the Christ and the Son of God on the ground of the written word. See—
“these are written that ye might believe”; from this it is clear that the
ground of acceptable faith is the written word of God, and it is vain to look
for any other. “Oh,” says one brother, “I could believe, but I do not feel as I
ought.” What have your feelings to do with the truth of the statement that
Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God? I read in the newspaper such and such a
statement about affairs in Europe. I may have sufficient cause for doubting the
news, but it certainly would not be a good reason if I were to say, “I do not
believe the telegram because I do not feel that it is true.” How can our
feelings affect matters of fact? They are either true or not, altogether apart
from the condition of the hearer. Now, here is a testimony concerning Jesus
borne by John and three other evangelists. If these things are true, then they
are true whether your heart dances for joy or sinks in despair. Whatever
becomes of our changeful feelings, facts are stubborn things, and alter not.
Experience cannot make a thing true; and frames and feelings cannot make a
thing to be a lie which is in itself true. Over the head, then, of all the
storms, and turmoils, and changes of my poor, weak, silly nature, there rises a
rock that is higher than I, higher than all things, a rock which cannot be
moved, let the storm rage as long as it will— Christ Jesus, the anointed Son of
God died in the room, place, and stead of all who trust in him; I trust in him,
and I am saved. If he be indeed commissioned of God to save believers, and if
he be himself God, pledged to save believers, then I, as a believer, am as safe
as the throne of God, or the presence-angels which surround it. Whatever I feel
or do not feel, I am a saved man since I heartily believe that which the Book
was written to teach me, namely, God’s gospel to men, embodied in Jesus Christ,
who, being the Son of God, is anointed of the Lord to save his people.
III. So I come to
the third point, which is this, that THE TRUE LIFE OF A SOUL LIES IN CHRIST
JESUS AND COMES TO THAT SOUL THROUGH FAITH IN HIM. I understand by the life of
a soul only one thing, and yet for the sake of clearing it we must divide it a
little.
First, when a man
has been found guilty of death, if by any means that sentence is removed from
him, he may be said to obtain life, life in its judicial form. Suppose that a
person who is condemned to die is by some just and lawful means acquitted; in
that fact he finds life. That is the first form of life that every man has who
believes that Jesus is indeed the Christ. He is acquitted, pardoned, justified,
and therefore he lives. Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ he is made
just in the sight of God; and being covered with perfect righteousness he
lives, and must live for ever. He is absolved, for he hath believed in Christ
Jesus, and by that act he has accepted the righteousness of God and escaped
from death. The guilt has been removed, and therefore the penalty cannot be
inflicted.
This judicial
life is attended with an imparted life. God the Holy Spirit is with believers,
breathing into them a new, holy, heavenly life. They are dead to the world, as
we said last Sunday morning, and buried with Christ, but they live unto God,
never more to be slain by sin. The life of Christ is infused into them by the
Spirit of the living God, even as the Lord Jesus hath testified. “Verily, verily,
I say unto you he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from
death unto life.”
Observe that this
life grows. It continues to gather strength, and as it increases it is spoken
of by John as life “more abundantly.” That life never dies; it is impossible
that it should ever be destroyed; it is a living and incorruptible seed which
abideth for ever. The life of saints on earth is, in fact, the same life as
that of saints in heaven. There is no change in the substance of the new life
when we enter glory, only it grows and developes and reaches perfection in
heaven. The believer’s life on earth is Christ; his life in heaven is the same.
As far as our spiritual nature is concerned we have undergone the resurrection,
and are raised from the dead, and the life that we here live is the
resurrection life; yet the resurrection has not passed already; for as to the
body, it must be changed, and if it dies and is buried it shall be raised again
at the sounding of the last trump. We are waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of the body from the power of death, waiting in the full assurance
of hope. The soul even now lives in newness of life, for we are quickened by
the Spirit of God.
The new life
enters the soul in and through believing, and is the same life which we shall
exercise for ever at the right hand of God, even as Jesus said, “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
I want to enlarge
a little upon the fact, that this life comes with believing, because I want it
to be noticed that it really comes with believing, apart from any other
necessary circumstances. One person complains to me, “Sir, I cannot tell
exactly when I was converted, and this causes me great anxiety.” Dear friend,
this is a needless fear. Turn your enquiries in another direction,— Are you
alive unto God by faith? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God? Are you resting and trusting in him? “Yes,” say you, “with all my heart.”
Well, never mind about when you were converted; the fact is before you,, and
its date is a small matter. If a person were to say to you, “You are not
alive,” how would you prove that you are alive? A good plan would be gently to
tread on his toe, or do something to make him feel that you possess life. I do
not think it could be necessary for you to find your certificate of birth,
because if you held it in your hand and said, “That document is conclusive,” it
would not be half so convincing a proof of life as some distinct act of life.
If I thought that I knew the very moment in which I was born again I might be
mistaken; indeed little reliance can be placed upon our judgment or our
memories. I would sooner believe to-day than be quite sure that I began to
believe thirty years ago. Perhaps very few of you know the exact minute at
which the sun rose this morning, and yet you do not doubt, that he has risen
for at this present moment your are enjoying his light Some mornings you can
tell the instant of the sun’s rising, but frequently it is so cloudy that the
sun is up before you know it. A man would, be an absolute lunatic who should
say, “I do not believe that it is daylight, for I do not know when the sun
rose.” Date is a very small and unimportant matter compared with certainty and
fact. Do you believe it Jesus Christ, then you are alive unto God, and life is
the evidence of birth.
“Well,” says
another, “but I hardly know how I was converted.” That, again, is another minor
matter. Some of us can trace the way in which the Lord led ns to himself, and
we are very grateful to the instrument by whom we were brought to a knowledge
of the truth; but our text does not state that the Bible was written that you
and I might trace our faith in Christ to John, or to anyone else. No, it was
written that we might believe in Jesus Christ as the result of testimony: and I
care not one farthing by what testifying agent you were brought to do it, so
long as you do but believe because of the witness of the word of God. I am sure
whatever the outward means of your faith the Spirit of God must have wrought
it, for there is no living faith apart from his sacred working upon the mind.
If you believe sincerely, the mode in which you gained your faith need not be
enquired into.
“Well,” says one,
“but I want to know that I am alive unto God by my feelings. I feel often so
sad and full of pain.” Listen: is not pain as good a proof of life as pleasure?
If anybody said to me, “I know I am alive because I feel so well,” I should
reply, “And I sometimes know that I am alive because I feel so ill.” Rheumatic
pain is as sure a proof of life as a thrill of delight; and so anxiety about
your state, and hatred of sin, and grief over your imperfection are just as
sure signs of spiritual life as the highest joy or the liveliest energy. Do not
worry yourself, therefore, about that; if you believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and are resting in him, it is well with you.
“But,” saith one,
“I change so much. I feel sometimes as if I must be a Christian; at other times
I feel as if it was out of the question that I could be saved.” Yes, and do you
not change a great deal as to your bodily life? I do, I know. Why, this heavy,
damp, thick atmosphere half poisons me. Lift me up a few thousand feet on a
mountain side, with a good stiff breeze blowing, and I feel quite another man.
Are these changes reasons for questioning my being alive? Nay, nay. Quite the
reverse. The reason why I feel these changes is because I am alive, for I
reckon that if I were a broomstick or a brick wall the atmosphere would not
matter much. If you have no spiritual life you will know few changes, but
because you are alive these variations must and will occur to you. I make you
smile; I wish I could smile away some of those fears which hang like a
nightmare over certain of the best of you.
“But I have such
conflicts within,” cries one. Ah, dear friend, there are no conflicts in dead
men; there would be no warfare between faith and unbelief if you were not on
the Lord’s side. If our whole being remained in its natural death there would
be no inward fighting, but inasmuch as there are two minds within you, depend
upon it one of those minds is the mind of God. This inward conflict should not
cause you to doubt, but rather lead you to cling the more tenaciously to your
conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of men.
Faith in Jesus
begets life, and this life will flourish or decay very much in proportion to
our faith. Believe firmly, and your life shall be vigorous; believe
tremblingly, and your life will be faint.
Yet all depends
upon “the name.” Is not that a blessed word, “that believing you might have
life through his name.” The name means the whole character of Christ,— all his
offices and relationships, all the work he has done and is doing,— we “have
life through his name.” We have no life anywhere else but in that name. Jesus
Christ said to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come forth,” and why did he come forth? Why,,
because at the back of the word which called him there was the name of Christ,
who quickeneth the dead. Why were demoniacs cured? Was it not because unclean
spirits knew the name and trembled at it? The devil and death, sin and despair
all yield to that name. When some began to exorcise in another name, the devil
leaped upon them, and cried, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?”
That name hath power in heaven, hath power on earth, hath power in hell, hath
power everywhere; and if we trust in that name, and live to the glory of that
name, we have life through that name.
I come back to my
beginning, and there I close: the one thing, the main thing, the only thing is
that we do hold on to Jesus Christ, through thick and thin, through foul and
fair, up hill and down dale, in the night and in the day, in life and in death,
in time and in eternity; that we do steadfastly believe that Jesus of Nazareth
who died upon the cross is the Messiah of God, yea, the Son of God, sent to
cleanse away iniquity and bring in perfect righteousness. Whether we see him on
his cross or on his throne, all our hope, all our trust must be fixed in him,
and so we shall live when time shall be no more. Verily, I say unto you, those
who thus trust him shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his
hands, for he hath said it, “I give unto my sheep eternal life.” Stay you
there, O true believers, and let none entice you from your steadfastness! If
any of you have never exerted this faith, may the Lord bring you to Jesus at
once. This sacred Book was written on purpose to make you believe; the Spirit
is given to lead you to believe; the object of every preaching of the gospel is
that you may believe; therefore come and welcome, and at this hour believe on
the one saving name, and live thereby. God grant it for his name’s sake. Amen.
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