A SERMON DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 7, 1872,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand." John 10:28.
THOSE of you who were present last Thursday evening will remember that
I spoke, then, upon the necessity of "holding fast the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end," [A PERSUASIVE TO STEADFASTNESS, NO.
1042] and I showed you that it is only by continuing in the faith with
which we began that we are proven to be partakers of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, let us speak as plainly as we may, we are always liable to
be misunderstood. The most eager hearer may easily confuse his thoughts
with our words, and so attribute notions to us that spring up
spontaneously in his own mind.
Thus I met this week with an earnest anxious enquirer who thought I had
meant that though a man should be a Believer in Jesus Christ, yet after
all he might perish. I dare say some expressions I used led him to
think so. Had he been long a hearer here, he could not have imagined
that I could give utterance to such a statement! For all of you who
hear me continually know that if there is one doctrine I have preached
more than any other, it is the doctrine of the Perseverance of the
Saints even to the end. What I intended to say, and I do not wonder
that he did not quite understand me, was this–the Believer must always
be a Believer–having began in that confidence, he must continue in
that confidence.
The alternative would be that he draws back unto perdition, in which
case he would perish as an unbeliever–and then the inference would be
that the faith he seemed to have was a fiction, that the confidence he
seemed to enjoy was a bubble–that he really never did believe to the
saving of his soul. This is a fair argument based on the operation of
the Spirit of God. It is in no sense a condition dependent on the good
behavior of men. The one way by which a soul is saved is by that soul's
abiding in Christ–if it did not abide in Christ, it would be cast
forth as a branch and be withered.
But, then, we know that they who are grafted into Christ will abide in
Christ! We reason in the manner of the Apostle Paul who, when he had
spoken of the danger that some were in that, having begun well, they
should end badly–after being enlightened and tasting the good Word of
God and the powers of the world to come, they should turn aside–he
adds, "But Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things
that accompany salvation, though we thus speak."
The question, however, having been mooted, it occurs to me that it may
not be unprofitable if I state briefly–not by way of controversy, but
simply for the sake of instruction–the doctrine of the security of the
Believer in Christ, the certainty of the Believer's perseverance even
to the end, and of his entrance into eternal rest. This text at once
suggests itself to me–"I give unto My sheep eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." The
three clauses of this sentence represent to us three gracious
securities. Here is a Divine gift–"I give unto them eternal life."
Here is a Divine promise, far-reaching and wide–"they shall never
perish." And here is a Divine holdfast–"neither shall any pluck them
out of My hand."
I. First, then, observe THE DIVINE GIFT–"I give unto them eternal
life." Eternal life comes to every man who has it as a matter of gift.
He did not possess it when he first entered into the world. He was born
of the first Adam and born to die. He did not educe it or evolve it
from himself by some mysterious processes. It is not a home growth, a
product of the soil of humanity–it is a gift. Nor is eternal life
bestowed as a reward for service done. It could not be– for it is a
prerequisite to the doing of service!
The term "gift" shuts out all idea of debt. If it is a gift, or of
Divine Grace, then it is no more of debt or of reward. Wherever eternal
life is implanted in any person's soul it is the free gift of the Lord
Jesus Christ–not deserved but
bestowed on the unworthy. Therefore we see no reason why it should be
revoked from the person who has received it. For, suppose there are
certain disqualifications in the man who has participated in the gift,
yet they cannot otherwise operate to his prejudice in enjoying the gift
than they would have operated to his ever receiving it if they had been
taken into account at all.
The thing does not come to him because of any worthiness in him, but
comes as a gratuity. There is no reason why it should not continue,
since it has come into existence, or why the present tense, as we have
it here, should not always be a present fact. "I give"–I continue to
give–"to them eternal life," that cannot be affected by an
unworthiness subsequently discovered because God knows the end from the
beginning. When He bestowed eternal life upon the man who has it, He
knew right well every imperfection and failing that would occur in that
man. These demerits, had they been reasons at all, would have been a
cause for the not giving, rather than for giving and then taking away
again.
It is inconsistent with the gifts of God for them ever to be
disannulled. We have it laid down as a rule of the kingdom of which
there is no violation, that, "the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance." He does not rescind in caprice that which He has conferred
of His own good will. It is not according to the royal Nature of the
Lord our God to bestow a gift of Grace upon a soul and then afterwards
to withdraw it–to lift up a man from his natural degradation and set
him among princes by endowing him with eternal life, and then to cast
him down from his high estate by depriving him of all the infinite
benefits He has conferred.
The very language I am using is contradictory enough of itself to
refute the suggestion. To give eternal life is to give a life beyond
the contingencies of this present mortal existence. "Forever" is
stamped on the charter. To take it away is not consistent with the
royal bounty of the King of kings, even if it were possible that such a
thing could be. "I give unto them eternal life." If He gives, then, He
gives with the sovereignty and generosity of a king. He gives
permanently, on an enduring tenure. He gives so that He will not revoke
the grant. He gives and it is theirs–it shall be theirs by Divine
charter forever and ever.
We may infer the certain safety of the Believer, not only from the fact
that this life is an absolute gift and will not, therefore, be
withdrawn, but from the nature of the gift, it being eternal life. "I
give unto My sheep eternal life." "Yes, but," says somebody, "they lose
it." Then they cannot have had eternal life. It is a mistake in terms
to say that a man has eternal life and yet perishes. Can death befall
the immortal, or change affect the immutable, or decay corrode the
imperishable? How can life be eternal if it comes to an end? How can it
be possible that one shall have eternal life and yet die with sudden
shock, or drop as feeble Nature fails of all her functions?
No! Eternity is not to be measured by weeks or months or years! When
Christ says eternal, He means eternal, and if I have received the gift
of eternal life, it is not possible for me to sin so as to lose that
spiritual life by any means whatever. "It is eternal life." We may
reasonably expect the Believer to hold on to the end, because the life
which God has implanted within him is of that Nature that it must
continue to exist, must conquer all difficulties, must ripen, must
perfect, must cast out sin from him and must bring him to eternal
Glory! When Christ spoke by the well to the Samaritan woman, he said,
"Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life."
This cannot mean a transient draught that would slake the thirst for an
hour or two–it must imply such a partaking as changes a man's actual
constitution and his destiny–and become in him a never-failing
wellspring. The life which God implants in Believers by regeneration is
not like the life which we now possess by generation. This mortal life
does pass away. It is connected with flesh and all flesh is like
grass–it withers. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." Not so
the new life that is born of the Spirit and it is Spirit, and Spirit is
not capable of destruction–it shall continue and last on, world
without end. The eternal life within every man who has it was begotten
in him "not of the will of man, nor of flesh, nor of blood, but of God"
Himself.
Thanks be unto the Father, for it is of Him that we are "begotten again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
Tracing this implanted life to its germ, we are said to be "born-again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God which
lives and abides forever." It is a holy seed. It cannot sin, for it is
born of God. We are made partakers of the Divine Nature, and the new
life within us is a Divine life. It is the life of God within the soul
of man! We become the twice-born, with a life that can no more die than
the life of God Himself, for it is, in fact, a spark from that great
central Sun–it is a new well in the soul which draws its supplies from
the deep that lies
under–from the inexhaustible fountain of the fullness of God! This,
then, is a second reason for believing in the security and final
perseverance of the Believer. He has a gift from Christ, and Christ
will not withdraw His gift–he has a life which is in itself immortal
and eternal.
But further, this life within the Believer which is a gift from Christ
is always in connection with Christ. We live because we are one with
Christ–as the branch sucks its sap from the vine–so do we continue to
derive our life's blood, our life's supplies from Christ Himself. The
union between the Believer and Christ is vital and to the fullest
degree assuring. For what does our Lord say of it?–"Because I live,
you shall live also." It is not a partnership which may be dissolved or
a connection which may be severed–it is a necessity that no accident
can interfere with! It is a fixed law of being–"because I live, you
shall live also."
That the union between Christ and His people is indissoluble appears
obvious from the figures which are used to illustrate it. To such an
overwhelming extent do they denote that there can be no separation,
that we may well say, "Who shall separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord?" Are we not married to Christ? What
metaphor could be more expressive? To estimate its value you must take
the Divine account of the relationship. Although weddings are
secularized by our Acts of Parliament, and nuptial ties are looked upon
as civil contracts, God has pronounced man and wife to be one flesh!
Yes, in the sight of Heaven, he that is joined to a harlot is one body
with her.
In ordinary marriage, divorce is possible, and, alas, too common–but
when you come to Scripture, you find it written that He hates putting
away. He has said, "I will betroth you unto Me forever, I have
betrothed you unto Myself in righteousness and in faithfulness, and you
shall know the Lord." The marriage between our souls and Christ can
never be dissolved! It were blasphemy to suppose that Christ shall
appeal for a divorce, or that there should be a proclamation made that
He has put away that spouse whom He chose of old, for whom He has
prepared the great wedding feast and for whose eternal bliss He has
gone to Glory to prepare a place! No, we cannot imagine such espousals
leading to a separation!
Again, are we not members of His body? Shall Christ be dismembered?
Shall He, every now and then, lose one limb or another? Can you suppose
that Christ is maimed? I scarcely like to think, much less to express
the thought, of here or there an eye, or a foot, or an ear needed to
complete the perfection of His mystic Person. No! It shall not be!
Members of the body of Christ shall be so vitally quickened by the
heart, and by Himself, the Head, that they shall continue to live
because He lives! When a man stands in water, the flood might naturally
have power to drown him, but as long as his head remains above water,
the stream cannot possibly drown his feet or his hands! And because
Christ, the Head, cannot die, cannot be destroyed, all the floods that
shall come upon the members of His body shall not–cannot–destroy
them!
Moreover, the life of the Believer is constantly sustained by the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is a matter of fact under the Gospel
dispensation that not only is the Holy Spirit with Believers but He is
in Believers. He dwells in them! He makes them His temple! The life, as
we have shown you, is "sui generis," of its own kind, immortal. It is
immortal because united with an undying Christ–but it is also immortal
because supported by a Divine Spirit who cannot be overcome. The Holy
Spirit has power to meet all the mischief of false and evil spirits
that aim at our destruction, and, from day to day adds fresh fuel to
the eternal flame of the Believer's life within. Were it not for the
Holy Spirit's abiding with us, we might be the subjects of some doubt,
but as long as He continues to abide with us forever, we will not fear.
The first consolation that we thus draw from the text is that we are
the recipients of a Divine gift–"I give unto My sheep eternal life."
II. Now, secondly, we have added to this, A DIVINE PROMISE–"They shall
never perish." I am very thankful for this Word because there have been
some who have tried to do away with the force of the entire
passage–"neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." "No," they have
said, "but they may slip between His fingers, and though they cannot be
plucked out, yet they may go out on their own accord." But here is a
short sentence that puts all such thoughts out of the question–"they
shall never perish"–in His hands or out of His hands, under any
supposition whatever–"they shall never perish"!
Observe that there is no restriction here–it includes all time. "They
shall never perish." Are they young Believers? Are their passions
strong? Are their judgments weak? Have they little knowledge, small
experience, and tender faith? May they not die while yet they are lambs
and perish while they are so feeble? "They shall never perish." But, in
middle life, when men too often lose the freshness of early Grace, when
the love of their espousals may, perhaps, have lost its
power, may they not get worldly? May they not, somehow or other, then
be led aside? "They shall never perish." "They shall never perish."
Perish they would, could worldliness destroy them! Perish they would
could evil utterly and entirely get the mastery of Grace–but it shall
not. "They shall never perish!" But, may they not grow older, and yet
not wiser? May they not be surprised by temptation, as so many have
been in times when they have become carnally secure, because they
thought their experience had made them strong? "They shall never
perish"–neither if they are beginners, nor if they have all but
finished their course. "They shall never perish." It shuts out all
time–all reference to time–by taking the whole range of possible
periods into the one word, "never." "They shall never perish."
No less does the sweep of the sentence include all contingencies. "They
shall never perish." What? Not if they are severely tempted? "They
shall never perish." Not if they backslide? They shall be restored
again. "They shall never perish." But, if they continue in backsliding
and die so? Ah, that they shall not do–"They shall never perish." You
must not suppose that which never can occur. "They shall never perish."
They shall never get into such a condition that they shall be utterly
without Divine Grace–they shall never be in such a state of heart that
sin shall have dominion over them–utter and entire dominion.
It may come in. It may seem for a time to get the mastery, but sin
shall never have dominion over them that they shall perish before the
Lord. "They shall never perish." It takes in all the flock. "They shall
never perish"–that is, not one of His sheep. This is not the
distinctive privilege of a few, but the common mercy of them all! None
of them–not one of them–shall ever perish. If you, Believer in
Christ, are the most obscure of all the family, you shall never perish.
If you have, indeed, received the inner life and true Grace is in your
soul, though no one knows your name and no one lends you a helping
hand–though, as a solitary pilgrim you should walk the heavenly road
all alone, weak and feeble, and trembling all the way–yet you shall
never perish! The promise is not to some, but to all the believing
sheep of Christ. "They shall never perish."
And, Beloved, it may greatly strengthen our faith and sweetly revive
our spirits if we consider how this doctrine harmonizes with other
doctrines which are most surely believed among us. Christ's sheep were
of old chosen of God unto salvation. But if they perished, the election
of God would be frustrated! From the foundation of the world He
appointed them that they should bring forth fruit unto holiness, even
unto the end, and, if they do not, how can His will be done on earth as
it is in Heaven? They were a people set apart unto Himself that they
might honor Him by good works. If they failed of this. If they fell
from their blest estate. If they did utterly perish, the Father's
counsel would be foiled–and that cannot be!
The purpose of God secures their final perseverance. "They shall never
perish." We may rest assured that they shall be preserved because of
the effectual redemption which Christ has worked out for them. We
believe, Beloved, in this place, (though the doctrine is very much
disparaged nowadays), in an actual and literal substitutionary
Sacrifice. We believe that Jesus died for His people, and–
"Bore, that they might never bear The Father's righteous ire."
Now, if He paid their debts, they have no debts to discharge! If He has
borne their punishment, they have no penalty to suffer. If He stood in
their place, Justice as well as Grace–Justice and Grace
together–demand that they should be saved. Jesus Christ has offered
for them an Atonement–and, "who is he that condemns?" "It is Christ
that died, yes, rather that has risen again."
"If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His
Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." If He
died to bear our guilt, much more, the Atonement being completed, shall
we enter into the fullness of rest! If He would not lose us, viewing us
as unredeemed, but came and paid the price, much less will He lose us
now that He has redeemed us unto God, by His blood, out of every nation
and people and kindred and tongue. He laid down His life for His sheep.
He loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might present it
unto Himself a glorious Church–and He will effect the purpose for
which He has already ventured so much. He will surely claim and as
surely receive at the hand of Justice the salvation of those for whom
He was a vicarious Victim.
Furthermore, dear Friends, he that believes in Christ is justified from
all things from which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses. Is
it according to the manner of man, first to justify, and afterwards to
condemn? Certainly not!
But if it were, it is not according to the supreme equity of the Most
High God! Has He pronounced a man just? That man is just. When He has
declared the man's transgressions forgiven, shall they be again
reckoned to him?–again laid to his door? Is it not said that He has
put away our sins like a cloud, and will He gather the cloud of
yesterday again?
Has He not said He has cast our sins into the depths of the sea? Shall
that which Jehovah Himself has consigned to the oblivious ocean be
washed up again as though He had only committed it to the shallows? As
far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our
transgressions from us! Our East and West are wide enough apart–but
what must God's East and West be when He looks through infinite space?
He has removed those sins so far from us that the swiftest-footed devil
could not bring them back again though he had a whole eternity to
perform the feat. He has put them away forever!
Yes, hear what is said of the Messiah–"He has finished transgression,
made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness." If it is
finished, it is finished, and if He has made an end of it, where is it?
Where is it? "If it is searched for it shall not be found"–yes, it
shall not be, says the Lord. O Beloved, how, then, shall the man that
believes in Christ be condemned–condemned for sin that has been
pardoned? How shall he be cast into Hell? For what? For offenses that
have been borne by the Savior? How shall he be condemned whom God has
justified? Give no countenance to the thought! Let no fear nor fancy
induce you to lend an ear to the suggestion! The sentence of remission
once passed upon a man stands irrevocable. "It is God that justifies;
who is he that condemns?"
In the Believer, moreover, there is a work of God begun which He has
engaged to complete. It has never been said of God that He began to
build and was not able to finish. "We are persuaded that He which has
begun a good work in you will carry it on and perfect it to the Day of
Christ." It has not been according to Jehovah's habit to leave
unfinished His works–why should He leave them unfinished? Is there a
need of power? Inconceivable! Is there a need of will? We cannot
imagine it–for if His will has changed there must be some reason for
the change. And if it is so, is God wiser than He was? Has he altered
His plan because He has discovered some error in it? If not, if
Infinite Wisdom led Him to put His hand to it, Infinite Wisdom will
keep His hand to the work–
"The work which Wisdom undertakes, Eternal Mercy ne'er forsakes." O
Beloved, the very beginning of the work from God foretells that the
work will be fully carried out!
The doctrine of Adoption supplies us with yet another argument for our
safety. Every man who is saved, justified, forgiven, is also adopted
into the family of God. And do you think that God shifts and changes
His children who are called by His own name? Do you imagine such a
thing credible? Does it sound like a fact? Are you your Father's child
today, and somebody else's child tomorrow? Is not the absurdity too
obvious to need refutation? No–I know not where could have come so
whimsical a thought as that we should be children of God today, and
by-and-by children of the devil–changing, thus, the blessed paternity
which God Himself claims as to all His people.
"But, we may play the prodigal," says one. Yes, I answer, and we may be
brought back again after we have gone astray as the prodigal was.
Besides, the prodigal was still a son–even when at the swine trough,
and when he had wasted all his substance in riotous living–he was
still beloved of the father. And because he was a son he came back
again with weeping and bitterness of spirit, and found peace and
pardon. Had he been no son, he might, like others, have spent his
living with harlots and there had been no saying, "I will arise and go
unto my father." But Grace operated on his heart–he was quickened
mysteriously, and he said–"I must leave this life of poverty and sin
and go back to my father's house."
And, if God's child shall go astray, as it is possible, (only God grant
you and I never may), yet there is a voice that says, "Return, return
you backsliding Israel! I am married unto you, says the Lord." Adoption
is surely a grand proof that the Lord's people shall be kept and
preserved–that there shall be an unbroken family of God in Heaven. He
shall not have to lament that His own dear sons and daughters, begotten
by His Grace, have utterly perished. Jesus shall say, "Here am I and
the children You have given Me."
III. And, now, the last point is THE DIVINE HOLDFAST–"None shall pluck
them out of My hand." Then all the saints are in Jesus' hands! They are
not only in His heart, but in His hands–just as the high priests wore
the names of the 12 tribes on the breastplates, and wore them on the
shoulders, too. The power, as well as the affection of Christ shall
preserve the people of God. They are in His hands. "All Your saints are
in Your hands." What a blessed place for us to be in–in the hands of
Christ–always there!
But does not our Lord intimate as if to forewarn us that a great many
attempts would be made to pluck us out of those hands? Satan would do
it–our own base lusts would do it–the ungodly would do it. The very
air is full of tempters who would, if they could, pluck us away from
Christ. We have, therefore, cause for great watchfulness, deep
humility, but also for much thankfulness that we are placed where the
tempters cannot reach us, for the promise assures us that none is able
to pluck us out of Christ's hand! There is not power enough in legions
of fallen spirits, if they were marshaled in battle array against one
poor weak Christian, to snatch him away from Christ!
Yes, should they besiege him without intermission like a vast herd of
lions seeking to devour one lamb, the defense were so much stronger
than the invasion that they could not pluck even that one out of
Christ's hands! The Destroyer has never yet celebrated a triumph over
the Redeemer! He is not able to hold up a single jewel of the
Redeemer's crown and say, "Aha! Aha! I stole it from Your diadem! You
could not keep it!" He has no single sheep there to which he can point
and say, "Ah, Shepherd of the sheep, You could not keep them all! The
strong were safe enough–they helped themselves, but this poor weakling
could not help itself–and You could not help it. Lo! I have borne it
away from You! Your flock, which is Your pride, is not complete! You
Yourself, as Shepherd, have a spot upon Your name, for You have lost at
least this one that Your Father gave You and whom You have purchased
with Your blood!"
It cannot be! It shall not be! The powers of darkness have conspired
for this and struggled for this, but they have not yet prevailed, nor
shall they! "None shall pluck them out of My hand." Oh, rest in the
hands of Christ, rest quietly–now that you are there you are secure,
neither shall any pluck you away. As if He would make assurance doubly
sure, and give us a very strong consolation, He added, "My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and none shall pluck them out of My
Father's hand." You can interpret the figure. There was Christ's hand
and His people in it, and He shall shut it fast to hold them. But that
hand was pierced once, and so to make it doubly sure, the Father clasps
it with His hand, and so within a double encircling the elect of God
are held and embraced!
There is the pierced hand of Jesus and there is the Father's almighty
hand–so there are two hands to protect and defend them. Well may they,
now, cheerfully defy all power–terrestrial or infernal–to ever
destroy them. They must, they shall forever rest in perfect security
beneath the guardian care of the Man Mediator, Christ the Lord, and God
the everlasting and ever blessed Father, who also takes them into His
sacred keeping! Do I hear anyone object, saying, "Well, but if this is
true, then may not a man live as he likes?" Sir, how can you ask that
question? What do you mean by it? Do you mean, "May a man live in sin?"
I have been trying to show that if a man is one of Christ's sheep, he
cannot perish, by which I mean, he cannot live in sin–for that is to
perish!
When I maintain that he cannot live in sin as he did, and cease to be a
gracious man–do you ask me whether he will not, therefore, sin
willfully because he is saved from his sins? You must surely
misunderstand me! "But, may not a man fall? Now I have these checks
taken from me, I may grow wanton." What checks? What checks? If I lay
it down that a man who is enlisted as a soldier is always a soldier,
how can you tell me I have taken away some checks? I see not how that
can be! I have rather implied a great many strong incentives to virtue
than offered a single pretext for vice. Certainly he is not to lay down
his commission because he is enlisted for life in the service of his
Lord!
If he ever did lay it down, he never could take it up again. Could
these fail away, it were impossible, again, to renew them to
repentance. If God's work did fail, if Christ's atoning blood did fall
short of its aim, there would remain no hope for them. The ground on
which the dew that moistens the flowers descends–when it yields
nothing but thorns and briars–is given up as worthless. Were a man in
some fit of enthusiasm to profess that he believed the Gospel, and then
take a fit of liberty and plunge into dissipation, you would all know
what to think of his sincerity. When the guilt of sin is removed, the
love of sin is purged out of the heart–and when the Spirit of holiness
is given, the love of holiness is infused into the heart. The man who
truly believes begins a life of holiness, and from that life of
holiness he will never utterly depart.
I grant you he may be overtaken in a fault. He may be surprised with a
temptation. He may stumble through weakness, or through lack of
watchfulness–but he will be led back again into repentance–he shall
not be allowed to perish. The life that is in him is immortal–a holy
incorruptible seed–and it will continue to develop in spite of sultry
heat or biting frost, blight or mildew, till it blooms in the
perfection of life above. Says one, "Ah, Sir, I hold no
argument about your doctrine. My fear is for myself–I do not think I
should live as I now do if I were not afraid of falling away." Is not
that a suitable fear for the child of the bondwoman–"Unless I do
so-and-so I shall be sent into the wilderness with my mother Hagar."
Very likely you will!
But I know this, I am the child of the free woman, that is Sarah, and I
know my Father will never send His child into the wilderness. What
then? Shall His attachment provoke my alienation? Shall I act
shamefully because He appoints me to honor? No, no, but because He
loves me so, I will love Him in return! I pray Him to forgive my
offenses, but I will seek to do all that is possible to show that I
realize the greatness of His love, and desire to make some poor return
for it as best I can. "Well, but," says somebody, "are we not
admonished with warnings against falling away?" Certainly, and they are
the most terrible that language can describe. Undoubtedly the Scripture
paints the pilgrim's path as full of peril. It is not by creature
strength that we can hold our own!
Could the precious blood lose its virtue–did the blessed Spirit
withdraw His influence–were the timely succor withheld, we have no
resources! For all manner of sin there is a remedy–believe in Christ
as a Savior–but for apostasy there is no cure. If you trample on the
one Sacrifice, no second sacrifice will ever be offered. There is but
one new birth. Regeneration is once and once only. "But why these
warnings," you say, "if it cannot happen?" Remember God does not deal
with His people as if they were blocks of wood or iron cast and run
into a mold. We are beings with a will and a judgment, and God deals
with us in that way.
Now, if I have poison in my house and it should be necessary for some
reason or other that poison should be there, I do not intend that my
children should ever have that poison or take it. Suppose me to be
Omnipotent and that I have power to prevent their taking it, yet I do
not lock it up and put it where they could not possibly get it? I put
it where they can get it if they like, and it will kill them if they do
get it–but I tell them they must not take it. I describe to them the
results that will follow, and I have such a loving power over my
children's hearts–(suppose it to be so)–that they do not disobey me
so as to take this poison. Though it is there and devils come into the
house and tempt them to take it, yet they will not take it but put it
from them. I should thus be making an exhibition to those who looked
on, of the love to me that was in my children's hearts, and also of my
power over my children's hearts, though I did not violate their wills
and did not make it impossible for them to destroy themselves.
Now, it is so here. Sin is permitted to be in the world–I do not know
why–and God does not render it impossible for a man to go and commit
any sin. The man might–he would–unless God's Grace prevented. But
God's Grace is not mechanical in its action. It is not like a fetter,
or a chain. It is not, (as I have heard some say), dragging people to
Heaven by their ears. No, it is a mighty force–an Omnipotent
power–but quite consistent with free agency. It never operates
contrary to the laws of mind, and God is glorified in this–that though
His children are thus tempted, they do not run into fatal
soul-destroying sin! They do not go into such apostasy from Him as
would be final and prove altogether destructive.
They are kept by His gracious power–kept as men–drawn, but with cords
of love–bound, but with the bands of a man. Do you object that "good
men fall?" Good men do not fall so as to perish. Good men do fall, for
they are men! The old nature is in them. But, the truly gracious man
with all his sins, repents, still believes, and with broken bones goes
back to his Lord and proves himself to be still a child. The sheep may
fall into a ditch–it will not roll in the mire as a hog would if it
fell there. A sheep, even when it falls into a ditch, proves that it is
a sheep, still. There is a difference in the nature of it.
When I have seen a child of God fall into sin, I have known that if he
were a child of God he would hate himself for it, he would grieve over
it, and could not be at peace and ease in it. Do you tell me of a
Christian who lived in sin and seemed very happy? Be sure that he was
not a Christian but a pretender! He who can continue in sin and delight
in it is no child of God! He that can go day after day into vice or can
tolerate in himself any known sin has a spot which is not the spot of
God's children. He has a mark upon him which never was and never shall
be upon a truly quickened child of God! "Be you holy, for I am holy,"
is the voice which sounds in the saint's ear, and if he does not always
obey it as he should, this is the complaining of his soul–and it makes
him go weeping and lamenting before his God. But still, in the main, it
ever shall be the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that has
clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.
I have one word for any here who are unconverted but would desire
salvation. Do you know, dear Friends, that one of the great leading
thoughts of my young life, the master thought that brought me to the
Savior, was belief in the
doctrine of final perseverance? Perhaps you wonder how that could be,
but so it was. I saw while yet I was a lad many promising boys and lads
who made total shipwreck early in their lives by falling into gross
vices. I felt in my soul a loathing of the sins which I heard they had
committed. I had been kept from them by Divine counsels, by gracious
interpositions, by parental teaching and by pious example. Still I
feared lest the sins into which these young men had fallen might master
me. Such knowledge as I had of the depravity of my own heart led me to
distrust myself.
I was convinced that unless I was converted, born-again, and received
the new life, I had no safeguard. Whatever good resolutions I might
make, the probabilities were they would be good for nothing when
temptation assailed me. I might be like those of whom it has been said,
"They see the devil's hook and yet cannot help nibbling at his bait."
But, that I should morally disgrace myself as some had done whom I had
known and heard of, was a hazard from the very thought of which I
shrunk with horror. When I heard and read with wondering eyes that
whoever believed in Christ Jesus should be saved, the Truth of God came
to my heart with a welcome I cannot describe to you. The doctrine that
He would keep the feet of His saints had a charm, indeed, for me!
I thought, "Then if I go to Jesus and get from Him a new heart and a
right spirit, I shall be secured against these temptations into which
others have fallen. I shall be preserved by Him." I do not say that
drove me to Christ–a sense of sin did that–but it attracted me to
Him. It was one of the beauties of His face that ravished me–that He
was a faithful Keeper of all souls that were committed to Him–that He
was able and willing to take the young man and make him cleanse his way
and keep him even to the end! O young people, there is no life
assurance like a believing in Jesus Christ!–
"Grace shall preserve your following years, And make your virtues
strong."
I do not preach to you, tonight, a sandy foundation that will give way
under your feet, but a Rock to which you may continually retreat–in
which you may always dwell secure. I do not present to you a salvation
that may fail you under some stress of temptation, but a salvation that
is strong, having in it "the sure mercies of David." He that believes
and is baptized shall be saved–saved from sinning, from the guilt as
well as the punishment of sin, and brought to Heaven holy and meet for
the inheritance of the saints. God grant you to Believers in Christ.
Amen, and amen!
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Untrodden Ways