DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 15, 1877,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Purifying their hearts by faith." Acts 15:9.
THE Jewish or Pharisaic party violently opposed the Gospel from
without. Wherever the Apostles went, the Jews who believed not, being
moved with envy, stirred up the people against them. They could not
endure to hear of the salvation of the Gentiles by Grace through faith!
It grated on their ears, for they thought that this doctrine was
contrary to the Law of Moses in which they boasted. They were children
of the bondwoman under the old Covenant of Works and they could not
endure that the children of the promise should come to the inheritance.
They struggled and rebelled against the Gospel of salvation by Grace,
for it went against their natural pride and their national
exclusiveness.
Yes, and even when any of them, as blessed be the Grace of God was the
case, became converted, the old man was still within them and the
spirit of bondage was still apt to assert itself. Those who had been of
the sect of the Pharisees brought a good share of Pharisaic tendencies
with them into the Church–and these were dangerous to the young
kingdom of Christ. I scarcely know whether legal principles were not
able to do more mischief inside the Church by perverting pure doctrine
than they could do outside the Church by exciting persecution.
One can hardly imagine how the Gospel could have escaped being overlaid
and smothered by Judaism, like a baby by its mother, had it not been
for the preserving Grace of God and the indwelling Spirit within the
Church of God. You know, Brothers and Sisters, how we mourn, today,
that certain who claim to be Christians are laboring most zealously to
put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear. They invent pompous ceremonies, observe days and
months and are bound by rubrics and regulations–all of which are an
idle and needless servitude to outward forms.
Certain others would bind us with creeds and ordinances not plainly
taught in the Word of God, nor agreeable thereto–of which Peter and
John knew nothing whatever–having no force but that which comes of
human authority. The old Pharisaic spirit is a great forger of bonds
and builder of prisons! It would subject us to ordinances of, "Touch
not, taste not, handle not," and fetter us with rules of many
sorts–for it cannot understand the liberty wherewith Christ has made
us free. It teaches this and it teaches that, whereof the Apostles
would have said, "We gave no such commandment."
We must contend against this spirit as much now as ever! We must refuse
to be entangled, again, with the yoke of bondage. Christ is all! We are
complete in Him and we will not permit a single letter to be added to
His perfect Law of Liberty. Peter, at the great Jerusalem council was
enabled, through his experience to answer those who said that unless a
man was circumcised he could not be saved. Depend upon it, Brothers and
Sisters, there is nothing like practical work for Christ to teach us
Christ's Truth!
For the most part, the heretics of the present day are a clique of
literary men, adept at the pen, but quite unable to speak. It may be
that their failure in this direction sours them and sets them upon
opposing the Gospel ministry. At any rate, they are a set of theorizers
who know nothing of practical service for the Lord! And so they make up
all manner of nonsense according to their own fancies. They sit in
their studies and do nothing—-and then criticize those who are doing
hard service and are successful in it. They are so busy with nibbling
their quills and polishing their periods that they care nothing about
saving souls! And they are so intent upon making discoveries which
shall manifest their own gigantic intellects that they cannot soil
their hands with practical work among the poor and ignorant.
Having nothing upon their hearts, their whole nature runs to their head
and the head being unbalanced by a busy heart takes to spinning cobweb
theories and novelties of heresy. Fiercely liberal, the spirit which
they manifest against the orthodox is grandly bigoted–in this they are
earnest–but in little else except in engendering grievous errors which
are ravaging the Churches and ruining souls. Among the do-nothings all
mischief begins! Give a man practical work for Jesus and keep him at
it, and he will, like Peter, learn as he goes and, like a river, filter
as he flows. Peter could not continue to believe in restricting the
Gospel to the Jews after the Lord had bid Cornelius send for him from
Joppa, that he might teach him the Gospel–his actual service refined
his theory!
If those who ruled botanical science never saw a flower, would you
wonder if they ran into gross heterodoxies of belief? A naturalist who
never saw a living animal would not be likely to be very sound in
zoology and, even so, those who never deal with the souls of men–who
never see penitents under conviction, nor hear the songs of new-born
Believers in Christ, nor see men rejoice in affliction and triumph in
death–are sure to blunder when they set up for teachers. They lean
back in their study chairs and blow bubbles and vent doubts to the
subverting of the faith of many godly but feeble souls–and all for the
need of something better to do.
I prescribe as medicine for them and I heartily wish they would take
it, to do something for Christ and the good of fallen men. Peter got
out of what would otherwise have been his natural condition of bigotry
by being exercised in the service of his Master. Peter tells us how he
came to see that circumcision was not necessary. At the Divine bidding,
he went in and preached to Cornelius and his household–and while he
was preaching they believed! He had not finished his sermon before they
had all become Believers and he adds, "God the heart-knower bore them
witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as He gave unto us."
They believed and he knew that their faith had purged their hearts, for
the Lord sent the Holy Spirit upon them then and there! The Holy Spirit
dwells not in unclean hearts! But when the temple of the heart has been
purified, there He comes. Though these men had never been circumcised,
yet they were purified in heart, for the Spirit of God rested upon
them–it was evidently the same Spirit which had descended upon the
circumcised ones at Jerusalem since it produced the same results–"for
they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God." Now, if the Spirit
puts no difference between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, why
should the Church do so? Peter therefore said, "Can any man forbid
water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy
Spirit as well as we?"
He therefore commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord and
thus affirmed his belief that faith had purified them. He saw that the
Lord had given the choicest of Gospel blessings to uncircumcised
Believers, even the power of the Holy Spirit and, therefore, he felt
that they were to be received into the Church without circumcision.
Peter's argument is eminently clear and convincing. You and I cannot be
impartial because we, being Gentiles, are naturally pleased with an
argument which includes us in the blessing.
But if we were sitting as judges to listen to the pleading of the
Apostle, I feel sure we would say–Whether it blesses us or curses us,
the reasoning is unanswerable–if God would not give the Spirit unless
the heart had been purified, then these men's hearts were purified and
it is evident that they were purified by faith, alone, seeing that they
were uncircumcised and altogether outside the Jewish Law. Seeing, then,
that they are pure in heart, what need can there be of further
purification? What need to lay upon them the outward and visible sign,
the putting away of the filth of the flesh, when it is proven by the
Divine witness What they are pure in heart already? It is well argued,
Peter, and we rejoice in the conclusion!
Now let us consider the point upon which the argument depends, the
statement which made, to a great extent, the hinge of Peter's
reasoning–namely, that by faith the hearts of the Gentile Believers
had been purified. First, consider the agent of this purifying, "by
faith." Secondly, the secret of its power–it was God that purified
them by faith. Thirdly, the seat of its action– "purifying their
hearts." And, fourthly, (what is not in the text, but which we gather
from our own experience), the mode of its operation, or how faith
purifies our hearts.
I. First, then, dear Friends, let us speak of THE AGENT OF HEART
PURIFICATION–FAITH. There was nothing but faith in the case of
Cornelius, nothing but ordinary faith such as you and I possess–faith
born of hearing and resting alone on Jesus. Faith alone did it! Read
Peter's sermon to Cornelius and you will perceive that his faith was
not created by Peter's eloquence and did not stand in the wisdom of
man. Peter told a very simple story about the life, death and
Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth–just such a story as a converted a
lad from our Sunday schools might relate, in fact, "the old, old
story."
And while he was telling it, I hope not so hoarsely as I am compelled
to do this morning, the power of God was present and the centurion and
his family believed the testimony. The innate power of the story,
itself, by God's blessing,
worked faith in the hearts of his hearers and they were straightway
purified by that faith! If I were to talk of Jesus Christ and His
matchless death, this morning, and some of you hearing the story were
to trust Him, you would be purified just as these Caesarean Believers
were. Their faith came by hearing, just as yours would, and they heard
the very same Gospel of the Grace of God which I would preach to you.
By such faith hearts are purified!
Their faith purified them at once. They were not purified by month
after month of contemplation. Faith purified their hearts immediately,
for, to the astonishment of the circumcised Believers who were looking
on, the Holy Spirit fell upon them then and there–the evidence from
Heaven that their faith had made them meet for the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit! What matchless energy is this which purifies hearts
stained with original sin and defiled by actual transgressions–and
cleanses them at once! The sacred power which requires not even a
single day for its marvelous operations, but achieves its purpose in a
moment, is worthy of our highest admiration! How speedy is the work!
The hearing ear, the believing heart, the purified heart–these three
follow each other in rapid succession, without long pauses of dread
conviction or dreary doubt.
Delays may occur in some cases, but they are not necessary to the work,
neither are they of the Lord. Here the operations of mercy followed
upon the heels of one another–hearing, believing, purification–the
gift of the Spirit, the public avowal of the same by Baptism into the
sacred name came in rapid succession–and here you see the wondrous
power of faith by which the soul is purified at once. The agent of the
purification was FAITH alone! And it is clear from the narrative that
water Baptism did not aid it at all.
It is supposed by those who deal with suppositions only, for they
certainly can have no facts to support their theory, that there is
something purging in Baptism. Do they not say that by it they are made
members of Christ, children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of
Heaven? Now, no baby has ever yet given any evidence that such a thing
took place! How could it? The little creature is unconscious, at the
time, and as he grows up he does not show any superiority to others who
have not undergone the aqueous regeneration! We find our unbaptized
sons and daughters converted by Grace in quite as large a proportion as
those little "members of Christ" and "inheritors of the kingdom of
Heaven." These "children of God by sprinkling" show that they need
converting, for they grow up to be heirs of wrath, even as others. The
regeneration seems to be only skin deep if we may judge by the
character of 99 out of every hundred of those who are thus regenerated.
But in this case there was no mistaking the meaning of Baptism, for
Cornelius and his household were not baptized till after they had
received the Holy Spirit–and the Holy Spirit was the sign that their
hearts were already purified. Now, my Brothers and Sisters, the Lord
will not permit us to mix up His own ordinances with the work of His
blessed Spirit in purifying the heart by faith, alone! God forbid we
ever should fall into such an error! No–soul-purification is of faith,
it is not of Baptism. It is not by any outward rite even of God's own
ordaining, nor by the will of man, nor by blood, nor by birth, but by
the work of the Holy Spirit through the agency of faith and that alone.
If it should, however, occur to some Brother that perhaps the case of
Cornelius may have been somewhat special because he had been a devout
man and an alms-giver even before he knew the Gospel, I reply that
Peter, in his narrative and argument, said not a word upon that point!
He held forth the centurion's case simply as that of an uncircumcised
person who had believed and had been purified in heart. It seems to me
clear enough that if Cornelius, instead of having been a devout man,
had been called by God out of the utmost profligacy, he would have been
purified in heart in precisely the same manner. If not, Peter was
unfair in quoting as a typical instance what would have been a palpable
exception to the rule–but he speaks of the centurion and his family as
being specimens of what God was doing for Gentile Believers.
So Peter saw nothing at all exceptional about them. He saw, indeed,
nothing but that they were Believers and were purified in heart by
their faith. The fact is that the instrument by which hearts are truly
purified is faith which comes by the hearing of the Gospel–and this is
all. And so I say to you upon this point, even to you who know not the
Lord as yet–do not be looking for pure hearts within yourselves before
you come to Christ by faith. Do not look for the fruits before you have
the roots! Look by faith to the great Purifier, however impure you feel
your heart to be.
There is a blessing for the pure in heart, but you cannot claim it at
present and, therefore, be it yours to believe as sinners in whom is no
good thing whatever. Though you mourn the deep depravity of your
nature, do not vainly endeavor to alter it before you believe, but,
sinner as you are, condemned by the verdict of your conscience, believe
in the
Lord Jesus Christ that you may be completely renewed! I beseech you
seek purity of heart by faith, alone, for you will be disappointed if
you search for it in any other way. Do not think that anything else can
touch the matter, for it cannot! No washing and cleansing can make the
Ethiopian white–only the Redeemer's Divine power can do it!
Read your Bibles, by all means, and pray, by all means, and hear
sermons, by all means, but none of these things are of any use to
change the radical impurity of your inward nature. FAITH must behold
the bleeding Lamb and know the virtue of the water and the blood which
flowed from His pierced side–and until then the soul must remain in
the impurity of the Fall. All the efforts of unbelieving nature do but
plunge us deeper in the mire and increase our defilement! Faith is that
branch of hyssop which, being dipped in the blood of Jesus, makes the
heart clean from sin–and nothing else will do this.
Look, then, poor Soul, away from yourself that you may have yourself
renewed. Look to your black, disordered and loathsome self and mourn,
but look not there for cure–that were to seek for riches amid
bankruptcy and death amid life! That were to search for Hell in Heaven
and for God among demons! Look to JESUS, whom God has set forth to save
His people from their sins–and as you look to Him, FAITH will purify
Your soul!
II. How is faith strong enough to do this? What is THE SECRET OF ITS
POWER? Believing other things does not purify the soul–why does
believing the Gospel? Trusting is a very simple act–how does it come
to pass that trusting Christ becomes the means of cleansing the heart?
I answer, because God works by it. Let us read our text with the
preceding verse. "God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving
them the Holy Spirit, even as He did unto us; and put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."
Who was it that was purifying their hearts? The answer is clear. It was
the Omniscient God. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, you must not look, alone,
to the instrument which the Lord uses, but you must have regard to His
own power which He puts forth in connection therewith. Faith alone
would be nothing–but when God works by faith, wonders are
accomplished! You remember the old story of the sword of Scanderbeg
with which he used to cleave men in two from the crown of the head
downwards? As one looked at it he declared that he saw nothing about
the sword to make it so fatal a weapon. But another replied, "You
should have seen the arm which was used to wield it."
Faith looked at, of itself, appears to be contemptible, but oh, the arm
that wields it! Who shall resist that everlasting arm? Jacob may be but
a worm, but God can thresh the mountains with him! Faith may be but a
poor broom, but when Jesus comes to purge the temple of the heart, He
sweeps out all the accumulated filth by this feeble means! This greater
than Hercules cares little for the weakness of the instrument, but
behold, He cleanses the Augean stable of our nature with no other
agency than childlike faith! God works through faith, and so faith does
marvels!
Ah, Beloved, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ your inbred sins
have another champion to meet them beside yourself. God Himself is with
you for your Captain and He will use your faith to be the ram's horn to
lay low the walls of Jericho, or to be as the pitchers and the
trumpets, by whose means the Midianite myriads were overthrown! Your
iniquities shall bow before His Grace! Only trust and your poor
child-like trust shall be in God's hands the sacred scourge of small
cords which shall free your soul from all the thieves who now make it
their den! Besides, the text suggests that God is at work in the heart
by His Holy Spirit.
Now, where the Holy Spirit comes, He burns as a heavenly fire and
consumes sin. He comes, also, as a flowing stream and cleanses away
evil. He comes as a rushing mighty wind to chase away all that is foul
and polluted which has gathered in the stagnant air of the soul. The
Holy Spirit is the spirit of holiness and as He always dwells with
faith, being its Author, its Strengthener and Guardian, you may be sure
that where faith comes, the heart will speedily be purified. The fact
is, Brothers and Sisters, faith sees sin, loathes it and flings itself
into the eternal arms to be delivered from it. Faith feels sin, like a
huge mountain, pressing on its bosom and crushing down its heart. And
Faith cries, "Eternal God, You have promised to deliver Your people
from their sins. Lo, I invoke Your power and challenge Your promise! I
cast myself upon Your might to lift this load from off my bosom and to
let me breathe freely as being delivered from its terrible weight."
All is well when such an appeal is believingly made! When you bring God
into your quarrel it is ended. When you lay hold on the Divine
strength, Goliath falls, though your weapon is but a sling and a stone.
Here is the power of faith, that she wears the promise of her God as
her belt of strength! She has laid hold upon the Omnipotence of Him
that makes Heaven and earth to stand! Well may she perform miracles,
for God is at her beck and call. See, then, where the power of
faith lies whereby she works the purification of the soul–it is GOD
that works by her! "But," you ask, "how does God purify the heart? He
cannot do it by physical force."
No. Who thought He could? He does it by His wisdom which was never
baffled yet, bringing before the human mind arguments which suit the
case, revealing His Truths which convince the understanding and plying
the conscience with facts which gain its verdict. If human wisdom wins
men's minds, what shall Infallible Wisdom do? Together with Omnipotent
Wisdom there is the most important element of Irresistible Love. Do you
think there is no power anywhere but that which can be measured by
pounds and gauged as we compute the force of steam in the locomotive
engine? Ah, Brothers and Sisters, in the impulse of persuasion, in the
force of conviction, in the plea of love, there are powers which never
violate the human will, but yet rule it with sacred supremacy!
What is stronger than the power of love–love which makes the most
obdurate at length to yield? Love which compels the most malicious to
love, in spite of themselves? Love which surprises men into repentance
and gratitude before they are aware of it? God loves men until they
must love Him! God loves them with such Omnipotence that at last they
hurl their weapons of rebellion down and submit with eagerness! Nothing
conquers like love! Now it is because Faith trusts in this Wisdom and
this Love–and these come to aid her in her war with sin–that the
raging lusts and wayward passions of the heart are subdued and Grace
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.
So, then, I say, as we leave this point, Brothers and Sisters, remember
humbly and hopefully that the battle is not yours after all! The Lord
has undertaken the conflict and He will gain the victory! The conquest
of sin is to be achieved by the Almighty–you are to wrestle and
contend–but God in you is the winner of the contest! Therefore, since
God is with you, nothing is impossible! There is no constitutional
fault which you cannot remedy! There is no strong passion which you
cannot check! There is no inward desire, however fierce, which you
cannot, at last, destroy! Have courage! High degrees of sanctity are
possible to you, now that God is with you. Despair of nothing! Doubt
not, for in all things you shall be more than conquerors through Him
that loves you! Only let your faith continually fling herself upon the
Omnipotence of God and you shall see that He will purify your hearts.
III. Thirdly, let us consider that THE SEAT OF FAITH'S ACTION is
primarily the heart–"purifying their
hearts." I will not speak upon this topic more than to outline what I
would have said had I been able to utter my words with greater
rapidity. Infirmities of voice are a sad hindrance to ministers–pray
that they may be removed, for in my case, at least, the brain is slow
when the speech is hampered.
Faith changes the current of our love and alters the motive which sways
us–this is what is meant by purifying the heart. It makes us love that
which is good and right. It moves us with motives free from self and
sin–this is a great work, indeed! Therefore, the change which faith
produces is very radical and deep. It is a small matter to wash the
outside of the cup and of the platter–the inside of the cup must be
first and chiefly attended to. If the heart is changed, the conversion
is thorough and complete–it is not a mere superficial affair, but a
through and through renewal. "Rend your hearts and not your garments,"
was God's command to His people–and faith acts in this spirit–it does
not begin with the garments nor frame regulations for the external
actions. It begins with the inner man.
Faith lays the axe at the root. It heals the stream at the fountainhead
and what is done is, therefore, done thoroughly, effectually and
honestly. The heart being purified, the purification becomes operative
throughout the whole life. A diseased heart means a sickly man all
over–you cannot get your heart wrong but what every organ is, in its
measure, wrong–the whole life is disarranged. Neither can you have the
heart right without its affecting the entire nature and affecting, for
the better, all that is within you and all that comes forth of you–of
thought, word and deed! There is nothing like beginning at the heart
out of which are the issues of life. All else is poor patchwork. But to
have the heart made new is to be renewed, indeed!
And, therefore, such a change is permanent. Acknowledge appetites which
still remain and the dog returns to his vomit. Purify externals, leave
the nature untouched, and the sow that was washed goes back to her
wallowing in the mire. Transform the dog to a sheep, change the swine
to a child and you shall not see the old habits return–but without
this, all human goodness is as a fading flower. Such a purification is
acceptable with God, who searches the heart. Man judges according to
the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. And so, faith, in
purifying the heart, produces a purification which is well-pleasing
before God.
The sum of this is, Brothers and Sisters, do not begin seeking after
the purification of your hearts and then seek after faith in Christ as
a second thing. No! Let all things be done in order. Emotions are good
if they are good, but they are not the source of purity nor antecedent
to faith. Faith is the parent of right emotions. Never confuse the
mother with the children. If you would have men purified, aim, by the
blessing of God, to produce faith in them. The preaching which only
stirs the passions is of small value. We have heard a good deal about
crowds weeping, but we had rather see one individual believing. We
count it far better to lead a man to believe with his heart than to cry
with his eyes and, therefore, I aim rather at preaching Christ
Crucified, so as to beget faith, than to paint pathetic pictures of
deathbeds and dying mothers, which things work on the emotions but have
small tendency to lead to faith.
If, first of all, we believe that Jesus is the Christ and come to rest
in Him, the emotions will be brought right enough in due time–the
heart will be changed where once faith assumes the sway. But if you
have a faith which never touches your heart–a faith which never causes
you to rejoice or mourn, a faith which neither makes you hate sin nor
love the Lord Jesus, I charge you, shake off that faith as Paul shook
the viper from his hand–for it is a deadly faith and if, instead
thereof, you should feel an aching heart and a deep sense of alienation
from God, the change will appear terrible to you, but it will be
conducive to your highest good.
Only the living faith which works upon the heart and influences the
desires and the affections can be the faith of God's elect. A moonlight
faith, which has light but no warmth, is a thing of the night and is
not the faith of the children of the day. Faith which lives in the cold
attic of the brain and never descends into the parlor and banqueting
room of the heart, will starve with cold–and it is not the life which
the Holy Spirit works in man. Judge what I say, but if you forget all,
still remember that faith stands first and then the heart's
purification follows as a consequence. Never put the cart before the
horse, nor the effect before the cause! Do not expect the fruit of
holiness without the root of faith, nor try to increase purity, which
is a result, without first strengthening the faith which is its
original.
IV. Lastly, let us consider THE MODE OF FAITH'S OPERATION–how does
Faith go to work to purify the
heart? Observe, dear Friends, first, that Faith believes in sin as sin
and sees the horror of it as an offense against a holy and gracious God
in whom she devoutly believes. Faith believes in Hell and sees the
"smoke of its torments going up forever and ever." Faith believes in
the worm that dies not and the fire that never can be quenched." Faith,
"the evidence of things not seen," places before the soul, in dread
array, the pomp of that tremendous day when Christ, with clouds, shall
come, so that the soul sees sin to be an exceedingly dreadful and
damnable thing and turns to God for deliverance from it–this is one
element in the purification of the soul.
Next, Faith delights to set Christ before the heart and to make it gaze
upon His bleeding wounds and pierced side and marred face. Faith makes
Him no dream, but a reality! She causes the soul's ears to hear His
groans and listen to His "Lama Sabachthani." The soul perceives that
when sin was laid on Christ, it bruised Him sorely and crushed Him down
and, therefore, the heart hates the sin which slew its best
Friend–here is another clement which works towards its purification.
Faith delights much in the Person of Christ and, therefore, she sets
before the soul His incomparable loveliness, as the Well-Beloved of
saints.
To Faith, Christ is not an historic Person who flitted over the page of
history even as a passer-by moves before a camera when an artist is
taking a street photograph and leaves a dim trace of his having passed
across the scene while the picture was being fashioned. Faith has
learned to see Christ stand out as the most real Man that ever lived,
the fact of the ages, the focus of the Truth of God! Faith touches,
handles, embraces and feeds upon Christ. She has been so familiar with
Him as to have been kissed with the kisses of His lips and she has been
filled with His love which is better than wine and, therefore, she
feels His constraining power and follows Him.
Faith is Christ's familiar Friend. Faith, as John, lies even in His
bosom and there enjoys His love and pours forth her own. Faith, by
revealing the love and loveliness of Christ to the soul, kindles in the
heart a vehement flame of love to Him and this fire of love becomes a
powerful element of purification–for you cannot love Christ and love
sin! You cannot feel gratitude for deliverance from evil and then go
and plunge into it again. Further, faith has a wonderful art of
realizing her gracious privileges.
Faith says to the man, "Do you not know that you are God's elect? The
eternal Father wrote Your name in His Book of Life before He lit up the
lamps of Heaven! How ought you to live? You are redeemed, the blood
mark is on you! You are not your own, but bought with a price–what a
holy life yours ought to be! You are precious to the heart of God!
You are His Hephzibah, He delights in you. You are His child, no more a
servant, but a son! You are Christ's bride, yes, you are a part of His
mystical body, you are one with Him–how ought you to behave yourself?"
Brothers, Sisters, did you ever realize any one of these blessings
without feeling that such privileges purge the soul? Did they not, each
one of them, seem to say to you, "What manner of persons ought you to
be in all holy conversation and godliness, since you are partakers of
mercies like these?" Faith has another wondrous power of acting upon
the telescopic principle by bringing near to us the things to come. Has
she not even opened to us the gates of pearl and set the golden streets
a-glittering before our eyes? How near to faith's far-seeing eyes, oh
you blessed Jerusalem, your celestial splendors have appeared!
At such seasons, so far from thinking that we would indulge in sin
because we felt our Heaven secure, we have groaned after more purity
and begun to take our shoes off, for we have felt that even the suburb
of Heaven, where we, then, stood, was holy ground! Transported by
Faith's vision, we have commenced to put on the snow-white robes of the
immaculate. Having this hope in us, we have purified ourselves, "even
as He is pure." O you who are Brothers and Sisters to perfect
spirits–co-heirs with the glorified of the Crown of Life that fades
not away, with angels for your servitors and Christ Himself for your
elder Brother–what should be the manner of our walk and conversation?
We feel that we shall never be perfectly content till we are perfectly
holy, unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. What could more
effectually purify the heart than the vision of Heaven which Faith
presents to us?
Suffer me, now, to crowd a number of matters together, to show you that
faith does not merely give us motives, but that it really finds us
power. I will tell you how faith does this, for I have tried it in
fighting against sin. Power is gained by faith through pleading the
promises of God. Did you ever feel that you could not master a sin and
have you then gone and knelt down and cried, "Lord, You have said, 'sin
shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the Law, but
under Grace,' Lord save me from the tyranny of sin which now seeks to
exercise upon me"? Did you ever plead that other promise, "I will turn
My hand upon you, and surely purge away your dross, and take away all
your sin"?
Did you ever cry, "Lord, I will not let You go till you have taken away
my bonds and delivered me from the iniquities which prevail against
me"? Then I am sure you have obtained the help of God! Thus does Faith,
by pleading God's own Word, gain power to master sin. Try her sacred
art! Believe without a doubt the faithful Promiser and hold Him to His
Word, a Word from which He never did draw back and never will, for He
is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should
repent. Faith daringly lays hold upon the power of God, Himself! On the
strength of the promise she grasps the Divine hand! She has the sacred
impudence, the consecrated impertinence to thrust herself near the
Throne and lay hold upon God, for she has heard Him say, "Let him lay
hold upon My strength."
And oh, Beloved, how she then smites the Philistines! How she lays
iniquity low when once God, the Irresistible Slayer of sin, has come to
her help! She constrains Him to come by laying hold upon Him and then
she routs all her adversaries. Faith brings us real power to conquer
sin by applying the blood of Christ. She does not merely talk of the
Atonement, but she delights in it as her own and makes a medicine of it
for the curing of sinful habits. The blood of Jesus is the life of
faith and the death of sin! All the saints overcome through the blood
of the Lamb! We sprinkle it before us and kings of armies flee!
The atonement by blood. The literal substitution of our Lord. The
smarting suretyship. The triumphant righteousness and the
representative glorification of the Lord Jesus are all great purifiers
of the soul– sharp swords with which to smite sin! Rest happily in Him
who died for you and rose again, and you will be strong for virtue–sin
shall lose all power over you. The blood of Jesus is the chief and,
indeed, the only Fountain for cleansing! It is the supreme source of
holiness, the preparation for Heaven! Faith gets us power, for she
plunges us in the atoning blood which is our life. Faith, herself,
also, gives us power against sin by mixing herself with all Gospel
ordinances. We read of some, "that the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."
Faith is a necessary ingredient to be mixed with means and ordinances
to give them savor and efficacy. With hearing sermons, attending
communion, private prayer, Bible study–mix faith! "Without prescribing
how much," mix faith, and the more the better! Faith will enable you to
draw the nourishment and essence out of Gospel ordinances and so it
will make you vigorous in agonizing against sin! Last of all, faith
awakens the new man to intense resistance of sin. Faith, like a
trumpet, wakes up the unsinning new nature to battle and leads it into
the thick of the fight. Did I startle you when I said the, "unsinning
new nature"? I said it advisedly, for it cannot sin because it is born
of God! There is
within the regenerate man a principle of Divine birth, a Seed which is
incorruptible which will remain and abide in the renewed soul forever
and ever.
This seed, or principle faith, excites into growth and energy. Faith
arouses love, stirs up courage, girds patience with her belt and
perseverance with her shoes. She excites zeal and stirs up jealousy,
bestirs desires after holiness and quickens the diligence of devotion.
And so she keeps the powers of evil in check and purifies the heart.
This is a brief sketch of how faith purifies, from day to day, the soul
of man. I have done when I have said–see, then, to the simplicity and
energy of your faith. Beloved, "as you have received Christ Jesus the
Lord so walk in Him." As you believe in Him unto justification, believe
in Him to sanctification. If anybody tells you that you are to get
justification in one way and sanctification in another way believe him
not!
Jesus Christ is made of God unto us sanctification as well as
redemption. Pharisees virtually teach us that we are to be sanctified
by the Law, though justified by faith, but we know better! These are
twin Covenant blessings and are not to be had apart. Believe in Christ
to conquer sin as well as to pardon sin. Believe that the only power
which can subdue a base passion in you is the power which washed you
from your iniquity of old. Trust Christ with the power of sin as well
as the guilt of sin. You need not go through a round of performances in
order to be purified in heart. You need not look for a higher life than
Jesus gave you when you looked and lived–there is no higher life, for
He gave you His own! What more do you need than the Holy Spirit which
quickens you? What is higher than that?
What more can you have than what faith has brought you and will bring
you? Jesus has given you Himself! Did you believe in half a Christ at
the beginning? Did you receive from Him a lower and inferior life? Oh,
shame on you to think so! You trusted your soul wholly with Him, did
you not? And did He not give His whole self to you? Do you mean to say
that you trusted Him to save you from Hell and not from sin? Did you
trust Him to blot out the past and were you fool enough to trust to
yourself for keeping in the future? If so, you did not believe in Him
at all–your faith was faulty at the very core–for Christ must be
everything or nothing!
And, if up to now you have been so foolish as to have half a
Savior–and if even now you are looking for something which is not
contained in Him–be foolish no longer! Go back to the very beginning
and say, "Blessed Savior, just as I am I come to You. Behold, I take
You to be All in All to me, for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification
and redemption." Doing this you shall find all in Jesus and, by faith,
your heart shall be purified. I had intended to appeal to sinners, but
my voice refuses to be longer tried and so I leave it with the
prayerful desire that the whole subject may appeal to seekers and
encourage them. God save you. Amen.
__________________________________________________________________