Scriptural Salvation
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 18, 1890,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"For the Scripture says, Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed."
Romans 10:11.
THE shepherd on the hill is most of all anxious about his sheep–he
cares for his cottage, he trains the woodbine around his porch, sows
flowers before his door and digs his little plot of garden ground–but,
since he is a shepherd, his chief thought follows his flock and
especially any of the sheep that are wandering, or the lambs that are
tender. Even so I feel that my main business is the saving of souls. I
may fitly preach to you upon any Scriptural subject and I may minister
to the delight of the family of the redeemed. I may lead them into the
deep things of God–but my principal business must always be watching
for souls. This one thing I do.
When a city is to be stored for a siege it will be well for those who
attend to the commissariat to lay in a proportion of everything that is
necessary for human comfort and even a measure of certain luxuries–but
it will be of first importance to bring in great quantities of corn.
The necessities of life must be the chief provision. These we place in
storehouses by the tons, whereas in other articles pounds may suffice.
If there is a failure of bread, what will the people do? For this
reason, I feel I must preach over and over again the plain Gospel of
salvation by Divine Grace through faith in Christ Jesus!
While I would withhold nothing that may minister to edification, to
comfort, to growth or to the perfecting of the saints, yet, first and
foremost in abundance, even to overflowing, I must gather for you the
Bread of Life and set forth Christ Crucified as the sinner's only hope.
Faith must be urged upon you, for without it there is no salvation.
Paul, in this case, was acting upon this safe principle as he always
did, for he is speaking of salvation in the plainest terms. His heart's
desire and prayer for Israel was that they might be saved and he proved
the truth of that desire by setting forth that which would save
them–he keeps to faith in Christ–and hammers upon that nail to fasten
it securely.
I. I shall begin my sermon this morning by reminding you that HERE IS
AN OLD-FASHIONED WAY OF PROOF–"The Scripture says." In this
enlightened age little is made of Scripture. The tendency is to
undermine men's faith in the Bible and persuade them to rest on
something else. It is not so with us, as it certainly was not so with
Paul. He enforced and substantiated his teaching by declaring, "The
Scripture says." In this he follows the manner of Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Though quite able to speak of Himself, our Lord continually
referred to Holy Scripture.
His first public sermon was based upon the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.
All along to the very end He was always quoting the Old Testament. So
did His Apostles. One is struck with their continual reference to Moses
and the Prophets. While they set the Truth of God in a fresh light,
they fell back continually upon the old Revelation. "As says the
Scripture," "According to the Scriptures"–these are phrases constantly
repeated. Paul declared that he spent his life "witnessing both to
small and great, saying no other things than those which the Prophets
and Moses did say should come."
Evidently they regarded the statements of Scripture as conclusive. They
took counsel of the Scriptures and so they ended the matter. "It is
written," was to them proof positive and indisputable. "Thus says the
Lord," was the final word–enough for their mind and heart–enough for
their conscience and understanding. To go beyond Scripture did not
occur to the first teachers of our faith. They heard the Oracle of
Divine Testimony and bowed their heads in reverence. So it ought to be
with us! We have erred from the faith and we shall pierce ourselves
through with many sorrows unless we feel that if the Scripture says it,
it is even so. "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit," and therefore they spoke not erroneously, nor even dubiously.
In the passage before us we have an instance of Inspiration endorsing
Inspiration and building thereon. Paul wrote by the direction of the
Holy Spirit. He was himself a fully inspired man and he had no lack of
original speech–yet he falls
back upon the Scripture. He calls the Old Testament to bear witness to
the doctrine of the New and in the same act expresses the agreement of
the New with the Old. How far have they diverged from the Christian
spirit, who begin to question the authenticity and authority of the
books of Moses and the Prophets!
Brothers and Sisters, had Paul been without Inspiration, he was so
great a saint and so eminent a confessor that his reverence for the Old
Testament would have been a lesson to us! But since we believe this
Epistle to have been Inspired of the Holy Spirit we are bound, as by
Divine Law, to treat the ancient Scriptures as the great Apostle
treated them, namely, with absolute deference, regarding them as the
sure Word of the Lord. To us it matters not what critics may say to
shake faith in Holy Writ–their efforts will be all in vain if we are
intimate with the Author of these books and by His Holy Spirit possess
a personal sense of His truth, His wisdom and His faithfulness.
After God has spoken, it little concerns us what the wise men of the
world may have to say. They have always spoken against the Word of the
Lord–and they have always spoken in vain–and so will they speak even
to the world's end. Paul, in saying here, "For the Scripture says," is
referring, I think, to the general sense of Scripture rather than to
any one passage. There are several texts from which it may be gathered
that Believers shall not be put to shame, such as, "They looked unto
Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed." But if the
Apostle is referring to any one passage of the Old Testament, he is not
quoting it verbatim but he is expounding it and giving its general
sense.
Assuming that he refers to Isaiah 28:16, I am glad of the lesson which
he affords us in a kind of instructive criticism. When the Spirit of
God Himself deals with Scripture, we can gather from His example how we
may deal with it. It is best, as far as possible, to quote the very
words of Scripture, lest we should err, but we have, here, a permit to
quote the clear and evident sense–and we are allowed to regard that
sense as equally authoritative with the exact words. Paul quotes, if he
quotes at all, from the Septuagint translation rather than from the
Hebrew, thus sanctioning a translation.
Let us read the words in Isaiah 28:16. "Therefore thus says the Lord
God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not
make haste." You see at once the difference between the text as Paul
gives it to us and the original Hebrew. Observe, first, that under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul reads the passage in its largest
sense. The original text is, "He that believes," but Paul makes it,
"Whoever believes." That is the true meaning. "He that believes," means
any "he" that believes. And to make this fact clear, Paul says,
"Whoever believes."
We ought to take the promises of Holy Scripture in their widest
possible application. When we meet with a passage distinctly referring
to one person only, we are allowed to remember that no Scripture is
exhausted by one fulfillment. You, being like that person and in
similar circumstances to him, may quote the promise as made to you–for
it is intended for the whole class of persons of whom that one person
is the representative. "He that believes," is, in Paul's judgment–no,
in the judgment of the Holy Spirit–tantamount to, "Whoever believes."
A promise made by man will legally be interpreted in its narrowest
sense–but a promise made by God may always be taken in its major
sense, since God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways
than our ways. Everything it will honestly bear, you may pile upon the
back of a Divine promise! God loves to see faith taking Him at His word
and He will do for it exceeding abundantly above what we ask or even
think.
Next, note that Paul reads the verse with the context. In the Hebrew it
is, "He that believes," but Paul reads it, "Whoever believes on Him."
Did he do right to supply the, "on Him"? Certainly, since he thus gives
the sense of the quotation as it stands in the Prophet. I said before
that Paul is not quoting verbatim et literatim–he aims at giving the
sense of the passage and, therefore, paraphrases it so as to remind you
of its connection. "On Him" is necessary to a perfect quotation of the
passage as it stands. Let us read again: "Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believes"–evidently it is, "He that believes" in
this foundation–"shall not make haste."
That foundation is not an "it," but an "Him," for it refers to Christ.
Expressions separated from that which comes before them and follows
after them, may not express the writer's mind and, therefore, when we
quote from Holy Scripture we should endeavor not merely to give the
words which are actually in the text, but to add such words as duly set
forth the context. This lesson is worth learning.
Once more, the Apostle gives us the true and plain meaning of the text.
He leaves the figure which was suitable for Isaiah, but might have been
misunderstood by the Romans, and he gives the sense intended by Isaiah
in plainer language.
The Prophet said, "He that believes shall not make haste." That "making
haste," means being fluttered and alarmed and so being led to run from
the foundation. Such a person fled in haste because he was ashamed of
his hope. Paul puts aside the drapery of the metaphor to let the
uncovered sense stand out boldly! He expounds the Scripture under
Infallible guidance and gives its meaning to us in this form, "Whoever
believes on Him shall not be ashamed." The true sense of the passage
our Apostle uses by way of argument–he enforces the promise of the
Gospel by the teaching of the Prophet.
Dear Friend, when you go to win souls, go with a clear understanding of
the Scriptures and then quote those Scriptures frequently if you would
have power over the minds of men. Do not think to convince sinners by
your own fine phrases, but use the words which the Holy Spirit teaches.
If you want to bring souls to faith in Christ, remember that faith is
begotten by the Word–"faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God." The more of the true sense of the Word of God we can compress
into our exhortations, the more likely shall we be to succeed in our
gracious design. This is Paul's mode of argument, "the Scripture
says"–and we know no better.
II. And now, secondly, we have before us A SIMPLE STATEMENT OF THE WAY
OF SALVATION–"The Scripture says, Whoever believes on Him shall not be
ashamed." The way of salvation is to believe on Christ, whom God has
laid in Zion for a foundation. What is believing on Him? It is trusting
in Him. The language is not "Believe Him"– such belief is a part of
faith but not the whole. We believe everything which the Lord Jesus has
taught, but we must go a step further and trust Him.
It is not even enough to believe in Him as being the Son of God and the
Anointed of the Lord–we must believe on Him, just as in the building
(for that is the figure used by Isaiah) the builder takes his stone and
lays it on the foundation. There it rests with all its weight–there it
abides. The faith that saves is not believing certain Truths of God nor
even believing that Jesus is a Savior–but it is resting on Him,
depending on Him, lying with all your weight on Christ as the
foundation of your hope. Believe that He can save you! Believe that He
will save you! At any rate, leave the whole matter of your salvation
with Him in unquestioning confidence. Depend upon Him without fear as
to your present and eternal salvation. This is the faith which saves
the soul.
Notice, next, that this faith is believing on a Person–"He that
believes on–it"? No! On, "Him." Our faith is not based on a doctrine,
or a ceremony, or an experience–but on "Him!" Our Lord Jesus Christ is
God. He is also Man– He is the appointed and anointed Savior. In His
death He is the Propitiation for sin. In His Resurrection He is the
justification of His people. And in His intercession He is the eternal
guarantee of their preservation. Believe "on Him." Our faith fixes
herself upon the Person of the Lord Jesus as seen in His sufferings,
His offices and His achievements. "Whoever believes on Him shall not be
ashamed."
The text refers to the truth of the trusting. The Apostle does not say,
"Whoever believes on Him with full assurance, or with a high degree of
confidence shall not be ashamed." No, it is not the measure of our
faith, but the sincerity of our faith which is the great question! If
we believe on Him at all we shall not be ashamed. Our faith may be very
trembling and this will cause us sorrow–but a trembling faith will
save. The greater your faith, the more comfortable for you. But if your
faith is small as a grain of mustard seed, it will save you. If your
faith can only touch the hem of the Savior's garment behind Him, it
will heal your soul, for, "Whoever believes on Him shall not be
ashamed." Is there not blessed comfort about this assurance?
Observe, again, that all depends upon the presence of this trusting and
not upon the age of it. "He that believes on Him"–this relates to the
immediate present. Perhaps the truster has only believed on Jesus
during the last five minutes. Very well, he does believe on Him and he
shall not be ashamed! Some of us are glad to remember that we were
built on the sure Foundation more than 40 years ago. But the length of
years during which we have believed does not enter into the essence of
the matter–Believers are saved whether their faith has lasted through
half a century or half an hour. "Whoever believes on Him," takes in the
convert of this morning as well as the hero of a thousand fights. My
newly-believing Friend, I am sorry you have put off faith so long but,
still, I am greatly glad that you have believed at all–for your faith
shall not be put to shame!
One other remark needs to be made before I leave this point. Note the
Object of faith. "Whoever believes on Him." Nothing else is mentioned
in connection with the Lord Jesus, who is the sole Foundation. It is
not written, "He that believes on Jesus nine parts out of ten and on
himself for the other tenth." No! "Whoever believes on Him"–on Him
alone. Jesus will never be a part Savior! We must not rest in part upon
what we hope to do in the future, nor in part upon
the efficacy of an outward ceremony. No! The faith must be "on Him."
Both feet must be on the Rock of Ages. The whole stone must rest on the
Foundation. Take Christ to be the sole Savior of your soul!
I saw written at the foot of a cross in France, "SPES UNICA"–"Jesus is
the lone hope of men." There is but one star in your sky, Sinner, and
that star is the Star of Bethlehem! There is but one light for the
tempest-tossed mariner on the stormy sea of conviction of sin–and that
Light is the Pharos of the Cross. Look there! Look there! Only there–
"For the Scripture says, Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed."
Now if any soul here perishes, it will not be my fault. However feebly
I may preach this morning, I shall go home satisfied that I have set
before you enough for your salvation, if you are willing and obedient.
I have most plainly set before you the way of salvation.
What more can I do? I can bring the horse to water but I cannot make
him drink! I can set the Water of Life before you, but I can do no more
if you turn away from Him. If you accept the Lord Jesus and believe on
Him you shall not be ashamed–but if you put Him far from you, you will
die in your sins–and your blood will be upon your own heads!
III. So I pass on to the third point–THE GLORIOUS PROMISE TO THOSE WHO
OBEY THE GOSPEL. "The Scripture says, Whoever believes on Him shall not
be ashamed." Take the Hebrew form of it first–"shall not make haste."
When a man builds his hope upon the Lord Christ he is not driven into
worry and hurry. He quietly walks with God and does not hasten through
fear.
They say that the floods are out, that the winds are howling, that the
rains are descending–he that trusts in a refuge of lies may well make
haste to flee–but he that has built his house upon the rock, quietly
answers, "The flood is coming. I supposed it would. The rains are
falling. I expected that they would. The winds are blowing. I was
forewarned of the tempest and I am prepared for it by being on the
rock!" His house will stand. He will never be ashamed of its
foundation. In patience he possesses his soul–
"Calm 'mid the bewildering cry; Confident of victory."
The Holy Spirit's reading of the Holy Spirit's Word in the Old
Testament is, "He shall not be ashamed," and this means that he shall
not be ashamed at any time by discovering that he has been deluded. Men
are ashamed when their hopes fail. If a man has an expectation of
eternal life and all of a sudden he sees his hope dashed to shivers, is
he not ashamed? If on his dying bed his confidence should turn out to
be based on a falsehood, how ashamed he will be! He will then say, "I
am ashamed to think I did not take more care. I am ashamed that I
followed my own judgment instead of God's Word." They shall lie down in
sorrow who find their hope to be as a spider's web. It will be an awful
thing in our last moments, when we most need comfort, to be driven to
despair by the wreck of our confidence!
If any of you are trusting in your gold, it will turn out to be a poor
confidence when you are called upon to leave all earthly things. I have
heard of one, who, on his deathbed laid bags of money to his heart–but
he was forced to lay them away and cry, "These will not do! These will
not do!" It will be a sorry business if we have been trusting in our
good temper, our charity, our patriotism, our courage, or our honesty
and when we come to die shall be made to feel that these cannot satisfy
the claims of Divine Justice or give us a passport to the skies! How
sad to see robes turn to rags and comeliness into corruption! How
wretched to regard one's self as covered with a garment fit for
Christ's great wedding feast and then to wake out of a dream and find
one's self naked!
You will never have this vexation of spirit if you take Christ Jesus to
be your confidence. So far from being ashamed, you will boast in the
crucified Savior! Yes, you will vow with Paul, "God forbid that I
should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Furthermore,
dear Friends, he that believes on Christ shall not be ashamed to admit
his faith. This is a sharp saying and it cuts as a razor. I wish it
would make a great gash in cowardly spirits. "Whoever believes on him
shall not be ashamed." Some think they believe on Christ and yet they
are ashamed to admit their faith in the Lord's appointed way or,
indeed, in any way.
If they are in ungodly company, they do with their faith as they do
with their dog when a friend comes in–they say, "Lie down, Sir."
Because it is inconvenient to be known to be a Believer they treat the
Lord Christ as they would treat a dog. Some of you have never made a
confession of your Lord–what will become of you? "Oh," you say, "do
not say hard things!" I do not say them out of my own head–let me read
the passage to you from verse ten–"For with the heart man believes
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. For the Scripture says, Whoever believes on him shall not be
ashamed."
What is the meaning of the whole passage? I cannot shut my eyes to the
Truth of God–that it speaks of confessing Christ–and declares that he
who really believes on him will not be ashamed of it. If you, my
Hearer, are ashamed of your Lord, your faith is not real! Or, to say
the least of it, you have cause to suspect that it is not. If you are
ashamed, you are an unbeliever for, "Whoever believes on Him shall not
be ashamed." The Christian's song is–
"I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend His cause; Maintain the
honor of His Word, The glory of His Cross." For my own part, I have
often said and I cannot help repeating it yet again–
"Ever since by faith I saw the stream His flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming lo ve has been my theme, And shall be tiil I die."
I am not ashamed of my hope! I love to state it, to glory in it and to
make it widely known.
I heard of a "modern-thought" minister of some repute, that a person
asked him, "Sir, what is your theory of the Atonement?" He replied, "My
dear Sir, I have never told that to any living person, although I have
been a preacher for years. And I am not going to commit myself now." He
seemed to think that this was rather a wise thing. My course runs in
the opposite direction–I believe in the vicarious Sacrifice of Christ
and I am not ashamed of the old-fashioned doctrine. "He loved me and
gave Himself for me"–why should I be ashamed to admit it? I will not
believe anything that I dare not preach! I have a grave suspicion that
it will go ill at last with the man who has one faith for the public
and another for himself! We should be ashamed at being ashamed of
Christ and His Truth!
Still, this is not all the meaning of our text–the Believer shall have
no cause to be ashamed. Let me try to illustrate this assertion. We
shall not be ashamed because our faith is proved to be unreasonable.
When a man is convicted of believing an absurdity, he is ashamed. But
there is nothing unreasonable in the Truth that, "God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." I will not say that
reason teaches this grand fact–for reason could not reach so high!
This Truth of God is above reason, but it is not contrary to reason.
When you get some idea of the Infinite goodness and justice of God, it
will not seem unreasonable that He should be willing to forgive
sinners, nor unreasonable that He should devise a way by which He can
do this without injury to His moral government.
There is a sweet reasonableness in the provision of a Substitute for
guilty men and a still sweeter reasonableness in the salvation of those
who believe in the Lamb of God. In fact the Gospel system is so
blessedly reasonable that when it comes home to the enlightened
understanding it carries the mind by storm! I have seen love at first
sight with many a man who, for the first time, has heard how God is
"just, and the Justifier of him which believes in Jesus." It has seemed
so Godlike a method that the man has accepted it at once! It bore its
proof on its face.
Next, we are not ashamed because our faith has been disproved, for it
has never been disproved. No man has been able to prove that the Son of
God was not here on earth and that He did not die on the Cross, the
"Just for the unjust, to bring us to God." The Resurrection has never
been disproved, nor the Ascension, nor the descent of the Holy Spirit.
Nothing has overthrown Apostolic testimony! To quibble at a statement
is not to disprove it. To make it a matter of coarse jest is not to
disprove it.
The Apostles and their companions bore public witness and died because
of their solemn conviction of the truth of their testimony! They were
simple men who could not have invented the Gospel story if they
could–and they were good men who would not have invented it if they
could. Until men can prove that there was no Christ and no propitiation
for sin, we shall not be ashamed to believe on Him. We shall never be
ashamed of believing on Jesus, because by experience we shall find it
to be unsatisfactory to our conscience. No, no! We are more than
content with the ground of our trust in this respect.
Well do I remember when I first gripped the thought that Jesus suffered
in my place and that I, looking to Him, was saved. I felt a peace like
a river, ever flowing, ever deepening, ever widening. My former trouble
had arisen from the question–how could God, as a righteous Judge, pass
by my violation of His holy Law? Sin is not to be viewed as a personal
offense to God, as a Being, but a rebellion against His Laws as the
Judge of all the earth, who must do right.
How could He wink at sin? How could He treat the guilty as the
innocent? When I saw that He did not wink at sin, but that Jesus came
to vindicate the Divine Law by suffering in our place, I rested with
all confidence on that blessed fact! My heart said, "It is enough," and
today it still cries, "It is enough."
My conscience has never raised a question about the security furnished
by the ransom of the Lord Jesus. My heart remains perfectly at ease now
she knows that "He His own self bore our sins in His own body on the
tree." If the Nature of God had not required an atonement for sin, the
conscience of the sinner might have needed it! The righteous
apprehension of conscience as to wrath to come demands a vindication of
the Law. Because we have this vindication in Christ we are not ashamed.
We are not ashamed of the Gospel of salvation by faith in Christ
because it proves inoperative upon our lives.
I remember the witty clergyman Sidney Smith who managed to come into
collision with the Methodists–he charged them with so much preaching
faith that good works were at a discount! Surely he never heard Mr.
Wesley! I venture to say that the Methodists produced more good works
than Mr. Smith's preaching ever did! If any say to us, "This faith of
yours takes you off from trusting in works," we answer, "It does–but
it does not take us off from practicing them." Faith is the mother of
holiness and the nurse of virtue. The lives of the Puritans who taught
the Gospel of faith in Christ were infinitely preferable to the lives
of those Cavaliers who believed in human merit. The fact is that men
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have even been ridiculed for being
too righteous and rated for a sort of moroseness of morality! But
history has never afforded the least support to the charge that they
were indifferent to morality.
Indifferent to morality? We never knew what holiness was until we
believed in Jesus! We had no aspirations after purity till we were
saved by Him! The spiritual effect of faith in Jesus is of the noblest.
Oh that we could display more of it! We are not ashamed to challenge
investigation as to the philanthropic effect of faith in the Gospel. If
anyone should sneer and say, "You Believers think yourselves saved and
so you are comfortably unconcerned as to what becomes of others." I
should answer, "What a lie!" We love the souls of men and we have
proved it in our ministry and in our incessant efforts to save them! We
have gone with breaking heart and bowed head because certain of our
hearers remain in unbelief!
I can appeal to you all, that my ministry has been full of earnest
expostulations, affectionate appeals and tearful entreaties. God is our
witness how truly we can say our heart's desire and prayer to God for
others is that they may be saved! We are not ashamed to say that the
ministry of those who believe alone in Christ and who know assuredly
that they are saved by Divine Grace, has about it, as a rule, a greater
power to win souls than the ministry of those who preach other gospels.
We say no more, lest we become fools in glorying. We are not ashamed of
our hope on this ground.
We are never ashamed of it, again, as to its operation upon others.
When I look back through my life, having preached nothing in this place
but faith in Christ as the way of salvation, I can, without any effort
of memory, remember many drunkards made sober, harlots made chaste,
lovers of pleasure made lovers of God! Many have been reclaimed from
among the poorest and most degraded and some from the rich and vicious.
We have seen what faith in God has done by lifting them from the level
of selfishness to the heights of Divine Grace. If we had to go down
into the worst slum of London we would not wish for anything better
than to preach Christ Crucified–and if we had to visit the wildest
hells of the West End, we would not wish for any theme more powerful
than the Cross of our Lord Jesus! "Believe and live" is still a charm
most potent.
We have no cause to be ashamed of what the Truth of God has done in
ages past and is doing even at this day. I will tell you when we should
be ashamed of our hope and that would be if we saw it repudiated by
dying saints. It is all very well to be a Believer when you are young,
in health and can go about your business–but how will it fare with men
and women when they are called to go upstairs and suffer–and never to
come down again till carried to their long home? How does the Gospel
serve them when they know that they cannot live another week? What is
the condition of Believers on the brink of the grave? Those who believe
in Jesus are calm and happy! Frequently they are exultant and the bed
can scarcely hold them because of their supreme joy in the prospect of
being with their Lord! I am not telling you idle tales, Brothers and
Sisters. Many of you know that I speak the truth–for it is of your own
relatives that I am speaking of now. Our people die well. We have no
occasion to be ashamed. Tested by the dying of our fellow Believers, we
are not ashamed of the Gospel!
We might be ashamed, once more, if we could be outbid in our prospects
by some other system. What form of religion offers more to the Believer
than the system of Grace and simple faith in Jesus? Nowhere in the
world, that I know of, is there any other system of religion which
promises sure salvation to its followers. The Roman Catholic system
does not at all provide for present and everlasting salvation. What
does it provide for? For your getting out of "purgatory" in due time
and no more. When I was in the Church of St. John Lateran, at Rome, I
read a request for prayer for the repose of the soul of his Eminence,
Cardinal Wiseman. Now Cardinal Wiseman was a great man, a prince of the
church, but yet he is somewhere in the other world where he is not in
repose–so this request indicates. That must mean a very poor outlook
for an ordinary Catholic!
For my part I would give up so cheerless a hope and become a Believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ and go to Heaven! "Whoever believes on Him
shall not be ashamed." When the best Catholic finds himself in
"purgatory" he will be ashamed and will say, "Oh, that I had taken to
the way of trust in the all-sufficient merit of the Lord Jesus, for
then I should have been covered with His righteousness and should have
been with Him where He is." Beloved Friends, our rivals do not outbid
us! Our Gospel brings immediate pardon for every sin, a gracious change
of Nature, the regeneration of the heart and the preservation of the
soul to Christ's eternal kingdom and glory. Hallelujah!
IV. I have done, when I say to you, lastly, that in my text we see A
WIDE DOOR OF HOPE FOR THE SEEKER. Read that word, "whoever," whoever,
whoever. I must keep on ringing that silver bell! It rings in the 13th
verse– "Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
It rings in the text–"Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed."
No secret decree has ever been made to shut out any soul that believes
on Him! God has not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth and
said, "Such a man may believe in Christ and yet he shall be lost." Do
not be afraid of this, for it is impossible!
No measure of sin in your past life can deprive you of this promise.
"Whoever believes on Him," though he had been a murderer, or a thief,
or a drunkard, or an adulterer, or a liar, or a blasphemer–he shall
find his faith removing his sins through the blood of Jesus and
renewing his heart by the Holy Spirit. "Whoever believes on Him shall
not be ashamed." Says one, "I shall always be ashamed that I have so
greatly transgressed." Yes, I know, but still you shall be so perfectly
pardoned that your sin shall be blotted out and you shall not remember
the shame of your youth. "But I do not feel as I ought," says one. You
shall feel aright if you will believe on Him.
You shall not be shut out of the promise through any lack of
sensitiveness. It is not said, "Whoever believes on Him and is
sensitive to a high degree shall be saved." No–"Whoever believes on
Him." You ought to be sensitive. You ought to be tender. You ought to
be grieved for sin and you shall be if you believe on Him. If you
believe on Jesus, He will give you true repentance and deep
self-abhorrence–but you must come to Jesus for these things and not
try to find them in your own depraved hearts. Nothing limits this
"whoever"! "Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed." "Alas,"
cries one, "I have a strong besetting sin, I have a hot temper, or
fierce lusts, or a desperate thirst for drink."
Yes, I know. But if you believe on Him you shall not be ashamed, for
these shall be conquered and destroyed. You shall be helped to fight
against them until you get a complete victory and so you shall never be
ashamed. "Ah," says one, "but I once made a profession and I have gone
back." Yes, but, "whoever" does not shut out the wanderer! Backsliding
is a great and bitter evil but he that believes is justified from every
sin. "Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Come, then, with your heaped-up sins and be unburdened! Come, though
seven devils dwell within you! Come to have them driven out and
yourself made white in the blood of the Lamb! Come, for you shall not
be ashamed! Let no man stand back and say, "I dare not come." Remember
the word of the Savior, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast
out." "In no wise." That is, for no possible reason. "Oh, but my birth
was shameful." I may be speaking to one who is illegitimate. This is no
barrier, for children of shame may be made heirs of Glory! The Lord
rejects none, however uneducated, coarse or dull they may be. Neither
does race offer hindrance. Be you an Englishman or a Chinaman, there is
no difference. White, black, brown, red, or blue–still does the
promise stand–"Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed." There is
no distinction as to rank, name, class, or reputation.
"Oh, but look at my occupation!" I am sorry if it is an evil
profession–get out of it and do something honest–but whatever you may
be by trade, come to Jesus and believe on Him, for, "Whoever believes
on Him shall not be ashamed." "Alas, I am too old!" says another. What
are you? Two hundred? "No, not so old as that." Then you are still
under age!
Never mind how old you are–"Whoever believes on Him shall not be
ashamed." If you have one foot in the grave, faith may put both feet on
the Rock of Ages! You are yet on praying ground and pleading terms with
God, therefore come to Jesus, for He has said, "Him that comes to Me I
will in no wise cast out." Come with your little faith, your trembling
hope and believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall not be ashamed!
Lastly, in that day when the earth and Heaven shall melt and nothing
shall be seen but Christ upon the Throne, judging all the earth, those
who have not believed in Him will be ashamed. They will have no excuse
to offer–they have none even now! They will be ashamed, then, that
they did not take the counsel of their godly friends and heed the
pleadings of their minister. They will be ashamed to think how they put
off thoughts of Christ and lingered until they found themselves in
Hell! The face of the Lord Jesus will be terrible to unbelievers to the
last degree! One young person, in great trouble of soul, said to me the
other day, "When I am lost, I shall always see your face–it will
accuse and condemn me."
She will not be lost, dear girl–I trust she will soon find peace with
God through Jesus Christ. It will be terrible, for those who refuse the
Gospel, even to remember the preacher of it–but infinitely more so to
see the face of Him who bled and died and loved unto the uttermost. Oh,
to think, "I would not have Him! I would not be saved by Him! I
preferred to trust to myself or not to think at all–and now here I
am." Assuredly, the flames of Hell will be more tolerable than a sight
of His face!
The bitterest wail of Tophet is this–"Hide us from the face of Him
that sits upon the Throne!" You sinners seek His face, whose wrath you
cannot bear. God help you to seek it now! Before you leave this house
may you seek it and find it! He says, "Seek you My face." May God the
Holy Spirit lead you to obey the call. Amen.
PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Romans 10. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–907, 118, 531.