DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 14, 1879,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"For no other Foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which
is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3:11.
BUILDING is very important, but the first question must always concern
the foundation. However quickly, however cleverly a man may build, if
the foundation is unsound, he is a foolish builder. And however slowly,
however laboriously a man may proceed, his building will not put him to
shame if he has set his walls erect upon a firm basis. This is
emphatically true in spiritual things, for there, the foundation is of
the utmost importance. The hearer of the Word of God who is not a doer,
also, comes to a fatal end because, as the Savior says, he has built
upon sand and, therefore, his fabric in the day of storm and flood is
swept away. But he who hears the Word and does it is secure because he
digs deep and lays his foundation upon a rock and, therefore, his
building survives the rains of trial from above, the floods of
persecution from without and the mysterious winds of Satanic temptation
which howl from every quarter.
The best masonry must crack and fall if the groundwork is unstable–the
higher the pinnacle, the speedier its fall if the base is insecure. As
to what the foundation is in the religion of Jesus Christ, there is no
question. This verse declares it to be decided beyond controversy. A
man may build the superstructure, in some measure, according to his own
tastes and judgment, but it must be based upon the one Foundation.
There may be room for varieties of style in the upper building, but
there can be no variety in the groundwork. That is fixed forever by the
unchanging God, who says, "Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation stone."
It must be acknowledged that all Christian minds and lives do not take
exactly the same form and fashion–there are among the best of
Christian builders certain grades of excellencies–one man builds with
gold, another with silver and a third with precious stones. But as to
the foundation, all are on a level, Christ is all and in all! Whether
the gracious life is rich as a golden palace, or pure as a temple of
silver, or substantial as a tower of marble. Whether it is public or
obscure, wide or narrow, it must, in every case, be built upon the same
basement of eternal Rock–"for no other Foundation can anyone lay than
that which is laid."
You may say, "we will agree to differ" about matters which concern the
superstructure, but we must agree to agree as to the Foundation, for if
we are not at one with the plain statement of the text, we are in the
wrong. The Apostle is dogmatic to the very last degree–"No other
Foundation can anyone lay." "But," says one, "various teachers did lay
other foundations." The Apostle will not admit that they were
foundations–they were not worthy of the name–the imposture was too
shallow to succeed. No builder, if he looked upon a heap of sand poured
into an excavation, would admit that it was a foundation. If he saw a
mass of decayed vegetation and garden rubbish heaped together, no
architect would for one moment allow it to be spoken of as foundation!
Paul declares that there is but one Foundation, and that there is none
beside it, or beyond it– and that the one only, unalterable,
immovable, everlasting Foundation is Jesus Christ! It is not to be
imagined that there are other foundations somewhat differing and only a
little inferior to the Lord Jesus–there is no other and no other can
be laid. It is not a question of comparison, but of monopoly! All other
groundworks and principles, whatever may be said in their praise, are
mere lies if they are set forth as foundations, for the Lord Jesus has
exclusive possession of that title and in Him, alone, all that is
fundamental is summed up–"Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved."
And truly, when you think that God, from all eternity, has made His
only-begotten Son to be the Foundation and Cornerstone, it will be seen
that this Rock goes deep into the very nature of things, yes, deep as
infinity itself and, therefore, there cannot be two of the kind, for of
whom else is it written that verily He was foreordained before the
foundation of the world? Of whom else is it said, "I was set up from
everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth was"? When you think
that this Foundation is nothing less than Divine, for Christ is very
God of very God, it is as impossible that there should be two
foundations as that there should be two Gods!
You must imagine two redemptions before you can conceive of two
groundworks for our confidence. Who will dream of two atonements, two
Saviors, two Christs? Yet must such a thing be before there can be two
foundations! None but Jesus, the Divine Savior, could sustain the
weight of a single soul with all its sins, much less of all the souls,
which are built up into the Temple of God! Jesus alone can sustain our
eternal interest, deliver us from eternal wrath, or lift us into
eternal bliss. "There is one God and one Mediator between God and men,
the Man, Christ Jesus." His own words in prophecy are very
positive–"I, even I, am the Lord, and beside Me there is no Savior."
And equally expressive is His personal declaration–"I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me."
I will sketch out my discourse with these four lines which I may not
always be able to keep from intersecting, but they shall each be marked
deeply and broadly so that none can help seeing them. First, there is
no Church but what is built on Christ. Secondly, there is no Gospel but
what is built on Christ. Thirdly, there is no hope of salvation but
what is built on Christ. And fourthly, there is no Christian but what
is built on Christ.
I. First, there is NO CHURCH BUT WHAT IS BUILT ON CHRIST, I mean, of
course, no true, no real Church. There are many churches in the world,
so called, but this may be laid down as a first principle that there is
but one Church and that this one Church is built upon Christ, alone.
Whatever community, congregation, hierarchy, sect, or corporation may
call itself a Church, or even the Church, if it is not built upon
Christ, is not a Church at all. No matter how great in numbers, nor how
ancient, nor how wealthy, nor how learned, nor how pretentious,
bigoted, dominant, or exclusive it may be–it is not Christ's Church if
it is not built upon Christ!
To begin with, a foundation is the first portion of a building and so
is the Lord Jesus first and foremost with His Church, for His people
were chosen in Him. God has always had in His purpose and decrees a
chosen people, but He has had no such people apart from Christ. The
Apostle says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ: according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of
the world." We were chosen in Christ Jesus! He is "the First Born among
many brethren" and the Lord has "predestinated us to be conformed to
the image of His Son." The first setting apart of the Church and making
it to be the peculiar inheritance of God was in connection with
Christ–
"Christ is My first elect,' He said, Then chose our souls in Christ our
Head."
We were never otherwise chosen, nor otherwise beloved, nor otherwise
appointed to eternal life than as regarded in Christ Jesus and one with
Him. No single soul can be said to be elect otherwise than as it is
considered in connection with Christ. Much less, then, is there a
Church of God apart from the eternal purpose concerning Christ Jesus,
the Covenant Head and federal Representative of His people. The
foundation must be laid first and so was our Lord Jesus Christ first
appointed. "Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation." Jesus is called by the Father, "My elect in whom My soul
delights," and there are none elect except such as are in Him in the
eternal purpose of Divine Grace.
But next, a foundation is the support of all and there is no Church but
that which derives all its support from Christ Jesus. If there is any
company of people calling themselves a Church who depend for salvation
and eternal life upon anything besides, or beyond the merit of Christ's
atoning blood, they are not a Church! That all things are of God and
that He has reconciled us unto Himself by Christ Jesus is a Truth of
God never to be doubted. The atoning Savior is the Cornerstone of the
Church. He is the one Rock of our salvation, the one pillar of our
strength. As living stones, we are built up into a spiritual house, but
we, one and all, rest and depend upon Him and upon no other.
To us the Word of the Lord has come with power, "Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus, whom
you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." The great atoning Sacrifice
of Christ must be the sole reliance of the whole Church as well as of
each individual. And this must be set forth with great clearness and
distinction as its first and greatest doctrine of salvation by Christ
Jesus, in whom we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His Grace.
The Atonement taken away, no Church remains. Call the community a
religious club if you like, but it is no Church when once the Atonement
made by the Lord Jesus, through His death in the place of His people,
is denied or ignored. Nor do we judge a community to be worthy of the
name of a Church which places its dependence for its present power and
future progress anywhere but in the almighty Savior. Jesus says,
"Because I live you shall also live," and the Church must draw its
daily life from the immortality of her glorious Head. He that loved us
and died for us and rose again is pledged to keep His own and on that
pledge let them repose their faith. Because all power is given unto Him
in Heaven and in earth, therefore we go forth to teach the nations.
He has said, "Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the
world," therefore we have strength to go forth for the conquest of the
world. But if we depend upon an arm of flesh, upon the secular power,
upon carnal wisdom, upon education, or eloquence, or prestige, or upon
our own zeal and ardor and not upon Christ, we are leaving the Rock for
sand! We cannot thus build up Christ's Church, nor ought we to attempt
it. The strength of a living Church is the living Christ. We must be
very careful on this point, that when we are zealous in building, we
build only upon Christ and by Christ, for edifices otherwise erected
will fall in heaps. We must, as a Church, not only rely upon the Christ
that died, but upon the Christ who is gone into Glory and sits at the
right hand of God, ruling and reigning on our behalf–who also shall
shortly come to gather together the scattered and to reign among His
own.
The true Church, like a vine, derives its life sap for its branches
from Jesus and from no other source. She can say of her glorious
Redeemer, "My Soul, wait only upon the Lord, for my expectation is from
Him." Other communities may lean on princes, but she comes up from the
wilderness leaning on her Beloved. Other congregations may look to
human greatness for support, but her eyes are towards the hills where
comes her help–her help comes from the Lord which made Heaven and
earth!
Furthermore, a foundation has the shaping of the building and the true
Church shapes and forms itself upon the Lord Jesus as its ground plan
and outline. The shape of a building must, to a very large extent, be
determined by its foundation. If you have ever traced the foundations
of an ancient abbey or castle, as they have appeared on a level with
the soil, you have proceeded to infer the form of the building from the
run of the ground line. Here was a sharp angle; there was a circular
tower; there was a buttress and there was a recess. The building must
have followed the ground line and so must every true Church be built
upon Christ in the sense of following His Word and ordinances to the
best of its knowledge and understanding.
The law of Christ is the law of the Church. All the decrees of popes
and councils. All the resolutions of assemblies, synods, presbyteries
and associations. And all the ordinances of men as individuals, however
great they are, when they are all put together, if they at all differ
from the Law of Christ, they are mere wind and waste paper! No, they
are worse–they are treasonable insults to the majesty of King Jesus!
Those who build apart from the authority of Christ build off of the
Foundation and their fabric will fall. There is no Law and no authority
in a true Church but that of Christ Himself. We who are His ministers
are His servants and the servants of the Church–not lords or
lawmakers. To His Law a faithful Church brings all things as to the
sure test.
As churches we are not legislators, but subjects. It is not for us to
frame constitutions, invent offices and decree rites and
ceremonies–but we are to take everything out of the mouth of Christ
and to do what He bids us, as He bids us and when He bids us.
Parliaments and kings have no authority whatever in the Church–Christ
alone rules! If any portion of a Church is not based upon Christ, it is
a mere deforming addition to the plan of the great Architect and mars
the temple which God has built. What a blessed thing it is to feel that
you belong to a Church which has the Rock under it because it is
constituted by Christ's authority! We feel safe in following an
ordinance which is of His commanding, but we should tremble if we had
only custom and human authority for it.
How secure we feel in believing a doctrine which is of our Lord's
teaching, for we can say, "this is not mere opinion; this is not the
judgment of a wise man; this is not the decree of councils, but this is
the Master's own declaration." Not one of His Words shall ever fall to
the ground. There is in His authority no change–His Word is forever
settled in Heaven and He is, in Himself, the same yesterday, today and
forever. Steadfast is that Church which carefully follows His guiding
line, but that which departs from His fixed rule and authority has left
the Foundation and therein ceased to be a Church.
A foundation is indispensable to a building and so Christ is
indispensable to a true Church. In a house you could do without certain
of the windows. You might close in a door and you might remove parts of
the roof and it might still be a house, but you cannot have a house at
all if you take away the foundation! And so you cannot have a Church of
Christ if Jesus Christ is not there as the Foundation and Cornerstone.
When sermons are preached without so much as the mention of Christ's
name, it takes more than charity–it requires you to tell a lie to say,
"That was a Christian sermon." And if any people find their joy in a
teaching which casts the Lord Jesus into the background, they are not
His Church, or else such teaching would be an abomination to them.
Yet I have heard it said that from some ministries you may go away like
Mary Magdalene from the sepulcher, exclaiming, "They have taken away my
Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him." One told me the other
day that he had heard a discourse from a Christian pulpit which would
have been applauded by Jews and Muslims, for there was not a trace of
Christ in it. Another declared that in another place he heard priests,
clergy and sacraments so much puffed up that as for faith in the Lord
Jesus it seemed to be a very small matter. Brothers and Sisters, this
is not so in the Church of Christ! There the Lord Jesus is Alpha and
Omega–first and last–beginning and end! True Christians make much of
Christ! Indeed, they make all of Him!
And as for priests and preachers we say, "Who then is Paul, and who is
Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to
every man"? O Brothers and Sisters, let us see to this! If anything is
put into Christ's place we make it an Antichrist and we are not
Christians, but anti-Christians! The true Church says, "Give us what
learning and eloquence you will, but we cannot be content unless Christ
is glorified! Preach us what you may, we will never be satisfied unless
He who is the express Image of the Father shall be set forth in our
midst." Then, I say, she speaks like the true bride of Christ, but if
she can be content to see her Lord dishonored she is no chaste spouse
of Christ!
Let us put this, our first point, in a few sentences. It is not the
union of men with men that makes a Church if Jesus Christ is not the
center and the bond of the union. The best of men may come into bonds
of amity and they may form a league, or a federation for good and
useful purposes–but they are not a Church unless Jesus Christ is the
basis upon which they rest. He must be the ground and Foundation of the
hope of each and of all. Neither can a Church be created by a mere
union to a minister. It is most good and pleasant to see Brethren
dwelling together in unity–it is most advantageous that between the
pastor and his flock there should be perfect love, but the relationship
must not be exaggerated beyond due bounds.
Brethren, there must be no glorying in men, nor blind following of
them! A body formed of individuals whose religion lies in drinking in
the theories and opinions of a religious teacher falls short of being a
Church of God. The Church is not built on Paul, nor upon Apollos, nor
upon Cephas, but upon the sole authority of Jesus Christ! We are not to
be believers in Luther, Calvin, Wesley, or Whitefield, but in Christ!
Of such believers a true Church must be composed. Neither is a Church
made by the following of any particular form or rite. We have one Lord,
one faith, one Baptism– and we are bound to be loyal to Christ in His
ordinances as in all else–but it is not the practice of an ordinance
which constitutes a Church!
It is well to be united and bound together in loyalty to the faith once
delivered to the saints, but unless there is vital, personal union with
the Person of Christ on the part of the members of the Church, their
association may constitute a league for the defense of orthodoxy, or a
confederation for the maintenance of a form of religious thought, but
it is not a Church! No, most blessed Lord, You must be there, or
nothing is there! Pastors, elders, deacons, teachers, evangelists–
these are courses of precious stones in the heavenly temple–but
without You they are no Church, for the Foundation is needed–You, my
Lord, are needed!
All Your saints come to You and rest on You, O Christ, and in You all
the building, fitly framed together, grows unto an holy Temple in the
Lord. You are the Stem from which it branches, the Head in which it
lives, the Shepherd by whom it is fed, the Captain by whom it is
marshaled, the Husband to whom it is married! You are, indeed, the All
in All of the Church which You have redeemed with Your own blood–
"God has a sure Foundation given,
Fixed as the firm decrees of Heaven!
The changeless everlasting Rock,
That braves the storm, and bides the shock.
There build the gates of Hell in vain
Against that Rock their war maintain.
Christ is the Rock, the Cornerstone,
God rears His beauteous house thereon."
Thus far, then, we have declared that there is no Church except that
which is built on Jesus Christ. This Truth of God we assert in the face
of all men–let them make what they will of it.
II. Secondly, we assert that there is NO GOSPEL BUT WHAT IS BUILT ON
JESUS CHRIST. There are many pretended gospels in the world. Paul said
once, "another Gospel," and then he corrected himself and said, "which
is not another," for strictly speaking there is only one Gospel and
there cannot be two! The good news, God's Good News to men, is one.
There never were two gospels, for there never were two Savior's or two
redemptions and there never will be! But a Savior and a redemption are
necessary to a Gospel and, therefore, there can be only one. The
Foundation of the Gospel is one, namely Jesus Christ, and there is no
other possible foundation.
For, first, there is but one Mediator, by whom God speaks Words of
Grace. "There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man,
Christ Jesus." If then, Beloved, any man shall come to you and say,
"God has spoken to me and bid me say to you somewhat other and above
what Jesus has said," receive him not! If any man says to you, "I have
a revelation from Heaven and God bids me speak," if he speaks not
according to the Words of Christ Jesus, he is a false prophet and comes
not from God at all. Yes, moreover, if bishop, or council, or Church
speak otherwise than Christ has spoken, the Truth of God is not in any
of them!
All that ever spoke from God, both before Christ and after Christ, have
spoken after their manner and measure in the same fashion as Christ
Jesus, the Lord, for the voice of God is not two, but one, and the Word
of God is not two or three, but one. And now, at this day, you may rest
quite certain that if God has anything to say to us, He has, in these
last days, spoken to us by His Son and His own hand has closed and
sealed the Revelation of God. Woe unto us if we hear Him not and woe
unto us if we listen to other voices! Indeed, if we are the sheep of
Christ, we shall not regard new voices, for our Lord has said it, "A
stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of
strangers." The true Gospel comes through Christ as the Mediator and
through Him alone–and that which comes otherwise is not the Gospel.
The true Gospel has Christ's Divine Person as its glory and there can
be no Gospel without this. Christ is God and in Him dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. In the Person of Christ the Divinity
has come down to us to heal our diseases and remove our griefs. Now, if
you hear of a Gospel which begins by saying that Christ is not the
Only-Begotten of the Father, or that He is not the Son of God, close
your ears to it, for it is not the Gospel of God! Unless Jesus is
extolled as God over all, blessed forever, the preaching is not the
Gospel!
Jesus Christ is the essence of the Gospel–He is the Good News, as well
as the medium of it. The good news is that God has sent His
only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.
Eternal redemption has been obtained for us by the life, death and
Resurrection of the Lord Jesus–this is the Gospel. There is pardon
through His blood, justification through His righteousness and
sanctification through His Spirit. Complete salvation is freely
provided for Believers in Him and the Grace of God through Him is
abundantly displayed to the very chief of sinners! God has made Him to
be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption–in
fact, all the blessings that are needed to lift man up into the favor
of God–and keep him there forever, are stored up in the Person of
Jesus, in whom God's love has displayed itself to the fullest degree.
Jesus is the sum and substance, crown and glory of the Gospel.
If then, you hear a gospel in which the freewill of man is spoken of as
the main agent. If you hear a gospel in which the works of man, or the
forms and ceremonies practiced by priests are set up as being
fundamental things, reject such teaching, for it is not the good news
from Heaven! The only Good News is this, "God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
them." Let others preach what they please, as for us, "we preach Christ
Crucified." Jesus Himself preached the very Gospel of the Gospel when
He cried, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest."
Now then, Brothers and Sisters, for I speak to many of you who teach
the Gospel, I beseech you to remember my simple text of today and, from
now on, teach nothing apart from Christ. The teaching of doctrines is
not the teaching of the Gospel if those doctrines are held in a dry,
didactic style apart from Christ. Suppose I preach the doctrine of
election. That is one thing–but unless I preach that we are chosen in
Christ I have left out the Foundation and my teaching
crumbles to the ground as a bowing wall or as a tottering fence!
Suppose I preach final perseverance, it is well. But I have not
preached the Gospel unless I show that it is because Jesus lives, we
shall also live and that the preservation of the saints depends on
their union with Him!
Suppose I am teaching justification–it is not the true justification
unless it is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus which I hold
forth! Here I commend to you the example of the earlier preachers of
the Church. From such of their writings as remain, we gather that they
dwelt much upon the actual events of the Redeemer's life. They are not
always so clear as one could wish upon the great doctrines as Paul
gives them to us, but there is one point in which they excel. You may
not hear enough from them about justification by faith, but you hear a
great deal concerning the precious blood of Christ! They do not always
speak so clearly upon regeneration as we would desire, but they speak
much of the Resurrection of Christ and of the newness of life which His
saints enjoy because of it!
Pardon to them is a washing in the blood of Christ. Conversion is being
called by Christ. Resurrection is a risen Christ. Everything is brought
out as a matter of fact arising from the actual life and death of the
Savior and I am free to confess that I greatly admire this way of
preaching the Gospel. How does Paul put it? What was the Gospel to him?
Hear him–"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I
preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand;
by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto
you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen
of Cephas, then of the twelve."
Thus, you see, Paul's body of Divinity was the life and death of that
only embodied Divinity, the Lord Jesus. My Brothers and Sisters, always
set forth the Gospel in close connection with your Lord, fetching it,
as it were, out of Him. The juice of the grape is pleasant, but if you
would know what it is in all its purity keep the grapes near you and
press them in the vineyard where they grow. So the Gospel is the wine
of Christ, but it is sweetest when it flows fresh from the cluster.
Preach Jesus Christ when you preach His doctrine, or else you may make
the doctrine to be like the stone at the door of His sepulcher, whereas
it ought to be like a throne of ivory on which, like another Solomon,
your Lord sits resplendent! Some preach experience and they do
well–but they should be exceedingly careful to keep Jesus very
prominent.
We have a school of Brothers who preach little else than experience and
I do not condemn them. But what is the experience of a poor fellow
sinner to me? How does it help me to hear that he groans as I do, or
sings as I do? It may be of some small service to me, but there are
more excellent things! I need to know how Jesus felt and what Christ
can do for my Brother and for me. Experience is admirable when Jesus
Christ is set forth in it, but if you take up an experimental vein of
things, whether of human corruption, or have human perfection and Jesus
Christ in the background, you are marring the Gospel! Jesus is the one
Foundation and there is no Gospel apart from Him!
So, too, with practice. By all means let us have practical preaching
and plenty of it! And let it come down sternly and faithfully on the
vices of the times. But merely to preach against this and that vice and
extol this and that virtue is a mission fit enough for Socrates or
Plato, but does not well become a minister of Jesus Christ! Set Jesus
forth, my practical Brother! His example shames vice and encourages
virtue! Set Him up as the mirror of all perfection and in Him men will
see what they ought to be and learn how to come at it. Jesus Christ,
then, is the only Gospel! We leave that point, being abundantly sure
that you are persuaded of it.
III. Thirdly. THERE IS NO HOPE OF SALVATION BUT THAT WHICH IS BUILT
UPON CHRIST. This is
another point upon which I need not speak much. I will only spend a few
minutes in talking upon certain other hopes. No doubt some think it
must be well with them because they were brought up from their
childhood most respectably. Their parents were excellent Christian
people and they believe that they, themselves, having never done
anything very wrong, are no doubt safe.
Ah, my dear Hearers, if this is your only hope, you are lost, for you
are dead in sin! That which is born of the flesh, the best of flesh
that ever was is flesh and flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God! You must be born again! You must have a far better hope than
any which can spring out of your birth and your relations. "Yes, but,"
says someone, "I had all the ceremonies of the Church performed upon
me." Yes, and it makes no difference to me what Church it was. If you
are building, even, upon rites which God has given, they will not
suffice you–they cannot bear the
weight of your soul. Baptism, the Lord Supper, or 50,000 sacraments, if
men were to make so many, would not help you one solitary inch! The
only Foundation for your soul's hope must be Christ and none of these
outward things.
"Ah," says another, "but I have diligently performed a great many good
works." I would to God you had 10 times as many good works, but if you
have committed one single sin, no works can save you! All the good
works of the best men that ever lived would make but a rotten
foundation for them if they were to place reliance on them. Abound in
good works, but do not trust them! Human merit is a foundation of sand.
"But I have had special spiritual feelings," says one. "I have been
broken down, I have been lifted up." Yes, you may have been crushed
down to Hell's door and lifted up to Heaven's gate–but there is
nothing in feelings and excitements which can be a ground of hope.
"Why," says one, "it has troubled me that I have not had these
feelings." Do not let it trouble you, but go to Jesus Christ and rest
in Him! Feelings or no feelings! High frames and low frames are all
delusions if they are trusted in. We can no more be saved by our
feelings than by our works. "Oh, but," says another, "I have confidence
that I am saved, for I have had a wonderful dream and, moreover, I
heard a voice and saw a vision!" Rubbish all! Dreams, visions, voices?
Throw them all away! There is not the slightest reliance to be placed
upon them. "What, not if I saw Christ?" No, certainly not, for vast
multitudes saw Him in the days of His flesh–and died and perished,
after all! "But surely a dream will save me." It will give you a dreamy
hope and when you awake in the next world your dream will be gone!
The one thing to rest upon is the sure Word of testimony–Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners and whoever believes in Him is not
condemned. I believe in Him and, therefore, I am not condemned! Why do
I believe my sin to be forgiven? Because Jesus died to put away the
sins of Believers and there is no condemnation to those who are in Him!
Why do I believe myself to be justified? Because he that believes is
justified–the Word of God says so. How do I know that I am saved?
Because Jesus Christ has declared that whoever believes in Him is not
condemned! To believe in Him is to trust in Him, to make Him my
Foundation! I trust in Him. He is my Foundation and I am saved, or else
His Word is not true.
I know that His Word is true and, therefore, I am at rest. It is
written, "He that believes in Him has everlasting life." I believe in
Him, therefore I have everlasting life! I have His promise that I shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck me out of His hands, therefore I
shall never perish, neither shall any separate me from His love. You
see, then, there is no hope of salvation but what is fixed upon Christ
alone! And I invite and entreat you, if any of you have any hope which
goes beyond Christ or besides Christ, get rid of it! Throw it on a
dunghill and loathe it as an insult to God! Do as the man did with the
bad bank note. When he found it was a forgery he buried it and ran away
as fast as he could, for fear anybody should think the note had ever
been in his possession!
So, if you are trusting in anything that is not of Christ, bury your
faith and run away from it, for it is a false confidence and will work
ill to your soul! Let your faith cry, "None but Christ!" All-saving
faith delights in that cry. For eternal salvation, "no other Foundation
can anyone lay than that which is laid."
IV. Our last point is this–THERE IS NO CHRISTIAN BUT THE MAN BUILT ON
JESUS CHRIST. Here is a Christian and of one thing in him I am sure–I
cannot tell whether he holds Arminian views or Calvinistic views, but
if he is a Christian he has no Foundation but Christ. Here is a person
who reverences the Pope. Here is another who glories in the name of
Protestant. Here is a third who is a Baptist–which is the Christian
out of these? I answer, he is the Christian that is built on Christ,
whoever he may be. But if he can do without Christ, he is not worthy of
the name of Christian!
What do we mean? Why this. I mean first, every man to be a Christian
must rest His whole soul upon Christ as to eternal salvation. There
must be no stuttering or stammering over that! There must be no mixing
up the merits of Jesus with priests or ceremonies. No, it must be a
clear–a straight line–Christ for me! Christ everything for me–my one
and only hope! Any deviation here is fatal. On the Cross is written,
Spes unica and it remains the one and only hope of a burdened soul.
Next, if you are to be a Christian, Christ must be your model. By the
aid of His Holy Spirit, you must try to do what He would have done in
your position and under your circumstances. You are not to say, "I
cannot follow Christ in this." You are never to renounce His
leadership. If you do, you must give up being a Christian because you
are bound to take up His Cross and follow Him. He claims to be your
King when He becomes your Savior. A true Christian is a man who builds
upon Christ, as his Model, as walls are built on a foundation. A true
Christian is one whose growing up is in
Christ, for, strange to say, the Temple of God grows. Nor need we
wonder, for it is a living temple. I have seen magnificent pieces of
architecture masterpieces and it has struck me, when I looked at them,
that they must have grown.
An ordinary, clumsy bit of work displays the mason and the carpenter,
but perfect architecture looks as if it grew! And Christ's Church does
grow, for Christ's people grow. But all our growing up must come out of
Christ. When a man says, "Years ago I used to worship with these
Christian people and I felt very happy with them, but I have now more
education and have got beyond them," he is guided by his pride and not
by Divine Grace. No true Christian talks so! The higher he grows, the
more he grows into Christ! The wiser he is, the more he shows the
wisdom of Christ. If he has begun aright, he may advance as far as he
can, but he never can advance beyond Christ. He will get to be less and
Christ will be more and more to him, for he is not a Christian who does
not stick to this–that the Foundation goes as far as he means to go
and he builds never beyond that–but builds upward upon that and upon
that alone.
And he, again, is the true Christian who lives for Christ, to whom
Christ's Glory is the great object of his being. He is a Christian who
reckons that time wasted which is not used for Jesus–that substance
wasted which is not used in obedience to Jesus–who considers that he
does not live except as Christ lives in him. Brothers and Sisters, I
pray that you may all be Christians of this sort–only let it be with
you forevermore Jesus Christ. I do not like to preach a sermon without
feeling the presence of my Master. I have done so, but never to my own
comfort. I cannot bear to come away from the Monday evening Prayer
Meeting without feeling that the Lord has been there and He generally
is.
The true heart does not like to engage in any kind of enterprise
without first consulting Him and doing it in His sight. We are a very
busy Church and I want you, as a busy Church, doing a great deal to
always keep the Master near you. The most holy work gets to be mere
routine–to be done mechanically–unless we enjoy His dear love and
sweet Presence and blessed smile in the doing of His will. Sit at
Jesus' feet with Mary as well as work for Him like Martha. May He be
the Foundation of everything, not only of the Church, but of our hope,
of our character, of every little thing we
do!
When you are laying the first stone of a new enterprise, lay it upon
Christ with fair colors. Set it in the vermilion of His precious blood!
Perfume it with the oil of gratitude and lay it upon Him alone! And so
shall you, by His Grace, build for eternity and glorify His precious
name! Amen.
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The King-Priest