DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 11, 1878,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself." 1 John
5:10.
SOME time ago I tried to set forth the manner of the witness and
sealing of the Spirit and I have no doubt that the subject will still
remain upon the memory of many of you. But I am led to refer to it
again and to go over the same ground because I meet with so many
instances in which mistakes are made in reference to it–mistakes which
cause great sorrow and much sin. The letter which I will now read I
received yesterday and it is one of many of the same subject. "Dear Mr.
Spurgeon–May I ask your prayers and the prayers of your congregation,
to God, that He will, by the Holy Spirit, reveal Himself to me. I have
for a long time past, I may say, years, been trying to serve Him and
have a strong desire openly to join with His people, but I have not the
witness in myself that I am saved and until then I dare not take the
step."
Now, this letter breathes an anxious desire to be right and sincere in
all things and this is to be highly commended. We ought to be jealous
over our spirit, fearful of hypocrisy and resolved to do all things in
truth and sincerity. We ought to abhor the idea of making a profession
of that which is not true and, so far, this letter shows a spirit
worthy of imitation. Everyone should be anxious that he should in
nothing be a hypocrite and should not allow the profession of his lips
to go one single inch beyond the feeling of his heart. It is, again, a
most proper thing that every man should desire to have the very best
possible evidence as to his soul's salvation and if there is an
evidence to be had of a very special, decisive and certain kind, it is
but right that every man should cry to God for it and should feel
unsatisfied until he obtains it.
But, when all this has been said, we are bound in honesty to add that
it is very possible for this anxiety to become an obstacle to faith and
for the desire after special evidence to become a hindrance to our
receiving the evidence which the Lord has given us in His Word. In our
ignorance we may be overlooking the true source of peace and assurance!
While straining our eyes by looking for that which God will never
reveal to us, we may be missing rare consolations which lie near at
hand! While craving for something unusual we may be neglecting that
which Infinite Wisdom has put within our reach, like the foolish child
which utters hungry cries for the moon, but forgets to eat the bread
upon its own plate!
There are many who, in their sincerely earnest desires to gain some
token for good, are forgetting that earnest of the Spirit which is
already within their own bosoms and thus, through darkness of spirit,
they miss present comforts and are too feeble for present duties. They
sit in fetters forged by their own fancy, when they might as well arise
and walk at large. May the Holy Spirit, therefore, instruct us so to
handle this matter that many who are seeking for this inner witness may
know that they already have it, or may at least obtain it this day
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here, then, is our text–"He that
believes on the Son of God has the witness in Himself."
I. Our first observation is that BELIEVING ON THE SON OF GOD COMES
BEFORE THE INNER WITNESS. "He that believes on the Son of God has the
witness in Himself–he believes before he has that witness–and it is
only as a Believer that he obtains it. This is self-evident in the
text. No one can read these words without seeing that a man must be a
Believer before he has the witness in himself. It does not say, "He who
has the witness in himself becomes a Believer," but the order is
reversed–"He that believes has the witness in himself." He believes
first and then he obtains the inner witness.
The basis of faith is the testimony of God concerning His Son–the
testimony of God as we find it in holy Scripture. I do not believe
Christ Jesus to be the Son of God because of anything I feel within
myself, but because God Himself declares Him to be such! Neither do I
trust my soul with Jesus because of certain emotions felt within, but
because God, in the Book which I accept as His testimony, declares that
He has set forth Jesus to be the Propitiation for sin. In the
Bible I see that God Himself witnesses that whoever trusts Jesus is
thereby forgiven, accepted and saved! And, therefore, I trust Him. We
have no other foundation for our faith to rest upon than the witness of
God. "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater."
The testimony of God is surely enough for us! Dare we ask for more?
We must not go about to buttress the solid pillar of Divine Testimony.
"Thus says the Lord" is proof enough and it is blasphemous impertinence
for us to demand further evidence! Dare we look around for something
which we have observed or something which we have felt to be a support
to the solemn declaration of the Most High? If so, we are not believing
in God at all, but are waiting for a surer witness than God, who cannot
lie! In such a case we are still lost, for we cannot be saved while we
are calling God a liar by refusing to believe Him till He can bring
corroborative evidence! If we were to obtain that additional evidence,
it is clear that our faith would not then stand in God, but in the
additional testimony and so we should remain as to God still
unbelievers!
The only basis for saving faith is the testimony of God Himself
concerning His Son Jesus Christ! "And this is the testimony that God
has given to us eternal life and this life is in His Son." Note that
the words which follow our text assure us very solemnly that the
rejection of this basis, namely, God's own testimony, involves the
utmost possible guilt. "He that believes not God, has made Him a liar,
because He believes not the record which God gave of His Son." Now, it
is quite clear that this does not refer to any inward witness, because
the man who does not believe Christ has no inward witness and cannot
have any! He cannot be guilty of rejecting what he never had–but God
has given an outward witness to all mankind–a witness contained in
Holy Scripture, clear and express and therein He declares that Jesus
Christ is His Son and the appointed Savior of men! And He bids men
trust in Him, promising that they shall thus be saved.
It is the rejection of the Revelation of God which involves the
unbeliever in transcendent guilt, because his unbelief is tantamount to
saying that God speaks lies–that He has deliberately given us a Bible
which is a fiction; that He has set before us hopes which will end in
disappointment; that He has threatened us with a doom which is a mere
bugbear–that He has sent us a Savior who cannot save, who has
presented a Sacrifice in which there is no real efficacy! The rejection
of Christ as our Savior is the most pointed way of calling the Lord a
liar! Surely we ought to start hack from such guilt as this, for it
stabs at God's honor and, inasmuch as it impugns His truthfulness, it
robs Him of one of the brightest jewels of His crown!
O beloved Hearers, be not guilty of this, I pray you, but believe your
God! What if all men contradict Him–be it yours to believe Him–"Let
God be true and every man a liar." Believe God, though every feeling of
your nature should seem to controvert His testimony, for feelings
deceive and consciousness may be a dream–but God cannot lie–His Word
is Truth itself! This, then, is the basis of faith, and the basis of
faith which cannot be rejected without the utmost sin. Let me put it
another way. I hear and I read that God has sent His Son Jesus Christ
to save sinners–and thus I learn that I must trust Christ and I shall
then obtain the benefit of His salvation. I believe this. I trust
Christ and I am saved. This salvation gives me peace and rest and I
become confirmed in my belief.
Now there are many who want this peace and rest before they will
believe. They expect harvest before sowing and will not sow unless
their preposterous desire can be granted! My dear Friend, you cannot
expect to have the natural order reversed in this fashion! Why should
you need it? Has not God spoken the Truth and if it is the Truth of
God, why do you not believe it? The essence of faith lies in believing
that God speaks the Truth and in acting upon His Word because it is the
Truth! Is this more than God has a right to expect of you? Why should
there be any refusal to render what is so manifestly His due? Why
should we ask for further evidence whether it is in ourselves or in
others? Should we not at once say, "God has said it. It is true. I will
act upon it. And since He says Christ died for sinners and saves all
that trust in Him, I will trust Him and I shall be saved"?
Now, this basis of faith is abundantly sufficient. I feel half ashamed
to have to insist upon this most evident Truth of God, for, if we were
not desperately set on mischief and alienated from God, we should feel
this at once! Has God said it? Then to ask any confirmation of it is a
direct insult to Him–a gratuitous impertinence against the Majesty of
Heaven! Has God said it? Then we are more bound to believe than if all
the scientific men in the world for centuries had witnessed to it! Has
God said it? We are more sure of it than if all the traditions of all
nations had handed it down to us! Has God said it? Then we are surer of
it than if our reason proved it by mathematical demonstration! Has God
said it? Then we are more certain of it than if we saw it with our
eyes–for they might be deceived–or than if we heard it with our ears,
for they might be imposed upon. Our senses are deceivable, but God is
not deceivable! He must be true and we may wisely
cast the weight of our souls upon His faithfulness. And when we do, we
may take all the consequences, fully assured that what the Lord has
promised He is able to perform.
Now, though this basis is sufficient, the Lord, knowing our unbelief,
has been pleased not to add to it, but to set it before us in a
graciously amplified manner. He says, "There are three which bear
witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three
agree in one." That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He can and
does save sinners and that He will save all who believe in Him is
proven, first, by the giving of the Holy Spirit. He descended first at
Pentecost, visibly and perceptibly, in rushing wind and cloven tongues
of fire and He manifested His power by the marvelous gift of speaking
in languages which the disciples had never learned. The Holy Spirit was
mightily with the Apostles, bearing witness that Jesus was the Son of
God and that the Gospel which they preached was Divine.
The Holy Spirit has not returned to Heaven and though His miraculous
power is no longer seen among us in the physical world, He is still
working spiritual miracles in the Church. He still regenerates; He
still enlightens; He still consoles; He is still the help of our
infirmity in prayer. He is still our Comforter and Guide. In many
blessed and useful ways, for which He is to be adored, the Holy Spirit
is still in the midst of the Church to witness to the truth of the
Gospel. Instead of miracles we have the Presence of the Holy
Spirit–men quickened from death in sin, hearts renewed, eyes
enlightened, souls regenerated–these are the standing witnesses of God
in the Church to the Truth of the Gospel.
Then, there is the witness of the water. By the water, I understand to
be meant that Living Water of which, if a man drinks, he shall live
forever. And it indicates the spiritual life which abides in the
Church–the life and the cleansing which God gives to Believers. Now,
there are thousands of us who can bear witness that we possess a life
to which we once were strangers–but by believing in Jesus Christ that
life has been given to us–as it shall also be given to all who hear me
this day, upon their believing in Jesus! That Water of Life abiding in
the Church and always flowing out of the very midst of her living
members is another form of the witness of God, a part of the one solid
basis upon which true faith must rest.
Then there is the blood–a third witness–that blood of Atonement which
speaks better things than that of Abel, which brings peace to the
guilty conscience and ends the strife within. There is no voice like it
to believing ears! This is another and most powerful form of the
witness of God. He does pardon sin and give peace to the
conscience–the fact is known to thousands and is the abiding witness
of God to His dear Son. The abiding power of the Spirit, the water and
the blood are God's continuance of His one testimony that Jesus Christ
is the appointed Savior and that whoever trusts in Him shall be saved.
Beyond this evidence, the hearer of the Gospel may expect nothing. What
more can he need? What more can he desire? If you refuse Christ upon
the witness of God, you must refuse Him outright, for no other witness
shall ever be given unto those who believe not upon the solemn
testimony of God!
And, Beloved, let me say that this basis which has been so graciously
amplified in the triple witness of the Spirit, the water and the blood,
has this to commend it–it is everlasting and immutable! Did you
believe in Jesus Christ 50 years ago? Did you then trust Him because
God declared Him to be worthy of your confidence? That witness of God
remains in all its potency today! A thousand years ago a poor sinner
came to Jesus because God had assured him in the Scriptures that there
he should find mercy. And today another sinner may come with just the
same confidence, for the guarantee of faith is unaltered! What a
blessing this is!
Our feelings change–sometimes the inward witness burns brightly and
sometimes it becomes very dim–sometimes we feel tender in heart and at
another time we are hard as a millstone! At one moment we are zealous
and at another moment indifferent. It would never do to have such a
shifting basis of our faith. Such a moving, shivering quicksand as this
would never satisfy us very long! But what a rock we have in God's
Word! He has said it and it must be true, "He that has the Son has
life." When I look within I cannot always tell by my feelings whether I
have obtained spiritual life or not. But since I know that I believe in
Jesus, I know that I have eternal life because God has said so! I,
trusting His Son Jesus Christ, know myself to be saved over the head of
all my feelings, let them be what they may, for God has said, "He that
believes has everlasting life."
And you, poor Soul, are not invited to come to Christ this morning
because there is something in you that is a guarantee for your
coming–some inward witness bearing testimony to your fitness! No, you
are to come because there is witness enough in this Book! Because there
is witness enough in the fact that the Spirit of God is in the Church!
Because there is witness enough that the Living Water is still imparted
unto men and that the blood of Jesus has not lost its
power, but cleanses from all sin! If you will not believe upon this
all-sufficient witness, you cannot expect to receive any other, for
this is the witness of God upon which men savingly believe in Christ
Jesus!
Now, dear Friends, the faith which will not and cannot rest on this
basis is evidently no faith in God at all, but a proud resolve to
demand other evidence than His Word. "Well," says one, "but suppose I
were to see a vision? I should then believe." That is to say, you would
believe your vision, but that vision would, in all probability, be the
result of a fevered brain and you would be deceived! "Uh, but if I
could hear a voice, then I could believe." That is to say, you refuse
the sure Word of testimony in the Bible and will only believe God if He
will condescend to indulge your whims! Voices which you might think you
heard are not to be depended upon–for imagination easily creates them!
When daydreaming I have heard many voices, or thought I did, but they
may have been echoes, or birds far up in the air, or mere fancies.
There is nothing to be depended upon in hearing a voice in the air!
Will you put that in competition with the revealed will of God? "Oh,
but if I had a special Revelation." Such a special Revelation you have
no right to look for! I speak most plainly here–no additional
Revelation is to be expected because the Book of God is ended–the
Revelation of God is finished and he that adds to the sacred Book is
cursed! If you, therefore, say that God has made a new Revelation to
you, you run a dreadful risk of the curses which are written in this
book! God, by His Spirit, brings old Truths of God home to the heart,
gives new light to our eyes and causes the Word to exercise new power
over us–but He reveals no new facts and He utters no words in any
man's ears concerning his condition and state. We must be content with
the old Revelation and with the life and power and force with which the
Holy Spirit brings it to the heart.
Neither must any of us seek to have any additional Revelation, for that
would imply that the Scriptures are incomplete. What? Has God spoken
all this volume that you may believe on His Son and is not that enough
for you? Must He go out of His way to make some private communication
to you? Is all that which He has already spoken to be treated as a lie
unless He, at your dictation, condescends to say something for you,
personally? Are you too good or too great to be saved like other
sinners? That is what it practically comes to! "Oh," you say, "but if I
felt such-and-such, I would believe." Suppose you did? Then your
confidence would be in your feelings and not in God–and what would
that be but presumption seeing that there cannot be anything in your
feelings which can make God true! God is true, feel whatever you may!
Believe Him, then, for it is to that faith in His Son that He gives
salvation and not to faith in your feelings!
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. But
if Abraham had stood higgling and haggling till he had seen this and
that, he would not have believed nor found righteousness by faith! Let
me tell those of you who will not believe in God till you get a certain
experience, or sign, or wonder to be added to God's Word, that those of
His people who have been the longest walking by faith have to come back
very often to the first foundation of faith in the outer witness of God
in His Word! It has been the privilege of some of us to possess the
inner witness for years and yet, at certain times, it departs and we
have to fall back on the foundation–the Truth of God.
When the winds are out and the storms are loosed and temptation howls
through the soul, we always fly to the Word of God and not to our own
experience! We get away from what we feel to what the Lord has said.
One ounce, of, "It is written," gives more confidence than a ton of
what we have felt. We are apt, in troublous times, to judge that our
happy feeling was a delusion and our confidence a mistake. "True, I did
think that I stood and looked within the pearly gates and was full of
heavenly joy. But, alas, it may have been all a dream!" This is,
however, no dream–that Jesus Christ came into the world to save
sinners–there is no mistake about that fact! That God has sent forth
His Son to be a Propitiation for sin–there is no imagination about
that!
There it stands in black and white in the Scriptures of Truth and to
that witness we again fly! Whether I am saint or sinner. Whether I am
an heir of Heaven or an heir of wrath, there stands the Word of
God–"He that believes in Him is not condemned." I do believe in Him
and I am not condemned, nor shall all the devils in Hell make me think
I am, since God has said I am not! On that my faith shall stand
unshaken, come what may! Let this suffice upon our first head, that
believing on the Son comes before the inner witness.
II. Secondly, THE INNER WITNESS NATURALLY FOLLOWS UPON FAITH. "He that
believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself." It is quite
impossible that the inner witness should precede faith and this you
will clearly see if you think a minute. Here is a medicine well-known
to be exceedingly efficacious in a certain disease. A sick man says
that he will not believe in its power until he has some inner witness
of it! It is clear to you that he cannot possibly have any evidence of
its power until he has at least enough faith to take the medicine and
give it a chance of operating upon him. So is it with this blessed
catholicon of the precious blood of Jesus–you cannot have any inner
witness to its power till, first of all, you receive it by faith!
"To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons
of God, even to as many as believed on His name"–but the reception
must come first! And you cannot have this witness apart from faith,
because the Holy Spirit never sets His seal to a blank sheet of paper.
There must, first of all, be the writing of faith upon the heart and
then the Spirit of God puts His attesting seal to it! Would you have
God the Holy Spirit witness to a falsehood? And yet He would be
witnessing to a lie if He gave an inner witness of salvation to a man
who is still an unbeliever and who, consequently, is already condemned!
If you refuse to believe God's Word, how can you think that the Spirit
will bear witness of anything in you except it is to your condemnation?
There must be faith before–and then the witness will follow after.
But let it be especially remembered that a man may have the witness
within him and sometimes he may not perceive it. You say, "That is
strange"? Yet reflect–you might be the possessor of a large estate and
an adversary might contest your right to it. What if you cannot find
your title deeds? The estate might be clearly enough yours, but those
deeds of yours might be mislaid and locked up in a forgotten
drawer–and you might be sorely put to it, perhaps, until the day of
trial settles the dispute as to whether it is yours or not.
I believe that many a child of God has plenty of witness in his own
soul, but he has not the wisdom to perceive it. Plenty of witness, but
through ignorance or carelessness he does not collect it and refresh
himself with it. If he believes, he has the witness within himself and
he will be comforted if he has but light enough to know what the
witness is. But often, through negligence in searching the Word of God,
he has the witness but cannot discover it. He wishes to read it, but
his ignorance has mislaid it!
Now, what is this witness within? It may be seen as follows–take the
verses that precede my text and you get one form of it. Jesus Christ is
the Son of God and the Savior of sinners–that is the main point to be
witnessed. First the Spirit, after we have believed, bears witness in
our soul that it is so, because we perceive that the Spirit has led us
to believe in Jesus and has given us repentance. The Spirit has renewed
us. The Spirit has made us different from what we were. The Spirit
helps us in prayer. The Spirit lifts us up upon the wings of praise.
The Spirit works upon us wondrously and so we gather that this comes to
us through believing in Jesus. He is, indeed, the Savior of sinners,
for we are saved!
Then the water bears witness within us–that is to say, we feel a new
life, we feel the Living Water in our hearts and we are conscious of
being alive to things to which we were once dead! We find that now
there is within us a new nature which we never possessed before. All
this becomes comfortable evidence that what we have believed is true.
We have proved it to be true, for we have the life which was promised
to us upon our believing in Jesus. Thirdly, the precious blood within
our souls bears further witness, for when it gives us peace, we sing as
sinners bought with blood and rejoice before God as cleansed by the
blood from all sin. And, as having access into that which is within the
veil by the sprinkled blood, we feel deep peace within our souls
through the voice of the blood. This is a witness, sweet and clear,
within us, proving that what we received from God's Word without any
other evidence is certainly true.
Now we have confirmatory witness within our spirits, given not because
we demanded it, but as a sweet reward and gracious privilege. We should
never have received it if we had not first believed on the naked Word
of God–only after that does the witness flow naturally into the heart.
Another part of the witness lies in this, that when we have believed we
receive life–and according to the 11th verse, this is the record that
God has given us eternal life–and this life is in His Son. We have
believed and we feel that we have obtained the life–we are doubly
assured that the witness of God is true. We believed it, before,
because God had said it. And now we are permitted to feel it since the
life is welling up within our souls like a fountain! We now know that
Jesus Christ must be the Son of God, for to whom else is it given to
bestow life? Who else could have bestowed upon us this high, this
spiritual, this heavenly life?
In detail, the inward evidence lies very much this way. First, a
wondrous sense of change comes over the Believer. Having believed in
Jesus Christ upon the simple evidence of God, there is a work of
regeneration performed upon him and he feels himself altogether
transformed. A young girl once said, "Either the whole world is
changed, or else I am." Everything seems so altered, for it is seen
with new eyes! The man undergoes a radical change of feelings! All
things are
reversed to him–his sweets are now sour and his sours are now sweet!
And finding himself so thoroughly new-created, he says, "This is the
finger of God," and he infers that the power which has worked all this
comes from the Son of God.
Then, again, there is a wondrous power which goes with the Word of God,
not always, but often. Are you not conscious, my Brethren, of often
feeling, when you are reading the Word, or hearing it, as you never
felt when listening to any other form of speech? Get to the foot of the
Cross, for instance, and look up and view the flowing of your Savior's
precious blood–do you not feel, then, as nothing else can make you
feel? You are reading a religious book and it has a holy effect upon
you. But if you reflect, you will see that it is only powerful because
it is borrowed from the Word of God. The voice of God thrills your soul
in a more than magical manner as no other voice ever can! Why, I
guarantee you, a Christian blindfolded would know which was a text of
Scripture and which was not by its effect upon his heart!
The very words are so majestic that none can imitate their dignity–and
when they are applied with power they lay us low or lift us up as only
Divine Words could do! "Where the word of a king is, there is power,"
and this becomes an inner witness to the sovereign Truth of the Gospel!
The same witness is borne by a sense of being put into our right place.
You were all out of place before, but having believed in Jesus Christ
you are put in your right position. You stand in harmony with the
Divine system and this you feel could only be effected by the Truth of
God–for a lie works to disorder and not to right. If anybody had said
to the prodigal son–"I doubt whether you have a father. I doubt your
father's love. I doubt whether he has any house where there is bread
enough and to spare,"
He might have been puzzled to answer those wretched doubts while he was
standing at the swine trough, but you could not trouble him with it
when he has reached his father's house and was sitting down at the
table of love listening to the sound of the music and dancing, and
feasting upon the fatted calf! If any skeptic had then said to him,
"There is no father's love," why, his cheeks still sweetly tingling
with the kisses would have supplied him with his best reply! I do not
suppose he would have deigned to answer the doubter except by a quiet
smile! And he would have gone on feasting upon the fatted calf or, if
he did answer, he would have said, "Go, take your doubts to one who
will receive them. I am right again with my dear father, for he has
forgiven me and I feel his love and know for myself that he abounds in
tenderness."
That deep feeling of peace which comes to us through believing in Jesus
makes us feel quite sure that He can save and that we are secure in
Him! We took God at His Word when we had no feeling, but having
believed in Jesus Christ we are now conscious of a wonderful rest–"The
peace of God which passes all understanding." We see that we are
forgiven, justly forgiven, saved by mercy, but still not to the
violation of the Justice of God and, therefore, we are perfectly at
ease. Yes, and sometimes we rise beyond peace! I am not going to tell
many of the high secrets of the inner life, this morning, but yet I
will confess that at times–
"Our joys divinely grow, Unspeakable, like those above, And Heaven
begins below." This, again, is a part of the inner witness that the
Gospel is true.
And what if I were to speak of growing holiness of character, of
increased conformity to Christ's image? Do not these form a good inner
witness? What if I were to speak of growing strength so that the things
we dare not once attempt we now accomplish with ease, or of growing
patience under tribulation? Either of these would be noble proofs! What
if I spoke of fellowship with God, or of peace in the prospect of
death, or of a thousand other blessings which make up Christian
experience? Might I not claim that all these go to make up a very
powerful inner witness which abundantly seals the Truth of God which we
at first accepted as matter of pure faith in the testimony of God?
III. As time hastens I will only pause for a moment to say that THIS
INNER WITNESS IS EXCEEDINGLY EXCELLENT. First, because it is very plain
and easy to be understood. Numbers of you have never read "Butler's
Analogy." And if you were set to study it you would go to sleep over
it. Never mind, you may have an unanswerable "analogy" in your own
souls! You might not understand Butler or Paley, but you will
understand the witness of your own spirit! You may talk to a pauper
about mastication and digestion and assimilation and he will open his
eyes and wonder what you mean–but he will understand your practical
meaning well enough if you give him a good dinner!
So it is with the things of God–theological terms are difficult, but
if you believe in Jesus Christ and He saves your soul, you will
understand that He is the Divine Savior and nobody will be able to
convince you otherwise! That is another point of its excellence–that
it is unanswerable! A man is told that a certain medicine is mere
quackery. "See here," says
he, "it healed me." What do you say to such an argument? You had better
leave the man alone. So when a Christian is told that the Gospel is all
nonsense and he replies, "It saved me. I was a drunk and it made me
sober and more. I was a man of strong passions and it tamed me and
more." What can you say to such facts? Why, nothing! It must be with
you as with the rulers of old–"When they saw the man that was healed
standing with Peter and John, they could say nothing against them."
Such argument as this is very abiding in its results. A man who has
been transformed and feels himself daily renewed by the Gospel, cannot
be baffled because every day his argument is renewed and he finds fresh
reasons within himself for knowing that what he believed is true! Such
argument is always impossible to defeat. Sometimes if you are
challenged to a controversy you have to reply, "Wait till I run
upstairs and consult a few books." But when the evidence is personal–
"I have felt it, I know it, I have tasted it, handled it"–why you have
your argument at your fingertips at all times! Such witness as this
gives a man great boldness. He does not begin to conceal his opinions,
or converse with his neighbor with an apologetical air, but he is
positive and certain!
I confess that when I have to argue about the truth of Divine things it
is a dreary task. I am so sure of these things, myself, by living and
actual test, that I am amazed that other people are not sure, too! And
while they are wanting me to argue about this point or that, it seems
to me like asking a man to prove that there is a sun in yonder sky. I
bask in his beams, I swoon under his heat, I see by his light–and yet
they ask me to prove his existence?! Are they mad? What do they want me
to prove? That God hears prayer? I pray and receive answers every day!
That God pardons sin? I was in my own esteem the blackest of sinners
and sunk in the depths of despair, yet I believed, by God's Grace, and
by that faith I leaped into a fullness of light and liberty at once!
Why do they not try it themselves? You want me to prove that bread is
fit for food? Why, Man, I have been living upon it for years! I do not
know how to begin my proof. Take a bit of bread, Man, and eat and know
for yourself. "Taste and see that the Lord is good." We believe and are
sure and, therefore we speak, but we do not wonder if men reject our
witness, for they refuse the witness of God!
IV. I close by saying that excellent as this inner witness is, IT MUST
NEVER BE PUT IN THE PLACE OF THE
DIVINE WITNESS IN THE WORD. Why not? Because it would insult the Lord
and be contrary to His rule of salvation by faith. Because, moreover,
it is not always with us in equal clearness, or rather, we cannot
equally discern it. If the brightest Christian begins to base his faith
upon his experiences and his attainments, he will be in bondage before
long. Beloved, build on what God has said and not upon your inward
joys. Accept these precious things, not as foundation stones, but as
pinnacles of your spiritual temple! Let the main thing be–"I believe
because God has spoken." If any other evidence comes to your net,
accept it, but go on fishing by FAITH! Faith in God, in God's naked
Word!
Then, if the Lord's hand should turn and you, in Providence, should be
stripped bare like Job, so that you sit on a dunghill covered with
boils, you will be able to say, "I believed that God loved me when He
gave me children. I believed God loved me when I had sheep and oxen. I
believed that God loved me when I had camels and asses, but still,
these were not the grand reasons of my faith, but God Himself and,
therefore, I still believe that He loves me now that every child is
dead, all my property is swept away and I am sick. Yes, though He slay
me, yet will I trust in Him." That is faith! God grant you to have that
faith which can sing, "Though the fig tree shall not blossom and there
shall be no herd in the stall, yet will I rejoice in the Lord."
Though there is no evidences of Grace in me; though there are no joys;
though there is a broken peace; though there is sin to mourn over and
though there is hardness of heart to stagger me–yet I still took the
Lord Jesus as a sinners' Savior at the first and I take Him as a
sinners' Savior now! I did not trust Him at the first because I was a
saint and now I will not doubt Him because I find out more and more
that I am a sinner–but I will still go to Him just as I am and rest on
the great salvation which God has provided for me! Sinner, I charge
you, do not wish to put your notion of an inner witness into the place
of God's own witness which He bears to you and to every creature under
Heaven in His sacred
Word!
You may not say, "I will trust Jesus when I have the inner witness,"
because you never can have the inner witness till you have first
trusted in the redeeming Lord! Until you are willing to believe God's
bare Word and come to Christ in all your guilt and accept His cleansing
blood and perfect righteousness, you never can have any evidence
within, unless it is evidence of your own folly and sinfulness!
Therefore, what is the use of your looking for it? Why seek the living
among
the dead? You cannot have this inner witness before believing and you
ought not to desire it–for the desire is unreasonable!
I have shown you that it would be irrational to expect the Spirit of
God to set His seal to a blank–how can He do so? If you will not
believe God, why should you expect to be saved? And if not saved, how
can you have the inner witness? If a king were about to pardon men
simply upon the condition that they would trust his mercy–and they
were to answer, "We will not believe in your clemency unless you
indulge our whims"–would you wonder if he did not pardon them?
Moreover, let me ask you, how can you ever be right with God if you
will not believe Him? Certainly I could not count you to be my friend
if you refused to believe my solemn statements. If you counted me a
liar, how could I call you my friend? What peace can there be till
confidence is restored? Are not those God's enemies who refuse to
believe His witness about His own Son?
Now, my Hearers, will you believe God or not? Dear Souls, will you
believe God or not? "Oh," you say, "but!"– Now, that is not the
question! What "but" can there be about this matter? Either the Lord is
true or false! I know you can make a hundred "buts," but will you
believe God, or will you call Him a liar? O Spirit of the living God,
show men the sin of unbelief and bring them to see how just and right a
thing it is simply to trust God and believe His witness concerning
Jesus Christ!
Now, I put you to this–If God is not worthy to be trusted, say so and
go your way! But if He is. If He has spoken the truth, why do you not
believe Him? If, after this, you refuse to believe in Jesus, your doom
will be upon your own heads! But if you will trust Christ, you may
rejoice, for you are saved! This is the Gospel that we are commanded to
preach to every creature–"He that believes and is baptized shall be
saved, and he that believes not shall be damned." God give His own
blessing for Christ's sake. Amen.