Only Trust Him! Only Trust Him!

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE 26, 1881,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that
were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices and
said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He sa w them, He said
unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass,
that, as they went, they were cleansed." Luke 17:12-14.

SEVERAL interesting topics might fairly be found in these verses. We
see here the abounding fruit of sin, for here were 10 lepers in a group
and the abundance of Divine power to meet it, for they were all
cleansed. So, also, we see how Christ must come first and ceremonies
second–first the work of Grace–and then the outward showing of it.
The Lord's tenderness toward outcasts, His attention to prayers from a
distance and His regard for the ceremonial Law so long as it was in
force, might, each one, yield an instructive meditation. I have,
however, only one thought which I wish to bring under your notice and
to press upon you, perhaps, almost to repetition and monotony. That
thought I would engrave as with an iron pen upon the hearts and minds
of all here present who desire to find eternal salvation. May the Holy
Spirit imprint it upon every living soul!

These 10 lepers were required by the Savior to perform an act of faith
in Him before they had the slightest evidence in themselves that He had
worked a good work upon them. Before they began to feel their foul
blood cleansed–before the horrible dryness of leprosy had yielded to
healthy perspiration–they were to go towards the house in which the
priest lived to be examined by him and to be pronounced clean. They
were to exhibit faith in Christ Jesus' power to heal them by going to
exhibit themselves as healed, though as yet they were in the same
condition as before! They were to start to the place where they should
be examined by the priest, believing that Jesus had healed them, or
would heal them, though, as yet, they had no internal evidence,
whatever, that their flesh would become as that of a little child!

This is the point I wish to dwell upon–that the Lord Jesus Christ bids
sinners believe in Him and trust their souls to Him, though they may
not yet discern in themselves any work of His Grace! Just as these men
were lepers and nothing but lepers, so you may be sinners and nothing
but sinners–and yet you are bid to exhibit faith in Jesus Christ while
you are just what you are! As these men were to start straight away to
the priest with all their leprosy white upon them and to go there as if
they felt they were already healed, so are you, with all your
sinnership upon you and your sense of condemnation heavy on your soul,
to believe in Jesus Christ just as you are and you shall find
everlasting life on the spot!

This is my point and it is of the first importance. Sinners, as
sinners, are to believe in Jesus for everlasting life! The voice to
each one of them is, "Awake, you that sleep, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give you life." Now, first, I shall notice what signs
are commonly looked for by unconverted men as reasons for believing in
Christ, which, indeed, are no reasons at all! Then, secondly, I shall
try to show what is the real ground and reason for faith in Christ.
And, thirdly, what will be the issue of a faith in Christ similar to
that of the lepers.

I. First, then, I say that we are to believe in Jesus Christ–to trust
Him to heal us of the great disease of sin–though as yet we may have
about us no sign or token that He has worked any good work upon us. We
are not to look for signs and evidences within ourselves before we
venture our souls upon Jesus. The supposition is a soul-destroying
error and I will try to expose it by showing WHAT ARE THE SIGNS THAT
ARE COMMONLY LOOKED FOR BY MEN. One of the most frequent is a
consciousness of great sin and a horrible dread of Divine wrath leading
to despair. Strange to say, we constantly meet with persons who say, "I
could believe in Jesus Christ if I felt more burdened by a sense of
sin. I could trust Him if I were driven more entirely to despondency
and to despair. But I am not depressed enough! I am not brokenhearted
enough! I am sure I am not brought low enough and, therefore, I cannot
trust Christ."

Strange notion, that if the night were darker we should see better!
Strange idea, that if we were nearer death we should have better hope
of life! Now, my Friend, you are speaking and acting in distinct
disobedience to Christ, for He would have you trust Himself, not on the
ground of your feeling much or little, or on the ground of your feeling
anything at all, but simply because you are sick and He has come to
heal you and is abundantly able to work your cure. If you say, "Lord, I
cannot trust You unless I feel this or that," then you, in effect, say,
"I can trust my own feelings, but I cannot trust God's appointed
Savior." What is this but to make a god out of your feelings and a
savior out of your inward griefs?

Is your own heart to save you by its dark insinuations against Divine
love? Is unbelief, after all, to bring you salvation because you refuse
to believe your God? And despair, wicked despair, which gives the lie
to God–is that to be trusted in and not the Savior whom God has sent
into the world to save sinners? Is there, then, a new Gospel, and does
it run, "He that denies the power of Jesus and despairs of His love
shall be saved"? You know that Jesus justifies the ungodly and cleanses
the wicked from their sin through His precious blood–and though you
know this to be true, you say–"I cannot trust the Crucified. I cannot
rely upon His full Atonement unless I feet my guilt to be unpardonable
and disbelieve my God."

I pray that you may never feel as you foolishly think you ought to
feel, for feelings of despair dishonor the Lord and vex His Spirit–and
certainly cannot be good for you. It comes to this–you are making a
god of your despair and a Christ out of your horrors–and so you are
setting up an antichrist in the place where Christ, alone, should be!
Come, young Friend, though you have not been terrified and alarmed and
heart-broken to the extent of some, will you trust Christ with your
soul and ask no questions? I pray you, trust Jesus once and for all–

"Cast your guilty soul on Him! Find Him mighty to redeem! At His feet
your burden lay Look your doubts and cares a way. Now by faith the Son
embrace, Plead His promise, trust His Grace." That is the point. Can
you trust Jesus? for that is what He bids you do. How strange it seems
that anyone should raise a question about trusting HIM! How insane and
insulting to be willing to trust our feelings and not trust the Savior!

These 10 lepers felt no change whatever worked upon them when Jesus
bade them go off to be examined by the priest, yet away they went, and
as they went they were made whole! Trust Jesus Christ just as you are,
without those feelings which you have supposed to be necessary as a
sort of preparation! Trust Him at once and follow Him–and He will make
you whole before you have taken many steps in the path of faith and
obedience! O Lord God, lead all my hearers and readers to trust Your
Son at once!

Many other persons think that they must, before they can trust Christ,
experience quite a blaze of joy. "Oh," says one, "I heard a Christian
say that when he found the Savior he was so happy that he did not know
how to contain himself and he sang, like a whole band of music in one–

'Happy day, happy day, When Jesus washed my sins away.' Oh that I could
be as full of joy as these 'happy day' people!" Just so. But what
mischief will you make out of that? Are you going to find evil in our
delights? Will you feed your unbelief on the joy of the Lord? What
strange perversity! "Why," you say, "must I not be happy before I can
believe in Christ?" What? What? Must you have the joy before you
exercise the faith? How unreasonable! Because we tell you that
such-and-such a root produces a sweet fruit, will you say that you must
have the fruit before you will accept the root? Surely that is bad
reasoning!

We who have experienced this joy came to Christ in order to obtain it
and did not wait until we found it, or else we should have waited until
now! We came to Jesus just as we were–some of us were very wretched,
but we came just as we then were and trusted Christ and were made
whole. Then followed joy and peace, but if we had waited till we felt
joy and peace before we came, we should have been standing out against
the Gospel plan which is that men are to trust the Savior before they
feel the slightest benefit from Him. O Sinner, is not this commonsense?
Must we not take medicine before we are cured by it? Must we not eat
bread before it removes our hunger? Must we not open our eyes before we
see? Before the Lord Jesus has either comforted you or healed you,
consciously, you are to come and do just what He bids you and trust

in Him to save you. Neither the gloom of horror nor the blaze of
delight is to be looked for before faith! Faith is to precede all and
that faith is a simple, humble reliance upon Christ.

We have known others who have expected to have a text impressed upon
their minds. A kind of superstition has grown up that a special
Scripture must, somehow or other, hover over the mind and continue
there, so that you cannot get rid of it–and then you may hope that you
are saved! In old families there are superstitions about white birds
coming to a window before a death and I regard with much the same
distrust the more common superstition that if a text continues upon
your mind day after day you may safely conclude that it is an assurance
of your salvation. I hope I have never taught you to draw any such a
conclusion! Far be it from me to assist you into a confidence which has
so questionable a foundation!

The Spirit of God often applies Scripture with power to the soul, but
this fact is never set forth as the rock for us to build upon. Will you
find anything in the Bible to support the supposition that the vivid
recollection of a text is a seal of conversion? It has often happened
that some Word of God does greatly comfort the soul, but why should you
demand the same? Have you any right to say, "I will not believe God's
Word unless He impresses it upon me"? Is it a lie, then? "No, it is
true," you say. Remember, if it is not true, an impression upon your
mind would not make it true–and if it is true, why do you not believe
it? If it is true, accept it! If there is any force about a promise,
pray God to make you feel its force and power! You ought to feel its
force and power, but if you do not, sin lies at your door.

As a reader of the Scriptures you must not fall into the idea that you
are to wait till some Scripture burns its way into your soul. You must
read attentively and believe what the Lord God says to you.
Furthermore, I would have you remember it is not reading the Scripture
that saves you–it is believing in Christ. What did Christ, Himself,
say? He said to the Bible readers of His day, "You search the
Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; but you will
not come unto Me that you might have life." Good as the searching of
Scripture is, it is nothing without coming to Christ! You will only
read your own condemnation in the Bible if you remain out of Christ.
Even the Bible, itself, may be made into a stumbling block if you
substitute Bible-reading for closing in with Christ and putting your
trust in Him. Your immediate business is to trust Jesus and no measure
of reading will compensate for neglect of faith.

What if no special text of Scripture were ever laid home to your heart
at all, yet here it stands, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
shall be saved." That is your business, my dear Hearer, if you are to
get peace at once! And I earnestly hope that some of you are going to
get it before this sermon is over. I have asked your souls of my God
and I have got them for a prey tonight. They shall be David's spoil and
you shall be led in chains of Grace to Jesus! Who among you will put
His trust in Jesus? For, if you do so, you shall surely find eternal
salvation the moment you believe in His dear name!

There is another way in which some men try to get off believing in
Christ and that is, they expect an actual conversion to be manifest in
them before they will trust the Savior. Now, understand that Christ has
worked salvation in no man who is unconverted. There must be a perfect
turning round of us–a complete conversion from sin to holiness. That
is salvation–not a preparation for salvation. Conversion is the
manifestation of Christ's healing power. But you are not to have this
before you trust Him–you are to trust Him for this very thing. When a
man with a disease goes to an eminent physician, does he say, "Doctor,
I will trust you with my case when I have reached a certain stage"?
"No," says the physician, "if you have reached that state you will be
in a fair way of healing and you won't need me." Your wisest plan is to
go to your physician just as you are–and if you can be sure that he is
an infallible healer, just put yourself into his hands as if you knew
nothing and he knew everything–and as if you would not have a will or
way in it, but would leave yourself entirely with him.

That is the thing to do with the Lord Jesus, the Infallible Physician
of the souls of men! Why, you poor wretched sinner, you say, "I am not
a saint. I cannot be saved." Who said you were a saint? It is Christ's
work to make you into a saint! "Oh, but I do not repent as I should."
It is Christ's work to make you repent as you should and to Him you
must come for repentance! "Oh, but my heart won't break." It is Christ
who is to break your heart–not you who are to break it and then come
to Him when it is broken. Come to Jesus just as you are, with your
hard, stony, senseless heart–and trust that and everything else to His
saving power! "I do not seem to even have a strong desire," says one.
Christ Himself gives every spiritual desire by His Holy Spirit. He is a
Savior that begins the alphabet of mercy at A. He does not ask you to
get as far as B, C, D and then promise to meet you–He begins at the
beginning.

The good Samaritan, when he found the man beaten by the thieves, went
to where he was. That is what Jesus does. He does not say, "Now, then,
you wounded man, get up and come to Me, and I will pour the oil and
wine into you." No, but He goes where the wounded one lies in utter
helplessness, stoops over him, removes his rags, cleanses his wounds,
pours in the oil and wine and lifts him up and bears him to the house
of mercy. Poor soul! My Master is not a half Savior, but a whole one!
And if you are lying at the gates of death, hard by the doors of Hell,
He is as able to save you as if you were sitting on the doorstep of
Heaven! Just where you are and as you are, trust Christ to save you and
you shall be saved! Do not look for conversion first, but expect it as
the result of faith.

We have known some who have had a very curious idea which I can hardly
put into words, namely, that if they were to be saved they would
experience some very singular sensation. They could believe in Christ
if they felt in a mysterious fashion! It is rather difficult to
understand people, but when I have been talking to some enquirers I
have thought that they expected even a physical sensation–a sensation
within their bodies. I remember one saying to me, "Sir, I was quite
sure I was saved, for I felt so light." Poor simpleton, what does it
matter whether you felt light or heavy? What has that to do with it?
Perhaps you were light-headed, or half out of your mind with absurd
excitement. Beware of such nonsense! To feel light may be interpreted
into being weighed in the balances and found wanting–it is a sensation
which may frighten as much as console.

"Oh," says one, "but I felt so singular." Yes, and many who are now in
Bedlam could say the same. What does it matter what you felt? It is not
feeling that will save you! Believing on Jesus will bring you the
blessings of Grace, but strange feelings may be produced by what you
have eaten, or by the weather, or by hysteria, or a hundred other
things! Do you not know that when politics are being discussed, or when
some other subject is under dispute, an earnest orator will often stir
men with excitement till their flesh creeps? But what of that?
Excitement does not save anybody! Many are melted to tears by a novel
or a play, but of what benefit is that? You may be moved with religious
excitement and half the emotion may be purely physical–there may be
nothing of the Grace of God in it.

The wiser way is to sit down calmly and say, "Here is God's way of
salvation–salvation through His crucified Son, Jesus Christ. And He
has promised that if I trust His Son, He will save me from sinning,
make a new man of me and heal me of my spiritual diseases. I will trust
Him, for I am sure that the witness of God is true." By that simple and
deliberate act of faith you are saved! The power to believe your God is
the evidence that the cure has begun and begun well! If you have,
indeed, trusted Him, Jesus has undertaken your case and He will save
you! The very fact that you can and do believe has, within it, the
essential force by which you will be delivered from the alienation of
your mind. He that believes God is no longer an enemy to Him. Those
whom we trust, we soon learn to love. This, you see, demands no
singular sensation or excitement–this is plain and clear enough.

"But must we not be born again?" asks one. Yes, truly, and he that
believes in Christ is born again. Though as yet he knows it not, the
first mark of life is within his soul, for the first sure token of
spiritual life is trusting Jesus Christ, alone. The best evidence is
not trusting marks, signs, evidences, inward feelings, impressions and
so on–but just getting out of that and trusting Jesus! There lies the
essence of the saving change–the getting from self to the Lord God in
Christ Jesus!

A certain mariner has a fine anchor, one of the best constructed
anchors ever used in the navy. He has it on board his ship and yet it
is not a pennyworth of use to him! While he has it on board his ship,
it does not answer the purpose of an anchor! His vessel drifts with the
anchor on board. He drags it out upon the deck and looks at it. What an
anchor! Would not that hold in the day of storm? He admires his anchor
as if it were a mass of gold! The winds howl and the waves roar, but he
feels safe with his anchor on board. Fool! This anchor is of no use to
you while you can see it. A ship's anchorage cannot be in the ship,
itself!

"Suppose I hang the anchor from the side of the vessel." It is of no
use there! What must you do with it? Fling it overboard! Let it down
into the deep, even to the bottom. It is gone! You cannot see where it
is. All right! That will do. Now, Soul, fling your anchor of trust
overboard! Do not let it hang to your feelings, or to your impressions,
or to anything that is in you, but let it go overboard, deep into the
waters of infinite love–and let it get a grip on Jesus! Outside of
you, your hope must be, for as long as your confidence is within you,
or has any dependence upon yourself, it is like an anchor on board
which can only increase the weight of the ship, but certainly cannot
help it in the day of storm. There is the Truth of God. God grant you
Grace to accept it.

II. And now, secondly, and as briefly as I can, I want to bring forward
WHAT THE REASON IS FOR OUR BELIEVING IN JESUS CHRIST. What reason have
I, as a sinner, for trusting myself with Jesus Christ? No reason
whatever within ourself need be looked for. The warrant for our
believing Christ lies in this–first, there is God's witness concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ. God, the Everlasting Father, has set forth
Christ "to be the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but
also for the sin of the whole world." God the Father says to men, "I am
able to forgive you justly through the death and righteousness of My
Son. Trust Me and I will save you."

What do you need more than that? He that believes not has made God a
liar because he has not believed His witness concerning His Son. Why,
surely, if God declares a thing, you do not need further evidence! "Let
God be true and every man a liar." What can be firmer than the voice of
God, who cannot lie? Beloved Hearers, I feel as if I really ought not
to bring any other evidence before you. It looks so like insulting the
Lord by trying to defend Him, as if His perfect Truth needed my
testimony to support it! Angels never doubt God. Those bright and
glorious beings never suspect their Maker. Worms of the dust! Worms of
the dust, how can you doubt the God that made you? Oh, let it not be
so! And when His testimony is that He is a God ready to pardon the
guilty, waiting to forgive all those that trust His Son, why should we
doubt such a gracious declaration? My Soul, I charge you, trust your
Savior and raise no further question, but let the matter be assured and
established within you!

The next warrant for our believing is Jesus Christ, Himself. He bears
witness on earth as well as the Father and His witness is true.
Consider who this Christ is whom we are bid to trust. Look at His
Person. He is God, "very God of very God." Can we doubt Him? He is
perfect Man and He has taken perfect manhood upon Himself for our
sakes. Can we doubt Him? He has lived a perfect life. When did He ever
lie? Who can charge Him with falsehood? He has died, "the Just for the
unjust, to bring us to God." And God has accepted the Sacrifice of His
dear Son. What surer proof of His truthfulness can He give us than His
death for us? O trembler, why will you refuse your confidence to One so
worthy of it? Can you doubt Calvary? Will you despise the Cross?

Will you say, "I need some other reason for trusting Christ besides His
own Person and His finished work"? I feel almost ashamed to be pleading
for such a thing as this! Tell me when my Lord was ever false. O sons
of men, tell me when once He refused to receive a sinner that came to
Him! You know that He is risen from the dead and that He has gone into
Heaven and sits, now, at the right hand of God and will shortly come.
And do you dare treat Him as a mere pretender? Can you not trust Him?
Can you dare distrust Him? Do you need signs and wonders over and above
those which are in Himself? If one should rise from the dead you would
not believe, if you do not believe Jesus, for you have more than Moses
and the Prophets when you have Christ, Himself, risen from the dead!
Will you not trust Him?

I would like to get you by the hand, my Brothers and Sisters, and put
it personally to you–Do you mean it, that you suspect my Savior and
cannot trust your soul with Him? Do you mean it? No, with tears I
entreat you, do not treat Him so badly, but cast your soul on Him at
this instant and believe Him just as you are and He will save you! He
will not run back from His word, but He will wash out your guilt in His
own blood if you will consent to be cleansed. Still, to put this in
another shape, you want to know why you are to believe–your warrant
for believing lies in the fact that God commands you to believe! "He
that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not
shall be damned." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
saved."

And this commandment we have received from our Master–that we preach
this Gospel unto every creature under Heaven–and we preach it in His
name, commanding you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that
you believe in Him! This Divine command is reason enough for you. If
God commands you to do it, you need not ask, "May I do it?" Nobody
needs permission to keep the Light of God–the command includes a
permit! When the Law of the Gospel comes from God, Himself, dear
Hearer, what is there to do but to obey it and believe at once? The
door is open, enter! The feast is spread, eat! The fountain is filled,
wash!

Moreover, there is the promise made to you and to every creature,
"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." "He that
believes in Him is not condemned." Do you hear that? "He that believes
in Him has everlasting life." He has eternal life, he has it now! These
are promises rich and free for you. What more do you want? Oh, I know
not what more I can say–when Jesus commands you, when Jesus invites
you–how can you stand back? O blessed Spirit, make this plain to men
and lead them to believe!

I will only add this one more thing–I dare say these poor lepers
believed in Jesus because they had heard of other lepers whom He had
cleansed. Now, here stands one before you, a representative of many
more in this place, who, if this were a fit time, would stand up and
say the same. I came to Jesus full of sin, guilty and lost, with a hard
heart and a heavy spirit–and I looked to Him, trusting Him, alone, to
save me–and He has saved me! He has changed my nature. He has blotted
out my sin and He has made me love Him and love all that is good and
true and generous, for His sake. It is not I, even I, that am left,
alone, to tell you, but, as I have said, there are thousands in this
Tabernacle, at this very hour, upon whom the same miracle of Divine
mercy has been worked! Therefore trust my Lord Jesus and you shall feel
the same miracle worked upon you!

Where are you, Friend, you who need so much persuading for your own
good? If I have money to give away, I do not find that I have to
persuade anybody to have it! Jingle a guinea and what ears men have!
How soon they will rush where the coin gives forth its golden notes!
Give bread away in a cold winter, or even a little soup–how the poor
will crowd to get it! But when it is, "Trust Jesus and your sin shall
be forgiven you, and your nature shall be changed, and you shall be
saved from sinning, and you shall be made pure and holy," oh, my
Master, what are they thinking that they need calling so often? Men not
only require calling, they need compelling to come in–

"Dear Savior, draw reluctant hearts!

To You let sinners fly

And take the bliss Your love imparts

And drink, and never die!"

III. I must now close with the third point which shall not occupy many
minutes. It is this, WHAT IS THE ISSUE OF

THIS KIND OF FAITH THAT I HAVE BEEN PREACHING? This doctrine of, "only
trust Jesus"–what does it lead

to? This trusting in Jesus without marks, signs, evidences,
tokens–what is the result and outcome of it? The first thing that I
have to say about it is this–that the very existence of such a faith
as that in the soul is evidence that there is already a saving change!
"Oh," you say, "I do not see that. How can it prove that I am a new man
because I trust myself with Christ?" Consider a little–it will be an
evidence of a saving change already worked, for it will show that you
have come to be obedient to Jesus–and obedient upon a matter which
your proud will has long struggled against.

Every man, by nature, kicks against simply trusting in Christ. And
when, at last, he yields to the Divine method of mercy, it is a virtual
surrender of his own will, the ending of rebellion, the establishment
of peace. Faith is obedience! Faith is the evidence that the warfare
has been ended by unconditional surrender! They said to Jesus in olden
times, "What shall we do that we may work the works of God?" And He
answered, "This is the work of God–the most godlike work that you can
do–that you believe on Jesus Christ whom He has sent." It is even
so–in one sense faith is not a work at all–and in another sense it is
the most grand of all works! Here is where God and you are at
issue–this is the central point of the quarrel! You want to be saved
by something in yourself, but God says that He will save you if you
trust in Christ!

Now, if you trust Christ just as you are, it will be an evidence that
you have been made obedient to God and so obedient that a complete,
deep-seated, radical renewal of your nature has evidently taken place.
It will be an evidence, also, that you are humble, for it is pride that
makes men need to do something, or to be something in their own
salvation. Or to be saved in some wonderful way that they may tell
other people how wonderfully they were saved. When you are willing to
be saved like a poor, good-for-nothing sinner that you are, then you
are already saved from pride! I will not compliment you–you are a
good-for-nothing wretch of a sinner and if you will trust Jesus, as a
man must do who truly bears that character–it will prove that you are
humble and this will be good evidence that a change has passed over
your spirit!

Again, faith in Jesus will be the best evidence that you are reconciled
to God, for the worst evidence of your enmity to God is that you do not
like God's way of salvation. You so much dislike God that you will not
have Heaven on God's terms! You, the sinner, are so much at war with
God that you will go to Hell rather than be saved in God's way! That is
what it comes to. And when you give that up and say, "Lord, as long as
I can be made whole–as long as I can be made to love You–I am willing
to be saved," there will be evidence of a great change in you. When you
cry, "Lord, I will be saved in Your way and I will, therefore, trust
Christ as you have bid me," then God and you are reconciled upon a
point of the chief importance! There is no battle between you, now, for
you are of one mind about trusting Christ. God has trusted His honor in
Christ's hands and you are trusting your soul in His hands, so that God
and you are now agreed to

honor Jesus. The moment you have trusted Christ, that simple thing
becomes, in itself, a distinct admission and indisputable proof that a
great change has been worked in your relation to God and in your
feelings in reference to Him.

Now, mark you, before long, sooner or later, you will become
delightfully conscious of the fact that you are saved. Many a man is
saved and, for a time, he questions the truth of the gracious work. But
in due time the blessing is made clear to him. When a man trusts Jesus
as these 10 lepers did and acts upon His trust, good always comes of
it. See the 10 men! They are going towards the priest though they have
not yet felt that they are healed! They are acting upon Christ's
authority and He will not make fools of them, for they that trust in
Him shall not be ashamed nor confounded! They must start on their walk
before they feel the healing, but as they are going they shall feel it!
And you, too, trusting Christ without any sense of any good thing,
shall not be long before you shall feel His blessed power upon your
heart.

I wish to speak my own experience simply to help those who are coming
to Jesus. While I was coming to Christ, I did not know that I was
coming. And when I looked to Christ, I scarcely knew whether it was the
right sort of look or not. But when I felt, at last, that Jesus had
healed me, then I knew what I had done. Many a blessing God has given
me as to which I have not found out that I had it till some time after
my reception of it! I have read the feelings of certain good men and I
have said, "I wish I felt like they" and some time after, when I looked
back, I perceived that I was actually moving in their orbit and passing
through the same experience!

Many a man wishes he was humble and he is humble because he does not
think he is humble! Many a person sighs, "I wish I had a tender heart,"
but I am sure that his heart is tender because he mourns its hardness!
He longs to be deeply sensitive before the Lord and it is clear that he
has a tenderness which he does not, himself, recognize. His ideal of
tenderness is very high and properly so–and, therefore, he dreads
falling short of it. O my dear Friend, if you trust Jesus in the dark,
you shall one day enter into the light! And if you never should enjoy
comfort, you would still be safe–if all the way between this place and
Heaven you should never have a consciousness of being saved–yet if you
have trusted Christ, you must and shall be saved, for He cannot
possibly allow faith in Him to be exercised in vain!

Before long, if you trust Jesus, you shall know His love. Trust Him as
you sink and you shall swim. Trust Him as you feel yourself dying and
you shall live. If you trust Him before you feel any work of Grace upon
you, you shall soon discover that there was a work upon you, though you
discerned it not. If you trust the Lord, you are already the subject of
a Divine power, for nothing short of Omnipotent Grace could have led
you to believe and live! The state and act of faith are simplicity
itself, but to bring us into that simplicity, God, Himself, must new
create us. To put all in one, if you are ready to come to Christ and
trust Him without any miracles, signs, or evidences, but will simply
trust Him, alone, you have within you a power which will carry you
through life and preserve you in holiness even to the end.

This morning I spoke about David's encouraging himself in God. [No.
1606. "Ziklag–Or David Encouraging Himself in God."] When Ziklag was
burnt, his wives taken captive and his men talked of stoning him, David
fell back on God alone. This is a high attainment and yet it is one
which has its parallel in the very dawn of faith in the sinner. It is a
grand start in life for you, a poor sinner, to begin by trusting
Christ, alone, saying, "I, without anything good in me whatever,
without anything that I can lay hold of as a hope for me, do cast
myself, whether I sink or swim, upon Christ Jesus the Savior of
sinners. And I if I perish, I perish."

This is a glorious beginning! To many a saintly life, such a faith in
the Lord, alone, has been a crowning act, and yet you, poor Sinner, may
exercise this same faith while yet you are a babe in Christ! You will
often have to trust in this fashion in future life and, therefore, it
is well to begin as you will have to keep on. You will be brought in
business, in the family and in the various trials of life, into such a
condition that you will have to exercise a faith just of the same sort
as that which you begin with. I would, therefore, have you learn the
lesson while you are young. You will have to say, "Though I am
weakness, itself, and poverty, itself, and do not see how I may be
provided for, yet as the ravens and the sparrows are fed, so shall I
be. And therefore I cast my nakedness upon God for clothing, my hunger
upon God for food and my very life I cast upon Him that He may preserve
it to me between the jaws of death."

This is grand faith and you must begin there, for if you do not, you
have not begun to build on the Rock. Your first course must be the live
Rock, or else all will be insecure. To begin well is half the
battle–mind that you get a foundation which can never be moved–for
life has many trials, and woe to the man whose foundation fails him.
This is grand faith to die with as well as to live with. The curtains
are drawn and the light of the sun is shut out. The voices of friends
begin

to fail, the ears are dull and the eye-strings break. My Soul, you are
now about to launch into the unseen world! What will you do now? What,
indeed, but faint into the arms of your Father and your God!

Oh, my dear Hearer, if you have learned to trust, at the very first
because of what Jesus is, and not because of what you are, then you
will know how to die! Standing there, in the prospect of the great
account–or rather, lying there, upon the bed in prospect of the Lord's
coming–fears will come, doubts will come and terrors will come if you
are looking within, or looking back upon your past life and trying to
find a reliance. But if you can say, "My Savior, into Your hands I
commit my spirit: my naked soul I put into Your pierced hands, again,"
then may you breathe your last in peace, knowing whom you have believed
and being persuaded that He is able to keep that which you have
committed to Him until that day! When John Hyatt lay a-dying, one of
his friends said, "Mr. Hyatt, can you now trust your soul with Jesus?"
"Man," he said, "trust Him with one soul? That is nothing! I could
trust Him with a million souls if I had them! I know that He is able to
save all who trust Him."

I want you to begin, then, as these poor lepers did–by just taking
Christ at His word–and going your way in the strength of that word
before you feel any hopeful change within. In this fashion, when you
come to die, you may look out for Glory and expect it, though the
brilliance has not yet transfigured you! You may look out for the
eternal crown; look out for the harp; look out for the face of the
Well-Beloved and the bliss unspeakable–and expect them even though the
clouds gather around you! Before you pass the gates of pearl, or cross
the chilly sea, you may enjoy the sight of the Beatific Vision by an
unstaggering faith!

Hope that is seen is not hope, but glorious is the faith which sees Him
who is invisible and grasps the substance of the things not seen as
yet! By this power I even now anticipate the joys of the upper skies.
Try, Beloved, to do the same. O for more faith! It will be grand to
know all Heaven, though you have not seen it and felt it, because you
knew and trusted the Lord of Heaven! Up to now you have found the
promise true–now trust the Lord for Glory as once you trusted Him for
Grace–and you shall find, before long, that His richest promises are
sure! God save you, every one of you, Beloved, and may He do so at this
very, this very hour, for His dear Son's sake. Amen.
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Chastened Happiness