Here is a great fact mentioned, namely, that the Father sent the Son into the world. In this our Lord’s disciples had believed. Jesus says himself, “They have believed that thou didst send me.” It is one of the first essentials of saving faith to believe in Christ as the sent one of God. They had proved, in their own experience, that Jesus was sent of God; for they had found him to be sent to them. Especially they knew this, because they had found in him eternal life. To them it had been life eternal “to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he had sent.” They had entered into the possession of a new and heavenly life, and they rejoiced therein; so that to them the fact that God had sent his Son into the world was indisputable. It was a fact upon which they based their salvation. It was their hope, their joy, their theme of thought, and subject of converse They declared it with the accent of assurance.

Our Lord based upon that fact another. He says to his Father, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” As surely as Christ was sent into the world by the Father, so surely are the saints sent into the world by Christ. Note well, that I say “the saints”: I mean not the apostles only, but all the saints. I dare not limit the reference to what are called ordained ministers or apostles; for I believe it includes all the chosen of God. Was the prayer, contained in this seventeenth chapter of John, for the apostles only? I trow not. Surely our Lord prayed for all whom the Father had given to him, and not for ministers only. Beyond question, our great Intercessor pleaded for all those whom the Father gave to him; and hence it is of all these that he speaks in the words of our text. He mentions not only the officers, but the rank and file of the chosen host who have been called by grace to know him as the sent of God. He says to them all, without exception, “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” I do not for a moment dispute the need of a special call to the office of pastor or elder in the church of God, nor do I question that there are officers in the church of God upon whom peculiar responsibility rests; but no class of men may be exalted into a caste of Brahmins, who are alone sent into the world by the great Head of the church. We who spend our lives in teaching are your servants for Christ’s sake; but we rejoice that you also have a high calling of God in Christ Jesus. If we have fuller knowledge of Scripture, or larger gift of utterance, accept us as your fellow-servants, whose talents are cheerfully employed for your sakes; but if you have not these same talents, yet you have others, and you are equally given to Christ, to be by him sent into the world.

This is no trifle, but a very solemn business. To our Lord it was a special matter of prayer. It is here in that prayer which always seems to me to be the core of the whole Bible. Our Lord pleads not only about our being saved, but about our being sent. There is something here which deserves our deepest thought.

There are two petitions in our Lord’s prayer which bear upon this. First, comes the petition-“Holy Father, keep them.” You cannot serve God unless he preserves you. You will never keep the Lord’s flock unless he first shepherds you. The Lord of the vineyard must keep the keepers, or their vineyards will not be kept. The other prayer immediately precedes the text: “Sanctify them.” You cannot go out into the world as the sent ones of Christ unless you are sanctified. God will use no unholy messenger; you must be consecrated and cleansed, devoted and dedicated to God alone, or else you will not have the first qualification for the divine mission. Christ’s prayer is, “Sanctify them through thy truth.” The more truth you believe, the more sanctified you will be. The operation of truth upon the mind is to separate a man from the world unto the service of God. Just in proportion as truth is given up, worldliness and frivolity are sure to prevail. A church which grows so enlightened as to neglect the doctrines of grace, also falls in love with the vain amusements of the world. It has been so in all past ages, and it is sadly so to-day. But a church which, in a living way, holds fast the truth once for all delivered to the saints, will also separate itself from the ways of the world: in fact, the world and the worldly church will shun it, and push it into the place of separation. The more separated we are, after our Master’s fashion, the more fit shall we be to do his bidding.

Our Lord was evidently most careful as to our commission, which he bases upon his own commission, and declares to be as certain and real as his own sending by the Father. He so values this, that he prays, “Father, keep them,” and “Father, sanctify them.” May those two prayers be heard for us, and then we shall stand with our loins girt, our shoes on our feet, our lamps trimmed, and our lights burning, ready to go forth at the command of the Most High to the very ends of the earth. Our mission by Jesus grows out of his mission by the Father, and we may learn much about it by considering how the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

I would open up this subject by asking you, first, to consider what our Lord’s being sent involved to himself; for, to a large extent, there will be a parallel between his being sent and ours. The parallel is drawn by way of quality, not of equality. Christ’s commission is on a higher scale than ours; for he was sent to be a propitiation and covenant-head, and so came into positions which it would be presumption for us to dream of occupying. Still, there is a likeness, though it be only that of a drop to the sea.

Our Lord’s mission involved complete subjection to the Father’s will. He said, “My Father is greater than I”: this did not relate to his essential nature and dignity as God, but to the position which he took up in reference to the Father when he was sent to be our Saviour. He that sendeth is greater than he that is sent: the Saviour took up that subordinate position that he might do the Father’s will. From that time forth, so long as he remained under his commission, he did not speak his own words, nor do his own deeds; but he listened to the Father’s will, and what the Father said to him he both spoke and did. That is exactly where you and I have to place ourselves now, deliberately and unreservedly. Our Lord sends us, and we are to be, in very deed, subordinate to his command in all things. We are no longer masters; we have become servants. Our will is lost in the will of our glorious superior. If we are ambitious, and our ambition is guided by wisdom, it will take us down to that basin and the towel, and we shall be willing to wash the disciples’ feet, to show that we are sent by our condescending Lord. We shall henceforth have no respect unto our own dignity or interest, but shall lay ourselves out to serve him to whom we belong. Whatsoever he saith unto us we shall aim to do. Although we are sons of God, yet now we are also servants; and we would not do our own will, but the will of him that sent us. Oh, to be sound on this point, so as to yield our members in perfect obedience, and even bring every thought into subjection to Christ! Oh, to die to self and live in Christ! Can you drink of this cup, and be baptized with this baptism? I trust you can; and, if so, you shall fulfil the errand upon which he sends you.

This meant for our Lord the quitting of his rest. He reigned in heaven, all angels paid him homage; but when the Father sent him, he left his high abode. He was laid in the manger, for there was no room for him in the inn. Where the horned oxen fed, there must the holy child be cradled. The royalties of heaven are left behind; the rest which he enjoyed in the bosom of the Father must be renounced for toil, and hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and the death of the cross. Dear friends, you may serve the Lord, and yet be as happy as your Lord was; but if Jesus has sent you into the world you are not to seek ease or comfort; you are not even to make your own spiritual comfort the first object of your thought. How nice that evening at home would be! But you are sent, and therefore must turn out to win souls. How delightful it would be to read that book through, and to leave the class alone! But you must not, for you are sent to instruct and save. Henceforth you are to consider nothing but how you can answer the design of him who has sent you. Your aim must be to do the utmost possible for your Lord. The Christian who does much is still an idler if he could do more. We have never reached the point of diligence till we are doing all that lieth in us, and are even then wishing to do far more. Bought with his precious blood, the vows of the Lord are upon us, and we renounce our natural love of ease, that we may please him who has sent us.

When sent of God, the Saviour also had to forego even heaven itself. He was here on earth the God-man, the Mediator, and he did not return to the splendour of his Father’s court till he could say, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do; and now, O Father, glorify thou me.” We must not sigh for heaven while so much is to be done on earth. The rest of glory will come soon; but just now we have to do with the work of grace. Let us stick to our work here below, and do it thoroughly well, for our Lord has gone above, and is preparing a place for us. Is it not wonderful how God even now denies himself for the salvation of men? Why does not our Lord come at once in his glory? Why do we not see the millennial reign begin? It is because of the long-suffering of God: he waits and puts off the closing scene, because he is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” He keeps back even the glorious advent to give men space for salvation. That for which Jesus longs, and the Spirit longs, and the spouse longs, is kept back in mercy to the guilty. The Bridegroom postpones his marriage day that men may be brought to him by the divine longsuffering. If Jesus can do this, surely we may well wait out of compassion to our fellow-men. Even our hope of being for ever with the Lord may wait a while. So long as there is another sinner for us to rescue, we will remain in this land of our exile. That is what our Lord means: the Father has sent me from heaven, and kept me out of heaven, for the sake of men; and even so shall I detain you among the tents of Kedar for a while, that you may bring in my redeemed through the gospel.

The words of our text are, “As thou hast sent me into the world”; and this implies affinity with men. Our Lord was not sent to the edge of the world to look over the fence, and converse hopefully from a distance; but he was sent right into the world. He took on him human nature, and became bone of our bone. We read, “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.” He was a man among men. In this way Jesus has sent you, my brethren, into families, into offices, into establishments, into places where you labour for daily bread, amongst a company of ungodly men. Do not cry out because you have thus to mingle with them. Your Lord was sent into the world, not, I say, to the outskirts of it, nor to some elevated mountain, high above it, from which he might look down. He was sent into the world in an emphatic sense; and so are you sent, wisely sent, to tarry even among unconverted, infidel, and impure men, that you may do for Christ his great work, and make known his salvation.

He was sent into the world, and this involved abiding in humiliation. “The world knew him not”: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. You are not sent into the world to be honoured and pampered; nor even to receive your righteous due. If God aimed at your immediate glorification, he would take you to heaven; but he aims at your humiliation, that you may be like his Firstborn. You are to have fellowship with the Only-begotten in many ways; and among the rest, you are to be partakers of his sufferings. Expect to be misunderstood, misrepresented, belied, ridiculed, and so forth; for so was the Sent of the Father. You are to look for evil treatment; for as the Father sent his Son into a world which was sure to treat him ill, so has he sent you into the same world, which will treat you in the same manner if you are like your Lord. Be not surprised at persecution; but look for it, and take it as part of the covenant entail; for as Ishmael mocked Isaac, so will the seed after the flesh persecute that which is born according to promise.

In a word, your being sent of Christ involves unreserved dedication to his work. When Christ came into the world, he did nothing but what his Father sent him to do. He had no secondary object of any sort. From the reservoir of his being, no little stream trickled away in waste, but the whole of it went to turn the great mill-wheel of his life. The whole current and force of his nature went in one way, working out one design. Now, as the Father sent Jesus, so has Jesus sent you, to be henceforth by occupation a Christian. You are to be consecrated wholly and alone to the one object for which Christ has set you apart. There may be other lawful objects; but these you render subsidiary to the one object of your life. You have but one eye, and that eye looks to your Lord. Henceforth you belong to Christ, body, soul, and spirit-from the morning light to the evening shade, and through the night-watches. There is not a hair of your head but what Jesus values; for he has put it down in the inventory-“the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Give him, then, every single power, however feeble; every part of your nature, however insignificant. Let your whole being be the Lord’s; for “ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price.” “This is a high standard,” says one. My brethren, it is none too high; and it is sad that any should think it so. God help you to know that you are sent, and clearly to perceive what your mission involves. We, too, are missioned from above; we, too, are to have a hand in the saving of the world.

Secondly, having thus shown you the parallel so far, I now ask you to consider why our Lord was sent into the world.

Our Lord came here with one design. Christ was not sent to teach a correct system of philosophy. He was not Plato, but Jesus; not a sage, but a Saviour. He could have solved the problems of the universe; but he did not even allude to them. He was not an Aristotle, ruling the world of human thought; although he could have done so easily had he chosen. Blessed be his name, he came to save from sin; and this no Plato or Aristotle could have done. All the sages and philosophers put together are not worth so much as the little finger of a Christ. Christ entered into no rivalry with the academy; he came on a very different errand. Neither was our Lord sent to be an inventor or a discoverer. All the discoveries that have been made in modern times could have been at once revealed by him; but that was not his object, and he kept scrupulously to his one design. He could have told us the secret of the Dark Continent; but he was not sent for that end. He could have anticipated all that we have slowly learned, and saved the world the long processes of experiment and observation; but this was not the object of his mission.

He did not come to be a conqueror. God gave us in him neither Alexander nor Cæsar: of such slaughterers the world has always had enough and to spare. He conquers evil, but not by the sword. Our Lord did not come even to be a politician, a reformer of governments, a rectifier of social economics. There came one to him, who said, “Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.” You might have supposed that the Lord would have arbitrated in that case; but he did not do so, for he said, “Who made me a judge or a divider over you?” He kept to his one business, and we shall be wise to do the same. Point me to a single instance in which he interfered with the government of Pilate, or of Herod. Had he anything to say about the tyranny of Cæsar? When he takes Cæsar’s penny in his hand, he simply says, “Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” He was none of Cæsar’s, for he belonged to God, and to God alone. Should not Christian people take heed that they follow Christ in this unity of aim and purpose? This I know, I am not sent to preach to you any new philosophical system, nor to advocate any political party, nor to meddle with any of those social matters which can be better managed by others. It is mine to preach the gospel of the grace of God; and this one thing I do. If you can serve Christ and your fellow-men in any way, do it; but never get away from your one aim and purpose. If we are enabled to save men’s souls by the Holy Ghost resting upon our teaching we may die content, even though we have left fifty other excellent things undone. There are enough of the dead to bury the dead. Burying the dead is a good work; but this will be a labour more congenial to the dead around us than to ourselves: let us leave it to them. We cannot do everything: let us do that which we are sent to do. Oh, that every Christian would feel that, whatever else he would like to be, his first business is to be a servant of Christ. Your first concern is to serve Christ, and it ought to be your second thing to serve Christ. Then I would claim that it should be your third thing, and I shall get far on in numbers before I should allow any other character to take a leading position. May no possible object bear any comparison in your desires and endeavours in comparison with your resolve to glorify God your Saviour!

Notice, further, that our Lord was not sent to be ministered unto, but to minister. I fear that many of his professed servants think they have been sent to be ministered unto. Their religion consists in coming to places of worship to be ministered unto. Through the week they would like to have very particular attention from the pastor and the church officers, and you hear them grumbling that they are not sufficiently looked after. Surely, they must have been sent, not to minister, but to be ministered unto. Brethren, let us give them as much as we can of our services, for they evidently need them; but Jesus was not sent to be visited, and waited on, and served: he came to minister to others; and he did so to the full, and could truly say, “I am among you as he that serveth.” Beloved friend, you know that it is more blessed to give than to receive; therefore feel it to be your joy to live as one who is sent by Jesus to be the servant of the church, and the winner of souls.

Let us enquire what was Christ’s work upon earth. It was, first, to teach. Wherever he went he was an instructor of the ignorant. He preached of the kingdom, and of faith, and of grace. We are to teach. “I do not know anything,” says one. Then do not tell it; but first go to the Lord and ask him to teach you something; and as soon as ever you know the A B C of the gospel, go and teach somebody that A B C. You need not teach him D E F and G H I till you have advanced so far yourself; but teach all you are taught. Learn first; but when you have learned, then let others learn from you. This is what Jesus did: be teaching the gospel everywhere.

Forget not that he lived, and his living was teaching. His actions were so many heads of his life-sermon. His every movement was instructive. He went about doing good. Make your life tally with your teaching; and make your life to be a part of your teaching; nay, the best part of your discourse. The most solid and most emphatic teaching that comes from you should be what you do rather than what you say: and Christ has sent you into the world for that end.

Our Lord came also to suffer for the cause of truth and righteousness. If you follow him closely, you must expect to suffer also. Do not cry out about it, as though some strange thing had happened unto you. Take joyfully the spoiling of your good name. If Christ has sent you forth like sheep in the midst of wolves, wonder not that the wolf gives you a bite or two: is it not his nature? Let the wolf howl, but do not trouble yourself about it; for what else should a wolf do? When pain, and weakness, and bodily infirmity seize on you, and you lie for days and weeks tossed with pain all through the sleepless nights, take it all patiently, and say, “I am sent to show patience, that men may see what grace can do.”

You are sent to save men. It is true that you have not to redeem them by blood; that the Lord has done most effectually. You have not to suffer as a substitute; for his one sacrifice has sufficed; but you are sent to seek and to save that which was lost by proclaiming salvation by Christ Jesus. Every man who is saved himself should feel that he is called at once to labour for the salvation of others, Your election is not only election to personal salvation, but to personal service. You are chosen that, through your being saved, others may be called into the like felicity. View this very clearly, and get it fixed in your minds, and then carry it out in your daily lives.

“Ah!” say you, “our Lord might very well give himself up to his work; for if he had not done so, the whole world must have perished.” Listen! Your work also is indispensable. How is the work of Christ to be made effectual among the sons of men for their salvation? Must they not hear it, that they may believe it? How shall they hear without a preacher? I venture to say that as the salvation of men depended upon Christ, so, in another sense, the salvation of men at this hour depends upon the church of God. If believers do not go and preach Christ, who will? If you that love him do not commend him, who will? Do you think that the Houses of Parliament will ever meet together to consider the evangelization of the heathen? If the Government did take such work in hand, it could do nothing, for it is not a fit agent, and it would hinder rather than help the good design. Do you think the worldlings, the sceptics, the critics will ever unite to spread the kingdom of Christ, and save the souls of men? Do not dream it. If the church of God does not go forth on her holy errand, nothing will be done. “But it might be done by angels,” says one. I know it might; but “unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” He has committed unto us the word of reconciliation, even to us who are men; and we must attend to it, or great guilt will lie upon us. I should like every Christian to feel that he has to be the instrument of salvation to certain persons. It is all allotted; the whole country is measured and divided, and we have each our portion, which we must conquer for our Lord. If I belong to the tribe of Judah, I have to help my brethren to drive out the Canaanites from our portion. If you belong to the tribe of Issachar, or Benjamin, you must look to your own allotment, and clear it of the enemy. Joshua is the leader, but every Israelite is in his army. Christ has power over all flesh, as the head of the body, and he has given to each of his members a portion of his power, so that each member of his body has power over some portion of the “all flesh,” and that power must be used in the giving of eternal life to as many as the Father hath given to Jesus. God grant that you may feel this, and may go to your work as Christ went to his!

This leads me a little further, and I now invite you to consider how our Lord came; for this will show us how we ought to go forward when we are sent.

First, our Lord came with alacrity. The work of our Redeemer was no forced work. He was sent; but he willingly came.

“Down from the shining seats above

With joyful haste he fled.”

“Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” said he. He came cheerfully among the sons of men. You that are sent of Christ must always go gladly to your service; never look as if you were driven to the field like oxen which love not the plough. God does not delight in a slavish spirit. If we serve Christ because of the yoke of duty, we shall serve badly; but when our service is our pleasure, when we thank God that to us is this grace given, that we should “preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,” then we shall labour wisely, zealously, and acceptably.

Next, our Lord came with authority. The Lord God had sent him. He had the Father at his back. Be sure that, when Jesus sends you, you are invested with authority, and they that despise you do it at their peril. Your blunders and mistakes are not authorized; but so far as you speak his Word with a desire for his glory, he that receives you receives Christ, even as our Lord said, “He that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” God is with you, be not afraid; your Lord will not let your words fall to the ground.

Our Lord came with ability, too. What did his ability consist in? Mainly in this-“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me.” This is also where your sufficiency must be found; and you can have as much as you please of it. You cannot get every faculty of the brain, but you can have every influence of the Spirit. It may be, you cannot reach the highest form of education or of utterance, but these things are not vital: God can speak by your stammering tongue, even as in the case of Moses. You shall do the Lord’s work, and do it well, if you are anointed of the Holy Ghost. He who does Christ’s work in Christ’s power works an abiding work which will eternally glorify God. He who sends us out into the world to carry the gospel to every creature will give us grace to obey his bidding.

Our Lord came with absorption. Jesus came, as I have said before, to do what he was sent to do, and nothing else. He meddled with nothing beyond his vocation: every thought of his manhood, every power of his Godhead, he devoted to fulfilling the errand on which he came. His zeal had eaten him up. He was covered with it as with a cloak. The man Christ was all on fire, and all on fire with one desire, that he might finish the work which his Father had given him to do: for this joy he endured the cross, despising the shame.

Our Lord came with abiding resolve to go through with his mission to the end. He never thought of going back. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He pressed through shame, through death, to accomplish our redemption. In these days we shall not do much unless we have a desperate determination to persevere in the teeth of difficulties. Those who can go back will go back. Remember how Gideon proclaimed throughout the host, that if any man was faint-hearted he might go home; so do we proclaim to-day: go home if you are wavering. If you do not love Christ enough to be resolved to serve him to the last, what is the good of you? You will break down and lose us the victory at some important crisis. He that has been bought with the blood of Christ, and knows it, feels that he must endure to the end; for only he that endureth to the end shall be saved. We go because our Lord’s sending constrains us. “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” Woe is unto you if you do not teach the children, or speak to individuals, or write letters, or in some way fulfil your mission!

Bear with me a little, while I bid you consider how our Lord behaved as the Sent One. Oh, that we may learn from him how to fulfil our own mission!

Our Lord began early. While he was yet a youth, he said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” As soon as ever a man is converted, he should enquire, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Young believer, do not let many weeks pass over your head before you have attempted somewhat for your Lord. I will correct that exhortation; I wish you would not let a single day pass away without your bearing testimony for your Master.

But, next, our Lord waited very patiently. He was thirty years old before he preached openly. We do not know all that he did in the workshop at Nazareth. Is it not possible that he supported his widowed mother by his hand-labour? We do not know; but of this we are sure, that it is the duty of many young men to look after their parents first. It is the duty of all to “show piety at home.” Many Christian women will have done well if they have carried out home duties. She was a holy woman upon whose grave they placed this epitaph, “She made home happy.” This is what Jesus did for the first thirty years of his life. He was doing the Father’s will when he was a young man at home. Though he did not preach, yet while he was working and learning, he was carrying out the purpose for which he was sent.

When the time came for him to commence his more public service, he sought proper entrance into it. He did not blunder into God’s work by a rush and a leap; but he went to John to be baptized, and to be publicly recognized as the Messiah. John was the porter, and he opened the gate to the Good Shepherd, who came in by the door, and did not climb up some other way. He came to John, who represented the prophetic chair of the Jewish church, and so he entered into his work as minister in a lawful and proper way. I like our young friends, when they feel their time has come for public service, to begin in right style and due order, carrying out the Lord’s mind in the Lord’s way. Wilfulness in beginning may throw a man out of gear as to his future work; and it argues a spirit ill prepared for acceptable service.

That being passed, see how he laboured at his work. He was always doing the Father’s will. He worked all the day, and every day, and everywhere, with everybody. Some Christian people can only render occasional service. They are very good at a Convention. They save up their holiness for meetings. At a religious gathering they are in fine form; but they are not every-day saints. The kind of person the church needs most is the maid-of-all-work, the worker who can turn his hand to anything which providence allots him, and is glad to do so, however humbling it may be. My venerated grandmother owned a set of choice china, which, I believe, is, part of it, in existence now. Why does it exist now? It has seen little service. It only came out on high-days and holidays-say once in six months, when ministers and friends came to tea. It was a very nice set of old china; too good for children to break. Some Christians are like that fine old ware: it would not do to use them too often. They are too good for every day. They do not teach their servants, and try to win the poor people in their own neighbourhood to Christ; but they talk well at a Conference. Oh, you fine bits of egg-shell china, I know you! Don’t fear. I am not going to break you. Yet I would somewhat trouble you by the remark that in the case of such ware as you are, more pieces get broken in the cupboard than on the table. You will last all the longer if you get to work for Christ in everyday work. Jesus was not sent out for particular occasions, and neither are you. We use our Lord for a thousand hallowed purposes, and even so will he use us from time to time, if we are but ready and willing.

Notice about our Lord’s service, that his prayers always kept pace with his work. This is where most of us fail. When our Lord had a long day’s work, we find him taking a long night’s prayer. “I have so much to do,” says one, “that I could not be long in prayer.” That is putting the case the wrong way upwards. When you have most to do, you have most need to pray; and unless you keep up the proportion, your offering will fail in quality. The holy incense was sweet before God, because in that sacred compound there was a proportion of each spice; and so in our lives there must be a due measure of Word, and work, and prayer, and praise. I may say of prayer what one said of salt in the Scripture, “Salt without prescribing how much.” Prayer can never be in excess. You can salt meat too much, but you cannot salt your service too much with prayer. If you are accustomed to pray in your walk and works, at all hours and seasons, you do not err. There never will be in any of us a superfluity of devotion. God help you to be like his Son, who, though he was sent, and had the Father with him, yet could not live without prayer. May you not only feel your need of prayer, but fill up that need abundantly!

Once more, in all that Jesus did he remained in constant fellowship with the Father. He said, “He that sent me is with me.” That is a beautiful sentence. Let me repeat it-“He that sent me is with me.” The great Father had never to call to Jesus and say, “Come nearer. You are departing from me. You are too busy with Mary and Lazarus and Peter and John, and so you are forgetting me.” No, no. He did always the things that pleased God, and he was always in communion with the great Father in everything that he did. “Ah!” says one, “it is hard to commune with God, and be very busy.” Yes, but it will prove harder still to have been very busy, and not to have dwelt with God. It is easy to do much when you walk with God: and easier still to make a great fuss and do nothing because the Lord is away. To get near omnipotence will not make you omnipotent, but it will make you feel omnipotence working with you. Oh, that we might thus dwell with God as Jesus did; for he has sent us for this, even as the Father sent him.

I would leave with you four words. We are sent; therefore, whenever we try to press Christ upon men we are not guilty of intrusion. We have sometimes known strangers asked in this place about their souls, by certain of our friends, and they have grown angry at such a question. This is very silly of them, is it not? But I hope the friend who meets with an angry answer will not be at all hurt. You are not intrusive; though the angry person says you are. You are sent, and where Jesus sends you you have a right to go. The postman frequently knocks at the door as late as ten o’clock. I suppose you want to be asleep. Do you cry out-“How dare you make that noise?” No, he is the postman, an officer of Her Majesty, and he is sent out with the last mail, and must deliver the letters. You cannot blame him for doing that for which he is sent. Go you and knock at the doors of the careless and the sleepy. Give them a startling word. Do not let them perish for want of a warning or an invitation. Go on without fear: your commission is your warrant: if Jesus has sent you, you have a right to speak even to princes and kings.

Next, we are sent; therefore, we dare not run away. If Jesus bids us go forward, we must not retreat. If what we have preached and taught be of God, if we are ridiculed for it, let us take no notice, but steam ahead. Put more coals in the furnace, get the steam up, and go faster than ever in the same course. We defy the devil to stop us, for we are sent.

Next, we are sent; therefore, we are sure to be helped. Our King never sends a servant on an errand at his own charges. Our own power fails us, but he never allows his power to fail us when engaged in his service. Those who are sent shall be sustained.

But, if we are sent, remember lastly, we have to give in an account. Our Lord does not call for the time-sheet every night; but a time-sheet is kept all the same, and there will be a day for passing in the checks, and we shall have to answer for what we have done. I speak not now to you ungodly ones, whose account will be terrible at that last great day. God save you! May you believe on him whom God hath sent! But now I speak to Christian people: you will have to render in your account, and may God grant you may not have to make a lamentable return in this fashion-“On such a day so much wood, and on such a day so much hay, and on such a day so much stubble.” Let there be down in your book nothing but gold, silver, and precious stones; for it must all be tried with fire, and if you yourself are saved, if your work is burned up you will suffer loss. What pain to find your life-work to be a lot of wood, and hay, and stubble, which will blaze furiously, and die out in ashes! You know what I mean: so much time spent in planning frivolous amusements for the people, so much talent expended in teaching what is not the gospel, so much zeal consumed upon matters which do not concern eternal things, all this will burn. Beloved, do your Master’s work, win souls, preach Christ, expound your Bibles, pray men to be reconciled to God, plead with men to come to Christ. This kind of work will stand the fire; and when the last great day shall dawn, this will remain to glory and honour. God bless you, brethren, for Christ’s sake!

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-John 17.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-257, 258, 262.

SCRIPTURAL SALVATION

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, May 18th, 1890, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”-Romans 10:11.

The shepherd on the hill is most of all anxious about his sheep: he cares for his cottage, he trains the woodbine around his porch, sows flowers before his door, and digs his little plot of garden ground; but, since he is a shepherd, his chief thought follows his flock, and especially any of the sheep that are wandering, or the lambs that are tender. Even so I feel that my main business is the saving of souls. I may fitly preach to you upon any scriptural subject, and I may minister to the delight of the family of the redeemed, and lead them into the deep things of God; but my principal business must always be watching for souls. This one thing I do.

When a city is to be stored for a siege, it will be well for those who attend to the commissariat to lay in a proportion of everything that is necessary for human comfort, and even a measure of certain luxuries; but it will be of first importance to bring in great quantities of corn. The necessaries of life must be the chief provision. These we place in store-houses by tons, whereas in other articles pounds may suffice: if there be a failure of bread, what will the people do? For this reason, I feel I must preach over and over again the plain gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. While I would withhold nothing that may minister to edification, to comfort, to growth, or to the perfecting of the saints; yet, first and foremost in abundance, even to overflowing, I must gather for you the bread of life, and set forth Christ crucified as the sinner’s only hope. Faith must be urged upon you; for without it there is no salvation. Paul, in this case, was acting upon this safe principle, as he always did; for he is speaking of salvation in the plainest terms. His heart’s desire and prayer for Israel was, that they might be saved, and he proved the truth of that desire by setting forth that which would save them: he keeps to faith in Christ, and hammers upon that nail to fasten it surely.

I shall begin my sermon this morning by reminding you that, here is an old-fashioned way of proof: “The Scripture saith.” In this enlightened age little is made of Scripture; the tendency is to undermine men’s faith in the Bible, and persuade them to rest on something else. It is not so with us, as it certainly was not so with Paul. He enforced and substantiated his teaching by declaring, “The Scripture saith.”

In this he follows the manner of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Though quite able to speak of himself, our Lord continually referred to Holy Scripture. His first public sermon was founded upon the Book of the prophet Isaiah. All along to the very end he was always quoting the Old Testament. So did his apostles. One is struck with their continual reference to Moses and the prophets. While they set the truth in a fresh light, they fell back continually upon the old revelation. “As saith the Scripture,” “According to the Scriptures”-these are phrases constantly repeated. Paul declared that he spent his life “witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.”

Evidently they regarded the statements of Scripture as conclusive. They took counsel of the Scriptures, and so they ended the matter. “It is written,” was to them proof positive and indisputable. “Thus saith the Lord,” was the final word: enough for their mind and heart, enough for their conscience and understanding. To go behind Scripture did not occur to the first teachers of our faith: they heard the Oracle of divine testimony, and bowed their heads in reverence. So it ought to be with us: we have erred from the faith, and we shall pierce ourselves through with many sorrows, unless we feel that if the Scripture saith it, it is even so. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” and therefore they spake not erroneously, nor even dubiously.

In the passage before us we have an instance of inspiration endorsing inspiration, and building thereon. Paul wrote by the direction of the Holy Spirit; he was himself a fully inspired man, and he had no lack of original speech; yet he falls back upon the Scripture. He calls the Old Testament to bear witness to the doctrine of the New, and in the same act expresses the agreement of the New with the Old. How far have they diverged from the Christian spirit, who begin to question the authenticity and authority of the books of Moses and the prophets! Brethren, had Paul been without inspiration, he was so great a saint and so eminent a confessor, that his reverence for the Old Testament would have been a lesson to us; but since we believe this epistle to have been inspired of the Holy Ghost, we are bound, as by divine law, to treat the ancient Scriptures as the great apostle treated them, namely, with absolute deference, regarding them as the sure Word of the Lord. To us it matters not what critics may say to shake faith in Holy Writ; their efforts will be all in vain if we are intimate with the Author of these books, and by his Holy Spirit possess a personal sense of his truth, his wisdom, and his faithfulness. After God has spoken, it little concerns us what the wise men of the world may have to say. They have always spoken against the Word of the Lord; but they have always spoken in vain, and so will they speak, even to the world’s end.

Paul, in saying here, “For the Scripture saith,” is referring, I think, to the general sense of Scripture, rather than to any one passage. There are several texts from which it may be gathered that believers shall not be put to shame; such as, “They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.” But if the apostle is referring to any one passage of the Old Testament, he is not quoting it verbatim, but he is expounding it, and giving its general sense. Assuming that he refers to Isaiah 28:16, I am glad of the lesson which he affords us in a kind of instructive criticism. When the Spirit of God himself deals with inspired Scripture, we can gather from his example how we may deal with it. It is best as far as possible to quote the very words of Scripture, lest we should err; but we have here a permit to quote the clear and evident sense, and we are allowed to regard that sense as equally authoritative with the exact words. Paul quotes, if he quotes at all, from the Septuagint translation rather than from the Hebrew, thus sanctioning a translation. Let us read the words in Isaiah 28:16. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” You see at once the difference between the text as Paul gives it to us, and the original Hebrew.

Observe, first, that under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul reads the passage in its largest sense. The original text is, “He that believeth”; but Paul makes it, “Whosoever believeth.” That is the true meaning. “He that believeth,” means any “he” that believeth; and to make this fact clear, Paul says, “Whosoever believeth.” We ought to take the promises of Holy Scripture in their widest possible application. When we meet with a passage distinctly referring to one person only, we are allowed to remember that no Scripture is exhausted by one fulfilment. You, being like that person, and in similar circumstances to him, may quote the promise as made to you; for it is intended for the whole class of persons of whom that one person is the representative. “He that believeth,” is in Paul’s judgment, nay, in the judgment of the Holy Ghost, tantamount to “Whosoever believeth.” A promise made by man will legally be interpreted in its narrowest sense; but a promise made by God may always be taken in its major sense, since God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and his ways than our ways. Everything it will honestly bear you may pile upon the back of a divine promise. God loves to see faith taking him at his word, and he will do for it exceeding abundantly above what we ask or even think.

Next, note that Paul reads the verse with the context. In the Hebrew it is, “He that believeth”; but Paul reads it, “Whosoever believeth on him.” Did he do right to supply the “on him”? Certainly, since he thus gives the sense of the quotation as it stands in the prophet. I said before that Paul is not quoting verbatim et literatim, he aims at giving the sense of the passage; and, therefore, paraphrases it so as to remind you of its connection. “On him” is necessary to a perfect quotation of the passage as it stands. Let us read again: “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth”-evidently it is, “He that believeth” in this foundation “shall not make haste.” That foundation is not “it,” but “Him”; for it refers to Christ. Expressions separated from that which comes before them, and follows after them, may not express the writer’s mind; and, therefore, when we quote from Holy Scripture we should endeavour not merely to give the words which are actually in the text, but to add such words as duly set forth the context. This lesson is worth learning.

Once more, the apostle gives us the true and plain meaning of the text. He leaves the figure which was suitable for Isaiah, but might have been misunderstood by the Romans, and he gives the sense intended by Isaiah in plainer language. The prophet said, “He that believeth shall not make haste.” That “making haste,” means being fluttered and alarmed, and so being led to run from the foundation. Such a person fled in haste because he was ashamed of his hope. Paul puts aside the drapery of the metaphor to let the uncovered sense stand out boldly. He expounds the Scripture under infallible guidance, and gives its meaning to us in this form, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

The true sense of the passage our apostle uses by way of argument: he enforces the promise of the gospel by the teaching of the prophet, Dear friend, when you go to win souls, go with a clear understanding of the Scriptures, and then quote those Scriptures frequently, if you would have power over the minds of men. Do not think to convince sinners by your own fine phrases, but use the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth. If you want to bring souls to faith in Christ, remember that faith is begotten by the Word; for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The more of the true sense of the Word of God we can compress into our exhortations, the more likely shall we be to succeed in our gracious design. This is Paul’s mode of argument, “the Scripture saith”; and we know no better.

And now, secondly, we have before us a simple statement of the way of salvation: “The Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” The way of salvation is to believe on Christ, whom God has laid in Zion for a foundation.

What is believing on him? It is trusting in him. The language is not “Believe him,”-such belief is a part of faith, but not the whole. We believe everything which the Lord Jesus has taught, but we must go a step further, and trust him. It is not even enough to believe in him, as being the Son of God, and the anointed of the Lord; but we must believe on him, just as in the building (for that is the figure used by Isaiah) the builder takes his stone and lays it on the foundation. There it rests with all its weight, there it abides. The faith that saves is not believing certain truths, nor even believing that Jesus is a Saviour; but it is resting on him, depending on him, lying with all your weight on Christ as the foundation of your hope. Believe that he can save you; believe that he will save you; at any rate leave the whole matter of your salvation with him in unquestioning confidence. Depend upon him without fear as to your present and eternal salvation. This is the faith which saves the soul.

Notice, next, that this faith is believing on a Person: “He that believeth on”-it? No! On “Him.” Our faith is not based on a doctrine, or a ceremony, or an experience; but on “Him!” Our Lord Jesus Christ is God; he is also man: he is the appointed and anointed Saviour. In his death, he is the propitiation for sin; in his resurrection, he is the justification of his people; and in his intercession, he is the eternal guarantee of their preservation. Believe “on him.” Our faith fixes herself upon the Person of the Lord Jesus as seen in his sufferings, his offices, and his achievements. “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

The text refers to the truth of the trusting. The apostle does not say, “Whosoever believeth on him with full assurance, or with a high degree of confidence, shall not be ashamed.” No; it is not the measure of our faith, but the sincerity of our faith which is the great question. If we believe on him at all, we shall not be ashamed. Our faith may be very trembling, and this will cause us sorrow; but a trembling faith will save. The greater your faith, the more comfortable for you; but if your faith is small as a grain of mustard-seed, it will save you. If your faith can only touch the hem of the Saviour’s garment behind him, it will heal your soul; for “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Is there not blessed comfort about this assurance?

Observe, again, that all depends upon the presence of this trusting, and not upon the age of it. “He that believeth on him”: this relates to the immediate present. Perhaps the truster has only believed on Jesus during the last five minutes. Very well, he does believe on him, and he shall not be ashamed. Some of us are glad to remember that we were built on the sure foundation more than forty years ago. But the length of years during which we have believed does not enter into the essence of the matter: believers are saved whether their faith has lasted through half a century or half an hour. “Whosoever believeth on him,” takes in the convert of this morning as well as the hero of a thousand fights. My newly-believing friend, I am sorry you have put off faith so long; but, still, I am greatly glad that you have believed at all; for your faith shall not be put to shame.

One other remark needs to be made before I leave this point. Note the soleness of the object of faith. “Whosoever believeth on him.” Nothing else is mentioned in connection with the Lord Jesus, who is the sole foundation. It is not written, “He that believeth on Jesus nine parts out of ten, and on himself for the other tenth.” No! “Whosoever believeth on him”-on him alone. Jesus will never be a part Saviour. We must not rest in part upon what we hope to do in the future, nor in part upon the efficacy of an outward ceremony. No! The faith must be “on him.” Both feet must be on the Rock of Ages. The whole stone must rest on the foundation. Take Christ to be the sole Saviour of your soul. I saw written at the foot of a Cross in France, “Spes unica”-Jesus is the lone hope of men. There is but one star in your sky, sinner, and that star is the Star of Bethlehem! There is but one light for the tempest-tost mariner on the stormy sea of conviction of sin, and that light is the Pharos of the Cross. Look there! Look there! Only there; “For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Now if any soul here perishes, it will not be my fault. However feebly I may preach this morning, I shall go home satisfied that I have set before you enough for your salvation, if you be willing and obedient. I have most plainly set before you the way of salvation. What more can I do? I can bring the horse to water, but I cannot make him drink; I can set the water of life before you, but I can do no more if you turn away from it. If you accept of the Lord Jesus and believe on him, you shall not be ashamed; but if you put him far from you, you will die in your sins, and your blood will be upon your own heads.

So I pass on to the third point: the glorious promise to those who obey the gospel. “The Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Take the Hebrew form of it first: “shall not make haste.” When a man builds his hope upon the Lord Christ, he is not driven into worry and hurry. He quietly walks with God, and does not haste through fear. They say that the floods are out, that the winds are howling, that the rains are descending: he that trusts in a refuge of lies may well make haste to flee; but he that has built his house upon the rock, quietly answers, “The flood is coming; I supposed it would. The rains are falling; I expected that they would. The winds are blowing; I was forewarned of the tempest, and I am prepared for it by being on the rock!” His house will stand. He will never be ashamed of its foundation. In patience he possesses his soul.

“Calm ’mid the bewildering cry;

Confident of victory.”

The Holy Spirit’s reading of the Holy Spirit’s Word in the Old Testament is, “He shall not be ashamed,” and this means that he shall not be ashamed at any time by discovering that he has been deluded. Men are ashamed when their hopes fail. If a man has an expectation of eternal life, and on a sudden he sees his hope dashed to shivers, is he not ashamed? If on his dying bed his confidence should turn out to be based on a falsehood, how ashamed he will be! He will then say, “I am ashamed to think I did not take more care. I am ashamed that I followed my own judgment instead of God’s Word.” They shall lie down in sorrow who find their hope to be as a spider’s web. It will be a awful thing in our last moments, when we most need comfort, to be driven to despair by the wreck of our confidence. If any of you are trusting in your gold, it will turn out to be a poor confidence when you are called upon to leave all earthly things. I have heard of one who, on his death-bed, laid bags of money to his heart; but he was forced to lay them away, and cry, “These will not do! These will not do!” It will be a sorry business if we have been trusting in our good temper, our charity, our patriotism, our courage, or our honesty, and when we come to die shall be made to feel that these cannot satisfy the claims of divine justice, or give us a passport to the skies. How sad to see robes turn to rags, and comeliness into corruption! How wretched to regard one’s self as covered with a garment fit for Christ’s great wedding-feast, and then to wake out of a dream and find one’s self naked? You will never have this vexation of spirit if you take Christ Jesus to be your confidence. So far from being ashamed, you will boast in the crucified Saviour; yea, you will vow with Paul, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Furthermore, dear friends, he that believes on Christ shall not be ashamed to own his faith. This is a sharp saying, and it cuts as a razor. I wish it would make a great gash in cowardly spirits. “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Some think they believe on Christ, and yet they are ashamed to own their faith in the Lord’s appointed way; or, indeed, in any way. If they are in ungodly company, they do with their faith as they do with their dog when a friend comes in: they say, “Lie down, sir.” Because it is inconvenient to be known to be a believer, they treat the Lord Christ as they would treat a dog. Some of you have never made a confession of your Lord: what will become of you? “Oh,” say you, “do not say hard things!” I do not say them out of my own head: let me read the passage to you from verse ten: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” What is the meaning of the whole passage? I cannot shut my eyes to the truth, that it speaks of confessing Christ, and declares that he who really believes on him will not be ashamed of it. If you, my hearer, are ashamed of your Lord, your faith is not real; or, to say the least of it, you have cause to suspect that it is not. If you are ashamed, you are an unbeliever; for, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” The Christian’s song is-

“I’m not ashamed to own my Lord,

Or to defend his cause;

Maintain the honour of his Word,

The glory of his cross.”

For my own part, I have often said, and I cannot help repeating it yet again-

“E’er since by faith I saw the stream

His flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall be till I die.”

I am not ashamed of my hope; I love to state it, to glory in it, and to make it widely known. I heard of a “modern-thought” minister of some repute, that a person asked him, “Sir, what is your theory of the atonement?” He replied, “My dear sir, I have never told that to any living person, although I have been a preacher for years, and I am not going to commit myself now.” He seemed to think that this was rather a wise thing. My course runs in the opposite direction: I believe in the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, and I am not ashamed of the old-fashioned doctrine. “He loved me, and gave himself for me”; why should I be ashamed to own it? I will not believe anything that I dare not preach. I have a grave suspicion that it will go ill at last with the man who has one faith for the public and another for himself. We should be ashamed at being ashamed of Christ and his truth.

Still, this is not all the meaning of our text: the believer shall have no cause to be ashamed. Let me try to illustrate this assertion.

We shall not be ashamed because our faith is proved to be unreasonable. When a man is convicted of believing an absurdity, he is ashamed. But there is nothing unreasonable in the truth that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I will not say that reason teaches this grand fact; for reason could not reach so high. This truth is above reason, but it is not contrary to reason. When you get some idea of the infinite goodness and justice of God, it will not seem unreasonable that he should be willing to forgive sinners, nor unreasonable that he should devise a way by which he can do this without injury to his moral government. There is a sweet reasonableness in the provision of a Substitute for guilty men, and a still sweeter reasonableness in the salvation of those who believe in the Lamb of God. In fact, the gospel system is so blessedly reasonable, that when it comes home to the enlightened understanding it carries the mind by storm. I have seen love at first sight with many a man who, for the first time, has heard how God is “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” It has seemed so Godlike a method, that the man has accepted it at once: it bore its proof in its face.

Next, we are not ashamed because our faith has been disproved; for it has never been disproved. No man has been able to prove that the Son of God was not here on earth, and that he did not die on the Cross, the “just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” The resurrection has never been disproved, nor the ascension, nor the descent of the Holy Ghost. Nothing has overthrown apostolic testimony. To cavil at a statement is not to disprove it. To make it a matter of coarse jest is not to disprove it. The apostles and their companions bore public witness; and died because of their solemn conviction of the truth of their testimony. They were simple men, who could not have invented the gospel story if they would; and they were good men, who would not have invented it if they could. Until men can prove that there was no Christ, and no propitiation for sin, we shall not be ashamed to believe on him.

We shall never be ashamed of believing on Jesus, because by experience we shall find it to be unsatisfactory to our conscience. No, no. We are more than content with the ground of our trust in this respect. Well do I remember when I first gripped the thought that Jesus suffered in my place and stead, and that I, looking to him, was saved. I felt a peace like a river, ever flowing, ever deepening, ever widening. My former trouble had arisen from the question-how could God, as a righteous judge, pass by my violation of his holy law? Sin is not to be viewed as a personal offence to God, as a Being, but a rebellion against his laws as the Judge of all the earth, who must do right. How could he wink at sin? How could he treat the guilty as the innocent? When I saw that he did not wink at sin, but that Jesus came to vindicate the divine law by suffering in our place, I rested with all confidence on that blessed fact. My heart said, “It is enough,” and to-day it cries, “It is enough.” My conscience has never raised a question about the security furnished by the ransom of the Lord Jesus. My heart remains perfectly at ease now she knows that “He his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” If the nature of God had not required an atonement for sin, the conscience of the sinner might have needed it. The righteous apprehension of conscience as to wrath to come demands a vindication of the law. Because we have this vindication in Christ we are not ashamed.

We are not ashamed of the gospel of salvation by faith in Christ because it proves inoperative upon our lives. I remember the witty Sidney Smith, who by mistake figured as a clergyman, managed to come into collision with the Methodists, and he charged them with so much preaching faith that good works were at a discount. Surely he never heard Mr. Wesley. I venture to say that the Methodists produced more good works than Mr. Smith’s preaching ever did. If any say to us, “This faith of yours takes you off from trusting in works”; we answer, “It does; but it does not take us off from practising them.” Faith is the mother of holiness and the nurse of virtue. The lives of the Puritans who taught the gospel of faith in Christ were infinitely preferable to the lives of those Cavaliers who believed in human merit. The fact is, that men who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have even been ridiculed for being righteous over much, and rated for a sort of moroseness of morality; but history has never afforded the least support to the charge that they were indifferent to morality. Indifferent to morality? We never knew what holiness was until we believed in Jesus. We had no aspirations after purity till we were saved by him. The spiritual effect of faith in Jesus is of the noblest. Oh, that we could display more of it!

We are not ashamed to challenge investigation as to the philanthropic effect of faith in the gospel. If anyone should sneer, and say, “You believers think yourselves saved, and so you are comfortably unconcerned as to what becomes of others.” I should answer, “What a lie!” We love the souls of men, and we have proved it in our ministry, and in our incessant efforts to save them. We have gone with breaking heart and bowed head because certain of our hearers remain in unbelief. I can appeal to you all, that my ministry has been full of earnest expostulations, affectionate appeals, and tearful entreaties. God is our witness how truly we can say, our heart’s desire and prayer to God for others is, that they may be saved. We are not ashamed to say that the ministry of those who believe alone in Christ, and who know assuredly that they are saved by grace, has about it, as a rule, a greater power to win souls than the ministry of those who preach other gospels. We say no more, lest we become fools in glorying. We are not ashamed of our hope on this ground.

We are never ashamed of it, again, as to its operation upon others. When I look back through my life, having preached nothing in this place but faith in Christ as the way of salvation, I can, without any effort of memory, remember many drunkards made sober, harlots made chaste, lovers of pleasure made lovers of God. Many have been reclaimed from among the poorest and most degraded, and some from the rich and vicious. We have seen what faith in God has done by lifting them from the level of selfishness to the heights of grace. If we had to go down into the worst slum of London we would not wish for anything better to preach than Christ crucified; and if we had to visit the gayest hells of the West End, we would not wish for any theme more powerful than the Cross of our Lord Jesus. “Believe and live” is still a charm most potent. We have no cause to be ashamed of what the truth of God has done in ages past, and is doing even at this day.

I will tell you when we should be ashamed of our hope, and that would be if we saw it repudiated by dying saints. It is all very well to be a believer when you are young, and in health, and can go about your business; but how will it fare with men and women, when they are called to go upstairs and suffer, and never to come down again till carried to their long home? How does the gospel serve them when they know that they cannot live another week? What is the condition of believers on the brink of the grave? Those who believe in Jesus are calm and happy; frequently they are exultant, and the bed can scarcely hold them because of their supreme joy in the prospect of being with their Lord. I am not telling you idle tales, brothers and sisters. Many of you know that I speak the truth; for it is of your own relatives that I am speaking now. Our people die well. We have no occasion to be ashamed. Tested by the dying of our fellow-believers, we are not ashamed of the gospel.

We might be ashamed, once more, if we could be outbidden in our prospects by some other system. What form of religion offers more to the believer than the system of grace and simple faith in Jesus? Nowhere in the world, that I know of, is there any other system of religion which promises sure salvation to its followers. The Roman Catholic system does not at all provide for present and everlasting salvation. What does it provide for? For your getting out of purgatory in due time, and no more. When I was in the Church of St. John Lateran, at Rome, I read a request for prayer for the repose of the soul of his Eminence, Cardinal Wiseman. Now Cardinal Wiseman was a great man, a prince of the church, but yet he is somewhere in the other world, where he is not in repose: so this request indicates. There must be a very poor outlook for an ordinary Catholic. For my part I would give up so cheerless a hope, and become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and go to heaven. “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” When the best Catholic finds himself in purgatory he will be ashamed, and will say, “Oh, that I had taken to the way of trust in the all-sufficient merit of the Lord Jesus; for then I should have been covered with his righteousness, and should have been with him where he is.” Beloved friends, our rivals do not outbid us. Our gospel brings immediate pardon for every sin, a gracious change of nature, the regeneration of the heart, and the preservation of the soul to Christ’s eternal kingdom and glory. Hallelujah!

I have done, when I say to you, lastly, that in my text we see a wide door of hope for the seeker. Read that word, “whosoever,” whosoever, whosoever. I must keep on ringing that silver bell. It rings in the thirteenth verse-“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It rings in the text-“Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

No secret decree has ever been made to shut out any soul that believeth on him. God has not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth, and said, “Such a man may believe in Christ, and yet he shall be lost.” Do not be afraid of this; for it is impossible.

No measure of sin in your past life can deprive you of this promise. “Whosoever believeth on him,” though he had been a murderer, or a thief, or a drunkard, or an adulterer, or a liar, or a blasphemer, shall find his faith removing his sins through the blood of Jesus, and renewing his heart by the Holy Spirit. “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Says one, “I shall always be ashamed that I have so greatly transgressed.” Yes, I know; but still you shall be so perfectly pardoned that your sin shall be blotted out, and you shall not remember the shame of your youth.

“But I do not feel as I ought,” says one. You shall feel aright if you will believe on him. You shall not be shut out of the promise through any want of sensitiveness. It is not said, “Whosoever believeth on him and is sensitive to a high degree shall be saved.” No: “Whosoever believeth on him.” You ought to be sensitive, you ought to be tender, you ought to be grieved for sin, and you shall be if you believe on him. If you believe on Jesus, he will give you true repentance and deep self-abhorrence; but you must come to Jesus for these things, and not try to find them in your own depraved hearts. Nothing limits this “whosoever”: “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

“Alas,” cries one, “I have a strong besetting sin, I have a hot temper, or fierce lusts, or a desperate thirst for drink.” Yes, I know; but if you believe on him you shall not be ashamed; for these shall be conquered and destroyed. You shall be helped to fight against them until you get a complete victory, and so you shall never be ashamed.

“Ah,” says one, “but I once made a profession, and I have gone back.” Yes; but, “whosoever” does not shut out the wanderer. Backsliding is a great and bitter evil, but he that believeth is justified from every sin. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Come, then, with your heaped up sins and be unburdened. Come, though seven devils dwell within you: come to have them driven out, and yourself made white in the blood of the Lamb. Come, for you shall not be ashamed. Let no man stand back and say, “I dare not come.” Remember, the word of the Saviour, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” “In no wise,” that is, for no possible reason. “Oh, but my birth was shameful.” I may be speaking to one who is illegitimate. This is no barrier; for children of shame may be made heirs of glory. The Lord rejects none, however uneducated, coarse, or dull they may be. Neither does race offer hindrance. Be you an Englishman or a Chinaman, there is no difference. White, black, brown, red, or blue, still does the promise stand, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” There is no distinction as to rank, name, class, or reputation. “Oh, but look at my profession.” I am sorry if it is an ill profession: get out of it, and do something honest; but whatever you may be by trade, come to Jesus and believe on him; for, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” “Alas, I am too old!” says another. What are you? Two hundred? “No, not so old as that.” Then, you are under age as yet. Never mind how old you are; “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” If you have one foot in the grave, faith may put both feet on the Rock of Ages. You are yet on praying ground and pleading terms with God, therefore come to Jesus; for he hath said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Come with your little faith, and your trembling hope, and believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall not be ashamed.

Lastly, in that day when the earth and heaven shall melt, and nothing shall be seen but Christ upon the throne, judging all the earth, those who have not believed in him will be ashamed. They will have no excuse to offer: they have none even now. They will then be ashamed that they did not take the counsel of their godly friends, and heed the pleadings of their minister. They will be ashamed to think how they put off thoughts of Christ, and lingered until they found themselves in hell. The face of the Lord Jesus will be terrible to unbelievers to the last degree. One young person, in great trouble of soul, said to me the other day, “When I am lost, I shall always see your face; it will accuse and condemn me.” She will not be lost. Dear girl, I trust she will soon find peace with God through Jesus Christ. It will be terrible to those who refuse the gospel even to remember the preacher of it; but infinitely more so to see the face of him who bled and died, and loved unto the uttermost. Oh, to think, “I would not have him! I would not be saved by him! I preferred to trust to myself, or not to think at all, and now here I am.” Assuredly, the flames of hell will be more tolerable than a sight of his face. The bitterest wail of Tophet is this-“Hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne!” Ye sinners, seek his face, whose wrath ye cannot bear. God help you to seek it now. Before you leave this house may you seek it and find it. He saith, “Seek ye my face.” May God the Holy Spirit lead you to obey the call. Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Romans 10.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-907, 118, 531.