Sermon No. 1997 — on the simplicity of faith
Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) preached to thousands every week at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. What follows are passages from his actual published sermons.
I have noticed a most remarkable fact, namely, that it is very much harder to make men believe that salvation is free than to convince them of almost any other truth of the gospel. Strange as it may appear, men will sooner believe in a very difficult salvation than in a very easy one. Tell a man he must do penance, and he will seriously consider it. Tell him he must make long prayers, or go through a certain form, and he will attempt it. But tell him that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and that the act of faith is simply to trust Christ — and he thinks you must mean something more difficult than that.
And yet, sirs, the gospel is just this — "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." It is recorded of our Lord that when they asked him, "What must we do that we might work the works of God?" he answered them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." The work that God requires of you is faith in his Son.
"God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Note carefully the time. Not after we had improved. Not when we had shown some evidence of amendment. While we were yet sinners. That is the very point. The love preceded the worthiness — because no worthiness was ever going to come. Christ died for the ungodly.
Now, what is faith? It is not a feeling. I must say that over and over again, because so many people make that mistake. They confuse faith with feeling, and they wait for a feeling before they will believe — as if the feeling produced the faith, when in truth the faith precedes the feeling.
Faith is simply believing what God says because God says it. If I tell you there is a chair in the next room, and you believe me, you have faith in my word. That is all faith is — receiving testimony. God has given his testimony concerning his Son. He has declared 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." Faith takes God at his word.
A man once said to me that he could not believe. I asked him if he thought God was a liar. He said, certainly not. "Then," said I, "he has made certain statements in his Word concerning his Son — do you believe them or do you not?" The man saw it in a moment. Faith is not generating a feeling. Faith is not working yourself into a state. Faith is simply — do you believe what God has said?
There is a text which I love beyond measure: "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." To the uttermost — that word was put there for someone. I believe it was put there for the person who thinks their sins are too great, their case too far gone, their history too dark.
Consider who came to Christ in the days of his flesh. The woman who had been a sinner in the city. The thief on the cross, with moments left to live. The man called Legion, so lost he lived among the tombs. None of them were told they had come too late or fallen too far. Not one.
"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
"In no wise." That phrase shuts every door against despair. It means: under no circumstance, for no reason, on no grounds whatsoever. You cannot arrive in a condition that qualifies you to be refused. The promise covers every case. The only question is whether you will come.
You say you mean to be saved, but not yet. You are waiting till you feel more ready, till you understand more, till your life is more in order. I have to tell you plainly that this is one of the devices of the enemy of your soul, and I would not be honest with you if I did not say so.
If you wait until you are better before you come to Christ, you wait in vain — for you will never be better without Christ. He is the physician. You do not tell a sick man to get well before he goes to the doctor. You do not tell a man whose house is on fire to put the fire out before he calls for help. Come now, as you are, and let Christ do the improving.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden." He does not say, come when you have put down your burdens. He says, come with them. He says, come labouring. The load is not a reason to delay — it is the very reason to come immediately.
What, then, must you do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is all. Not believe and do penance. Not believe and be baptized first. Not believe and sort out your life first. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ — trust him, commit yourself to him, rest the weight of your soul upon him — and thou shalt be saved.
You say, is that not too simple? I answer: it costs something that many men are not willing to pay. It costs your pride. It costs the right to say you earned your salvation, that you deserved it, that you were good enough. Faith is the act of a man who has given up every other hope and cast himself entirely on the mercy of God in Christ. That is not nothing. That is everything.
But observe what it gives you. It gives you Christ himself. It gives you the righteousness of God. It gives you the promise of eternal life. And it gives you these things now — not at the end of a long process of improvement, but in the moment of believing.