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SUBJECT: 01 JOH 1:11-13 The Simplicity and Sublimity
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The Simplicity and Sublimity of Salvation
March 6th, 1890
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."-- Joh_1:11-13.
Everything here is simple; everything is sublime. Here is that simple
gospel, by which the most ignorant may be saved. Here are profundities,
in which the best-instructed may find themselves beyond their depth.
Here are those everlasting hills of divine truth which man cannot climb;
yet here is that plain path in which the wayfaring man, though a fool,
need nor err, nor lose his way. I always feel that I have no time to spare
for critical and captious persons. If they will not believe, neither shall
they be established. They must take the consequences of their unbelief.
But I can spare all day and all night for an anxious enquirer, for one who
is blinded by the very blaze of the heavenly light that shines upon him,
and who seems to lose his way by reason of the very plainness of the road
that lies before him. In this most simple text are some of the deep things
of God, and there are souls here that are puzzled by what are simplicities
to some of us; and my one aim shall be, so to handle this text as to help
and encourage and cheer some who would fain touch the hem of the
Master's garment, but cannot for the press of many difficulties and grave
questions which rise before their minds.
Let us go to the text at once, and notice, first, a matter which is very
simple: "As many as received him . . . even to them that believe on his
name"; secondly, a matter which is very delightful: "to them gave he
power to become the sons of God"; and thirdly, a matter which is very
mysterious: "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God."
I. Here is, first, A MATTER WHICH IS VERY SIMPLE; receiving
Christ, and believing on his name. Oh, that many here may be able to
say, "Yes, I understand that simple matter. That is the way in which I
found eternal life"!
The simple matter of which John here speaks is receiving Christ, or, in
other words, believing on his name.
Receiving Christ is a distinctive act. "He came unto his own, and his
own received him not." The very people you would have thought would
have eagerly welcomed Christ did not do so; but here and there a man
stood apart from the rest, or a woman came out from her surroundings,
and each of these said, "I receive Christ as the Messiah." You will never
go to heaven in a crowd. The crowd goes down the broad road to
destruction; but the way which leadeth to life eternal is a narrow way;
"and few there be that find it." They that go to heaven must come out one
by one, and say to him that sits at the wicket-gate, "Set my name down,
sir, as a pilgrim to the celestial city." They who would enter into life
must fight as well as run, for it is an uphill fight all the way, and few
there be that fight it out to the end, and win the crown of the victors.
Those who received Christ were different from those who did not receive
him; they were as different as white is from black, or light from
darkness. They took a distinctive step, separated themselves from others,
and came out and received him whom others would not receive. Have
you taken such a step, dear friend? Can you say, "Yes, let others do as
they will, as for me, Christ is all my salvation, and all my desire; and at
all hazards I am quite content to be counted singular, and to stand alone;
I have lifted my hand to heaven, and I cannot draw back. Whatever
others may do, I say, 'Christ for me'"?
As it was a distinctive act, so it was a personal one: "To as many as
received him." They had to receive Christ each one by his own act and
deed. "Even to them that believe on his name." Believing is the distinct
act of a person. I cannot believe for you any more than you can believe
for me; that is clearly impossible. There can be no such thing as
sponsorship in receiving Christ, or in faith. If you are an unbeliever,
your father and mother may be the most eminent saints, but their faith
does not overlap and cover your unbelief. You must believe for yourself.
I have had to even remind some that the Holy Ghost himself cannot
believe for them. He works faith in you; but you have to believe. The
faith must be your own distinct mental act. Faith is the gift of God; but
God does not believe for us; how could he? It is for you distinctly to
believe. Come, dear hearer, have you been trying to put up with a
national faith? A national faith is a mere sham. Or have you tried to
think that you possess the family faith? "Oh, we are all Christians, you
know!" Yes, we are all hypocrites; that is what that comes to. Unless
each one is a Christian for himself, he is a Christian only in name, and
that is to be a hypocrite. Oh, that we might have the certainty that we
have each one laid our sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God! God
grant that, if we have never done so before, we may do so this very
moment!
Mark, next, that, as it was a distinctive and personal act, so it related to
a Person. I find that the text runs thus, "He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name." That religion which leaves out the person of Christ, has left out
the essential point. Thou art not saved by believing a doctrine, though it
is well for thee to believe it if it be true. Thou art not saved by
practising an ordinance, though thou shouldst practise it if thou art one
of those to whom it belongs. Thou art not saved by any belief except this,
believing on Christ's name, and receiving him. "I take in a body of
divinity," says one. Do you? There is no body of divinity that I know of
but Christ, the son of God in human flesh, living, bleeding, dying, risen,
ascended, soon to come; thou must lean on him; for the promise is only to
as many as receive him.
This reception of Christ consisted in faith in him: "As many as received
him . . . even to them that believe on his name." He was a stranger, and
they took him in. He was food, and they took him in, and fed on him. He
was living water, and they received him, drank him up, took him into
themselves. He was light, and they received the light. He was life, and
they received the life, and they lived by what they received. As the empty
cup receives from the flowing fountain, so do we receive Christ into our
emptiness. We, being poor, and naked, and miserable, come to him, and
we receive riches, and clothing, and happiness in him. Salvation comes
by receiving Christ. I know what you have been trying to do; you have
been trying to give Christ something. Let me caution you against a very
common expression. I hear converts continually told to give their hearts
to Jesus. It is quite correct, and I hope they will do so; but your first
concern must be, not what you give to Jesus, but what Jesus gives to you.
You must take him from himself as a gift to you, then will you truly give
your heart to him. The first act, and, indeed, the underlying act all the
way along, is to receive, to imbibe, to take in Christ, and that is called
believing on his name. Note that "name." It is not believing a fanciful
christ; for there are many christs nowadays, as many christs as there are
books, nearly; for every writer seems to make a christ of his own; but the
christ that men make up will not save you. The only Christ who can save
you is the Christ of God, that Christ who, in the synagogue at Nazareth,
found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
You are to believe on the Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures. You
are to take him as you find him here; not as Renan, not as Strauss, or
anybody else, pictures of him; but as you find him here. As God reveals
him, you are to believe on his name: "the Wonderful, Counsellor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace"; Emmanuel,
God with us; Jesus, saving from sin; Christ anointed of the Father. You
are to believe on his name, not on the Christ of Rome, nor the Christ of
Canterbury, but the Christ of Jerusalem, the Christ of the eternal glory;
no christ of a dreamy prophecy, with which some are defaming the true
prophetic spirit of the Word, no christ of idealism, no man-made christ;
but the eternal God, incarnate in human flesh, as he is here pictured by
Psalmist, Prophet, Evangelist, Apostle, very God of very God, yet truly
man, in your stead suffering, bearing the sin of men in his own body on
the tree. It is believing in this Christ that will effectually save your soul.
To believe is to trust. Prove that you believe in Christ by risking
everything upon him.
"Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die,
I risk my whole eternity."
On his who lived for me, and died for me, and rose again for me, and
has gone into heaven for me; on him I throw the whole weight of past,
present, and future, and every interest that belongs to my soul, for time
and for eternity.
This is a very simple matter, and I have noticed a great many sneers at
this simple faith, and a great many depreciatory remarks concerning it;
but, let me tell you, there is nothing like it under heaven. Possessing this
faith will prove you to be a son of God; nothing short of it ever will. "To
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of
God;" and he has given that power to nobody else. This will prove you to
be absolved, forgiven. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus;" but if thou hast no faith in Christ Jesus,
the wrath of God abideth on thee. Because thou hast not believed on the
Son of God, thou art condemned already. One grain of this faith is worth
more than a diamond the size of the world; yea, though thou shouldst
thread such jewels together, as many as the stars of heaven for number,
they would be worth nothing compared with the smallest atom of faith in
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God.
But whence comes this wonderful power of faith? Not from the faith, but
from him on whom it leans. What power Christ has! The power of his
manhood suffering, the power of his Godhead bowing on the cross, the
power of the God-man, the Mediator, surrendering himself as the
greatest sacrifice for sin; why, he who toucheth this, hath touched the
springs of omnipotence! He who comes, by faith, into contact with
Christ, has come into contact with boundless love, and power, and
mercy, and grace. I marvel not at anything that faith brings when it deals
with Christ. Thou hast a little key, a little rusty key, and thou sayest,
"By use of this key I can get all the gold that I want." Yes, but where is
the box to which you go for the gold? When you show me, and I see that it
is a great chamber filled full of gold and silver, I can understand how
your little key can enrich you when it opens the door into such a treasury.
If faith be the key which unlocks the fulness of God, "for it pleased the
Father that in him should all fulness dwell," then I can understand why
faith brings such boundless blessings to him who hath it. Salvation is a
very simple business. God help us to look at it simply and practically,
and to receive Christ, and believe on his name!
II. Now, secondly, here is A MATTER WHICH IS VERY DELIGHTFUL: "To
them gave he power to become sons of God." If I had a week to preach from
this text, I think that I should be able to get through the first head; but
at this time I can only throw out just a few hints. Look at the great and
delightful blessing which comes to us by our faith in Christ. We give
Christ our fsfaith, and he gives us power to become sons of God, the
authority, liberty, privilege, right,--something more than mere strength or
force--to be sons of God.
When we believe in Jesus, he indicates to us the Great Father's
willingness to let us be his sons. We who were prodigals, far away from
him, perceive that, when we receive Christ, the Father, who gave us
Christ, is willing to take us to be his sons. He would not have yielded up
his Only-begotten if he had not willed to take us into his family.
When we believe in Jesus, he bestows on us the status of sons. We were
slaves before; now we are sons. We were strangers, aliens, enemies; and
every word that means an evil thing might have been applied to us; but
when we laid hold on Christ, we were adopted by some great citizen, and
publicly acknowledged in the forum as being henceforth that man's son,
was regarded as such, so, as soon as we believe in Jesus, we get the status
of sons. "Beloved, now we are the sons of God."
Then Christ does something more for us. He gives us grace to feel our
sonship. As we sang just now,--
"My faith shall 'Abba, Father,' cry,
And thou the kindred own."
God owns us as his children, and we own him as our Father; and henceforth,
"Our Father, which art in heaven," is no meaningless expression, but it
comes welling up from the depths of our heart.
Having given us grace to feel sonship, Christ gives us the nature of our
Father. He gives us "power to become the sons of God." We get more
and more like God in righteousness and true holiness. By his divine
Spirit, shed abroad in our hearts, we become more and more the children
of our Father who is in heaven, who doeth good to the undeserving and
the unthankful, and whose heart overflows with love even to those who
love not him.
When this nature of sons shall be fully developed, Christ will bestow his
glory upon us. We shall be in heaven, not in the rear rank, as servants,
but nearest to the eternal throne. Unto angels he has never said, "Ye are
my sons"; but he has called us sons, poor creatures of the dust, who
believe in Jesus; and we shall have all the honour, and joy, and privilege,
and delight that belong to the princes of the blood royal of heaven,
members of the imperial house of God, in that day when the King shall
manifest himself in his own palace.
Some of us could draw parallels, about being made sons, from our own
lives. You were once a very tiny child; but you were a son then as much
as you are now. So is it with you who have only just begun to believe in
Christ; he has given you authority and right to become sons of God. Very
early in our life, our father went down to the registrar's office, and wrote
our name in the roll as his sons. We do not recollect that, it was so long
ago; but he did it, and he also wrote our name in the family Bible, even
as our Father in heaven has enrolled our names in the Lamb's Book of
Life. You recollect that, as a child, you did not go into the kitchen, to
dine with the servants; but you took your seat at the table. It was a very
little chair in which you first sat at the table; but as you grew bigger,
you always went to the table, because you were a son. The servants in the
house were much bigger than you, and they could do a great many things
that you could not do, and your father paid them wages. He never paid
you any; they were not his sons; but you were. If they had put on your
clothes, they would not have been his sons. You had privileges that they
had not. I remember that, in the parish where my home was, on a certain
day in the year, the church-bell rang, and everybody went to receive a
penny roll. Every child had one, and I recollect having mine. I claimed it
as a privilege, because I was my father's son. I think there were six of us,
who all had a roll; every child in the parish had one. So there are a
number of privileges that come to us very early in our Christian life, and
we mean to have them, first, because our Lord Jesus Christ has given us
the right to have them; and, next, because, if we do not take what he
bought for us,, it will be robbing him, and wasting his substance. As he
has paid for it all, and has given us the right to have it, let us take it.
You were put to school because you were a son. You did not like it; I
daresay that you would rather have stopped at home at play. And you
had a touch of the rod, sometimes, because you were a son. That was one
of your privileges: "for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"
One day you were in the street with other boys, doing wrong, and your
father came along, and punished you. He did not touch your companions,
for they were not his sons. You smile at those little things, and you did
not at the time count your punishments as privileges; but they were.
When the chastening of the Lord comes, call it a privilege, for that is
what it is. There is no greater mercy that I know of on earth than good
health except it be sickness; and that has often been a greater mercy to
me than health.
It is a good thing to be without a trouble; but it is a better thing to
have a trouble, and know how to get grace enough to bear it. I am not so
much afraid of the devil when he roars, as I am when he pretends to go to
sleep. I think that, oftentimes, a roaring devil keeps us awake; and the
troubles of this life stir us up to go to God in prayer, and that which
looks to us ill turns to our good. "We know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his
purpose."
III. Now I come to my last point, that is, A MATTER WHICH IS MYSTERIOUS. We
are not only given the status of children, and the privilege of being
called sons, but this mysterious matter is one of heavenly birth: "Which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God."
This new birth is absolutely needful. If we are ever to be numbered amongst
God's children, we must be born again, born from above. We were born in
sin, born children of wrath, even as others; to be God's children, it is
absolutely necessary that we should be born again.
The change wrought thereby is wonderfully radical. It is not a mere outside
washing, nor any touching up and repairing. It is a total renovation. Born
again? I cannot express to you all that the change means, it is so deep, so
thorough, so complete.
It is also intensely mysterious. What must it be to be born again? "I
cannot understand it." Says one. Nicodemus was a teacher in Israel, and
he did not understand it. Does anybody understand it? Does anybody
understand his first birth? What know we of it? And this second birth;
some of us have passed through it, and know that we have, and
remember well the pangs of that birth, yet we cannot describe the
movements of the Spirit of God, by which we were formed anew, and
made new creatures in Christ Jesus, according to that word from him
who sits on the throne, "Behold, I make all things new!" It is a great
mystery.
Certainly it is entirely superhuman. We cannot contribute to it. Man
cannot make himself to be born again. His first birth is not of himself,
and his second birth is not one jot more so. It is a work of the Holy
Ghost, a work of God. It is a new creation; it is a quickening; it is a
miracle from beginning to end.
Here is the point to which I call your special attention, it is assuredly
ours. Many of us here have been born again. We know that we have, and
herein lies the evidence of it, "As many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God." If thou believest on Christ's name, thou art born of
God. If thou hast received Christ into thy soul, thou hast obtained that
birth that comes not of blood, nor of the will of parents, nor of the will of
man, but of God. Thou hast passed from death unto life.
Let no man sit down here, and cover his face, and say, "There is no hope
for me. I cannot understand about this new birth." If thou wilt take
Christ, to have and to hold, henceforth and for ever, as thy sole trust and
confidence, thou hast received that which no line of ancestors could ever
give thee; for it is "not of blood." Thou dost possess that which no will of
the father and mother could ever give thee; for it is "not of the will of the
flesh." Thou hast that which thine own will could not bring thee; for it is
"not of the will of man." Thou hast that which only the Giver of life can
bestow; for it is "of God." Thou art born again; for thou hast received
Christ, and believed on his name. I do not urge you to look within, to try
and see whether this new birth is there. Instead of looking within thyself,
look thou to him who hangs on yonder cross, dying the Just for the
unjust, to bring us to God. Fix thou thine eyes on him, and believe in
him; and when thou seest in thyself much that is evil, look away to him;
and when doubts prevail, look to him; and when thy conscience tells thee
of thy past sins, look to him.
I have to go through this story almost every day of the year, and
sometimes half a dozen times in a day. If there is a desponding soul
anywhere within twenty miles, it will find me out, no matter whether I
am at home, or at Mentone, or in any other part of the world. It will
come from any distance, broken down, despairing, half insane
sometimes; and I have no medicine to prescribe except "Christ, Christ,
Christ; Jesus Christ and him crucified. Look away from yourselves, and
trust in him." I go over and over and over with this, and never get one jot
further. Because I find that this medicine cures all soul sicknesses, while
human quackery cures none. Christ alone is the one remedy for sin-sick
souls. Receive him; believe on his name. We keep hammering at this. I
can sympathize with Luther when he said, "I have preached justification
by faith so often, and I feel sometimes that you are so slow to receive it,
that I could almost take the Bible, and bang it about your heads." I am
afraid that the truth would not have entered their hearts if he had done
so. This is what we aim at, to get this one thought into a man, "Thou art
lost, and therefore such an one as Christ came to save."
One said to me just lately, "Oh, sir, I am the biggest sinner that ever
lived!" I replied, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." "But
I have not any strength." "While we were yet without strength, in due
time Christ died." "Oh! But," he said, "I have been utterly ungodly."
"Christ died for the ungodly." "But I am lost." "Yes," I said, "This is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners." "The Son of man has come to save that which
was lost." I said to this man, "You have the brush in your hand, and at
every stroke it looks as if you were quoting Scripture. You seem to be
making yourself out to be the very man that Christ came to save. If you
were to make yourself out to be good and excellent, I should give you
this word--Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance. He did not die for the good, but for the bad. He gave himself
for our sins; he never gave himself for our righteousness. He is a
Saviour. He has not come yet as a Rewarder of the righteous; that will be
in his Second Advent. Now he comes as the great Forgiver of the guilty,
and the only Saviour of the lost. Wilt thou come to him in that way?"
"Oh! But," my friend said, "I have nothing to bring to Christ." "No," I
said, "I know that you have not; but Christ has everything." "Sir," he
said, "you do not know me, else you would not talk to me like this;" and
I said, "No, and you do not know yourself, and you are worse than you
think you are, though you think that you are bad enough in all
conscience; but be you as bad as you may, Jesus Christ came on purpose
to uplift from the dunghill those whom he sets among princes by his free,
rich, sovereign grace."
Oh, come and believe in him, poor sinner! I feel that, if I had all your
souls, I would believe in Christ for their salvation; I would trust him to
save a million souls if I had them, for he is mighty to save. There can be
no limit to his power to forgive. There can be no limit to the merit of his
precious blood. There can be no boundary to the efficacy of his plea
before the throne. Only trust him, and you must be saved. May his
gracious Spirit lead you to do so now, for Christ's sake! Amen.
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