promises

A Faith-Creating Preaching

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. – Romans 10:17

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. – 1 Corinthians 1:17

I beg you to notice that it does not say in the text (of Romans 10:17) that faith comes through the eloquence, earnestness, or any other good quality of the preacher. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word, not of man, but of God. The Word of God is the substance of faith-creating preaching; it is by the hearing of God’s Word, and not by any other hearing that saving faith comes to the soul. I may hear a man descant upon the gospel with all the eloquence that can be commanded by the most fluent tongue, yet if my faith comes to me because the man spoke pathetically, or poetically, or argumentatively, or rhetorically, it is a poor miserable faith; being, of the power of the flesh, it will die, and so prove itself unlike the faith which springs from the incorruptible Word of God, that liveth and abideth for ever. On the other hand, I may hope for faith if I am listening to the true gospel, the very Word of God, though the man who speaks it may be of stammering lips, and his voice may be disagreeable to my ear, and there may be much about his manner that does not commend itself to me. If he preaches truth, it is by hearing not him, the man, but by hearing the Word of God, that I shall come to faith. I do desire ever, as a preacher, to feel that it is not my word but God’s Word that saves souls; we are to explain it and expound it, but we are not to add to it, take from it or conceive that we can improve it. We must not go into the pulpit and say, “I have been working out a subject from my own mind, and I am going to give you the result of my thoughts.” We had better keep our own thoughts for some other place and give the people the revealed truth of God. The theory now-a-days is that all preachers worth hearing by this refined generation must be profound thinkers, and inventors of improved theologies. Brethren, let man’s thoughts perish for ever; the thoughts of God and not the thoughts of man will save souls. The truth of God should be spoken simply, with as little as possible of the embellishments of metaphysics, and philosophy, and high culture, and all that stuff. I say the Word of God delivered as we find it is that which, when heard, brings faith to the souls of men.

How Can I Obtain Faith? by C. H. Spurgeon

Faith Comes by Hearing

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. – Romans 10:17

Some have supposed that true faith will come to men by dreams and visions. It is surprising how a belief in these things lingers still in what is called this age of light; the notion is still current that if you dream of seeing Jesus, or fancy you have seen Him while awake, or if a passage of Scripture strikes you, or if you hear or imagine that you hear a voice speaking to you, you are then a believer…Though you should see all the angels in heaven, it would not prove that you would go to heaven, any more than my having seen the Pope’s bodyguard would be a proof that I shall be made a Cardinal. Things which are seen of the eye save not, for the things which are seen are temporal, and cannot work eternal salvation. Moreover, men saw Christ and yet pierced Him and blasphemed Him. Visions have been seen by heathens like Nebuchadnezzar, and angels have appeared to bad men like Balaam who, though he sighed out, “Let me die the death of the righteous,” yet perished, fighting against the God of Israel. True faith has a more solid basis for its fabric than the fleeting fancies of the mind.

I ought, perhaps, to add that the expression “by hearing,” though of course literally it must be confined to the hearing of words vocally uttered, is meant to include in its spirit the reading of the Word; for reading is a sort of hearing with the eyes, and faith has often come and will often come to men while they are reading the Word of God for themselves. We must not kill the spirit of the text by excessive regard to the mere letter of it, and we should do so if we excluded readings, which is a quiet hearing of the still small voice of the printed page. Faith comes by the Word of God reaching our minds, and our knowing and understanding it. The entrance of God’s Word giveth light. “Incline your ear and come unto Me, hear and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:3).

How Can I Obtain Faith? by C. H. Spurgeon

Feelings Do Not Create Faith

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. – Romans 10:17

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.- Romans 10:13

There are some who fancy that faith cometh by feeling. If they could feel emotions either of horror or of exquisite delight, they would then, they think, be the possessors of faith; but till they have felt what they have heard described in certain biographies of undoubtedly good men, they cannot believe, or even if they have a measure of faith, they cannot hope that it is true faith. Faith doth not come by feeling, but through faith arises much of holy feeling, and the more a man lives in the walk of faith, as a rule, the more will he feel and enjoy the light of God’s countenance. Faith hath something firmer to stand upon than those ever-changing frames and feelings which, like the weather of our own sunless land, is fickle and frail, and changeth speedily from brightness into gloom. You may get feeling from faith, and the best of it, but you will be long before you will find any faith that is worth the having, if you try to evoke it from frames and feelings.

“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame;
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name;
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”

How Can I Obtain Faith? by C. H. Spurgeon

The Small Value of the Sacraments

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God… – Ephesians 2:8

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. – Romans 10:17

It appears to be thought possible to infuse grace by sacraments. There are persons yet alive who teach that a babe may be regenerated by certain aqueous processes and be thereby placed in “a state of salvation.” But is not faith a perpetual concomitant of regeneration? and what is that regeneration worth which leaves a person an unbeliever, and, consequently, “condemned already, because he hath not believed on the Son of God?” Rest assured, that as faith does not come by descent, neither can it be produced by any rite which recognizes that descent: it comes in one way, and in one way only in every case, and that is, by the hearing of the Word. To every person, whoever he may be, though nursed in the bosom of the church, and introduced to that church by the most solemn ritual, we are bound to say, you must hear as well as others, and you must believe as the result of that hearing as well as others, or else you will remain short of saving grace. Faith is not a mystery juggled into us by the postures, genuflections, and mumblings of priests. We have heard a great deal about sacramental efficacy, but I think a man must have extraordinary hardihood who would say that either baptism, or the so-called Eucharist, are the sure creators of faith; yet see I not what saving service these forms can render to unbelieving men if they leave them in an unbelieving condition, and, consequently, in a state of condemnation. Seeing that without faith it is impossible to please God, the grace supposed to be conveyed by the mere participation in sacraments is of small value, it cannot give the cardinal requisite for acceptance before God. Faith cannot be washed into us by immersion, nor sprinkled upon us in christening; it is not to be poured into us from a chalice, nor generated in us by a consecrated piece of bread. There is no magic about it; faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and by that way only.

How Can I Obtain Faith? by C. H. Spurgeon

Salvation is Not Inherited

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. – Romans 9:16

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God… – Ephesians 2:8

Some imagine that faith comes by hereditary descent, and they act upon the supposition. Hence, in certain churches, birthright membership is thought to be a proper practice, and the child of a Christian is thought to be a Christian. In some other churches, though the theory would not be stated in so many words, yet it is practically accepted, and children of pious parents are regarded as scarcely needing conversion. The text is forgotten which saith that the heirs of salvation are born, “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.” The typical covenant secured outward privileges to the children born after the flesh, but under the covenant of grace the blessing is secured to the spiritual and not to the natural seed. “He who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.” (Galatians 4:23). That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and nothing more: the new-born nature is not transmissible from father to son like a natural temperament or a cast of countenance. I know the answer will be that “the promise is to us and to our children,” but it will be well for the objector to reply to himself by completing the quotation—”even to as many as the Lord your God shall call.” The fact is, that nothing spiritual is inherited by carnal generation. Our children, even if we are far advanced in grace, will still be “shapen in iniquity.” No matter how high the sainthood of the professing Christian, his child (when capable of understanding) must for himself become a personal believer in Jesus.

How Can I Obtain Faith? by C. H. Spurgeon

Believers Altogether Accepted in Christ

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. – Hebrews 10:14

Our posture is that of those who are perfected in Christ Jesus. How I wish that we could all realize this and live in the power of it. If I am, indeed, a believer, I have nothing whatever to do in order to put away the guilt of my sins. I have much to do by faith to overcome the power of sin in me, and to seek after holiness; but so far as the guilt of transgression is concerned, Jesus Christ’s one offering hath perfected all His people, there is not a sin remaining upon them, nor a trace of sin; they are “without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;” before God’s sight they are perfectly lovely; they are not somewhat beautiful, but they are altogether lovely in Christ; they are accepted not in part but altogether, “accepted in the Beloved.” When I get upon this strain, words are quite inadequate to express the emotions of my soul. This truth might well make David dance before the ark of the Lord—to think that though black in ourselves, we are comely in Christ; though like the smoke-dried tents of Kedar we are foul yet clothed in our Savior’s beauties we are like the curtains of Solomon for glory. The glory of the text is that we are perfected for ever; not for tomorrow and then suffered to fall from grace; not for the next twenty years, and then turned out of the covenant; but He hath perfected “for ever” those that are set apart.

The text says, “Hath perfected them that are sanctified,” or set apart as holy unto God. We must be more and more set apart every day, we must labor after holiness; this must be our object, not in order that we may be saved, for we are saved already, but in order that by others it may be clearly seen that we are saved, and they seeing our good works may glorify our Father which is in heaven. If I have in myself no measure of holiness, how shall I be recognized as belonging to Christ? Is it not foolish presumption to say “I am perfect in Christ,” if still my soul lives in sin, and loves it? May the Lord, by His Spirit, lead us in the ways of holiness, and then, walking in the light as He is in the light, we shall have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son shall cleanse us from all sin.

The Only Atoning Priest by C. H. Spurgeon

Our Posture in Christ

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. – Hebrews 10:12,13

I want you, dearly beloved brethren, to gather from the text before us the true posture of every believer in Christ. “This man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down.” If I am a believer that is my posture, if you are a believer that is yours—you are to sit down. Under the law there was no sitting down. Even at the Passover the Israelites stood with their loins girt and their staves in their hands. There was no sitting down. It is only at the gospel supper that our proper posture is that of recumbency, reclining, or sitting down, because our warfare is accomplished. They that have believed have entered into rest. Jesus hath given us rest, we are not traversing the wilderness, we are come unto mount Zion, unto the glorious assembly of the Church of the first born whose names are written in heaven. Our justifying work is finished, finished by Christ. Sit down Christian, sit down and rest in thy Lord. There is much to be done as to fighting your sins, much to be done for Christ in the world, but so far as justification and forgiveness are concerned, rest is your proper place, peace in Christ Jesus your lawful portion.

Your position is also to be one of expectancy. Christ, when He sits down, expects His enemies to be made His footstool. Expect, O believer, the time when you shall be rid of all sin. Fight manfully against your inbred corruptions, struggle against sin as you see it in the outside world and expect every day with holy faith that you shall get the victory. As Christ sits there expecting, He hath raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Himself; and we will sit there and look down upon this erring world and expect the time when all evil shall be beneath our feet as it is beneath His.

The Only Atoning Priest by C. H. Spurgeon