Look for the Out-of-the-Way Sinners

Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar…Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. – John 4:5, 10

Brothers and sisters, beloved, there are many of you who are constantly looking out for souls, and trying to bring them to Christ…if you have any choice as to those to whom you go, seek out the oppressed. You are to go, so far as you can, “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;” but if you may specially look for some more than others, seek out the sick, the sad, the weary, the poor, the broken-down ones, and especially such as have been put out of the synagogue. When our missionaries have gone among the Brahmins in India, they have had a few converts; but the most blessing has been given among the poor people who have no high caste of which they are proud. When the gospel was taken to them, they gladly received it. The gospel worker will be wise if, instead of shunning those whom even nominally religious people put away, he looks after them first. They are likely soil for the good seed of the kingdom to grow in and bring forth fruit. Our Lord Jesus Christ, at Sychar, did not go to some goodly matron, who was an ornament to her sex; but you know where He found the woman who became His disciple and missionary, and you know what kind of woman she was; and, to this day, He delights to go about, as Whitefield used to say, “sweeping up the devil’s castaways.” Those whom nobody else wants, and nobody else will have, our blessed Lord and Master delights to receive. Do you, therefore, look after those out-of-the-way sinners. I like that expression, those out-of-the-way sinners; because our Lord Jesus Christ is the High Priest “who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.” Out-of-the-way sinners are the sort He came to save; therefore, look out for them, you who would follow the example of the great Soul-Winner.  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2667.cfm

The Bank Notes of God’s Promises

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. – 2 Corinthians 1:20

Have you ever noticed, dear friends, how much we live upon the promises of our fellow-men?…The commonest form of a promise is a bank note; and it is worth while to observe how much a bank note is made after the model of God’s promises. How does the wording of this bank note run? It is headed, “Bank of England;” and it begins, “I promise.” You take this note readily enough instead of five golden sovereigns, because you read on it, “I promise to pay the bearer;” and God’s promise is payable to “the bearer.” Whoever has the promise in his possession, whoever has faith enough to lay hold of God’s promise, may read it in this way: “I promise to pay the bearer.” I remember when I first snatched at one of God’s precious promises; I could hardly hope that I had any right to it, for I felt myself so utterly unworthy, but I snatched it up, and ran with it to the Bank of Faith, and as soon as I presented it, I received its full value. God always honours His own promises; here is one: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” Go to Him with that gracious message, and it shall be fulfilled to you whoever you are. The note says, “I promise to pay the bearer.”…What does it now say on the bank note “I promise to pay the bearer on demand.” That is how all God’s promises run: “on demand.” It is worthy of note that, in the olden time, when the Lord had made many promises to His people, He added, “I will yet for this be enquired of by thee, house of Israel, to do it for them; “as though the fulfillment of the promise was delayed until it was asked for. No doubt many of God’s great and precious promises are not realized by you and me because they are not presented to the Lord as we should take a note to the bank to get it cashed. We do not enquire of God as much as we ought. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2667.cfm

Faith Expressed Before Men

And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped Him. – John 9:38

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. – Romans 10:10

True faith always expresses itself to the Lord. This man, when he had believed in Jesus, said, “Lord, I believe.” True faith ought also to express itself to men, as Paul puts it, in writing to the Romans, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation;” or, as the Master Himself puts it, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Therefore, the confession before men ought not to be neglected in any case; yet I fear, and hope, that there are some pilgrims who steal into heaven, scarcely known by men to be Christians, at least, not avowed as such by open profession. I do not recommend that dodging behind the hedges and getting to heaven along back roads; that is a bad plan, but, still, I trust some have managed it, though with much trouble and loss to themselves; but, in every case, every one who has believed has made the confession of that faith to the Master Himself. He has said to Jesus, as this man did, “Lord, I believe,” even though he has added, with another man, “Help Thou mine unbelief.” He has said to Jesus, with Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” There has been a personal acknowledgment, as we sometimes sing it:

“My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine.”

How sweetly doth faith, sometimes, come up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved, and owning to Him that she is His, and He is hers! She cannot help making this confession; she would be untrue to herself and to her Lord if she did not do so. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2667.cfm

Himself the Reigning God is Our Savior

…for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful. – Revelation 17:14

He in whom you are asked to believe for salvation is Himself God. Then, in infinite mercy, He came and took upon Himself our nature, and dwelt among men. He voluntarily came, being God, but He was also sent of God, appointed and authorized to be God’s Ambassador to man. He was, in addition to being sent of God, anointed of God, for the Spirit of God rested upon Him without measure, qualifying Him for His work…Then He died, and by that death He forever put away the sin of His people. He took upon Himself the sin which He had never committed; He was numbered with the transgressors, and He suffered as if men’s transgressions had been His own; He died, “the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” And God has accepted those sufferings as a propitiation for all who believe in Him; and now, this is the witness of God concerning Him, that He has raised Him from the dead, and taken Him up to His throne, and made Him to sit there, at His Father’s right hand, where, at this moment, He is making intercession for all who come unto God by Him. And, now, our prayers are accepted through Him; and the infinite blessings, which are His, He distributes among us; and He is shortly coming again, with sound of trumpet, and attended by myriads of saints and angels. As He ascended from Olivet, in like manner also will He descend to earth again. King of kings and Lord of lords shall He be in that day…He is God, He still lives, it is the living, reigning Christ whom we preach unto you. He lives in glory, and He also lives here by the presence of His Holy Spirit, who is with us, and who is to abide with us evermore; and it is upon Him as God incarnate, as Savior, crucified, risen, and gone into the glory, that you are asked to place your soul’s confidence. If you would learn this truth more fully, read the four Gospels, and the Epistles, and ask the Spirit, who inspired the writers of them, to explain and apply them to you. That is the way to obtain faith. True faith is based upon knowledge of Christ…Take care, dear friends, that you always remember that simple but important truth.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2667.cfm

Be Certain of Your Salvation

“…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” – 2 Timothy 1:12

I could never be content without unquestioning certainty as to my soul’s salvation. Do you think that is more than a man ought to wish for? Are any of you at ease while you are afraid that you have a mortal disease working within you? Oh, no! You want to know, from a qualified physician, the truth about your case. And if it were whispered in your ear, at this moment, that your house was being broken into or was on fire, would you sit still here, and not trouble yourself as to whether the report were true or not? Would you not want to go at once, and see for yourself. If you knew that you bought an estate, some time ago, but you have since heard that the title to it is a very uncertain one, in fact, that, in all probability, you will lose all you have paid for it, would you not say, “I ought to have taken care to be certain about the title, and I would not have bought the estate if I had not felt that the deeds relating to it were all right”. Well, then, if you desire certainty about your bodily health, and about the safety of your house, and about the validity of your title-deeds, can you afford to go without certainty as to your soul’s affairs? No, you cannot; therefore, rest not till you have it. If you have various questions about your spiritual condition, boldly face those questions, and answer them; but never let any questions about your eternal welfare be such that you dare not face them, and do not wish to search out the answers to them. Pry to the very bottom of them; and, better still, ask the Lord to search you, and know your heart, to try you, and know your thoughts, and to lead you in the way everlasting; and be not content till you can truthfully say, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2667.cfm

To Know Christ

He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?” – John 9:36

Saving faith is that which rests upon a knowledge of Him. This man said to Jesus, “Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?” He was not one whose notion of faith was that he need not know what he believed. The Church of Rome seems to inculcate some kind of implicit faith (or credulity) which can exist apart from knowledge; but how can I believe that which I do not know? Paul puts it thus, “Faith cometh by hearing.” You must first hear and know what it is you are to believe before you can believe it; otherwise, your faith is vain, like that of the man of whom I have sometimes spoken, who said, “I believe what the Church believes.” “But what does the Church believe?” It believes what I believe.” “Then what do you and the Church believe?” “Why, we both believe the same thing.” That is not the kind of believing that can save the soul. It is through the knowledge of Christ that we are saved. To know Christ is sometimes said to be analogous to believing in Christ. You must know what it is that you have to believe; a faith that does not know is no faith at all. Read through the Epistles of John, and mark with your pencil every time the word “know” is used. The apostle makes that word “know” come in again and again, for a man must know that which he is to believe and hence this man says to Christ, “Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2667.cfm

Faith That Saves-a Divine Operation

“I and My Father are one.” Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him…”For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God.”…”If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not.” – John 10:30-31, 33, 37

Either our Lord was the Son of God, equal with the Father, or else He was an impostor, for He most distinctly claimed that He was the Son of God…Jesus said to the Jews, “If I honour Myself, My honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth Me; of whom ye say that He is your God.” Then they took up stones to cast at Him because He said that He was the Son of God…To believe in Christ merely as a prophet is not saving faith. It may be a step towards salvation, and it may lead up to it; but the faith that is absolutely necessary is that belief in Him as the Son of God; and he who does not believe in the Deity of Christ has not a Saviour who can save him. The work of saving a soul is a divine operation, and no one but a divine Being can accomplish it. It is He who sitteth upon the throne who saith, “Behold, I make all things new!” There cannot be anyone except the Creator who can create; and the Creator must, in every case, be God. To save a soul, there must be a work performed which is analogous to the resurrection; but, in order to raise the dead, there must be the presence and power of God. It is one of those operations which it is not conceivable that it can be performed by an angel or by any created being. The Highest alone can accomplish it; has He not said of Himself, “I kill, and I make alive”? The power of life and death must rest with God alone. Hence, then, the work of salvation needs a power nothing less than divine. He who believes in Christ as a mere man has not believed in a person who can give him salvation; and Christ cannot accomplish the stupendous task if He be only man, for the Saviour must be God.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2667.cfm