Sermon 979. Faith and Regeneration

(No. 979)

Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, March 5th, 1871 by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and everyone that loveth him that begot loveth him also thatis begotten of him."-1 John 5:1.

FOR THE PREACHER of the gospel to make full proof of his ministry will be a task requiring much divine teaching. Besides muchcare in the manner and spirit, he will need guidance as to his matter. One point of difficulty will be to preach the wholetruth in fair proportion, never exaggerating one doctrine, never enforcing one point, at the expense of another, never keepingback any part, nor yet allowing it undue prominence. For practical result will much depend upon anequal balance, and a right dividing of the word. In one case this matter assumes immense importance because it affectsvital truths, and may lead to very serious results unless rightly attended to; I refer to the elementary facts involved inthe work of Christ for us, and the operations of the Holy Spirit in us. Justification by faith is a matter about which theremust be no obscurity much less equivocation; and at the same time we must distinctly and determinately insist upon it thatregeneration is necessary to every soul that shall enter heaven. "Ye must be born again" is as much a truth as that cleargospel statement, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." It is to be feared that some zealous brethren have preachedthe doctrine of justification by faith not only so boldly and so plainly, but also so baldly and so out of all connectionwith other truth, that they have led men into presumptuous confidences, and have appeared to lend their countenance to aspecies of Antinomianism very much to be dreaded. From a dead, fruitless, inoperative faith we may earnestly pray, "GoodLord, deliver us," yet may we be unconsciously, fostering it. Moreover to stand up and cry, "Believe, believe, believe," withoutexplaining what is to be believed, to lay the whole stress of salvation upon faith without explaining what salvation is, andshowing that it means deliverance from the power as well as from the guilt of sin, may seem to a fervent revivalist to bethe proper thing for the occasion, but those who have watched the result of such teaching have had grave cause to questionwhether as much hurt may not be done by it as good. On the other hand, it is our sincere conviction that there is equal dangerin the other extreme. We are most certain that a man must be made a new creature in Christ Jesus, or he is not saved; butsome have seen so clearly the importance of this truth that they are for ever and always dwelling upon the great change ofconversion, and its fruits, and its consequences, and they hardly appear to remember the glad tidings that whosoever believethon Christ Jesus hath everlasting life. Such teachers are apt to set up so high a standard of experience, and to be so exactingas to the marks and signs of a true born child of God, that they greatly discourage sincere seekers, and fall into a speciesof legality from which we may again say, "Good Lord, deliver us." Never let us fail most plainly to testify to theundoubted truth that true faith in Jesus Christ saves the soul, for if we do not we shall hold in legal bondage many whoought long ago to have enjoyed peace, and to have entered into the liberty of the children of God.

It may not be easy to keep these two things in there proper position, but we must aim at it if we would be wise builders.John did so in his teaching. If you turn to the third chapter of his gospel it is very significant that while he records atlength our Saviour's exposition of the new birth to Nicodemus, yet in that very same chapter he gives us what is perhaps theplainest piece of gospel in all the Scriptures: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."So, too, in the chapter before us he insists upon a man's being born of God; he brings that up again and again, but evermoredoes he ascribe wondrous efficacy to faith; he mentions faith as the index of our being born again, faith as overcoming theworld, faith as possessing the inward witness, faith as having eternal life-indeed, he seems as if he could not heap honourenough upon believing, while at the same time he insists upon the grave importance of the inward experience connectedwith the new birth.

Now, if such difficulty occurs to the preacher, we need not wonder that it also arises with the hearer, and causes him questioning.We have known many who, by hearing continually the most precious doctrine that belief in Jesus Christ is saving, have forgottenother truths, and have concluded that they were saved when they were not, have fancied they believed when as yet they weretotal strangers to the experience which always attends true faith. They have imagined faith tobe the same thing as a presumptuous confidence of safety in Christ, not grounded upon the divine word when rightly understood,nor proved by any facts in their own souls. Whenever self-examination has been proposed to them they have avoided it as anassault upon their assurance, and when they have been urged to try themselves by gospel tests, they have defended their falsepeace by the notion that to raise a question about their certain salvation would be unbelief. Thus, I fear, the conceit ofsupposed faith in Christ has placed them in an almost hopeless position, since the warnings and admonitions of the gospelhave been set aside by their fatal persuasion that it is needless to attend to them, and only necessary to cling tenaciouslyto the belief that all has been done long ago for us by Christ Jesus, and that godly fear and careful walking are superfluities,if not actually an offence against the gospel. On the other hand, we have known others who have received the doctrine ofjustification by faith as a part of their creed, and yet have not accepted it as a practical fact that the believer issaved. They so much feel that they must be renewed in the spirit of their minds, that they are always looking within themselvesfor evidences, and are the subjects of perpetual doubts. Their natural and frequent song is-

"Tis a point I long to know,

Oft it causes anxious thought;

Do I love the Lord, or no?

Am I his, or am I not?"

These are a class of people to be much more pitied than condemned. Though I would be the very last to spread unbelief, I wouldbe the very first to inculcate holy anxiety. It is one thing for a person to be careful to know that he is really in Christ,and quite another thing for him to doubt the promises of Christ, supposing that they are really made to him. There is a tendencyin some hearts to look too much within, and spend more time studying their outward evidences andtheir inward feelings, than in learning the fullness, freeness, and all sufficiency of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.They too much obscure the grand evangelical truth that the believer's acceptance with God is not in himself, but in ChristJesus, that we are cleansed through the blood of Jesus, that we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, and are, in a word,"accepted in the Beloved." I earnestly long that these two doctrines may be well balanced in your souls. Only the Holy Spiritcan teach you this. This is a narrow path which the eagle's eye has not seen, and the lions whelp has not trodden. Hewhom the Holy Ghost shall instruct will not give way to presumption and despise the Spirit's work within, neither will heforget that salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ, "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,and redemption." The text appears to me to blend these two truths in a very delightful harmony, and we will will try to speakofthem, God helping us.

"He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." We shall consider this morning, first of all, the believing which is here intended; and then, secondly, how it is a sure proof of regeneration; and then, thirdly, dwelling for awhile upon the closing part of the verse we shall show how it becomes an argument for Christian love: "Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him."

I. WHAT IS THE BELIEVING INTENDED IN THE TEXT? We are persuaded, first of all, that the believing here intended is that which our Lord and his apostles exhorted men to exercise, and to which the promise of salvation is always appended in the word of God; as for instance that faith which Peter inculcatedwhen he said to Cornelius, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receivethe remission of sins;" and whichour Lord commanded when he came into Galilee, saying to men, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark i. 15). Certain persons have been obliged to admit that the apostles commanded, and exhorted, and besought men to believe, butthey tell us the kind of believing which the apostles bade men exercise was not saving faith. Now, God forbid we should everin our zeal to defend a favorite position, be driven to an assertion so monstrous. Can we imagine for a moment apostles withburning zeal andardor, inspired by the Spirit of God within them, going about the world exhorting men to exercise a faith which afterall would not save them? To what purpose did they run on so fruitless an errand, so tantalizing to human need, so barren ofresults? When our Lord bade his disciples go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and added, "he thatbelieveth and is baptized shall be saved," the faith which was to be preached was evidently none other than a saving faith,and itis frivolous to say otherwise. I must confess that I felt shocked the other day to read in a certain sermon the remarkthat the words of Paul to the jailor "were spoken in a conversation held at midnight under peculiar circumstances, and theevangelist who wrote them was not present at the interview." Why, had it been at high noon, and had the whole world been present,the apostle could have given no fitter answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" than the one he did give, "Believein the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It is, I repeat, a mere frivolity or worse, to say that the faithenjoined by the apostles was a mere human faith which does not save, and that there is no certainty that such faith savesthe soul. That cause must be desperate that calls for such a defence.

Furthermore, the faith here intended is the duty of all men. Read the text again: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." It can never be less than man's dutyto believe the truth; that Jesus is the Christ is the truth, and it is the duty of every man to believe it. I understand herby "believing," confidence in Christ, and it is surely the duty of men to confide in that which is worthy of confidence, andthat Jesus Christ is worthy of theconfidence of all men is certain, it is therefore the duty of men to confide in him.

Inasmuch as the gospel command, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," is addressed by divine authorityto every creature, it is the duty of every man so to do. What saith John: "This is his commandment, That we should believeon the name of his Son Jesus Christ," and our Lord himself assures us, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but hethat believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Sonof God." I know there are some who will deny this, and deny it upon the ground that man has not the spiritual abilityto believe in Jesus, to which I reply that it is altogether an error to imagine that the measure of the sinners moral abilityis the measure of his duty. There are many things which men ought to do which they have now lost the moral and spiritual,though not the physical, power to do. A man ought to be chaste, but if he has been so long immoral that he cannot restrainhispassions, he is not thereby free from the obligation. It is the duty of a debtor to pay his debts, but if he has beensuch a spendthrift that he has brought himself into hopeless poverty, he is not exonerated from his debts thereby. Every manought to believe that which is true, but if his mind has become so depraved that he loves a lie and will not receive the truth,is he thereby excused? If the law of God is to be lowered according to the moral condition of sinners, you would have a lawgraduated upon a sliding- scale to suit the degrees of human sinfulness; in fact, the worst man would be under the leastlaw, and become consequently the least guilty. God's requirements would be a variable quantity, and, in truth, we should beunder no rule at all. The command of Christ stands good however bad men may be, and when he commands all men everywhere torepent, they are bound to repent, whether their sinfulness renders it impossible for them to be willing to so or not. In everycaseit is man's duty to do what God bids him.

At the same time, this faith, wherever it exists, is in every case, without exception, the gift of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. Never yet did a man believe in Jesus with the faith here intended, except the Holy Spirit led him to do so. He has wroughtall our works in us, and our faith too. Faith is too celestial a grace to spring up in human nature till it is renewed: faithis in every believer "the gift of God." You will say to me, "Are these two thingsconsistent?" I reply, "Certainly, for they are both true." "How consistent?" say you. "How inconsistent?" say I, and youshall have as much difficulty to prove them inconsistent as I to prove them consistent. Experience makes them consistent,if theory does not. Men are convinced by the Holy Spirit of sin-"of sin," saith Christ, "because they believe not on me;"here is one of the truths; but the selfsame hearts are taught the same Spirit that faith is of the operation of God. (Col. ii. 2)Brethren be willing to see both sides of the shield of truth. Rise above the babyhood which cannot believe two doctrinesuntil it sees the connecting link. Have you not two eyes, man? Must you needs put one of them out in order to see clearly?Is it impossible to you to use a spiritual stereoscope, and look at two views of truth until they melt into one, and thatone becomes more real and actual because it is made up of two? Man men refuse to see more than one side of a doctrine, andpersistently fight against anything which is not on its very surface consistent with their own idea. In the present caseI do not find it difficult to believe faith to be at the same time the duty of man and the gift of God; and if others cannotaccept the two truths, I am not responsible for their rejection of them; my duty is performed when I have honestly borne witnessto them.

Hitherto we have only been clearing the way. Let us advance. The faith intended in the text evidently rests upon a person-upon Jesus. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." It is not belief about a doctrine, nor an opinion,nor a formula, but belief concerning a person. Translate the words, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ," and theystand thus: "Whosoever believeth that the Saviour is the Anointed is born of God." By which isassuredly not meant, whosoever professes to believe that he is so, for many do that whose lives prove that they are notregenerate; but, whosoever believes it to be the fact, as truly and in very deed to receive Jesus as God has set him forthand anointed him, is a regenerate man. What is meant by "Jesus is the Christ," or, Jesus is the Anointed? First, that he isthe Prophet; secondly, that he is the Priest; thirdly, that he is the King of the church, for in all these three senses heis theAnointed. Now, I may ask myself this question: Do I this day believe that Jesus is the great Prophet anointed of God toreveal to me the way of salvation? Do I accept him as my teacher and admit that he has the words of eternal life? If I sobelieve, I shall obey his gospel and possess eternal life. Do I accept him to be henceforth the revealer of God to my soul,the messenger of the covenant, the anointed prophet of the Most High? But he is also a priest. Now, a priest is ordained amongmen tooffer sacrifices; do I firmly believe that Jesus was ordained to offer his one sacrifice for the sins of mankind, by theoffering of which sacrifice once for all he has finished the atonement and made complete expiation? Do I accept his atonementas an atonement for me, and receive his death as an expiation upon which I rest my hope for forgiveness of all my transgressions?Do I in fact believe Jesus to be the one sole, only propitiating Priest, and accept him to act as priest for me? If so,then I have in part believed that Jesus is the Anointed. But he is also King, and if I desire to know whether I possessthe right faith, I further must ask myself, "Is Jesus, who is now exalted in heaven, who once bled on the cross, is he Kingto me? Is his law my law? Do I desire to submit myself entirely to his government? Do I hate what he hates, and love whathe loves? Do I live to praise him? Do I, as a loyal subject, desire to see his kingdom come and his will be done on earthas it is inheaven?" My dear friend, if thou canst heartily and earnestly say, "I accept Jesus Christ of Nazareth to be Prophet, Priest,and King to me, because God has anointed him to exercise those three offices; and in each of these three characters I unfeignedlytrust him," then, dear friend, you have the faith of God's elect, for it is written, "He that believeth that Jesus is theChrist is born of God."

Now we go a little further. True faith is reliance. Look at any Greek lexicon you like, and you will find that the word pisteuein does not merely mean to believe, but to trust, to confide in, to commit to, entrust with, and so forth; and the marrow ofthe meaning of faith is confidence in, reliance upon. Let me ask, then, every professor her who professes to have faith, isyour faith the faith of reliance? You give credit to certain statements, do you alsoplace trust in the one who glorious person who alone can redeem? Have you confidence as well as credence? A creed willnot save you, but reliance upon the Anointed Saviour is the way of salvation. Remember, I beseech you, that if you could betaught an orthodoxy unadulterated with error, and could learn a creed written by the pen of the Eternal God himself, yet amere notional faith, such as men exercise when they believe in the existence of men in the moon, or nebulae in space, couldnot saveyour soul. Of this we are sure, because we see around us many who have such a faith, and yet evidently are not the childrenof God.

Moreover, true faith is not a flattering presumption, by which a man says, "I believe I am saved, for I have such delightfulfeelings, I have had a marvelous dream, I have felt very wonderful sensations;" for all such confidence may be nothing butmere assumption. Presumption, instead of being faith, is the reverse of faith; instead of being the substance of things hopedfor, it is a mere mirage. Faith, is as correct as reason, and if her arguments are considered, she isas secure in her conclusions as though she drew them by mathematical rules. Beware, I pray you, of a faith which has nobasis but your own fancy.

Faith, again, is not the assurance that Jesus died for me. I sometimes feel myself a little at variance with that verse-

"Just as I am-without one plea

But that thy blood was shed for me."

It is eminently suitable for a child of God, but I am not sure as to its being the precise way for putting the matter fora sinner. I do not believe in Jesus because I am persuaded that his blood was shed for me, but rather I discover that hisblood was shed especially for me from the fact that I have been led to believe in him. I fear me there are thousands of peoplewho believe that Jesus died for them, who are not born of God, but rather are hardened in their sin bytheir groundless hopes of mercy. There is no particular efficacy in a man's assuming that Christ has died for me; forit is a mere truism, if it true as some teach, that Jesus died for everybody. On such a theory every believer in a universalatonement would necessarily be born of God, which is very far from being the case. When the Holy Ghost leads us to rely uponthe Lord Jesus, then the truth that God gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might be saved, is openedup toour souls, and we see that for us who are believers, Jesus died with the special intent that we should be saved. For theHoly Spirit to assure us that Jesus shed his blood for us in particular is one thing, but merely to conclude that Jesus forus on the notion that he died for everybody is as far as the east is from the west, from being real faith in Jesus Christ.

Neither is it faith for me to be confident that I am saved, for it may be the case that I am not saved, and it can never befaith to believe a lie. Many have concluded rashly that they were saved when they were still in the gall of bitterness. Thatwas not the exhibition of confidence in Christ but the exhibition of a base presumption destructive to the last degree. Tocome back to where we started from, faith, in a word, is reliance upon Jesus Christ. Whether the Redeemerdied in special and particular for me or not, is not the question to be raised in the first place; I find that he cameinto the world to save sinners, under that general character I come to him, I find that whosoever trusteth him shall be saved,I therefore trust him, and having done so, I learn from his word that I am the object of his special love, and that I am bornof God.

In my first coming to Jesus I can have no knowledge of any personal and special interest in the blood of Jesus; but sinceit is written, "God hath set him forth to be a propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins ofthe whole world," I come and trust myself to that propitiation; sink or swim I cast myself on the Saviour. Great Son of God,thou hast lived and died, thou hast bled and suffered, and made atonement for sin for all such as trustthee, and I trust thee, I lean upon thee, I cast myself upon thee. Now, whoever has such faith as this is born of God,he has true faith which is proof positive of the new birth. Judge ye, therefore, whether ye have this faith or no.

Let me tarry just one minute longer over this. The true faith is set forth in Scripture by figures, and one or two of thesewe will mention. It was an eminent type of faith when the Hebrews father in Egypt slew the lamb and caught the warm bloodin the basin, then took a bunch of hyssop and dipped it in the blood and marked the two posts of his door, and then strucka red mark across the lintel. That smearing of the door represented faith. The deliverance was wrought bythe blood; and the blood availed through the householder's own personally striking it upon his door. Faith does that;it takes of the things of Christ, makes them its own, sprinkles the soul, as it were, with the precious blood, accepts theway of mercy by which the Lord passes over us and exempts his people from destruction. Faith was shown to the Jews in anotherway. When a beast was offered in sacrifice for sin, the priest and sometimes the representatives of the tribes or the individuallaid their hands upon the victim in token that they desired their sins to be transferred to it, that it might suffer forthem as a type of the great substitute. Faith lays her hands on Jesus, desiring to receive the benefit of his substitutionarydeath.

A still more remarkable representation of faith was that of the healing look of the serpent-bitten Israelites. On the greatstandard in the midst of the camp Moses lifted up a serpent of brass; high overhead above all the tents this serpent gleamedin the sun, and whoever of all the dying host would but look to it was made to live. looking was a very simple act, but itindicated that the person was obedient to God's command. He looked as he was bidden, and the virtue ofhealing came from the brazen serpent through a look. Such is faith. It is the simplest thing in the world, but it indicatesa great deal more than is seen upon its surface:

"There is life for a look at the Crucified One."

To believe in Jesus is but to glance the eye of faith to him, to trust him with thy soul.

That poor woman who came behind our Saviour in the press offers us another figure of what faith is. She said, "If I may buttouch the hem of his garment I shall be made whole." Taking no medicines, making no profession, and performing no ceremonies,she simply touched the ravelling of the Saviour's robe, and she was healed at once. O soul, if thou canst get into contactwith Christ by simply trusting him, though that trust be ever so feeble, thou hast the faith of God'select; thou hast the faith which is in every case the token of the new birth.

II. We must now pass on to show that WHEREVER IT EXISTS IT IS THE PROOF OF REGENERATION. There never was a grain of such faithas this in the world, except in a regenerate soul, and there never will be while the world standeth. It is so according tothe text, and if we had no other testimony this one passage would be quite enough to prove it. "Whosoever believeth that Jesusis the Christ is born of God." "Ah!" I hear thee say, poor soul, "the new birth is a great mystery;I do not understand it; I am afraid I am not a partaker in it." You are born again if you believe that Jesus is the Christ,if you are relying upon a crucified Saviour you are assuredly begotten again unto a lively hope. Mystery or no mystery, thenew birth is yours if you are a believer. Have you never noticed that the greatest mysteries in the world reveal themselvesby the simplest indications. The simplicity and apparent easiness of faith is no reason why I should not regard its existenceas an infallible indication of the new birth within. How know we that the new-born child lives except by its cry? Yeta child's cry-what a simple sound it is! how readily could it be imitated! a clever workman could with pipes and strings easilydeceive us; yet was there never a child's cry in the world but what it indicated the mysteries of breathing, heart-beating,blood-flowing, and all the other wonders which come with life itself. Do you see yonder person just drawn out of the river?Does she live? Yes, life is there. Why? Because the lungs still heave. But does it not seem an easy thing to make lungsheave? A pair of billows blown into them, might not that produce the motion? Ah, yes, the thing is easily imitated after asort; but no lungs heave except where life is. Take another illustration. Go into a telegraph office at any time, and youwill see certain needles moving right and left with unceasing click. Electricity is a great mystery, and you cannot see orfeel it;but the operator tells you that the electric current is moving along the wire. How does he know? "I know it by the needle."How is that? I could move your needles easily. "Yes; but do not you see the needle has made two motions to the right, oneto the left, and two to the right again? I am reading a message." "But," say you, "I can see nothing in it; I could imitatethe clicking and moving very easily." Yet he who is taught the art sees before him in those needles, not only electric action,but a deeper mystery still; he perceives that a mind is directing an invisible force, and speaking by means of it. Notto all, but to the initiated is it given to see the mystery hidden within the simplicity. The believer sees in the faith,which is simple as the movements of the needle, an indication that God is operating on the human mind, and the spiritual mandiscerns that there is an inner secret intimated thereby, which the carnal eye cannot decipher. To believe in Jesus is a betterindicator of regeneration than anything else, and in no case did it ever mislead. Faith in the living God and his SonJesus Christ is always the result of the new birth, and can never exist except in the regenerate. Whoever has faith is a savedman.

I beg you to follow me a little in this argument. A certain divine has lately said, "A man's act of believing is not the sameas his being saved: it is only in the direction of being saved." This is tantamount to a denial that every believer in Christis at once saved; and the inference is that a man may not conclude that he is saved because he believes in Jesus. Now, observehow opposed this is to Scripture. It is certain from the Word of God that the man who believesin Jesus is not condemned. Read John iii. 18, and many other passages. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned." Now is not every unregenerate man condemned? Is nota man who is not condemned a saved man? When you are sure on divine authority that the believer is not condemned, how in thename of everything that is rational can you deny that the believer is saved? If he is not condemned, what has he to fear?Will he not rightly conclude that being justified by faith, he has peace withGod through our Lord Jesus Christ?

Note, secondly, that faith in the fourth verse of the chapter before us is said to "overcome the world." "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." What, then, does faith overcome the world in persons whoare not saved? How can this be possible when the apostle saith that that which overcomes the world is born of God? Read thefourth verse: "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world:" but faith overcomes the world. therefore the man who hasfaith is regenerate; and what means that but that he is saved, and that his faith is the instrument by which he achievesvictories.

Further, faith accepts the witness of God, and more, he that hath faith has the witness in himself to the truth of God. Readthe tenth verse of the chapter: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." It is not said, "He thatdoes this or feels that," but "He that believeth hath the witness in himself," his heart bears witness to the truth of God.Has any unsaved man an experimental witness within? Will you tell me that a man's inner experience bearswitness to God's gospel and yet the man is in a lost state, or only hopeful of being saved ultimately? No, sir, it isimpossible. He that believeth has that change wrought in him which enables by his own consciousness to confirm the witnessof God, and such a man must be in a state of salvation. It is not possible to say of him that he is an unsaved man.

Again, note in this chapter, at the thirteenth verse, that wherever there is faith there is eternal life; so run the words,"these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life."Our Lord himself, and his apostles, in several places have declared, "He that believeth on him hath everlasting life." Donot tell me that a sinner who believes in Jesus is to make an advance before he can say he is saved,that a man who trusts Christ is only on his way to salvation, and must wait until he has used the ordinances, and hasgrown in grace, before he may know that he is saved. No, the moment that the sinner's trust in placed on the finished workof Jesus he is saved. Heaven and earth may pass away, but that man shall never perish. If only one second ago I trusted theSaviour I am safe; just as safe as the man who has believed in Jesus fifty years, and who has all the while walked uprightly.I do notsay that the new born convert is as happy, nor as useful, nor as holy, nor as ripe for heaven, but I do say that the words,"he that believeth on him hath everlasting life," is a truth with general bearings, and relates as much to the babe in faithas does to the man who has attained to fullness of stature in Jesus Christ.

As if this chapter were written on purpose to meet the gross error that faith does not bring immediate salvation, it extolsfaith again and again, yea, and I may add, our Lord himself crowns faith, because faith never wears the crown, but bringsall the glory to the dear Redeemer.

Now, let me say a word or two in reply to certain questions. But must not a man repent as well as believe? Reply: No man everbelieved but what he repented at the same time. Faith and repentance go together. they must. If I trust Christ to save mefrom sin, I am at the same time repenting of sin, and my mind is changed in relation to sin, and everything else that hasto do with its state. All the fruits meet for repentance are contained in faith itself. You will never findthat a man who trusts Christ remains an enemy of God, or a lover of sin. The fact that he accepts the atonement providedis proof positive that he loathes sin, and that his mind is thoroughly changed in reference to God. Moreover, as to all thegraces which are produced in the Christian afterwards, are they not all to be found in embryo in faith? "Only believe, andyou shall be save," is the cry which many sneer at, and others misunderstand; but do you know what "only believe" means? Doyouknow what a world of meaning lies in that word? Read that famous chapter to the Hebrews, and see what faith has done andis still able to do, and you will see that it is no trifle. Wherever there is faith in a man let it but develop itself andthere will be a purging of himself from sin, a separating himself from the world, a conflict with evil, and a warring forthe glory of Christ, which nothing else could produce. Faith is in itself one of the noblest of graces; it is the compendiumof allvirtues; and as sometimes there will lie within one single ear enough seed to make a whole garden fertile, so, withinthat one word "faith," there lies enough of virtue to make earth blessed; enough of grace, if the Spirit make it to grow,to turn the fallen into the perfect. Faith is not the easy and light thing men think. Far are we from ascribing salvationto the profession of a mere creed, we loathe the idea; neither do we ascribe salvation to a fond persuasion, but we do ascribesalvationto Jesus Christ, and the obtaining of it to that simple, child like confidence which lovingly casts itself into the armsof him who gave both his hands to the nail and suffered to the death for the sins of his people. He who believes, then, issaved-rest assured of that. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."

III. Now what flows out of this? Love is the legitimate issue! We must love if we are begotten of God all those who are alsoborn of God. It would be an insult to you if I were to prove that a brother should love his brother. Doth not nature herselfteach us that? Those, then, who are born of God ought to love all those of the same household. And who are they? Why, allthose who have believed that Jesus is the Christ, and are resting their hopes where we rest ours, namely,on Christ the Anointed One of God. We are to love all such. We are to do this because we are of the family. We believe,and therefore we have been begotten of God. Let us act as those who are of the divine family; let us count it our privilegewe are received into the household, and rejoice to perform the lovely obligations of our high position. We look around usand see many others who have believed in Jesus Christ; let us love them because they are of the same kindred. "But they aresome ofthem unsound in doctrine, they make gross mistakes as to the Master's ordinances." We are not to love their faults, neitherought we to expect them to love ours, we are nevertheless to love their persons, for "whosoever believeth that Jesus is theChrist is born of God," and therefore he is one of the family, and as we love the Father who begat we are to love all thosewho are begotten of him. First, I love God, and therefore I desire to promote God's truth and to keep God's gospel free fromtaint. But then I am to love all those whom God has begotten, despite the infirmities and errors I see in them, beingalso myself compassed about with infirmities. Life is the reason for love, the common life which is indicated by the commonfaith in the dear Redeemer is to bind us to each other. I must confess, though I would pay every deference to every brother'sconscientious judgment, I do not know how I could bring my soul as a child of God to refuse any man communion at my Master'stable,who believed that Jesus is the Christ. I have proof in his doing do, if he be sincere (and I can only judge of that byhis life), that he is born of God; and has not every child a right to come to the Father's table? I know in the olden times,parent used to make their children go without meals as a punishment, but everybody tell us now this is cruel and unwise, forit injures the child's constitution to deprive it of necessary food. There are rods in the Lord's house, and there is no needtokeep disobedient children away from supper. Let them come to the Lord's table, and eat and drink with the Lord Jesus andwith all his saints, in the hope that when their constitution bestows stronger they will throw out the disease which now theylabor under, and come to be obedient to the whole gospel, which saith, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."

Let me beg the members of this church to exhibit mutual love to one another. Are there many feeble among you? Comfort them.Are there any who want instruction? Bring your knowledge to their help. Are there any in distress? Assist them. Are they backsliding?Restore them. "Little children, love one another," is the rule of Christ's family, may we observe it. May the love of Godwhich has been she abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, reveal itselfby our love to all the saints. And, remember, other sheep he has which are not yet of this fold; them also he must bringin. Let us love those who are yet to be brought in, and lovingly go forth at once to seek them; in whatever other form ofservice God has given us, let us with loving eyes look after our prodigal brothers, and who knows, we may bring into the familythis very day some for whom there will be joy in the presence of the angels of God, because the lost one has been found. Godbless and comfort you, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON-1 John 5.