Sermon 1228. Salvation by Faith and the Work of the Spirit

(No. 1228)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 11 1875,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" Galatians 5:5.

IT may seem remarkable that Paul, who was once the strictest of Pharisees, should become the most ardent champion of the doctrinesof Salvation by Grace and Justification by Faith. How large a portion of the New Testament is given up to his writings-andthe most prominent subject in all that falls from his pen is righteousness by faith. Did not the Lord show great wisdom inselecting as the chief advocate of this Truth of God a man who knew the other side-who had worked diligently under the Law,who had practiced every ceremony, who was a Hebrew of the Hebrews-and had profited above many under the Jews' religion, beingmore exceedingly zealous of the traditions of the fathers?

Paul would know, right well, the bondage of the old system, and having felt its iron enter into his soul, he would more highlyprize the liberty with which Christ makes men free! He was also a man of great learning-he was at home in every part of theOld Testament and, consequently, the quotations which he makes from it are innumerable. He also understood the Rabbinicalmethod of spiritualizing and used it against his old associates, turning the Old Testament allegories into a battery in defenseof New Testament principles.

He knew how to take the story, as we have seen, of Hagar and Sarah, and to find in it an argument for the doctrine which hedesired to defend. It was well that a man who had been, in spirit, a Pharisee and in education equal to the most learned ofthe Jewish doctors, should be engaged by the Spirit of God to defend the glorious principles of Salvation by Grace. Moreover,Paul was a man of very powerful mind. Has the Christian Church ever had in her midst a man whose arguments are so keen, sosubtle, so profound and yet so clear? He dives to the very bottom of things, but he never darkens counsel by mysticism.

Like the eagle, he soared aloft and his piercing eyes did not fail him as he gazed on the sun. He was amazed by the Revelationshe beheld, but he was not dazzled. He spoke some things hard to be understood, which the foolish have wrested to their destruction,but they had to do his teaching great violence before they could pervert it. His intimate acquaintance with Divine thingsand the logical conformation of his mind, combined with an immovable decision of character and a flaming ardor of soul, madehim, in the hands of God, the fittest conceivable instrument for the Divine purpose. He was wisely chosen and set for thedefense of the Gospel.

But why, my Brothers and Sisters, such care in selecting an advocate whose previous education and formation of mind so wellenabled him to do battle for the cause? Why was the choice so carefully made? Why such a display of Divine Wisdom? I reply,because this is the point which, above all others has been, is, and always will be, most assailed by the enemies of our holyreligion. Justification by Faith is the Thermopylae of Christianity! It is there that the battle must be decided by hand-to-handfight! If that narrow pass is once carried by the enemy, then the whole of our bulwarks may be stormed! But as long as thatfort is held fast, the rest of the Truths of the Gospel will be maintained.

The Lord, therefore, sent this mighty man of valor, this Saul the Benjamite-head and shoulders taller than his fellows, ofsound heart and decided purpose and devout spirit-to wage war with the adversaries of Free Grace. I have said that the Truthof God has always been assailed and is it not the case? It was the clouding of this light, the almost quenching of it, whichoccasioned the darkness of the medieval period! It was Luther's clear sight of this Truth and the astonishing thunders withwhich he uttered it, which brought about the Reformation!

And though there are other Truths of God of great importance-and we would not depreciate their value for a single moment-yetthis one, whenever it has flashed forth with brilliance before the eyes of men, has always been the means of restoring evangelicaldoctrines and at the same time exercising a powerful influence over men's hearts and bringing much glory to the Savior. Despitethis fact, or perhaps because of it, it is still resisted. And at the present day it is op-

posed as much as ever, for you hear, continually, the remark that the preaching up of salvation by immediate faith in Christis very dangerous and opposed to the interests of morality. It is asserted that it cannot be supposed to make men any betterand will only create in them a false confidence. They say it will add to other faults the pride and presumption which growout of an assured security.

We continually hear such observations. The present revival has set all the owls hooting and you know their note- good worksare in peril and virtue in jeopardy! However well meant, I believe that at the bottom of these wonderful objections you willdiscover the old Popery of reliance upon good works. Human nature always did kick against Salvation by Grace, alone, and italways will! Even professing Christians raise the same objection, but they word it cautiously. They say that the preachingup of Jesus Christ as saving men immediately upon their believing in Him ignores, too much, the work of the Holy Spirit. Andthey affirm that a great deal more ought to be said about the preparation of the heart, the humbling and abasing of the soul,the law work, the inward sense of need and so on.

There may be some truth in this as seen from a certain point, and I should be disposed to hear such criticisms patiently,but I fear that in not a few instances the remarks are suggested by a measure of departure from the simplicity of the Gospel-thevery essence of which lies in the words, "believe and live." There is a danger of meaning, "salvation by works," while weuse the phrase, "the work of the Spirit." Zeal for the inner life may only be a convenient method for covering up pure legalism.I will, therefore, assert it boldly that salvation by feelings is as unscriptural as salvation by works-and that Paul didnot cry out against those who trusted in works with greater vehemence than he would, now, have called out against any whorelied upon their terrors and convictions, or who imagined that their feelings, or their doings may be joined on to the finishedwork of Christ as a ground of trust. Jesus Christ, alone, is a complete and all-sufficient foundation for faith! It is bybelieving in Him that men are justified-and in no degree by anything else!

We shall use our text, this morning, with the view of dealing with that class of objections which are founded upon the workof the Holy Spirit. It would be a grievous fault in any preaching if it did not ascribe honor to the Holy Spirit, nor couldwe too severely rebuke any ministry which ignored His Divine working. But, on the other hand, it is no less a fault to misrepresentthe Spirit's work and set it up in a kind of competition with the work of the Lord Jesus! Faith is not opposed to the Spirit,but is the child of it-"We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith."

Two things I shall try to do-may the Holy Spirit enable me-for on His mysterious teachings my mind relies for guidance intothe Truth of God. First I shall labor to declare the Christian's hope. Then, secondly, I shall endeavor to show the relationof that hope to the Holy Spirit.

I. Let me DECLARE THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. "We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Concerningthe Christian's hope, let us notice, first, its singularity. The Jews had a hope founded upon their descent. "We have Abrahamfor our father," they said. "We were free born, we were never in bondage to any man. The temple of the Lord, the temple ofthe Lord are we." They looked down upon Gentiles as uncircumcised and despised them.

Brethren, we have no such hope! We do not expect to be saved by virtue of our parentage. We cannot boast of fleshly descentfrom Abraham. Neither do we rest upon the fact that we are, some of us, the children of godly parents and that from generationto generation saintly names occur in our pedigree. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and no more, however pure theflesh may be. The children of God are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. Carnal descent leavesus heirs of wrath even as others. We have no belief in a pretended Abrahamic Covenant made with the seed of Believers accordingto the flesh. We have no reliance upon anything that comes to us by the way of the natural birth, for that would make us likethat son of the bondwoman who was born after the flesh.

Those who glory in their birth may do so at their leisure-we have no sympathy with their glorying. Our hope is altogetherdistinct from the hope of the Jew. Neither have we any confidence in outward rites and ceremonies. Paul has said, "In ChristJesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision," and we hold that if you put any other rite in the place ofcircumcision the same statement is true. No infant baptism, no immersion, no mass, no sacrament, no confirmation, no ceremonyof any kind can, in any measure or degree, be rested upon as the soul's righteousness. What if the rites which we believethat God, Himself, had given were authenticated to us by a voice out of the excellent Glory? On those rites we dare not build,no, not for an instant!

No blood of bullocks or of goats after the old Law and no unbloody sacrifice of the mass after the modern legality of Poperycan we rest upon! The beggarly elements of a visible external religion we have left behind as childish garments, unfit formen in Christ Jesus. No, Brothers and Sisters, we are wide as the poles asunder from all who rest upon outward forms and ceremonialreligiousness! We hope to be saved, not because we attend a place of worship, nor because we have made a profession of religion,but because we have obtained righteousness by faith! We differ, also, from those who place reliance upon moral virtues andspiritual excellencies-and even from those who would have us found our hope upon certain Graces supposed to be the works ofthe Holy Spirit.

Had we been the most courageously honest. Had we been the most chastely pure. Had we never offended against the law of manin any respect whatever. If we could say with the Apostle, "as touching the law, blameless," and if, like the young man inthe Gospel narrative, we could say of the Commandments, "All these things have I kept from my youth up," yet would we countour virtues and obedience to be but dross that we might win Christ and be found in Him, not having our own righteousness whichis of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

We dare not hope to be acceptable with God because of anything good that is in us by nature, or may be infused into us byGrace. We are accepted in the Beloved and apart from Him we look not to be found acceptable. Even what the Holy Spirit workswith us does not furnish us with any merit which we can plead, for it is a gift of Grace, and no part of our justifying righteousness.We rest upon Jesus Christ crucified and not upon our faith, our repentance, our prayers, our conquests of sin, our likenessto Christ! Right away from anything that comes from us or to us we look to Jesus, who is all our salvation, the Alpha andOmega, the Author and the Finisher of faith.

Our faith is singular, then, because it differs from that of the Jew who boasts in his carnal descent. It differs from thatof the religionist, who rests upon outward forms, and that of the self-righteous man who depends upon his own works in wholeor in part. These three forms of dependence we renounce from the very depth of our hearts! And any other form of dependenceupon anything that can be done by man is equally detestable to us. We know that if we are saved it must be upon quite anotherground than that of the merit of works of any sort or kind. "We wait for the hope of righteousness by

faith." th

Secondly, consider the specialty of our hope. Taking our text in connection with the 4th verse, we remark that our hope isin Divine Grace alone. According to Paul, any man who tries to be justified by the Law has altogether given up Salvation byGrace-therefore we trust for righteousness in Christ, alone, and look entirely to the free mercy of God. If I ever get toHeaven it will be in no measure because I deserve to be there, but because God willed that I should enter Glory by His aboundingGrace! No man has any claim upon God whatever! If God gives man what he may claim in justice, He will award him eternal destructionfrom the glory of His power-that is all man has a right to-he is an undeserving, ill-deserving, Hell-deserving sinner!

If any good thing, therefore, comes to us, it must be entirely on the ground of goodness freely given to the undeserving.It is pardon extended to the guilty. It is infinite compassion looking upon our misery and determining to reveal itself ina free gift. It is not to be won by effort-not to be deserved nor purchased-but bestowed solely because He "will have mercyon whom He will have mercy, and He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion." Our hope stands on pure Grace, SovereignGrace, Grace unqualified! God blesses us because He is good, not because we are! God saves us because He is gracious, notbecause He sees any Grace inherent in us! He blesses as according to His great love with which He loved us even when we weredead in trespasses and sins. And therefore Grace must ever be the subject of our praise! We can never endure the preachingof any other confidence, for we know it to be a delusion and a snare.

Thirdly, consider the ground of our hope. A groundless hope is a retched thing. But our hope has a firm foundation. It isfounded upon right and is called, "the hope of righteousness by faith." Righteousness is a solid basis for hope. If we hada hope which disturbed or destroyed or diminished the luster of the Righteousness of God, the sooner we were rid of it thebetter. But we need not detract in any degree from the severity of Divine Justice in order to sustain our hope. We expectto be saved by an act of Justice as well as by a deed of Mercy. A strong expression to use-and we use it advisedly. We reckonthat by faith we are saved by a method which as much vindicates the Justice of God as if He had cast us into Hell-a plan bywhich the Divine Righteousness is manifested, rather than obscured.

Observe that our hope is the hope, "of righteousness." That is to say, a hope arising out of the fact that we are righteousand therefore God will treat us as such. "Strange hope," says one, "for we are guilty." That we admit with deepest shame andwe disown all reliance upon our own righteousness which we know to be but filthy rags. But still, we have a glorious hopebased upon the fact that we are, at this moment, actually righteous before God! By faith we are as righteous as if we hadnever sinned! Those eyes which can discern the slightest flaw, gaze upon us and discern our inmost thoughts-but they discoverno flaw in our righteousness! Like burning suns they search us through and through, but our righteousness endures the searchand comes forth unscathed from the heat of that consuming fire.

This day, having believed in Jesus Christ, "there is therefore now no condemnation to us." "Being justified by faith we havepeace through Jesus Christ our Lord." We have a righteousness which we dare present before God, for it is perfect! In it thereis no omission and no excess. We are righteous before God and without fault before His Throne. Bold words, but not bolderthan the Apostle used when he said, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who ishe that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes, rather that is risen again."

Now, Brothers and Sisters, if we have a hope founded upon righteousness it is well sustained, for where Justice lends itsaid to bless, we are sure that all the other Divine attributes will co-operate! But is it, indeed, the fact that we are righteous?According to Holy Scripture it is undoubtedly so! We are not righteous in ourselves. Have we not, with detestation, flungaway that thought? But we know that it is written, "To him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly,his faith is counted for righteousness."

Even David, also, describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, "Blessedare they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."When we put our trust in Christ Jesus, His blood cleanses us from all sin! Does Divine Perfection need us to be more cleanthan that? Cleansed from all sin! When we trust in Jesus Christ, He is made of God unto us righteousness-do we require a moreperfect and glorious righteousness? Our Redeemer finished transgression and made an end of sin! What remains of that of whichan end is made? What more do we need than everlasting righteousness? What more does God, Himself, require? Don't you know,Beloved, how the Lord, Himself, has said concerning His Church-"This is the name with which she shall be called, The Lordour Righteousness"?

I said that clothed in the Righteousness of Christ we are as accepted as if we had never sinned. I correct myself-had we neversinned we could only have stood in the righteousness of man. But this day, by faith, we stand in the Righteousness of God,Himself! The works and the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ make up, for us, a wedding dress more glorious than human meritcould have spun, even if unfallen Adam had been the spinner!-

"With my Surety's vesture on, Holy as the Holy One."

Here is the footing of our hope, then, that we are righteous in the Righteousness of Christ, accepted in the Beloved, completein Him and perfect in Christ Jesus. This righteousness we have not obtained by any process which has occupied a great dealof time and exhibited our ability and tried our strength-it is the righteousness offaith. We have believed and we are righteous!"Strange doctrine," says one. Not at all! It is the way by which Abraham became righteous, for it is written, "Abraham believedGod and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Along this path all the ancient saints traveled and sang, "Surely in theLord Jehovah have we righteousness and strength." This is the only possible way to righteousness and blessed is the man whofollows it and knows that by faith in the great substitutionary Sacrifice he is righteous before God!

We will now dwell a minute upon the substance of this hope. Suppose you were all perfectly righteous-what would you expectfrom God? You cannot expect more, at any rate, than we do who have the righteousness of faith. We expect to die triumphantly,glorying in our exalted Head! We expect, as soon as our breath has left our body, to be with Him where He is, that we maybehold His Glory! We expect to sit at the right hand of God, even the Father-because Christ is there. We expect to rise againat the blast of the archangel's trumpet, when the Lord, who is our Righteousness, shall descend upon the earth! We expect,then, to be manifested because He will be manifested, for, "it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that whenHe shall appear we shall be like He; for we shall see Him as He is."

We expect to share in all the glories of His millennial reign and when comes the end and He delivers up the kingdom to theFather, we expect to be there and forever in the perfection of bliss and Glory to dwell with Him, always singing,

"Worthy is the Lamb" We will never sing, "Worthy am I," but always say, "We have washed our robes and made them white in theblood of the Lamb." We will never claim that our robes were not defiled, or that we cleansed them ourselves. We expect thisand we expect it because we are righteous! Do you see this? No man has a right to expect a reward if he has not a righteousnessto which it is due-but lo, He who is All in All to us, our Covenant Head, deserves the reward-and He has transferred thatreward to us who are members of His body. And so are one with Him! We wait for the hope of righteousness by faith!

Once more upon this point, notice the posture which our hope takes up. We are waiting for this hope-waiting. Would it nothave been better to have said, "We are working"? No, it would have spoiled the sense altogether. To complete the foundationof our hope of righteousness by faith we have nothing more to do except to wait for the reward of what is done! To the garmentwhich covers us we dare not think of adding a single thread. Why should we? To the acceptance in which we stand before Godwe cannot hope to add a single jewel. Why attempt it? Has not Jesus said, "It is finished"?

As far as justifying righteousness is concerned, we are as righteous as we shall be when robed in light! We shall cast ourcrowns before the Throne of God. We are at rest, waiting in peace. It is true we are working for other reasons and other purposes,but as far as the righteousness of faith is concerned we are waiting, not working. Waiting-that is the posture of confidence!We are not hurrying, bustling and running about in anxiety, but we are at rest, knowing that the reward will come. As theworkman, when his six days' work is over, goes up to his master's pay table and waits for his wages, we believe that the meritoriouswork by which Heaven is procured for us is all done. And therefore we are waiting in the name of Jesus to take the rewardwhich as a matter of justice is due to Him and has been, by His dying testament, transferred to us.

Waiting implies continuance. The Galatians wanted to be more sure than faith could make them and so they ran off to get circumcisedand observed days, weeks, months and all sorts of carnal ordinances. But the Apostle says, "We, through the Spirit, wait."We ask no touch of priests, or charm of magic rites! We are thoroughly furnished in our blessed Lord and are content to abidein Him. Our faith is not for today and tomorrow only, but for time and eternity! We are rooted and grounded in faith in Christ-

"All that remains for me

Is but to love and sing,

And wait until the angels come

To bear me to their King."

"I thought it was a race," says one, "a combat." Oh, yes, we will tell you about that another time, but that has nothing todo with our righteousness, nothing to do with the ground of our acceptance before God-and that is what we are speaking aboutjust now. As far as that is concerned, "It is finished," sounded from the tree of Calvary and that, "It is finished," bringsthe righteous to perfect peace-and there they sit and wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. I have said enough uponthe first point and must hasten to the second.

II. THE RELATION OF THIS MATTER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. We may be quite sure that the doctrine of Salvation by Faith in JesusChrist cannot be opposed to the work of the Spirit of God, for never, without blasphemy, can we imagine anything like a divisionin the purposes and works of the sacred Persons of the adorable Trinity. The will of the Father, the will of the Son and thewill of the Spirit must be one! It is a perverse forgetfulness of the Unity of the Godhead to suppose otherwise. That whichglorifies Jesus cannot dishonor the Holy Spirit-we may be quite sure of that.

But observe, Brothers and Sisters, it is the Spirit's work to destroy the pride of man. All flesh is grass and all the goodlinessthereof is as the flower of grass. The grass withers because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it. All the vaunted comelinessof the natural man is to be destroyed by the Holy Spirit-and does not the doctrine of Righteousness by Faith wither up theglory of man? What can do it more effectually? I have seen the proud Pharisee leer with a scornful hatred when he has heardthis doctrine. "What?" he cries, "After all I have done for years, am I to come to Christ just as if I had been a thief ora harlot and be saved by charity?"

He cannot bear it! He will not have it! Now the Spirit of God designs to stain the pride of all glorying and to bring intocontempt all the excellency of the earth-and this doctrine is the appropriate instrument for His work and is, therefore, consistentwith the mind of the Spirit. Another office of the Holy Spirit is to exalt Christ. "He shall glorify Me,"

said Jesus. And does not this doctrine glorify Jesus, since it makes Him the head and front, the All in All of a sinner'shope by informing him that nothing but faith in Jesus will save him? Is not this according to the mind of the Spirit?

O Beloved, the Holy Spirit is no rival to the Redeemer, but a glorious co-worker, delighting to honor the Son! We know, Beloved,that the Spirit of God works under the economy of Grace, only. The Apostle says, "Received you the Spirit by the works ofthe Law?" Nobody ever received the Spirit by his own works, or as a matter of merit. Since, then, the Spirit only comes tomen in connection with the great principle of Grace, and Justification by Faith is the essential doctrine of Grace, it mustbe perfectly consistent with His mind! And you may be sure of this, poor Sinner, that there is no deep, mysterious operationof the Holy Spirit which can, if rightly understood, stand in conflict with the Gospel announcements that, "Whoever believesthat Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." And, "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned." And, "Whoever will, let him comeand take of the water of life freely." Salvation by Grace through faith and the operations of the Holy Spirit must be consistent!

Carefully note that this righteousness by faith must be consistent with the work of the Spirit because the faith which bringsthis righteousness is never exercised by any but those who are born of the Spirit. The flesh relies upon works. It is a somewhatremarkable circumstance, perhaps, but so it is, that sinful flesh, which is barren of all real excellence, always clings tomerit. The natural man persists in the belief that he has something to do and yet he can do nothing! He grasps with all hismight the sword which cuts him. You cannot get him to see that-

"Till to Jesus Christ you cling

By a simple faith,

'Doing 'is a deadly thing

'Doing' ends in death."

He finds fault with it. He cannot bear it. Of course he cannot-Ishmael is the bondwoman's son and has the nature of his motherin him. That which is born of the Spirit instinctively clutches the promise, even as Isaac did, for Isaac knew that he hadno right to the inheritance except according to the promise, for, according to the flesh, Ishmael was the first born.

The new-born life in every man runs instinctively to Grace and lives by faith! You shall never find simple faith in Jesusexercised by any life except the life that is born of Divine Seed in the new birth. Here, then, simple faith and the HolySpirit are related, for the new heart which the Spirit creates is the only soil in which faith will grow.

Again, faith for righteousness is based on the testimony of the Holy Spirit. My Brothers and Sisters, why do we believe thatwe are justified by faith in Jesus Christ? On the ground that the Spirit, in the Holy Scripture, has borne witness that itis so! The witness which God gave concerning His Son is the basis for our belief! We accept the witness of the Holy Spiritas contained in these pages. The Bible cannot be contrary to the mind of the Spirit because it is inspired by the Spirit!So you may rest certain that faith in Jesus Christ as the ground of salvation cannot be opposed to the Spirit's work, becausethat faith is based upon the Spirit's own testimony concerning Christ!

Moreover, simple faith is always the work of the Spirit. No man did ever believe in Jesus Christ for righteousness unlessthe Spirit of God led him to it. He can never be brought to it unless the Holy Spirit shall lead him there. Faith is as muchthe gift of God as Jesus Christ, Himself! Nature never did produce a grain of saving faith and it never will. When a man hasbelieved, he obtains a great increase to his faith in Jesus by the work of the Spirit. The Spirit never takes a man off fromJesus Christ as he grows in Grace, but He establishes him in his confidence in the Righteousness of Christ. The witness ofthe Spirit in us is a testimony to the faith that Jesus is the Propitiation for sin. He never leads us to rest upon the workwithin, but points us always to Jesus.

When He works in us mightily, our faith becomes even more simple and childlike. We sink in our own esteem and rise higherin confidence in Jesus. The Holy Spirit could not be supposed to do this if salvation by faith were an imperfect matter, ordangerous, or dishonoring to Himself! It is by the Spirit that we continue to exercise faith. Notice my text. I will quoteit emphatically-"We, through the Spirit, wait for the righteousness by faith." It is not because of any other influence butthe influence of the Spirit that we come to rest-and continue to rest and wait while we rest-for the hope of the righteousnessby faith! The Spirit of God works it all and, therefore, He is not in conflict with it. It is that which He plants, waters,fosters and brings to perfection-and He cannot but love it. Ridiculous, then, absurdly ridiculous, is the attempt to makeout that the preaching of Justification by Faith is derogatory to the ministry and deity of the Holy

Spirit!

Let us draw an inference or two before we close. From this subject the inference is that whoever has this hope of righteousnessby faith has the Spirit of God. If your hope, Beloved, is based upon your being righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, youhave been born again and renewed in heart by the Holy Spirit! Many are puzzled and say, "I wish I knew I had the Spirit."They fancy that the Spirit of God would cause some singular excitement in them-very different from quiet penitence and humbletrust. I have even known them suppose that it would cause some very astounding swooning, palpitations, and I know not whatbesides! The best evidence of your having the Spirit of God is your depending upon Christ as a little child depends upon itsmother!

Others may bring other evidence to prove that they are born from above-let them bring the evidence and be thankful that theycan bring it. But if you have no other evidence but this, "Jesus Christ is my sole reliance and on Him do I depend," thatis enough! All the rest will follow in due course. He that believes has the Holy Spirit in himself. He that believes in Himis not condemned.

Draw a second inference. Wherever there is any other hope, or a hope based upon anything else but this, the Spirit of Godis not present. There may be much talk about Him, but the Spirit Himself is not there, for "other foundation can no man laythan that which is laid, even Jesus Christ the Righteous." The Spirit will not bear witness to man's home-born presumptuoushopes! He bears witness only to the finished work of Jesus Christ! If you are trusting that you have the Spirit, but are buildingupon sacraments, works, orthodoxies, feelings, or anything but Jesus Christ, you have not the Spirit of God, for the Spiritof God never taught a man to place his house upon such sandy foundations.

Beloved Friend, you may, therefore, answer inquiries about what is within so far as they cause you distress, by turning youreyes to Jesus, the Lord, our Righteousness. "Look to Me," says Jesus, "and be you saved." Look away from self to God's appointedPropitiation! On yonder shameful tree hangs all your trust! Look up to Jesus upon His Father's Throne, for there dwells yourhope!

One further thought I want to leave upon every mind. Nothing should make us speak with bated breath when we are lifting upChrist crucified before the eyes of sinful men. There is no doctrine, there is no experience, there is no decree of the Father,there is no influence of the Spirit which needs, for a moment, make us hesitate when we are extolling the Lord Jesus as anAll-Sufficient Savior for the very chief of sinners. I stand here, this morning, to solemnly assert before God that I havenot a shadow of a hope of seeing His face with acceptance except that which lies in the fact that Jesus Christ came into theworld to save sinners!

In Him I do unfeignedly trust, and in Him alone. What if I have preached the Gospel these 25 years? What if I have broughtsouls to Jesus, not by the hundreds but by the thousands through the Divine blessing? What if I have been the means of foundingand fostering works of usefulness on the right hand and on the left? Truly, if these things were to be gloried in we mightglory before men! But far from it! We ascribe them all to the Lord's Grace and before His Presence we lie in the dust. Wehave no hope because of our works! No, nor a shadow of hope! We have no reliance upon our Graces! No, nor a ghost of a relianceupon them!

Jesus Christ stood in my place! I, a guilty sinner, have taken shelter by faith which He has given me! Beneath His wings Ihide myself in Him. There is my hope and that is the hope of every true Believer here-

"Not what these hands ha ve done

Can save this guilty soul.

Not what this toiling flesh has borne

Can make my spirit whole.

Not what I feel or do

Can give me peace with God.

Not all my prayers and sighs and tears,

Can bear my awful load.

Your work alone, O Christ,

Can ease this weight of sin.

Your blood alone, O Lamb of God,

Can give me peace within."

Now we preach the same hope to the ungodly! Hear what God's Word says to you! You have broken His Laws and deserve His wrath!He might justly sweep you down to Hell but behold, He addresses you in tones of Divine Grace! You

have no claim upon Him. You have no right to expect mercy at His hands because of anything in you that could move Him to pity.But in the plenitude of His Grace He has set forth Christ to be a Propitiation for your sins. And the Apostle adds, "And notfor ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." We preach Jesus Christ unto you this morning and say in His own Words,"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." Come to Christ and trust in Him, and you shall be reconciled toGod-

"Your sins shall vanish quite away,

Though black as Hell before.

Shall be dissolved beneath the sea

And shall be found no more." Whoever you may be and in whatever condition of heart you may be-it doesn't m atter if you haveseven devils in you, or if you are as vile as Lucifer, himself, in rebellion against God-if you believe in the great atoningSacrifice you shall have instantaneous pardon and acceptance in the Beloved! O, hold not out against such free and boundlesslove! "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." "Whoever believes inHim shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

Oh, yield, Man! What are your works but sin and death? What are your boasted performances, your virtues and your excellencies?All rottenness in the sight of the heart-searching God! Quit your refuges of lies, I pray you! Quit them now, lest the avalancheof Divine Wrath overwhelms both you and your refuges-

"Come, guilty souls, and flee away,

Like doves to Jesus' wounds!

This is the accepted Gospel day,

Wherein free Grace abounds."

Trust His Son Jesus! It is His command to you! In other words, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved,"for, "he that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned." God save us, for Christ'ssake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON-Galatians 4,5:1-6. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"-202, 531, 533.