#FAITH ILLUSTRATED
"For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed; 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
AN ASSURANCE of our safety in Christ will be found useful to us in all states of experience. When Jesus sent forth His 70 chosen disciples, endowed with miraculous powers, they performed great wonders and, naturally enough, they were somewhat elated when they returned to tell Him of their deeds. Jesus marked their tendency to pride. He saw that in the utterance—"Behold even devils were subject to us," there was mingled much of self-congratulation and boasting. What cure, do you think, He administered—or what was the sacred lesson that He taught them which might prevent their being exalted above measure? "Nevertheless," He said, "rejoice not in this, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." The assurance of our eternal interest in Christ may help to keep us humble in the day of our prosperity; for when God multiplies our wealth, when He blesses our endeavors, when He speeds the plow—when He wafts the good ship swiftly onward—this may act as a sacred ballast to us, that we have something better than these things and, therefore, we must not set our affections upon the things of earth, but upon things above—and let our heart be where our greatest treasure is! I say, better than any lancet to spill the superfluous blood of our boasting; better than any bitter medicine to chase the burning fever of our pride; better than any mixture of the most pungent ingredients is this most precious and hallowed wine of the covenant—a remembrance of our safety in Christ! This, this alone, opened up to us by the Spirit, will suffice to keep us in that happy lowliness which is the true position of the full-grown man in Christ Jesus! But note this—when at any time we are cast down with multiplied afflictions and oppressed with sorrow—the very same fact which kept us humble in prosperity may preserve us from despair in adversity. For mark you here, the apostle was surrounded by a great fight of affliction. He was compassed about with troubles; he suffered within and without—and yet he says, "Nevertheless I am not ashamed." But what is that which preserves him from sinking? It is the same truth of God which kept the ancient disciples from overweening pride—it is the sweet persuasion of his interest in Christ—"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." Get then, Christian brethren and friends, get assurance! Be not content with _hope—_get confidence—rest not in faith, labor after the full assurance of faith; and never be content, my hearer, till you can say you know your election, you are sure of your redemption and you are certain of your preservation unto that day!
I propose this morning in preaching upon this text to labor both for the edification of the saint and the conversion of the sinner. I shall divide the text very amply thus—first, we have in it the grandest action of the Christian’s life, namely, the committing of our eternal interests into the hand of Christ. Secondly, we have _the justification of this grand act of trust_—"I know in whom I have trusted." I have not trusted one whose character is unknown to me, I am not foolish, I have sure grounds for what I have done. And then, we have, thirdly, _the most blessed effect of this confidence_—"I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him."
I. First, then, I am to describe THE GRANDEST ACTION OF THE CHRISTIAN’S LIFE.
With all our preaching, I am afraid that we too much omit the simple explanation of the essential act in salvation. I have feared that the anxious inquirer might visit many of our churches and chapels, month after month and yet he would not get a clear idea of what he must do to be saved. He would come away with an indistinct notion that he was to believe, but what he was to believe he would not know. He would, perhaps, obtain some glimmering of the fact that he must be saved through the merits of Christ, but how those merits can become available to him, he would still be left to guess. I know at least that this was my case—that when sincere and anxious to do or be anything which might save my soul, I was utterly in the dark as to the way in which my salvation might be rendered thoroughly secure. Now, this morning, I hope I shall be able to put it into such a light that he who runs may read and that the wayfaring man, though a fool, may not err therein!
The apostle says he committed himself into the hands of Christ. His soul with all its eternal interests; his soul with all its sins, with all its hopes and all its fears, he had put into the hands of Christ, as the grandest and most precious deposit which man could ever make! He had taken himself just as he was and had surrendered himself to Christ, saying—"Lord save me, for I cannot save myself. I give myself up to You, freely relying upon Your power and believing in Your love. I give my soul up to You to be washed, cleansed, saved, and preserved, and at last, brought home to heaven." This act of committing himself to Christ was the first act which ever brought real comfort to his spirit. It was the act which he must continue to perform whenever he would escape from a painful sense of sin. The act with which he must enter heaven, itself—if he would die in peace and see God’s face with acceptance—he must still continue to commit himself into the keeping of Christ! I take it that when the apostle committed himself to Christ, he meant these three things—he meant, first, that from that good hour he renounced all dependence upon his own efforts to save himself. The apostle had done very much, after a fashion, towards his own salvation. He commenced with all the advantages of ancestry. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin, as concerning the law, a Pharisee. He was one of the very straightest of the straightest sect of his religion. So anxious was he to obtain salvation by his own efforts, that he left no stone unturned. Whatever Pharisee might be a hypocrite, Paul was none. Though he tithed his anise and his mint and his cumin, he did not neglect the weightier matters of the law of God. He might have united with truth, in the affirmation of the young man, "All these things have I kept from my youth up."
Hear his testimony—"Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more." Being exceedingly desirous to serve God, he sought to put down what he thought was the pestilent heresy of Christ. Being exceedingly hot in his endeavors against everything that he thought to be wrong, he persecuted the professors of the new religion. He hunted them in every city; brought them into the synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. When he had emptied his own country, he must take a journey to another, that he might there show his zeal in the cause of his God, by bringing out those whom he thought to be the deluded followers of an impostor! But suddenly, Paul’s mind is changed. Almighty grace leads him to see that he is working in a wrong direction—that his toil is lost, that Sisyphus might as well seek to roll his stone up hill as for him to find a road to heaven up the steeps of Sinai, that as well might the daughters of Danaus hope to fill the bottomless cauldron with a bucket full of holes, as Paul indulge the idea that he could fill up the measure of the laws’ demands! Consequently, he feels that all he has done is worth nothing and coming to Christ he cries, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yes, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."
And now, my dear friends, if you would be saved, this is what you must do. I hope many of you have already performed the solemn act—you have said to Jesus in the privacy of your closet—"O Lord, I have tried to save myself, but I renounce all my endeavors. Once I said, ‘I am no worse than my neighbors, my goodness shall preserve me.’ Once I said, ‘I have been baptized, I have taken the sacrament, in these things will I trust,’ and now, Lord, I cast all this false confidence to the winds—
‘No more, my God, I am set no more
Of all the duties I have done.
I quit the hopes I held before
To trust the merits of Your Son!
The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before Your throne—
But faith can answer Your demands
By pleading what my Lord has done.’"
You cannot be saved if you have one hand on self and the other hand on Christ! Let go, sinner, renounce all dependence in anything you can do! Cease to be your own keeper—give up the futile attempt to be your own Savior, and then you will have taken the first step to heaven! There are but two, the first is— out of self, the next is—into Christ. When Christ is your all, then are you safe!
But again, when the apostle says he committed his soul to the keeping of Christ, he means that he had implicit confidence that Christ would save him now that he had relinquished all trust in self. Some men have gone far enough to feel that the best performance of their hands cannot be accepted before the bar of God. They have learned that their most holy acts are full of sin; that their most faithful service falls short of the demands of the law. They have relinquished self, but they are not yet able to see that Christ can and will save them. They are waiting for some great revelation. They think, perhaps, that by some marvelous electric shock, or some miraculous feeling within them, they will be led to place their confidence in Christ. They want to see an angel or a vision, or to hear a voice. Their cry is, "How could I think that Jesus would save such a one as I am? I am too vile, or else I am too hardened. I am the odd man. It is not likely that Christ would ever save me." Now, I doubt not that the apostle had felt all this, but he overcame all this attacking of sin and he came at last to Christ and said, "Jesus, I feel that You are worthy of my confidence. Behold, I am the chief of sinners; I have nothing in myself that can assist You in taking me to heaven. I shall kick and struggle against You rather than assist You. But behold, I feel that such is Your power and such Your love, that I commit myself to You. Take me as I am and make me what You would have me be. I am vile, but You are worthy. I am lost, but You are the Savior. I am dead, but You are the quickener—take me—I beseech You. I put my trust in You and though I perish, I will perish relying on Your blood. If I must die, I will die with my arms about Your cross, for You are worthy of confidence and on You do I rely."
And now, my friends, if you will be safe, you must, in the strength of the Holy Spirit, also do this! You say you have given up all trust in self—well and good. Now place your trust in Christ! Repose your all on Him. Drop into His arms—cast yourself into His power—lay hold on Him. You know how Joab, when he fled from the sword of Solomon, laid hold of the horns of the altar, thinking that surely when he had laid hold on the altar, he was safe. His was vain confidence, for he was dragged from the horns of the altar and slain! But, if you can lay hold on the horns of the altar of God, even Christ, you are most surely safe and no sword of vengeance can ever reach you!
I saw the other day a remarkable picture, which I shall use as an illustration of the way of salvation by faith in Jesus. An offender had committed a crime for which he must die, but it was in the olden times when churches were considered to be sanctuaries in which criminals might hide themselves and so escape. Look at the transgressor—he rushes towards a church, the guards pursue him with their drawn swords, all thirsty for his blood. They pursue him even to the church door. He rushes up the steps and just as they are about to overtake him and hew him in pieces on the threshold of the church, out comes the Bishop! And holding up the crucifix, he cries, "Back, back! Stain not the precincts of God’s house with blood! Stand back!" And the guards at once respected the emblem and stand back, while the poor fugitive hides himself behind the robes of the priest. It is even so with Christ. The guilty sinner flies to the cross—flies straight away to Jesus and though Justice pursues him, Christ lifts up His wounded nacle do I hide him. I will not suffer him to perish, for he puts his trust in Me." sinner, fly to Christ! But you say, "I am too vile." The viler you are, the more will you honor Him by believing that He is able to make you clean! "But I am too great a sinner." Then the more honor shall be given to Him that you are able to confide in Him, great sinner though you are! If you have a little sickness and you tell your physician—"Sir, I am quite confident in your skill to heal," there is no great compliment. But, if you are sorely sick with a complication of diseases, and you say—"Sir, I seek no better skill, I will ask no more excellent advice, I trust alone in you," what an honor have you conferred on him—that you could trust your life in his hands when it was in extreme danger! Do the same with Christ. Put your soul in His care—dare it, venture it—cast yourself simply on Him! Let nothing but faith be in your soul. Believe Him and you shall never be mistaken in your trust!
But, I think I have not completely stated all the apostle meant, when he said that he committed himself to Christ. He certainly meant those two things—self-renunciation and implicit belief in Christ’s power and willingness to save. But, in the third place, the apostle meant that he did make a full and free _surrender of himself to Christ_—to be Christ’s property and Christ’s servant forever! If you would be saved, you must not be your own! Salvation is through being bought with a price. And if you are bought with a price and thus saved, remember, from that day forward you will not be your own. Today, as an ungodly sinner, you are your own master, free to follow the lusts of the flesh. Or, rather Satan is your great tyrant and you are under bondage to him. If you would be saved, you must, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, now renounce the bondage of Satan, and come to Christ, saying, "Lord I am willing to give up all sin. It is not in my power to be perfect but I wish it were, make me perfect. There is not a sin I wish to keep—take all away. I present myself before You. Wash me, make me clean. Do what You will with me. I make no reserve, I make a full surrender of all to You." And then, you must give up to Christ all you are and all you have by solemn indenture, signed and sealed by your own heart. You must say in the words of the sweet Moravian hymn—
"Take You my soul, and all my powers,
O take my memory, mind and will.
Take all my goods, and all my hours,
Take all I know, and all I feel.
Take all I think, and speak and do—
O take my heart, but make it new."
Accept the sacrifice—I am worthless, but receive me through Your own merits. Take and keep me! I am, I hope I shall always be, Yours!
I have now explained that act which is, after all, the only one which marks the day of salvation to the soul. I will give one or two figures, however, to set it in a clearer light. When a man has gold and silver in his house, he fears lest some thief may break through and steal and, therefore, if he is a wise man, he seeks out a bank in which to store his money. He makes a deposit of his gold and his silver. He says in effect, "Take that, sir, keep it for me. Tonight I shall sleep securely. I shall have no thought of thieves. My treasure is in your hands. Take care of that for me. When I need it, at your hands shall I require it." Now in faith we do just the same with our blessed Redeemer! We bring our soul just as it is and give it up to Him. "Lord, I cannot keep it. Sin and Satan will be sure to ruin it—take it and keep it for me and in that day when God shall require the treasure, stand as my sponsor and on my behalf return my soul to my Maker, kept and preserved, by Your grace, to the end." Or take another figure. When your adventurous spirit has sought to climb some lofty mountain, delighted with the prospect, you scale many and many a steep. Onward you climb up the rocky crags until at last you arrive at the verge of the snow and ice. There, in the midst of precipices that scarcely know a bottom and of summits that seem inaccessible, you are suddenly surrounded with a fog. Perhaps it becomes worse and worse until a snowstorm completes your bewilderment. You cannot see a step before you—you are lost! A guide appears—"I know this mountain," he says. "In my early days I climbed it with my father. Over each of these crags have I leaped in pursuit of the chamois; I know every chasm and cavern. If you will follow me, even through ty, I demand of you implicit trust. You must not plant your feet where you think it safest, but where I shall bid you. Wherever I bid you climb or descend, you must implicitly obey and I undertake on my part to bring you safely down to your house." You do so—you have many temptations to prefer your own judgment to his, but you resist them—and you are safe. Even so must you do with Christ. Lost today and utterly bewildered, Christ appears. "Let Me guide you; let Me be an eye to you through the thick darkness; let Me be your feet, lean on Me in the slippery places. Let Me be your very life. Let Me wrap you in My crimson vest to keep you from the tempest and the storm." Will you now trust Him? Will you rely entirely, simply and implicitly upon Him? If so, the grand act of your life is done and you are a saved man, and on the terra firma of heaven you shall one day plant your delighted feet, and praise the name of Him who saved you from your sins!
I must add, however, that this act of faith must not be performed only once, but it must be continued as long as you live. As long as you live, you must have no other confidence but, "Jesus only." You must take Him today, to have and to hold through life and in death, in tempest and in sunshine, in poverty and in wealth, never to part or sever from Him. You must take Him to be your only prop, your only pillar from this day forth and forever. What do you say, sinner? Does God the Holy Spirit lead you to say, "Yes"? Does your heart now confide in Jesus? If so, let the angels sing, for a soul is born to God and a brand is plucked from the eternal fire! I have thus described faith in Christ—the committing of the soul to Him.
II. This brings us to our second point—THE JUSTIFICATION OF THIS GRAND ACT OF TRUST.
Confidence is sometimes folly—trusting in man is always so! When I exhort you, then, to put your entire confidence in Christ, am I justified in doing so? And when the apostle could say that he trusted alone in Jesus and had committed himself to Him, was he a wise man or a fool? What said the apostle? "I am no fool," he said, "for I know whom I have believed. I have not trusted to an unknown and untried pretender. I have not relied upon one whose character I could suspect. I have confidence in one whose power, whose willingness, whose love, whose truthfulness I know. I know whom I have believed." When silly women put their trust in yet more silly and wicked priests, they may possibly say that they know whom they have believed. But we may tell them that their knowledge must be ignorance, indeed—that they are greatly deluded in imagining that any man, be he who he may, or what he may, can have any power in the salvation of his fellow’s soul! You come sneaking up to me and ask me to repose my soul in you—and who are you? "I am an ordained priest of the Church of Rome." And who ordained you? "I was ordained by such a one." And who ordained him? "It comes after all," said he, "from the Pope." And who is he, and what is he more than any other man, or any other imposter? What ordination can he confer? "He obtained it directly from Peter." Did he? Let the link be proven. And if he did, what was Peter, and where has God given Peter power to forgive sin—a power which he should transmit to all generations? Begone! The thick pollutions of your abominable church forbid the idea of descent from any apostle but the traitor Judas! Upon the Papal throne men worse than devils have had their seat, and even a woman big with her adulteries once reigned as head of your accursed church! Go purge the filthiness of your priesthood, the debauchery of your nunneries, and the dark filth of your mother city, the old harlot, Rome! Talk not of pardoning others, while fornication is licensed in Rome, itself, and her ministers are steeped to the throat in iniquity!
But to return; I rest no more on Peter than Peter could rest in himself—Peter must rest on Christ as a poor guilty sinner, himself—an imperfect man who denied his Master with oaths and curses. He must rest where I must rest and we must stand together on the same great rock on which Christ does build His church, even His blood and His everlasting merits. I marvel that any should be found to have such confidence in men, that they should put their souls in their hands. If, however, any of you wish to trust in a priest, let me advise you if you do trust him, to do it wholly and fully. Trust him with your cash, trust him with your gold and silver. Perhaps you object to that. You don’t feel at all inclined to go that length! But, my friend; if you cannot trust the man with your gold and silver, pray, don’t trust him with your soul! I only suggested this because I thought you might smile and at once detect your error. If you could not trust such a fox with your business; if you would as soon commit your flocks to the custody of a wolf—why will you be fool enough to lay your soul at the feet of some base priest who, likely enough, is ten thousand times more wicked than yourself?
Was Paul, then, justified in his confidence in Christ? He says he was because he knew Christ. And what did he know? Paul knew, first of all, Christ’s Godhead. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. If my soul is in His hands—
"Where is the power can reach it there,
Or what can pluck it from there?"
If the wings of Omnipotence cover it, if the eyes of Omniscience are fixed upon it and if the heart of eternal love does cherish it, how can it be destroyed? Trust not your soul, my fellow man, anywhere but with your God! If Jesus is your God, rely fully in Him and think not that you can place a confidence too great in Him who made the heavens and bears the world upon His shoulders! Paul knew, too, that Christ was the Redeemer. Paul had seen in vision, Christ in the garden. He had beheld Him sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. By faith, Paul had seen Jesus hanging on the cross. He had marked His agonies on the tree of doom. He had listened to His death shriek, "It is finished!" and he felt that the atonement which Jesus offered was more than enough to recompense for the sin of man. Paul might have said, "I am not foolish in confiding my soul in the pierced and blood-stained hands of Him whose sacrifice has satisfied the Father, and opened the gates of heaven to all believers." Further, Paul knew that Christ was risen from the dead. By faith he saw Christ at the right hand of God, pleading with His Father for all those who commit themselves to His hands. Paul knew Christ to be the all-prevailing intercessor. He said to himself, "I am not wrong in believing Him, for I know whom I have trusted, that when He pleads, the Father will not deny Him and when He asks, sooner might He even die than become deaf to Jesus’ prayer." This was, again, another reason why Paul dared to trust in Christ. He knew His Godhead, he knew His redemption, he knew His resurrection, he knew His ascension and intercession. And I may add, Paul knew the love of Christ—that love which passes kindness—higher than thought and deeper than conception! He knew Christ’s power, that he was Omnipotent, the King of kings! He knew Christ’s faithfulness, that He was God and could not lie. He knew His immutability, that He was "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever." And having known Christ in every glorious office, in every divine attribute and in all the beauty of His complex character, Paul said, "I can with confidence repose in Him, for I know Him, I have trusted and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him."
But Paul not only knew these things by faith, but he knew much of them by experience. Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of our Welsh mountains. When you are at the base, you see but little. The mountain itself appears to be but one half as high as it really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream at the base of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll and the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet. Go up still higher and higher, till you stand upon the summit of one of the great roots that start out as spurs from the sides of the mountain. You see the country for some four or five miles round and you are delighted with the widening prospect. But go onward and onward and onward and how the scene enlarges, till at last, when you are on the summit and look east, west, north and south, you see almost all England lying before you! Yonder is a forest in some distant country, perhaps two hundred miles away, and yonder the sea and there a shining river and the smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town, or there the masts of the ships in some well known port. All these things please and delight you and you say, "I could not have imagined that so much could be seen at this elevation." Now, the Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in Christ, we see but little of Him. The higher we climb, the more we discover of His excellences and His beauties. But who has ever gained the summit? Who has ever known all the fullness of the heights and depths and lengths and breadths of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Paul, now grown old, sitting, gray haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome—he could say, with greater power than we can, "I know whom I have believed." Each experience had been like the climbing of a hill; each trial had been like the ascending to another summit and his death seemed like the gaining of the very top of the mountain from which he could see the whole of the faithfulness and the love of Him to whom he had committed his soul!
III. And now, I close by noticing THE APOSTLE’S CONFIDENCE. The apostle said, "I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him." Look at this man. He is sure he shall be saved! But why? Paul, are you sure that you can keep yourself? "No," he says, "I have nothing to do with that." And yet, you are sure of your salvation! "Yes," he says, "I am!" How is it, then? "Why, I am persuaded that He is able to keep me. Christ, to whom I commit myself, I know has power enough to hold me to the end." Martin Luther was bold enough to exclaim, "Let Him that died for my soul, see to the salvation of it." Let us catechize the apostle for a few minutes and see if we cannot shake his confidence. Paul, you have had many trials and you will have many more. What if you should be subject to the pangs of hunger, combined with those of thirst? If not a mouthful of bread should pass your mouth to nourish your body, or a drop of water should comfort you, will not your faith fail you, then? If provisions are offered you, on condition of the denial of your faith, do you not imagine that you will be quashed and that the pangs of nature will overpower you? "No," says Paul, "famine shall not quench my faith—for the keeping of my faith is in the hands of Christ." But what if, combined with this, the whole world should rise against you and scoff you? What if hunger within should echo to the shout of scorn without? Would you not then deny your faith? If, like Demas, every other Christian should turn to the silver of this world and deny the Master, would not you go with them? "No," says the apostle, "my soul is not in my keeping, else might it soon apostatize. It is in the hands of Christ. Though all men should leave me, yet He will keep me."
But, O apostle, if you should be chained to the stake, and the flames should kindle, and your flesh should begin to burn; when your beard is singed, and your cheeks are black, will you then hold Him fast!? "Yes," says the apostle, "He will then hold me fast." And I think I hear him, as he stops us in the midst of our catechizing and replies, "No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Paul, Paul, suppose the world should tempt you in another way. If a kingdom were offered you—if the pomps and pleasures of this world should be laid at your feet, provided you would deny your Master, would your faith maintain its hold, then? "Yes," says the apostle, "Jesus would, even then, uphold my faith for my soul is not in my keeping, but in His—and empires upon empires could not tempt Him to renounce that soul of which He has become the guardian and the keeper. Temptation might soon overcome me, but it could not overcome Him! The world’s blandishments might soon move me to renounce my own soul, but they could not for one moment move Jesus to give me up."
And so, the apostle continues his confidence. But Paul, when you shall come to die, will you not then fear and tremble? "No," he says, "He will be with me there, too, for my soul shall not die—that will be still in the hands of Him who is immortality and life." But what will become of you when your soul is separated from your body? Can you trust Him in a separate state, in the unknown world which visions cannot paint? In the time of God’s mighty thunder, when earth shall shake and heaven shall reel, can you trust Him, then? "Yes," says the apostle, "until that day when all these tempests shall die away into eternal calm and when the moving earth shall settle into a stable land in which there shall be no more sea, even then can I trust Him—
I know that safe with Him remains,
Protected by His power,
What I’ve committed to His hands
Till the decisive hour."
O poor sinner! Come and put your soul into the hands of Jesus! Attempt not to take care of it yourself! And then your life shall be hidden in heaven and kept there by the Almighty power of God, where none can destroy it, and none can rob you of it. "Whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved."