Look To Jesus!
The Testimony of Charles H. Spurgeon
Isaiah
45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”
My dear friends, this is a very simple text
indeed. It says, 'Look.' Now lookin' don't take a deal of pain. It ain't
liftin' your foot or your finger; it is just, 'Look.' Well, a man needn't go
to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can
look. A man needn't be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone
can look even a child can look. But then the text says, 'Look unto Me.' Ay!"
said the preacher, in broad Essex, "many on ye are lookin' to yourselves,
but it's no use lookin' there. You'll never find any comfort in
yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus
Christ says, 'Look unto Me.' Some on ye say, 'We must wait for the Spirit's
workin'.' You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ The text
says, 'Look unto Me.'"
Then the good man followed up his text in this
way: "Look unto Me; I am sweatin' great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am
hangin' on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I
rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin' at
the Father's right hand. 0 poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!"
by Charles
Spurgeon |
Reprinted from C. H.
Spurgeon: The Early Years (Banner of Truth), pp. 86-88, 99-100.
It's not what you're doing
that gets you to Heaven, it's where you're looking. Look to Jesus!
Charles H. Spurgeon was born at Essex, England,
June 19, 1834; led his class at every examination in school at Colchester;
converted December 15, 1850; preached first sermon 1851 at age 16; became a
pastor in 1852; published more than 1900 sermons in his lifetime; died 1892,
he was mourned by thousands.
In Spurgeon's own words:
I had been about five
years in the most fearful
distress in mind, as a lad. If any human being felt more of the terror of
God's law, I can indeed pity and sympathize with him. Bunyan's "Grace
Abounding" contains, in the main, my history. Some abysses he went into I
never trod; but some into which I plunged he seems to have never known. I
thought the sun was blotted out of my sky--that I had sinned so against God
that there was no hope for me. I prayed - the Lord knoweth how I prayed, but
I never had a glimpse of an answer that I knew of. I searched the Word of
God; the promises were more alarming than the threatenings. I read the
privileges of the people of God, but with the fullest persuasions that they
were not for me. The secret of my distress was this: I did not know the
gospel. I was in a Christian land, I had Christian parents, but I did not
fully understand the simplicity of the gospel.
I attended all the places of worship in the
town where I lived, but I honestly believe that I did not hear the gospel
fully preached. I do not blame the men, however. One man preached the divine
sovereignty. I could hear him with pleasure; but what was that to a poor
sinner who wished to know what he should do to be saved? There was another
admirable man who always preached about the law; but what was the use of
plowing up ground that needed to be sown? Another was a great practical
preacher. I heard him, but it was very much like a commanding officer
teaching the maneuvers of war to a set of men without feet. What could I do?
All his exhortations were lost on me. I knew it was said, "Believe on the
Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved," but I did not know what it was to
believe in Christ.
I sometimes think I might have been in darkness
and despair now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a
snowstorm one Sunday morning, when I was going to a place of worship. When I
could go no farther, I turned down a court and come to a little Primitive
Methodist chapel. In that chapel there might have been a dozen or fifteen
people. The minister did not come that morning; snowed up, I suppose. A poor
man, a shoemaker, a tailor, something of that sort, went up into the pulpit
to preach.
Now it is well that ministers should be
instructed, but this man was really stupid, as you would say. He was obliged
to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had nothing else to say.
The text was "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." He
did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter.
There was I thought, a gleam of hope for me in the
text. He began thus "My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It
says 'Look.' Now that does not take a great deal of effort. It ain't lifting
your feet or your finger, it is just 'look.' Well, a man need not go to
college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool and yet you can look.
A man need not be worth a thousand a year to look. Anyone can look; a child
can look. But this is what the text says. Then it says 'Look unto Me.'"
"Ay," said he, in broad Essex, "many of ye are looking to yourselves. No use
looking there. You'll never find comfort in yourselves. Some look to God,
the Father. No, look to Him by and by. Jesus Christ says, 'Look unto Me.'
Some of you say, 'I must wait the Spirit a working.' You have no business
with that just now. Look to Christ. It runs: 'Look unto Me.'"
Then the good man followed up his text in this
way: "Look unto Me; I am sweating great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am
hanging on the cross. Look! I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise
again. Look unto Me; I ascend and sit at the Father's right hand O! look to
Me!" When he had got about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes
or so he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the
gallery, and I dare say, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger,
He then said, "Young man, you look very miserable." Well I did, but I have
not been accustomed to having remarks made on my personal appearance from
the pulpit before. However, it was a good blow struck. He continued:
"And you will always be miserable in life, and
miserable in death if you do not obey my text. But if you obey now, this
moment you will be saved."
Then he shouted as only a Primitive Methodist
can: "Young man, look to Jesus Christ!" I did "look."
There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness
had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun: I could have risen that
moment and sung with enthusiasm of the precious blood of Christ, and the
simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me that
before. TRUST CHRIST, AND YOU SHALL BE SAVED.
Remember, dear brother, if you give your whole
soul to the charge committed to you, it does not matter much about its
appearing to be a somewhat small and insignificant affair, for as much skill
may be displayed in the manufacture of a very tiny watch as in the
construction of the town clock; in fact, a minute article may become the
object of greater wonder than another of larger dimensions. Quality is a far
more precious thing than quantity.
—C. H. Spurgeon
An All-round Ministry, p. 70
What Did Charles Spurgeon Believe About Repentance?
Read this enlightening quote by Mr. Spurgeon (You'll never hear Evangelist
Ray Comfort or Pastor John MacArthur cite these quotes from Spurgeon).
Clearly, Spurgeon did not believe that turning away from sinful behavior,
was required to receive the free gifts of forgiveness of sins and eternal
life. Jesus doesn't forgive sin. That is correct. Jesus has already paid for
everyone's sins on the cross! This is why salvation is a gift. The holy
Bible PROMISES forgiveness of sins and eternal life to whosever BELIEVES on
the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1st Corinthians 1:21 God promises “TO
SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE”! ...
I would like to make this
very plain. I hope that I have done so already; but still, plain as it is,
it is only the Lord that can make a man see it. It does at first seem most
amazing to an awakened man that salvation should really be for him as a
lost and guilty one. He thinks that it must be for him as a penitent man,
forgetting that his penitence is a part of his salvation. "Oh," says he,
"but I must be this and that,"--all of which is true, for he shall be this
and that as the result of salvation; but
salvation comes to him before he has any of the results of salvation. It
comes to him, in fact, while he deserves only this bare, beggarly, base,
abominable description, "ungodly." That is all he is when God's gospel
comes to justify him.
May I, therefore, urge upon any who
have no good thing about them—who fear that they have not even a good
feeling, or anything whatever that can recommend them to God—that they
will firmly believe that our gracious God is able and willing to take them
without anything to recommend them, and to forgive them spontaneously, not
because they are good, but because He is good. Does
He not make His sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good? Does He
not give fruitful seasons, and send the rain and the sunshine in their
time upon the most ungodly nations? Ay, even Sodom had its sun, and
Gomorrah had its dew. Oh friend, the great grace of God surpasses my
conception and your conception, and I would have you think worthily of it!As
high as the heavens are above the earth; so high are God's thoughts above
our thoughts. He can abundantly pardon. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners: forgiveness is for the guilty.
Do not attempt to touch yourself up
and make yourself something other than you really are; but come as you are
to Him who justifies the ungodly. A
great artist some short time ago had painted a part of the corporation of
the city in which he lived, and he wanted, for historic purposes, to
include in his picture certain characters well known in the town. A
crossing-sweeper, unkempt, ragged, filthy, was known to everybody, and
there was a suitable place for him in the picture. The artist said to this
ragged and rugged individual, "I will pay you well if you will come down
to my studio and let me take your likeness." He came round in the morning,
but he was soon sent about his business; for he had washed his face, and
combed his hair, and donned a respectable suit of clothes. He was needed
as a beggar, and was not invited in any other capacity. Even
so, the gospel will receive you into its halls if you come as a sinner,
not otherwise. Wait not for reformation, but come at once for salvation.
God justifieth the ungodly, and that takes you up where you now are: it
meets you in your worst estate.
SOURCE: Charles
Spurgeon;
All
of Grace;
Chapter
1 - God Justifieth The Ungodly!
Whew, that is great stuff! In case you missed it,
read this again by Mr. Spurgeon:
“but salvation comes
to him before he has any of the results of salvation. It comes to him, in
fact, while he deserves only this bare, beggarly, base, abominable
description, 'ungodly.' That is all he is when God's gospel comes to
justify him.”
SOURCE: Charles
Spurgeon; All
of Grace; Chapter
1 - God Justifieth The Ungodly!
Clearly, Charles Spurgeon DIDN'T believe nor teach
that a person must forsake their sins TO BE SAVED. As you just read,
Spurgeon believed that salvation comes to a person BEFORE the fruit of the
indwelling Holy Spirit becomes evident. Spurgeon is 100% correct—a person is “UNGODLY,” and
“that
is all he is when the Gospel comes to justify him!” Amen!!!
Why don't Ray Comfort, Paul Washer and John MacArthur quote these teachings
from Mr. Spurgeon? Do you see how dishonest they are theologically? I'm sick
of false prophets misquoting Charles Spurgeon.
It is dishonest to selectively cherry-pick quotes
from Spurgeon's works, portraying him as teaching that people cannot be
saved unless they forsake sinful behavior to be saved. Things have become
doctrinally awry in Southern Baptist churches today. Watch
this video sermon clip of Paul Washer teaching: “No, No, If you don't have
works, you're going to Hell!” That
is blasphemy! That is NOT the Gospel! That is a hellish false doctrine of
devils. Romans 4:5-6 says,
“But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without
works.” How much
plainer could the Scriptures be? We are saved by God's imputed
righteousness... WITHOUT WORKS!!! Paul Washer is in the second group that I
mentioned earlier, the unsaved, who are wrong on repentance. Mr. Washer
openly adds works to faith, which is what nearly every false religion does
(Acts 15:1; Galatians 3:2). END
“You do it God's way, or
you don't go to God's Heaven!”
—SOURCE: Pastor Jack
Hyles, a great quote from the awesome sermon, “I'll
Do It My Way!” (1991).
Repentance Is “A Change Of
Mind”
The Bible says that Judas “repented” (Greek: metamellomaiin, meaning,
“to regret”) in Matthew 27:3. Yet, Jesus said Judas had a devil (John 6:70).
Judas didn't repent toward God in faith to be saved; but rather, he felt
regret that he got caught for betraying the Lord. Judas brought the 30
pieces of silver back to the Pharisees, but they refused it. Judas cast down
the coins on the floor and went and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5). Turning
from the act of sin is not salvation. The false repentance of Judas
evidences this truth.
The false prophets in Matthew
7:21-22 said “Lord, Lord,” but they were not saved. They had amended their
ways... speaking in Jesus' name, performing good works and miracles; but
they were unsaved and went to Hell forever in their sins. They failed to do
God's will concerning salvation. John 6:40 tells us God's will,
“And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him
up at the last day.” Lordship Salvationists are not saved because they
think repentance means to change your lifestyle to be saved, which is
self-righteousness. If you're wrong on repentance, you're not saved (just
like Judas)!
Concerning salvation, the Bible
uses a different meaning for repentance, which is simply “a
change of mind.” Repentance in this sense is necessary for salvation.
Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at
hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” The word “repent” here in mark
1:15 is the Greek metanoeo, meaning, “to think differently.”
Hebrews 6:1, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance
from dead works, and of faith toward God.” Lordship Salvationists need
to repent from their dead works of religious self-righteousness and trust
the simple gospel of Jesus Christ.
Here is a great quote from Pastor Charles
Spurgeon which evidences that Spurgeon did not teach forsaking sinful bad
habits as a condition of salvation. In the quote below, Spurgeon is saying
that you don't have to change your life (forsake sinful bad habits) to be
saved. My friend, God only saves sinners! Even if you're the vilest ungodly
sinner, God will save you if you'll simply place your faith in Jesus
Christ...
“You must not expect
that you will be perfect in 'repentance' before you are saved. No
Christian can be perfect. 'Repentance' is a grace. Some people preach it
as a condition of salvation. Condition of nonsense! There are no
conditions of salvation. God gives the salvation
himself...”
—Pastor Charles Spurgeon
SOURCE:
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0044.htm
(Charles Spurgeon, from a sermon titled, REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE,
preached at the New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, on September
23, 1855)
Eternal life is a free gift, which is yours if
you'll receive it by faith in Christ Jesus. But let's hear this truth from
God Himself in the Bible...
Romans 4:5-6, “But
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God
imputeth righteousness without works.”
God only saves THE UNGODLY. Amen! Whatever
changes need to be made in a person's life is God's department and He will
attend to that you can be rest assured (Hebrews 12:6-8). Jesus is precious!
JESUS CAME TO SAVE
SINNERS!!!
Luke 19:10,
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
“More people will die and burn in Hell, because they're trusting
too much!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a precious quote
from the MP3 sermon, “Yea,
Yea, And Nay, Nay!”
“Everything that's hard and complicated about salvation is God's side of it!”
—Pastor Jack
Hyles, a precious quote from the MP3 sermon, “Yea,
Yea, And Nay, Nay!”
“Regeneration is
what God does in response to your flipping the switch of faith! All you do
is trust the Savior—you do nothing more, you do nothing less. Now you've got
to know you're a sinner, and you've got to know that sinners are lost, and
you've got to know that Jesus died for sinners, and you've got to know that
if you trust Him, He'll take you to Heaven when you die; but the minute you
know those things and BY FAITH say: 'That's it! And that's what I'm
trusting, and I'm merely relying on that to get me to Heaven— than anything
more than that is too much, anything less than that is too little, and the
Devil likes to come and complicate salvation!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a
precious quote from the MP3 sermon, “Yea,
Yea, And Nay, Nay!”
“God
thought it, Jesus bought it, the preacher taught it, and I caught it!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a precious quote from the MP3 sermon, “Yea,
Yea, And Nay, Nay!”
“A man doesn't get better to get saved; he gets saved to get better.
”
—Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995),
a quote from the excellent sermon, “Salvation
Crystal Clear.”
“Faith is the only righteous thing
that I can do!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a quote from the MP3 sermon titled:
“
God's
Reversal Of Psalms 51”
Soulwinning.info
The Imputed
Righteousness of Jesus Christ
Dr. John R.
Rice Refutes Lordship Salvation
Where the Burden Rests in Salvation!
Shut Up and Get On the Ark!
Mark 1:15: “...repent
ye, and believe the gospel.”
Ye Must Be Born Again!
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You Need HIS Righteousness!
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Believe The Gospel
