The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon

fall away, I may fall into a sin, but I shall not fall finally; I shall stand while life shall last, constantly secure; and when I die it shall be said —

      Servant of God, well done!

      Rest from your blest employ;

      The battle’s fought, the victory’s won;

      Enter your rest of joy.

      Do not deceive yourselves, my beloved. If you imagine that you have been regenerated, and having gone away from God, will be once more born again, you do not know anything about the matter; for “he that is born of God does not sin.” That is, he does not sin so much as to fall away from grace; “for he keeps himself, that the evil one does not touch him.” Happy is the man who is really and actually regenerate, and passed from death to life!

      14. III. To conclude. There is A GREAT GRACE. People who are born again really do overcome the world. How is this brought about? The text says, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Christians do not triumph over the world by reason. Not at all. Reason is a very good thing, and no one should find fault with it. Reason is a candle: but faith is a sun. Well, I prefer the sun, though I do not put out the candle. I use my reason as a Christian man; I exercise it constantly: but when I come to real warfare, reason is a wooden sword; it breaks, it snaps; while faith, that sword of true Jerusalem metal, cuts to the dividing of soul and body. My text says, “This is the victory which overcomes the world, even our faith.” Who are the men that do anything in the world? Are they not always men of faith? Take it even as natural faith. Who wins the battle? Why, the man who knows he will win it, and vows that he will be victor. Who never prospers in the world? The man who is always afraid to do a thing, for fear he cannot accomplish it. Who climbs the top of the Alps? The man who says, “I will do it, or I will die.” Let such a man make up his mind that he can do a thing, and he will do it, if it is within the range of possibility. Who have been the men who have lifted the standard, and grasping it with firm hand, bravely upheld it in the midst of stormy strife and battle? Why, men of faith. Who have done great things? Not men of fear and trembling, men who are afraid; but men of faith, who had bold fronts, and foreheads made of brass — men who never shook, and never trembled, but believing in God, lifted their eyes to the hills, from where their strength comes.

      15. “Never was a marvel done upon the earth, but it had sprung of faith; nothing noble, generous, or great, but faith was the root of the achievement; nothing comely, nothing famous, but its praise is faith. Leonidas {d} fought in human faith as Joshua in divine. Xenophon {e} trusted in his skill, and the sons of Matthias {f} in their cause.” Faith is mightiest of the mighty. It is the monarch of the realms of the mind; there is no being superior to its strength, no creature which will not bow to its divine prowess. The lack of faith makes a man despicable, it shrivels him up so small that he might live in a nutshell. Give him faith, and he is a leviathan {g} that can dive into the depths of the sea; he is a war horse, that cries, aha! aha! in the battle; he is a giant who takes nations and crumbles them in his hand, who encounters hosts, and at a sword they vanish; he binds up sheaves of sceptres, and gathers up all the crowns as his own. There is nothing like faith, sirs. Faith makes you almost as omnipotent as God, by the borrowed might of its divinity. Give us faith and we can do all things.

      16. I want to tell you how it is that faith helps Christians to overcome the world. It always does it homoeopathically. You say, “That is a singular idea.” So it may be. The principle is that, “like cures like.” So does faith overcome the world by curing like with like. How does faith trample upon the fear of the world? By the fear of God. “Now,” says the world, “if you do not do this I will take away your life. If you do not bow down before my false god, you shall be put in that burning fiery furnace.” “But,” says the man of faith, “I fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. True, I may dread you, but I have a greater fear than that. I fear lest I should displease God; I tremble lest I should offend my Sovereign.” So the one fear counterbalances the other. How does faith overthrow the world’s hopes? “There,” says the world, “I will give you this, I will give you that, if you will be my disciple. There is a hope for you; you shall be rich, you shall be great.” But, faith says, “I have a hope laid up in heaven; a hope which does not fade away, eternal, incorruptible, undying hope, a golden hope, a crown of life”; and the hope of glory overcomes all the hopes of the world. “Ah!” says the world, “Why not follow the example of your fellows?” “Because,” says faith, “I will follow the example of Christ.” If the world puts one example before us, faith puts another. “Oh, follow the example of such a one; he is wise, and great, and good,” says the world. Says faith, “I will follow Christ; he is the wisest, the greatest, and the best.” It overcomes example by example. “Well,” says the world, “since you will not be conquered by all this, come, I will love you; you shall be my friend.” Faith says, “He that is the friend of this world, cannot be the friend of God. God loves me.” So he puts love against love; fear against fear; hope against hope; dread against dread; and so faith overcomes the world by like curing like.

      17. In closing my discourse, men and brethren, I am only a child, I have spoken to you as I could this morning. Another time, perhaps I might be able to launch more thunders, and to proclaim better the word of God; but this I am sure of — I tell you all I know, and speak right on. I am no orator; but just tell you what springs up from my heart. But before I am finished, oh that I may have a word with your souls. How many are there here who are born again? Some turn a deaf ear, and say, “It is all nonsense; we go to our place of worship regularly; put our hymn books and Bibles under our arm! and we are a very religious sort of people.” Ah, soul! if I meet you at the bar of judgment, remember what I said — and God’s word said — “Except you are born again you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Others of you say, “We cannot believe that being born again is such a change as you speak of, I am a great deal better than I used to be; I do not swear now, and I am very much reformed.” Sirs, I tell you it is no small change. It is not mending the pitcher, but it is breaking it up and having a new one; it is not patching the heart, it is having a new heart and a right spirit. There is nothing but death to sin, and life to righteousness, that will save your souls.

      18. I am preaching no new doctrine. Turn to the articles of the Church of England, and read it there. Church people come to me sometimes to unite with our church; I show them our doctrines in their prayer book, and they have said they never knew they were there. My dear hearers, why can you not read your own articles of faith? Why, positively, you do not know what is in your own prayer book? Men, nowadays, do not read their Bibles, and they have for the most part no religion. They have a religion, which is all outside show, but they do not think of searching to see what its meaning really is. Sirs, it is not the cloak of religion that will do for you, it is a vital godliness you need; it is not a religious Sunday, it is a religious Monday; it is not a pious church, it is a pious closet; it is not a sacred place to kneel in, it is a holy place to stand in all day long. There must be a change of heart — real, radical, vital, entire. And now, what do you say? Has your faith overcome the world? Can you live above it? or do you love the world and the things in it? If so, sirs, you must go on your way and perish, each one of you, unless you turn from that, and give your hearts to Christ. Oh! what do you say, is Jesus worthy of your love? Are the things of eternity and heaven worth the things of time? Is it so sweet to be a worldling, that for that you can lie down in torment? Is it so good to be a sinner, that for this you can risk your soul’s eternal welfare? Oh, my friends, is it worth your while to run the risk of an eternity of woe for an hour of pleasure? Is a dance worth dancing in hell with howling fiends for ever? Is one dream, with a horrible awaking, worth enjoying, when there are the glories of heaven for those who follow God? Oh! if my lips would let me speak to you, my heart would run over at my eyes, and I would weep myself away, until you had pity on your own poor souls. I know I am, in a measure, accountable for your souls. If the watchman does not warn them, they shall perish, but their blood shall be required at the watchman’s hands. “Turn, turn, why will you die, oh house of Israel?” thus says the Lord. Besotted, filled with your evil wills, inclined to evil; still the Holy Spirit speaks by me this morning, “If you turn to the Lord, with full purpose of heart, he will have mercy upon you, and to our God, he will