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CONCERNING DELIVERANCE FROM
SINNING
by Charles Spurgeon
In
THIS PLACE I would say a plain word or two
to those who understand the method of justification
by faith, which is in Christ Jesus, but whose trouble
is that they cannot cease from sin. We can never
be happy, restful, or spiritually healthy till we
become holy... The old nature is very strong, and
they have tried to curb and tame it; but it will
not be subdued, and they find themselves, though
anxious to be better, if anything growing worse
than before. The heart is so hard, the will is so
obstinate, the passions are so furious, the thoughts
are so volatile, the imagination is so ungovernable,
the desires are so wild, that the man feels he has
a den of wild beasts within him, which will eat
him up sooner than be ruled by him. We may say of
our fallen nature what the Lord said to Job concerning
Leviathan: "Wilt thou play with him as with a bird?
or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?" A man might
as well hope to hold the north wind in the hollow
of his hand, as expect to control by his own strength
those boisterous powers which dwell within his fallen
nature. This is a greater feat than any of the fabled
labors of Hercules: God is wanted here.
"I could believe that Jesus would forgive sin,"
says one, "but then my trouble is that I sin again,
and that I feel such awful tendencies to evil within
me. As surely as a stone, if it be flung up
into the air, soon comes down again to the ground,
so do I, though I am sent up to heaven by earnest
preaching, return again to my insensible state.
Alas ! I am easily fascinated with the basilisk
eyes of sin, and am thus held as under a spell,
so that I cannot escape from my own folly."
Dear friend, salvation would be a sadly incomplete
affair if it did not deal with this part of our
ruined estate. We want to be purified as well as
pardoned. Justification without sanctification would
not be salvation at all. It would call the leper
clean, and leave him to die of his disease; it would
forgive the rebellion and allow the rebel to remain
an enemy to his king. It would remove the consequences,
but overlook the cause, and this would leave an
endless and hopeless task before us. It would stop
the stream for a time, but leave an open fountain
of defilement, which would sooner or later break
forth with increased power. Remember that the Lord
Jesus came to take away sin in three ways; He came
to remove the penalty of sin, the power of sin,
and, at last, the presence of sin. At once you may
reach to the second part-the power of sin may immediately
be broken; and so you will be on the road to the
third, namely, the removal of the presence of sin.
"We know that he was manifested to take away our
sins."
The angel said of our Lord, "Thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins." Our Lord Jesus came to destroy in us the
works of the devil. That which was said at our Lord's
birth was also declared in His death; for when the
soldier pierced His side forthwith came there out
blood and water, to set forth the double cure by
which we are delivered from the guilt and the defilement
of sin.
If, however, you are troubled about the power of
sin, and about the tendencies of your nature, as
you well may be, here is a promise for you. Have
faith in it, for it stands in that covenant of grace
which is ordered in all things and sure. God, who
cannot lie, has said in Ezekiel 36:26: "A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you: and I will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you
an heart of flesh."
You see, it is all "I will," and "I will." "I will
give," and "I will take away." This is the royal
style of the King of kings, who is able to accomplish
all His will. No word of His shall ever fall to
the ground.
The Lord knows right well that you cannot change
your own heart, and cannot cleanse your own nature;
but He also knows that He can do both. He can cause
the Ethiopian to change his skin, and the leopard
his spots. Hear this, and be astonished: He can
create you a second time... This is a miracle
of grace, but the Holy Ghost will perform it. It
would be a very wonderful thing if one could stand
at the foot of the Niagara Falls, and could speak
a word which should make the river Niagara begin
to run up stream, and leap up that great precipice
over which it now rolls in stupendous force. Nothing
but the power of God could achieve that marvel;
but that would be more than a fit parallel to what
would take place if the course of your nature were
altogether reversed. All things are possible with
God. He can reverse the direction of your desires
and the current of your life, and instead of going
downward from God, He can make your whole being
tend upward toward God. That is, in fact, what the
Lord has promised to do for all who are in the covenant;
and we know from Scripture that all believers are
in the covenant. Let me read the words again: "A
new spirit will I put within you: and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will
give an heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 11:19).
What a wonderful promise! And it is yea and amen
in Christ Jesus to the glory of God by us. Let us
lay hold of it; accept it as true, and appropriate
it to ourselves. Then shall it be fulfilled in us,
and we shall have, in after days and years, to sing
of that wondrous change, which the sovereign grace
of God has wrought in us.
It is well worthy of consideration that when the
Lord takes away the stony heart, that deed is done;
and when that is once done, no known power can ever
take away that new heart which He gives, and that
right spirit which He puts within us. "The gifts
and calling of God are without repentance "; that
is, without repentance on His part; He does not
take away what He once has given. Let Him renew
you and you will be renewed. Man's reformations
and cleanings up soon come to an end, for the dog
returns to his vomit; but when God puts a new heart
into us, the new heart is there forever, and never
will it harden into stone again. He who made it
flesh will keep it so. Herein we may rejoice and
be glad forever in that which God creates in the
kingdom of His grace.
To put the matter very simply-did you ever hear
of Mr. Rowland Hill's illustration of the cat and
the sow? I will give it in my own fashion, to illustrate
our Saviour's expressive words-"Ye must be born
(Begotten, emphasis mine) again. " Do you see that
cat? What a cleanly creature she is! How cleverly
she washes herself with her tongue and her paws!
It is quite a pretty sight! Did you ever see a sow
do that? No, you never did. It is contrary to its
nature. It prefers to wallow in the mire. Go and
teach a sow to wash itself, and see how little success
you would gain. It would be a great sanitary improvement
if swine would be clean. Teach them to wash and
clean themselves as the cat has been doing! Useless
task. You may by force wash that sow, but it hastens
to the mire, and is soon as foul as ever. The only
way in which you can get a sow to wash itself is
to transform it into a cat; then it will wash and
be clean, but not till then! Suppose that transformation
to be accomplished, and then what was difficult
or impossible is easy enough; the swine will henceforth
be fit for your parlor and your hearth-rug.
So it is with an ungodly man; you cannot force
him to do what a renewed man does most willingly;
you may teach him, and set him a good example, but
he cannot learn the art of holiness, for he has
no mind to it; his nature leads him another way.
When the Lord makes a new man of him, then all things
wear a different aspect. So great is this change,
that I once heard a convert say, "Either all the
world is changed, or else I am." The new nature
follows after right as naturally as the old nature
wanders after wrong. What a blessing to receive
such a nature! Only the Holy Ghost can give it.
Did it ever strike you what a wonderful thing it
is for the Lord to give a new heart and a right
spirit to a man? You have seen a lobster, perhaps,
which has fought with another lobster, and lost
one of its claws, and a new claw has grown. That
is a remarkable thing; but it is a much more astounding
fact that a man should have a new heart given to
him. This, indeed, is a miracle beyond the powers
of nature. There is a tree. If you cut off one of
its limbs, another one may grow in its place; but
can you change the tree; can you sweeten sour sap;
can you make the thorn bear figs? You can graft
something better into it and that is the analogy
which nature gives us of the work of grace; but
absolutely to change the vital sap of the tree would
be a miracle indeed. Such a prodigy and mystery
of power God works in all who believe in Jesus.
If you yield yourself up to His divine working,
the Lord will alter your nature; He will subdue
the old nature, and breathe new life into you. Put
your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will
take the stony heart out of your flesh, and He will
give you a heart of flesh. Where everything was
hard, everything shall be tender; where everything
was vicious, everything shall be virtuous: where
everything tended downward, everything shall rise
upward with impetuous force. The lion of anger shall
give place to the lamb of meekness; the raven of
uncleanness shall fly before the dove of purity;
the vile serpent of deceit shall be trodden under
the heel of truth.
I have seen with my own eyes such marvelous changes
of moral and spiritual character that I despair
of none. I could, if it were fitting, point out
those who were once unchaste women who are now pure
as the driven snow, and blaspheming men who now
delight all around them by their intense devotion.
Thieves are made honest, drunkards sober, liars
truthful, and scoffers zealous. Wherever the grace
of God has appeared to a man, it has trained him
to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present
evil world: and, dear reader, it will do the same
for you.
"I cannot make this change," says one. Who said
you could? The Scripture which we have quoted speaks
not of what man will do, but of what God will do.
It is God's promise, and it is for Him to fulfill
His own engagements. Trust in Him to fulfill His
Word to you, and it will be done.
"But how is it to be done?" What business is that
of yours? Must the Lord explain His methods before
you will believe him? The Lord's working in this
matter is a great mystery: the Holy Ghost performs
it. He who made the promise has the responsibility
of keeping the promise, and He is equal to the occasion.
God, who promises this marvelous change, will assuredly
carry it out in all who receive Jesus, for to all
such He gives power to become the Sons of God. Oh
that you would believe it! Oh that you would do
the gracious Lord the justice to believe that He
can and will do this for you, great miracle though
it will be! Oh that you would believe that God cannot
lie! Oh that you would trust Him for a new heart,
and a right spirit, for He can give them to you!
May the Lord give you faith in His promise, faith
in His Son, faith in the Holy Spirit, and faith
in Him, and to Him shall be praise and honor and
glory forever and ever!
Amen
