Luke 17:11-19 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee.… As these men were to start straight away to the priest with all their leprosy white upon them, and to go there as if they felt they were already healed, so are you, with all your sinnership upon you, and your sense of condemnation heavy on your soul, to believe in Jesus Christ just as you are, and you shall find everlasting life upon the spot. I. First, then, I say that we are to believe in Jesus Christ — to trust Him to heal us of the great disease of sin — though as yet we may have about us no sign or token that He has wrought any good work upon us. We are not to look for signs and evidences within ourselves before we venture our souls upon Jesus. The contrary supposition is a soul-destroying error, and I will try to expose it by showing what are the signs that are commonly looked for by men. 1. One of the most frequent is a consciousness of great sin, and a horrible dread of Divine wrath, leading to despair. If you say, "Lord, I cannot trust Thee unless I feel this or that," then you, in effect, say, "I can trust my own feelings, but I cannot trust God's appointed Saviour." What is this but to make a god out of your feelings, and a saviour out of your inward griefs? 2. Many other persons think that they must, before they can trust Christ, experience quite a blaze of joy. "Why," you say, "must I not be happy before I can believe in Christ?" Must you needs have the joy before you exercise the faith? How unreasonable! 3. We have known others who have expected to have a text impressed upon their minds. In old families there are superstitions about white birds coming to a window before a death, and I regard with much the same distrust the more common superstition that if a text continues upon your mind day after clay you may safely conclude that it is an assurance of your salvation. The Spirit of God often does apply Scripture with power to the soul; but this fact is never set forth as the rock for us to build upon. 4. There is another way in which some men try to get off believing in Christ, and that is, they expect an actual conversion to be manifest in them before they will trust the Saviour. Conversion is the manifestation of Christ's healing power. But you are not to have this before you trust Him; you are to trust Him for this very thing. II. And now, secondly, I want to bring forward WHAT THE REASON IS FOR OUR BELIEVING IN JESUS CHRIST. No warrant whatever within ourself need be looked for. The warrant for our believing Christ lies in this — 1. There is God's witness concerning His Son Jesus Christ. God, the Everlasting Father, has set forth Christ "to be the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sin of the whole world." 2. The next warrant for our believing is Jesus Christ Himself. He bears witness on earth as well as the Father, and His witness is true. 3. I dare say these poor lepers believed in Jesus because they had heard of other lepers whom He had cleansed. III. WHAT IS THE ISSUE OF THIS KIND OF FAITH THAT I HAVE BEEN PREACHING? This trusting in Jesus without marks, signs, evidences, tokens, what is the result and outcome of it? 1. The first thing that I have to say about it is this — that the very existence of such a faith as that in the soul is evidence that there is already a saving change. Every man by nature kicks against simply trusting in Christ; and when at last he yields to the Divine method of mercy it is a virtual surrender of his own will, the ending of rebellion, the establishment of peace. Faith is obedience. 2. It will be an evidence, also, that you are humble; for it is pride that makes men want to do something, or to be something, in their own salvation, or to be saved in some wonderful way. 3. Again, faith in Jesus will be the best evidence.that you are reconciled to God, for the worst evidence of your enmity to God is that you do not like God's way of salvation. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. |
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