Saturday Spurgeon - Simplicity and Sublimity of Salvation

Closing of the message

Let no man sit down here and cover his face, and say, “There is no hope for me. I cannot understand about this new birth.” If you will take Christ, to have and to hold, henceforth and forever, as your ONLY trust and confidence, you have received that which no line of ancestors could ever give you, for it is “not of blood.” You possess that which no will of
the father and mother could ever give you, for it is, “not of the will of the flesh.” You have that which your own will could not bring you, for it is, “not of the will of man.” You have that which only the Giver of Life can bestow, for it is, “of God!”

You are born again, for you have received Christ and believed on His name. I do not urge you to look within, to try and see whether this new birth is there. Instead of looking within yourself, look to Him who hangs on yonder Cross, dying, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God!

Fix your eyes on Him and believe in Him. And when you see in yourself much that is evil, look to Him. And when doubts prevail, look to Him. And when your conscience tells you of
your past sins, look to Him!


I have to go through this story almost every day of the year and sometimes half a dozen times in a day. If there is a despairing soul anywhere within 20 miles, it will find me out, no matter whether I am at home, or at Mentone, or in any other part of the world! It will come from any distance, broken down, despairing, half insane, sometimes, and I have no medicine to prescribe except, “Christ, Christ, Christ—Jesus Christ and Him crucified! Look away from yourselves and trust in Him!” I go over and over and over with this and never get one jot further.

Because I find that this medicine cures all soul sicknesses, while human quackery cures none! Christ alone is the one remedy for sin-sick souls!

Receive Him! Believe on His name!

We keep hammering at this. I can sympathize with Luther when he said, “I have preached justification by faith so often, and I feel, sometimes, that you are so slow to receive it, that I could almost take the Bible and bang it into your heads!” I am afraid that the Truth of God would not have entered their hearts if he had done so.

This is what we aim at—to get this one thought into a man, “You are lost and, therefore, such an One as Christ came to save.”


One said to me just lately, “Oh, Sir, I am the biggest sinner that ever lived!” I replied, “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” “But I have not any strength.” “While we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died.”

“Oh, but,” he said, “I have been utterly ungodly.” “Christ died for the ungodly.” “But I am lost.” “Yes,” I said, “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” “The Son of man has come to save that which was lost.”

I said to this man, “You have the brush in your hand and at every stroke it looks as if you are quoting Scripture. You seem to be making yourself out to be the very man that Christ came to save! If you were to make yourself out to be good and excellent, I would give you this word—Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He did
not die for the good, but for the bad. He gave Himself for our sins—He never gave Himself for our righteousness. He is a Savior. He has not come, yet, as a Rewarder of the righteous—that will be in His Second Advent.

Now He comes as the great Forgiver of the guilty and the only Savior of the lost. Will you come to Him in that way?”

“Oh, but,” my friend said, “I have nothing to bring to Christ.” “No,” I said, “I know that you have not—but Christ has everything.” “Sir,” he said, “you do not know me, otherwise you would not talk to me like this.”

And I said, “No, and you do not know yourself—for you are worse than you think you are, though you think that you are bad enough in all conscience. But be you as bad as you may, Jesus Christ came on purpose to lift up from the dunghill those whom He sets among princes by His free, rich, Sovereign Grace.”

Oh, come and believe in Him, poor Sinner! I feel that if I had all your souls, I would believe in Christ for their salvation!

I would trust Him to save a million souls if I had them, for He is mighty to save! There can be no limit to His power to forgive! There can be no limit to the merit of His precious blood! There can be no boundary to the efficacy of His plea before the Throne of God! Only trust Him and you will be saved! May His gracious Spirit lead you to do so now, for Christ’s sake! Amen.