Burning and Shining Light

I was reading Spurgeon recently and in a section of one of his sermons he took up the very practical pastoral question as to why some who are to some degree anxious about their souls can never seem to find peace. They seem to be concerned at times and enquiring after salvation but never obtaining. Most of us who are pastors have probably met with situations like this from time to time. Here is a summary of some of the reasons Spurgeon mentions for this condition. Of course, other reasons could be given but I list these with quotes from Spurgeon under each point:

1. Unbelief

“In most cases unbelief is the damning sin. You will not believe God’s word. You reject the testimony of God concerning his Son Jesus, and thus put away from you eternal life. You say, ‘I cannot believe.’ But that will not do, for you know that God is true; and if God be true how dare you say that you cannot believe Him? If, when I stated solemnly a fact, you told me, ‘I cannot believe,’ I should understand you to mean that I am a liar. And when you say, ‘I cannot believe God,” do you not know that the English of such an expression is this—you make God a liar by refusing to believe on His Son? This unbelief is sin enough—sin enough to destroy you forever…May God help you to roll it away by saying, ‘I will believe; I must believe. God must be true; the blood of his dear Son must be able to wash away sin. I will trust in it now!’”

2. Impenitence

“Are you hardened about your sin? Do you refuse to quit it? Is there no sorrow in your heart to think that you have broken the divine law, and have lived forgetful of your God?…he who will not own his sin and forsake it is wedded to his own destruction. May God soften your heart, and help you at once to repent of sin!”

3. Pride

“Are you too big a man to become a Christian? Are you too respectable, too wealthy, too polite? Are you too deep a thinker? Do you know too much? You could not go and sit down with the humble people who, like little children, believe what God tells them. No, no; you have too much brain for that: have you?….You read reviews, and you like a little dash of skepticism in your literature. You could not possibly listen to Jesus when he says, ‘Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ You do not care for such old-fashioned doctrine, for you are too much of a philosopher..One’s pride may carry him far if he is a great fool; but let him not suffer his pride to carry him into hell, for it certainly will never carry him out again”

4. Secret, hidden sin

“I have been frequently puzzled to know why certain persons cannot attain peace. Do what we may with them they appear to have a tide of disquiet for ever ebbing and flowing and casting up mire and dirt. They have seemed to be in a fair way to salvation, and yet they have never reached it: they have been one day near and the next far off. In one or two instances I have not discovered the reason why the gospel never succeeded with them, till they were dead. When they were gone the sad truth was revealed which accounted for all their uneasiness…There was a secret which, if it had been known, would have made their character abhorrent to those who in ignorance respected them. Does any man here carry about with him a guilty secret? Does he persevere in shameful acts which he labors to conceal? How can a man hope for peace while he wars with the laws of morality? What rest can there be while solemn vows are broken, and the purest of relationships are treated with despite? Nay, while there is any uncleanness about a man, or about a woman, there cannot be peace with God: such sins must be given up…Would you for a moment insinuate that the Lord Jesus died to allow you to sin and yet escape its penalty?”

Submitted by Jeffery Smith