The Just Shall Live by His Faith: Charles Spurgeon on Justification by Faith, Martin Luther, and the Reformation

By Ernest LeVos

Justified by faith are the three words that capture the ministry and work of Martin Luther (14831546) and Charles Haddon Spurgeon (183492). For Spurgeon, one sentence produced the reformation, and it would be the main theme of his pastoral ministry from 1851 to 1892: But the just shall live by his faith.

The Just Shall Live by His Faith compiles a series of Charles Spurgeons sermons on justification by faith, Martin Luther, and the Reformation, and it covers the vital subjects of faith as the life and force in believers who have accepted the saving merits of the Lord Jesus Christ as the means of salvation. For such believers, the goal is to live their lives as they walk with the Spirit, and by dwelling on Spurgeons sermons we can learn that the lesson of the just living by faith will be the one seed that will germinate into the gift of justification, as if you have never sinned; this seed will continue to grow and lead to the Spirit-enabled transformation of human hearts.

Spurgeons sermons on justification by faith echo the apostle Pauls most prominent teachings, and this doctrine still rings true today as the test of Christs church. All believers will be inspired by Spurgeons sermons to look to Christ for salvation, live by faith in every part of their lives, and have peace with God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532029431

Ernest LeVos

Ernest LeVos (PhD) is a historian and a student of religion and theology. He first heard of C. H. Spurgeon in 1963, but his academic interest on “the Prince of Preachers” began in 2008 when he visited the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. His first book was C. H. Spurgeon and the Metropolitan Tabernacle: Addresses and Testimonials, 1854-1879 (2014).

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Copyright © 2017 Ernest LeVos.

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

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This one sentence, ‘The just shall live by his faith,’ produced the Reformation. Out of this one line, as from the opening of one of the Apocalyptic seals came forth all that sounding of gospel trumpets, and all that singing of gospel songs, that made a sound like the noise of many waters in the world.

FOR

Jonathan LeVos and Jillian LeVos Carlson

who taught me manifold lessons in the life of faith

Contents

Preface

Introduction

PART ONE:   Devotions On Justification By Faith

I.         Life by Faith

II.        (Faith) the Vital Source

III.      An Objection and an Answer

IV.       Faith—Life

V.        Peace—A Fact and A Feeling

VI.      A Luther Sermon at the Tabernacle

VII.     The Luther Sermon at Exeter Hall

VIII.   How to Please God

IX.      In Christ No Condemnation

X.        The Two Pillars of Salvation

XI.      Between the Two Appearings (The Two Advents)

XII.     Gratitude for Deliverance from the Grave

PART TWO:   Sermons On Justification By Faith

I.         Life By Faith (1868)

II.        The Vital Force (1869)

III.      An Objection And An Answer (1876)

IV.       Faith—Life (1877)

V.        Peace—A Fact and a Feeling (1879)

VI.      A Luther Sermon at the Tabernacle (1883)

VII.     The Luther Sermon at Exeter Hall (1883)

VIII.   How to Please God (1885)

IX.      In Christ No Condemnation (1886)

X.        The Two Pillars of Salvation (1888)

XI.      Between Two Appearings (1891)

XII.     Gratitude for Deliverance from the Grave (1892)

Conclusion

Appendix A:   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON

Romans 3, and 4:16-25

Bibliography

Preface

This book of devotionals extracts and selected sermons on justification by faith by Charles Haddon Spurgeon are offered in commemoration of the five-hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation that commenced in Wittenberg, Germany, 1517. It was a spiritual force that eventually spread into all the world.

Spurgeon, the people’s preacher, commemorated the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther on November 10, 1483 by delivering two sermons, one in the morning at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, and the other the evening at Exeter Hall (located at The Strand, London) on November 11, 1883. In the morning sermon, he said:

this one sentence, ‘but the just shall live by his faith,’ produced the Reformation. Out of this one line, as from the opening of one of the Apocalyptic seals came forth all that sounding of gospel trumpets, and all that singing of gospel songs, that made a sound like the noise of many waters in the world. This one seed, forgotten and hidden away in the dark medieval times, was brought forth, dropped into the human heart, made to grow by the Spirit of God, and in the end to produce great results.¹

The sermons selected for this publication (sermons I to VIII,) cover the vital subjects of faith in the life and faith as the force in the lives of believers who receive the saving merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in the Spirit (sermons IX, X). These believers live between the first and second advent (sermon XI,) and wait for the verdict of the last judgment (sermon XII). In appendix A, readers will find Spurgeon’s exposition on Romans 3, and 4:16−25. A reader may select to read the devotional selections based on each sermon first, and then read the entire sermon. The devotional selections are not summaries but the cream from the sermon.

This publication is the continuation of this author’s (compiler as well as editor) devotional and academic interest in the life and ministry of Spurgeon that commenced in 1988 and 2008, respectively. The author finds Spurgeon inspiring for his consistent emphasis in his sermons and writings on the substitutionary atonement of Christ, and his practical application of scriptural principles to the lives of believers. But the author’s interest in the Reformation of 1517 goes back to a course he taught in the history of the Christian church (1974) and the biographical essays on the major personalities of the Reformation his students wrote (1976−77). It is the desire of this author that this one sentence, ‘but the just shall live by his faith’ will be the one seed that will germinate into the gift of justification (just as you had never sinned), and lead to the transformation (enabled by the Holy Spirit) of human hearts. May the heart of the reader be laced with the five solas of the Reformation—by scripture alone, by faith alone, by grace alone, by Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

In the preparation of this book, the author is grateful for the use of the sermons from SpurgeonGems available online, and the conversations and encouragement from family and friends in California. The main quotation intended for the cover of the book is from Spurgeon’s sermon VI. This book is another publication of Spurgeon’s sermons that is repackaged. The editing of the sermons was kept to a minimum: long paragraphs are shortened; pronouns referring to deities, such as Jesus Christ, are capitalized, and the titles and sub-titles of the sermons are in bold. Words and phrases italicized in the original sermons remain the same. The author’s own emphasis is noted in the footnotes.

Introduction

Justified by faith. These three words captures the ministry and work of Martin Luther (November 10, 1483–February 18, 1546) and Charles Haddon Spurgeon (June 19, 1834–January 31, 1892). These two stalwarts of the Christian faith were separated by 351 years (in dates of birth) and both passed away at relatively young ages, Luther at sixty-two and Spurgeon at fifty-seven. Spurgeon stepped into the gospel shoes of the apostles and the reformers of the Protestant Reformation.

The person of Jesus Christ was Spurgeon’s creed when he began his ministry at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. Christ Jesus was in Spurgeon’s ministry the sum and substance, who is in Himself all theology, the incarnation of every precious truth, the all-glorious personal embodiment of the way, the truth, and the life. These very words were part of his first words he spoke at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1854. In the preface to the first published volume of the New Park Street Pulpit in 1856, Spurgeon, wrote of his Master:

Jesus is the Truth. We believe in him, —not merely in his words. He himself is Doctor and Doctrine, Revealer and Revelation, the Illuminator and the Light of Men. He is exalted in every word of truth, because he is its sum and substance. He sits above the gospel, like a prince on his own throne. Doctrine is the most precious when we see it distilling from his lips embodied in his person. Sermons are valuable in proportion as they speak of him and point to him. A Christless gospel is no gospel and a Christless discourse is no gospel and a Christless discourse is the cause of merriment to devils. The Holy Ghost who has even been our sole instructor, will we trust, teach us more of Jesus, until we comprehend with all saints, what are the heights, and depths, and know the love of Christ that passed knowledge. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, only have we laboured to extol: may the Lord himself succeed our endeavours.²

Christ Jesus was Spurgeon’s creed but he also acknowledged that he was never ashamed to avow [himself] a Calvinist. He stated his position:

The word Calvinism, is frequently used here as the short word that embraces that part of divine truth that teaches that salvation is by grace alone, but it is not hence to be imagined that we attach any authority to the opinion of John Calvin, other than that which is due to every holy man who is ordained of God to proclaim his truth. We use the word simply for shortness of expression, and because the enemies of free grace will then be quite sure of what we mean. It is our firm belief, that what is commonly called Calvinism, is neither more or less than the good old gospel of the Puritans, the Martyrs, the Apostles, and of our Lord Jesus Christ.³

When it came to the gospel and Protestant theology, Spurgeon drew his inspiration from the life and work of John Calvin (1509−1564). Calvin, the French theologian and reformer from Geneva, also passed away at the relatively young age of fifty-four. He was Martin Luther’s successor as the preeminent Protestant theologian. Calvin made a powerful impact on the fundamental doctrines of Protestantism, and is widely credited as the most important figure in the second generation of the Protestant Reformation. Besides, as Martin Luther’s successor as the preeminent Protestant theologian, Calvin was known for an intellectual, unemotional approach to faith that provided Protestantism’s theological underpinnings, whereas Luther brought passion and populism to his religious cause.⁴ Spurgeon in The Luther Sermon at Exeter Hall delivered in the evening of November 11, 1883, on the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the German reformer, said that he was more a follower of Calvin than of Luther, and much more a follower of Jesus than of either of them, (and) would be charmed to see another Luther upon this earth.⁵

Another sermon intended for reading on January 3, 1892 (and little would any human know that Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, would pass to his rest on January 31, 1892; Spurgeon delivered his last sermon on June 7, 1891), entitled Gratitude for Deliverance from the Grave, was read in connection with the dedication of the Jubilee House, that commemorated the 50th year of a life often threatened by grievous sickness. The text for the sermon was Psalm 118:17−18, which was inscribed by Martin Luther upon his study wall, where he could always see it when at home. Many reformers had been done to death—(John) Huss, and others who preceded him, had been burned at the stake. Luther was cheered by the firm conviction that he was perfectly safe until his work was done. In this full assurance, he went bravely to meet his enemies at the Diet of Worms (January 28−May 25, 1521) and indeed, went courageously whenever duty called him. He felt that God had raised him up to declare the glorious doctrine of justification by faith and all the other truths of what he believed to be the gospel of God and therefore, no wood could burn him and no sword could kill him till that work was done. Thus, he bravely wrote out his belief and set it where many eyes would see it, I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.⁶

Spurgeon stepped into the gospel shoes of the reformers especially John Calvin.

When Wycliffe (c 1330−1384) died as to his body, the real Wycliffe did not die. Some of his books were carried to Bohemia, and John Huss (c 1369−1415) learned the gospel from them and began to preach. They burned John Huss and Jerome of Prague (c 1365−1416), but Huss foretold, as he died, that another would arise after him whom they should not be able to put down. And in due time, he more than lived again in Luther. Is Luther dead? Is Calvin dead today? That last man the moderns have tried to bury in a dunghill of misrepresentation, but he lives—and will live—and the truths that he taught will survive all the slanderers that have sought to poison it. Die! Often the death of a man is a kind of new birth to him—when he himself is gone physically, he spiritually survives, and from the grave there shoots up a tree of life whose leaves heal nations.⁷

Spurgeon passed to his rest in 1892, but he spiritually survives through his published books and sermons, and the testimonies of scores of individuals who heard him preach in his day.⁸Even today he remains to many Christians, a pastor and mentor.

In his sermon in 1883, honoring the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther, Spurgeon said:

All human history since then has been more or less affected by the birth of that marvelous boy [November 10, 1483]. He was not an absolutely perfect man, we neither endorse all that he said nor admire all that he did, but he was a man upon whose like, men’s eyes shall seldom rest, a mighty judge in Israel, a kingly servant of the Lord. We ought to pray more often to God to send us men—men of God, men of power.⁹ We should pray that, according to the Lord’s infinite goodness, His ascension gifts many be continued and multiplied for the perfecting of His church, for when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received gifts for men, and He gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers. He continues to bestow these choice gifts according to the church’s needs, and He would scatter them more plentifully, perhaps, if our prayers more earnestly ascended to the Lord of the harvest to thrust forth laborers into His harvest. Even as we believe in the crucified Savior for our personal salvation, we ought to believe in the ascended Savior for the perpetual enriching of the church with confessors and evangelists who shall declare the truth of God.¹⁰

Little did Charles Spurgeon fathom himself as another Luther. What he said of Luther would hold true of himself:

Luther’s faith laid hold upon the cross of our Lord, and would not be stirred from it. He believed in the forgiveness of sins, and could not afford to doubt it. He cast anchor upon Holy Scripture, and rejected all the inventions of clerics and all the traditions of the fathers. He was assured of the truth of the gospel, and never doubted but what it would prevail though earth and hell were leagued against it. ¹¹

When Spurgeon spoke these words at Exeter Hall the evening of November 11, 1883, he inadvertently and providentially spoke of his ministry just before 1854 and specifically after 1854 until his death. The quotation could be read in the first person and the present tense: My faith lays hold upon the cross of our Lord, and I would not be stirred from it. I believe in the forgiveness of sins, and cannot afford to doubt it. I cast anchor upon Holy Scripture, and reject all the inventions of clerics and all the traditions of the fathers. I am assured of the truth of the gospel, and never doubted it, but that it would prevail though earth and hell were leagued against it.¹² On the silver anniversary of his ministry in 1879, Spurgeon underscored the purpose of his life and ministry: "I care nothing about fine language, or about the petty speculations of prophecy, or a hundred dainty things; but to break the heart and bind it, to lay hold on a sheep of Christ and bring it back to the fold, is the one thing I would live for."¹³

In his autobiographical account of The Great Change [of his] Conversion,¹⁴ Spurgeon wrote of his identification with Calvin and Luther on the gospel of Substitution, the central theme to his sermons and writings:

I have always considered, with Luther and Calvin, that the sum and substance of the gospel lies in that word Substitution, —Christ standing in the stead of man. If I understand the gospel, it is this: I deserve to be lost forever; the only reason why I should not be damned is, that Christ was punished in my stead, and there is no need to execute a sentence twice for sin. On the other hand, I know I cannot enter Heaven unless I have a perfect righteousness; I am absolutely certain I shall never have one of my own, for I find sin every day; but then Christ had a perfect righteous, and He said, ‘There, poor sinner, take my garment, and put it on; you shall stand before God as if you were Christ; and I will stand before God as if I had been the sinner; I will suffer in the sinner’s stead, and you shall be rewarded for works that you did not do, but that I did it for you.’

I find it very convenient every day to come to Christ as a sinner, as I came at the first. ‘You are no saint,’ says the devil. Well, if I am not, I am a sinner, and Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Sink or swim, I go to Him; other hope have I none. By looking to Him, I received all the faith that inspired me with confidence in His grace; and the word that first drew my soul—‘Look unto Me,’ still rings its clarion note in my ears. There I once found conversion, and there I shall ever find refreshing and renewal.

Spurgeon stepped into the gospel shoes of the apostle Paul, Augustine, the Protestant reformers, and the Puritan preachers and theologians by Looking unto Jesus.¹⁵ Ask Charles Spurgeon to cite the text that lead to his conversion and how he was converted, he would answer: Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no one else, and I looked to Him; He looked to me; And we were one forever. ¹⁶

II

In the providence of God, Spurgeon was called to London in 1854, from the Baptist Chapel in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, as a prayed for pastor. To London he would go, if only on probation,¹⁷ but the welcome he received was mixed. Rev. G. T. Dowling writing in The Preachers Annual for 1877 expressed that some families even left the church because ‘that boy’ was called. To this comment, Spurgeon responded: It is a pity to fabricate an instance. The truth is exactly the contrary. The moment after my first sermon was preached, I was invited by the principal deacon for supply for six months. ¹⁸

Spurgeon’s popularity and usefulness at New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, Central London, continue[d] beyond all parallel in modern times…. Would Spurgeon be another George Whitefield or a Martin Luther? Two views prevailed. At New Park Street some of Spurgeon’s acquaintances, … did not see him as a fledgling giant, a second Whitefield as he soon became known. The other perspective from his early days at Waterbeach came from a man who said That young man will yet shake England like a second Luther. When he arrived in London to minister and preach, a lady said, ‘He will be a second Whitefield.’ ¹⁹ According to one of Spurgeon’s biographers, Lewis Drummond, they were both right.²⁰

Spurgeon preached on the gospel of Substitution, and the membership at the New Park Street Chapel beginning in 1854 and at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington commencing in 1861, would increase greatly. He would have his admirers and detractors. But Spurgeon would whole heartedly concur with the apostle Paul that "neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building" (1 Corinthians 3:6-9).

In the providence of God, Spurgeon was called and placed in Victorian London from 1854 till 1892 to preach, guard and defend the gospel. He stood firm during the Down Grade Controversy that ran principally from 1887 till 1888.²¹ Susannah Spurgeon writing in her husband’s autobiography, penned this enlightened perception:

From August, 1887, to February, 1892, scarcely any number of [The Sword and the Trowel] appeared without some reference to the Controversy and its various issues. The most pathetic Note of all was written within a few days of my dear husband’s going-home, for in it, he revealed the fact, already known to all who were nearest and dearest to him, that his fight for the faith had cost him his life. Yet he never regretted the step he had taken; for throughout the whole affair, he felt such a Divine compulsion as Luther realized when he said, ‘I can do no other.’"²²

God in his divine providence prepared His servants to stand firm in the defense the gospel. Paul, as he journeyed to Jerusalem to answer charges before the Jewish council, and the dignitaries of state, said:

And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnessed in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, that I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of grace of God. (Acts 20:22−24, KJV)

Martin Luther stepped into the shoes of the apostle Paul at the Diet of Worms in 1521 when he was questioned by (John) Eck, an official of the Archbishop of Trier … not of course the [John] Eck [of Ingolstadt] of the Leipzig debate, [1519]. Eck asked Luther this pointed question: I ask you, Martin—answer candidly and without horns—do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors that they contain? Luther responded to the question, before the Diet and the dignitaries of state, with precision:

Since then Your Majesty and your lordship desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.²³

Moved by the hand of Providence, Charles Spurgeon was being prepared to take his stand in the Down Grade Controversy. In his Luther Sermon at Exeter Hall on November 11, 1883, with his text from Galatians 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, not uncircumcision; but faith that works by love, he finished this Luther memorial … about Luther’s preaching salvation by faith alone, by asking the question: What kind of faith did Luther himself exhibit by which he was justified? Spurgeon identified nine areas in Luther life, and he resonated with all nine areas:

1. "[I]n Luther’s case, faith led him to an open avowal of what he believed. 2. His dauntless valor for truth caused him to be greatly hated in his own day with a ferocity that has not yet died out. 3. His faith was of this kind also—that it moved him to a hearty reverence for what he believed to be Holy Scripture.… [H]e was not always wise in his judgement of what the Bible contains, but yet to him Scripture was the last court of appeal." 4. The next thing… was the intense activity of his faith. Luther did not believe in God doing his work, so as to lie by in idleness himself. 5. … Luther’s faith abounded in prayer. …Those who heard them tell us of his tears, his wrestling, and his holy arguments. 6. His was a faith that delivered him entirely from the fear of man. 7. Luther’s faith made [him] a man among men, and saved him from priestly affections. 8. It is true he would not allow good works to be spoken as a means of salvation, but of those who professed faith in Jesus he demanded holy lives. Luther abounded in prayer and charity. 9. Lastly, Luther’s faith was a faith that helped him under struggles that are seldom spoken of."²⁴

To the young men present in Exeter Hall, Spurgeon said: I pray that a Luther may spring up from your ranks.²⁵

Also in divine guidance, on February 5, 1888, Spurgeon preached on Holding Fast the Faith. His scripture, from Revelation 2:12− 13 of words of Jesus Christ to the church at Pergamos, you hold fast My name, and have not denied My faith, was one of several passages from the word of God that sustained Spurgeon through the Down Grade Controversy.²⁶ He urged his congregation to hold fast the faith of Christ in complete consecration to Him alone by not denying His name but to treasure His life, work, teachings, and resurrection. They were to hold fast the deity and grandeur of His name that is holy, eternal and royal.

Spurgeon remonstrated with, challenged and encouraged his congregation to hold fast the name and faith of Jesus:

Why should we give up the faith? … We must defend the faith; for what would have become of us if our fathers had not maintained it? If confessors, reformers, martyrs, and covenanters had been [unfaithful] to the name and faith of Jesus, where would have been the churches of today? … It is today as it was in the reformers days. Decision is needed. …

I charge you, not only by your ancestry, but by your posterity, that you seek to win the commendation of your Master, that though you dwell where Satan’s seat is, yet hold fast His name, and do not deny His faith. God grant us faithfulness, for the sake of the souls around us! How is the world to be saved if the church is false to her Lord? How are we to lift the masses if our fulcrum is removed? If our gospel is uncertain, what remains but increasing misery and despair. Stand fast, my beloved, in the name of God! I, your brother in Christ, entreat you to abide in the truth. Quit yourselves like men, be strong. The Lord sustain you for Jesus’ sake. Amen. ²⁷

Spurgeon stepped into the shoes of the reformers and Ian Murray succinctly summarizes what God did for Spurgeon’s ministry:

[God] gives the men and prepares the times in which they are to act. As Spurgeon says in reference to John Wycliffe, ‘God fits the man for the place and the place for the man; there is an hour for the voice and a voice for the hour’. By upbringing, by the possession of superb natural gifts, by the enduement of the Holy Ghost, Spurgeon fitted to work in a reaping time in English church history. ‘My life,’ he could say, ‘has been one long harvest home’! Long before his death, however, the spiritual condition of the land was changing and Spurgeon saw the change; whereas he used to hold out the prospect of a full church to the man who preached the Gospel faithfully, he had to revise his opinion: ‘Compared with what it used to be, it is hard to win attention to the Word of God. I used to think that we had only to preach the gospel, and the people would throng to hear it. I fear I must correct my belief under the head… We all feel that a hardening process is going on among the masses.’²⁸

The legacy of the prince of preachers, according to Ian Murray is neither his oratory nor his personality—these things have gone the way of the flesh—but his testimony to the whole counsel of God and his utterance of the great Reformation principle that the Lord alone must be before our eyes and His honour the ultimate motive in all our actions. Indeed, the just shall live by his faith. ²⁹

PART ONE

DEVOTIONS ON JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus

(Romans 3: 26 KJV).

PROLOGUE

BEING JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Conscience accuses no longer. Judgment now decides for the sinner instead of against him. Memory looks back upon past sins, with deep sorrow for the sin, but yet with no dread of any penalty to come; for Christ, has paid the debt of His people to the last jot and tittle, and received the divine receipt; and unless God can be so unjust as to demand double payment for one debt, no soul for whom Jesus died as a substitute can ever be cast into hell. It seems to be one of the very principles of our enlightened nature to believe that God is just; we feel that it must be so, and this gives us our terror at first; but is it not marvelous that this very same belief that God is just, becomes afterwards the pillar of our confidence and peace.

If God be just, I, a sinner, alone and without a substitute, must be punished; but