“turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
for i am God, and there is no other.
by myself i have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘to me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
[isaiah 45:22-23]
charles spurgeon (1834-1892) was known as the ‘prince of pastors’–and has had a massive impact on hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of christians around the world. preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ over his long ministry, his aim was to glorify God in all that he did–and did so having spent time in the presence of God. he was just a man–he struggled with doubt and depression and crippling health issues his entire life and ministry, but his legacy continues to echo through the generations because of his zeal for preaching the gospel of Jesus.
some of you may know his salvation story–how he happened into a small country church when he was 15 years old. That snowy day, the uneducated country layman who had a normal day job was proclaiming the message. in spurgeon’s words:
“the minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, i suppose. at last a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. now it is well that preachers be instructed, but this man was really stupid. he was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. the text was—”look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” [isa. 45:22]
he did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. there was, i thought, a glimmer of hope for me in that text.
the preacher began thus: “this is a very simple text indeed. It says ‘look.’ now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pain. It aint liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just ‘look.’ well, a man needn’t go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. a man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to look. anyone can look; even a child can look.”
i would, like that humble layman encourage you in the same way: turn to Jesus. look to Jesus. it isn’t just a message for your salvation–being in the presence of God is what you need–there is no other. spurgeon, wrote what that simple proclamation of the gospel produced in him:
“i saw at once the way of salvation. i know not what else he said—i did not take much notice of it—i was so possessed with that one thought . . . . i had been waiting to do fifty things, but when i heard that word, “look!” what a charming word it seemed to me. oh! i looked until i could almost have looked my eyes away.
there and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment i saw the sun; and i could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to him. oh, that somebody had told me this before, “trust Christ, and you shall be saved.” yet it was, no doubt, all wisely ordered, and now i can say—
“e’er since by faith i saw the stream
thy flowing wounds supply,
redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die. . .””
we make it too complicated–let us turn to Jesus, look to Jesus, be in the presence of Jesus, then proclaim the name of Jesus. this is the message that we carry to a dying world–brothers and sisters, we may say ‘but we are not spurgeons!’ no, that may not be our calling–we are like the humble country preacher, like the john the baptist saying:
“behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! [john 1:29b]
~ce