2007. Holding Firm The Faith

No. 2007-34:73. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Morning, February 5, 1888, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, “These things says he who has the sharp sword with two edges; ‘I know your works, and where you live, even where Satan’s seat is: and you hold firm my name, and have not denied my faith.’ ” {Re 2:12,13}

1. Your attention will be principally directed to these words — “You hold firm my name, and have not denied my faith.”

2. Especially notice, dear friends, at the opening of this morning’s meditation, the character under which the Lord Jesus Christ presents himself to the church at Pergamos. “These things says he who has the sharp sword with two edges.” Does the Lord Jesus come to his church in that way? Does he at the door of the church bear a sword? a sword unscabbarded? a sharp sword? a sharp sword with two edges? Yes, even to his visible church this is how our Lord Jesus Christ appears. To his own spiritual and faithful ones he is to each one a husband, full of unutterable tenderness and love; but to the visible church, which at its best estate is never altogether pure, he appears in a more severe form. To a church he comes as Captain of the Lord’s host, and he wields a sharp sword with two edges. It is the parallel of that passage where John the Baptist says of him: “His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and he will gather his wheat into his garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” That winnowing fan is never out of his hand, for it is always needed. Even though our Lord is full of grace, he is also full of truth. His love for his servants reveals itself in a burning jealousy which will not endure evil. “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” We think of the coming of our Lord as a joy and a blessing; but, oh, remember that question, “But who may endure the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears?” The Lord bears the sword, and he does not bear it in vain. Time has not blunted its edge, it is “sharp”; and it has two edges, as of old.

3. But what will he do with that sword in reference to a church? We are not left in any doubt about that point. Having mentioned some whose doctrines and lives were unclean, the Lord says, “Repent; or else I will come to you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” He turns the sword against those within the church who had no right to be there. It is no trifling thing to be a church member. I could earnestly wish that certain professors had never been members of a church at all; for if they had been outside the church, they might have been in far less peril than they are within its bounds. Outside their conduct might have been tolerated; but it is not consistent with an affirmation of discipleship towards Jesus. I say this with deep sorrow. Oh false professors, you may go down to hell readily enough without increasing your damnation by coming into Christ’s church with a lie in your right hand. Alas for those who are not Christians in heart, and yet profess to be so! Such ought to be startled by the vision of the Lord himself drawing near to a church with a sharp sword in his hand. Surely, “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites.”

4. Yet there is comfort to the sincere in this glorious man of war. He will strike those who are the enemies of his holy cause, but he will also beat off those who attack his people from without. His sword is for the defence of the faithful. It is drawn from its sheath to protect the timid and the trembling. Jesus is come as our Joshua, to chase the enemy before us, and lead us onward, conquering and to conquer. The sword with two edges is the defender of the least of those whose hearts are right before the Lord. I introduce the subject as the Spirit himself introduces it. I would make the sermon sweet to the saints, but the preface needs to be sharp, lest any seize upon comforts to which they have no right. The Paschal Lamb is always to be eaten with bitter herbs: those bitter herbs I have set upon the table. The name of Jesus, which is the song of angels and the treasure of saints, has terror in it for those who refuse him; for he who bears that name shall judge the quick and the dead, and pronounce condemnation on the unrighteous.

5. Notice that this blessed Saviour watches his church with an observant eye. He looks at the church in Pergamos, and he says, “I know your works, and where you live, even where Satan’s seat is.” The Lord sees the position and the peril of the church at Pergamos, “where Satan lives.” Probably there were horrible idolatries, with obscene orgies in the city, or it may have been a place of particular licentiousness, or of special persecution. We cannot at this distance of time exactly tell what it was; but the Lord regarded it as the citadel of Satan. There are places in the world at this day where sin has so much the upper hand, or where error and unbelief reign so supreme, that the devil would seem to have taken up his residence there, and to have made it his capital city. This is a trying neighbourhood for a church of Christ, and yet it is the place where it is most needed. You, dear friend, may be living in society where the evil one rules with undisputed sway. You are not favoured to live with your fellow Christians, but you go home to be met with blasphemies at the door; and all during the week sights and sounds assail your eyes and ears which make you feel like Lot in Sodom. I am sorry for you; but let it comfort you that your Lord knows all about it, and he can either remove you from the trying position, or else he can still more glorify his grace by supporting you in it, and enabling you to overcome the enemy. He knows that “Satan desires to have you, so that he may sift you as wheat”; and he prays for you that your faith does not fail. He knows your perils, and he considers your trials. He very well perceives the way in which Satan would first mislead you, and then accuse you. He understands the subtlety of the old serpent. He sees your struggles, your failures, and your desperate endeavours to hold firm the faith. He knows how at night you are grieved as you make confession before him of your shortcomings; but he also knows the particular circumstances in which you are placed, and he judges you in great mercy. If you are holding firm his name and have not denied the faith, even that may be to him a better proof of your truthfulness of heart than works of labour and patience might be in other cases. You have borne fewer clusters than another vine, but Jesus knows that you grow in a very barren bit of ground, and he thinks well of your little fruit. Your day’s work does not look like much when it is done, but when horses plough a rock so hard that it breaks the ploughshare, no farmer expects as much to be done as when a light loam has to be gently turned over. The Lord Jesus takes all our surroundings into consideration, and though he loves us too well to excuse our sins, yet he himself mentions the circumstances which make our act to be rather failure than fault, even as he did for the first disciples when he found them asleep, and he said, “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Oh dear children of God, if you are placed in positions of particular trial and difficulty, and if your hindrances are so many that you cannot accomplish one tenth as much as you desire, then hear how Jesus puts it: “I know where you live, even where Satan’s seat is.” If you are faithful to your Lord, and firm in his truth, he will commend you and say, “Yet you hold firm my name, and have not denied my faith.” I wonder whether this word of comfort is meant for someone here, or for some friend who will read the sermon. I feel that it must be so. Many of our Lord’s beloved ones are, in God’s sight, now doing much more, under distressing circumstances, than they used to do in happier days. When they had ten pounds entrusted to them, they brought in two by way of interest; and now that they have only one pound, they bring in one pound of interest: so you see that they produce a far larger percentage than they used to do; and this is the Lord’s way of calculating, for it is according to righteousness. When we have little strength, and are placed in positions of great difficulty, then the Lord thinks all the more of what we produce, and regards it as all the better proof of fidelity. In the text it is commendation enough for Pergamos, under the circumstances that, living so close to Beelzebub’s own capital, close under the shadow of the throne of hell, that church could earn this praise: “You hold firm my name, and have not denied my faith.”

6. Let us give earnest attention to this commendation. Oh, that we may earn it ourselves; and if we have already earned it, may we be helped by the Holy Spirit to hold it firm, so that no man takes our crown!

7. I. The first point will be, LET US CONSIDER THIS FACT. I hope it is a fact with many here present as surely as it was a fact with Pergamos. I trust it can be said of this church and of its members — “You hold firm my name, and have not denied my faith.”

8. Notice, dear friends, that here the name of Christ is made to be identical with the faith of Christ. “You hold firm my name, and have not denied my faith.” The faith of Scripture has Christ for its centre, Christ for its circumference, and Christ for its substance. The name — that is, the person, the character, the work, the teaching of Christ — this is the faith of Christians. The great doctrines of the gospel are all intimately connected with the Lord Jesus Christ himself: they are the rays, and he is the sun. We never hold the faith correctly unless we see the Lord Jesus to be the centre of it. From our election onward to our glorification, Christ is all and in all. To the Jews the law was never in its proper place until it was laid in the ark, and covered with the mercy seat; and I am sure believers never see the law properly until they see it fulfilled in Christ Jesus. If it is so with the law, how much more is it so with the gospel? The gospel is the gold ring, but Christ Jesus is the diamond which is set in it. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith: he is the sum and substance, the top and bottom of it. When we hold firm the name of our Lord, then we have not denied the faith.

9. But how may the faith be denied? In several ways this may be done. Let me say it very tenderly, but very solemnly, some deny the faith, and let go the name of Jesus by never confessing it. Remember how the Lord states this matter in the gospels: “Whoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.” Here it is clear that to deny is the same thing as not confessing. I know people who almost boast about their neutrality. They say, “I hold my tongue. Though the conflict should lie between Christ and Belial, yet I would go quietly on and never involve myself.” Do you say so? Then permit me to remind you of our Lord’s own words. “He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad.” Again he says, “Whoever does not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” This text must bear hard upon those who have tried not exactly to hold with the hare and run with the hounds, but neither to hold with the hare nor yet to run with the hounds. These have hoped to find in their discretion the better part of valour; but, believe me, it is a valour which will be rewarded with everlasting contempt. This way you hope to lead an easy life. An easy life of such a kind will end in a very uneasy death. A life in which we have shunned the cross of Christ will lead to a state in which we shall miss the crown of glory.

10. Christ is also denied by false doctrine. If we espouse error concerning his person, work, or doctrine, and believe what Jesus did not teach, and refuse to believe what Jesus did teach, then we have denied his name and his faith. One of the main points of a Christian, without which the rest of his life will not be acceptable with God, is that Jesus shall be to him “the way, the truth, and the life.” The practical, the doctrinal, the experiential must all be found by us in Jesus Christ our Lord, or else we have not placed him in his proper position; and we cannot be right anywhere unless the centre is right, and unless Jesus is that centre. May God grant that we may never turn aside from the faith once and for all delivered to the saints; but may we resist all false philosophies, steadfast and immovable!

11. But then it is very possible to deny the name and the faith by unholy living. Let none of us imagine that an orthodox creed can be of any use to us if we lead a heterodox life. No, Christ Jesus is to be obeyed as a Master, as well as to be believed as a Teacher. The disciple is to be practically obedient, as well as attentively teachable. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” The apostle Paul says, “He who does not care for his own household has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (or unbeliever)”; {1Ti 5:8} so that a moral fault may be a denial of the faith, and may make a man worse than if he had never professed to believe at all. May God save us from an unholy life!

12. Alas! we can deny the faith by actually forsaking it, and leaving the people of God. Some do so deliberately, and others because the charms of the world overcome them. We are told about some who went away from our Lord because of what he had taught. They cried, “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” My friends, if you are not prepared to accept hard sayings, you need not profess to be disciples of Jesus. “Horrible doctrine!” cried one the other day. Granted that it is horrible, may it not also be true? Many horrible things take place around us, and yet no one can deny the facts. You cannot exclude from your knowledge many things which are true, by merely crying, “Horrible!” It is not ours to judge our Lord’s teaching by our sentiment, we are to receive it by faith. He speaks terribly of the doom of the wicked, and he is not capable of exaggeration. What the Lord Jesus says is certain, for “he is the faithful and true witness,” and therefore we will not turn from him, whatever his teaching may be. Oh for grace to persevere to the end! Oh for fidelity and constancy, so that neither gain nor loss, exaltation nor depression, may induce us to leave our Saviour! Let us hold firm his sacred name, and never deny the faith, come what may. May the Holy Spirit hold us firm, that we may hold firm the name of Jesus!

13. In what way may we be said to hold firm the name of Christ and the faith of Christ? I answer, by the full consent of our intellect, yielding up our mind to consider and accept the things which are assuredly believed among us. We hold firm the form of sound words, and accept whatever God has revealed, because he has revealed it. Our motto is, “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” When Christ speaks, we assent with our minds and consent with our hearts to all he declares.

14. If we hold firm the name of Jesus, we must hold the faith in the love of it. We must store up in our affections all that our Lord teaches. His words are found, and we eat them, they are as honey to the taste. Let Jesus speak, and I will reply, “Yes, Lord, you say it is so, and I know it is so. I consent to your teaching, and from my soul I love you, and accept all that you reveal.” The true believer would live or die for the doctrines revealed in Holy Scripture. This love of the heart is what causes us to hold firm the name of Christ.

15. We also hold it firm by defending it in the teeth of all opposition. We must confess the faith at all proper times and seasons, and we must never hide our colours. There are times when we must dash to the front and court the encounter, when we see that our Captain’s honour demands it. Let us never be either ashamed or afraid. Our Lord Jesus deserves that we should yield ourselves as willing sacrifices in defence of his faith. Ease, reputation, life itself, must go for the name and faith of Jesus. If in the heat of the battle our good name or our life must be risked to win the victory, then let us say, “In this battle some of us must fall; why should not I? I will take part and lot with my Master, and bear reproach for his sake.” Only brave soldiers are worthy of our great Lord. Those who sneak into the rear, so that they may be comfortable, are not worthy of the kingdom. What will our Captain say of cowards in that day when he distributes rewards to all faithful ones? Brethren, we must be willing to bear ridicule for Christ’s sake, even that particularly envenomed ridicule which “the cultured” are so apt to pour upon us. We must be willing to be thought great fools for Jesus’ sake. Some of us have forgotten more than many of our opponents ever knew, and yet they call us ignorant; we are bearing shame because we have the courage of our convictions, and yet they call us cowards. For my part, I am willing to be ten thousand fools in one for my dear Lord and Master, and consider it to be the highest honour that can be put upon me to be stripped of every honour, and loaded with every censure for the sake of the grand old truth which is written on my very heart. Those ships which sail with Jesus as their Lord High Admiral must look for tempests; for his barque was filled with the waves, and began to sink. Does that man love his Lord who would be willing to see Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, while for himself he craves a chaplet of laurel? Shall Jesus ascend to his throne by the cross, and do we expect to be carried there on the shoulders of applauding crowds? Do not be so vain in your imagination. Count the cost, and if you are not willing to bear Christ’s cross, go away to your farm and to your merchandise, and make the most of them; only let me whisper this in your ear, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”

16. II. In the second place, having considered the fact, LET US FURTHER ENLARGE UPON IT.

17. What do we mean by holding firm the name of Christ? I reply, first, we mean holding firm the deity of that name. We believe in our Lord’s real Godhead. “His name shall be called Wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God.” One of the names by which he is revealed to us is Emmanuel. The word “El” is one of the great Oriental names of God. You get in Hebrew Elohim, and in Arabic “Allah.” Our Lord Jesus is Emmanu-el, that is, God with us; and we believe him to be so. He is as truly man as any one among us; born of a virgin without taint of original sin. But he is also most surely God without the least diminution of the perfections and glories of Godhead. We put our finger into the print of the nails, but as we do so we cry, “My Lord, and my God.” “Let all the angels of God worship him.” “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” We can never give up our belief in the Godhead of our Lord Jesus, but we must and will hold firm the faith of the deity of Christ.

18. We also hold firm the name of Jesus, and the faith of Jesus, as for the royalty of his name. He was born King of the Jews, and he is also “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” What Pilate wrote over his cross is true — “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”; but God also has highly exalted him, and made him to have dominion over all the works of his hands. The Father has committed all judgment to the Son. He shall put down all rule, and all authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever: Hallelujah!” When we bow the knee in prayer, and say, “Your kingdom come,” we mean the kingdom of God, and we also mean the kingdom of Christ Jesus, it is he who as a Lamb is seen in the midst of the throne where saints and angels pay adoring homage. Soon the seventh angel shall sound his trumpet, and great voices shall be heard in heaven saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Oh Jesus, we bow before you! “Just and true are your ways, oh King of saints.” He reigns in our hearts over the triple kingdom of our nature. He is King in our families; we desire to see him King in this city, King in this nation, King over all the earth; and we shall never be satisfied until, with all the redeemed of our race, we crown him Lord of all. We hold firm the royalty of the name of Jesus Christ.

19. Moreover, we believe in the grandeur of that name, as being the first and the last. Open the New Testament, and read the first verse of Matthew. How does it begin? “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David.” The book of the New Covenant begins with Jesus. Now look at the last verse, see how the New Testament ends: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Jesus Christ appears in the first verse, and he appears in the last verse. Did he not say, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending?” The first line of the covenant of grace is Jesus Christ; the last line of the covenant of grace is Jesus Christ; and all in between is the Lord Jesus Christ. Begin with him as A, go right through to B, C, D, E, F, and so on until you end with Z, and it is all Christ Jesus. He is all; yes, he is all in all. Oh what blessings have come to us through Jesus Christ! Through his name we have received remission of sins, in his name we are justified, in his name we are sanctified, in his name we shall be glorified, even as in him we were chosen from before the foundation of the world. My tongue can never tell you even the beginning of his greatness. Who shall declare his generation? The fringe, the hem of his infinite glories, who can touch? He is unspeakable. As for his glory, I may say, “Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! who has set your glory above the heavens.” All glory and honour be to him in whom are comprehended all the blessings with which God has enriched his people in time and in eternity.

20. We hold firm the name of Christ as we believe in its saving power. “You shall call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” We hold firm the belief that Jesus saves us from the guilt of sin by having borne it in his own body on the tree. We are assured that he makes us just before God by that righteousness of his, which is ours, because we are one with him. He saves us from the punishment of sin because “the chastisement of our peace was upon him.” He died as a victim in our place. He saves us from the power of sin by his Spirit, and by faith in his death: we overcome sin by the blood of the Lamb. Salvation in every department, salvation from its hopeful dawning to its glorious noontime in perfection, is all of Christ Jesus. He is Saviour, and he alone. “There is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.” He is the unique Saviour, there is no other possible salvation now or in the world to come. Do you believe in Christ? Then you have salvation. “But he who does not believe shall be damned.” Pronounce the word hard or soft as you wish, it will come to the same thing in the end — you shall be condemned, and condemned hopelessly, if you do not believe in Jesus Christ, the one sole propitiation for the sins of men. This we hold firm. I know you are established in these truths, my beloved, and you intend to hold them as long as you breathe, and not to deny the faith which the Lord himself has delivered to you.

21. Once more, we hold firm this name in its immutability. We are told today that this is an age of progress, and therefore we must accept an improved gospel. Every man is to be his own lawyer, and every man his own saviour. We are getting on in the direction of every man putting away his own sin, just as every chimney should consume its own smoke. But, dear friends, we do not believe these idle dreams. We want no new gospel, no modern salvation. Our conviction is that Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, today, and for ever.” The way that Paul went to heaven is good enough for me.

   The way the holy prophets went,
   The road that leads from banishment,

is broad enough and safe enough for me. When I remember my dear brothers and sisters in Christ who have fallen asleep, whom I saw die with triumph lighting up their faces, I feel quite satisfied with the salvation which saved them, and I am not going to try experiments or speculations. To talk about improving upon our perfect Saviour is to insult him. He is God’s propitiation; what more do you want? My blood boils with indignation at the idea of improving the gospel. There is only one Saviour, and that one Saviour is the same for ever. His doctrine is the same in every age, and is not yea and nay. What a strange result we should obtain in the general assembly of heaven if some were saved by the gospel of the first century, and others by the gospel of the second, and others by the gospel of the seventeenth, and others by the gospel of the nineteenth century! We should need a different song of praise for the clients of these various periods, and the mingled chorus would be rather to the glory of man’s culture than to the praise of the one Lord. No such mottled heaven, and no such discordant song, shall ever be produced. There is one church and one Saviour. We believe in one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. To eternal glory there is only one way; to walk there we must hold firm one truth, and be quickened by one life. We stand firm by the unaltered, unalterable, eternal name of Jesus Christ our Lord. This is what we mean by holding firm the name and the faith of Jesus.

22. III. Thirdly, dear friends, to lead you a step further on the same road, LET ME SHOW THE PRACTICAL PLACE OF THE NAME AND OF THE FAITH WITH US.

23. The practical place of it is this: first of all, it is our personal comfort —

   Jesus, the name that charms our fears,
      That bids our sorrows cease;
   ’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
      ’Tis life, and health, and peace.

The faith which we hold is our daily and hourly joy and hope. The doctrines which I believe in connection with the divine Person in whom I trust are the pillow of my weariness, the medicine for of my care, the rest of my spirit. Jesus gives me a view for years to come which is celestial, and at the same time I can look back with thankfulness on the years which are past. For all time the Lord Jesus is our heart’s contentment. Nothing can separate us from his love, and therefore nothing can deprive us of our confident hope. Through this blessed name and this blessed faith believers are themselves made glad and strong. On the name of Jesus we feed, and in that name we wrap ourselves. It is strength for our weakness, yes, life for our death.

24. And then, dear friends, this name, this faith, these are our message. Our only business here below is to cry, “Behold the Lamb.” Are any of you sent by God with any other message? It cannot be. The one message which God has given to his people to proclaim is salvation through the Lamb — salvation by the blood of Jesus. It is by his blood that cleansing comes to the polluted. He is the one great Propitiation. To tell of Jesus is our occupation, we have nothing to say which is not comprised in the revelation made to us by God in Christ Jesus. He who is our one comfort is also our one theme.

25. He also is our divine authority for holy work. We preach the gospel in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. If we preached it in any other name men would have a right to reject it. If the spiritually sick are healed, it is his name which makes them strong. If demons flee before us, we cast them out in his name, Oh, that we more often remembered that all our teaching and preaching must be done in the name of Jesus! In his name we gather for worship, in his name we go out for service. If we go in our own name we go in vain; but if we are ambassadors for God, as though he beseeched men by us, then we urge them in Christ’s place to be reconciled to God, and we are hopeful that our labour will not be in vain in the Lord.

26. This also is our power in preaching; indeed, it is our power, our only power in living before God. Brethren, the devil will never be cast out by any other name — let us hold it firm. If we conjure by eloquence, talent, music, or what not, the evil one will say, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” It is only his name that makes the legions of hell leave the hearts of the possessed, and flee howling down into the depths. This is the name high over all; but there is no other which has such power in it. Spiritual diseases, yes, death itself, will yield to this name. It is his name that makes Lazarus come out from the grave, and the young man sit upright on the bier. Use this name, and nothing can stand before you.

27. I said that it is our power in life, and so, indeed, it is. When we draw near to God, what is our strength by which to prevail in prayer? Is it not that we ask in the name of Jesus? If you leave out the name of Jesus, what are your prayers except a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal? Prayer without the name of Jesus has no wings with which to fly up to God. This is that golden ladder by which we climb up to the throne of God, and take unspeakably precious things out of the hand of the Eternal. That name prevails with God concerning everything, and so enables us to prevail with man; therefore, hold it firm, and do not deny the faith; for what can you do if the truth and the name of Jesus are given up?

28. This name is our one hope of victory. Just as Constantine, in his dream, saw the cross, and took it for his emblem, with the motto, “By this sign I conquer,” so today our only hope of victory for the gospel is that the cross of Christ displays it, and the name of Jesus is in it. His name is named on us, and in his name we will cast out demons, and do many mighty works, until his name shall be known and honoured wherever the sun pursues its course, or the moon cheers the watches of the night.

29. IV. Now, in closing, I will URGE REASONS FOR HOLDING FIRM THE NAME AND FAITH OF JESUS.

30. I hope we hold it so firm that we can never give it up while reason holds its throne. There is an old Christian legend concerning Ignatius, that he never spoke without mentioning the name of Jesus whom he loved. His speech seemed saturated with love for his Lord, and when he died the name of Jesus was found to be stamped on his heart. It may not have been so literally, but no doubt it was true spiritually. The name of Jesus is, I hope, written in our hearts so as to be inseparable from our lives. Whatever else may go, the name of Jesus can never depart from our thoughts. Dying men have been known to forget everything except this. The man has forgotten his wife, his children, his bosom friend, and has turned away oblivious from them all, as if they were strangers; and yet when the name of Jesus has been whispered in his ear, his eyes have brightened, and his countenance has responded to that precious name. Oh memory, leave no other name than his recorded upon your tablets! Happy forgetfulness which clears everything else away, but leaves that name in solitary glory!

31. That it may be so I will ask the question like this: Why should we give up the faith? I fail to see a reason. Why should I change my belief, or cease to hold firm the name of Christ Jesus my Lord? It is an irrational suggestion. “I am open to conviction,” said a man who knew his ground, “I am open to conviction, but I should like to see the man who could convince me.” I am in very much the same condition with regard to the gospel of my Lord Jesus: I am open to conviction, but I shall never see the man who can convince me out of my experience, my conviction, my consciousness, my hope, my all. Before I could leave my faith in the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and my confidence in the everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure, I should have to be ground to powder, and every individual atom transformed.

32. What would they give us in exchange for the faith? That is a question which it is easy to ask, but impossible to answer. Suppose the doctrines of grace could be obliterated, and our hope could be taken away, what would they give us in the place of them, either for this life or the next? I have never seen anything proposed in the place of the gospel that was worth considering for a second. Have you? Uncertainty, doubt, glitter, mockery, darkness — all these; but who wants them? They offer us either bubbles or filth, according to the different shade of the speculator’s character; but we are not enamoured by either. We prefer gold to dross.

33. We must defend the faith; for what would have become of us if our forefathers had not maintained it? If confessors, reformers, martyrs, and covenanters had been false to the name and faith of Jesus, where would have been the churches of today? Must we not play the man as they did? If we do not, are we not censuring our forefathers? It is very pretty, is it not, to read about Luther and his brave deeds? Of course, everyone admires Luther! Yes, yes; but you do not want anyone else to do the same today. When you go to the Zoological Gardens you all admire the bear; but how would you like a bear at home, or a bear wandering loose around the street? You tell me that it would be unbearable, and no doubt you are right. So, we admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago; the past ages are a kind of bear-pit or iron cage for him; but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those past ages, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their associates had said, “The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our bedrooms, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.” Such conduct on their part would have secured for us an inheritance of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal depths, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed everything. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on. Note what we owe them, and let us pay to our sons the debt we owe our fathers. It is today as it was in the Reformers’ days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it. The faith I hold bears upon it marks of the blood of my ancestors. Shall I deny their faith, for which they left their native land to sojourn here? Shall we cast away the treasure which was handed to us through the bars of prisons, or came to us charred with the flames of Smithfield? {a} Personally, when my bones have been tortured with rheumatism, I have remembered Job Spurgeon, doubtless of my own stock, who in Chelmsford Jail was allowed a chair, because he could not lie down by reason of rheumatic pain. That Quaker’s broad-brim overshadows my brow. Perhaps I inherit his rheumatism; but that I do not regret if I have his stubborn faith, which will not let me yield a syllable of the truth of God. When I think of how others have suffered for the faith, a little scorn or unkindness seems a mere trifle, not worthy of mention. An ancestry of lovers of the faith ought to be a great plea with us to remain by the Lord God of our forefathers, and the faith in which they lived. As for me, I must hold the old gospel: I can do no other. God helping me, I will endure the consequences of what men think is obstinacy.

34. Look, sirs, there are ages yet to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to his truth today. We have come to a turning-point in the road. If we turn to the right, maybe our children and our children’s children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to his Word. 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 live where Satan’s seat is, you still hold firm his name, and do not deny his faith. May 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 except increasing misery and despair? Stand firm, my beloved, in the name of God! I, your brother in Christ, entreat you to remain in the truth. Behave yourselves like men, be strong. May the Lord sustain you for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Re 2:1-17]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, His Praise — Rejoicing In Jesus” 422}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Names and Titles — King Of Saints” 390}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Names and Titles — The Way, The Truth, And The Life” 409}

{a} Smithfield: The place where the fires that Queen Mary (1553-1558) ordered to be lit to put to death such Protestant leaders and men of influence as Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and Hooper, but also hundreds of lesser men who refused to adopt the Catholic faith. See Explorer "http://www.britannia.com/history/narrefhist3.html"

Jesus Christ, His Praise
422 — Rejoicing In Jesus
1 Oh for a thousand tongues to sing
      My great Redeemer’s praise!
   The glories of my God and King,
      The triumphs of his grace.
2 My gracious Master and my God,
      Assist me to proclaim,
   And spread through all the earth abroad
      The honours of thy name.
3 Jesus, the name that charms our fears,
      That bids our sorrows cease;
   ‘Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
      ‘Tis life, and health, and peace.
4 He breaks the power of cancell’d sin,
      He sets the prisoners free:
   His blood can make the foulest clean,
      His blood avail’d for me.
                        Charles Wesley, 1740.

Jesus Christ, Names and Titles
390 — King Of Saints
1 Come, ye that love the Saviour’s name,
   And joy to make it known;
   The Sovereign of your heart proclaim,
   And bow before his throne.
2 Behold your King, your Saviour, crown’d
   With glories all divine;
   And tell the wondering nations round
   How bright those glories shine.
3 Infinite power and boundless grace
   In him unite their rays:
   You that have e’er beheld his face,
   Can you for bear his praise?
4 When in his earthly courts we view
   The glories of our King,
   We long to love as angels do,
   And wish like them to sing.
5 And shall we long and wish in vain?
   Lord, teach our songs to rise!
   Thy love can animate the strain,
   And bid it reach the skies.
6 Oh happy period! glorious day!
   When heaven and earth shall raise,
   With all their powers, the raptured lay
   To celebrate thy praise.
                           Anne Steele, 1760.

Jesus Christ, Names and Titles
409 — The Way, The Truth, And The Life
1 Thou art the Way: to thee alone
   From sin and death we flee,
   And he who would the Father seek,
   Must seek him, Lord, by thee.
2 Thou art the Truth: thy word alone
   Sound wisdom can impart;
   Thou only canst inform the mind,
   And purify the heart.
3 Thou art the Life: the rending tomb
   Proclaim thy conquering arm;
   And those who put their trust in thee,
   Nor death nor hell shall harm.
4 Thou art the Way, the truth, the life;
   Grant us that Way to know,
   That Truth to keep, that Life to win,
   Whose joys eternal flow.
                  George W. Doane, 1826.