THE COMMON SALVATION.
NO. 1592 DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 10TH, 1881,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“The Common Salvation” – Jude 1:3
JUDE says, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you.” The apostle did not write for writing’s sake, and in this he sets us an example: we are not to speak for speaking’s sake, nor even to preach for preaching’s sake. When we take upon us to write concerning divine things it ought to be because it is needful for us to write, and when we speak in the name of God it should be because we have something to say which it is needful should be said. Unless a man feels an imperative necessity to speak he will not speak as an ambassador of God. I wot that Jude would not have given all diligence to write if he had not first felt that necessity was laid upon him so to do. Before you instruct others endeavor to feel the obligation which rests upon you to impart the light which you have received, for if you have been called of God unto this ministry woe is unto you if you preach not the gospel. The souls of others require the truth which you have been commissioned to teach; but you also require to teach it to them; for, if you do not warn them, their blood may stain your skirts. “That the soul be without knowledge is not good:” neither is it good to any that he should withhold what he knows. That men should live and die in ignorance of Christ is terrible to conceive of, therefore when you speak or write do it because it is needful to be done, and needful that you should do it. You know how it behoved Christ to suffer, and even so it behoves us to hold forth the word of life.
The necessity in the present case was that he should write of the common salvation. If it was common – commonly understood and commonly received-why should he need to write about it? Surely a common subject has enough written upon it already, and it affords no room for freshness and novelty, which are so much desired by readers. Yet experience and observation prove that it is more needful to preach the common doctrines of the gospel than any other truths, and that just those things which appear to be the most elementary and the most generally received are those upon which it is most important to lay stress again and again. If there be certain high doctrines, speculative theories, and dogmas which are rather outgrowths of the gospel than the gospel itself, let them be preached in due proportion; but if they be not preached, the risk and danger will not be extreme. As for the root facts, the fundamental doctrines, the primary truths of Scripture, we must from day to day insist upon them. We must never say of them, Everybody knows them; for, alas! everybody forgets them. We must not cease from proclaiming them from fear of being charged with uttering mere platitudes; that which is revealed of the Holy Ghost must not be spoken of so reproachfully. Let men call the doctrines of the Gospel platitudes if they will; we will only answer, that on such platitudes our salvation rests. After all, on certain grand, wide, well-known truths of universal acceptance the church of God is builded; her basis is not a difficult philosophy, but a plain revelation. Let us not strain after matters of ultra refinement, theories of cultured intellects; but let as obey the necessity which calls upon as to write and to speak of the common salvation. The gospel message is fall of world-wide truisms and well known facts. What said Paul, -This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If worthy of all acceptation it is surely worthy of all proclamation. It is worth
while for the whole church continually to rehearse that Jesus came to save
sinners, for common truth as it is there is a necessity that we should
perpetually and diligently make it known. The common salvation should be
commonly spoken of; but I fear it is uncommonly neglected in these days.
The immediate necessity to write of the common salvation arose out of
certain men who had crept into the church unawares. Some of these
attacked the gospel on its practical side with Antinomian subtlety. They
cried up the grace of God, but said little of the holy living which it
produces. They made light of sin under pretense of magnifying the grace of
God; they called careful watchfulness a legal spirit, derided humble self-examination, and claimed as children of God to be in no sense bound by the
precepts of the moral law. The apostle calls it “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” Side by side with these there crept in another
gang of evil ones, “who denied the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus
Christ.” They robbed Christ of his divine glory, and so denied his
atonement and sovereignty as to dethrone him from being either the Savior
or the King of his church. This was the essence of Arianism. They said that
Jesus Christ was an admirable example, that he was one of a number of
persons who have discovered important truths, and that he is therefore to
be greatly admired; but they asserted that still higher truth would yet be
discovered as the race proceeded in its progress, and so forth. These “men
of thought” crept into the church, and stabbed at the heart of the common
salvation. We used to have in our churches a sad amount of the
Antinomian leaven; we had among us men who preached the doctrine of
grace without the grace of the doctrine, and professors who for evermore
spoke about “the truth,” but seemed little careful about following “the
way” or exhibiting “the life.” I hope that this evil principle has pretty well
departed from us, though I fear that in its removal it has dragged away
precious truth with it: and now we are assailed by quite another school of
thought. I see no choice in the two kinds of foes, they are equally bad:
these last are denying this truth and paring down the other, moving
landmarks and overthrowing monuments, shaking every wall and kicking at
every foundation. Having crept in among us unawares, defiant of common
honesty, they preach against the gospel from our own pulpits and wage
war against our Zion from within her own gates. It is essential at this day
that such as fear God, and are his servants, should again and again both
write and preach concerning the common salvation, and over and over
again rehearse the first lessons of Christ, the very alphabet of grace. We
must make the joyful sound of the common salvation to be more common
than ever. I wish to ring it out this morning with all the power that I have
and with all that God will grant me by his Holy Spirit. If these men assailed
certain speculations of theology it would little matter. What is the chaff to
the wheat, saith the Lord? Let the chaff be removed, by all means. If they
assailed certain peculiarities of method, either in work, or life, or teaching,
it might be well for us to be taught something by their censures. If they
attacked the specialities of a single person or sect, and the particular view
of truth held by a mere party, it would not signify, for what are the fashions
of mens minds? Who is Paul, and who is Apollos? But it is at the very root
of the tree that they lay their axe, and, therefore, we must end all
hesitation, take up our weapons, and for the sake of the common salvation
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Our subject, then, is “the common salvation.” Oh to speak in the power of
the Spirit.
I. Our first observation at this time shall be that PRESENT SALVATION IS
ENJOYED BY THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST, otherwise there could be among
them no common salvation. Those who are sanctified by God the Father,
and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called, are saved. In the church of God
salvation is this day the privilege of all believers. It is not a matter of the
future alone, a blessing to be sought for on a dying bed and reached in
heaven; but it is a blessing for this world and this present time. Those
greatly mistake the meaning of salvation who suppose it signifies nothing
more than escaping from hell when you die and entering into heaven when
the time has come. Salvation means being at once delivered from the
power of sin, and being once for all washed from the guilt of sin. The very
word used here-“the common salvation”- shows that Jude did not
regard it as a hidden treasure put away from human reach throughout this
mortal life. How could it have been common in such a case? He did not
regard it as a distant attainment to be reached after twenty, thirty, or forty
years of holy living, but as a thing to be tasted, and handled, and received
as soon as faith enters the soul; for how else could it be common? “Unto us
who are saved,” says the apostle, “who hath saved us, and called us with
an holy calling,” saith the Scripture in another place. Salvation has come to
our house, we have it, it is a common blessing in the household of faith.
As salvation is not a future benefit only, so it is not a benefit reserved for a
few of the more saintly people among believers. It is supposed by some
that you cannot know whether you are saved till you are in the article of
death; or that, if any do know it, it must be a few eminent teachers or
specially holy persons, who have lived a very religious life, and
consequently know that they are saved. It is to be confessed that the more
holy and godly our life the brighter our evidence of salvation becomes; but
still, the blessing itself is common to all the children of God, and those
whose faith is feeble, and whose spiritual life is weak, are still saved in the
Lord. Beloved hearer, you ought not to rest without knowing that you are
saved. You may know it: if it be true you ought to know it. I do not think
that you have any right to sit quietly on that seat for ten minutes without
knowing that you are saved; for it is an awful thing to be in doubt as to
whether you are under the bondage of sin, in doubt as to your being at
peace with God. This is not a subject upon which uncertainty can be
endured. You say, “Tis a point I long to know.” It is well that you long to know it: I beg you to long to know it so intensely that you must either
know it or become unutterably wretched. Let every doubt on that point be
like a sword in your bones. May God cause your heart either to rejoice
with full assurance, or else to be in agony as with death pangs till you are
confident that you are built on the sure foundation. the salvation which is in
Christ Jesus is the common salvation of all who know the gospel and live
upon it. Among simple-minded believers salvation is the inheritance of
every one of them, and the knowledge that they are saved is an everyday
possession. We who have joined in church-fellowship in this place can truly
say, “We rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh”:
”Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ.” We count it no presumption to say that we are saved, for the word
of God has told us so in those places where salvation is promised to faith in
Christ Jesus. The presumption would lie in doubting the word of God; but
in simply believing what he says there is far greater humility than in
questioning it. Being, then, partakers of like precious faith we share in
salvation bought with precious blood, which though it be costly beyond all
price is, nevertheless, to all believers the common salvation.
This common salvation consists in many works of grace for us and in us. In
part it consists of deliverance from spiritual death. We were dead in
trespasses and sins, but the Spirit of God has quickened us into a new and
heavenly life, and thus we have salvation from spiritual death. This belongs
to-day to all believers; for how can a man be a believer and not have the
inner life? Having that life he is conscious that it is there. True, he may fall
into a fainting fit, and lie swooning, scarcely conscious of being alive; but
such is not his usual condition. Healthy life is conscious life, and rejoices in
being, acting, and growing. You who are strangers to the people of God
may think me fanatical, but, indeed, I am only speaking words of truth and
soberness when I say that the conscious possession of a heavenly life is
common among believers, and is, in fact, a large part of the common
salvation.
This common salvation consists in deliverance from that awful distance at
which we once stood from God. We were far off from him by wicked
works, and when the quickening began in us we felt that distance, and we
mourned it, fearing also that it never could be removed. But now in Christ
Jesus we are brought nigh, and have become dwellers in the house of the
Lord. Abba, Father, is the cry which the blessed God hears and accepts, as
it rises from our hearts. Once God was not in all our thoughts, but now our thoughts are sanctified, and sweetened by a sense of his presence; and we
find our greatest joy in feeling that lie is all around us and within us, that in
him we live and move and have our being. Blessed is the common salvation
which has brought us nigh to God by the blood of Jesus, and made us
children and heirs of the Most High.
We have also been saved from the gloom of heart which once hung over
us, because we were conscious of being under Gods displeasure. We
thought that we could never be forgiven, but we are forgiven; we
concluded that our heavenly Father would never accept us, but we are
accepted in the Beloved; we wrote ourselves down among the condemned,
but now are we justified by faith which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The
darkness hath passed, and the true light shines into the spirits of the
faithful. Peace with God is a sweet part of the common salvation.
Now are we delivered also from the love of sin. We cannot find pleasure in
it as once we did. We sin, but it costs us dear. When we do so we lament it
with our whole soul. It was our natural way to ran the downward road, but
now when our feet tread that path it is as wanderers who are out of their
way. Once sin was our element, as the water is the living element of fish;
but it is far otherwise now, for sin is death to us. Transgression now breeds
sorrow in our conscience, and creates misery in the heart, for it is alien to
the life of God which is in us. If we could have our desire we would never
offend again: we would have our souls clear as the firmament above us,
and never should an evil thought or a loose desire flit over the pure
heavens of our sanctified minds. We would do Gods will on earth as it is
done in heaven; I say “we,” for I speak for all believers in the Lord Jesus.
We are all rescued from the iron yoke of the love of evil, and this is a most
precious part of the common salvation.
The Lord has also delivered us from that cowardly fear of man which
bringeth a snare, and holdeth men as slaves to evil customs. He has also
brought us out of the dark dungeon of spiritual ignorance, and renewed us
in knowledge; thus has he broken the dominion of the former lusts of our
ignorance, and given us liberty to serve him with godly fear. Pride, too, is
laid in the dust, and we are saved from that dreadful tyrant. The dominant
power of selfishness is destroyed, and we have learned to love. The woes
of others afflict us, the joys of others rejoice us, our soul flows out beyond
the narrow confines of our own ribs. Our heart is enlarged with love towards God and to all his creatures. Blessed salvation this! And it is common to all believers.
We have again and again heard it said that evangelical ministers preach
salvation to sinful men and talk to them of a future life, whereas if we were
practical we should denounce the sinner, and speak only of present
reformation in this life. The charge is, I fear, oftener made in malice than in
ignorance. But if in ignorance I would reply, -O fools and slow of heart,
neither to hearken nor to understand. Our constant theme is immediate
salvation from sin, and we are perpetually insisting upon it that this
salvation is a present business, to be attended to at once for the purposes
of to-day. It is false, utterly false, that we have so preached about the
world to come as to have pushed out of sight the duties and temptations of
this present life. No, we have regarded the life to come as commenced here
below, and have viewed heaven itself as to a great extent the fruit of a
heavenly disposition which must be implanted in us while yet on earth. Ah,
if men did not hate the gospel they would not so often repeat stale
objections and groundless accusations. It is surely time that infidelity
should invent something fresh in the way of objection, for this has long
passed the stage of toleration, and has become a worn-out impertinence.
Salvation from sin, leading upward to perfection and heaven, is called in
the text “the common salvation.” It is, then, the salvation of all God’s
people -the salvation about which all true Christians are agreed; for,
notwithstanding all you hear about our divisions into sects, the church is
really one. The denominations of the Christian church are very like the
divisions of a ploughed field by means of furrows which mark the surface,
but the land remains to all intents and purposes one field. I speak not of
mere professors, but truly spiritual people; Such are all one in Christ Jesus,
and their salvation is in all respects the same. If they have not all things
common, at least they have one and the same salvation. All converted men
and women believe in the same essential truths, feel the working of the
same Spirit within them, and press forward to the same end, namely,
perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. You shall take a high
churchman, who is a truly spiritual man, and there are such people, and you
shall set him down side by side with the most rigid member of the Society
of Friends, and when they begin to talk of Jesus, of the work of the Holy
Spirit in the soul, and the desire of their hearts after God, you will hardly
know which is which. The nearer we come to him who is the salvation of
God, the more plainly we see that among the children of God the basis of agreement is far wider than the ground of division. Andrew Fuller well and
pithily said, “There are, I conceive, four things which essentially belong to
the common salvation; its necessity, its vicarious medium, its freeness to
the chief of sinners, and its holy efficacy.” We may differ on the “five
points,” but we are agreed upon these four points. Ask any true Christian if
it be not so. You shall get together, if you like, a collection of the odds and
ends of Christianity and certainly there are some queer Christian people
about, whose light comes from above, so they say, -I think through a
crack in the roof; but if they are really genuine, and their hearts are right,
you shall find that even in these wrong-headed folk there is an agreement
upon their need of a Savior, their faith in his death, the freeness of his
grace, and the change of heart which it produces. All believers in Christ
have a common delight in a common salvation.
II. We go a step further, and note, secondly, that THIS SALVATION IS IN
SOME RESPECTS COMMON IN THEWIDEST POSSIBLE SENSE. It is common
because it is to be preached to all nations, to all classes, to all characters, to
all ages, and to all conditions of men -in fact, it is to be preached to
every creature under heaven. It is the common salvation so far as this, that
a proclamation of mercy through Jesus Christ is to be made to all mankind;
for it is declared that if they believe in Christ Jesus they shall be saved. You
need not be afraid of being too free and unreserved in your delivering of
the gospel. Let the great trumpet be blown, and let every mortal ear attend.
I am as firm an adherent to the doctrines of sovereign grace as any man
living; but never shall this tongue hesitate to declare the common salvation.
Whenever I am called upon to address a congregation, I will always cry,
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! “Whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life freely.” The invitation of the gospel is so far reaching that it may well be called “the common salvation.”
It is common in the widest sense, because every man that believeth in
Christ Jesus will be saved; not the Jew only, but the Gentile also; not the
poor man only, but the rich man also; not the black man only, or the white
man only, but men of every color; not the ignorant or the learned, the rude
or the refined, exclusively, but every soul of Adam born that believeth in
Christ Jesus shall be saved. “For God so loved the world that be gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.” And so to thee, dear hearer, whoever thou mayest
be, comes this common salvation. It is a command addressed to thee, and a promise made sure to thee Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved.
It is common in this wide sense, that if any man be saved he will be saved
by this common salvation. Men talk as if there were half-a-dozen different
roads to heaven, and yet there is but one: they prattle as if there were seven
or eight Saviours at the least, or as if every man must be his own Savior, as
we heard the other day of every man being his own lawyer; and yet there is
but one name given among men whereby we must be saved. He who tries
to be his own Savior has a fool for his client. He will utterly fail to his
eternal confusion: why did Jesus die to save us if we can Save ourselves?
All of Adam born who enter eternal life come in by the one door. Infants
are saved through Christ, and if any attain to heaven from among the
heathen it must be by virtue of the salvation of Christ. He is the common
life for all that live, the common bread for all who are fed by God, the
common joy of all who have been blessed of the Lord. Thus in its
publication, in its promise, and in its efficacy the salvation of Christ is the
one and only gospel of life to men. As there is but one common air, one
common sea, one common earth, so there is but one common salvation. O
that we may be among those who prove its power in their own person by
being saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.
III. But I am persuaded that this is not what Jude meant, so I come, in the
third place, to say that IT IS COMMON TO ALL BELIEVERS. Do you recollect
what this same Jude once said to the Savior? He asked him, “Lord, how is
it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?” He
understands that matter now; but he is not looking so much at the “not
unto the world” as at the first fact in his question, “Thou wilt manifest
thyself unto us.” He is evidently full of joy that the manifestation of the
salvation of Jesus is common to all believers. Upon that blessed fact let us
dwell.
Certain offices, gifts, attainments and joyments are given to some and not
to others. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all
workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all Speak with
tongues? do all interpret?” It is not every believer that possesses full
assurance, or enjoys ecstasy, or is made largely useful to others, But all
believers have the common salvation. There they share and share alike, and
every one of them is saved in Christ Jesus and called. An apostle may say
to the newest of his converts, “I long to see you, that I may impart unto spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be
comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”
For, first, it is a common salvation which all believers possess, since it
springs from the same grace. There are not some saved by grace and others
by works, many by pure grace and more partly by works; but salvation is
altogether of grace in every case, and that grace is the same in all who
possess it. All believers are chosen by the same electing love, for the same
reason, namely, to the glory of the Fathers grace; and being so chosen,
they are all ordained unto the same life, secured by the same covenant, and
given into the hands of the same Surety. Eternal love encompasses,
enriches, comforts, and preserves each individual believer, and guarantees
to each the same inheritance in Christ Jesus. Brother, are you saved by
grace? so am I. Am I saved by grace? Then my sister, if thou believest in
Christ, thou art saved as I am.
It is a common salvation-common because we are all saved by the same
Savior. We are not some of us looking to Jesus, and others to Moses, or to
ourselves; neither are we some of us looking to the atoning death, and
others to the perfect life of Christ; but we are all saved by the same one
work, life, death, resurrection and intercession of Christ Jesus. When he
made atonement by blood it was for all his redeemed; when he rose it was
to justify all who are in him; when he stands at the right hand of God to
plead, he intercedes for all the saints; and when he cometh it will be that all
his saints may be with him where he is, and may behold his glory. Do not
fall into the modern notion, which divides up Christ, and allots something
to one class of believers, and another portion to others of the chosen. They
tell us there are such and such promises for Israel, and other promises for
the church; I have not so read the word, for I am persuaded that all
believers are the Israel of God. God loveth all his saints, and the same
blessedness shall be to them all, and you may rejoice and be glad that God
will not give special raptures and upsoarings into the skies to a portion of
his family, and leave the rest in the cold. In all that is “salvation” we have a
common heritage, for Christ belongs to us all, and we are all members of
his body, partakers of his life, and sharers of his glory.
It is a common salvation because we are all saved through the same faith,
we believe the same precious truth, and receive Christ in the same way. All
the saved possess faith, though not all to the same degree. Would God we
were all strong in faith! Still, faith is a child-like confidence in God in the greatest as much as in the least of Gods people, and this is the essential requisite to salvation in every case. He that believeth in Christ is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. To all participation in Christian privilege we have only one right: “If thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest.” Faith makes a man a fellow commoner with the saints of God.
It is a common salvation because faith and spiritual life are wrought in us
by the same Spirit. Faith does not come to one by the operation of free will
and to another by free grace, but to every one by the same Spirit. You,
then, my brother, are plucked like a brand from the burning by the power
of the Spirit of God, so also is thy friend who rejoices with thee. All are
quickened by the same Spirit, and kept alive by the same Quickener. The
love of the Spirit should be joyfully acknowledged by us all without
exception, for the Spirit has wrought all our works in us.
It is a common salvation as to its results; for all believers are equally born
again, and they are all renewed by him, who saith, “Behold I make all
things new.” Brought into the one family of God, they are all made children
of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. They are all justified, accepted,
preserved, guided, upheld, and comforted. Their feet are set upon the
selfsame rock, they are led in the same Kings highway, and a new song is
prepared for every one of their mouths. The common salvation, like the
common table of a household, satisfies all their mouths with good things,
and renews their youth like the eagle’s.
By-and-by they shall meet in the same heaven. There will be no division
before the throne between the different tribes and denominations of
believers. One family, we dwell in him even now, with all our petty strifes;
but the great family relationship shall be more fully developed by-and-by
when imperfections and errors shall be cast aside. The saints before the
throne will sing a common hymn unto the common Savior as they gather in
the common home, saved with a common salvation.
Brethren, I am right glad of all this. I feel inclined to stop the sermon and
ask you to join in singing Charles Wesley’s verse-”Partners of a glorious hope,”
“Lift your hearts and voices up
Jointly let us rise and sing
Christ our Prophet, Priest, and King.”
To me it is a joyous thing that Gods best gifts should be the commonest. It
is so in nature: the sunshine, the dew, the air, the heavens, these cannot
become the particular estate of a few; they are common blessings. When
Richard the Second banished Bolingbroke, that nobleman is represented as
saying -
“This must my comfort be,
That sun that warms you here, shall shine on me;
And those his golden beams, to you here lent,
Shall point on me, and gild my banishment.”
There is no monopolizing the best gifts, for heaven ordains them to be the
right of all mankind; and so the chief things of the covenant of grace are
common to all believers. One may have greater powers of speech than
another; but God hath spoken to the silent brother the same promises. Gifts
are to this man and to that; but the gift of salvation is to all who believe.
The choicest saint may have far less of this worlds riches than his brother;
but the riches of Gods grace are all his own by equal title. We live on
common ground here, fed by our Father with the same bread from heaven.
Thank God that in so many points the saints have fellowship, for all these
should make them of one mind and of one heart towards each other. Some
of Gods children are not learned, but they shall all be taught of the Lord;
all are not experienced in the deep things of God, but they are all entitled
to the best things of God. There are some few points in which we are
unlike, even as children of the same family differ in age, and height, or in
the color of their eyes or hair; but we are one in so many vital and
conspicuous features, that we should with one voice and heart praise our
common Father. We may not all wear the same form of garment, but we all
breathe the same life. We may not eat from the same ware, but we all eat
the same bread. We may not all drink from a silver chalice, but the wine is
from the one cluster. “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same
Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which
worketh all in all.” It is a great comfort to my heart that, among you who
are bound to me by such loving ties, I can speak without hesitation of the
common salvation; for you know it, feel it, love it, rejoice in it, even as I do
this day.
IV. That brings me to close; by noticing that this fact of the common
salvation was mentioned by Jude that he might use it as an argument. So
then THIS FACT HAS MANY LESSONS IN IT.
First, this common salvation forbids a monopolizing spirit. The old divines
used to say that enclosures were contrary to law. I am afraid that I may not
say so now; for almost everywhere the commons have been taken from the
poor man and his goose. May there yet be an end to such enclosings. But
enclosures in spiritual things are contrary to the law of Christ. Who are we
that we should cut off from fellowship with us those whose fellowship is
with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ? Yet we have those around us
who make it a point of Christianity to be exclusive. Their exclusions are
perpetual. Shut that door! Shut that door! Shut that door! seems to be the
one great command of their house, and the second is like unto it – make
more doors, one within the other, and take care to bolt them all. Their
sheep must keep within their fold without fail, for if they once get a bite of
pasture outside the enclosure their doom is sealed. In many forms this spirit
has been among our denominations, but I do not believe in it. If the spirit
of Christianity begets in us love to all mankind, much more, my brethren,
are we to love those in whom there is the life of God. Is it really so, that
this man is to be un-Christianized because of a mistake and the other
because of a misapprehension? Doth God make thy brother a Christian and
dost thou try to unmake him? Doth God think so much of him as to forgive
him, to give him power in prayer, and enjoyment of his presence, and dost
thou think so lightly of him that thou wilt hardly own him to be a partaker
in Christ at all? Does the Father smile on all his children, and do we frown
on half of them? If I could do it, the last thing I should attempt would be to
wall in my own special company and say, “The temple of the Lord are we.”
I would not wish to set a fence round about the baptized and say, “These
be the church of Christ, even as many as have been immersed in water that
they may be buried into his death.” Beloved brethren, our Lord hath a
people that are on other points as right as right can be who on the point of
baptism are as wrong as wrong can be; but, for all that, they are his people,
and in other respects are sound in the faith and valiant for the Lord our
God. Unto such our love goeth forth, and must go forth, despite their
grievous error. Upon other matters there are distinctions among believers,
but yet there is a common salvation enjoyed by the Arminian as well as by
the Calvinist, possessed by the Presbyterian as well as by the Episcopalian,
prized by the Quaker as well as by the Baptist. Those who are in Christ are more near of kin than they know of, and their intense unity in deep
essential truth is a greater force than most of them imagine: only give it
scope and it will work wonders. As for us, let us not be among the men of
whom Jude says, “These be they that separate themselves, sensual, having
not the Spirit.”
Next, this doctrine fosters the spirit of benediction. Jude begins his epistle
with “Mercy unto you, and peace, and love be multiplied.” Brothers and
sisters, fill your lungs with this healthy air. You are saved with a common
salvation; desire the profit, the growth, the happiness of all who partake of
this one salvation. You are in one ship; seek the good of all who sail with
you. You are enlisted in one army; pray the Captain of salvation to make
every soldier strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. The
common salvation should excite us to seek the prosperity of every part of
Zion; we would seek the good, not of our Tabernacle alone, but of every
tabernacle or temple where Christians meet to worship the Most High.
Next, this fact arouses in us a common spirit of contention for the one
faith. For what saith the apostle? “It is needful that I write unto you of the
common salvation, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for
the faith once delivered to the saints.” When the gospel is assailed we must
all rise in its defense, for it is the common salvation which is involved in it.
When they frightened this nation years ago with the rumor of an invasion
by the French, the Russians, or somebody or other, what was the result?
Everybody became warlike. Our young men joined rifle clubs, and our
elderly men furbished up their old blunderbusses. Everybody hastened to
arm himself to protect the common country from the coming foe; and had
the enemy really arrived even the women would have shouldered their
brooms to sweep the intruder over our white cliffs. Every man, woman,
and child would have found some fork, or scythe, or spade, or axe
wherewith to protect the common fatherland. Community of interest
begets community of feeling. We are all Englishmen, and we all sing,
”Britons never will be slaves”; so, in this case, when the gospel of Jesus
Christ is assailed, it does not matter by whom, I feel I may call upon all
Christians to take action for the common salvation. Brothers, rouse you to
the fight, for more than our hearths and homes is now attacked. Do they
deny the deity of Christ? It is not only my religion that is assailed, it is ours
as well. Do they turn the grace of God into lasciviousness? It is not this
branch of the church that is now endangered. The entire church is placed in
jeopardy. This gospel is not my heritage or yours, it is the common domain of all the faithful, and I beseech you feel it to be so. In your own spheres
and in your own ways hold the truth, and hold it firmly. You who can
neither preach nor write in defense of sound doctrine can at least give
negative help by refusing to countenance error. Do not go to hear those
who preach false doctrine, do not encourage them in any way, do not bid
them God speed. Love all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,
but if a word be spoken against the Lord or against the gospel which he
has revealed, turn your back upon the speaker. Be like the loving John,
who, when he went to take a bath, found Cerinthus, the heretic, there, and
departed at once with all speed. I want to see more backbone in all
professors, more determination never to stultify their faith by pretending to
believe that black is white and that white is a shade of black. Love: do I not
preach it with all my heart, and do I not bid you manifest it in your deeds?
But with that love mingle a firm adherence to the truth as it is in Jesus, and
a zealous resolve that it shall not lose its honor while you are capable of
upholding it. Let the common salvation be protected by the earnest zeal of
the entire body of the church and by us also.
This fact, I think, puts everyone of us to the question, It is a common
salvation, but have I a part in it? It belongs to all the people of God, but am
I one of them? I should like you this morning, when you get home, to write
on a piece of paper, if you will, whether you are saved or not. It would be
a timely searching. Here you are, on this tenth of April-write down “Saved,
bless the Lord for it,” and if you are obliged to feel you could not write
that down, go up into your chamber and cry mightily unto God till you can.
Well, if you are able to write “saved,” then inasmuch as it is a common
salvation go and try to spread that salvation among others. “Others save,”
says Jude. I know, he says, “others save with fear,” but still he says “others
save;” try as far as ever you can to bring others to the Savior. A man’s
salvation that he never wishes to spread among others is a salvation that is
not worth having. You are not saved from selfishness if you do not wish to
see your children, and relatives, and neighbors, yea, and all the world
brought to Jesus’ feet. If it be a common salvation go and make it
common.
And, lastly, this text calls for a common song of praise from all those who
have the common salvation, and I cannot suggest to you a better doxology
than that with which Jude closes his epistle: “Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and
majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
”The common salvation.” Jude 1:3.
