A CHRISTMAS QUESTION

Charles Spurgeon

If this Child who now lies before the eyes of your faith, wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem’s manger, is born to you, my hearer, then you are born again! For this Child is not born to you unless you are born to this Child. All who have an interest in Christ are, in the fullness of time, by Grace converted, quickened and renewed. If any man tells me that Christ is his Redeemer, although he has never experienced regeneration, that man utters what he does not know. His religion is vain and his hope is a delusion.

Only men who are born again can claim the babe in Bethlehem as being theirs. “But” says one, “how am I to know whether I am born again or not?” Answer this question also by another—has there been a change effected by Divine Grace within you? Are your loves the very opposite of what they were? Do you now hate the vain things you once admired and do you seek after that precious pearl which you at one time despised? Is your heart thoroughly renewed in its object? Can you say that the bent of your desire is changed? That your face is Zion-ward and your feet set upon the path of Grace? That whereas your heart once longed for deep draughts of sin, it now longs to be holy? And whereas you once loved the pleasures of the world, they have now become as chaff and dross to you, for you only love the pleasures of heavenly things and are longing to enjoy more of them on earth, that you may be prepared to enjoy a fullness of them hereafter?

Are you renewed within? For mark, my Hearer, the new birth does not consist in washing the outside of the cup and platter, but in cleansing the inner man. It is all in vain to put up the stone upon the sepulcher, wash it extremely white and garnish it with the flowers of the season. The sepulcher itself must be cleansed. The dead man’s bones that lie in that morgue of the human heart must be cleansed away. No, they must be made to live. The heart must no longer be a tomb of death, but a temple of life. Is it so with you, my Hearer? For remember, you may be very different in the outward, but if you are not changed in the inward, this Child is not born to you.

But I put another question. Although the main matter of regeneration lies within, yet it manifests itself without. Say, then, has there been a change in you in the exterior? Do you think that others who look at you would be compelled to say, This man is not what he used to be? Do not your companions observe a change? Have they not laughed at you for what they think to be your hypocrisy, your Puritanism, your sternness? Do you think now that if an angel should follow you into your secret life, should track you to your closet and see you on your knees, that he would detect something in you which he could never have seen before? For, mark, my dear hearer, there must be a change in the outward life, or else there is no change within. In vain you bring me to the tree and say that the tree’s nature is changed. If I still see it bringing forth wild grapes, it is a wild vine still. And if I mark upon you the apples of Sodom and the grapes of Gomorrah you are still a tree accursed and doomed, notwithstanding all your fancied experience.

The proof of the Christian is in the living. To other men, the proof of our conversion is not what you feel, but what you do. To yourself your feelings may be good enough evidence, but to the minister and others who judge you, the outward walk is the main guide. At the same time, let me observe that a man’s outward life may be very much like that of a Christian and yet there may be no religion in him at all. Have you ever seen two jugglers in the street with swords, pretending to fight with one another? See how they cut and slash and hack at one another, till you are half afraid there will soon be murder done. They seem to be so very much in earnest that you are half in the mind to call in the police to part them. See with what violence that one has aimed a terrific blow at the other one’s head, which his comrade dexterously warded off by keeping a well-timed guard.

Just watch them a minute and you will see that all these cuts and thrusts come in a prearranged order. There is no heart in the fighting after all. They do not fight so roughly as they would if they were real enemies. So, sometimes I have seen a man pretending to be very angry against sin. But watch him a little while and you will see it is only a fencer’s trick. He does not give his cuts out of order, there is no earnestness in his blows. It is all pretense, it is only mimic stage play. The fencers, after they have ended their performance, shake hands with one another and divide the coppers which the gaping throng have given them. And so does this man do—he shakes hands with the devil in private and the two deceivers share the spoil.

The hypocrite and the devil are very good friends after all and they mutually rejoice over their profits. The devil leering because he has won the soul of the professor and the hypocrite laughing because he has won his wealth. Take care, then, that your outward life is not a mere stage play, but that your antagonism to sin is real and intense—and that you strike right and left, as though you meant to slay the monster and cast its limbs to the winds of Heaven.

I will put another question. If you have been born again, there is another matter by which to try you. Not only is your inward self altered and your outward self, too, but the very root and principle of your life must become totally new. When we are in sin we live to self, but when we are renewed we live to God. While we are unregenerate, our principle is to seek our own pleasure, our own advancement. But that man is not truly born again who does not live with a far different aim from this. Change a man’s principles and you change his feelings, you change his actions. Now Grace changes the principles of man. It lays the axe at the root of the tree. It does not saw away at some big limb. It does not try to alter the sap. But it gives a new root and plants us in fresh sod.

The man’s inmost self, the deep rocks of his principles upon which the topsoil of his actions rest—the soul of his manhood is thoroughly changed and he is a new creature in Christ. “But,” says one, “I see no reason why I should be born again.” Ah, poor creature, it is because you have never seen yourself. Did you ever see a man in the looking glass of the Word of God—what a strange monster he is. Do you know a man by nature has his heart where his feet ought to be—that is to say, his heart is set upon the earth, whereas he ought to be treading it beneath his feet. And stranger mystery still, his heels are where his heart should be—that is to say, he is kicking against the God of Heaven when he ought to be setting his affections on things above. Man by nature when he sees clearest only looks down—can only see that which is beneath him—he cannot see the things which are above.

And strange to say, the sunlight of Heaven blinds him. Light from Heaven he looks not for. He asks for his light in darkness. The earth is to him his Heaven and he sees suns in its muddy pools and stars in its filth. He is, in fact, a man turned upside down. The Fall has so ruined our nature, that the most monstrous thing on the face of the earth is a fallen man. The ancients used to paint griffins, dragons, chimeras and all kinds of hideous things. But if a skillful hand could paint man accurately none of us would look at the picture, for it is a sight that none ever saw except the lost in Hell. And that is one part of their intolerable pain, that they are compelled always to look upon themselves. Now, then, if you cannot see that you must be born again this Child is not born to you. (From the FilBF weekly bulletin, 16 December 2018, edited by Dr Jose Lagapa.)

BAPTIST CHURCH BUILDING

Praise the Lord for the near completion of a new church building in the Philippines. Here’s a report from Dr Jose Lagapa (3 December 2018):

“We thank the Lord for allowing the FilBF to extend a love gift amounting to SGD7,500 to the New Camiling Fundamental Baptist Church in Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines. The construction started on October 14, 2018 and ended last Friday, November 30, 2018. Although it is not yet fully completed, we trust that what the Lord provided is enough for the congregation to use for their worship services every Lord’s Day and other ministries.

“Pastor Rene Morales and the New Camiling Fundamental Baptist Church members are very grateful for the help extended. We pray the church will be encouraged to pray for the Lord to grant them resources to enclose the church, as He provides. We are thankful to the Lord for using True Life BPC to be a blessing to the brethren in the Philippines.

“We look forward to help other faithful but needy churches to start in the construction of a building which can be used by the believers to worship and glorify our Lord and Saviour!”

BAPTISM TESTIMONY

Serene Sim Hoon (sister-in-law of bro Teong Kean, wife of Teong Keat) having confessed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was baptised by pastor on the Lord’s Day, 2 December 2018 before family and friends. Although down with advanced cancer, she is trusting in the Lord. Pray for God’s sustaining grace to be upon her daily. Here is her testimony:

“I have never questioned God, ‘Why me?’ From the Basic Bible Knowledge studies online delivered by Rev Joseph Poon, I realised that I have breached many commandments and I am not surprised that I ended up with my current state of advanced cancer. I have not been a Christian until late July when I witnessed my family members, friends, colleagues and even strangers I met praying for me. Miracles did happen and we managed to receive the most senior doctors performing procedures for me. I managed to pull through one after another procedure and the surgeries from 1 October to 7 November 2018 with God’s grace and strength. Since then, I have told my mum, brother and his wife (who are Buddhists) that I believe in Jesus Christ and want to be a Christian. Every day I pray to my Heavenly Father that He will protect me with God’s grace and strength to help me cope with the challenges I face daily. My life and soul are in His total control and I have faith He will plan the best for me. On 2 December 2018, I was baptised after the Church service. Thanks be to God!”