Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3225
“We have found Him.” John 1:45.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon on verses 43 to 45 is #2375, Volume 40—FOUND BY JESUS—AND FINDING JESUS.]
I HOPE there are many here who are seeking Christ, but I feel sure that there are with us many more who can truthfully say, “We have passed beyond that stage, for we have found Him.” Others may declare that there never was such a Person as Jesus of Nazareth, but we know there was and still is, for, “we have found Him,” and we are living in happy daily fellowship with Him! We bear our glad testimony to what the Grace of God has done for us and we say with Philip, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,” whom we also worship as the Son of God.
Notice how positively Philip speaks. He had, himself, only just been found by Christ, yet he does not say, “We think we have found the Messiah,” or, “We hope we have found the promised Deliverer.” No, without the slightest hesitation he says, “We have found Him.” This is a matter about which it is possible for us to be quite as positive as Philip was. There are abundant reasons why we may have a well-grounded assurance that Christ is our Savior if we have truly trusted in Him. Some have thought and said that it is not possible for us to know we are saved. Thank God that is not true and many can adopt the Inspired Language of the Apostle John and say, “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” Such positiveness as this is attainable, by God’s Grace, by every true Believer in Jesus Christ!
Let me remind you, first, that it ought to be so. Whether we are saved or not is a matter of the greatest importance to us. We cannot afford to let it rest upon a, “perhaps,” or a, “maybe.” If I have really found Christ, my sins are forgiven me for His sake—and this is a fact of which I ought to be quite certain. If I have found the Lord Jesus Christ, I am reconciled to God by the death of His Son, I have been adopted into the family of God, I may confidently look to God for the supply of all my needs, both for this life and for that which is to come—and I may expect to be taken at the right time to dwell with Him forever. Such glorious blessings as these ought not to be mere matters of speculation with us! Our possession of them ought to be the result of clean, unmistakable evidence. If I have not found Christ, I am in danger of death every day and of the Hell that is the everlasting prison of all unbelievers. If I have not found Christ, I am still without hope and without God in the world—“condemned already”—because I have not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God! Surely I ought not to go to bed tonight with that all-important question unsettled. I can understand a man being in doubt upon this matter, but I cannot understand his resting comfortably while it is a matter of doubt! If you are content to be in doubt as to whether you are entitled to your estates, or as to whether you are mortally diseased or not, well, those are only minor matters compared with the salvation of your souls! God forbid that you should be willing to let the far greater matter remain in suspense! Seek the aid of the Holy Spirit and never rest satisfied until you know assuredly that you have found the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior!
A poor woman, some nights ago, wrapping around herself her poor thin shawl, was walking along the street because she had nowhere else to go. And as she was passing a certain building, she saw written over the door, “For the homeless.” “That is the place for me,” she said, and in she went. Now, my Friend, are you a sinner? Then I have to tell you that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Are you lost? Then I have to tell you that He came to seek and to save the lost. It would have done that poor woman no good at all to sit down on a rich man’s doorstep and consider how poor she
was—she got what she needed by going to the Home for the Homeless—and Jesus Christ is a Home for Homeless souls, so away with you, poor homeless soul, and find in Him the shelter that you need! May God’s Grace enable you to flee straight away to Christ, for if you do, He will not refuse to receive you!
Remember, also, that no real spiritual comfort can come to us until we know that we have found Christ. Perhapses and maybes are like thorns in our pillow—they prevent us from resting. Or they are like stones in a pilgrim’s shoes— they make walking very uncomfortable for him. To be able to say with Paul, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” is to have a fountain of consolation springing up within your heart! But to have to cry—