MR. FEARING COMFORTED – Charles Spurgeon

Mr. Fearing Comforted

Introduction:

“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). It seems that doubt is doomed to be the perpetual companion of faith. As dust attends the chariot wheels, so do doubts naturally cloud faith. Some men of little faith are perpetually enshrouded in fears—their faith seems only strong enough to enable them to doubt! If they had no faith at all, they would not doubt; but having that little, and so little, they are constantly involved in distressing surmises, suspicions, and fears. Others, who have attained great strength and stability in their faith, are still sometimes subjects of doubt. Even he who has colossal faith will find, at times, that the clouds of fear float over the brow of his confidence. It is not possible, I suppose, as long as man is in this world, for him to be perfect in anything. And surely it seems quite impossible that he should be perfect in faith. Sometimes, indeed, the Lord purposely leaves His children, withdraws the divine inflowing of His grace, and permits them to begin to sink, so that they may understand that faith is not their own work, but first the gift of God, and must always be maintained and kept alive in the heart by the fresh influence of the Holy Spirit.

Peter’s Faith and Doubt:

I take it that Peter was a man of great faith. When others doubted, Peter believed. He boldly avowed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, for which faith he received the Master’s commendation: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona—for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” He had faith so strong that at Christ’s command, he could tread the billow and find it like glass beneath his feet. Yet even he was permitted to fall in this regard. Faith forsook him, and as he looked at the winds and the waves, he began to sink. The Lord then said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” As if to say, “O Peter, your great faith is My gift, and the greatness of it is My work. Think not that you are the author of your own faith. I will leave you, and this great faith of yours will speedily disappear. Like another who has no faith, you shall believe the winds and regard the waves, but shall distrust your Master’s power, and therefore shall you sink.”

Doubts and Fears:

I think I shall be quite safe in concluding this morning that there are some here who are full of doubts and fears. I am sure that all true Christians have their times of anxious questioning. The heart that has never doubted has not yet learned to believe. As the farmers say, “The land that will not grow thistle will not grow wheat.” And the heart that cannot produce a doubt has not yet understood the meaning of believing. He who never doubted his state—he may, perhaps, too late. Yes, there may be timid ones here, those who are always of little faith—and there may also be great hearts, those who are valiant for the truth of God—who are now enduring seasons of despondency and hours of darkness of heart!

The Principle of Faith and Doubt:

In endeavoring to comfort you this morning, I would remark that the text goes upon a very wise principle. If a man believes in anything, it is always proper to put to him the question, “Why do you believe? What evidence have you that what you believe is certainly correct?” We believe on evidence. Now, the most foolish part of many men’s doubts is that they do not doubt on evidence. If you should put to them the question, “Why do you doubt?”—they would not be able to answer. Yet, mark this: if men’s doubts are painful, the wisest way to remove them is simply to see whether they have a firm basis. “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” If you believe a thing, you need evidence, and before you doubt a thing, you ought to have evidence, too. To believe without evidence is to be credulous, and to doubt without evidence is to be foolish! We should have grounds for our doubts as well as a basis for our faith. The text, therefore, goes on an excellent principle and deals with all doubting minds by asking them this question, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Addressing Temporal Circumstances:

First, I shall address myself to those of you who are in great trouble regarding temporal circumstances. You are God’s people, but you are sorely tried, and you have begun to doubt. God has not made for His people a smooth path to heaven. Before they are crowned, they must fight. Before they can enter the Celestial City, they must fulfill a weary pilgrimage. Religion helps us in trouble but does not allow us to escape from it. It is through much tribulation that we inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, the Christian, when full of faith, passes through affliction with a song in his mouth—he would enter the fiery furnace itself, fearless of the devouring flame; or, with Jonah, he would descend into the great deeps, unalarmed at the hungry sea! As long as faith maintains its hold, fear is a stranger. But at times, during great and sore troubles, the Christian begins to fear that surely, at last, he shall be overcome and shall be left to himself to die and perish in despair. Now, what is the reason you doubt? I must come to the plan of the text and ask the great question, “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”

Peter’s Example:

Why did Simon Peter doubt? He doubted for two reasons: first, because he looked too much at second causes, and second, because he looked too little at the First Cause. The answer will suit you, too, my trembling brothers and sisters. This is why you doubt—you are looking too much at the things that are seen and too little at your unseen friend, who is behind your troubles and will come forth for your deliverance!

See poor Peter in the ship—his Master bids him come. In a moment, he casts himself into the sea and, to his own surprise, finds himself walking on the billows! He looks down and it is actually true—his foot is upon a crested wave, and yet he stands erect! He treads again, and yet his footing is secure. “Oh,” thinks Peter, “this is marvelous!” He begins to wonder within his spirit what manner of man Jesus must be who has enabled him to tread the treacherous deep. But just then, a terrible blast of wind howls across the sea! It whistles in Peter’s ear, and he says, “Ah, here comes an enormous billow driven forward by the blast! Now, surely, I must be overwhelmed!” The moment the thought enters his heart, down he goes, and the waves begin to enclose him.

Focus on Christ, Not the Storm:

As long as Peter kept his eyes on Christ, he did not sink. The moment he looked at the stormy wind and the treacherous deep, he began to sink. He could have crossed the Atlantic or Pacific, if he had kept his eyes on Christ—never would a billow have yielded to his tread! But he could have drowned in a mere brook if he had begun to look at second causes and forget the Great Head and Master of the Universe, who had bid him walk the sea.

The Source of Your Troubles:

I say, the very reason for your doubt is that you look at second causes and not at the First Cause! Let me ask you, what is the reason for your troubles? You say, “I have lost one friend after another. It seems as if business had altogether run away from me. Once I had a flood tide, and now it is ebb; my poor ship grates upon the gravel, and I find she has not enough water to float her. What will become of me?” Or else your troubles take another shape, and you feel that you are called to some arduous service for your Lord, and your strength is utterly insignificant compared to the labor before you.

Now, what is all this, but simply looking at second causes? You are looking at your troubles, not at the God who sent your troubles! You are looking at yourself, not at the God who dwells within you and who has promised to sustain you!

Christ Will Not Forsake You:

Let me forbid your fears with a few words of consolation. You are now in Peter’s condition; you are Christ’s servant. Christ is a good Master. You have never heard that He allowed one of His servants to drown while going on His errands. Will He not take care of His own? Shall it be said that one of Christ’s disciples perished while in obedience to Christ? Peter, when he was in the water, was where his Master had called him to be, and you, in your present troubles, are not only Christ’s servant, but you are where Christ has chosen to put you!

Your afflictions come neither from the east nor the west; your trouble does not grow out of the ground. All your suffering is sent upon you by your God. The medicine which you now drink is compounded in heaven! Every grain of this bitterness was measured by the heavenly physician. Your burden was weighed by God before you were called to bear it. The Lord who gave you the mercy has taken it away; the same God who has blessed you with joy is He who has now plowed you with grief.

God’s Promise of Deliverance:

Ask yourself this: can it be possible that Christ would put His servant into a perilous condition and leave him there? If Christ calls you into the fire, He will bring you out of it. If He bids you walk the sea, He will enable you to tread it in safety. Doubt not, soul! If you had come there of yourself, you might fear, but since Christ put you there, He will bring you out again. Let this be the pillar of your confidence—you are His servant; He will not leave you! You are where He put you; He cannot allow you to perish.

Encouragement for Spiritual Doubts:

Now, in the second part of the discourse, I have to speak of spiritual matters. These causes of doubt can be even more troublesome than all temporal trials. Many Christians experience doubts regarding their present acceptance with God and their final perseverance. “Oh,” they say, “there was a time when I knew I was a child of God…”

Introduction to Doubts and Faith:

I was sure that I was Christ’s—my heart would fly up to heaven at a word! I looked to Christ hanging on the cross; I fixed all my trust on Him, and a sweet, calm, and blessed repose filled my spirit—”What peaceful hours I then enjoyed! How sweet their memory still! But they have left an aching void The world can never fill.” “And now,” says this doubting one, “now I am afraid I never knew the Lord! I think that I have deceived myself and that I have been a hypocrite. Oh, that I could but know that I am Christ’s, I would give all I have in the world if He would but let me know that He is my beloved and that I am His.

Now, soul, I will deal with you as I have been just now treating of Peter. Your doubts arise from looking to second causes and not to Christ! Let us see if this is not the truth of God. Why do you doubt? Your answer is, “I doubt because I feel my sin so much. Oh, what sins have I committed! When first I came to Christ, I thought I was the chief of sinners. But now, I know I am! Day after day I have added to my guilt. And since my pretended conversion,” says this doubting one, “I have been a bigger sinner than ever I was before! I have sinned against the light of God and against knowledge, against divine grace and mercy and favor! O never was there such a sinner under God’s heaven out of hell as I am.”

Looking to Sin Instead of Christ:

But, soul, is not this looking to second causes? It is true, you are the chief of sinners—take that for granted—let us not dispute it. Your sins are as evil as you say they are and a great deal more so! Depend on it; you are worse than you think yourself to be! You think you are bad enough, but you are not as bad in your own estimation as you really are. Your sins seem to you to be like roaring billows, but in God’s sight, they are like towering mountains without summits! You seem to yourself to be black in sin—black as the tents of Kedar—but in God’s eyes, you are blacker still! Set that down, to begin with, that the waves are big and that the winds are howling—I will not dispute that. But I ask you, what have you to do with that? Does not the Word of God command you to look to Christ? Great as your sins are, Christ is greater than they all! They are black. But His blood can wash you whiter than snow! I know your sins deserve damnation. But Christ’s merits deserve salvation! It is true, the pit of hell is your lawful portion, but heaven itself is your gracious portion. What? Is Christ less powerful than your sin? That cannot be! To suppose that, were to make the creature mightier than the creator! What? Is your guilt more prevalent with God than Christ’s righteousness? Can you think so little of Christ, as to imagine that your sins can overwhelm and conquer Him? O man, your sins are like mountains—but Christ’s love is like Noah’s flood—it prevails 20 cubits, and the tops of the mountains are covered! It is looking at sin and not looking to the Savior that has made you doubt—you are looking to the second cause and not to Him who is greater than all!

The Hardness of Heart:

“No, but,” you reply, “It is not my sin, sir, that grieves me. It is this—I feel so hardened; I do not feel my sin as I ought. Oh if I could but weep as some weep! If I could but pray as some pray! Then I think I might be saved. If I could feel some of the terrors that good men have felt, then I think I could believe. But I feel none of these things. My heart seems like a rock of ice, hard as granite and as cold as an iceberg! It will not melt. You may preach, but it is not affected. I may pray, but my heart seems dumb. I may read even the story of Christ’s death and yet my soul is not moved by it. Oh surely I cannot be saved!”

Ah, this is looking to second causes, again! Have you forgotten that Word which said, “God is greater than our hearts?” Have you forgotten that? O child of God! Shame on you that you do look for comfort where comfort can never be found! Look to yourself for peace? Why, there never can be any in this land of war! Look to your own heart for joy? There can be none there, in this barren wilderness of sin! Turn, turn your eyes to Christ—He can cleanse your heart; He can create life and light and truth in the inward parts. He can wash you till you shall be whiter than snow and cleanse your soul and quicken it and make it live and feel and move—so that it shall hear His simplest words and obey His whispered mandate. O look not now at the second cause! Look at the great first cause! Otherwise, I shall again put to you the question, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Losing Communion with Christ:

“Still,” says another, “I could believe, notwithstanding my sin and my hardness of heart; but, do you know, that of late I have lost communion with Christ to such an extent, that I cannot help thinking that I must be a castaway? Oh, sir, there were times when Christ used to visit me and bring me such sweet love tokens. I was like the little ewe lamb in the parable. I did drink out of His cup and feed from His table and lie in His bosom. Often did He take me to His banqueting house; His banner over me was love. What feastings I then had! I would bask in the sunlight of His countenance. It was summer with my soul. But now, it is winter and the sun is gone and the banqueting house is closed. No fruits are on the table; no wines are in the bottles of the promise. I come to the sanctuary, but I find no comfort. I turn to the Bible, but I find no solace. I fall on my knees, but even the stream of prayer seems to be a dry brook!”

Ah, soul, but are you not still looking to second causes? These are the most precious of all secondary things, but yet you must not look to them, but to Christ! Remember, it is not your communing that saves you, but Christ’s dying! It is not Christ’s comfortable visits to your soul that ensures your salvation— it is Christ’s own visit to the house of mourning and to the garden of Gethsemane! I would have you keep your comforts as long as you can, but when they die, still believe on your God! Jonah had a gourd once and when that gourd died, he began to mourn. Well might someone have said to him, “Jonah, you have lost your gourd, but you have not lost your God!” And so might we say to you—you have not lost His love. You have lost the light of His countenance, but you have not lost the love of His heart! You have lost His sweet and gracious communion, but He is the same, still, and He would have you believe His faithfulness and trust Him in the dark and rely upon Him in the stormy wind and tempest! Look to none of these outward things, but look alone to Christ—Christ bleeding—Christ dying—Christ dead—Christ buried—Christ risen—Christ ascended—Christ interceding! This is the thing you are to look to—Christ and Him only! And looking there, you shall be comforted. But look to anything else and you shall begin to sink! Like Peter, the waves shall fail you and you shall have to cry, “Lord, save me, or I perish.”

Fears About Perseverance:

But, again, to conclude—others of God’s people are afraid that they shall never be able to persevere and hold out to the end. “Oh,” says one, “I know I shall yet fall away and perish, for look—look what an evil heart of unbelief I have! I cannot live one day without sin! My heart is so treacherous, it is like a bombshell. Let but a spark of temptation fall upon it and it will blow up to my eternal destruction! With such a tinderbox heart as I have, how can I hope to escape while I walk in the midst of a shower of sparks?”

“Oh,” said one, “I feel my nature to be so utterly vile and depraved that I cannot hope to persevere. If I hold on a week or a month, it will be a great work. But to hold on all my life until I die—oh, this is impossible!”

Looking to second causes again, are you not? Will you please remember that if you look to creature strength, it is utterly impossible that you should persevere in grace, even for 10 minutes, much less for 10 years! If your perseverance depends upon yourself, you are lost! You may write that down for a certainty. If you have one jot or one tittle to do with your own perseverance in divine grace, you will never see God’s face at last! Your grace will die out. Your life will be extinguished and you must perish if your salvation depends upon yourself.

God’s Grace is Sufficient:

But remember, you have already been kept these months and these years—what has done that? Why, divine grace! And the divine grace that has held you on for one year can hold you on for a century, no, for an eternity if it were necessary! He who has begun, can carry on and must carry on, too—otherwise, He were false to His promise and would deny Himself!

“Ah but,” you say, “sir, I cannot tell with what temptations I am surrounded. I am in a workshop where everybody laughs at me. I am called nicknames because I follow the cause of Christ. I have been able up to now to put up with their rebukes and their jests, but now they are adopting another plan—they try to tempt me away from the house of God and entice me to the theater and to worldly amusements—and I feel that, placed as I am, I can never hold on! As well might a spark hope to live in the midst of an ocean, as for divine grace to live in my heart!”

Ah, but, soul, who has made it to live up to now? Who is it has helped you up till now to say, “No,” to every temptation? Why, the Lord your Redeemer! You could not have done it so long if it had not been for Him! And He who has helped you to stand so long will never put you to shame! Why, if you are a child of God and you should fall away and perish, what dishonor would be brought on Christ? “Aha!” the devil would say, “here is a child of God and God has turned him out of His family and I have got him in hell at last! Is this what God does with His children—loves them one day and hates them the next—tells them He forgives them and yet punishes them—accepts them in Christ and yet sends them into hell?”

Can that be? Shall it be? Never! Not while God is God! “Aha,” again, says Satan, “Believers have eternal life given to them. Here is one that had eternal life and this eternal life has died out. It was not eternal! The promise was a lie! It was temporary life. It was not eternal life! Aha,” he says, “I have found a flaw in Christ’s promise! He gave them only temporary life and called it eternal.” And again, the arch-fiend would say, if it were possible for one child of God to perish—“Aha, I have one of the jewels of Christ’s crown here!” And he would hold it up and defy Christ to His very face and laugh Him to scorn! “This is a jewel that You did purchase with Your own blood. Here is one who You did come into the world to save and yet You could not save him! You did buy him and pay for him and yet I have got him—he was a jewel of Your crown and yet here he is, in the hand of the black prince, Your enemy! Aha, king with a damaged crown, You have lost one of Your jewels!”

Final Assurance of Salvation:

Can it be so? No, never, and therefore everyone who believes, is as sure of heaven as if he were there! If you cast yourself simply on Christ, death or hell shall never destroy you! Remember what good old Mr. Berridge said when he was met by a friend one morning, “How do you do, Mr. Berridge?” “Pretty well, I thank you,” he said, “and as sure of heaven as if I were there, for by His grace I have a solid confidence in Christ.” What a happy man such a man must be, who knows and feels that to be true! And yet, if you do not feel it, if you are the children of God, I put to you this question, “Why do you doubt?” Is there not good reason to believe? “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” If you have believed in Christ, saved you are, and saved you shall be, if you have committed yourself to His hands! “I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him.”

The Call to Trust in Christ:

“Yes,” says one, “this is not the fear that troubles me; my only doubt is whether I am a child of God or not.” I finish, therefore, by going over the old ground. Soul, if you would know whether you are a child of God, look not to yourself, but look to Christ! You who are here today, who desire to be saved, but yet fear you never can be, never look to yourselves for any ground of acceptance before God. Not self, but Jesus! Not heart, but Christ! Not man, but man’s creator! O sinner, think not that you are to bring anything to Christ to recommend you! Come to Him just as you are. He wants no good works of yours—no good feelings either! Come just as you are! All that you need to fit you for heaven He has bought for you and He will give to you! All these you shall freely have for the asking! Only come and He will not cast you away. But do you say, “Oh, I cannot believe that Christ is able to save such a sinner as I am”? I reply, “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?” He has already saved sinners as great as you are—only try Him, only try Him— “Venture on Him, venture wholly! Let no other trust intrude.” Try Him, try Him! And if you find Him false, then tell it everywhere that Christ was untrue! But that shall never be! Go to Him—tell Him you are a wretched, undone soul—without His sovereign grace. Ask Him to have mercy on you. Tell Him you are determined, if you do perish, that you will perish at the foot of His cross. Go and cling to Him as He hangs bleeding there. Look Him in the face and say, “Jesus, I have no other refuge; if You spurn me, I am lost. But I will never go from You; I will clasp You in life, and clasp You in death as the only rock of my soul’s salvation.” Depend upon it, you shall not be sent away empty! You must, you shall be accepted if you will simply believe! Oh, may God enable you, by the divine influence of His Holy Spirit, to believe! And then we shall not have to put the question, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” I pray God now apply these words to your comfort. They have been very simple and very homely words. But nevertheless, they will suit simple, homely hearts. If God shall bless them, to Him be the glory!