Is the Reality of Christ a Reality in Your Life — E.A. Johnston

Spurgeon's Conversion Through “Look Unto Me”

When Charles Spurgeon was 16 years old, he went all over London seeking out the best known preachers of his day in the hopes of hearing how to come to Christ savingly. But he searched in vain. No one could help him, he said of these preachers.

These good men all preached truths suited to many in their congregations who were spiritually minded people. But what I wanted to know was how I could get my sins forgiven, and they never told me that.

One Sunday, while on his way to church, Spurgeon was caught in a terrible snowstorm in the town of Colchester, England. He sought shelter in the first church he found, which was a primitive Methodist chapel.

Once inside, he realized that the pastor of that small congregation was hindered by the storm, and another man was up in the pulpit. The plain, uneducated cobbler was doing his best to present the gospel that morning.

His text was from Isaiah 45, 22, Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Spurgeon said of that day that it was the preach word that saved me, and as young Spurgeon sat listening to that uneducated man present the gospel, God did a work in his heart as he listened to the following sermon.

Listen to what Spurgeon said of this time, friends. The text says, Look unto me. Then the good man followed up his text in this way. Look unto me. I am sweating great drops of blood. Look unto me. I am hanging on the cross.

Look unto me. I am dead and buried. Look unto me. I rise again. Look unto me. I ascend to heaven. Look unto me. I am sitting at the Father's right hand. Oh, poor sinner. Look unto me. Look unto me. Then the man pointed to Spurgeon and shouted, young man, look to Jesus Christ.

Look, look, look. You have nothing to do but to look and live. Then the great Spurgeon realized how to come to Christ to get his sins forgiven. The man had pointed the way. Spurgeon related, I saw it once, the way of salvation.

I was possessed with that one thought, like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed. So it was with me. I'd been waiting to do 50 things. But when I heard that word, look, oh, what a charming word it seemed to me.

Oh, I looked until I almost had looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone. The darkness had rolled away. In that moment, I saw the sun and I could have risen that instant and sung with the most enthusiastic of them of the precious blood of Christ and the simple faith, which looks alone to him.

Oh, that somebody had told me this before. I trust Christ and you shall be saved. I love that story of Spurgeon, don't you, friends? The title of my message this evening is, is the reality of Christ a reality in your life?

Isaiah 53 and Christ's Atoning Work

And my text can be found in the book of Isaiah in chapter 53. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in verses one through six. And as I read us our text, I want us to focus on the words which speak of what Christ did on that bloody cross and for whom here now is the word of God.

May the spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.

He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him.

He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

I will stop there. Notice in the text, friends, if I may so speak, there is a great symphony taking place, a symphony with music from heaven that is harmonized with music from earth on the heavenward side.

The music speaks of the atoning work Christ performed on that blooded cross as God carries out his plan of redemption to reconcile sinners back to himself. The music from earth is the song of glad appreciation from the recipients of that atonement as seen in the words of borne our griefs, carried our sorrows, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.

With his stripes, we are healed. On the human side, Christ on that cross is a terrifying spectacle to witness. His agony and suffering is almost too much to behold. But in heaven, it is a marvel to behold as angels crane their necks to see what is transpiring on that hill on Calvary as they sing a resounding chorus of a worthy is the lamb.

A worthy is the lamb that was slain. A worthy is the lamb. Yes, it was the greatest symphony mankind has ever known. Its echo shook the gates of hell and made demons quake. Of Christ's blood, the power to cancel sin.

He bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, our, our, our. Is that your reality, friend? Can you say with the text that you are part of that redemption symphony? A young Spurgeon saw Christ on that cross and believed upon him.

He looked and lived. Is the reality of Christ a reality in your life, friend? Imagine if you found out you had a fatal disease and proper medical attention could save you. Would you go and seek out the cheapest medical quack you could find?

No, you'd want the best specialist in that particular medical field. You'd pay any price for a remedy to save you. And if you were in a legal jam and facing prison, would you seek out the cheapest lawyer you could find?

No, you'd want the best defense attorney money could buy. You're no fool when it comes to things like that. But a person who neglects the eternal destiny of their soul is the biggest fool this side of hell.

The Reality of Salvation and Evident Transformation

Listen, friend, you are going to hell unless it becomes a personal reality to you that Christ died for you, that he hung on a cross for you, that he shed his precious blood for you, that he was raised for you, that he's going to come back for you.

He bore our griefs, carried our sorrows. Are you part of that great salvation symphony, friend? Are you? If you cannot sing that hallelujah chorus, then you are still in your sins and on your way to hell, even if you are the chairman of the deacons.

A salvation isn't something you did 20 years ago and put away in a tin can. A salvation is not an insurance policy against the fires of hell. A salvation means a change, friend, a change. A person who's been truly saved has experienced change.

They're a new creation. Old things are passed away. The evangelist Sam Jones used to say that being saved meant you quit your meanness. Have you? Can your family say you, that you are a new person since you've been saved?

Or do you act one way at church and another way at home? Is the reality of Christ a reality in your life? When Jesus was here in his earthly ministry, when he passed through towns and villages, those who encountered him experienced change, permanent change.

Rolf Barnard's Account of Revival and Conviction

I'd like to share a story with you at this time, friends, for it pertains to our subject this evening. I found out about this story while I was conducting my research on my biography on the Baptist evangelist, Rolf Barnard.

I will relate the story to you in his own words. It was said of Barnard that through his 40-year itinerant ministry, he led over 100 ,000 souls to Christ. God really used that man, used him in mighty revivals.

Listen carefully to what Rolf Barnard had to say about an incident in his life where God broke through in a meeting and began saving souls right and left. Lives were forever changed. I hear now are his words.

I had the flu years ago and I closed a meeting with the flu, racking my body on a Sunday night. I rested a little while Monday morning, but at 11 o 'clock Monday morning, I got on a train at Winston-Salem and journeyed to Illinois in my flu-weakened condition.

I got there about noon on Tuesday and the pastor met me and took me to a room and called a doctor. The pastor told me there wouldn't be many people to hear me preach that night because they were having some sort of entertainment at the school.

While he apologized, the doctor treated me. I went over that night and preached. I must have preached a powerful sermon because all hell broke loose. The chairman of the board of deacons stood out on the steps after the service and raved and raved and said, that man is a false prophet and he's going to tear our church up.

Well, I didn't know about all this. I'd gone back to my room, to my sickbed. The deacon said to the pastor, here is a check for $400. I will give it to you if you will pay that preacher off and don't let them preach anymore.

You know, I must have preached a powerful sermon, just one little sermon. They didn't tell me anything about that. And the next night I went over and preached and it must have been powerful too. I did not understand it.

But as soon as I was ready to pronounce the benediction, the pastor said, I want to meet all the deacons down in the basement. Well, I didn't know what was going on. I slipped out the back door and went back to bed.

I was pretty sick. They told me later about how the pastor walked the floor and said, that preacher is going to ruin us and he's going to tear our church all to pieces. And everybody agreed with him, except an old silver-haired deacon.

When they got around to him, he said, boys, you fellows had better let that preacher alone. He is preaching the gospel. You folks have never heard it. And you better not put your hands on him. Well, I didn't know about all these things.

And Thursday night came and the house was just packed and jammed. I wondered what was going on. But unbeknownst to me, all this was going all over the city. And here they were coming. A Friday night came and the house was packed and jammed.

I still didn't know what was going on. A Sunday night came and lo and behold, the house was crowded. And a fellow got up to sing a solo. He didn't mean to do it, but he sang in the power of the spirit.

I saw God take a song sung in the spirit and apply what I've been preaching all week and pierce hearts with the truth of the gospel. As he stood up there and began to sing, the Holy Ghost took charge of him.

He began to sing. Love sent my savior to die in my stead. Why should he love me so? Meekly to Calvary's cross he was led. Why should he love me so? Nails pierced his hands and his feet for my sin. Why should he love me so?

He suffered sore, my salvation to win. Why should he love me so? And while he was singing, all hell began to pop. The organist quit playing and screamed out, I am lost, I am lost. Well, that's the sweetest cry I've ever heard this side of eternity.

It's a prelude to the cry, I am saved. And she began running to the prayer room. It was the pastor's wife. Then I heard somebody else sobbing. And that poor pastor said, Oh my God, I am lost, I'm lost, I'm lost.

And here he ran. Then I saw 14 Roman Catholics. I saw the Sunday school superintendent. I saw seven deacons. I saw, I don't know just how many, as they screamed out before that man could finish his song.

They were in the prayer room on their bones, sobbing out their souls to God. Because of my preaching? No, because the Holy Spirit took a song. The truth of it and made this thing personal and brought the truth of the gospel and pierced the hearts of those people.

Some people there saw for the first time in their lives that Christ died for them, that he agonized for them, that the nails were put in his hands for them, that he was raised for them. Well, I love that story about Ralph Warner, friends, for it demonstrates the power of God and the salvation of souls when the gospel of the son of God is clearly preached.

Personal Redemption and the Call to Examine Your Heart

Those folks in that meeting that were fighting against Barnard realized they'd never been truly converted. They saw the reality of Christ and he was real to them. And what he did on Calvary was real to them.

They were awakened by the spirit of God to their lost condition, to where they cried out, I'm lost, I'm lost, both the pastor and his wife, the good deacons who were fighting him. They all saw their need for pardon from sin.

They were finally part of that great symphony of God's redemptive work, his plan. And their hearts were now in harmony with God, with the God of the universe, for they'd been saved. They'd been reconciled back to God through the blood of the son.

They saw him, they saw it. They saw what Jesus did for them personally. It became real to them and it shook them to their core to where they finally saw the great need of that savior on that cross. They could now sing, he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.

They were now part of that hallelujah chorus. Oh, friends, don't let this no soul salvation that most folks settle for in this country be your undoing. Salvation isn't a decision in the head, but a change in the heart.

It is God who takes away the heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh. You better know for sure if Christ is a reality in your life, friend. Have your sins been washed in the blood and are you born from above?

Is the reality of Christ a reality in your life? I will close this message with a poem I recently wrote and it is my prayer that the words of this little poem will stir your own heart, whether to renew your love relationship with Jesus or to awaken you to your great need of him as your savior.

Here now is my poem entitled, For Me. There in a garden, falling on his knees, he agonized for me. The cup he was given was bitter to drink. He drank it all for me. To a hill far away, he was led like a thief.

He tread that path for me. Upon his head, a thorny crown was placed. He wore that crown for me. The nails in his hands, the nails in his feet were fastened there for me. Hung on that ignoble and scandalous cross, he suffered shame for me.

The pain he endured, the blood that he shed was done out of love. For me. Dying, he loved me, giving his all. He died on that cross for me.