God’s Words against all my feelings!

V. Now note THE CONNECTION OF THE BLOOD WITH OURSELVES. Dear Hearer, are you among the many? Why are you not? May His Grace bring you to trust in Him and you may not doubt that you are among the many. “Ah,” you say, “that is what I am listening for! How can I partake in the effect of this Sacrifice?” Do you see that wine cup which I set before you just now? How are you to enjoy that wine which fills the cup? Its ruddy drops—how are they to be yours? The matter is very simple. I think I see you take the chalice in your hand and raise it to your mouth. You drink and the deed is done! This is no mystery. Bread and wine are ours by eating and drinking. Christ is ours by our receiving Him. The merit of His precious blood becomes ours by that simple childlike faith which accepts Jesus to be our All. We say, “Here it is. I believe in it. I take it. I accept it as my own.” It is yours. No man can take from you that which you have eaten and drunk. Christ is yours forever if you receive Him into your heart. If you have any question as to whether you have drunk, I will tell you how to solve it—drink again! If you have been eating and you have really forgotten whether you have eaten or not—such things do occur to busy men who eat but little— if, I say, you would be sure that you have eaten, eat again! If you will be assured that you have believed in Jesus, believe again! Whenever you have any doubt about whether Christ is yours, take Him again! I like to begin again. Often I find the best way of going forward is to go back to my first faith in Jesus and, as a sinner, renew my confidence in my Savior. “Oh,” says the devil, “you are a preacher of the Gospel, but you do not know it yourself.” At one time I used to argue with the accuser, but he is not worth it and it is by no means profitable to one’s own heart. We cannot convert or convince the devil—it is better to refer him to our Lord. When he tells me I am not a saint, I answer, “Well, what am I, then? “A sinner,” he says. “Well, so are you!” “Ah,” he says, “You will be lost!” “No,” say I, “that is why I shall not be lost, since Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and I, therefore, trust in Him to save me.” This is what Martin Luther calls cutting the devil’s head off with his own sword and it is the best course you can follow! You say, “If I take Christ to myself as a man takes a cup and drinks the contents, am I saved?” Yes, you are. “How am I to know it?” Know it because God says so! “He that believes in Him has everlasting life.” If I did not feel a pulse of that life, (as I did not at first), I, nevertheless would believe that I had it simply on the strength of the Divine Assurance. Since my conversion I have felt the pulsing of a life more strong and forcible than the life of the most vigorous youth that ever ran without weariness—but there are times when it is not so. Just now I feel the heavenly life joyously leaping within me, but when I do not feel it, I fall back on this—God has said, “He that believes in Him has everlasting life.” God’s Words against all my feelings! I may get into a fainting fit and my circumstances may operate upon my heart as this hot weather operates upon my body and make me feel dull and sleepy, but this cannot make the Word of God of no effect! I go back to the Book and believe the bare Word of the Lord, “He that believes in Him has everlasting life.” That is enough for me! I believe and, therefore, I live! Our inward experience is fine corroborative evidence, but God’s testimony is the best foundation our confidence can have!

--Charles H. Spurgeon from his sermon "The Blood Shed for Many"