No Other Name

Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.

Life in the Spurgeon home was built around the Scriptures. The Bible was not only read, but it was also believed with unquestionable assurance of its inerrancy. Charles Spurgeon was only three years of age when he became absorbed with books. He was raised on a steady diet of John Bunyan, works of the great Puritan writers and the Holy Scriptures. By five or six he was reading fluently whilst most children his age were still struggling with words of one syllable.

Unlike other children of his age who kept rabbits, chickens and horses, Charles kept to books. He could not be diverted away from study. Though in his childhood and young adult years his life experiences were few, he was regarded as a walking encyclopedia, for he read about everything.

By the age of ten, Charles was a young man of deep sensitivity and heightened theological understanding. He was well able to hold his own in doctrinal conversations with his school masters and church leaders. However, like Christian, in one of Charles’ much adored books, Pilgrim’s Progress, Charles languished under a heavy burden. From a young age, he held a long and bitter conviction of sin and a longing for salvation, despite his vast theological understanding of God’s Word. He knew that like Christian, he was carrying a heavy burden of sin and by himself he could not remove it.

At fifteen, Charles became overwhelmed with the extent of his own sin and the lostness of his own soul. Frequently, upon waking after a troubled night, he took up the rigorous works of his favorite writers. But they were unhelpful to Charles, enforcing what he already knew – that he was lost and needed to be saved. Regardless of what he read, Charles was left with a bitter longing to know how salvation was to be received and so he remained miserable, seeking and suffering.

Until one glorious day.

On a bleak, wintry Sunday morning, Charles found himself in a small, poorly attended Primitive Methodist Church. Isaiah 45:22 was preached by a parishioner standing in for the minister, who, as Charles stated, “was a stupid man who could not even pronounce the words of the text rightly.” Yet, the message went from the lips of an uneducated layman to pierce the heart of Spurgeon.

“Sinner, look unto Jesus. That is all He asks. You do not need a college degree to look. You do not need to hear a clear, five-point sermon to turn your heart and look to Jesus. You cannot find your salvation by looking within or seeking help from another. This looking is a business to be done between Jesus and you alone.

Look unto Jesus who is hanging on the cross. Look unto Jesus who was dead and buried. Look unto Jesus who rose again. Look unto Jesus who ascended into Heaven and sits today at the Father’s right hand. Only by looking unto Jesus will you know the glory of salvation and the hope of eternal life.”

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Spurgeon looked to Jesus and found the way to salvation. For in no other is there hope for the spiritual healing of mankind. This exclusive and total reliance upon Christ for salvation is the sole teaching of the Scriptures. And yet, Spurgeon knew the Scriptures so very well. But not well enough to bring forth his salvation.

We need more than a knowledge of the Scriptures. We need a living, relational faith in Jesus Christ. We need our spirit enlivened by the Holy Spirit and this work is initiated by God enabling us to turn our eyes and look upon Jesus. Charles, with joyous acclamation, penned these words after his conversion:

“I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else the man said – I did not take much notice of it. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, “Look!” what a charming word it seemed to me. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, “Look to Jesus, trust Christ, and you shall be saved.”

Spurgeon’s conversion was the great turning point of his life. He was indeed a new creation. The long-experienced sense of terrible conviction was gone, and all was new before him.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

For those who are seeking and searching for salvation look no further. For those who hunger to lay aside their burden of sin, Jesus awaits. He came to give us life and life in all its fullness. There is no where else to look but to Him. May these words lead us back to Jesus and His sacrificial love for us.

‘Father, thank You for sending Jesus. Help me to turn my eyes and heart to Him, yielding my life to Him, for there is no other name by which we can receive salvation. Amen.’