The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

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СКАЧАТЬ if God is merciful, God is just too; and what if, instead of being merciful to me, he should be just to me? What would then become of me? I must give up my hope in the mere mercy of God; tell me how to be saved!” Mr. Innis told him that Christ had died in the place of all believers — that God could be just, and yet the justifier through the death of Christ. “Ah!” he said, “Mr. Innis, there is something solid in that; I can rest on that; I cannot rest on anything else”; and it is a remarkable fact that none of us ever met with a man who thought he had his sins forgiven unless it was through the blood of Christ. Meet a Muslim man; he never had his sins forgiven; he does not say so. Meet an Infidel; he never knows that his sins are forgiven. Meet a Legalist; he says, “I hope they will be forgiven”; but he does not pretend they are. No one ever gets even a fancied hope apart from this, that Christ, and Christ alone, must save by the shedding of his blood.

      17. Let me tell a story to show how Christ saves souls. Mr. Whitfield had a brother who had been like him, an earnest Christian, but he had backslidden; he went far from the ways of godliness; and one afternoon, after he had been recovered from his backsliding, he was sitting in a room in a chapel house. He had heard his brother preaching the day before, and his poor conscience had been cut to the very quick. Whitfield’s brother said, when he was at the evening meal, “I am a lost man,” and he groaned and cried, and could neither eat nor drink. Lady Huntingdon said, who sat opposite, “What did you say, Mr. Whitfield?” “Madam,” he said, “I said, I am a lost man.” “I’m glad of it,” she said; “I’m glad of it.” “Your ladyship, how can you say so? It is cruel to say you are glad that I am a lost man.” “I repeat it, sir,” she said, “I am heartily glad of it.” He looked at her, more and more astonished at her barbarity. “I am glad of it,” she said, “because it is written, ‘The Son of Man came to seek and to save those who were lost.’ ” With the tears rolling down his cheeks, he said, “What a precious Scripture; and how is it that it comes with such force to me? Oh! madam,” he said, “madam, I bless God for that; then he will save me; I trust my soul in his hands; he has forgiven me.” He went outside the house, felt ill, fell upon the ground, and expired. I may have a lost man here this morning. As I cannot say much, I will leave you, good people; you do not need anything.

      18. Do I have a lost man here? Lost man! Lost woman! Where are you? Do you feel yourself to be lost? I am so glad for it; for there is remission by the blood shedding. Oh sinner, are there tears in your eyes? Look through them. Do you see that man in the garden? That man sweats drops of blood for you. Do you see that man on the cross? That man was nailed there for you. Oh! if I could be nailed on a cross this morning for you all, I know what you would do: you would fall down and kiss my feet, and weep that I should have to die for you. But sinner, lost sinner, Jesus died for you — for you; and if he died for you, you cannot be lost. Christ died in vain for no one. Are you, then, a sinner? Are you convicted of sin because you do not believe in Christ? I have authority to preach to you. Believe in his name and you cannot be lost. Do you say you are not a sinner? Then I do not know that Christ died for you. Do you say that you have no sins to repent of? Then I have no Christ to preach to you. He did not come to save the righteous; he came to save the wicked. Are you wicked? Do you feel it? Are you lost? Do you know it? Are you sinful? Will you confess it? Sinner! if Jesus were here this morning, he would put out his bleeding hands, and say, “Sinner, I died for you, will you believe me?” He is not here in person; he has sent his servant to tell you. Will you not believe him? “Oh!” but you say, “I am such a sinner”; “Ah!” he says, “that is just why I died for you, because you are a sinner.” “But,” you say, “I do not deserve it.” “Ah!” he says, “that is just why I did it.” You say, “I have hated him.” “But,” he says, “I have always loved you.” “But, Lord, I have spat on your minister, and scorned your word.” “It is all forgiven,” he says, “all washed away by the blood which ran from my side. Only believe me; that is all I ask. And that I will give you. I will help you to believe.” “Ah!” one says, “but I do not need a Saviour.” Sir, I have nothing to say to you except this — “The wrath to come! the wrath to come!” But there is one who says, “Sir, you do not mean what you say! Do you mean to preach to the most wicked men or women in the place?” I mean what I say. There she is! She is a prostitute, she has led many into sin, and many into hell. There she is; her own friends have turned her out; her father called her a good-for-nothing hussy, and said she would never come to the house again. Woman! do you repent? Do you feel yourself to be guilty? Christ died to save you, and you shall be saved. There he is. I can see him. He was drunk; he has been drunk very often. Not many nights ago I heard his voice in the street, as he went home at a late hour on Saturday night, disturbing everyone; and he beat his wife, too. He has broken the Sabbath; and as to swearing, if oaths are like soot, his throat must need sweeping badly enough, for he has cursed God often. Do you feel yourself to be guilty, my hearer? Do you hate your sins, and are you willing to forsake them? Then I bless God for you. Christ died for you. Believe! I had a letter a few days ago, from a young man who heard that during this week I was going to a certain town. He said, “Sir, when you come, do preach a sermon that will fit me; for do you know, sir, I have heard it said that we must all think ourselves to be the most wicked people in the world, or else we cannot be saved. I try to think so, but I cannot, because I have not been the most wicked. I want to think so, but I cannot. I want to be saved, but I do not know how to repent enough.” Now, if I have the pleasure of seeing him, I shall tell him, God does not require a man to think himself the most wicked in the world, because that would sometimes be to think a falsehood, there are some men who are not as wicked as others are. What God requires is this, that a man should say, “I know more of myself than I do of other people; I know little about them, and from what I see of myself, not of my actions, but of my heart, I do think there can be few worse than I am. They may be more guilty publicly, but then I have had more light, more privileges, more opportunities, more warnings, and therefore I am still more guilty.” I do not want you to bring your brother with you, and say, “I am more wicked than he is”; I want you to come yourself, and say, “Father, I have sinned”; you have nothing to do with your brother William, whether he has sinned more or less; your cry should be, “Father, I have sinned”; you have nothing to do with your cousin Jane, whether or not she has rebelled more than you. Your business is to cry, “Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner!” That is all. Do you feel yourselves lost? Again, I say, —

      Come, and welcome, sinner, come!

      19. To conclude. There is not a sinner in this place who knows himself to be lost and ruined, who may not have all his sins forgiven, and “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” You may, though black as hell, be white as heaven this very instant. I know it is only by a desperate struggle that faith takes hold of the promise, but the very moment a sinner believes, that conflict is past. It is his first victory, and a blessed one. Let this verse be the language of your heart; adopt it, and make it your own:

      A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,

      In Christ’s kind arms I fall;

      He is my strength and righteousness,

      My Jesus and my all.

      Rahab’s Faith

      No. 119-3:97. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, March 1, 1857, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

       By faith the prostitute Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. {Hebrews 11:31}

      1. In almost every capital of Europe there are varieties of triumphal arches or columns upon which are recorded the valiant deeds of the country’s generals, its emperors, or its monarchs. You will find, in one case, the thousand battles of a Napoleon recorded, and in another, you find the victories of a Nelson pictured. It seems, therefore, but right, that faith, which is the mightiest of the mighty, should have a pillar raised to its honour, upon which its valiant deeds should be recorded. The apostle Paul СКАЧАТЬ