A Limit to God’s Mercy

Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. -Matthew 12:31

Remember, there is a limit to God’s mercy…If I read the Bible rightly, there is one sin which can never be forgiven. It is the sin against the Holy Ghost. Tremble, unpardoned sinners, lest ye should commit that. If I may tell you what I think the sin against the Holy Ghost is, I must say that I believe it to be different in different people; but in many persons, the sin against the Holy Ghost consists in stifling their convictions…Perhaps the very next time thou laughest over a sermon, or mockest at a prayer, or despisest a text, the very next oath thou swearest, God may say, “He is given to idols, let him alone; My Spirit shall no more strive with that man; I will never speak to him again.”

Ah! poor sinner, if thou knewest that Christ died for thee, and I know that He did, if thou repentest, if thou knewest that one day thou wilt be His, wouldst thou spit upon Him now? Wouldst thou scoff at God’s day, if thou knewest that one day it will be thy day? wouldst thou despise Christ, if thou knewest that He loves thee now, and will display that love by-and-bye? Oh! there are some of you that will loathe yourselves when you know Christ because you did not treat Him better. He will come to you one of these bright mornings, and He will say, “Poor sinner, I forgive you;” and you will look up in His face, and say. “What! Lord, forgive me? I used to curse Thee, I laughed at Thy people, I despised everything that had to do with religion. Forgive me?” “Yes,” says Christ, “give Me thy hand; I loved thee when thou hatedst Me, come here!” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0084.cfm

The Debt is Paid

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. -Hebrews 8:12

Oh! how sweet it is to reflect upon the great and wonderous works which Christ hath done, whereby He hath become “the High Priest of our profession,” able to save us! It is pleasant to look back to Calvary’s hill, and to behold that bleeding form expiring on the tree; it is sweet, amazingly sweet, to pry with eyes of love between those thick olives, and hear the groanings of the Man who sweat great drops of blood. Sinner, if thou askest me how Christ can save thee, I tell thee this: He can save thee, because He did not save Himself; He can save thee, because He took thy guilt and endured thy punishment. There is no way of salvation apart from the satisfaction of divine justice. Either the sinner must die, or else some one must die for him. Sinner, Christ can save thee, because, if thou comest to God by Him, then He died for thee. God has a debt against us, and He never remits that debt; He will have it paid. Christ pays it, and then the poor sinner goes free.

“O My Father! forgive____!” Why, He mentioned your own name! “O My Father, forgive him; he knew not what he did. It is true he sinned against light, and knowledge, and warnings; sinned wilfully and woefully; but, Father, forgive him!” Penitent, if thou canst listen, thou wilt hear Him praying for thee. And that is why He is able to save.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0084.cfm

Hope for the Despairing

Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. -Hebrews 7:25

There are some poor creatures in the world, who from a course of crime have become hardened, and when at last aroused by remorse and the pricklings of conscience, there is an evil spirit which broods over them, telling them it is hopeless for such as they are to seek salvation. We have met with some who have gone so far that they have thought that even devils might be saved rather than they could. They have given themselves up for lost, and signed their own death-warrant, and in such a state of mind have positively taken the halter in their hand, to end their unhappy lives. Despair has brought many a man to a premature death; it hath sharpened many a knife, and mingled many a cup of poison. Have I a despairing person here? I know him by his sombre face and downcast looks. He wishes he were dead, for he thinks that hell itself could be scarce worse torment than to be here expecting it. Let me whisper to him words of consolation. Despairing soul! hope yet, for Christ “is able to save to the uttermost;” and though thou art put in the lowest dungeon of the castle of despair, though key after key hath been turned upon thee, and the iron grating of thy window forbids all filing, and the height of thy prison-wall is so awful that thou couldst not expect to escape, yet let me tell thee, there is One at the gate who can break every bolt, and undo every lock; there is One who can lead thee out to God’s free air and save thee yet, for though the worst may come to the worst, He “is able to save thee to the uttermost.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0084.cfm

To the Uttermost!

Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost… -Hebrews 7:25

“He is able to save to the uttermost.” Now, I will certainly affirm, and no one can deny it, that no one here knows how far the uttermost is. David said, if he took the wings of the morning, to fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, even there should God reach him. But who knoweth where the uttermost is? Borrow the angel’s wing, and fly far, far beyond the most remote star: go where wing has never flapped before, and where the undisturbed ether is as serene and quiet as the breast of Deity itself; you still, beyond the bounds of creation, where space itself falls, and where chaos takes up its reign, will not come to the uttermost. It is too far for mortal intellect to conceive of; it is beyond the range of reason or of thought. Now, our text tells us that Christ is “able to save to the uttermost.”

Sinner, Christ is “able to save to the uttermost;” by which we understand that the uttermost extent of guilt is not beyond the power of the Saviour. Can any one tell what is the uttermost amount to which a man might sin?..oh! ye chief of sinners! Christ is “able to save to the uttermost.” Tell that everywhere, in every garret, in every cellar, in every haunt of vice, in every kennel of sin; tell it everywhere! “To the uttermost!” “He is able to save them to the uttermost.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0084.cfm

Thrice Welcome!

But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. -Matthew 9:13

Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him -Hebrews 7:25

There he comes, sighing and groaning, crying and weeping all the way… He has rags on him, he comes to the heavenly throne; and when he approaches mercy’s gate he is almost afraid to knock. He lifts up his eyes and he sees it written, “Knock, and it shall be opened to you;” but he fears lest he should profane the gate by his poor touch; he gives at first a gentle rap, and if mercy’s gate open not, he is a poor dying creature; so he gives another rap, then another and another; and although he raps times without number, and no answer comes, still he is a sinful man, and he knows himself to be unworthy; so he keeps rapping still; and at last the good angel smiling from the gate, says, “Ah! this gate was built for beggars not for princes; heaven’s gate was made for spiritual paupers, not for rich men. ‘Not the righteous, but sinners Jesus came to call.’

Come in, poor man! Come in. Thrice welcome!” And the angels sing, “Thrice welcome!” How many of you, dear friends, have come to God by Jesus Christ in that fashion?..As my God who sits in heaven liveth, if you have not come to God in this fashion, you have not come to God at all; but if you have thus come to God, here is the glorious word for you-“He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0084.cfm

Through Christ Alone

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. – John 14:6

We have known many persons who call themselves natural religionists. They worship the God of nature, and they think that they can approach God apart from Jesus Christ. There be some men we wot of who despise the mediation of the Saviour, and, who, if they were in an hour of peril, would put up their prayer at once to God, without faith in the Mediator. Do such of you fancy that you will be heard and saved by the great God your Creator, apart from the merits of His Son? Let me solemnly assure you, in God’s most holy name, there never was a prayer answered for salvation, by God the Creator, since Adam fell, without Jesus Christ the Mediator. “No man can come unto God but by Jesus Christ;” and if any one of you deny the Divinity of Christ, and if any soul among you do not come to God through the merits of a Saviour, bold fidelity obliges me to pronounce you condemned persons; for however amiable you may be, you cannot be right in the rest, unless you think rightly of Him. I tell you, ye may offer all the prayers that ever may be prayed, but ye shall be damned, unless ye put them up through Christ. It is all in vain for you to take your prayers and carry them yourself to the throne. “Get thee hence, sinner; get thee hence,” says God; “I never knew thee. Why didst not thou put thy prayer into the hands of a Mediator? It would have been sure of an answer. But as thou presentest it thyself, see what I will do with it!” And He reads your petition, and casts it to the four winds of heaven; and thou goest away unheard, unsaved. The Father will never save a man apart from Christ; there is not one soul now in heaven who was not saved by Jesus Christ; there is not one who ever came to God aright, who did not come through Jesus Christ. If you would be at peace with God, you must come to Him through Christ, as the way, the truth, and the life, making mention of His righteousness, and of His only. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0084.cfm

Fall Not Out by the Way

So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. -Genesis 45:24

We indeed ought to have peace amongst ourselves. Joseph said to his brethren when they were going home to his father’s house, “See that ye fall not out by the way.” There was something extremely beautiful in that exhortation. “See that ye fall not out by the way.” Ye have all one father, ye are of one family. Let men of two nations disagree; but you are of the seed of Israel, you are of one tribe and nation; your home is in one heaven. “See that ye fall not out by the way.” The way is rough; there are enemies to stop you. See that if ye fall out when ye get home, ye do not fall out by the way.  Keep together; stand by one another, defend each other’s character, manifest continual affection, for recollect you will want it all. The world hateth you because you are not of the world. Oh! you must take care that you love one another. You are all going to the same house. You may disagree here, and not speak to one another, and be almost ashamed to sit at the same table even at the sacrament; but you will all have to sit together in heaven. Therefore do not fall out by the way. Consider, again, the great mercies you have all shared together. You are all pardoned, you are all accepted, elected, justified, sanctified, and adopted. See that ye fall not out when ye have so many mercies, when God has given you so much. Joseph has filled your sacks, but if he has put some extra thing into Benjamin’s sack, do not quarrel with Benjamin about that, but rather rejoice because your sacks are full. You have all got enough, you are all secure, you have all been dismissed with a blessing, and, therefore, I say once more, “See that ye fall not out by the way.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0049.cfm