salvation

If the Law Condemn Thee, God Will Acquit Thee

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. – Galatians 3:10

Let me ask thee this, my friend-Wast thou ever condemned by the law in thine own conscience? “Nay, sayest thou, “I know not what thou meanest.” Of course thou dost not; and thou hast no hope, then, that thou art safe. But I will ask thee yet again: Hast thou been condemned by the law in thy conscience? Hast thou ever heard the word of God saying in thy own soul, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them?” And hast thou felt that thou wast cursed? Didst thou ever stand before God’s bar, like a poor condemned criminal before the judge, ready for execution? …Hast thou ever felt thyself to be a worthless, ruined, sin-condemned, law-condemned, conscience-condemned sinner? Hast thou ever fallen down before God, and said: “Lord, Thou art just; though Thou slay me, I will say, Thou art just; for I am sinful, and I deserve Thy wrath?” As the Lord liveth, if thou hast never felt that, thou art a stranger to His grace; for the man who acquits himself God condemneth; and if the law condemn thee, God will acquit thee. So long as thou hast felt thyself condemned, thou mayest know that Christ died for condemned ones, and shed His blood for sinners; but and if thou foldest thine arms in self-security, if thou sayest: “I am good, I am righteous, I am honorable,” be thou warned of this-thine armor is the weaving of a spider; it shall be broken in pieces; the garments of thy righteousness are light as the web of the gossamer, and shall be blown away by the breath of the Eternal, in that day when He will unspin all that nature hath ever woven. Ay, I bid thee now take heed; if thou hast never been condemned by the law, thou hast never been acquitted by grace.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

Christ, Our Substitute

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father 1 Comment

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit… – 1 Peter 3:18

The curse of God is not easily taken away; in fact, there was but one method whereby it could be removed. The lightnings were in God’s hand; they must be launched; He said they must. The sword was unsheathed; it must be satisfied; God vowed it must. How, then, was the sinner to be saved? The only answer was this. The Son of God appears; and He says, “Father! launch Thy thunderbolts at Me; here is My breast-plunge that sword in here; here are My shoulders-let the lash of vengeance fall on them;” and Christ, the Substitute, came forth and stood for us, “the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”

We have heard some preach a gospel, something after this order-that though God is angry with men, yet out of His great mercy, for the sake of something that Christ has done, He does not punish them, but remits the penalty. Now, we hold, that this is not of God’s gospel; for it is neither just to God, nor safe to man. We believe that God never remitted the penalty, that He did not forgive the sin without punishing it, but that there was blood for blood, and stroke for stroke, and death for death, and punishment for punishment, without the abatement of a solitary jot or tittle; that Jesus Christ, the Saviour, did drink the veritable cup of our redemption to its very dregs; that He did suffer beneath the awful crushing wheels of divine vengeance, the self-same pains and sufferings which we ought to have endured. O! the glorious doctrine of substitution! When it is preached fully and rightly, what a charm and what power it hath. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

Begotten Again to a Lively Hope

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. – 1 Peter 1:3

Can men really believe that, after having been “begotten again to a lively hope,” that birth in God, through Christ, and by His Spirit, can yet fail? We have asked ourselves, Can men imagine that, after God hath once broken our chains, and set us free, He will call us back, and bind us once again, like Prometheus, to the great rocks of despair? Will He once blot out the handwriting that is against us, and then record the charge again? Once pardoned, then condemned? We trow, that had Paul been in the way of such men, he would have said, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” There is no condemnation to us, being in Christ Jesus; we “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” It is a sweet thought, that Satan himself can never rob me of my pardon. I may lose my copy of it, and lose my comfort; but the original pardon is filed in heaven. It may be that gloomy doubts may arise, and I may fear to think myself forgiven: but

“Did Jesus upon me shine?
Then Jesus is for ever mine.”

“O! my distrustful heart!
How small thy faith appears.
Far greater, Lord, Thou art,
Than all my doubts and fears.
‘Midst all my sin, and fear, and woe,
Thy Spirit will not let me go.”

I love, at times, to go back to the hour when I hope I was forgiven through a Saviour’s blood. There is much comfort in it to remember that blessed hour when first we knew the Lord. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

“Unwrite the curse,” says God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 4 Comments

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us… – Galatians 3:13

Some of you, my dear friends, will be able to follow me in your experience, while I just remind you how it was, that in your salvation Christ removed the curse. You will agree with me when I say that the removal of the curse from us is done in a moment. It is an instantaneous thing. I may stand here one moment under the curse; and if the Spirit look upon me, and I breathe a prayer to heaven-if by faith I cast myself on Jesus-in one solitary second, ere the clock hath ticked, my sins may be all forgiven. Hart sung truly, when he said-

“The moment a sinner believes,
And trusts in his crucified God,
His pardon at once he receives,
Salvation is full through His blood.”

We do not say that the great work of conversion is instantaneous; that may take some time; for Christ commences in the heart a work, which is to be carried on through life in sanctification; but the justification, the taking away the curse, is done in a single moment. “Unwrite the curse,” says God. It is done. The acquittal is signed and sealed; it taketh not long.

“Fully discharged by Christ I am,
From sin’s tremendous curse and blame.”

We may be fully absolved in a moment.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

 

God is Just

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. – Galatians 3:22

There are many persons who think that the curse of God upon those who are undeniably wicked is, of course, right; but that the curse of God upon those who for the most part appear to be excellent, and who may have sinned but once, as an act of injustice. We answer, “Nay, when God pronounces the curse, He doth it justly; He is a God of justice; ‘just and right is He.'” And mark thee, man, if thou art condemned, it shall be by the strictest justice; and if thou hast sinned but once, the curse is righteous when it lights upon thy head. Dost thou ask me how this is? I answer, Thou sayest thy sin is little; then, if the sin be little, how little trouble it might have taken thee to have avoided it! If thy transgression be but small, at how small an expense thou mightest have refrained from it! Some have said, “Surely the sin of Adam was but little; he did but take an apple.” Ay, but in its littleness was its greatness. If it was a little thing to take the fruit, with how little trouble might it have been avoided! And because it was so small an act, there was couched within it the greater malignity of guilt. So, too, thou mayest never have blasphemed thy God, thou mayest never have desecrated His Sabbath; yet, insomuch as thou hast committed a little sin, thou art justly condemned, for a little sin hath in it the essence of all sin; and I know not but that what we call little sins may be greater in God’s sight than those which the world universally condemns, and against which the hiss of the execration of humanity continually rises. I say, God is just, although from His lips should rush thunders to blast the entire universe; God is just, although He curses all. Tremble, man, and “kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish by the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

Mercy in the Substitute

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse… – Galatians 3:10

All who sin against the law are cursed by the law; all who rebel against its commands are cursed-cursed instantly, cursed terribly. Perhaps some here will be inclined to say, “Of course the law of God will curse all those who are loose in their lives, or profane in their conversation. We can all of us imagine that the swearer is a cursed man, cursed by God. We can suppose that the wrath of God rests upon the head of the man who is filthy in his life, and whose conversation is not upright, or who is a degraded man, under the ban of society.” But ah! my friend, it is not quite so easy to get at the real truth, which is this, that the curse of God rests upon every one of us, as by nature we stand before Him. Thou mayest be the most moral in the world, but yet the curse of God is upon thee; thou mayest be lovely in thy life, modest in thy carriage, upright in thy behavior, almost Christlike in thy conduct, yet, if thou hast not been born again, and regenerated by sovereign grace, the curse of God still rests upon thine head. If thou hast but committed one sin in thy life, God’s justice is so inexorable, that it condemns a man for one solitary offense; and though thy life should henceforth be one continued career of holiness, if thou hast sinned but once, unless thou hast an interest in the blood of Christ, the thunders of Sinai are launched at thee, and the lightnings of terrible vengeance flash all around thee. Ah! my hearers, how humbling is this doctrine to our pride, that the curse of God is on every man of the seed of Adam; that every child born in this world is born under the curse, since it is born under the law; and that the moment I sin, though I transgress but once, I am from that moment condemned already; for “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”-cursed without a single hope of mercy, unless he find that mercy in the Substitute “who was made a curse for us.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

 

The Intention of the Divine Law

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”- Galatians 3:13

Paul says, “the law is holy, but I am carnal; sold under sin.” In all we ever say concerning justification by faith, we never intend to lower the opinion which our hearers have of the law, for the law is one of the most sublime of God’s works. There is not a commandment too many; there is not one too few; but it is so incomparable, that its perfection is a proof of its divinity…But while the law is glorious, it is never more misapplied than when it is used as a means of salvation. God never intended men to be saved by the law. When He proclaimed it on Sinai, it was with thunder, fire, and smoke; as if He would say, “O man, hear My law; but thou shalt tremble while thou hearest it.” Hear it! It is a law which hath the blast of a terrible trumpet, even like the day of destruction, of which it is but the herald, if thou offendest it, and findest none to bear the doom for thee. It was written on stone; as if to teach us that it was a hard, cold, stony law-one which would have no mercy upon us, but which, if we break it, would fall upon us, and dash us into a thousand pieces. O ye who trust in the law for your salvation! ye have erred from the faith; ye do not understand God’s designs; ye are ignorant of every one of God’s truths… It was intended by its thunders to crush every hope of self-righteousness, by its lightnings to scathe and demolish every tower of our own works, that we might be brought humbly and simply to accept a finished salvation through the one mighty Mediator who has “finished the law, and made it honorable, and brought in an everlasting righteousness,” whereby we stand, stand complete before our Maker at last, if we be in Christ. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm