salvation

The Glory of Christ’s Grace

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation Leave a comment

Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise. – Luke 23:40-43

I constantly meet with persons in this condition: they have lived a life of wantonness, excess, and carelessness, and they begin to feel the fire-flakes of the tempest of wrath falling upon their flesh; they dwell in an earthly hell, a prelude of eternal woe. Remorse, like an asp, has stung them, and set their blood on fire: they cannot rest, they are troubled day and night. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” It has found them out, and arrested them, and they feel the strong grip of conviction. This man (the thief) was in that horrible condition. What is more, he was in extremis. He could not live long; the crucifixion was sure to be fatal; in a short time, his legs would be broken, to end his wretched existence. He, poor soul, had but a short time to live-only the space between noon and sundown; but it was long enough for the Saviour, who is mighty to save. Some are very much afraid that people will put off coming to Christ, if we state this. I cannot help what wicked men do with truth, but I shall state it all the same. If you are now within an hour of death, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. If you never reach your homes again, but drop dead on the road, if you will now believe in the Lord Jesus, you shall be saved: saved now on the spot. Looking and trusting to Jesus, He will give you a new heart and a right spirit and blot out your sins. This is the glory of Christ’s grace. How I wish I could extol it in proper language! He was last seen on earth before His death in company with a convicted felon, to whom He spoke most lovingly. Come, O ye guilty, and He will receive you graciously! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

None Excluded-He Will Save You

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, prayer, promises, repentance, salvation Leave a comment

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise. Luke 23:43

I want you to notice that the last companion of Christ on earth was a sinner, and no ordinary sinner. (The thief) had broken even the laws of man, for he was a robber. One calls him “a brigand”; and I suppose it is likely to have been the case. The brigands of those days mixed murder with their robberies: he was probably a freebooter in arms against the Roman government, making this a pretext for plundering as he had opportunity. At last, he was arrested, and was condemned by a Roman tribunal, which, on the whole, was usually just, and in this case was certainly just; for he himself confesses the justice of his condemnation (v.41). The malefactor who believed upon the cross was a convict, who had lain in the condemned cell, and was then undergoing execution for his crimes. A convicted felon was the person with whom our Lord last consorted upon earth. What a lover of the souls of guilty men is He! What a stoop He makes to the very lowest of mankind! To this most unworthy of men the Lord of glory, ere He quitted life, spoke with matchless grace. He spoke to him such wondrous words as never can be excelled if you search the Scriptures through: “To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” …You may come to him, whoever you may be; for this man did. Here is a specimen of one who had gone to the extreme of guilt, and who acknowledged that he had done so; he made no excuse and sought no cloak for his sin; he was in the hands of justice, confronted with the death-doom, and yet he believed in Jesus, and breathed a humble prayer to Him, and he was saved on the spot…None of you are excluded from the infinite mercy of Christ, however great your iniquity: if you believe in Jesus, He will save you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

He Made a Friend of You and Me

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 2 Comments

The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! – Luke 7:34

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise. Luke 23:43

What sorry company our Lord selected when He was here! He did not consort with the religious Pharisees or the philosophic Sadducees, but He was known as “the friend of publicans and sinners.” How I rejoice at this! It gives me assurance that He will not refuse to associate with me. When the Lord Jesus made a friend of me, He certainly did not make a choice which brought Him credit. Do you think He gained any honour when He made a friend of you? Has He ever gained anything by us? No, my brethren; if Jesus had not stooped very low, He would not have come to me; and if He did not seek the most unworthy, He might not have come to you. You feel it so, and you are thankful that He came “not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” As the great physician, our Lord was much with the sick: He went where there was room for Him to exercise His healing art. The whole have no need of a physician: they cannot appreciate him, nor afford scope for his skill; and therefore, He did not frequent their abodes. Yes, after all, our Lord did make a good choice when He saved you and me; for in us He has found abundant room for His mercy and grace. There has been elbow room for His love to work within the awful emptiness of our necessities and sins; and therein He has done great things for us, whereof we are glad. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

No Mean Faith

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

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise. – Luke 23:42, 43

It is not only the weakness of our Lord which makes the salvation of the penitent thief memorable; it is the fact that the dying malefactor saw it before his very eyes. Can you put yourself into his place, and suppose yourself to be looking upon one who hangs in agony upon a cross? Could you readily believe Him to be the Lord of glory, who would soon come to His kingdom? That was no mean faith which, at such a moment, could believe in Jesus as Lord and King. If the apostle Paul were here and wanted to add a New Testament chapter to the eleventh of Hebrews, he might certainly commence his instances of remarkable faith with this thief, who believed in a crucified, derided, and dying Christ, and cried to Him as to one whose kingdom would surely come. The thief’s faith was the more remarkable because he was himself in great pain and bound to die. It is not easy to exercise confidence when you are tortured with deadly anguish. Our own rest of mind has at times been greatly hindered by pain of body. When we are the subjects of acute suffering it is not easy to exhibit that faith which we fancy we possess at other times. This man, suffering as he did, and seeing the Saviour in so sad a state, nevertheless believed unto life eternal. Herein was such faith as is seldom seen…Like a jutting rock, standing out in the midst of a torrent, he declared the innocence of the Christ whom others blasphemed. His faith is worthy of our imitation in its fruits. He had no member that was free except his tongue, and he used that member wisely to rebuke his brother malefactor and defend his Lord. His faith brought forth a brave testimony and a bold confession…Behold the power of that divine Spirit who could produce such faith on soil so unlikely, and in a climate so unpropitious. ~ C.H Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

The Power of His Grace

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

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”- Luke 23:42-43

The story of the salvation of the dying thief is a standing instance of the power of Christ to save, and of His abundant willingness to receive all that come to Him, in whatever plight they may be. I cannot regard this act of grace as a solitary instance, any more than the salvation of Zacchaeus, the restoration of Peter, or the call of Saul, the persecutor. Every conversion is, in a sense, singular: no two are exactly alike, and yet any one conversion is a type of others. The case of the dying thief is much more similar to our conversion than it is dissimilar; in point of fact, his case may be regarded as typical, rather than as an extraordinary incident. 

Remember, beloved friends, that our Lord Jesus, at the time He saved this malefactor, was at His lowest. His glory had been ebbing out in Gethsemane, and before Caiaphas, and Herod, and Pilate; but it had now reached the utmost low-water mark. Stripped of His garments, and nailed to the cross, our Lord was mocked by a ribald crowd, and was dying in agony. Then was He “numbered with the transgressors,” and made as the offscouring of all things. Yet, while in that condition, He achieved this marvellous deed of grace. Behold the wonder wrought by the Saviour when emptied of all His glory and hanged up a spectacle of shame upon the brink of death! How certain is it that He can do great wonders of mercy now, seeing that He has returned unto His glory, and sitteth upon the throne of light! “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” If a dying Saviour saved the thief, my argument is, that He can do even more now that He liveth and reigneth. All power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth; can anything at this present time surpass the power of His grace? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

Alter Yourself 

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

…shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? – Romans 3:3

If some do not believe, will God change the gospel to suit them? Will He seek to please their depraved taste? Ought we to change our preaching because of “the spirit of the age”? Never, unless it be to fight “the spirit of the age” more desperately that ever. We ask for no terms between Christ and His enemies except these, unconditional surrender to Him. He will bate not jot of tittle of His claims; but He will still come to you, and say, “Submit yourselves; bow down, and own Me as King and Lord, and take Me to be your Saviour. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and besides Me there is none else.” If you wait till there is a revised version of the gospel, you will be lost. If you wait till there is a gospel brought out that will not cost you so much of giving up sin, or so much of bowing your proud necks, you will wait until you find yourself in hell. Come, I pray you, come even now, and believe the gospel. It cannot be altered to your taste; therefore, alter yourself so as to meet its requirements.

I thought I saw a vision once, when I was by the seaside. To my closed eyes, there seemed to come down to the beach at Brighton a huge black horse, which went into the water, and began to drink; and I thought I heard a voice that said, “It will drink the sea dry.” My great horse grew, and grew, till it was such a huge creature that I could scarcely measure it; and still it drank, and drank, and drank. All the while the sea did not appear to alter in the least, the water was still there as deep as ever. By-and-by the animal burst, and its remains were washed up on the beach, and there it lay dead, killed by its own folly. That will be the end of this big black horse of infidelity that boasts that it is going to drink up this everlasting gospel. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2255.cfm

If You Will Not Have Christ, Others Will

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

For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? …let God be true, but every man a liar… – Romans 3:3,4

Will God fail to keep His promise to anyone who believes on Him? Because some do not believe, will God’s promise therefore fail to be kept to those who do believe? I invite you to come and try. When two of John’s disciples enquired of Jesus where He dwelt, He said to them, “Come and see.” If any person here will try Christ, as I tried Him when yet a youth, as miserable as I could be, and ready to die with despair, if they shall feel in believing such joy as I felt, if they shall experience such a change of character as passed over me when I believed in Christ, they would not tolerate a doubt. What they have known, and felt, and tasted, and handled of the good Word of God, will prove to them that, if some believe not, yet God abideth faithful, He will never deny Himself.

Will God be unfaithful to His Son if some do not believe? I have heard sometimes a fear expressed that Christ will lose those for whom He dies. I thank God that I have no fear about that. “He shall see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied.” I never come to you, and, in forma pauperis, ask you to accept Christ, begging and praying you to take Christ, because otherwise He will be a loser by you. It is you who must beg of Him. He giveth grace as a king bestows his favours; nay more, He lovingly condescends to entreat you to come to Him. Suppose that you wickedly say, “We will not have Christ to reign over us.” If you think that you will rob Him of honour, and bring disgrace upon Him by your rejection, you make a great mistake. If you will not have Him, others will. If you who are so wise will not have Christ, there are plenty whom you reckon to be fools who will take Him to be their “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” This word shall yet become true. “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2255.cfm