“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died.”- Romans 8:33, 34

Here are two very wonderful challenges thrown out by the apostle Paul. First, he boldly defies anyone to charge the chosen of God with sin: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” and then, even if any charges should be brought against them, he defies all our foes to secure an adverse verdict: “Who is he that condemneth?” This would be a very bold challenge even for a man who had been righteous from his youth up. If there had been a man, in the history of the world, who from his infancy had known God, and who had grown up serving him, devoting himself entirely to the cause of the Lord Christ; and if he had kept the commandments without fail, as far as man could judge, it would be a very hazardous thing even for him to say. “Who is he that condemneth?” For human righteousness is only human; being human, it is finite; and, being finite, it falls short somewhere or other. The best of men are but men at the best; to be a man is to be a fallen creature, and being fallen creatures, we cannot of ourselves perfectly please the thrice-holy Jehovah. In many things we all offend.

Happy shall you and I be if, though covered with sin, though guilty and unclean, we nevertheless shall have faith to believe in the Christ that died, a faith so strong, and confident that we shall dare to stand both now, and at the judgment-seat of Christ, and say, “Who is he that condemneth?” May we have this faith on our dying bed, when the pulse is faint and feeble, and heart and flesh begin to fail! May we still, between the very jaws of death, have solid confidence in God, and dare to ask for the presence of men and devils, too, “Who is he that condemneth?” being made bold to do so because we have believed in the Christ that died. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2240.cfm

…and unto them that look for Him… – Hebrews 9:28

Even the better sort of believers who wait for His coming, as all the ten virgins did, nevertheless do not watch. Even the best sort of the waiters slumbered and slept. You are waiting, but you are sleeping! This is a mournful business. A man who is asleep cannot be said to look; and yet it is “unto them that look for Him” that the Lord comes with salvation. We must be wide-awake to look. We ought to go up to the watchtower every morning, and look toward the sun-rising, to see whether He is coming. Surely our last act at night should be to look out for His star, and say, “Is He coming?” It ought to be a daily disappointment when our Lord does not come; instead of being, as I fear it is, a kind of foregone conclusion that He will not come just yet. How pleased we are if some daring fellow will tell us when He will come, for then we can get ready near the time, and need not perpetually watch! We would not go to a gypsy in a red cloak, and let her tell our own fortune; but we will let a man in a black coat tell us the fortune of our Lord. What folly! Of that day and of that hour knoweth no man, nor even the angels of God. This time of the advent is a secret; and purposely so, that we may always be on tip-toe of expectation, always looking out, because our Lord is surely coming; but we are not sure when He cometh. “And unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Many professing Christians forget Christ’s second coming altogether; others drop a smile when we speak about it, as though it belonged only to fanatics and dreamers. But ye, beloved, I trust, are not of that kind. As ye believe really in the first coming and the one great sacrifice, so believe really in the second coming without a sin-offering unto the climax of your salvation…May we even now be made to sit together with Christ in the heavenlies! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2194.cfm

…and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. – Hebrews 9:28

Notice that this appearing and this salvation will chiefly belong to those who look for Him...The text says, “Unto them that look for Him shall He appear a second time without sin unto salvation.” How many here are looking for our Lord’s second coming? I am afraid if conscience hath her perfect work many will have to say, “I am afraid I am not among the number.” I will tell you what it is to look for that second appearing. It is to love the Lord Jesus, to love Him so that you long for Him as a bride longeth for her husband. Why are His chariots so long in coming? Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Strong love hates separation, it pines for union. It cries, “Come, Lord! Come, Lord!” Longing follows on the heels of loving. To look for His coming is to prepare for Him. If I were asked to visit you to-morrow evening, I am sure you would make some preparations for my call-even for one so common-place as myself. You would prepare, because you would welcome me… When we expect our Lord to come, we shall be concerned to have everything ready for Him. I sometimes see the great gates open in front of the larger houses in the suburbs; and it means that they are expecting company. Keep the great gates of your soul always open, expecting your Lord to come…Do not say, “The Lord will not yet come, and therefore I shall make my plans irrespective of Him for the next twenty or thirty years.” You may not be here in the next twenty or thirty minutes, or, if you are, your Lord may be here also. He cometh; He is on the road; He started long ago, and He sent on a herald before Him to cry, “Behold, I come quickly.” He has been coming quickly over the mountains of division ever since; and He must be here soon. If you look for His appearing you will be found in an attitude of one who waits and watches, that when his Lord cometh he may meet Him with joy. Christ is coming, I must not sin: Christ is coming, I must not be rooted to the world. Are you thus expecting Him? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2194.cfm

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. – Hebrews 9:28

He will appear. The appearing will be of the most open character. He will not be visible in some quiet place where two or three are met, but He will appear as the lightning is seen in the heavens. At His first appearing He was truly seen: wherever He went He could be looked at and gazed upon and touched and handled. He will appear quite as plainly, by-and-by, among the sons of men…We have seen that He once offered Himself without spot to God, and therefore, when He comes a second time, His relation to human guilt will finally cease. He will then have nothing further to do with that sin which was laid upon Him. Our sin, which He took to Himself by imputation, He has borne and discharged. Not only is the sinner free, but the sinner’s Surety is free also; for He has paid our debt to the utmost farthing. Jesus is no longer under obligation on our account. When He comes a second time, He will have no connection of any sort with the sin which once He bare. He will come, moreover, without those sicknesses and infirmities which arise out of sin…when He comes a second time it will be without the weakness, pain, poverty, and shame which accompany sin. There will then be no marred visage nor bleeding brow. He will have re-assumed His ancient glory. It will be His glorious appearing…Oh, what a glorious appearing is this! A true appearing, and yet the very opposite of the first.

To-day we fight, and He fights in us; we groan, and He groans in us, for the dread conflict is raging. When He comes again the battle will be ended: He shall divide the spoil of vanquished evil and celebrate the victory of righteousness. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2194.cfm

Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. – 1 Peter 2:24

The very best way to describe the death of our Lord is to call it “the sacrifice of Himself.” It may be well rightly to divide the sacrifice, as the priest cut up the bullock or the ram. You may speak of our Lord’s bodily sufferings, His mental griefs, and His spiritual anguish; but for the most part we are not able to go far in this detailed appreciation of the wondrous sacrifice. We are such poor folk in spiritual things, that instead of bringing a bullock which could be anatomized and its vital organs all laid bare, we are content to bring a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons; and these were not carefully divided asunder, but burned upon the altar. The most of us have to take our Lord Jesus Christ as a whole; since, from want of understanding, we cannot go into detail. What did He offer to God? He made a sacrifice of Himself. Truly He sacrificed His crown, His rest, His honor, His reputation, and His life; but the essence of the sacrifice was Himself: Himself took our iniquity, and bare our sorrows. “He His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” Thy sacrifice, O Christ, is not to be measured unless we could compute the infinity of Thy Godhead. It was not only Thy labor, Thy pain, Thy shame, Thy death; Thy sacrifice was Thyself; what more couldest even Thou offer? There, on the altar, the Son of God did place Himself, and there He bled and died that He might be the victim of punitive justice, the substitute for guilty men. There was He unto God a sweet-smelling savor, because He vindicated the law, and made it possible for the Lawgiver to be justly merciful. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2194.cfm