The Life-Blood of a Gospel Ministry

Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: and let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “Let God be magnified.” – Psalm 70:4

Sin was not pardoned absolutely; else justice had been dishonored; but sin was transferred from the guilty to the innocent One. “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” When our iniquity was found upon the innocent Lamb of God, He was “smitten of God and afflicted,” as if He had been a sinner; He was made to suffer for transgressions not His own, as if they had been His own; and thus, mercy and justice met together, righteousness and grace kissed each other. Alas! there are many who fight against this plan, but I rejoice that I am surrounded by warm hearts who love it and would die for it. As for me, I know no other gospel and let this tongue be dumb rather than it should ever preach any other. Substitution is the very marrow of the whole Bible, the soul of salvation, the essence of the gospel, we ought to saturate all our sermons with it, for it is the life-blood of a gospel ministry. We must daily show how God the Judge can be “just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth.” We must declare that God has made the Redeemer’s soul a sacrifice for sin, making Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our plain testimony must be, that “He was made a curse for us;” that “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree;” that “He was once offered to bear the sins of many;” and that “He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many.” About this we must never speak with bated breath, lest we be found unfaithful to our charge. And why, brethren, should we not joyfully proclaim this doctrine? for is it not the grandest, noblest, most divine, under heaven? The plan so adorns all the attributes of the Godhead and furnishes such a safe footing for a trembling conscience to rest upon, such a fortress, castle, and high tower for faith to rejoice in, that we cannot do otherwise than love it. The very way and plan of it is dearer to our souls than life itself. Oh, then let us always say, “Let God be magnified,” since He devised, arranged, and carried out this Godlike method of blending justice with mercy. C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm

He is Salvation

Let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified.” – Psalm 40:16; 70:4

Let me show you, beloved, what it is in salvation that the thoughtful believer loves; and I may begin by saying that he loves, best of all, the Savior Himself. Often our Lord is called Salvation, because He is the great worker of it, the author and finisher, the Alpha and the Omega of it. He who has Christ has salvation; and, as He is the essence of salvation, He is the center of the saved ones’ affection. Have you, beloved, carefully considered that Jesus is divine, that He counts it not robbery to be equal with God, being our Creator and Preserver, as well as our Redeemer? Do you fully understand that our Lord is infinite, eternal, nothing less than God; and yet for our sakes He took upon Himself our nature, was clothed in that nature with all its infirmities, sin alone excepted, and in that nature agonized, bled, and died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Oh, marvel of marvels, miracle of miracles! The immortal Lord stoops to death; the Prince of glory bows to be spit upon. Shame and dishonor could not make Him start back from His blessed purpose, but to the death of the cross He surrendered Himself. O, you who are saved, do you not love Christ, who is your salvation? Do you not feel a burning desire to behold Him as He is? Is not His presence, even now, a nether heaven to you? Will not a face-to-face view of His glory be all the heaven that your utmost stretch of imagination can conceive? I know it is so. Your heart is bound to Jesus, His name is set as a seal upon it; therefore, I charge you to say continually, “Let God be magnified.” Glory be to the Father who gave His Son, to the Son who gave Himself, to the Spirit who revealed all this to us. Triune God, be Thou extolled for ever and ever.

“He bore, that we might never bear,
His Father’s righteous ire.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm

Glorying in the Lord

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:30,31

So glorious is God that all the angels’ harps cannot sound forth half His glory. So blessed is Christ that the orchestra of the countless multitudes of the redeemed, though it continues for ever and for ever its pealing music, can never reach to the majesty of His name or the glory of His work. “Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.” Let time and space become great mouths for song; let the infinite roll up its waves; let all creatures lift up their voices in praise of Him that liveth and was dead; but chiefly, O my soul, since to Him thou owest in a double sense thine existence, give thy praise to Him from whom all blessing comes. Give thou the homage of thine intellect to Him who is thy wisdom. Let thy conscience and love of rectitude adore Him who has made thee righteous. Give the tribute of thy soul to Him who sanctifies thee; let thy sanctified nature consecrate itself continually; and to Him that hath redeemed thee give thou never-ceasing praise. I wish it were possible for me to rise to the height of my text, but my wings flag; I cannot ascend as the eagle and face the full blaze of the sun; I can but mount a little as the lark, and sing my song, and then return to my nest. God grant you to know the Lord Jesus in His fullness in your personal experience. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0991.cfm

All Glory Be unto God

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. – 1 Corinthians 1:30,31

My soul is free from slavery, but my poor trembling and much suffering body feels the chains of death. Weakened by pain, my body shall in all probability bow before the stroke of death’s sword. Unless the Lord soon come, it must be the portion of this frame to feed the worm and mingle with the dust: but, O my body, thou art redeemed, and thou shalt rise in power and incorruption; thou shalt yet adore the Lord without weariness, and without pain shalt thou serve Him day and night in His temple. Even thou, O my weary body; even thou shalt be made glorious like unto the Lord Himself: Thou shalt rise and live in the brightness of His presence.

You see then, brethren, our very existence as Christians, and all that we possess as Christians, we get from God by Jesus Christ; let all our glory then be unto Him. What insanity it is to boast in any but in our Lord Jesus! How foolish are they that are proud of the beauty of their flesh-worms’ meat at the best! How foolish are they who are proud of their wisdom! The wisdom of which a man is proud, is but folly in a thin disguise. How foolish are they that are vain of their wealth! He must be a poor man who can think much of gold. He must be a beggar indeed who counts a piece of dirt a treasure. They that know Christ, always value these things at their right estimate, and that is low indeed. If any glory-and I suppose it is natural to us to glory, there is a boasting bump on all our heads-let us glory in the Lord; and here is a wide field and ample sea-room. Now, put out every stitch of canvas, run up the topgallants, seek as stiff a breeze as you will, there is no fear of running on a lee shore here, or striking a rock, or drifting on a quicksand! O men, O angels, O cherubim, O seraphim, boast in Jesus Christ! Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption is He, therefore ye may boast and boast, and boast again! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0991.cfm

The Alpha and Omega Blessing

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us…redemption… – 1 Corinthians 1:30

The last item of our boundless wealth catalogued in the text is “redemption.” Somebody says: “That ought to have come first; because redemption, surely, is the first blessing that we enjoy.” Ay, but it is the last as well. It is the alpha blessing, I grant you that-but it is the omega blessing too. You are not yet redeemed altogether. By price you are-for He that redeemed you on the tree did not leave unpaid a penny of your ransom; but you are not yet altogether redeemed by power. In a measure, you are set free by divine power; for you have been brought up out of the Egypt of your sin, you have been delivered from the galling bondage of your corruption, and led through the Red Sea, to be fed upon the heavenly manna; but you are not altogether redeemed by power as yet. There are links of the old chains yet to be snapped from off you, and there is a bondage still about you from which you are ere long to be delivered. You are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.” You will fall asleep, rejoicing that you were redeemed; but you will not, even when you die, have received the full redemption. When will that come-the full redemption? Only at the second advent of the Lord Jesus; for when the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, then the bodies of His saints, which have long been lying in the prison-house of the sepulcher, shall be redeemed by a glorious redemption from the power of death. “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” The bodies of the saints shall come again from the land of the enemy. Then their body, soul, and spirit-their entire manhood, which Christ hath bought, shall be altogether free from the reign of the enemy. Then will redemption be completed. Remember the saints in heaven without us cannot be made perfect, that is to say, they wait till we arrive among them, and when all the rest of the chosen ones shall be gathered in, and the fullness of time has come, then shall the bodies of the dead arise; and then, in body and soul made perfect, the year of the redeemed shall have fully come. “Lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Here, then, is my joy, that Christ is my redemption. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0991.cfm

Sanctified in Christ Jesus

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us righteousness, and sanctification… – 1 Corinthians 1:30

Our sanctification is all in Christ; that is to say, it is because we are in Christ that we have the basis of sanctification, which consists in being set apart. A thing was sanctified of old, under the law, when it was set apart for God’s service. We were sanctified in Christ Jesus when we were set apart by the divine Spirit to be the Lord’s own peculiar people for ever. Election is the basis of sanctification. Moreover, the power by which we are sanctified comes to us entirely by virtue of our union with Christ. The Holy Spirit who sanctifies us through the truth, works in us by virtue of our union with Jesus. That which becomes holy in us is the new life. The old nature never changes into a holy thing; the carnal mind is not reconciled to God, neither, indeed, can be. The old man is not sent to the hospital to be healed, but to the cross to be crucified. It is not transformed and improved but doomed to die and to be buried. The ordinance of baptism…is meant to show, by our immersion in the liquid tomb, that it is by death and burial that we pass into life by the power of resurrection. If any man be in Christ, he is not an old creature mended up: he is a new creature. “Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” Now, it is because this new life is the great, the true matter of sanctification, and because it comes to us by virtue of our oneness with Christ, that Jesus Christ is made to us the power and the life by which we are sanctified. 

“Thou art God’s child: walk worthy of Him who is thy Father.” His love to thee will never cease. He cannot cast thee away: He is faithful and never changes, therefore love Him in return. This is a motive fit for the child of the free woman, and it moves His heart. The child of the bond woman is driven by the whip, but the child of the free woman is drawn by cords of love. “The love of Christ constraineth us;” not fear of hell but love of Christ; not fear that God will cast us away, for that He cannot do, but the joy that we are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation constrains us to cling to Him with all our heart and soul, for ever and ever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0991.cfm

Imputed Righteousness

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us…righteousness… – 1 Corinthians 1:30

He is made of God unto us righteousness. This was a great want of ours, for naturally we were unrighteous, and to this hour in ourselves we are the same. Righteous we must be to be acceptable with God, but righteous we certainly are not personally, and by merit. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we are unable to stand before the great King; but there is One who says: “Take away his filthy garments from him,” and that same Deliverer, even the Lord Jesus Christ, is made of God unto us righteousness. You know how we usually speak of this as a double work. His blood cleanseth us from all guilt; by it pardon is bestowed upon the believer. He that looks to Christ is absolved from all sin completely so. Then, in addition to that cleansing, which we call pardon, there is the clothing, the arraying in the righteousness of Christ-in a word, there is justification by faith. The doctrine of imputed righteousness seems to me to be firmly established in the Word of God…Not only is Christ’s righteousness imputed to me, but it is mine actually, for Christ is mine. He who believes in Jesus, has Jesus Christ to be his own Christ, and the righteousness of Christ belongs to that believer, and is his. We are not merely imputably righteous, but the righteousness of our substitute is legally, actually, truly our righteousness. I am not now speaking of nature-that would have to do with sanctification-but I am speaking of repute before God. He reckons us to be righteous in Christ, and He does not reckon wrongly; the imputation is not a legal fiction or a charitable error. We are righteous. Depend upon it, God’s imputation is not like human imputation, which makes a thing to be what it is not: we are in Christ made actually righteous, because we are one with Him…As He is, so are we also in this respect. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0991.cfm