“Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, the celebrated Brooklyn divine, was visiting the famous London preacher, Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon. After a hard day of work and serious discussion, these two mighty men of God went out into the country together for a holiday.

They roamed the fields in high spirits like boys let loose from school, chatting and laughing and free from care. Dr. Cuyler had just told a story at which Mr. Spurgeon laughed uproariously.

Then suddenly he turned to Dr. Cuyler and exclaimed, ‘Theodore, let’s kneel down and thank God for laughter!’

And there, on the green carpet of grass, under the trees, two of the world’s greatest men knelt and thanked the dear Lord for the bright and joyous gift of laughter.”

The Sabbath Recorder, 4 January 1915, page 157.

I wish, my brothers and sisters, that during this year you may live nearer to Christ than you have ever done before. Depend upon it, it is when we think much of Christ that we think little of ourselves, little of our troubles, and little of the doubts and fears that surround us.

Begin from this day, and may God help you. Never let a single day pass over your head without a visit to the garden of Gethsemane, and the cross on Calvary.

And as for some of you who are not saved, and know not the Redeemer, I would to God that this very day you would come to Christ. I dare say you think coming to Christ is some terrible thing: that you need to be prepared before you come; that he is hard and harsh with you. When men have to go to a lawyer they need to tremble; when they have to go to the doctor they may fear; though both those persons, however unwelcome, may be often necessary. But when you come to Christ, you may come boldly. There is no fee required; there is no preparation necessary.

You may come just as you are. It was a brave saying of Martin Luther’s, when he said, “I would run into Christ’s arms even if he had a drawn sword in his hand.” Now, he has not a drawn sword, but he has his wounds in his hands. Run into his arms, poor sinner. “Oh,” you say, “May I come?” How can you ask the question? you are commanded to come. The great command of the gospel is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus.”

Those who disobey this command disobey God. It is as much a command of God that man should believe on Christ, as that we should love our neighbor. Now, what is a command I have certainly a right to obey. There can be no question you see; a sinner has liberty to believe in Christ because he is told to do so. God would not have told him to do a thing which he must not do. You are allowed to believe.

“Oh,” saith one, “that is all I want to know. I do believe that Christ is able to save to the uttermost. May I rest my soul on him, and say, sink or swim, most blessed Jesus, thou art my Lord?” May do it! man? Why you are commanded to do it. Oh that you may be enabled to do it. Remember, this is not a thing which you will do at a risk. The risk is in not doing it. Cast yourself on Christ, sinner. Throw away every other dependence and rest alone on him.

How important is this verse? Get this right, and you will understand your salvation through Jesus Christ. Miss it, and you’ve missed the truth of the Gospel.

The verse contains just 23 words – 21 of the words are only one syllable, one word is two syllables and the third one is of three syllables.

Simple. Practical. Straightforward. Just like the Gospel.

Second Corinthians 5:21 says,

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Our SUBSTITUTE – For our sake he made him to be sin…

He died in our place – For our sake…

He took on our penalty – …he made him to be sin…

Our SAVIOR – who knew no sin…

When He walked this earth, Jesus was perfectly righteous. He was without fault, without sin and without evil. He never did anything wrong. He never once sinned. He fulfilled every righteous requirement of God’s Law.

Our EXCHANGE– so that in him we might become the righteousness of God

Theologians have a term for this exchange. They call it the doctrine of imputation. That’s a term from the banking world. It means that when we trust Christ our sin is credited to Christ’s account and his righteousness is credited to our account. He takes our debt and we get his credit. He paid what we owed – and could never pay, and he gives us what he has – and we could never earn.

He was condemned that we might be justified. He was rejected that we might be redeemed. He bore our sin that we might be set free. He died that we might live. He suffered that we might be saved. He was made sin that we might be made righteous.

“They have dealt faithlessly with (treacherously against) the Lord.”

Hosea 5:7

Believer, here is a sorrowful truth! Thou art the beloved of the Lord, redeemed by blood, called by grace, preserved in Christ Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, on thy way to heaven, and yet, “thou hast dealt treacherously” with God, thy best friend; treacherously with Jesus, whose thou art; treacherously with the Holy Spirit, by whom thou hast been quickened unto life eternal!

How treacherous you have been in the matter of vows and promises. Do you remember the love of your espousals, that happy time—the springtide of your spiritual life?

Oh, how closely did you cling to your Master then! saying, “He shall never charge me with indifference; my feet shall never grow slow in the way of His service; I will not suffer my heart to wander after other loves; in Him is every store of sweetness ineffable. I give all up for my Lord Jesus’ sake.”

Has it been so?

Alas! if conscience speak, it will say, “He who promised so well has performed most ill. Prayer has oftentimes been slurred—it has been short, but not sweet; brief, but not fervent. Communion with Christ has been forgotten. Instead of a heavenly mind, there have been carnal cares, worldly vanities and thoughts of evil. Instead of service, there has been disobedience; instead of fervency, lukewarmness; instead of patience, petulance; instead of faith, confidence in an arm of flesh; and as a soldier of the cross there has been cowardice, disobedience, and desertion, to a very shameful degree.”

“Thou hast dealt treacherously.” Treachery to Jesus! What words shall be used in denouncing it? Words little avail: let our penitent thoughts execrate the sin which is so surely in us. Treacherous to Thy wounds, O Jesus! Forgive us, and let us not sin again! How shameful to be treacherous to Him who never forgets us, but who this day stands with our names engraven on His breastplate before the eternal throne.

Charles Spurgeon, Morning Devotions

“The gate of Mercy is opened, and over the door it is written, ‘This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.‘

Between that word ‘save’ and the next word ‘sinners,’ there is no adjective.

It does not say, ‘penitent sinners,’ ‘awakened sinners,’ ‘sensible sinners,’ ‘grieving sinners’ or ‘alarmed sinners.’

No, it only says, ‘sinners.’

And I know this, that when I come, I come to Christ today, for I feel it is as much a necessity of my life to come to the cross of Christ today as it was to come ten years ago—when I come to him, I dare not come as a conscious sinner or an awakened sinner, but I have to come still as a sinner with nothing in my hands.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, preaching on John 3:18, 17 February 1861.

Via: Ray Ortlund

All true religion is the work of God.  God is indeed the author of salvation in the world, and religion is the work of grace.  If there is anything good or excellent found in his Church, it, too, is entirely God’s work, from last to first.

It is God who quickens a soul which was dead, and it is God who maintains the life of that soul; God who nurtures and perfects that life in the Church.  We ascribe nothing to ourselves and everything to God.  We do not dare for a single moment to think that our conversion or our sanctification is effected by our own efforts or the efforts of another.  True, there are means by which we are converted and sanctified, but they are entirely God’s work.

There are many things that should make you valiant for God and for his truth. The first thing I will bring to your remembrance is the fact, that this warfare in which you are engaged is an hereditary warfare; it is not one which you began, but it is one which has been handed to you from the moment when the blood of Abel cried aloud for vengeance.

Each martyr that had died has passed the blood-red flag to the next, and he in his turn has passed it on to another.  Every confessor who has been nailed to the stake to burn, has lit his candle, and handed it to another, and said, “Take care of that!”  And now here is the old “sword of the Lord and of Gideon.”

Remember what hands have handled the hilt; remember what arms have wielded it; remember how often it has “pierced to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow.”  Will you disgrace it?

There is the great banner: it has waved in many a breeze; long ere the flag of this our land was made, this flag of Christ was borne aloft.  Will you stain it?  Will you not hand it to your children, still unsullied, and say, “Go on, go on; we leave you the heritage of war; go on, and conquer. What your father did, do you again, still keep up the war, till time shall end.”

I love my Bible because it is a Bible baptized with blood; I love it all the better, because it has the blood of Tyndale on it; I love it, because it has on it the blood of John Bradford, and Rowland Taylor, and Hooper; I love it, because it is stained with blood.

If only more in the church today understood the sacredness of God’s Word and knew more of those who shed the blood of martyrdom so that we may have our own personal copy to study.

Says Spurgeon,

“When we are sure that we are forgiven, then we abhor iniquity; and I suppose that when faith grows into full assurance, so that we are certain beyond a doubt that the blood of Jesus has washed us whiter than snow, it is then that repentance reaches to its greatest height.  Repentance grows as faith grows. Do not make any mistake about it; repentance is not a thing of days and weeks, a temporary penance to be over as fast as possible! No; it is the grace of a lifetime, like faith itself.”

In the same way that faith is not a one-time decision, neither is repentance a one-time act.  Both faith and repentance are defining traits of those who not only believe in Jesus Christ but who have also been born again by His Spirit.

May we never grow feeble in faith, and may never lose the fervor of contrition.