Apr 20
4
From Spurgeon’s sermon, “HIS NAME — WONDERFUL!”
Once upon a time, there came one to my house of a black and
terrible aspect. He smote the door; I tried to bolt it- to hold
it fast. He smote again and again, till at last he entered,
and with a rough voice he summoned me before him; and he said,
“I have a message from God for you–
you are condemned on account of your sins.”
I looked at him with astonishment; I asked him his name.
He said, “My name is the Law.” and I fell at his feet as
one that was dead. “I was alive without the law once:
but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”
As I lay there, he smote me.
He smote me till every rib seemed as if it must break,
and the bowels be poured forth.
My heart was melted like wax within me;
I seemed to be stretched upon a rack-
to be pinched with hot irons-
to be beaten with whips of burning wire.
A misery extreme dwelt and reigned in my heart.
I dared not lift up mine eyes, but I thought within myself,
“There may be hope, there may be mercy for me.
Perhaps the God whom I have offended may accept my
tears and my promises of amendment, and I may live.”
But when that thought crossed my mind, heavier were the
blows and more poignant my sufferings than before, till hope
entirely failed me, and I had nothing wherein to trust.
Darkness black and dense gathered round me.
I heard a voice as it were, of rushing to and fro, and of wailing
and gnashing of teeth. I said within my soul, “I am cast out from
his sight, I am utterly abhorred of God- he has trampled me in
the mire of the streets in his anger.”
And there came one by, of sorrowful but of loving aspect,
and he stooped over me, and he said, “Awake you that sleep,
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”
I arose in astonishment, and he took me, and he led
me to a place where stood a cross, and he seemed to
vanish from my sight.
But he appeared again hanging there.
I looked upon him as he bled upon that tree.
His eyes darted a glance of love unutterable into my spirit,
and in a moment, looking at him, the bruises that my soul had
suffered were healed; the gaping wounds were cured;
the broken bones rejoiced; the rags that had covered me
were all removed; my spirit was white as the spotless snows
of the far-off north; I had melody within my spirit, for I was
saved, washed, cleansed, forgiven, through him that did hang
upon the tree!
Oh, how I wondered that I should be pardoned!
It was not the pardon that I wondered at so much;
the wonder was that it should come to ME.
I wondered that he should be able to pardon such sins as mine;
such crimes, so numerous and so black, and that after such an
accusing conscience he should have power to still every wave
within my spirit, and make my soul like the surface of a river,
undisturbed, quiet, and at ease.
His heaven mine; my hell His!
(Octavius Winslow)
It is astonishing that I should so be one
with Christ, that all that He is becomes
mine; and all that I am becomes His!
His glory mine; my humiliation His!
His righteousness mine; my guilt His!
His joy mine; my sorrow His!
His riches mine; my poverty His!
His life mine; my death His!
His heaven mine; my hell His!
The daily walk of faith is a continuous
development of the wonders of this
wondrous truth. That in traveling to Him
empty; I should return from Him full.
That in going to Him weak; I should come
away from Him strong. That in bending
my steps to Him in all darkness, perplexity,
and grief; I should retrace them all light,
and joy, and gladness.
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” Romans 8:3
Octavius Winslow
What is it that the law cannot do? The law has no power to place the sinner in a justified state. In other words, it cannot fulfill its own righteousness. “By Him all who believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” Nor has it power to give life. “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
The law pronounces the unjustified sinner dead- his religion dead- his works dead- his faith dead; but with not one breath of spiritual life has it power to inspire the soul. Oh, the infatuation which prompts men to seek spiritual life from a law powerful only as an instrument of eternal death! Nor has the law power to make anything whatever perfect in the great matter of man’s salvation. “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw near unto God.” These things the law fails to achieve. And herein is it weak. Holy in its nature, it is yet incapable of making the sinner holy. Righteous in its precepts, it yet cannot justify the ungodly. Respecting the Divine image, it yet has no power to transfer that image to the soul.
But let us trace this failure to its proper cause. From where, then, this weakness of the law of God? We reply, not from any inherent defect in the law. “The law is holy, just, and good,” and of itself powerful enough to take the soul to glory. But the apostle supplies the answer- “weak through the flesh.” It was right that he should thus shield the dignity of the law, and maintain that there belonged to it a native force and capacity worthy of Him from whom it emanated, and equal to the accomplishment of the great end for which it was enacted. The weakness of the law, then, is to be traced, not to any inefficiency of the instrument, but to the sinfulness of man; not to the agent, but to the subject.
What an impressive view does this give us of the deep depravity, the utter sinfulness of our nature! So great is the corruption of the flesh, that it opposes and thwarts the law in its great work of imprinting its image upon the mind of man. Oh, what must be the character and power of that sinfulness which can thus sever the locks of its strength, and divert it from its sacred purpose! Sincerely would the law make us holy, but our depravity foils it. Sincerely would it recall our alienated affections, but our heart is so utterly estranged from God that its generous effort fails. Thus the law is weak, through the corrupt and sinful flesh.
Let us be deeply humbled by this truth. How entirely it stains the pride of all our fleshly glory! Where, now, is our native holiness, our boasted pride, and our vaunted worthiness? The law, always on the side of purity and love, yearned to bring us beneath its holy and beneficent influence, but our carnality interposed, and it became weak.
PAID IN FULL!
from Spurgeon, “IT IS FINISHED!” (No. 421)
The satisfaction which Jesus rendered
to the JUSTICE OF GOD was finished!
The debt was now, to the last farthing, all discharged.
The atonement and propitiation were made once for all, and
forever, by the one offering made in Jesus’ body on the tree.
There was the cup, hell was in it, the Savior drank it — not a
sip and then a pause; not a draught and then a ceasing, but he
drained it till there is not a dreg left for any of his people.
The great ten-thonged whip of the law was worn
out upon his back, there is no lash left with
which to smite one for whom Jesus died.
The great cannonade of God’s justice has exhausted
all its ammunition, there is nothing left to be
hurled against a child of God.
Sheathed is your sword, O Justice!
Silenced is your thunder, O Law!
There remains nothing now of all the griefs, and
pains, and agonies which chosen sinners ought to have
suffered for their sins, for Christ has endured all
for his own beloved, and “it is finished.”
Christ has done what all the flames of the pit could
not do in all eternity– Christ has paid the debt which
all the torments of eternity could not have paid!
Can the Ethiopian change his skin?
J.C.Philpot
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the
leopard its spots? Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.”
Jeremiah 13:23
Before the soul can know anything about salvation,
it must learn deeply and experimentally the nature of
sin—and of itself, as stained and polluted by sin.
The soul is proud—and needs to be humbled.
The soul is careless—and needs to be awakened.
The soul is alive—and needs to be killed.
The soul is full—and requires to be emptied.
The soul is whole—and needs to be wounded.
The soul is clothed—and requires to be stripped.
The soul is, by nature . . .
self-righteous,
self-seeking,
buried deep in worldliness and carnality,
utterly blind and ignorant,
filled with . . .
presumption,
arrogance,
conceit,
and enmity.
It hates all that is heavenly and spiritual.
Sin, in all its various forms, is its natural element.
To make man the direct opposite of what he originally is . . .
to make him love God—instead of hating Him;
to make him fear God—instead of mocking Him;
to make him obey God—instead of rebelling against Him;
to make him to tremble at His dreadful majesty—
instead of defiantly charging against Him;
to do this mighty work, and to effect this wonderful
change—requires the implantation of a new nature by
the immediate hand of God Himself!
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the
leopard its spots? Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.”
Jeremiah 13:23
It is the blood of Jesus, applied by the Spirit
(Octavius Winslow)
There is a perpetual proneness to seek our fruitfulness from anything but a close, spiritual, and constant dealing with the cross of Jesus. But as well might we expect the earth to clothe itself with verdure, or the tree to blossom, and the blossom ripen into fruit, without the sun’s genial warmth — as to look for fruitfulness in a regenerate soul, without a constant dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ. For just what the sun is to the kingdom of nature, Jesus the Sun of righteousness is to the kingdom of grace — the blessed source of all its verdure, fragrance, and fruitfulness. Then, let all your expectations be centered here.
No real good can come to you, no healing to your spirit, no fruitfulness to your soul, from a perpetual living upon convictions of sin, legal fears, or transient joys — the Divine life can derive no nourishment from these. But live upon the atoning blood of Jesus — here is the fatness of your soul found. This is that which heals the wound, wins the heart, and hushes to repose every fear of condemnation. This is that which enables a poor sinner to look fully at God — feeling that justice, holiness, truth, and every Divine perfection are on his side.
It is the blood of Jesus, applied by the Spirit — which moistens each fiber of the root of holiness in the soul, and is productive of its fruitfulness. This is that which sends the warm current of life through every part of the regenerate man, quickening the pulse of love, and imparting a healthy and vigorous power to every act of obedience.
And when the spiritual seasons change — for it is not always spring-time with the soul of a child of God; when the summer’s sun withers, or the autumnal blast scatters the leaves, and winter’s fiercer storm beats upon the smitten bough — then the blood and righteousness of Christ, lived upon, loved, and cherished — will yet sustain the Divine life in the soul, and in due season the spring blossom and the summer fruit shall again appear, proving that the Divine life of a believer is “hid with Christ in God.”
Then shall be said of you, as was said of the church by her Beloved: “Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air. The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, My darling! Come away with Me, My fair one!”
Then let your heart respond, “Awake, north wind! Rise up, south wind! Blow on my garden and spread its fragrance all around. Come into Your garden, my Beloved — taste its finest fruits!”