Category Archives: Salvation

Christ our Substitute – C.H. Spurgeon

Posted by Dan C. on

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”—2 Corinthians 5:21

I had no idea that there would come out a divinity, which would bring down God’s moral government from the solemn aspect in which Scripture reveals it, to a namby-pamby sentimentalism, which adores a Deity destitute of every masculine virtue.

We have lived to see a certain sort of men. . .who seek to teach now-a-days, that God is a universal Father, and that our ideas of his dealing with the impenitent as a Judge, and not as a Father, are remnants of antiquated error.

Sin, according to these men, is a disorder rather than an offence, an error rather than a crime. Love is the only attribute they can discern, and the full-orbed Deity they have not known.

Some of these men push their way very far into the bogs and mire of falsehood, until they inform us that eternal punishment is ridiculed as a dream.

In fact, books now appear, which teach us that there is no such thing as the Vicarious Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. They use the word Atonement it is true, but in regard to its meaning, they have removed the ancient landmark.

They acknowledge that the Father has shown his great love to poor sinful man by sending his Son, but not that God was inflexibly just in the exhibition of his mercy, not that he punished Christ on the behalf of his people, nor that indeed God ever will punish anybody in his wrath, or that there is such a thing as justice apart from discipline.

Even sin and hell are but old words employed henceforth in a new and altered sense. Those are old-fashioned notions, and we poor souls who go on talking about election and imputed righteousness, are behind our time.

These are the new men whom God has sent down from heaven, to tell us that the apostle Paul was all wrong, that our faith is vain, that we have been quite mistaken, that there was no need for propitiating blood to wash away our sins; that the fact was, our sins needed discipline, but penal vengeance and righteous wrath are quite out of the question.

Well, brethren, I am happy to say that sort of stuff has not gained entrance into this pulpit. I dare say the worms will eat the wood before there will be anything of that sort sounded in his place; and may these bones be picked by vultures, and this flesh be rent in sunder by lions, and may every nerve in this body suffer pangs and tortures, ere these lips shall give utterance to any such doctrines or sentiments.

We are content to remain among the vulgar souls who believe the old doctrines of grace. We are willing still to be behind in the great march of intellect, and stand by that unmoving cross, which, like the pole star, never advances, because it never stirs, but always abides in its place, the guide of the soul to heaven, the one foundation other than which no man can lay, and without building upon which, no man shall ever see the face of God and live.

Excerpted from a sermon delivered on  April 15th, 1860, by the REV. C. H. Spurgeon At New Park Street, Southwark.

“Strive to Enter in at the Strait Gate”

Posted by Dan C. on

From A Sermon by Charles Hodge
[at the College of New Jersey, May 14th, 1856]

There are two modes of representation which run through the Bible, apparently at variance with each other. According to the one, the plan of salvation is represented as simple. Believe and be saved, touch and be healed, look and be made whole.

According to the other, salvation is represented to be very difficult. We must strive to enter in at the straight gate. We must work out our salvation. We must run as in a race where the prize is our life. We must fight the good fight. Many who seek shall not enter in. Even the righteous are scarcely saved.

Both these modes of representation are of course correct. They refer to different things. The former relates to the meritorious and efficient cause of salvation. We have not to work out a righteousness of our own, nor are we to attempt the work of regeneration or sanctification in our own strength. The whole work of meriting salvation has been done for us. We have nothing to do but to accept the righteousness which is offered to us, to trust in what Christ has done.

So, too, with regard to sanctification. It is the work of God. We are renewed by the Spirit after His image. It is not a natural process carried on by natural laws, but by the power of God, attending the use of the appropriate and appointed means. In one sense we are the passive recipients of salvation. On the other hand, however, the difficulty of bringing our hearts to a simple, constant and entire reliance on Christ, and the difficulty of avoiding the grieving and resisting the Holy Ghost, is unspeakably great. So that it is hard to be saved.

The Bible says expressly that no drunkard, or unclean person, or covetous man, no one who loves the creature more than the Creator, no one that is carnally-minded, no one who is not converted and made as a little child, can enter the kingdom of God. To these and other forms of destructive evil we are impelled,

  1. By the corruption of our own nature.
  2. By the allurements of the world.
  3. By the influence of evil companions.
  4. By the temptations of Satan.

These are formidable enemies, not to be overcome without effort.

Therefore,

  1. Lay it to heart that salvation is a difficult work. You cannot float to heaven.
  2. That a constant use of the means of grace, of secret and social prayer, of public worship, the reading of the Scriptures, and the use of the sacraments is absolutely necessary.
  3. That constant watchfulness against sin, avoiding temptation, company, associating with the people of God, are all necessary.
  4. That constant effort to advance in piety is the only way to avoid declining, and declension leads to apostasy.
  5. That with all these means should be united a constant sense of danger and constant dependence.
  6. At the same time, the spirit of the gospel is not a fearful desponding spirit, but a spirit of filial confidence and joy. The great thing is to remember that safety is only to be found in a lively and growing state of piety in the heart.

"Salvation is of the Lord."-Jonah 2:9

Posted by Dan C. on

Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul “dead in trespasses and sins,” and it is He also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both “Alpha and Omega.” “Salvation is of the Lord.” If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God’s gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord’s strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God’s Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God’s chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. “He only is my rock and my salvation.” Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heaven’s hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: “Salvation is of the Lord.”  – Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“You must be born again.”

Posted by Dan C. on

Regeneration is absolutely necessary to qualify you to do any thing really good and acceptable to God. While you are not born again, your best works are but glittering sins; for though the matter of them is good, they are quite marred in the performance. Consider:

1. That without regeneration there is no faith, and “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6). Faith is a vital act of the new-born soul. The evangelist, showing the different entertainment which our Lord Jesus had from different persons, some receiving Him, some rejecting Him, points at regenerating grace as the true cause of that difference, without which never any one would have received Him. He tells us, that “as many as received him” were those “which were born—of God” (John 1:11,12,13). Unregenerate men may presume; but true faith they cannot have. Faith is a flower that grows not in the field of nature. As the tree cannot grow without a root, neither can a man believe without the new nature, whereof the principle of believing is a part.

2. Without regeneration a man’s works are dead works. As is the principle, so must the effects be: if the lungs are rotten, the breath will be unsavory; and he who at best is dead in sin, his works at best will be but dead works. “Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure—being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:15,16). If we could say of a man, that he is more blameless in his life than any other in the world, that he reduces his body with fasting and has made his knees as horns with continual praying, if he is not born again, that exception would mar all. As if one should say, There is a well-proportioned body, but the soul is gone; it is but a dead lump. This is a melting consideration. You do many things materially good; but God says, All these things avail not, as long as I see the old nature reigning in the man (Gal 6:15), “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” – Thomas Boston 1676-1732

Evangelical Golden Calves

Posted by Dan C. on

There is a bit of a buzz in Blogland these days that seems to have begun over a post that took issue with discernment/apologetics Web sites. Amidst the discussion, Phil Johnson over at Pyromaniacs had this to say:

“The overwhelming majority of today’s evangelical sophisticates would clearly prefer it if no one ever criticized evangelical Golden Calves. Rampant error doesn’t unsettle them in the least. They are quite happy to live with it and even actively make peace with it.”

This post is not continuing that particular discussion, but it addresses “evangelical Golden Calves”, of which there are many. Be that as it may, on this day, celebrated as Good Friday, the day Christ died for our sins, of chief concern is the unscriptural notion that God “accepts” us “just as we are”.

The reason God sent His Son to earth with the specific mission to die for OUR sins is because a Holy, Perfect and Just God CANNOT and WILL NOT “accept” us “just as we are”! It’s the theme of the entire Canon of Scripture! If God could, or would, accept us “with” our sin, Christ died in vain!

Somewhere in the history of evangelicalism, the very scriptural idea that Christ bids us “come as you are” to the Cross of Calvary, believe in and receive Christ as Savior and confess Him as Lord, morphed into God “accepts” you just as you are.

The result of that notion might be auditoriums with stadium seats filled with the legions of the falsely converted (and thus unconverted), with a few scattered genuine believers who confronted the Cross of Christ and their sin, realized their desperate condition, and dealt with their sin by repenting and believing in the One God sentenced to death because He could NOT “accept” them WITH their sin.

We hate con-artists who prey on the unsuspecting, who offer false promises and steal their hard earned savings, yet many of us (evangelicals) flock to the spiritual con-artists “selling” a false gospel!

Yes, “come” as you are to the Cross of Calvary; and standing, kneeling, or prostrate at the foot of the Cross, face your sin, and heed the words of Your Savior: “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)

In the words of the time honored hymn:

“Just as I am, without one plea
But that thy blood was shed for me
And that thou bidd’st me come to thee
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Prime Products and By-products. . .

Posted by Dan C. on

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

Christ’s death for our sins was the reason He came to earth, the purpose of His life, and the reason He went to the Cross. Just yesterday I read yet  another article that discussed the death of Christ without the use of the “S” word being applied to people. I suspect that when we call sin everything but sin (pick your own term here), we don’t feel so bad about ourselves.

Instead of confronting us with our spiritually dead condition, much of modern evangelical Christianity talks about how Christ died so we can have better lives, or find our ‘special purpose’, or have peace in the middle of life’s storms.

No where in scripture are we told that Christ died for any other reason than to save His people from their sins. The angel who visited Mary named the Son she would bear and gave her that specific message (Matthew 1:21).

That we can experience better earthly lives, endure adversity, and are partakers of heavenly blessings (Ephesians 1:3) are by-products of Christ’s death for our sin, not the main reason He suffered and died 2,000 years ago.

Food for thought  before the annual celebration of His resurrection. . .

Why Did Christ Die?

Posted by Dan C. on

“According to some people, Christ died to give all a chance of being saved! I do not know that I hate anything more in my soul than to hear that. It makes Jesus Christ so little–that He should do so much, and after all only to get us a chance of being saved. Why, if a man is set up in business, you see how often it happens that he fails in it; and if man cannot manage the paltry things of time and sense without being insolvent, what will he do with eternal realities? And if you come a little closer, when God “made man upright” and he had no sinful nature, what did he do with his innocence? He lost it all! And yet poor presumptuous man has the vanity to think you and I could manage the chance of being saved. What an insult it is to the Lord Jesus Christ to fix the eternal honor of God upon chance, and that chance to be managed by a poor sinful creature who is tumbling into half a dozen holes every hour of his life! NO, NO. Thanks be to God for immortal realities and certainties. WHAT IS SAID CONCERNING WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE? He has “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself;” He has “finished transgression and made an end of sin;” He has “redeemed us from all iniquity;” He has “redeemed us from the curse of the law,” from destruction and from the power of the devil; He has “obtained eternal redemption for us;” He has “redeemed us to God.” To the honor of the Eternal Trinity it is said, not that the redeemed shall have a chance, but that the redeemed shall “come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” The Lord Jesus Christ has done this “great” work; and He has gone to heaven shouting “Victory,” for “God is gone up with a shout; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” He rose from the grave as a demonstrative proof that sin was destroyed, law satisfied, God honored, His people eternally and everlastingly saved. And the immortal honors of God unite in their salvation; therefore, He ever lives at the right hand of the Father to make intercession.” – William Gadsby (1773-1844)

How to Hate Your Neighbor

Posted by Dan C. on

Recently I watched a short video clip from a well known American entertainer and atheist in which he made a very thought provoking statement. The speaker defended both atheists’ and Christians’ efforts in proselytizing.  About Christians he asked a question that could be summarized: “If you believe there’s a Heaven and a Hell and people go there, that eternal life is a possibility, how much to you have to hate others to NOT tell them about it?”

Think about it for a minute. . ., or two, or three, or more. This guy did.

Well, after the dust settled in my brain, and I picked my heart up off the floor, I had to admit that the man had a point. We MUST really hate our neighbor to NOT share with him/her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Could there even be anything worse, more cruel or hateful, than NOT to share the truth that sets men free, can keep them from Hell, and assure them a home in Heaven? And it hit me like a ton of bricks. . .

Tell them, but. . .lie. . .

Just tell them . . .

  • God loves them so much He can’t imagine His heaven without them in it.
  • They can come to Jesus WITH their sin.
  • They can have their best life now !
  • They have a special purpose in life, custom made by God, and they just need to discover it to be happy and fulfilled.
  • Jesus died for their dreams.
  • God knows we are just human and make mistakes that separate us from Him, so He sent His Son to “bridge the gap”.
  • All they have to do is “decide” to follow Jesus, “ask/accept”  Him into their heart”, or repeat a little prayer. That way they are in total control.

In other words, tell them stuff that emphasizes that they are the very center of God’s universe and everything He does, He does just for them!

But don’t ever tell them. . .

  • That apart from Christ, we are all DEAD in our SINS, deserving of God’s wrath – that we are “born on death row”.
  • The truth about SIN – it’s not just mistakes and errors in judgment (things we do) but a terminal illness we are born with (who we are).
  • That Jesus died for their sins, in their place, to appease the wrath of His Father against all sin.
  • That the first word of the Gospel preached by John the Baptist, Jesus, and Peter and John on Pentecost, was “repent”.
  • That repentance is part and parcel of the gift of faith and genuine belief in Christ.
  • Being a Christian is no guarantee of a better job, house, car, or any other form of material gain.
  • That they would face trials, persecution, be hated, and might face death because of their faith in Christ.

In other words, don’t tell them that God’s primary concern is His own Name – that everything He does is first and foremost a demonstration of His power, designed to bring Himself great honor and glory!

There you have it. Two ways to hate your neighbor: 1) Don’t tell others about the path to peace and eternal life, or 2) tell them, but lie about it.

And how might following the above lists of “do’s and don’ts” show a greater hatred for my neighbor than not telling them at all? 

Think about it and let’s discuss it.