The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon
new the man, there can be no entering heaven. How seriously, then, should each stand and think. Here am I, a creature of a day, a mortal born to die, but yet an immortal! At present I am at enmity with God. What shall I do? Is it not my duty, as well as my happiness, to ask, whether there is a way to be reconciled to God?
25. Oh! weary slaves of sin, are not your ways the paths of folly? Is it wisdom, oh my fellow creatures, is it wisdom to hate your Creator? Is it wisdom to stand in opposition against him? Is it prudent to despise the riches of his grace; if it is wisdom, it is hell’s wisdom; if it is wisdom, it is a wisdom which is folly with God. Oh! may God grant that you may turn to Jesus with full purpose of heart! He is the ambassador; he it is who can make peace through his blood; and though you came in here an enemy, it is possible you may go out through that door a friend yet, if you can but look to Jesus Christ, the brazen serpent which was lifted up.
26. And now, it may be, some of you are convicted of sin, by the Holy Spirit. I will now proclaim to you the way of salvation. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Behold, oh trembling penitent the means of your deliverance. Turn your tearing eye over there to Mount of Calvary! see the victim of justice — the sacrifice of atonement for your transgression. View the Saviour in his agonies, with streams of blood purchasing your soul, and with most intense agonies enduring your punishment. He died for you, if now you do confess your guilt. Oh come you condemned one, self-condemned, and turn your eye this way, for one look will save. Sinner, you are bitten. Look! it is nothing but “Look!” It is simply “Look!” If you can but look to Jesus you are safe. Hear the voice of the Redeemer: “Look to me, and be saved.” Look! Look! Look! Oh guilty souls.
Venture on him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude;
None but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good,
May my blessed Master help you to come to him, and draw you to his Son, for Jesus’ sake. Amen and Amen.
{a} Aceldama: The name given to the field in the vicinity of Jerusalem, purchased with the blood-money received and relinquished by Judas Iscariot. Hence fig. A field of bloodshed, a scene of slaughter or butchery. OED.
{b} Laudanum: In early use, a name for various preparations in which opium was the main ingredient. OED.
{c} Lust of the flesh: called in the Greek, επιθυμια της σαρκος, See Galatians 5:16 1 John 2:16
Christ’s People — Imitators Of Him
No. 21-1:157. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, April 29, 1855, By C. H. Spurgeon, At Exeter Hall, Strand.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and untrained men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. {Acts 4:13}
1. Behold! what a change divine grace will work in a man, and in how short a time! That same Peter, who so recently followed his Master afar off, and with oaths and curses denied that he knew his name, is now to be found side by side with the loving John, boldly declaring that there is salvation in no other name except that of Jesus Christ, and preaching the resurrection of the dead, through the sacrifice of his dying Lord. The Scribes and Pharisees soon discover the reason of his boldness. Rightly did they guess that it rested not in his learning or his talents, for neither Peter nor John had been educated; they had been trained as fishermen; their education was a knowledge of the sea — of the fisherman’s craft: no other training did they have; their boldness could not therefore spring from the self-sufficiency of knowledge, but from the Spirit of the living God. Nor did they acquire their courage from their station; for rank will confer a sort of dignity upon a man, and make him speak with a feigned authority even when he has no talent or genius; but these men were, according to the Greek text, private men, who stood in no official capacity; men without rank or station. When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and private individuals, they marvelled, and they came to a right conclusion as to the source of their power — they had been dwelling with Jesus. Their conversation with the Prince of light and glory, backed up, as they might also have known, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, without which even that eminently holy example would have been in vain, had made them bold for their Master’s cause. Oh! my brethren, it would be well if this commendation, so forced from the lips of enemies, could also be compelled by our own example. If we could live like Peter and John; if our lives were “living epistles of God, known and read by all men”; if, whenever we were seen, men would take knowledge of us, that we had been with Jesus, it would be a happy thing for this world, and a blessed thing for us. It is concerning that I am to speak to you this morning; and as God gives me grace, I will endeavour to stir up your minds by way of remembrance, and urge you so to imitate Jesus Christ, our heavenly pattern, that men may perceive that you are disciples of the holy Son of God.
2. First, then, this morning, I will tell you what a Christian should be; secondly, I will tell you when he should be so; thirdly, why he should be so; and then fourthly how he can be so.
3. I. As God may help us then, first of all, we will speak of WHAT A BELIEVER SHOULD BE. A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, and you have admired the talent of the people who could write so well; but the best life of Christ is his living biography, written out in the words and actions of his people. If we, my brethren, were what we profess to be; if the Spirit of the Lord were in the heart of all his children, as we could desire; and if, instead of having abundance of formal professors, we were all possessors of that vital grace, I will tell you not only what we ought to be, but what we should be; we should be pictures of Christ, indeed, such striking likenesses of him, that the world would not have to hold us up by the hour together, and say, “Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness”; but they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, “He has been with Jesus; he has been taught of him; he is like him; he has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he expands it out into his very life and every day actions.”
4. In enlarging upon this point, it will be necessary to premise, that when we here affirm that men should be such-and-such a thing, we refer to the people of God. We do not wish to speak to them in any legal way. We are not under the law, but under grace. Christian men hold themselves bound to keep all God’s precepts: but the reason why they do so is, not because the law is binding upon them, but because the gospel constrains them: they believe, that having been redeemed by divine blood; having been purchased by Jesus Christ, they are more bound to keep his commands than they would have been if they were under the law; they hold themselves to be ten thousand fold more debtors to God, than they could have been under the Mosaic dispensation. Not of force; not of compulsion; not through fear of the whip; not through legal bondage; but through pure, disinterested love and gratitude to God, they lay themselves out for his service, seeking to be Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile. This much I have declared lest any man should think that I am preaching works as the way to salvation; I will yield to no one in this. That I will ever maintain — that by grace we are saved, and not by ourselves; but equally must I testify, that where the grace of God is, it will produce fitting deeds. To these I am ever bound to exhort you, while you are ever expected to have good works for necessary purposes. Again, I do not, when I say that a believer should be a striking likeness of Jesus, suppose that any one Christian will perfectly exhibit all the features of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; yet my brethren, the fact that perfection is beyond our reach should not diminish the ardour of our desire after it. The artist, when he paints, knows right well that he shall not be able to excel Apelles; but that does not discourage him; he uses his brush with all the greater pains, that he may at least in some humble measure resemble the great master. So the sculptor; though persuaded that he will not rival Praxiteles, will hew out the marble still, and seek to be as near the model as possible. Just so the Christian man, though he feels he never can mount to the height of complete excellence, and perceives that he never can on earth become the exact image of Christ, still