Spurgeon.-Have you, my friend, a good hope of Heaven if you should die? Waterman.-Well, sir, I think as how I have.
S.-Pray tell me, then, what your hope is, for no man need ever be ashamed of good hope.
W.-Well, sir, I have been on this here river for five-and-twenty or thirty years, and I don’t know that anybody ever saw me drunk.
W.-Well, sir, I have been on this here river for five-and-twenty or thirty years, and I don’t know that anybody ever saw me drunk.
S.-Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Is that all you have to trust to? W.-Well, sir, when the cholera was about, and my poor neighbours were bad, I went for the doctor for ‘em, and was up a good many nights, and I do think as how I am as good as most folk that I know.
Of course, I told him that I was very glad to hear that he had sympathy for the suffering, and that I considered it far better to be charitable than to be churlish; but I did not see how his good conduct could carry him to Heaven. Then he said: “Well, sir, perhaps it can’t; but I think, when I get a little older, I shall give up the boat, and take to going to church, and then I hope that all will be right-won’t it, sir?”
“No,” I answered, “certainly not; your going to church won’t change your heart, or take away your sins. Begin to go to church as soon as possible, but you will not be an inch nearer Heaven if you think that, by attending the sanctuary, you will be saved.”
The poor man seemed perfectly astounded, while I went on knocking down his hopes one after another. So I resumed the dialogue by putting another question to him:
S.-You have sometimes sinned in your life, have you not?
W.-Yes, sir, that I have, many a time.
S.-On what ground, then, do you think that your sins will be forgiven? W.-Well, sir, I have been sorry about them, and I think they are all gone-they don’t trouble me now.
S.-Now, my friend, suppose you were to go and get into debt with the grocer where you deal, and you should say to her, “Look here, missus, you have a long score against me, I am sorry to say that I cannot pay you for all those goods that I have had; but I’ll tell you what I will do, I’ll never get into your debt any more.” She would very soon tell you that was not her style of doing business; and do you suppose that is the way in which you can treat the great God? Do you imagine that He is going to strike out your past sins because you say you will not go on sinning against Him?
W.-Well, sir, I should like to know how my sins are to be forgiven. Are you a parson?
S.-I preach the gospel, I hope, but I do not go by the name of a parson; I am only a Dissenting minister.
S.-I preach the gospel, I hope, but I do not go by the name of a parson; I am only a Dissenting minister.
Then I told him, as plainly as I could, how the Lord Jesus Christ had taken the place of sinners, and how those who trusted in Him, and rested in His blood and righteousness, would find pardon and peace. The man was delighted with the simple story of the cross; he said that he wished he had heard it years before, and then he added, “To tell the truth, master, I did not feel quite easy, after all, when I saw those poor creatures taken away to the graveyard; I did think there was something I wanted, but I did not know what it was.””-C.H.Spurgeon, excerpt taken from his autobiography.
"So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."-Romans 1:15-17
Are you ready? Christian, the "power of God" is in the gospel.
Think of the most powerful thing known to man: nuclear fusion. The sun in our solar system is a gigantic fusion reactor. But our sun isn't large for a star. Take our galaxy, the milky way. It's been estimated that there are at least a hundred million more galaxies of similar size in the universe. This how much effort is was for God to create all that power: ". . . he made the stars also."-Genesis 1:16c. No big deal for God to make that kind of infinite power.
God's Word is powerful.
"Who [Jesus] being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"-Hebrews 1:3
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts an intents of the heart."-Hebrews 4:12
The gospel is in God's Word.
"How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."-Romans 10:14-17
"It is Jesus Christ who has made Paula debtor (Romans 1:14-15) by committing the gospel to his trust. . . . Similarly, we are debtors to the world, even though we are not apostles. If the gospel has come to us (which it has), we have no liberty to keep it to ourselves. Nobody may claim a monopoly of the gospel. Good news is for sharing. We are under obligation to make it known to others."-John Stott, The Cross of Christ.
We must share the gospel with all whom we come into contact. Because, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."(Hebrews 10:31). And that is exactly where all mankind stands at the mercy of God, but those whom He has saved through His Son, Jesus Christ, can stand without fear before Him. "According as he hath chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."-Ephesians 1:4-6.
And the most important reason to share your faith is because that it's a direct command from the Lord Jesus Christ to us.
"And he said unto the, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."-Mark 16:15
We will all be held accountable to God. If you aren't saved, and have never been regenerated, then you must face a completely holy God, and will be without excuse ("Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man,..."-Romans 2:1a). But those who are saved will be held accountable as well: "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand."-Ezekiel 3:18.
Let me leave you, beloved, with the words of Charles H. Spurgeon once again.
"If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unarmed or unprayed for."
And may we unashamedly proclaim the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of its fulness and uncompromisingly perfect beauty! Love in truth.
"So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."-Romans 1:15-17
Are you ready? Christian, the "power of God" is in the gospel.
Think of the most powerful thing known to man: nuclear fusion. The sun in our solar system is a gigantic fusion reactor. But our sun isn't large for a star. Take our galaxy, the milky way. It's been estimated that there are at least a hundred million more galaxies of similar size in the universe. This how much effort is was for God to create all that power: ". . . he made the stars also."-Genesis 1:16c. No big deal for God to make that kind of infinite power.
God's Word is powerful.
"Who [Jesus] being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"-Hebrews 1:3
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts an intents of the heart."-Hebrews 4:12
The gospel is in God's Word.
"How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."-Romans 10:14-17
"It is Jesus Christ who has made Paula debtor (Romans 1:14-15) by committing the gospel to his trust. . . . Similarly, we are debtors to the world, even though we are not apostles. If the gospel has come to us (which it has), we have no liberty to keep it to ourselves. Nobody may claim a monopoly of the gospel. Good news is for sharing. We are under obligation to make it known to others."-John Stott, The Cross of Christ.
We must share the gospel with all whom we come into contact. Because, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."(Hebrews 10:31). And that is exactly where all mankind stands at the mercy of God, but those whom He has saved through His Son, Jesus Christ, can stand without fear before Him. "According as he hath chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."-Ephesians 1:4-6.
And the most important reason to share your faith is because that it's a direct command from the Lord Jesus Christ to us.
"And he said unto the, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."-Mark 16:15
We will all be held accountable to God. If you aren't saved, and have never been regenerated, then you must face a completely holy God, and will be without excuse ("Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man,..."-Romans 2:1a). But those who are saved will be held accountable as well: "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand."-Ezekiel 3:18.
Let me leave you, beloved, with the words of Charles H. Spurgeon once again.
"If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unarmed or unprayed for."
And may we unashamedly proclaim the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of its fulness and uncompromisingly perfect beauty! Love in truth.
