Spurgeon why are men saved

Never mind how you do it, only proclaim that Jesus died for sinner. The power lies in the word itself, or rather in the Holy Spirit who works by it and with it. O glorious Christ, when I have had a vision of Thy cross, I have seen it at first like a common gibbet, and Thou wast hanging on it like a felon; but, as I have looked, I have seen it begin to rise, and tower aloft till it has reached the highest heaven, and by its mighty power has lifted up myriads to the throne of God.

I have seen its arms extend and expand until they have embraced all the earth. I have seen the foot of it go down deep as our helpless miseries are; and what a vision I have had of Thy magnificence, O Thou crucified One!

Brethren, believe in the power of the cross for the conversion of those around you. Do not say of any man that he cannot be saved. The blood of Jesus is omnipotent. Do not say of any district that it is too sunken, or of any class of men that they are too far gone: the word of the cross reclaims the lost.

Believe it to be the power of God, and you shall find it so. Believe in Christ crucified, and preach boldly in His name, and you shall see great and gladsome things. Do not doubt the ultimate triumph of Christianity. Do not let a mistrust flit across your soul. The cross must conquer; it must blossom with a crown, a crown commensurate with the person of the Crucified, and the bitterness of His agony. His reward shall parallel His sorrows. Trust in God, and lift your banner high, and now with psalms and songs advance to battle, for the Lord of hosts is with us, the Son of the Highest leads our van.

Onward, with blast of silver trumpet and shout of those that seize the spoil. Christ hath died! Atonement is complete! God is satisfied! Peace is proclaimed! Heaven glitters with proofs of mercy already bestowed upon ten thousand times ten thousand! We are saved 'through faith,' but salvation is 'by grace'. Many fancy that so many tears are to be shed, and so many groans are to be heaved, and so much despair is to be endured.

Whence comes this unreasonable notion? Unbelief and despair are sins, and therefore I do not see how they can be constituent elements of acceptable repentance; yet there are many who regard them as necessary parts of true Christian experience.

They are in great error. Still, I know what they mean, for in the days of my darkness I used to feel in the same way. I desired to repent, but I thought that I could not do it, and yet all the while I was repenting.

Odd as it may sound, I felt that I could not feel. I used to get into a corner and weep, because I could not weep; and I fell into bitter sorrow because I could not sorrow for sin. What a jumble it all is when in our unbelieving state we begin to judge our own condition!

It is like a blind man looking at his own eyes. My heart was melted within me for fear, because I thought that my heart was as hard as an adamant stone. My heart was broken to think that it would not break. Now I can see that I was exhibiting the very thing which I thought I did not possess; but then I knew not where I was. Remember that the man who truly repents is never satisfied with his own repentance.

We can no more repent perfectly than we can live perfectly. However pure our tears, there will always be some dirt in them: there will be something to be repented of even in our best repentance. But listen! To repent is to change your mind about sin, and Christ, and all the great things of God. There is sorrow implied in this; but the main point is the turning of the heart from sin to Christ.

We will never renounce ours for the sake of it. Christ came into the world not to put men into a salvable state, but into a saved state. Summing up his reasons for holding to definite atonement, Spurgeon said, "I would rather believe a limited atonement that is efficacious for all men for whom it was intended, than a universal atonement that is not efficacious for anybody, except the will of men be joined with it.

Available now from ReformationTrust. Teaching Series. Conference Messages. Tabletalk Magazine. Gift Certificates. Ligonier Ministries. Supporting Ligonier. Renewing Your Mind. Ligonier Connect. Reformation Study Bible. Reformation Bible College. Stay in Touch. With clear thinking, Spurgeon summarized the unbiblical, illogical Arminian position with these words: The Arminian holds that Christ, when He died, did not die with an intent to save any particular person.

Rather, Spurgeon said, Jesus died triumphantly for all whom the Father had given Him: We hold that Christ, when He died, had an object in view; and that object will most assuredly and beyond a doubt be accomplished. Spurgeon explained it this way: We are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made a satisfaction for all men, or all men would be saved.

Ask them whether their robes were ever black, they would not have wanted washing, "We have washed our robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Then say, my soul, why not for thee?

Our Jesus died upon the tree, Then why, my soul, why not for thee? Take heart, penitents, God will have mercy on you. One person says, "God will save me, because I am so upright. Says another, "God will save me because I am so talented. Your talent! Why thou drivelling, self-conceited idiot, thy talent is nothing compared with that of the angel that once stood before the throne, and sinned, and who now is cast into the bottomless pit for ever! If he would save men for their talent, he would have saved Satan; for he had talents enough.

As for thy morality and goodness, it is but filthy rags, and he will never save thee for aught thou doest. None of us would ever be saved, if God expected anything of us: we must be saved purely and solely for reasons connected with himself, and lying in his own bosom.

Blessed be his name, he saves us for "his name's sake. I think it means this: the name of God is his person, his attributes, and his nature.

For his nature's sake, for his very attribute's sake, he saved men; and, perhaps, we may include this also, "My name is in him"—that is, in Christ; he saves us for the sake of Christ, who is the name of God.

And what does that mean? I think it means this:. He saved them, first, that he might manifest his nature. God was all love, and he wanted to manifest it; he did show it when he made the sun, the moon, and the stars, and scattered flowers o'er the green and laughing earth. He did show his love when he made the air balmy to the body, and the sunshine cheering to the eye.

He gives us warmth even in winter, by the clothing and by the fuel which he has stored in the bowels of the earth; but he wanted to reveal himself still more. I will give my Son to die to save the very worst of them, and so I will manifest my nature.

It was, so to speak, the balcony on which God stepped to show himself to man—the balcony of salvation—here it is he manifests himself, by saving men's souls. He did it, again, to vindicate his name. Some say God is cruel; they wickedly call him tyrant. I will take away this stain, and they shall see that my great name is a name of love. If I go and take some of the offscouring of the earth, and make them my children, oh, how they will love me!

Then they will cleave to my name; they will think it more sweet than music; it will be more precious to them than the spikenard of the Eastern merchants; they will value it as gold, yea, as much fine gold.

The man who loves me best, is the man who has most sins forgiven: he owes much, therefore he will love much. Saith an old writer, "All the carvings of heaven were made out of knots; the temple of God, the king of heaven, is a cedar one, but the cedars were all knotty trees before he cut them down. Now this puts all men on a level with regard to salvation. Suppose that in coming into this garden, the rule had been that every one should have made mention of my name as the key of admittance; the law is, that no man is to be admitted for his rank or title, but only by the use of a certain name.

Up comes a lord; he makes use of the name and comes in; up comes a beggar, all in patches; he makes use of the name—the law says it is only the use of the name that will admit you—he makes use of it and he enters, for there is no distinction. So, my lady, if you come, with all your morality, you must make use of His name: if you come, poor filthy inhabitant of a cellar or a garret, and make use of His name, the doors will fly wide open, for there is salvation for every one who makes mention of the name of Christ, and for none other.

This pulls down the pride of the moralist, abases the self exaltation of the self righteous, and puts us all, as guilty sinners, on an equal footing before God, to receive mercy at his hands, "For his name's sake," and for that reason alone.

Once on a time, Mercy sat upon her snow-white throne, surrounded by the troops of love. A sinner was brought before her, whom Mercy designed to save. The herald blew the trumpet, and after three blasts thereof, with a loud voice, he said—"O heaven and earth, and hell, I summon you this day to come before the throne of Mercy, to tell why this sinner should not be saved. He replied, "I am Law; the law of God.

My demand is blood; for it is written, 'The soul that sinneth it shall die. Already he thought he saw the thunderbolt launched at him, he saw the lightning penetrate into his soul, hell yawned before him in imagination, and he thought himself cast away for ever.

But Mercy smiled, and said, "Law, I will answer thee. This wretch deserves to die; justice demands that he should perish—I award thee thy claim. Take me Law; put me in a garden; make me sweat drops of blood; then nail me to a tree; scourge my back before you put me to death; hang me on the cross; let blood run from my hands and feet; let me descend into the grave; let me pay all the sinner oweth; I will die in his stead.

Jesus, his substitute, has kept them all—has paid the penalty for his disobedience; and now, instead of his condemnation, I demand as a debt of justice that he be acquitted. Henceforth I will not grieve him; I will be a good conscience unto him, through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.