Grace & Power--this is the title of the book I am now slowly working through, by Charles Spurgeon. Wow. If you want solid doctrine and "to the point theology", this is the book to read! What a blessing it would have been to be under his teaching, to hear him preach in London back in the day! Even so, just reading his writings and sermons is so refreshing! Here are some parts of the book:
He is writing regarding Acts 15:11, which says "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." Peter and Paul were talking to Christian Jews in Jerusalem after Paul had already been converted--and he tells them they they, the Jews, would be saved in the same way as Gentiles who had lived sinful lives. Spurgeon says, correctly, that there is the same pardon for all!
He is writing regarding Acts 15:11, which says "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." Peter and Paul were talking to Christian Jews in Jerusalem after Paul had already been converted--and he tells them they they, the Jews, would be saved in the same way as Gentiles who had lived sinful lives. Spurgeon says, correctly, that there is the same pardon for all!
"The elite of society are born with hearts as bad and as black as the poorest of the poor. Sons of Christian parents, do no imagine, because you spring from a godly ancestry, that your nature is not polluted like the nature of others. In this respect, we are all alike: we are born in sin (Ps. 51:5), are 'dead in trespasses and sins' (Eph. 2:1), and are 'by nature children of wrath'(v.3)...God takes not of heart sin as well as hand sin."There is only one way for all!
"Can you catch the idea and make it your own? When artists have drawn pictures of the apostles, they have often put halos around their heads, much like a brass pan or something of the kind, as if to siginfy that they were some particular and special saints. But in reality, there was no such halo there; the painter is far from the fact. Seriously and thoughtfully, we say that twelve souls picked from the scum of creation (any 12 people in our contemporary surroundings, whether a good, moral person, or the recovering drug-addict, or the child abuser) who look to Christ shall be saved, even as the twelve apostles are saved. Halo or no halo, they will join in the same hallelujah to God and the Lamb."THIS is what grace is--THIS is what unconditional grace means--God rescues all of us, and "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we (you and me) shall be saved in the same manner as they."
No comments:
Post a Comment