And especially is this incumbent upon the members of our own denomination, for it is often said that the doctrines we believe have a tendency to lead us to sin. I have heard it asserted most positively, that those high doctrines which we love and which we find in the Scriptures, are licentious ones. I do not know who has the hardihood to make that assertion, when they consider that the holiest of men have been believers in them. I ask the man who dares to say that Calvinism is a licentious religion, what he thinks of the character of Augustine, or Calvin, or Whitfield, who in successive ages were the great exponents of the system of grace; or what will he say of those Puritans, whose works are full of them? Had a man been an Arminian in those days, he would have been accounted the vilest heretic breathing; but now we are looked upon as the heretics, and they the orthodox. We have gone back to the old school; we can trace our descent from the Apostles. It is that vein of free grace running through the sermonising of Baptists, which has saved us as a denomination. Were it not for that, we should not stand where we are. We can run a golden link from hence up to Jesus Christ himself, through a holy succession of mighty fathers, who all held these glorious truths; and we can say to them, where will you find holier and better men in the world? We are not ashamed to say of ourselves, that however much we may be maligned and slandered, you will not find a people who will live closer to God than those who believe that they are saved not by their works, but by free grace alone. But, oh! you believers in free grace, be careful. Our enemies hate the doctrine; and if one falls, “Ah there,” say they “see the tendency of your principles.” Indeed, we might reply, see what is the tendency of your doctrine. The exception in our case proves the rule is true, that after all, our gospel does lead us to holiness. Of all men, those have the most disinterested piety, the sublimest reverence, the most ardent devotion, who believe that they are saved by grace, without works, through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God. Christian take heed, lest by any means Christ should be crucified afresh, and should be put to an open shame.
22. And now what more can I say? Oh you, my beloved, you my brethren, think not that you stand, lest you should fall. Oh you fellow heirs of everlasting life and glory, we are marching along through this weary pilgrimage; and I, whom God has called to preach to you, would turn affectionately to you little ones, and say, take heed lest you fall. My brother, stumble not. There lies the trap, there the snare. I am come to gather the stones out of the road, and take away the stumblingblocks. But what can I do unless, with due care and caution, you yourselves walk guardedly. Oh, my brethren; be much more in prayer than ever. Spend more time in pious adoration. Read the Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more carefully. Live nearer to God. Take the best examples for your pattern. Let your conversation be redolent of heaven. Let your hearts be perfumed with affection for men’s souls. So live that men may take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus, and have learned of him; and when that happy day shall come when he whom you love shall say, “Come up higher,” let it be your happiness to hear him say, “Come my beloved, you have fought a good fight, you have finished your course, and henceforth there is laid up for you a crown of righteousness that fades not away.” On, Christian, with care and caution! On, with holy fear and trembling! On yet, with faith and confidence, for you shall not fall. Read the next verse of this very chapter: “He will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape.”
23. But I have some here, perhaps, who may never hear my voice again; and I will not let my congregation go, God helping me, without telling them the way of salvation. Sirs, there are some of you who know you have not believed in Christ. If you were to die where you now sit you have no hope that you would rise among the glorified in bliss. How many are there here who if their hearts could speak, must testify that they are without God, without Christ, and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel. Oh, let me tell you then, what you must do to be saved. Does your heart beat high? Do you grieve over your sins? Do you repent of your iniquities? Will you turn to the living God? If so, this is the way of salvation: “Whoever believes and is baptised shall be saved.” I cannot reverse my Master’s order — he says, “believes,” and then “baptised”; and he tells me that “he that believes not shall be damned.” Oh, my hearers, your works cannot save you. Though I have spoken to Christians, and exhorted them to live in good works, I talk not so to you. I ask you not to get the flower before you have the seed. I will not bid you get the roof of your house before you lay the foundation. Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Whoever here will now cast himself as a guilty worm flat on Jesus — whoever will throw himself into the arms of everlasting love, that man shall be accepted; he shall go from that door justified and forgiven, with his soul as safe as if he were in heaven, without the danger of its ever being lost. All this is through belief in Christ.
24. Surely you need no argument. If I thought you did I would use it. I would stand and weep until you came to Christ. If I thought I was strong enough to fetch a soul to Jesus, if I thought that moral persuasion could win you, I would go around to each of your seats and beg of you in God’s name to repent. But since I cannot do that, I have done my duty when I have prophesied to the dry bones. Remember we shall meet again. I boast of neither eloquence nor talent, and I cannot understand why you come here; I only speak right on, and tell you what I feel; but see me, when we meet before God’s bar, however ill I may have spoken, I shall be able to say, that I said to you, “Believe on the name of Jesus, and you shall be saved.” Why will you die, oh house of Israel? Is hell so sweet, is everlasting torment so much to be desired, that therefore you can let go the glories of heaven, the bliss of eternity? Men, are you to live for ever? or, are you to die like brutes? “Live!” say you, Well, then, are you not desirous to live in a state of bliss? Oh may God grant you grace to turn to him with full purpose of heart! Come, guilty sinner, come! God help you to come, and I shall be well repaid, if but one soul be added to the visible fold of Jesus, through anything I may have said.
{a} Icarus: He is a character in Greek mythology. He is the son of Daedalus and is commonly known for his attempt to escape Crete by flight, which ended in a fall to his death. See Explorer “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus”
Thoughts On The Last Battle
No. 23-1:173. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Evening, May 13, 1855, By C. H. Spurgeon, At Exeter Hall, Strand.
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. {1 Corinthians 15:56,57}
1. While the Bible is one of the most poetic of books, though its language is unutterably sublime, yet we must remark how constantly it is true to nature. There is no straining of a fact, no glossing over a truth. However dark may be the subject, while it lights it up with brilliance, yet it does not deny the gloom connected with it. If you will read this chapter of Paul’s epistle, so justly celebrated as a master piece of language, you will find him speaking of that which is to come after death with such exaltation and glory, that you feel, “If it is like this to die, then it would be well to depart at once.” Who has not rejoiced, and whose heart has not been lifted up, or filled with a holy fire, while he has read such sentences as these: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh Death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory?” Yet with all that majestic language, with all that bold flight of eloquence, he does not deny that death is a gloomy thing. Even his very figures imply it. He does not laugh at it; he does not say, “Oh, it is nothing to die”; he describes death as a monster; he speaks of it as having a sting; he tells us where the strength of that sting lies; and even in the exclamation of triumph he imputes that victory not to unaided flesh, but he says, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2.
