In this sermon by C.H. Spurgeon. He said the following statement:
“First, then, with as much brevity as possible I will speak upon THE GREAT DOCTRINE. The great doctrine, the greatest of all, is this, that God seeing men to be lost by reason of their sin, hath taken that sin of theirs and laid it upon his only begotten Son, making him to be sin for us, even him who knew no sin; and that in consequence of this transference of sin he that believeth in Christ Jesus is made just and righteous, yea, is made to be the righteousness of God in Christ. Christ was made sin that sinners might be made righteousness. That is the doctrine of the substitution of our Lord Jesus Christ on the behalf of guilty men. ” ~ C.H. Spurgeon 07/18/1886.
This is and should be the foundation of our belief as Christians. We are sinners, and it is only through Jesus Christ that we can gain salvation from eternal death. Every professing Christians should adhere to this doctrine. And PREACHERS! should be preaching this message! To circumvent around this truth, I believe, is an utter failure to really preach the good news. Some preachers in America have been so paranoid and careful not to step on anybody’s toes. They have become so prudent to say the wrong things and have become prudent to avoid saying what is right. They would rather preach things that one can only use and live by in this lifetime. Preachings that “I can live my best life now”, that “I can be rich and prosperous”, that ”I’m a little god running around the earth.”
My friends, we all know that this life is temporary. As James 4:14 says, “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? it is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Why do I need to know what could just get me through the day, when I know for a fact that I have an eternity to worry about? I have heard some preachers say that they believe in Jesus Christ as their savior, but does not preach it to their congregations. Then what is their use?
In the sermon, ”The Heart of the Gospel” by C.H. Spurgeon he said that, “The heart of the Gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. They who preach this truth preach the Gospel in whatever else they may be mistaken, but they who preach NOT the atonement, whatever else they declare, HAVE MISSED THE SOUL AND SUBSTANCE OF THE DIVINE MESSAGE.”
The heart of Christianity lies in the message that we are all sinners and condemned to die. The wages of our sin is death. This was our direction, this was God’s judgment on us. But because of his love for us, God sent his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, to die in our place. He who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that we might be made righteous with God. God’s wrath that was supposed to be for us, Jesus Christ bore that at the cross of calvary 2000 years ago. And we are justified because of our faith in Jesus Christ. Not by our works, not by our monies, not by our good deeds, not by anything that we boast of or possess in this world. Because anything that we have is meaningless to God.
Preachers of the Word, I urge you to speak the Word of God in light of truth. The truth that earthly possession and being the best person I can be is not why I became a Christian, but it’s because I do not want to spend eternity in hell and it’s only God that can save me from it. This is the heart of the Gospel. This is what the people need to hear right now.
Apart from God, I cannot only do nothing, I AM NOTHING.
