I stumbled upon The Daily Spurgeon Website today and what I dig is a precious digest of a sermon by Charles H Spurgeon entitled “Apostolic Exhortation.” I have quoted in its entirety in order not to miss every single nugget of wisdom from this great man popularly known as the “Prince of Preachers.” In a written authobiography, it stated that in his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around 10 million people often up to 10 times each week at different places.
The digest speaks about repentance. As a born again Christian, I need to emphasize the fundamental requirement of repentance, that is turning away from sins. In Luke 5:27-32, Jesus said “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Who is without sin? Well, I guess if you are an atheist, you would claim that you do not have one. A huge lie. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are commanded to repent that our sins may be blotted out. I say that unless a sinner repent or turn away from his/her sins, there is no genuine christian conversion but a blatant hypocrisy.
I now share to you the precious digest I’m referring to above:
Nothing Else But Jesus Christ
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” — Acts 3:19.
Peter… preached not merely the gospel of good news, but Christ, the person of Christ; Christ crucified — crucified by them, Christ risen, Christ glorified of his Father. Depend upon it, this is the very strength of the Christian ministry, when it is saturated with the name and person and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Take Christ away, and you ungospelise the gospel, you do but pour out husks such as swine do eat, while the precious kernel is removed, seeing you have taken away the person of the Lord Jesus Christ….Peter would tell them about Jesus Christ, and about nothing else but Jesus Christ. He knew this to be the power of God unto salvation, and he would not flinch from it; so to them, even to them, he delivered the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, with a pungency as well as a simplicity scarcely to be rivalled. Notice how he puts it: “Ye” have slain him; “ye” have crucified him; “ye” have preferred a murderer. He is not afraid of being personal; he does not shirk the touching of men’s consciences; he rather thrusts his hand into their hearts and make them feel their sin; he labors to open a window into the darkness of their spirits, to let the light of the Holy Ghost shine into their soul.Even thus, my brethren, when we preach the gospel, must we do: affectionately but graciously must we deal with men. Far hence be all trimming and mincing of matters. Accursed let him be that takes away from the gospel of Jesus Christ that he may win popular applause, or who bates his breath and smoothes his tongue that he may please the unholy throng. Such a man may have for a moment the approbation of fools, but, as the Lord his God liveth, he shall be set as a target for the arrows of vengeance in the day when the Lord cometh to judge the nations. Peter, then, boldly and earnestly preached the gospel — preached the Christ of the gospel — preached it personally and directly at the crowd who were gathered around him.
From a sermon entitled “Apostolic Exhortation,” delivered April 5, 1868
Article Source :http://www.thedailyspurgeon.com
Photo credit source
