As you saw last week, I’ve been listening to a podcast called “Hurry Up And Read” where they read old Christian books aloud on the podcast (that have entered public domain).
As such, here are some quotes and notes from another book I’ve listened to on that podcast. They’re great to meditate on, and if you like them, you can go listen to them too, or read the book, “All of Grace” by Charles Spurgeon yourself.
“The law is for the self-righteous to humble their pride, the Gospel is for the lost to remove their despair.”
“The medicine is for the desired.
The quickening for the dead.
The pardon for the guilty.
Liberation is for the bound.
The opening of eyes is for those who are blind.”
My note: Forgiveness is for the guilty. Are you “not guilty”? Then look to the law and find that you are. Do you recognize your guilt? Then there’s forgiveness in Jesus.
“If you justify yourself, you will simply be a self-deceiver. Therefore, do not attempt it, it is never worthwhile. If you ask your fellow mortals to justify you, what can they do? You can make some of them speak well of you for small favors, and others will backbite you for less. Their judgment is not worth much. Our text says: “It is God who justifies,” and this is a deal more to the point.
Read carefully the parable of the prodigal son, and see how the forgiving father receives the returning wanderer with as much love as if he had never gone away, and had never defiled himself with harlots. So far did he carry this that the elder brother began to grumble at it, but the father never withdrew his love.”
“Still, I again remind you that faith is only the channel or aqueduct, and not the fountainhead, and we must not look so much to it as to exalt it above the divine source of all blessing which lies in the grace of God. Never make a Christ out of your faith, nor think of as if it were the independent source of your salvation. Our life is found in “looking unto Jesus,” not in looking to our own faith. By faith all things become possible to us; yet the power is not in the faith, but in the God upon whom faith relies.”
My note: We are not saved by our faith. We are saved by Jesus, in Whom we put our faith. If we were saved by faith, then some could be “more saved” or “more secure” as their faith is greater. Instead, whether little or great, our faith all results in the same saving, because the saving is done by Jesus, not ourselves.
And, therefore, our Savior, our Lord, our King, is Jesus, not our own faith.
“My fear is lest the reader should rest content with understanding what is to be done, and yet never do it. Better the poorest real faith actually at work, than the best ideal of it left in the region of speculation. The great matter is to believe on the Lord Jesus at once. Never mind distinctions and definitions. A hungry man eats though he does not understand the composition of his food, the anatomy of his mouth, or the process of digestion: he lives because he eats. Another far more clever person understands thoroughly the science of nutrition; but if he does not eat he will die, with all his knowledge. There are, no doubt, many at this hour in Hell who understood the doctrine of faith, but did not believe. On the other hand, not one who has trusted in the Lord Jesus has ever been cast out, though he may never have been able intelligently to define his faith. Oh dear reader, receive the Lord Jesus into your soul, and you shall live forever! “He that believeth in Him hath everlasting life.”
My note: Your knowledge of faith cannot save you. Your speculation of salvation does no good. You must apply the faith to your heart, just as you must apply food to your stomach for it to do you any good.
“He who may have a treasure simply by his grasping it, will be foolish indeed if he remains poor.”
“Trust Jesus. And prove your trust by doing whatever He bids you.”
“I am told that years ago a boat was upset above the falls of Niagara, and two men were being carried down the current, when persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to them, which rope was seized by them both. One of them held fast to it and was safely drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a great log come floating by, unwisely let go the rope and clung to the log, for it was the bigger thing of the two, and apparently better to cling to. Alas! the log with the man on it went right over the vast abyss, because there was no union between the log and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed a connection with the shore to produce safety. So when a man trusts to his works, or to sacraments, or to anything of that sort, he will not be saved, because there is no junction between him and Christ; but faith, though it may seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hands of the great God on the shore side; infinite power pulls in the connecting line, and thus draws the man from destruction. Oh the blessedness of faith, because it unites us to God!”
My note: Jesus is the only one who is in a position and ability to save us from our sin.
“He [Jesus] died for men, not as believers, but sinners.”
“’Faith comes by hearing,’ therefore, hear often.”
My note: Read about Jesus. Hear about Jesus. Talk about Jesus. Build your faith in Jesus.
“It is well for us that as sin lives, and the flesh lives, and the devil lives, so Jesus lives; and it is also well that whatever might these may have to ruin us, Jesus has still greater power to save us.”
“If you look to Christ for your beginnings, beware of looking to yourself for your endings. He is Alpha, see to it you make Him Omega, also.”
“This faithfulness of God is the foundation and cornerstone of our hope of final perseverance. The saints shall persevere in holiness, because God perseveres in grace. He perseveres to bless, and therefore believers persevere in being blessed. He continues to keep His people, and therefore they continue to keep His commandments. This is good solid ground to rest upon, and it is delightfully consistent with the title of this little book, “all of grace.” Thus it is free favor and infinite mercy which ring in the dawn of salvation, and the same sweet bells sound melodiously through the whole day of grace.”
There are many more quotes and thoughts shared in the book, those are just a few for you to consider and think about.
Have a wonderful day!