“The blood of the Lamb” by Charles Spurgeon

“I understand by the expression, ‘The blood of the Lamb,’ (Revelation 12:11) that our Lord’s death was effective for the taking away of sin.

When John the Baptist first pointed to Jesus, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ Our Lord Jesus has actually taken away sin by His death.

Beloved, we are sure that He had offered an acceptable and effectual propitiation when He said, ‘It is finished.’ Either He did put away sin, or He did not. If He did not, how will it ever be put away?

If He did, then are believers clear. Altogether apart from anything that we do or are, our glorious Substitute took away our sin, as in the type the scapegoat carried the sin of Israel into the wilderness.

In the case of all those for whom our Lord offered Himself as a substitutionary sacrifice, the justice of God finds no hindrance to its fullest flow: it is consistent with justice that God should bless the redeemed.

Near nineteen hundred years ago Jesus paid the dreadful debt of all His elect, and made a full atonement for the whole mass of the iniquities of them that shall believe in Him, thereby removing the whole tremendous load, and casting it by one lift of His pierced hand into the depths of the sea.

When Jesus died, an atonement was offered by Him and accepted by the Lord God, so that before the high court of heaven there was a distinct removal of sin from the whole body of which Christ is the head.

In the fulness of time each redeemed one individually accepts for himself the great atonement by an act of personal faith, but the atonement itself was made long before.

I believe this to be one of the edges of the conquering weapon. We are to preach that the Son of God has come in the flesh and died for human sin, and that in dying he did not only make it possible for God to forgive, but he secured forgiveness for all who are in Him.

He did not die to make men savable, but to save them.

He came not that sin might be put aside at some future time, but to put it away there and then by the sacrifice of Himself; for by His death He ‘finished transgressions, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness.’

Believers may know that when Jesus died they were delivered from the claims of law, and when He rose again their justification was secured. The blood of the Lamb is a real price, which did effectually ransom.

The blood of the Lamb is a real cleansing, which did really purge away sin. This we believe and declare. And by this sign we conquer.

Christ crucified, Christ the sacrifice for sin, Christ the effectual redeemer of men, we will proclaim everywhere, and thus put to rout the powers of darkness.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Blood of the Lamb, the Conquering Weapon,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Volume 34 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1888), 34: 508–509.

“Let me have one of the good solid Puritan volumes” by Charles Spurgeon

“God gave Elijah forty days’ meat at one meal. Do you, dear friends, ever get meals such as that?

I do, when I read certain books. No modern thought books give me no such meat as that. But let me have one of the good solid Puritan volumes that are so little prized nowadays, and my soul can feed upon that.

You do the same, and see whether you do not find food that will last not merely for forty days, but that will make you strong to walk before the Lord even unto the Mount of God, there to bless and adore Him forever and ever.

But, oh, the milk-and-water diet that is too often given in these times! Well may we cry, ‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah?’

Oh, to be fed once more upon the doctrines of discriminating grace!

Oh, to be told continually of the love without a beginning, love without a change, love without an end!

Oh, to hear of an atonement that is an atonement, and that does indeed put away sin,—not the kind of atonement of which many talk today, which is all mist and cloud, and which accomplishes something or nothing according as men are pleased to let it!

We want again to have meat unto life eternal, to know the great truth of union to Christ, of being in Him, and so safe before the Lord, and made well-pleasing unto the Most High. God send us back this food!

Brothers and sisters, do not be satisfied until you get it. Turn from all other tables, and say, ‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is that flesh that is meat indeed, and that blood which is drink indeed?’

Be content with none but Christ. Have no gospel but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. May God so satisfy the souls of His saints that they shall be able either to serve well or to suffer well!

We are only strong either in patience or in zeal as the Lord God of Elijah feeds us with the Bread which came down from heaven, the Bread of life, Christ Jesus Himself. Lord, evermore give us this Bread!”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “Where Is the God of Elijah?,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (vol. 44; London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1898), 44: 547.

“Every command of Christ bears today’s date” by Charles Spurgeon

“First to you that love the Lord, or profess to do so— Christian people— I have to say to you tonight,—the Holy Ghost saith ‘TODAY.’ That is to say, that it is essential to duty that we attend to it at once.

Every command of Christ bears today’s date. If a thing is right, it should be done at once; if it is wrong, stop it immediately.

Whatever you are bound to do, you are bound to do now. There may be some duties of a later date, but for the present, that which is the duty is the duty now.

There is an immediateness about the calls of Christ. What he bids you do, you must not delay to do. The Holy Ghost saith “Today.”

And I would say this with regard to everything. Do you love the Lord? Have you ever professed His name? Then the Holy Ghost saith “Today.”

Hesitate not to take up His cross at once and follow Him,— the cross of Him who was nailed to the cross for you; who by His precious blood has made you not your own, but His. Confess Him before men.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Call of ‘Today,’” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Volume 55 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1909), 55: 422. Spurgeon was preaching from Hebrews 3:7.

“Christ did not die to make men savable, but to save them” by Charles Spurgeon

“I understand by the expression, ‘The blood of the Lamb,’ (Revelation 12:11) that our Lord’s death was effective for the taking away of sin.

When John the Baptist first pointed to Jesus, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ Our Lord Jesus has actually taken away sin by His death.

Beloved, we are sure that He had offered an acceptable and effectual propitiation when He said, ‘It is finished.’ Either He did put away sin, or He did not. If He did not, how will it ever be put away?

If He did, then are believers clear. Altogether apart from anything that we do or are, our glorious Substitute took away our sin, as in the type the scapegoat carried the sin of Israel into the wilderness.

In the case of all those for whom our Lord offered Himself as a substitutionary sacrifice, the justice of God finds no hindrance to its fullest flow: it is consistent with justice that God should bless the redeemed.

Near nineteen hundred years ago Jesus paid the dreadful debt of all His elect, and made a full atonement for the whole mass of the iniquities of them that shall believe in Him, thereby removing the whole tremendous load, and casting it by one lift of His pierced hand into the depths of the sea.

When Jesus died, an atonement was offered by Him and accepted by the Lord God, so that before the high court of heaven there was a distinct removal of sin from the whole body of which Christ is the head.

In the fulness of time each redeemed one individually accepts for himself the great atonement by an act of personal faith, but the atonement itself was made long before.

I believe this to be one of the edges of the conquering weapon. We are to preach that the Son of God has come in the flesh and died for human sin, and that in dying he did not only make it possible for God to forgive, but he secured forgiveness for all who are in Him.

He did not die to make men savable, but to save them.

He came not that sin might be put aside at some future time, but to put it away there and then by the sacrifice of Himself; for by His death He ‘finished transgressions, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness.’

Believers may know that when Jesus died they were delivered from the claims of law, and when He rose again their justification was secured. The blood of the Lamb is a real price, which did effectually ransom.

The blood of the Lamb is a real cleansing, which did really purge away sin. This we believe and declare. And by this sign we conquer.

Christ crucified, Christ the sacrifice for sin, Christ the effectual redeemer of men, we will proclaim everywhere, and thus put to rout the powers of darkness.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Blood of the Lamb, the Conquering Weapon,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Volume 34 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1888), 34: 508–509.

“All the gifts of sovereign grace are intended to give us joy” by Charles Spurgeon

“Brethren, let us think over our comforts now, for a minute, and our consolations. Have we not this for consolation—that God has loved us with an everlasting love, even the Lord who cannot change?

Hitherto He has never failed us,—He has promised that all good things shall be ours as we need them, and it has been so. Have we not this for a consolation—that He has given us Christ, and therein has given us all things?

Can He deny us anything now, after having given to us His own dear Son? Let us think how dear we are to Christ, how much we cost Him, how precious we are in His sight.

Can He leave us? Can He be unkind to us? Let us reflect upon the way in which the Lord has hitherto always appeared for us in times of difficulty, and rescued us in days of jeopardy.

Turning to the Book, and finding it written, ‘I am God: I change not,’ let us be consoled for the future, and go on our way confident that all shall be well.

All the covenant promises are meant to console us. All the gifts of sovereign grace are intended to give us joy. The attributes of God are springs of consolation for us.

The human nature of Christ in which He comes near to us is a source of bliss. The gentleness and tenderness of the Holy Ghost who dwells in us on purpose to be our Comforter are dear subjects of delight.

Indeed, if we be down cast, we must blame ourselves. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him.’ The consolations of the Spirit are ‘waters to swim in.’

Beloved, we must draw to a close upon this one thought of abundance. Just think of what God has done for us by way of making us happy.

He has not only pardoned us, but He has received us into His family, and He has taken us there, not to be His hired servants, as we once thought He might do, but He has made us His own sons; and what is more than that, He has made us heirs, and not secondary heirs either, but ‘joint-heirs with Christ Jesus’; so that we have come right up from the place of the slave into the position of the heir of all things.

Our Lord Himself, our dear and ever blessed Saviour, was not content to pluck us like brands from the burning—not content to make us His sheep, whom He should watch over with tender care—but He has taken us to be His spouse, and He calls us His beloved.

Yea, He has done more. He has taken us to be members of His body, and we are of His flesh and of His bones. Was there ever such an exaltation as this?

When Scripture speaks of lifting a beggar from the dunghill, and setting him among princes, surely it falls short of this wonder—that of taking a worm of the dust, a sinful wretch that was only fit for Hell, and putting him into union with Christ Jesus, so that he should be a part of the mystical body of the Son of God.

This is marvellous; and, as I think of it, I feel that I have brought you to the sea shore and shown you an ocean to swim in, the depth of which you cannot fathom. Oh the depths of the mercy of God!”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “‘Waters to Swim In,’” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. 18 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1872), 18: 317–318.