The Object of Spurgeon's Faith
"We preach Christ crucified". Our creed, our body of divinity, our whole theology is summed up in the person of Christ Jesus. The apostle preached doctrine, but the doctrine was Christ. He preached practice, but the practice was all in Christ. There is no summary of the faith of a Christian that can compass all he believes, except that word "Christ"; and that is the Alpha and the Omega of our creed, that is the first and the last rule of our practice--Christ, and Him crucified. To spread the faith, then, is to spread the knowledge of Christ crucified. It is, in fact, to bring men, through the agency of God's Spirit, to feel their need of Christ, to seek Christ, to believe in Christ, to love Christ, and then to live for Christ.
Taken from Spurgeon's Autobiography, Volume 2, "The Full Harvest", Banner of Truth publishers, page 123
posted by mark pierson at 8:37 AM
9 Comments:
Good points... I believe a regenerated person will be effected to the extent that he will hunger and thirst for righteousness through Christ. Such a person will not be interested in just meeting the 'bare minimum' requirements to be saved, but will desire more and more of Christ and will continue to want more.
Jazzy
August 16, 2006 9:30 AM
Jazzycat: I first came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior in April, 1973. It followed a full year and a half of coming to know that I was a sinner.
It started in November,1971. I began to be aware, somehow, that I wasn't living a life that was pleaseing to God. Over the course of the next several months the realization that I was a sinner began to settle in, deeper and deeper. This was accompannied by a growing desire to read a Bible.
In January and February of 1973 Lake Ontario began to flood over, and the lakeshore residents began to cry out for help sandbagging, in order to protect their homes. I thought,'there, If I help sandbag, God will look at this act of mine come judgement day, and all will be well'. A series of events prevented me from getting to the lakeshore, including no transportation. I was getting really scared now. I could not do anything to earn salvation. I knew, somehow, that judgement day was coming, and that I was not going to fair well in it.
Then, on March 8, 1973, I met Kevin Bartlett. He was also 16 years old, as was I, and he lived with his twin sister and their mother. What a strange little family. I went to their house, and there, on the wall, was a copy of the 10 commandments. I began to read those commandments and started to squirm. I began to try to justify myself by picking and choosing the ones I hadn't yet broken. As you can imagine, that attempt to comfort myself didn't work very well. Kevin started to tell me that I was a lost sinner, and that my only hope of salvation was in believing in Jesus, that He died for my sins, and was the only way to be saved,just by believing, no works, nothing but faith in Christ alone. Somehow, I knew that he was telling me the truth. After a month of his preaching, and the coincident conviction that I was a sinner, I knew it was time to believe in Jesus. Kevin and his mother made sure to tell me that as I came to Jesus as Savior, He was also to be my Lord. I had no problem with that. I just knew they were telling me the truth...somehow.
On that April 28th night, it was a Saturday, I was at a church service at a Christian retreat house. At the end of the service, I went forward for prayer. Somehow, I wanted Jesus to save me. I wanted Him as my Lord. The minister asked me if I believed that Jesus was my only hope of salvation. I told him "yes". I knew that no works could save me, just simple faith in Christ, that He died for my sins and rose from the dead 3 days later. I knew that He was the Son of God. There and then I called upon the name of the Lord. I knew then and there that I was saved. There was no doubt in my mind. I also knew that from that momment on I was to live for Him. How could I not? He had suffered so for my sins.
After I had arisen from my knees, I had this strong desire to tell people about the Savior. I had this deep hunger to devour His word. I wanted to be around Christians. Oh, the joy I had inside! I was cleansed from my sins. I was foregiven. I now had eternal life. What a wonderful night that was--April 28, 1973, at 9:10-9:25 pm.
August 16, 2006 11:59 AM
Thats a great testimony Mark. I get a real charge out of testimonies. Praise God.
August 16, 2006 10:15 PM
Mark,
Good post and great testimony.
I agree with Joe, testimonies make me want to live for our Lord more and tell others of His saving grace all the more. I don't agree with some who make outlandish statements like, "Testimonies draw attention to oneself rather than focusing on Christ." That thinking is hog wash. Testimonies give glory to God (yours is no exception) and encourages the saints. I am glad you stand firm in the knowledge of your salvation.
BTW Jazzy, you might consider reading a very timely post at Doxo's blog.
May God bless you.
August 17, 2006 6:09 AM
Amen Don!
August 17, 2006 4:05 PM
BTW John,
I was just guessing that that is your new name written down in glory. I am assuming that was what you were doing with me:-)
August 17, 2006 4:07 PM
OOOOEEEEOOOOOO!
Nanananananananananananananana!
August 17, 2006 10:56 PM
j. Wendell,
Thanks for your suggestion and I have read the article. I realize that I am probably guilty of crossing that fine line at times. I am a sinner and certainly err on a daily basis. I regret that in my comments I may be too harsh at times, but I think I would regret even more not defending what I consider to be the truth of the reformed doctrine.
One excellent point in that article was for us to consider carefully the organization (i.e. blogsite) we are participating and commenting in. I am trying hard to do that of late by commenting mostly on sites that share the reformed perspective. This site for example is by Mr. Bluecollar who I admire greatly and agree with on nearly all doctrinal points. I want to support and encourage him in any debates that flare up on his site and other reformed sites as well. I am going to try and be more subdued or silent on sites that promote what I consider to be bad theology.
The Bible does call on us to encourage sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it and I guess the latest Billy Graham situation is where we could be headed if we err too far in the 'can't we all just get along' direction. There is a great post over at the Pyromanic site on the Graham interview that I would recommend. It is one of the greatest apologetic defenses of the gospel that I have seen in a long time.
Again, thanks for your honesty and frankness to suggest I read that post.
God bless you, Rose, and your family
Jazzycat
August 18, 2006 1:29 AM
You are all my friends.
August 18, 2006 7:22 AM
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