CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK

Another nugget from:
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 1
Volume 7 http://www.spurgeongems.org/ 1
CHRIST’S FINISHED WORKNO. 378
A SERMON DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, 1861,
BY THE REV. OCTAVIUS WINSLOW, D.D.,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“It is finished!”
John 19:30

1. What a spring of comfort flows from it to the true Believer amid his innumerable failures, flaws and imperfections. What service do you perform, what duty do you discharge of which you can say, “It is finished”? Alas, not one. Your service is imperfect, your obedience is incomplete, your love is fluctuating—yes, upon it all are the visible marks of human defilement and defect. But here is the work which God most delights in, “finished.” “You are complete in Him.” Turn, then, your eye of faith out of yourself and off of all your own doings and deal more immediately, closely and obediently
with the finished work of Immanuel. Come away from your fickle love, from your weak faith, from your little fruitfulness, from your uneven walk, from all your shortcomings and imperfections and let your eye of faith repose where God’s eye of complacent love reposes—on the finished work of Jesus. God beholds you only in Christ—it is not upon you He looks, but on His Beloved Son and
upon you in Him, “wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved.”
2. If Christ’s atoning work is finished, what folly and what sin to attempt to supplement it! What vast numbers aredoin g this! Away with your tears, your confessions, your duties, your charities, even your repentance and faith, if these things dare to take their place side by side with the finished work of Christ. See that you attempt to add nothing to it. In a similar strain of exhortation let me
3. Warn you of the utter worthlessness and fallacy of all grounds of faith and of all human hope that comes in conflict with the finished work of Christ. My dear Hearers, you have nothing to do in the great matter of your salvation but to accept in faith the one offering made once for all by God manifest in your nature. Cast your deadly doings at the foot of the Cross. Cease from your own works. Cease from your own righteousness. Cease from resting in your confessions, in
your tears, in your prayers, in your going to your Church or your Chapel. Oh, cease from all this and in simple faith accept— take hold of—the Divine work of the Lord Jesus Christ!,

What is invading and beclouding the spiritual joy and hope of the Lord’s people?

A nugget from:
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 1
Volume 7 http://www.spurgeongems.org/ 1
CHRIST’S FINISHED WORKNO. 378
A SERMON DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, 1861,
BY THE REV. OCTAVIUS WINSLOW, D.D.,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“It is finished!”
John 19:30

What is invading and beclouding the spiritual joy and hope of the Lord’s people? I believe it is mainly traceable to imperfect, crude and dim views and apprehensions of Christ’s complete work. False notions of the Savior’s finished salvation which He has wrought for His Church. Not distinctly seeing that all is done—the great debt paid, the mighty bond cancelled, the full atonement made and sin all and freely

forgiven.

I am still the more desirous of placing this great, this cardinal and precious Truth prominently and broadly, as the Lord the Spirit shall help me, before the present assembly, trusting and believing that, in answer to prayer, there will be tonight the presence and power of the Holy Spirit descending, invisible and noiseless, upon your souls, sealing upon your hearts this grand, this essential, this saving Truth—the FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST. “It is finished.”

Our Lord’s sufferings were also the result and consequence of sin—sin not His own, but His people’s. And in the fullest and  most emphatic meaning of the terms, were expiatory and vicarious—sufferings, not only the fruit of sin, but more than that, suffering expiatory of sin— sufferings, substitutionary and vicarious, sacrificial and atoning. There are theologians who dispute this statement, who deny this doctrine. But I challenge them to explain these sufferings of our Lord satisfactorily upon any other hypothesis than this.

Behold the Almighty Sufferer! There hung the Son of God, bearing the sin and enduring the curse of His Church—putting away the one and exhausting entirely the other—by the sacrifice of Himself. To all the demands of God’s moral government, to all the claims of Law and justice, Jesus now on behalf of the people for whom He stood as Surety, gave a full, honorable and accepted satisfaction. Come, poor sin-burdened, heart-broken penitent and sit beneath the shadow of this tree of life and its bending fruit of pardon, peace, joy and hope shall be sweet to your believing taste.

He has finished all that Justice asked—that the Law demanded. He has finished the mission His Father had confided to His hands. He has finished the grand oblation that has to restore to God’s moral government the glory it had lost in man’s apostasy. He has finished all the ancient types, predictions and shadows. He tore the veil in two and opened the bright pathway for the sinner to retrace his steps back to Paradise, back to God and once more feel the warm embrace of his Father’s forgiving love.

Poor broken-hearted Sinner, with all your burden of sin—believe and be saved! It bids you come without money and without price. It tells you the blood He poured from His broken heart can wash out and cancel the deepest stain that is on your soul. It tells you there is room in that bosom which He laid bare to the lightening-stroke of God’s wrath. It tells you dry your tears, embrace the Cross, trust in the finished work of Christ—fling to the heavens all your own righteousness—enwrap up by faith in the righteousness of Christ and all the choirs of Heaven shall tune their harps of gold and make the heavens reverberate with their songs of praise over your submission in faith to the atonement of the Son of God.

Christian Joy

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again—Rejoice!" Philip. 4:4

This from John MacDuff:

Christ is the only source of the believer's joy—God incarnate—God the Son, in our nature coming down to our low estate, to testify His love and compassion to us. Oh! there are no words which can inspire the heart with fuller joy than these, when uttered in sincerity—"He who was rich, for my sake, became poor." He who was rich—rich in the love of the everlasting Father—rich in the adoration of the heavenly hosts—rich in the glories of His own divinity—rich in the rolling worlds He had created by a word—yet, "became poor"—so poor, that He had not where to lay His head—so poor that when He asked for water they gave Him vinegar to drink—so poor, that His unpillowed head was girt with thorns in death—and all, "for my sake"—"wounded for my transgressions, bruised for my iniquities"—"bearing my sins in His own body on the tree;" sorrowing under them, enduring all their punishment, and blotting them out forever.
Believer! is not this the source—the proper source of your joy—that Jesus lived, and suffered, and died for you—that He paid "all that great debt" you owed to law and justice, and washed away the foul stain of your guilt, in His own most precious blood?
It is, also, a source of joy to the Christian, that the Crucified is now the glorified—that He rose triumphant from the grave, and ascended into glory—that he is seated at God's right hand, to wield the scepter of the universe, and to appear as the High Priest and Intercessor of His people. Oh! this thought has been a well-spring of joy to the believer. It has nerved his faith in many a hard fight—it has imparted sweetness to many a bitter draught. Jesus within the veil—the changeless Friend—the sympathizing Brother—the undying, ever-living Head—who has promised to His people, all-sufficient grace now, and certain, endless glory hereafter.
The Christian rejoices in the thought, that Christ not only "appears in the presence of God for us," but also that He is ever present with His Church and people on earth. "I am with you always, even unto the end of the ages." "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." He is watching over, and gathering to Himself, a chosen people—chosen of God—the gift of the Father—the purchase of His blood; and He is supplying all their needs, bestowing all needful blessings, and preparing them for the enjoyment of His heavenly kingdom.

Indebted, Polleted, Captive, Enemy, Desperate

2 Cor 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Thomas Doolittle:
"Were you not indebted to God? Didn't you owe millions to him, yet did not have a penny to pay? If God were to demand payment from you, would it not have proven your damnation? If his justice were to pursue you, and death arrest you, would not the demons have seized your soul, and thrown it into the prison of hell, from where you should never have been delivered, until you had paid the last penny you owe, which would never be? But now that Jesus has loved you, he has become your Surety, made payment for your debt, and given you freedom."
"Were you not spiritually polluted and unclean? Had not the leprosy of sin spread over your understanding, your will, your conscience, your memory and all your affections? So that you were defiled all over, and lay wallowing in your blood, cast out because you were so loathsome to God? And in this filthy state, you could never enter into the holy kingdom of God. But Jesus loved you, took away your filthy rags, and gave you a change of clothing made of his righteousness. You said to him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." He in love said to you, "I will, be clean". He bathed you in his own blood, and cleansed you from all your sins (1 John 1:7). Yes, though your sins were as scarlet, they became as white as snow; though they were red like crimson, they became as white as wool."
"Were you not a captive to Satan and to sin? Drudging elbow deep in the loathsome service of sin? Was not your bondage worse than that of the Israelites in Egypt? And were not Satan and sin as cruel and tyrannical as Pharaoh and his task-masters? Didn't you love your chains of sin? Weren't you at ease in your shackles? Do you remember how Jesus released you from your fetters? Jesus became your Redeemer, and made you free- and then you were free indeed!"
"Were you not an enemy to God? You were born his enemy, and then continued to live as his adversary. Had you died in this condition, your soul would have been alienated from God forever. But now Jesus has become your blessed peacemaker, and by the blood of his cross he reconciled you to God. Were you not spiritually dead? Had you not lost the holy image of God? Though you were dead, Jesus gave you spiritual life and eternal glory."
"Now, if this was your desperate condition, and Jesus helped you in every respect- then how suitable is he to you? Is not his suitableness to you a foundation for love, and a motive to love him? What an argument is this to win your heart to Jesus! You were lost, but Jesus saved you! You were ignorant, but Jesus taught you! You were sick, but Jesus healed you! You were polluted, but Jesus cleansed you! You were a captive to sin and Satan, and Jesus freed you! You were an enemy of God, and Jesus reconciled you! You were dead, and Jesus gave you spiritual life! Oh, you never found one so suitable for you! Now, even now, he should be loved by you. O, Jesus is the most excellent object for your love, and you should no longer withhold your devotion from him."

THE SAVIOR'S COMING

Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

I am not sure who this is from:

THE DAY OF THE SAVIOR'S SECOND COMING WILL BE ONE OF UNUTTERABLE JOY TO THE RIGHTEOUS. With what transports of joy shall we, who believe in Jesus, hail the dawn of that long-promised, long-desired day, when we shall be raised from the dust of death, in the likeness of our Redeemer, to hear His blessed sentence; to sit with Him on a throne of glory; to become the companions of holy men and angels; and to be crowned with all the happiness of heaven! It is impossible for us now to conceive the joy which will fill the glorious assembly of the redeemed, when, in the great day of final accounts, they are accepted, acquitted, and presented faultless before the throne of God. Then will these glorious words be accomplished, 'Yet we have this assurance: Those who belong to God will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For God's light of life will fall like dew on his people in the place of the dead!' Oh, it is sweet to think that we shall awake from our slumbers, 'low in the ground,' to rejoice with a triumphant Savior, and to sing the new song of heaven. What joy will fill the rising saint, when he sees that he has left behind Him all sin, and sorrow, and pain, and tears; and that He possesses a body which is ever to bloom with youth, and beauty, and vigor, and to shine as the sun through the endless ages of eternity! Then will have come the period of our complete redemption, when, arrayed with the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, we shall lift up our heads with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

The Preciousness of Christ

"Unto you therefore who believe He is precious." 1 Peter 2: 7.

O. Winslow:
Christ is our life; and our growth in spiritual life is Christ increasing within us. It is as utterly impossible to cherish a holy desire, to conceive a heavenly thought, to perform a good action, to conquer a single infirmity, or to baffle a solitary temptation, apart from a direct communication with Christ; as for the lungs to expand without air, or light to exist without the Sun. Oh, yes! Christ is increasingly precious to the believer. The absence from His beatific presence- distance from His blest abode- the vicissitudes of life- the fluctuations of time- the advance of infirmities- the increase of anxieties and cares- and the formation of new friendships, do not render the Savior less precious to the believing soul.
Other objects often lose their attraction, their desire to interest, or their power to charm us, by the lapse of years; but JESUS is that glorious object who grows more precious to the heart in time, as His capacity unfolds of making us supremely happy; and in eternity will become increasingly the object of our love, and the theme of our song, and the source of our bliss, as growing ages unveil His loveliness, His glory, and His grace!

Beloved reader, is Jesus increasingly precious to your soul? Each day's history, each day's trial, each day's sin, each day's need, should endear the Savior to your heart, because in each and all of those circumstances you should have direct and close dealings, daily and personal transactions, with Christ! You cannot cultivate an intimacy with Christ and not be enamored of His beauty, charmed with His graciousness, and absorbed with His love!

Be cautioned against an eclipse of the Savior! Let no object come between your heart and Christ! Do not be presumptuous when in high spiritual frames, nor be depressed when in low ones. Do not let your conscious shortcomings, failures, and stumblings estrange your affections from Jesus. Nor allow pride or carelessness to insinuate itself, if the Lord confers upon you some especial favor or proof of His regard.

The Christian a Pilgrim

We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a shadow, gone so soon without a trace. 1 Chron. 29:15

We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 1 Chron. 29:15

I believe this is from David Harsha:

Beyond this darksome valley of tears and death there lies a bright and joyous region of immortality, where weary pilgrims meet to stray no more. In that happy land their wanderings will have forever terminated, and they shall sit down in everlasting repose under the delightful shadow of the Tree of Life, in the midst of the paradise of God, and enjoy, through the blissful ages of glory, the presence and smiles of that Friend and Savior who, in the tenderest love for them, once poured out his own most precious blood on Calvary, that he might present them, faultless, before the throne of Heaven!

O how transcendently glorious must be the future eternal home of the Christian pilgrim! On those golden plains beyond the river of death, rays of divine glory are beaming in full effulgence. There, the Sun of Righteousness is shining in all his meridian splendor, making eternity one constant noontide of untold and indescribable glory and blessedness– a day without clouds. There, our Immanuel shall be as the "light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds."

Eternal day will dawn without a cloud. No gloom or darkness will ever overspread those blissful realms beyond the shores of time. The celestial world will always be irradiated by the glory of God and the Lamb, and the redeemed shall forever bask in the gladsome sunshine of Infinite Love. In that bright home of pilgrims, the Savior will conduct his ransomed ones to living fountains of waters– streams of immortal joys, and God shall wipe away all tears. In the presence of Jesus there is fullness of joy; at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has the human heart ever conceived those things which God has prepared for those who love him.

An exceeding and eternal weight of glory will crown every pilgrim who has found the happy shores of Immanuel's Land. In the Palace of the King of kings, all will be perfectly blessed, and from that "building of God, that house not made with hands," there shall be no more going out; but we shall forever be with the Lord, beholding his glory and enjoying the soul-ravishing manifestations of his endearing love. O, happy abode of Zion's pilgrims! O, sweet and pleasant world, where the balmy zephyrs of Heaven refresh the weary soul; where there flows not a tear; where there enters not a pain; where death itself shall be swallowed up in victory! This is the heritage of those who fear the Lord.

Christian Love pt. 3

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).

Nugget from a sermon:

THE IMPORTANCE OF LOVE IN THE LOCAL CHURCH!

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr

Spurgeon said, “Let me tell you a very remarkable instance of this. In the early days of Christianity, a terrible [pestilence] broke out in Alexandria. It was very dangerous to be near a person smitten with the disease, and to touch such a person meant almost certain death. When the [pestilence] broke out, the heathen in Alexandria [pushed] out of their houses every person who had the slightest sign of the disease upon him, and left him to starve, and would not even bury their bodies for fear of contagion. But the Christians visited one another when they were sick of the [pestilence], and no Christian was left to die [alone]. They were zealous to go and visit [and care for] each other, although they knew that they [would], in all probability, catch the [disease]; and amongst the carcasses outside the walls of Alexandria there was not found one single [unburied] corpse of a Christian…And the heathen said, ‘What is the meaning of this?’ And the answer went throughout Egypt, ‘This is the religion of Jesus of Nazareth, for these Christians love one another.’ No sermon can be so [well heard by] the world as a true manifestation of the love of Christ; and when God restores to His church genuine, hearty, and sincere love…then shall the world be more impressed by the gospel than it is at present” (ibid., pp. 249-250).

Let it be our goal as a church to so greatly love each other that.

John Peter Lange, the great German commentator, pointed out that in the early days of Christianity, “The heathen [often] exclaimed with astonishment: ‘Behold how these Christians love one another, and how ready to die for one another.’” And Lucian [a heathen writer] sneeringly remarked, “Their law-giver [Christ] has persuaded them that they are all [brothers and sisters]” (Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, John, p. 427).

A Help Heavenward - Winslow

"Our sins must bring us to His blood, our condemnation must bring us to His righteousness, our corruptions must bring us to His grace, our wants must bring us to His fullness, our weakness must bring us to His
strength, our sorrow must bring us to His sympathy, and His own loveliness and love must attract us to Himself." O. Winslow

Cast Your Cares - Look!

"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you.
  He will never let the righteous fall."  Psalm 55:22

"Oh yes! the Lord cares for you. Little, obscure, despised, unworthy though you may be, or deem yourself to be, the Lord has an interest in you, the closest, the tenderest that ever dwelt in a heart of love. Bought with the Savior’s blood, a temple of the Holy Spirit, sealed with the earnest of the Spirit as a child of God and an heir of glory, oh, there is not a bright angel in heaven for whom God so cares as He cares for you! Will you not respond to this truth by transferring all your care to Him in the exercise of a humble, unquestioning faith? "

"One uplifted glance— one sight of Jesus— one believing touch of the promise of God, will bring more repose to your anxious spirit, more succor to your burdened mind, than a lifetime of self-absorption."
O. Winslow

Christian Love pt. 2

O. Winslow:

It tenderly sympathizes with all the suffering believers. Here is the evidence of our own membership with the family of God. "If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it." And it is in this exercise of Christian sympathy that "the members have the same care one for another." The Church of God is a suffering Church. All the members are, more or less, and variously, tried. Many are the burdens of the saints. It would be impossible, we think, to find one, whose lip has not touched the cup of sorrow, whose spirit has not felt the pressure of trouble. Some walk in doubt and darkness- some are particularly set up as a mark for Satan- some suffer from a nervous temperament, discoloring every bright and beautiful picture of life- some are the subjects of personal affliction, pining sickness excluding them from all participation in the songs of Zion and the solemn assemblies of the saints- some are bereaved, sorrowing like Rachel for her children, or mourning, like the sisters of Bethany, for their brother. Some are suffering from narrowed and exhausted resources; and there may do not be a few, suffering even from actual poverty itself.

Ah! how many will say, "You have touched upon every sorrow but mine," -so extensive is the field of Christian sympathy! But what scope for the play of those heaven-born affections begotten in the heart of each true believer! "A new commandment give I unto you," says Christ, "that you love one another." And how is this commandment to be obeyed? The apostle answers, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Therefore the bearing of one another's burdens is a necessary effect and proper exercise of this holy love. It will delight to recognize the suffering Savior in his suffering members. And it will go and lift the pressure from the spirit, and chase the sorrow from the heart, and dry the tear from the eye, and supply the pressing need. And if it cannot accomplish this, it will take its place by the side of the sufferer, sharing the sorrow and the need it has no power to comfort or remove. Is this law of Christ- the law of love- thus exhibited in you?

Christian Love

O. Winslow:

One of the loveliest, most precious unfoldings of God's love towards us is that He has pardoned all our sins, has forgiven us all our transgressions, and having blotted them all out, will remember them no more forever. "Be imitators of God as dear children," and ever keep in view the divine precept teaching the forgiving of offences- "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." Instead of sitting down and brooding over an injustice and a wronged, wounded sensibility, or slighted affection, until the imagination has augmented the injury from a molehill into a mountain, the little rivulet that one step of love might have crossed into an impassable gulf, see if there has been any real cause of offence, any intended injury; and if there dwells in the offender the spirit of Christ, and in you, the offended one, the love of God, both will be prepared, on a mutual understanding, the one to confess the fault and the other as ready to forgive it. Oh, let the dying prayer of Jesus ever linger in our ear amid the assaults of enemies and the woundings of friends- "Father, FORGIVE them!"

The Cross is the grand center of union among true Christians

"Far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14

"Our outward differences are many, without doubt. One man is an Episcopalian, another is a Presbyterian—one is an Independent, another a Baptist—one is a Calvinist, another an Arminian—one is a Lutheran, another a Plymouth Brother—one is a friend to Establishments, another a friend to the voluntary system—one is a friend to liturgies, another a friend to extempore prayer. But, after all, what shall we hear about most of these differences, in heaven? Nothing, most probably—nothing at all. Does a man really and sincerely boast in the cross of Christ? That is the grand question. If he does, he is my brother—we are traveling on the same road; we are journeying towards a home where Christ is all, and everything outward in religion will be forgotten. But if he does not boast in the cross of Christ, I cannot feel comfort about him. Union on outward points only, is union only for a time—union about the cross is union for eternity. Error on outward points is only a skin-deep disease—error about the cross is disease at the heart. Union about outward points is a mere man-made union—union about the cross of Christ can only be produced by the Holy Spirit." Ryle

The Foot of the Cross - Winslow

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14

"What a marvellous power does this cross of Jesus possess! It changes the Christian's entire judgment of the world. Looking at it through the cross, his opinion is totally revolutionized. He sees it as it really is- a sinful, empty, vain thing. He learns its iniquity, in that it crucified the Lord of life and glory. His expectations from the world, his love to the world, are changed. He has found another object of love, the Savior whom the world cast out and slew, and his love to the world is destroyed by that power which alone could destroy it- the crucifying power of the cross. We are dealing with a great truth, my reader. Let us inquire for what purpose did Jesus Christ thus give Himself to die? Was it not that we might be spiritually crucified with Him? How beautifully the apostle brings out this truth, "Who gave Himself for us, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Savior." And what was the apostle's experience? "I am crucified with Christ." Oh, how holy and sublime his decision; "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For me to live is Christ." And what was John's exhortation? "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." "This is the victory which overcomes the world, even our faith." And what is the weapon by which faith combats with and overcomes the world? What but the cross of Jesus?
It is the cross which eclipses, in the view of the true believer, the glory and attraction of every other object. Just as the natural eye, gazing for a while upon the sun, is blinded for the moment, by its overpowering effulgence, to all other objects; so to the believer, wont to concentrate his mind upon the glory of the crucified Savior, studying closely the wonders of grace and love and truth meeting in the cross, the world with all its attraction fades into the full darkness of an eclipse." Winslow

Introducing: Shallow Small Groups

Introducing: Shallow Small Groups

John 3:16 - A.W. Tozer

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
--John 3:16

Tozer:
I have heard that John 3:16 is a favorite preaching text for young
preachers, but I confess that as far as I can recall, I have never
had the courage to prepare and preach a sermon with John 3:16 as
my text. I suppose I have quoted it as many as 15,000 or 20,000
times in prayer and in testimony, in writing and in preaching, but
never as a sermon text....

I think my own hesitation to preach from John 3:16 comes down to
this: I appreciate it so profoundly that I am frightened by it--I
am overwhelmed by John 3:16 to the point of inadequacy, almost of
despair. Along with this is my knowledge that if a minister is to
try to preach John 3:16 he must be endowed with great sympathy and
a genuine love for God and man....

So, I approach it. I approach it as one who is filled with great
fear and yet great fascination. I take off my shoes, my heart
shoes, at least, as I come to this declaration that God so loved
the world.

Gave Himself for us

Winslow

"Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us." "Who gave himself for our sins." "Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it." "Who gave himself for us, that He might deliver us from all iniquity." Oh what an infinitude of wealth and glory and blessing is included in these words- "gave himself!" Gave His Deity- gave His humanity- gave His obedience- gave His life- gave His heart's blood- gave His heaven of glory- all for poor, unworthy, self-destroyed, helpless sinners who had nothing to pay- pardoning them fully, justifying them freely, calling them graciously- keeping and eternally glorifying them! O Lord, my soul dissolves before this stupendous, this strange, this unparalleled spectacle of disinterested, self-sacrificing love! I blush to find myself so unlike it- I weep that my sins demanded it- I believe because it was You who died- my heart is won, my affections are captivated by a love which enchains to itself my whole being!"

Preaching the Gospel - Spurgeon (1 Tim 1:15)

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."—1 Timothy 1:15.

Spurgeon:
"I suppose that the message delivered by God's servants to the people must always be called "the burden of the Lord." When the old prophets came forth from their Master, they had such dooms, and threatenings, and lamentations, and woe to preach, that their countenances were wan with sorrow, and their hearts heavy within them. They usually commenced their discourses by announcing, "The burden of the Lord, the burden of the Lord." But now, our message is no heavy one. No threatening and no thunders compose the theme of the gospel minister. All is mercy; love is the sum and substance of our gospel—love undeserved; love to the very chief of sinners. But it is still a burden to us. So far as the matter of our preaching is concerned, it is our joy and our delight to preach it; but if others feel as I feel now, they will all acknowledge it to be a hard matter to preach the gospel. For now I am sore vexed, and my heart is troubled, not concerning what I have to preach, but how I shall preach it. What if so good a message should fail because of so ill an ambassador? What if my hearers should reject this saying which is worthy of all acceptation, because I may announce it with lack of earnestness? Surely—surely such a supposition is enough to draw the tears to the eyes of any man! But may God in his mercy prevent a consummation so fearfully to be dreaded; and, however I may now preach, may this Word of God commend itself to every man's conscience; and may many of you now gathered together, who have never as yet find to Jesus for refuge, by the simple preaching of the Word, now be persuaded to come in, that you may taste and see that the Lord is good."

Jesus Paid It All

"He was oppressed." –Isa. 53:7

Octavius Winslow:

"Sin is a debt--Jesus paid it when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Obedience is a debt--Jesus paid it when, by the obedience of One, many were made righteous. Death is a debt--Jesus paid it when He bowed His head on the cross and gave up the spirit. And when thus we behold Him dragged into the court of human justice, and sentenced to a felon's death--and when we follow Him to the garden of His sorrow, sweating great drops of blood, and thence to Calvary, and see Him nailed to the accursed tree--suffering, bleeding, dying--what do we behold but the exacting from Him the full payment of the bond for the honoring of which He had entered into an eternal suretyship on His people's behalf?

What life and liberty are bound up in these words--"I forgave you all that great debt!" Believing soul, the debtor's prison is no longer your abode. The bond is cancelled, and God, the Creditor, fully satisfied with the Atonement of His beloved Son, has given a full discharge both to Him and to us, in that He raised Him from the dead. No longer, then, look at your sins, unworthiness, nothingness, and poverty; but look to Jesus, and, looking constantly by faith at Him, walk in the holy, happy liberty of one all whose debt is cancelled, and for whom there is now no condemnation. Is Jesus your Paymaster, O my soul? Then He has equally engaged to provide for your temporal needs, to deliver you out of all your difficulties, and to enable you to meet all your worldly engagements. Surely He who has paid your greater debt to God, will help you honorably to pay your lesser debt to man."

The Glory of the Redeemer in His People

"I am glorified in them." John 17:10

O. Winslow:
"In Christ the Church is chosen. In Christ it is preserved. In Christ it lives. In Christ it is pardoned. In Christ it is justified. In Christ it is sanctified. In Christ it will be glorified. Thus does all the glory of the spiritual house hang on Christ- He is its foundation, He is its corner-stone; in Him; "fitly framed together, it grows up a holy temple in the Lord;" and He will be the top-stone, which shall be brought forth on the day of its completion, amid the shoutings of "Grace, grace unto it!"
"He receives them, He welcomes them, He bears them up, He supplies them, He fills them; He rejoices in their feeble grace, He despises not their little strength, He crowns their weak faith, He grants them the utmost desires of their hearts. Oh, what a Jesus is our Jesus! Were ever such gentleness, tenderness, and skill manifested towards the "bruised reed and the smoking flax? "