11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” (1 Timothy 1:11 (ESV)
The following message is from Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon entitled THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL OF THE BLESSED GOD. Spurgeon preached this sermon on June 30, 1867 at Camden Road Chapel. The biblical text is I Timothy 1:11.
“It is a most refreshing novelty to hear the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto me and rest.” Though you have heard the invitation outwardly thousands of times, yet Jesus’ own voice, when He speaks to your heart, will be as surprisingly fresh to you as if these dumb walls should suddenly find a tongue, and reveal the mysteries which have been hidden from the foundation of the world. To every believer the Gospel comes as news from the land beyond the river, God’s mind revealed by God’s Spirit to His chosen.”
‘It is good news too. Now, has the Gospel ever been experientially good to you, my hearer? Good in the best sense, good emphatically, good without any admixture of evil, the Gospel is to those who know it—is it so to you? Have you ever been deeply sensible of your overwhelming debt to the justice of God, and then gladly received the gracious information that your debts are all discharged?”
“Have you trembled beneath the thunder-charged cloud of JEHOVAH’s wrath, which was ready to pour forth its tempest upon you, and have you heard the gentle voice of mercy saying, “I have blotted out, as a cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins”? Have you ever known what it is to be fully absolved, to stand before God without fear, accepted in the Beloved, received as a dear child, covered with the righteousness of Christ? If so, the Gospel has been “good” indeed to you. Grasping it by the hand of faith, and feeling the power of it in your soul, you count it to be the best tidings that ever came from God to man.”
“I shall now ask you earnestly to answer my question as in the sight of God. Let no man escape from this most vital inquiry; Has that which Paul calls the Gospel, proved itself to be Gospel to you? Did it ever make your heart leap, just as some highly gratifying information excites and charms you? Has it ever seemed to you an all-important thing? If not, you know not what the Gospel means. O let my anxious questions tenderly quicken you to be concerned about your soul’s affairs and to seek unto the Lord Jesus for eternal life.”
“Paul, having called the message of mercy “the Gospel,” then adds an adjective— “the glorious Gospel,” and a glorious Gospel it is for a thousand reasons—glorious in its antiquity. For before the beams of the first morning drove away primeval shades, this Gospel of our salvation was ordained in the mind of the Eternal.”
“It is glorious because it is everlasting—when all things shall have passed away as the hoar frost of the morning dissolves before the rising sun, this Gospel shall still exist in all its power and grace. It is glorious because it reveals the glory of God more fully than all the universe beside. Not all the innumerable worlds that God has ever fashioned, though they speak to us in loftiest eloquence from their celestial spheres, can proclaim to us the character of our heavenly Father as the Gospel does.”
“The heavens are telling the glory of God,” but the Gospel which tells of Jesus has a sweeter and a clearer speech. The poet talks of the great and wide sea where the almighty form mirrors itself in tempest. So, indeed, the finger of God may mirror itself, but a thousand oceans could not mirror the Infinite Himself—the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only molten looking-glass in which JEHOVAH can be seen.”
“In Jesus we see not only God’s train, such as Moses saw when he beheld the skirts of JEHOVAH’S robe in the cleft of the rock, but the whole of God is revealed in the Gospel of Jesus, so that our Lord could say, “He who hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” If the Lord be glorious in holiness, such the Gospel reveals Him. Is His right hand glorious in power? so the Gospel speaks of Him. Is the Lord the God of love? Is not this the genius of the Gospel? The Gospel is glorious because every attribute of Deity is manifested in it with unrivalled splendor.”
“Now, is the Gospel to you, my dear young friend over there, the Gospel of a God whom you bless with all your heart, because He has sent it to you, and made you willing to receive it? If so, you are saved. But if not, if no emotions of sincere gratitude stir the deeps of your soul, then the Gospel has been to you no more than a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.”
More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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