How was he conducting this ministry, of which he had spoken so much and had yet more to say? It was in full view of accountability to the day of judgment. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men," adding motives to affect them, and not remaining content with arguments to convince their understandings. And in this work he now felt God's approval; before he had declared, "we are confident," and he reaffirms it in the words, "we are made manifest unto God." Every hour he stood at the bar of his conscience an acquitted man, and this conscience was a manifestation of God. Honestly was he striving to please God, as honestly labouring to save them, and in this spirit he was ever seeking to manifest himself to their consciences. If he were a temporizer, a man pleaser, he might adopt worldly arts and captivate them. No; he would address their consciences; the best in them should come to his side or he must lose them. "Savour of life unto life" or "savour of death unto death;" no other alternative. But do not misunderstand us. Commendation is not our object. If we have, as we trust, manifested ourselves to your consciences, then let your consciences speak in our behalf, and let their voices boast in this - that we are truthful in the sight of God and man. This is the way to answer our enemies who "glory in appearance and not in heart." Suffer he would rather than be wrongly vindicated. Do it in the highest way or not at all. "Your cause" is the great interest. No doubt we seem "beside ourselves," or we may appear "sober," but you may boast of this - "it is for your cause." And in this devotion to your well being what motive presses with weight enough to make us endure all things for your sakes? "The love of Christ constraineth us." And wherein is this love so signally demonstrated as to embody and set forth all else that he did? It is love in death. Looking at this Divine death, we form this judgment or reach this conclusion, that he "died for all" because "all were dead -" dead under the Law of God, dead in trespasses and sins, dead legally, morally, spiritually. Nothing less than such an atoning death for all men - so it seems to us the apostle meant - could exert on him this constraining influence. And how should this influence operate? "They which live should not henceforth live unto themselves." The very self had been redeemed by Christ's vicarious death; body, soul, and spirit had been bought with a price, and the price was Christ's blood; and with such a constraining motive, the most potent that the Holy Ghost could bring to bear on the human mind, how could men live unto themselves? If, indeed, the constraining power had its legitimate effect, only one life could result, a life consecrated to "him which died for them and rose again." If, therefore, all being dead, one died for all, that all might live in freedom from selfishness and be the servants of him who had redeemed them from sin and death, we can know henceforth no man after the flesh. The very purpose of Christ's death was that the fleshly life of sin might pass out of view (might be covered over and thus disappear from sight), and another life be entered on, a life in the redeeming Christ. Admitting that this passage presents the moral aspects of Christ's death and the obligations consequent thereupon as they act on moral sentiment, yet the fundamental idea of the apostle is that Christ stood in the stead of sinners, took their guilt upon himself, and made an offering of his life for their rescue. To strengthen this doctrine, he says that, though he once knew Christ after the flesh (as a mere man), he knew him now in a very different way. We are not to suppose that he had seen him in his earthly life, but merely that he knew of him. St. Paul, after his conversion, had an experimental knowledge of Christ as his Redeemer through the sacrificial death of the cross; nor was there any room in his heart for moral sentiment, nor any spiritual force in Christ's teaching and example, nor ground for any trust or hope, till he as "chief of sinners" had realized the righteousness of God in the atoning blood of Calvary. Such a change was a creation. He was "a new creature," and whoever experienced this power of the Lord's death was a new creature. Old things had passed away - the old self in taste and habit, the old unbelief rooted in the fleshly mind, the old worldliness - and all things had become new. No wonder that "all things" had become "new;" for "all things" pertaining to this change in its cause, agency, instrumentalities, "are of God." Strong language this, which sounds even yet to many as the rhetoric of excited fancy; but not stronger than the blessed reality it represents. Nay; words cannot equal the fact. A man may overstate his own experience of Divine grace; never can he exaggerate the grace itself. "All things are of God;" and how is this fact manifested? In the method of reconciliation which is God's act through Christ. "Who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ." To understand what is implied in reconciliation, we must remember that much more is involved in it than the moral state of a sinner's mind toward God. The enmity of the carnal man has to be subdued, and in this sense he is "a new creature," but the possibility of this creation rests upon an antecedent fact, viz. a changed relation to the violated Law of God. What has been done for him must take precedence, as to time, of what is done in him. We must know how God as Sovereign stands to us, and by what means the sovereignty cooperates with the fatherhood of God, before we can accept the offered boon of mercy. There must be a reason why God should pardon in advance of a reason why we should seek pardon. A principle of righteousness must be established as preliminary and essential to the sentiment of Christianity, since it is impossible for us by the laws of the mind to appreciate the power of any great sentiment unless we have previously felt it as connected with a great principle. "Whom God set forth to be a Propitiation, through faith, by his blood, to show his righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the Justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:25, 26, Revised Version). There is a "ministry of reconciliation" because "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing [reckoning] their trespasses unto them." Forgiveness through Christ, the Propitiation, is free to all who believe in him. Nor are we left in doubt as to the substance of our belief. It is faith in Christ, God in Christ, the Reconciler, who pardons our sins and makes us new creatures in him. To make this reconciliation known, to demonstrate its infinite excellence as the method of grace, to show its Divine results in the very men who proclaimed the gospel, Christ had instituted the ministry, and its title was, "ministry of reconciliation." Recall, O Corinthians, what I have said in defence of my apostleship. Recall my sufferings in your behalf. See the reason of it all. Whom are these factious Judaizers fighting? Whom did those beasts at Ephesus try to destroy? Who is this man, troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast down, dying everywhere, dying always? This is the character he sustains, the office he fills - an "ambassador for Christ." Has he manifested himself to your consciences? Does he look forward to the day of judgment as a day of revelation as well as a day of reward and punishment? Know we not a man, not even Christ, after the flesh! Behold your minister, your servant, as an "ambassador," commissioned to offer you the terms of reconciliation. "We pray you in Christ's stead [on behalf of Christ], be ye reconciled to God." Nothing remains to be done but tot you to accept the offered reconciliation. And he enforces this idea by stating that he who "died for all," since "all were dead," had been made "sin for us, who knew no sin." "Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;" yet he was "made to be sin for us," made a substitute or ransom, an offering, whereby the wrath of God was turned away. Reconciliation is accomplished not by our repentance and confession of sin, nor by any suffering on our part, nor by any merit of our work, but altogether by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in our behalf. God's righteousness is thus set forth. The plan of salvation changed nothing in the character of Almighty God. Neither his righteousness nor his love was modified integrally by Christ's atonement. "God is righteous," "God is love," are no truer facts now than they eternally were. What the gospel teaches is that the righteousness and the love of God have assumed special forms of manifestation and operative activity through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is righteousness, not in the normal relation of Law to the original transgressor, but in an instituted relation of Law to one who took the place of the transgressor. It is love as grace, the form of love that provided for the righteousness on which St. Paul lays such an emphasis. It is not a change in the Law, but in the administration of Law, and the glory of it lies in the fact that the Divine government presents in this higher form the resplendent spectacle of that progression from the "natural" to the "spiritual," which St. Paul discusses in his argument on the resurrection. Whatever obstacles existed in the way of this sublime advance have been removed by Christ. "Mercy and truth have their existence as attributes of the Divine nature; they have met together." "Righteousness and peace are not to be confounded, but they have kissed each other." - L.

1. St. Paul has been magnifying his ministry. It had been, he says, a ministry of the Spirit, not of the letter (2 Corinthians 3:6). Its authority had been that of the truth (2 Corinthians 4:2). It had been a suffering and a martyr ministry (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9, 10); representative, too, of Christ in word and deed (2 Corinthians 4:5 and 2 Corinthians 4:10); unworldly (2 Corinthians 5:2, 8, 9); and persuasive (2 Corinthians 5:11).

2. But when a man speaks thus, we are apt to call it boasting, and Paul anticipates such a charge (2 Corinthians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 5:12). "You say you commend yourself to our consciences. Now if all this is so plain, why commend yourself?" The reply is: "I do not commend myself for my own sake." It is not a personal boast. It is the only possible reply to those who require a ministry with splendid external credentials, instead of the inward witness of the heart (2 Corinthians 5:12).

I. THE APOSTLE'S DEFENCE OF HIS SELF-APPROVAL. It was founded on two reasons.

1. We "give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart." The false teachers gloried "in appearance," in outward demonstration, such as eloquence or spiritual gifts. On the contrary, St. Paul says that the true apostolic credentials are those of the heart — his truth, sufferings, simplicity, boldness, and his life as being an image of Christ's. This corresponds with the fact that Christian ministers are prophets, not priests. The priest said: "I am ordained God's messenger: therefore, what I say is to be received." The prophet said: "What I say is truth; therefore, I am to be received as from God." Consequently, the priest was always heard; the prophet's words were rarely believed till he was slain: and this because men glory in appearances, not in heart. Now St. Paul's credentials were those of the heart (2 Corinthians 4:2). "First, we declare our message, and from it we deduce our apostleship." This is the Christian ministry.

2. "Whether we be beside ourselves it is to God," etc.(1) The apostle's defence might seem like that of one deranged, as once before it appeared to Festus. "Well," said St. Paul, "we adopt the words 'beside ourselves.' Be it so! it is for God's cause. We boast of our qualifications for the sake of God, to whom they all belong." Or again, "Whether we be sober" — that is, restrain ourselves — our moderation is an example of humility to you.(2) There are, then, cases in which it is wise for a Christian to vindicate himself; there are others in which it is wiser to remain silent. It is sometimes false humility, and moderation, to lie under an undenied slur on our character or our words. Samuel vindicated himself, "Whose ox have I taken?" etc. On the other hand, some charges are delicate, complicated, and shadowy, that public defence leaves the matter worse than before. It is better, then, to let time and character defend you. For there are cases in which dignified silence is the Christian's only defence. So it was in our Saviour's life.

II. THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LIFE WITH WHICH THE APOSTLE'S SELF-APPROVAL WAS CONNECTED.

1. Love, the main principle of Christian life. Christian liberty is a loving servitude to God. Just as if a slave were made free, and then felt himself bound in gratitude to toil with tenfold vigour for a master whom he loved instead of fearing; or just as the mother is the slave to her sick child, and would do almost impossibilities, not because it is her duty, but because she loves her child; so the whole moral law is abrogated to us as a law, because obedience to it is ensured in the spirit.

2. The law of redeemed humanity, "If one died for all, then all died." There are two kinds of death — one in sin, before redemption; the other to sin, which is redemption. Here it is of the death to sin. If one died as the representative of all, then in that death all died. This is the great thought throughout this Epistle. Every Christian is dead in Christ's death, and risen in Christ's resurrection.

3. The new aspect of humanity in Christ, "a new creation." A Christian is human nature revolutionised (2 Corinthians 5:17).

(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

I. THE GRAND OBJECT OF THE EFFORTS OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF OURS. The cause in which, as a missionary society, we are engaged, is the salvation of the human race. How much does this sentence comprehend! To emancipate the human race — to raise numerous hordes from barbarism to civilisation, etc. But this object will increase in magnitude if we consider —

1. The worth of the human soul.

2. The meaning of the word salvation. Deliverance from an infinite evil, and the enjoyment of an infinite good.

3. The immense multitudes who are hourly passing to their eternal destiny without a knowledge of the Saviour.

4. The lustre which their salvation will throw on the Redeemer's glories to all eternity.

II. THE MOST PLAUSIBLE GROUNDS ON WHICH MANY PRONOUNCE THE MEMBERS OF THESE SOCIETIES TO BE ENTHUSIASTS. "We admit the object to be good; but is it feasible — is it possible? We give you credit for your intentions; but you are beside yourselves."

1. From what region will you gather a sufficient number of missionaries? Missions to the Ottoman Empire alone would require more men than all your various societies can muster, and yet you talk of filling the world with converts!

2. Where will you find resources sufficient for the magnitude of your enterprise? What all the societies put together raise is but as a drop to the ocean. The finances of an empire would not satisfy your demand.

3. How formidable are your difficulties! from the peculiarities of governments, usages, customs, etc. How will you persuade the Jews to embrace the gospel of Christ; how break the adamantine barriers thrown across China; how overturn the venerable establishments of India; how civilise savages?

4. Look at your own land — here you have Bibles, ministers, means; and what effects are produced? Physicians, heal yourselves, before you apply your remedy to the maladies of the world.

III. THE SOLID REASONS WHICH OTHERS, MORE CANDID, HAVE FOR ESTEEMING THE ZEALOUS MEMBERS OF THIS SOCIETY SOBER-MINDED. The question at issue is — Is this cause the cause of God? If so, all difficulties vanish. They take their stand —

1. On the decrees of God (Ephesians 1:8, 10). Who shall contend against almighty power?

2. On this earth, which was formed in subserviency to the design of God. It is still preserved as the theatre on which the designs of redemption are carried on. Can that plan fail for which this universe was formed, and for which alone it is preserved?

3. On the hill of Calvary. There they see expiation made for the sins of the world. Now the channel is opened for salvation to the world. Redemption is purchased, and its application to the hearts of men is easy.

4. On the mount of Olives. And there from the lips of Christ they hear His last command, and motive to exertion (Matthew 28:18, 19).

5. With angels before the throne of glory. On the head of Christ is the crown of universal empire, and from all parts the shout is heard, "Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" Cannot He break down every barrier and open the whole world to our labours? Shall He not have the heathen for His inheritance?

6. At Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. And there they see the mighty power, on the success of which all their labours depend. "Not by power," etc.

7. On the hill of Zion, fast by the throne of God; and looking into the vista of prophecy, they see these wonders actually accomplishing — the whole earth filled with the glory of God; the idols utterly abolished; Christ having dominion from sea to sea; all nations blessed in Him, etc. What, then, becomes of all cavils of sceptics and mere nominal Christians? On whom does the charge of madness rest?

IV. THE MOTIVES BY WHICH THE FRIENDS OF MISSIONS ARE ACTUATED.

1. Love to God. "If we be beside ourselves, it is to God."

2. Benevolence to man. "If we be sober, it is for your cause."

3. The constraining love of Christ.

(W. Thorpe.)

Paul's great purpose here is to impress upon us the fact that the cause of Christ should be furthered by every legitimate means; the soberest wisdom or the most impassioned zeal. He vindicates zeal in the cause of Christ.

I. FROM THE CONDITION OF THE WORLD. He speaks of the world as in a state of spiritual death. This is by no means the world's estimate. It is short-sighted, and therefore self-complacent. The discovery of its true position comes only when the mind is enlightened.

1. The Bible concludes all "under sin." And out in the broad world you have abundant confirmation of this testimony. You have it in your own history. There are thousands around you who revel in undisguised corruption. You have it further away in the countries which own Mahometan rule, and then in the far-off regions of heathenism proper, where the nature, bad in itself, is made a thousand-fold worse by its religion. Death is everywhere.

2. Although a realising estimate of the world's condition comes only when the judgment is enlightened from on high, the wise men of the world have felt an unsatisfactoriness for which they could hardly account. Each in his own way has guessed at the solution of the problem. The people are embruited; educate them. The nations are barbarous; civilise them. Men grovel in sensual pleasure; cultivate their aesthetic faculty. Amid all this tumult of the human, oh for something divine! And the divine is given — Christ has died for all men. There is hope for the world's life. Oh, tell these tidings to the world, and it will live. "On such a theme, 'tis impious to be calm!" "If we be beside ourselves, it is to God: and if we be sober, it is for your cause."

II. FROM THE OBLIGATION OF THE CHURCH, in that He died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, etc. In an age of organisation against idolatry there is one proud, rampant idolatry which retains its ascendancy amongst us — selfishness. Now it is against this principle in human nature throned within us all, that Christianity goes forth to combat. Have you obtained life from the dead through His name? Then you are bound to spend it for His honour, and watching with godly jealousy for every possible opportunity of doing good, to spend and be spent for them who have not yet your Master known. And then, as gratitude rises and the fire burns, and the heart is full, and the frame quivers with the intensity of its emotions, just remember that there is a world lying in the wicked one. Lift up your voice in the midst of them, lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, "Behold your God." Men will call you mad, but you can give them the apostle's answer, "If we be beside ourselves, it is to God: if we be sober, it is for your cause."

III. FROM THE MASTER MOTIVE OF THE SAVIOUR'S CONSTRAINING LOVE. "The love of Christ constraineth us."

1. Ye, then, who need rousing to energy in the service of Christ, think of His love to you.

2. Take it as referring to your love to Christ, which the sense of His love has enkindled in the soul. The deepest affection in the believing heart will always be the love of Jesus. Oh, let this affection impel us, and who shall measure our diligence or repress our zeal? If meaner motive can prompt to heroic action — if from pure love of science astronomers dare encounter dangers just that they may watch in distant climes a transit, and if botanists can travel into inhospitable climes to gather specimens, and if, with no motive but love of country, and no recompense save bootless tears and an undying name, a Willoughby could sacrifice himself to blow up a magazine, and a Sarkeld could fire the Cashmere Gate at Delhi, surely we, with obligations incomparably higher, ought to present our lifeblood, if need be, for the cause of Christ, and for the good of souls. Let the scoffers spurn at us as they will; we are far superior to such poor contumely. Heaven applauds our enthusiasm, and we can vindicate it in the apostle's words, "If we be beside ourselves, it is to God: and if we be sober, it is for your cause."

(W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)

Corinthians, PaulAchaia, CorinthAble, Appearance, Appearances, Approval, Behalf, Boast, Boasting, Cause, Chance, Commend, Commending, Countenance, Counts, Face, Favour, Furnishing, Giving, Glorifying, Glory, Glorying, Ground, Heart, Man's, Nothing, Occasion, Opportunity, Ourselves, Position, Pride, Proud, Rather, Ready, Recommend, Reference, Reply, Requesting, Seeming, Sincerity, Somewhat, Speak, Superficial, Taking, Themselves, Wherewith1. That in his assured hope of immortal glory,
9. and in expectation of it, he labors to keep a good conscience;
12. not that he may boast of himself,
14. but as one that, having received life from Christ,
17. endeavors to live as a new creature to Christ only,
18. and by his ministry of reconciliation, to reconcile others also in Christ to God.

2 Corinthians 5:12

     5017   heart, renewal
     5173   outward appearance
     5262   commendation

2 Corinthians 5:6-14

     5109   Paul, apostle

2 Corinthians 5:9-12

     5910   motives, examples

August 1. "For we must all Appear Before the Judgment Seat of Christ; that Every one May Receive the Things done in his Body, According to that He Hath Done" (ii Cor. v. 10).
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done" (II Cor. v. 10). It will not always be the day of toil and trial. Some day, we shall hear our names announced before the universe, and the record read of things that we had long forgotten. How our hearts will thrill, and our heads will bow, as we shall hear our own names called, and then the Master shall recount the triumph and the services which we had …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Work and Armour of the Children of the Day
'Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet the hope of salvation.'--1 THESS. v. 8. This letter to the Thessalonians is the oldest book of the New Testament. It was probably written within something like twenty years of the Crucifixion; long, therefore, before any of the Gospels were in existence. It is, therefore, exceedingly interesting and instructive to notice how this whole context is saturated with allusions to our Lord's teaching, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Great Reconciliation
"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 COR. V. 19. Such considerations as we have had before us, are of far more than theoretical interest. They are of all questions the most practical. Sin is not a curious object which we examine from an aloof and external standpoint. However we regard it, to whatever view of its nature we are led, it is, alas, a fact within and not merely outside our experience. And so we are at length brought to this most personal and most urgent inquiry, …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

Tent and Building
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'--2 COR. v. 1. Knowledge and ignorance, doubt and certitude, are remarkably blended in these words. The Apostle knows what many men are not certain of; the Apostle doubts as to what all men now are certain of. 'If our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved'--there is surely no if about that. But we must remember that the first Christians, …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Love that Constrains
'The love of Christ constraineth us.'--2 COR. v. 14. It is a dangerous thing to be unlike other people. It is still more dangerous to be better than other people. The world has a little heap of depreciatory terms which it flings, age after age, at all men who have a higher standard and nobler aims than their fellows. A favourite term is 'mad.' So, long ago they said, 'The prophet is a fool; the spiritual man is mad,' and, in His turn, Jesus was said to be 'beside Himself,' and Festus shouted from …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Pleasing Christ
'We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of Him.'--2 COR. v. 2. We do not usually care very much for, or very much trust, a man's own statement of the motives of his life, especially if in the statement he takes credit for lofty and noble ones. And it would be rather a dangerous experiment for the ordinary run of so-called Christian people to stand up and say what Paul says here, that the supreme design and aim towards which all their lives are directed is to please Jesus Christ. …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Entreaties of God
'Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech ... by us: we pray ... in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.'--2 COR. v. 20. These are wonderful and bold words, not so much because of what they claim for the servants as because of what they reveal of the Lord. That thought, 'as though God did beseech,' seems to me to be the one deserving of our attention now, far rather than any inferences which may be drawn from the words as to the relation of preachers of the Gospel to …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Patient Workman
'Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.'--2 COR. v. 5. These words penetrate deep into the secrets of God. They assume to have read the riddle of life. To Paul everything which we experience, outwardly or inwardly, is from the divine working. Life is to him no mere blind whirl, or unintelligent play of accidental forces, nor is it the unguided result of our own or of others' wills, but is the slow operation of the great Workman. Paul assumes to know the meaning of this protracted …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Old House and the New
'We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.'--2 COR. v. 8. There lie in the words of my text simply these two things; the Christian view of what death is, and the Christian temper in which to anticipate it. I. First, the Christian view of what death is. Now it is to be observed that, properly speaking, the Apostle is not here referring to the state of the dead, but to the act of dying. The language would more literally and accurately …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Sacrifice of Christ.
Preached June 23, 1850. THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again."--2 Corinthians v. 14, 15. It may be, that in reading these verses some of us have understood them in a sense foreign to that of the apostle. It may have seemed that the arguments ran thus--Because Christ …
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton

The Believer a New Creature
We have two great truths here, which would serve us for the subject of meditation for many a day: the believer's position--he is "in Christ;" and the believer's character--he is a "new creature." Upon both of these we shall speak but briefly this morning, but may God grant that we may find instruction therein. I. First, then, let us consider THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITION--he is said to be "in Christ." There are three stages of the human soul in connection with Christ: the first is without Christ, this …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 15: 1869

The Great Assize
Beside that direct testimony, it should be remembered there is a convincing argument that so it must needs be, from the very fact that God is just as the Ruler over men. In all human governments there must he an assize held. Government cannot be conducted without its days of session and of trial, and, inasmuch as there is evidently sin and evil in this world, it might fairly be anticipated that there would be a time when God will go on circuit, and when he will call the prisoners before him, and …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

Substitution
Note the doctrine; the use of it; the enjoyment of it. I. First, THE DOCTRINE. There are three persons mentioned here. "He (that is God) hath made him (that is Christ) who knew no sin, to be sin for us (sinners) that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Before we can understand the plan of salvation, it is necessary for us to know something about the three persons, and, certainly, unless we understand them in some measure, salvation is to us impossible. 1. Here is first, GOD. Let every …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Christ --Our Substitute
Little however, did I think I should live to see this kind of stuff taught in pulpits; I had no idea that there would come out a divinity, which would bring down God's moral government from he solemn aspect in which Scripture reveals it, to a namby-pamby sentimentalism, which adores a Deity destitute of every masculline virtue. But we never know to-day what may occur to-morrow. We have lived to see a certain sort of men--thank God they are not Baptists--though I am sorry to say there are a great …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

A Solemn Embassy
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."--2 Corinthians 5:20. THERE has long been war between man and his Maker. Our federal head, Adam, threw down the gauntlet in the garden of Eden. The trumpet was heard to ring through the glades of Paradise, the trumpet which broke the silence of peace and disturbed the song of praise. From that day forward until now there has been no truce, no treaty between God and …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 62: 1916

"But if the Spirit of Him that Raised up Jesus from the Dead Dwell in You, He that Raised up Christ from the Dead Shall Also
Rom. viii. 11.--"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." It is true the soul is incomparably better than the body, and he is only worthy the name of a man and of a Christian who prefers this more excellent part, and employs his study and time about it, and regards his body only for the noble guest that lodges within it, and therefore it is one of the …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Life of Mr. Hugh Binning.
There being a great demand for the several books that are printed under Mr. Binning's name, it was judged proper to undertake a new and correct impression of them in one volume. This being done, the publishers were much concerned to have the life of such an useful and eminent minister of Christ written, in justice to his memory, and his great services in the work of the gospel, that it might go along with this impression. We living now at so great distance from the time wherein he made a figure in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Of Meditating on the Future Life.
The three divisions of this chapter,--I. The principal use of the cross is, that it in various ways accustoms us to despise the present, and excites us to aspire to the future life, sec. 1, 2. II. In withdrawing from the present life we must neither shun it nor feel hatred for it; but desiring the future life, gladly quit the present at the command of our sovereign Master, see. 3, 4. III. Our infirmity in dreading death described. The correction and safe remedy, sec. 6. 1. WHATEVER be the kind of …
Archpriest John Iliytch Sergieff—On the Christian Life

Death and Judgement.
TO THE AUTHOR OF THE GUARDIAN. Sir, THE inclosed is a faithful translation from an old author, which if it deserves your notice, let the reader guess whether he was a Heathen or a Christian. I am, Your most humble Servant. "I cannot, my friends, forbear letting you know what I think of death; for, methinks, I view and understand it much better, the nearer I approach to it. 1 am convinced that your fathers, those illustrious persons whom 1 so much loved and honoured, do not cease to live, though they …
Joseph Addison—The Evidences of the Christian Religion, with Additional Discourses

The Inwardness of Prayer
The Inwardness of Prayer It is difficult and even formidable thing to write on prayer, and one fears to touch the Ark. Perhaps no one ought to undertake it unless he has spent more toil in the practice of prayer than on its principle. But perhaps also the effort to look into its principle may be graciously regarded by Him who ever liveth to make intercession as itself a prayer to know better how to pray. All progress in prayer is an answer to prayer--our own or another's. And all true prayer …
P. T. Forsyth—The Soul of Prayer

The Work of Regeneration.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."--2 Cor. v. 17. In our former article we contended that regeneration is a real act of God in which man is absolutely passive and unable, according to the ancient confession of the Church. Let us now reverently examine this matter more closely; not to penetrate into things too high for us, but to cut off error and to clear the consciousness. Regeneration is not sacramentally effected …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

But this Being the Case, How to this Opinion that Should not be Contrary...
2. But this being the case, how to this opinion that should not be contrary which the Apostle says, "For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each may receive according to the things he hath done by the body, [2710] whether good or bad;" [2711] this, thou signifiest, thou dost not well see. For this apostolic sentence doth before death admonish to be done, that which may profit after death; not then, first, when there is to be now a receiving of that which a person shall have …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

In the Work of the Redemption of Man, not Only the Mercy, but Also the Justice, of God is Displayed.
In the work of the Redemption of man, not only the mercy, but also the justice, of God is displayed. 15. Man therefore was lawfully delivered up, but mercifully set free. Yet mercy was shown in such a way that a kind of justice was not lacking even in his liberation, since, as was most fitting for man's recovery, it was part of the mercy of the liberator to employ justice rather than power against man's enemy. For what could man, the slave of sin, fast bound by the devil, do of himself to recover …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

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