All of Grace: An Earnest Word for Those Seeking Salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ

By Charles H. Spurgeon

Spurgeon's classic evangelistic appeal written like a personal letter to the reader. This completely modernized and updated version retains Spurgeon's warmth and compassion. Simple, earnest, down-to-earth, and profound.

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Liberty Mission
• Release date: Mar 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781640077072

Charles H. Spurgeon

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), nació en Inglaterra, y fue un predicador bautista que se mantuvo muy influyente entre cristianos de diferentes denominaciones, los cuales todavía lo conocen como «El príncipe de los predicadores». El predicó su primer sermón en 1851 a los dieciséis años y paso a ser pastor de la iglesia en Waterbeach en 1852. Publicó más de 1.900 sermones y predicó a 10.000,000 de personas durante su vida. Además, Spurgeon fue autor prolífico de una variedad de obras, incluyendo una autobiografía, un comentario bíblico, libros acerca de la oración, un devocional, una revista, poesía, himnos y más. Muchos de sus sermones fueron escritos mientras él los predicaba y luego fueron traducidos a varios idiomas. Sin duda, ningún otro autor, cristiano o de otra clase, tiene más material impreso que C.H. Spurgeon.

Book preview

1

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?

Apastor once called a woman to offer her some financial help. He had heard she was going through very difficult times and wanted to give her some money to help pay her bills. When he called she did not answer, and the pastor assumed that she wasn’t home. Later that week he saw her at church and told her he had remembered her need: I called you at home, but no one answered. I figured you weren’t home. What time did you call? she replied. It was around noon. Oh, dear, she said, "I heard the phone, but I didn’t answer because I thought it was my landlord calling about the rent." In some way we can all relate to that kind of fear even if we haven’t experienced the exact same situation. But I want you to hear me plainly: I am not calling for the rent. The purpose of this book is not to ask you for anything, but to tell you that salvation is a gift. It is absolutely free.

Often when Christians want to gain people’s attention, our hearers think, Now he is going to tell me what I owe God. I have enough issues to deal with without this extra guilt on top of it. I just won’t answer the phone. This book is not about demanding something of you, but bringing you something of value. We are not going to talk about law, and duty, and punishment, but about love, and goodness, and forgiveness, and mercy, and eternal life. So please don’t pretend you are not at home. Do not ignore this message without thinking about it carefully. I don’t want to give you a list of rules. I come in God’s name, to bring you a precious gift that will bring you peace and joy for this life and for eternity. Answer the phone and listen to what I offer. Come now, let us reason together. The Lord himself invites you to meet and talk about what will fulfill you, what could give you the greatest joy, and He would not have done this if He did not have your best interests in mind. Do not ignore the Lord Jesus who knocks at your door. He knocks with a hand that was nailed to the cross for men and women just like you. He is working for your good. Listen carefully and come to Him. Today could be the day that you begin a new life that will continue in heaven. Faith comes by hearing, and reading is a sort of hearing: faith may even come to you while you are reading this book. Why not? I pray to God that it does!

2

GOD JUSTIFIES THE UNGODLY

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness (Romans 4:5).

Listen to the words, "The one who justifies the ungodly." These are wonderful words.

Are you not surprised to see words like these in the Bible: Who justifies the ungodly? I have heard people who hate the gospel accuse God of saving wicked men and accepting the most horrible human beings into his kingdom. Here we see God’s clear confession that he does just that! Through Paul, His servant, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God calls himself, The one who justifies the ungodly. He forgives those who deserve to be punished and blesses those who deserve much worse than blessings. You may have thought salvation was for good people, that God’s grace was for the pure and holy who are free from sin? If you have been loving towards all, then God will reward you. You may have thought that because you are not close to perfect, you have no reason to expect goodness from God. You should be surprised at a label like The one who justifies the ungodly.

I wouldn’t blame you at all for your surprise. God has been justifying my ungodliness for years, giving me continual grace, and I am still surprised by that grace each day. It doesn’t seem possible that a just and perfect God should let an evil man go free without any punishment. We are always talking about our own goodness and our own worthiness, and we stubbornly believe that there must be something within us that God would notice. But God sees through these lies, knowing that there is no goodness in us at all. He says, None is righteous, no not one. He knows that all our righteous deeds are like polluted garments, and so the Lord Jesus did not come into the world to look for good and righteous people and to give his blessing and the gift of eternal life to them. He comes, not because we are innocent and good, but to make us innocent: he justifies the ungodly.

When a lawyer comes into court, if he is an honest man, he works to plead the case of an innocent person and justify that person before the court, disproving charges that have been brought falsely. It should be the attorney’s object to justify the innocent person, and he should not attempt to hide the guilt of guilty person. No matter what may happen in a courtroom, the truth is that no person has the right or the power to make a guilty person innocent again. Only God can do that, and it is a great miracle. God, the greatest judge and ruler, knows that there is not one innocent person on earth that does good and never sins. So, in his immeasurable power and the wonder of his never-ending love, He chooses to do the incredible. Instead of defending the innocent and proving their innocence, he takes those who are absolutely guilty and makes them innocent. That is justifying the ungodly. God has made a way for the ungodly man to stand innocent before Him: He has set up a system that is perfectly just, where He can treat the guilty as if they had never done anything wrong their entire lives, as if they were totally free from sin. He justifies the ungodly.

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. It is completely surprising, even scandalous. But most of all, it is a thing to be celebrated by those who benefit from it. I know that even this day it is the greatest thing I have ever heard, that God would ever justify me. I am so unworthy, so corrupt, and so sinful apart from His overpowering love. I know without a doubt that I am justified by my trust and belief in Christ Jesus. I am treated as if I had been perfectly innocent, and I have been made a child of God, a fellow heir with Christ. At the same time I must admit that my guilt is as detestable as the most sinful of people. I, who am so undeserving, am treated as if I had been deserving all along. I am loved with as much love as if I had always been godly, even though I have acted so wrongly. I do not know how anyone could not be astonished at this amazing truth? I find it difficult even to show my gratitude because I am so dumbfounded at the wonder of it all.

While this message is very surprising, notice how it makes the gospel so available to you and me. If God justifies the ungodly, then He can justify you. You are exactly the kind of person God justifies! If you are unconverted at this moment, you have lived without God, you have been the opposite of godly; in one word, you have been and are ungodly. Perhaps you have never even attended a church once on Sundays, but have lived in disregard of the Lord’s day, and His house, and His Word. This proves you have been ungodly. Sadder still, it may be you have even doubted God’s existence, and have told your friends and family about your doubt. You have lived on this beautiful planet, which is full of the evidence of God’s presence, and all the while you have shut your eyes to the clear evidences of His power and Godhead. You have lived as if there were no God. You would have been very pleased if you could have proved to yourself without a doubt that there was no God at all. It is possible you have lived many years this way. You are pretty settled in your ways, and God has had little to do with any part of your life. If you were labeled ungodly it would describe you well, wouldn’t it?

On the other hand, it is possible you are a different kind of person entirely. Perhaps you have made yourself to look like a model Christian, and yet your heart is not in agreement with your appearance. You meet with the people of God, but you have never met with God for yourself. You have sung praise songs and hymns, but have not praised the Lord with your heart.