Spurgeon on Jesus’s Love for Sinners

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

The gospel of Jesus is completely counterintuitive. Now, to be clear that is not because it doesn’t make rational sense. Rather, it is because our souls have become irrational under the effects of sin. Because of sin, our minds tend to reason that we must get our life all together before God will accept and forgive us. Nothing could be further from the truth. That’s like saying that we need to prove our innocence before hiring an attorney! No, we hire an attorney because we need to prove our innocence. God specializes in saving those whose lives are a mess. Indeed, He can only save those who need to be saved. The gospel is for sinners only.

Listen to the great London preacher Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892):

“If you are to go to Christ, do not put on your good doings and feelings, or you will get nothing; go in your sins, they are your [proper attire]. Your ruin is your argument for mercy; your poverty is your plea for heavenly alms; and your need is the motive for heavenly goodness. Go as you are, and let your miseries plead for you.” ~from a sermon on Matthew 15:27

Well said! Spurgeon nails the sentiment of our Savior. Jesus famously said that it is the sick who need a doctor not those who are well. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Jesus in Luke 5;29-32).

Indeed, Jesus has come to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). God demonstrates His own unique love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’”

~ Luke 5:27-32 (ESV)

References:
“Children’s Bread Given to Dogs: Matthew 15:27” by Charles H. Spurgeon on 14 October 1866. Sermon delivered at The Free Tabernacle, Notting Hill.

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