ALL OF GRACE 4

4. It is God Who Justifies

Romans 8:33

It’s a wonderful thing, this being justified, or being declared righteous. If we had never broken the laws of God we would not have needed it, because we would have been just in ourselves. He who has done the things that he should have done all of his life, and has never done anything that he should not do, is justified by the law. But you, dear reader, are not that kind of person; of that, I’m quite sure. You have too much honesty to pretend to be sinless, and therefore you need to be justified.

Now, if you justify yourself, you will simply be a self-deceiver. Therefore don't try it. It's never worthwhile.

If you ask your fellow human beings to justify you, what can they do? You can make some of them say good things about you for small favors, and others will backbite you for less. Their judgment is not worth much.

Our text says, “It is God who justifies,” and this is a great deal more to the point. It is an astonishing fact, and one that we should consider carefully. Come and see.

In the first place, nobody else but God would ever have thought of justifying those who are guilty. They have lived in open rebellion; they have done evil with both hands; they have gone from bad to worse; they have turned back to sin even after they have been punished for it, and therefore, have been forced to leave it for a while. They have broken the law, and trampled on the gospel. They have rejected proclamations of mercy and have persisted in ungodliness. How can they be forgiven and justified? Their fellowmen, despairing of them, say, “They are hopeless cases.” Even Christians look upon them with sorrow instead of with hope. But not so with their God. In the splendor of His electing grace, having chosen some of them before the foundation of the world, He will not rest until He has justified them, and made them to be accepted in the Beloved. Isn’t it written in the Bible, “Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Romans 8:30)? Thus you see that there are some whom the Lord determines to justify: why shouldn’t you and I be of counted with them?

No one but God would have ever thought of justifying me. I am surprised with myself. I don’t doubt that grace is equally seen in others. Look at Saul of Tarsus, who foamed at the mouth against God’s servants. Like a hungry wolf, he worried the lambs and the sheep right and left; and yet God struck him down on the road to Damascus, and changed his heart, and so fully justified him that in no time, this man became the greatest preacher of justification by faith that ever lived. He must have marveled often that he was justified by faith in Christ Jesus, because he was once so unwavering in his determination to cling to salvation by the works of the law. No one but God would have ever thought of justifying a man like Saul the persecutor; but the Lord God is glorious in grace.

But, even if anybody had thought of justifying the ungodly, no one but God could have done it. It is quite impossible for any person to forgive offenses that have not been committed against himself. A person has greatly injured you; you can forgive him, and I hope you will; but no third person can forgive him apart from you. If the wrong is done to you, the pardon must come from you. If we have sinned against God, it is in God’s power to forgive; for the sin is against Himself. That is why David says, in the fifty-first Psalm: “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight” (Psalm 51:4); for then God, the One who was offended, can put the offense away. That which we owe to God, our great Creator can forgive, if it pleases Him to do so; and if He forgives it, it is forgiven. No one but the great God, against whom we have committed the sin, can blot out that sin; let us, therefore, see that we go to Him and seek mercy at His hands. Do not let us be led aside by those who would have us confess to them; they have no authority from the Word of God for their claims. But even if they were ordained to pronounce pardon in God’s name, it must still be better that we, ourselves, go to the great Lord through Jesus Christ, the Mediator, and seek and find pardon at His hand; since we are sure that this is the right way. Proxy religion involves too great a risk: you had better see to your own soul’s matters yourself, and not trust them to another man’s hands.

Only God can justify the ungodly; but He can do it to perfection. He casts our sins behind His back, He blots them out; He says that although they seek them, they shall not be found. With no other reason for it but His own infinite goodness, He has prepared a glorious way by which He can make scarlet sins as white as snow, and remove our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. He says, “Their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). He goes as far as to make an end of sin. One person in the old times called out in amazement, “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:18).

We are not speaking of justice at the moment, nor of God’s dealing with men according to what they deserve. If you profess to deal with the righteous Lord on terms of law and judgment, everlasting wrath threatens you, because that is what you deserve. Blessed be His name, He has not dealt with us according to our sins; but now, He treats us on terms of free grace and infinite compassion, and He says, “I will receive you graciously, and love you freely.” Believe it, because it is certainly true that the great God is able to treat the guilty with abundant mercy; yes, He is able to treat the ungodly as if they had always been godly. Read the parable of the prodigal son carefully (Luke 15:11-32), and see how the forgiving father received the returning wanderer with as much love as if he had never gone away, and had never defiled himself with prostitutes. He carried this out so far that the elder brother began to grumble about it; but the father never withdrew his love. Oh my brother and oh my sister, however guilty you may be, if you will only come back to your God and Father, He will treat you as if you had never done anything wrong! He will regard you as righteous, and deal with you accordingly. What do you say to this?

Don’t you see-- for I want to bring this out clearly, what a wonderful thing it is-- that as no one but God would think of justifying the ungodly, and no one but God could do it, yet the Lord can do it? See how the apostle puts the challenge, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33). If God has justified a man it is well done, it is rightly done, it is justly done, and it is eternally done. I read a statement in a magazine that is full of poison against the gospel and those who preach it; that we hold some kind of theory that says we imagine that sin can be removed from men. We believe no such theory. We publish a fact. The grandest fact under heaven is this-- that Christ, by His precious blood, actually does put away sin, and that God, for Christ’s sake, in dealing with men on terms of divine mercy, forgives the guilty and justifies them, not according to anything that He sees in them, or foresees will be in them, but according to the riches of His mercy which is in His own heart. This we have preached, do preach, and will preach as long as we live. “It is God who justifies”-- that justifies the ungodly; He is not ashamed of doing it, nor are we ashamed of preaching it.

The justification, which comes from God Himself, must be beyond question. If the Judge acquits me, who can condemn me? If the highest court in the universe has pronounced me not guilty, who shall lay anything to my charge? Justification from God is a sufficient answer to an awakened conscience. The Holy Spirit by His means breathes peace over our entire nature, and we are no longer afraid. With this justification we can answer all the roarings and railings of Satan, and also of ungodly men. With this we shall be able to die: with this we shall boldly rise again, and face the last great court of justice.

Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
While by my Lord absolved I am
From sin’s tremendous curse and blame.

Friend, the Lord can blot out all your sins. I’m not shooting in the dark when I say this. “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men” (Matthew 12:31). Though you stand up to your neck in crime, He can remove the defilement with a word, and say, “I am willing; be cleansed” (Mark 1:14). The Lord is a great forgiver.

“I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” Do you?

Even at this very moment, He can pronounce the sentence, “Your sins are forgiven... go in peace” (Luke 7:48, 50); and if He does this, no power in Heaven, or earth, or under the earth, can put you under suspicion, much less under wrath. Do not doubt the power of Almighty love. You could not forgive your fellow man if he had offended you in the same way that you have offended God; but you must not measure God’s corn with your basket; His thoughts and ways are so much higher than yours just as the heavens are high above the earth.

“Well,” you say, “it would be a great miracle if the Lord were to pardon me.” It is. It would be a supreme miracle, and therefore He is likely to do it; for He “does great things, and unsearchable” (Job 5:9), which we didn’t even look for.

I was myself stricken down with a horrible sense of guilt, which made my life miserable; but when I heard the command, “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22). I looked, and in a moment the Lord justified me. What I saw was that Jesus Christ was made sin for me and that sight gave me rest. When those who were bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness looked to the serpent of brass they were healed at once (Numbers 21:5-9); and so was I when I looked to the crucified Savior. The Holy Spirit, who enabled me to believe, gave me peace through believing. I felt as sure that I was forgiven, as before I felt sure that I was condemned. I had been certain of my condemnation because the Word of God declared it, and my conscience bore witness to it; but when the Lord justified me the same witnesses made me equally certain. The Word of the Lord in the Scripture says, “He who believes in Him is not condemned” (John 3:18), and my conscience bears witness that I believed, and that God in pardoning me is just. Thus I have the witness of the Holy Spirit and my own conscience, and these two agree as one truth. Oh, how I wish that my reader would receive the testimony of God upon this matter, and then very soon he would also have the witness in himself!

I will be so bold as to say that a sinner justified by God stands on more solid ground than a righteous man justified by his works, if there were such a person. We could never be more certain that we had done enough works; conscience would always be uneasy for fear that, after all we have done, we should come short, and we could only have the trembling verdict of a fallible judgment to rely upon. When God Himself justifies, however, and the Holy Spirit bears witness to that justification by giving us peace with God, then we will feel that the matter is certain and settled, and we enter into rest. No tongue can tell the depth of that calm which comes over the soul, which has received the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

[Charles Haddon Spurgeon's classic, All of Grace, has been edited in Modern English by Jon Cardwell. A chapter or two will be posted each Friday.]

ALL OF GRACE 3

3. God Justifies the Ungodly

This message is for you. You will find the text in the Epistle to the Romans, in the fourth chapter and the fifth verse,

“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”

I call your attention to those words, “Him who justifies the ungodly.” To me, they seem to be very wonderful words.

Isn’t it surprising that there should be an expression like that in the Bible, “who justifies the ungodly”? I have heard that men that hate the doctrines of the Cross bring it as an accusation against God, that He saves wicked men and receives to Himself the vilest of the vile. See how this Scripture accepts the charge, and plainly states it! By the mouth of His servant Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, He takes to Himself the title of “Him who justifies the ungodly.” He makes those just that are unjust, forgives those who deserve to be punished, and favors those who deserve no favor. You thought that salvation was for the good, didn’t you? You thought that God’s grace was for the pure and holy, who are free from sin? It has fallen into your mind that, if you were excellent, then God would reward you; and you have thought that because you are not worthy, there could be no possible way for you to enjoy His favor. You must be somewhat surprised to read a text like this: “Him who justifies the ungodly.” I’m not surprised that you’re surprised; because as familiar as I am with the great grace of God, I never cease to marvel at it. It does sound surprising, doesn’t it, that it should be possible for a holy God to justify an unholy man? According to the natural legality of our hearts, we are always talking about our own goodness and our own worthiness, and we stubbornly hold to it that there must be something in us in order to have the attention of God. Now, God, who sees through all deceptions, knows that there is no goodness in us whatsoever. He says that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). He knows that “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), and therefore, the Lord Jesus did not come into the world to look after goodness and righteousness with Him, and to bestow them upon persons who have none of them. He comes, not because we are righteous, but to make us so: He justifies the ungodly.

When a lawyer goes into court, if he is an honest man, he desires to plead the case of an innocent person and justify him before the court from the things laid falsely to his charge. It should be the lawyer’s purpose to justify the innocent person, and he should not attempt to protect the guilty party. The attorney has no right, nor is it in his power to truly justify the guilty. This is a miracle reserved for the Lord alone. God, the infinitely just Ruler, knows that there is not a righteous man upon earth that does good and doesn’t sin; and therefore, in the infinite sovereignty of His divine nature and in the splendor of His indescribable love, He take on the task, not so much of justifying the just as of justifying the ungodly. God has devised ways and means of making the ungodly man to stand justly accepted before Him. He has set up a system where He can treat the guilty with perfect justice, just as if he had been free from offense all his life; yes, can treat him as if he were completely free from sin. He justifies the ungodly.

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. It is a very surprising thing-- a thing to be marveled at most of all by those who enjoy it. Even to this day, I know that it is the greatest wonder I have ever heard of, that God should ever justify me. I feel myself to be a lump of unworthiness, a mass of corruption, and a heap of sin, apart from His almighty love. I know with full certainty that I am justified by faith, which is in Christ Jesus, and treated as if I had been perfectly just, and made an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ; and yet by nature I must take my place among the most sinful. Although I am altogether undeserving, I am treated as if I had always been deserving. I am loved with as much love as if I had always been godly, whereas I was previously ungodly. Who can help being astonished at that? Gratitude for such favor is dressed in clothes of utter amazement.

Now, while this is very surprising, I want you to notice how available it makes the gospel to you and to me. If God justifies the ungodly, then, dear friend, He can justify you. Isn’t that the very kind of person that you are? If you are unconverted at this moment, it is a very proper description of you; you have lived without God, you have been the reverse of godly; in one word, you have been and are ungodly. Perhaps you have not even attended a place of worship on Sunday, but have lived with disregard toward God’s day, and house, and Word-- this proves that you have been ungodly. Sadder still, it may be that you have even tried to doubt God’s existence, and have gone to the extent of saying that you did doubt. You have lived on this fair earth, which is full of the signs 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. Indeed, you would have been very pleased if you could have demonstrated to yourself with some certainty that there was no God whatsoever. Possibly you have lived a great many years in this way, so that you are now pretty well settled in your ways, and yet God is not in any of them. If you were labeled UNGODLY it would be just as fitting to describe you in that way as it would be for the sea to be labeled salt water. Wouldn’t it?

Possibly you are another kind of person; you have regularly attended to all the external forms of religion, and yet you have had no heart in them at all, nonetheless, you have been really ungodly. Though you meet with the people of God, you have never met with God for yourself; you have been in the choir, and yet you have not praised the Lord with your heart. You have lived without any love toward God in your heart, or given any regard to His commands in your life. Well, you are just the kind of man to whom this gospel is sent-- this gospel, which says that God justifies the ungodly. It is extremely amazing, but it is happily available for you. It just suits you. Doesn’t it? How I wish that you would receive it! If you are a sensible man, you will see the remarkable grace of God in providing for you and others like you, and you will say to yourself, “Justify the ungodly! Why, then, shouldn’t I be justified, and justified at once?”

Now, observe further, that it must be so-- that the salvation of God is for those who do not deserve it, and have no preparation for it. It is reasonable that the statement should be put in the Bible; for, dear friend, no others need justifying but those who have no justification of their own. If any of my readers are perfectly righteous, they want no justifying. You feel that you are doing your duty well, and almost putting heaven under an obligation to you. What do you want with a Savior, or with mercy? What do you want with justification? You will be tired of my book by this time, for it will have no interest to you.

If any of you are giving yourselves such proud airs, listen to me for a little while. You will be lost, just as sure as you are alive. You righteous men, whose righteousness is all because of your own working, you are either deceivers or deceived; for the Scripture cannot lie, and it says quite plainly, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). In any case I have no gospel to preach to the self-righteous, no, not a word of it. Jesus Christ Himself came not to call the righteous, and I am not going to do what He did not do. If I called you, you would not come, and therefore, I will not call you, under that character. No, I ask you to look instead at that righteousness of yours until you can see what a delusion it is. It is not half as significant as a cobweb. Have nothing to do with it! Flee from it! Oh believe that the only persons that are in need of justification are those who are not self-righteous! They need to have something done for them to make them righteous before the judgment seat of God. Depend upon it; the Lord only does that which is needful. Infinite wisdom never attempts to do what is unnecessary. Jesus never undertakes that which is superfluous. To make him righteous who is already righteous is no work for God-- that is labor for a fool; but to make him just who is unjust-- that is work for infinite love and mercy. To justify the ungodly-- this is a miracle worthy of a God. And it is certainly so.

Now, look. If there is a physician anywhere in the world who has discovered precious and effective medicines, to whom is that physician sent? Is he sent to those who are perfectly healthy? I think not. Put him down in a community where there are no sick folks and he feels that he is not where he should be. There is nothing for him to do. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Mark 2:17). Isn’t it equally clear that the great remedies of grace and redemption are for the soul that is sick? They cannot be for those who are in good health because they cannot be of any use to them. If you, dear friend, feel that you are spiritually sick, the Physician has come into the world for you. If you are utterly ruined because of your sin, you are the very person the plan of salvation is directed toward. I say that the Lord of love had just such a person as you in His eye when He arranged the system of grace. Suppose a man of generous spirit decided to forgive all those who were indebted to him; it is clear that this can only apply to those really in his debt. One person owes him a thousand dollars; another owes him fifty dollars; each one has only to have his bill discharged, and the liability is wiped out. But the most generous person cannot forgive the debts of those who do not owe him anything. It is out of the power of Omnipotence to forgive where there is no sin. Pardon, therefore, cannot be for you who have no sin. Pardon must be for the guilty. Forgiveness must be for the sinful. It is absurd to talk about forgiving those who do not need forgiveness-- pardoning those who have never offended.

Do you think that you must be lost because you are a sinner? This is the reason why you can be saved. Because you know that you are a sinner I would encourage you to believe that grace is ordained for those like you. One of our hymn writers even dared to say:

A sinner is a sacred thing;
The Holy Ghost hath made him so.

It is truly so, that Jesus seeks and saves that which is lost. He died and made a real atonement for real sinners. When men are not playing with words, or calling themselves “miserable sinners,” just out of common courtesy I feel overjoyed to meet with them. I would be glad to talk all night to bona fide sinners. The hotel of mercy never closes its doors upon such people, not on weekdays nor Sunday. Our Lord Jesus did not die for imaginary sins, but His heart’s blood was shed to wash out deep crimson stains, which nothing else can remove.

He that is the filthiest sinner-- he is the kind of man that Jesus Christ came to make clean. A gospel preacher on one occasion preached a sermon from, “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees” (Matthew 3:10), and he delivered such a sermon that one of his hearers said to him, “One would have thought that you had been preaching to criminals. Your sermon should have been delivered in the county jail.”

“Oh, no,” said the good man, “if I were preaching in the county jail, I would not preach from that text. There, I would preach ‘This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,’ (1 Timothy 1:15).’” Rightly so. The law is for the self-righteous, to humble their pride: the gospel is for the lost, to remove their despair.

If you are not lost, what do you want with a Savior? Should the shepherd go after those who never went astray? Why should the woman sweep her house for the bits of money that were never out of her purse? No, the medicine is for the diseased; the quickening is for the dead; the pardon is for the guilty; liberation is for those who are bound: the opening of eyes is for those who are blind. How can the Savior, and His death upon the Cross, and the gospel of pardon, be accounted for, unless it be upon the supposition that men are guilty and worthy of condemnation? The sinner is the gospel’s reason for existence. You, my friend, to whom this word now comes, if you are undeserving, ill-deserving, hell-deserving, you are the sort of person for whom the gospel is ordained, and arranged, and proclaimed. God justifies the ungodly.

I would like to make this very plain. I hope that I have done so already; but still, as plain as it is; only the Lord that can make a man see it. At first it seems most amazing to an awakened man that salvation should really be for him as a lost and guilty one. He thinks that it must be for him as a penitent man, forgetting that his repentance is a part of his salvation. “Oh,” he says, “but I must be this and that,”-- all of which is true, for he shall be this and that as the result of salvation; but salvation comes to him before he has any of the results of salvation. It comes to him, in fact, while he deserves only this bare, base, beggarly, abominable description, “ungodly.” That is all he is when God’s gospel comes to justify him.

May I, therefore, urge upon any who have no good thing about them-- who fear that they have not even a good feeling, or anything whatsoever that can recommend them to God-- that they will firmly believe that our gracious God is able and willing to take them without anything to recommend them, and to forgive them spontaneously, not because they are good, but because He is good. Doesn’t He make His sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good? Doesn’t He give fruitful seasons, and send the rain and the sunshine in their time upon the most ungodly nations? Yes, indeed, even Sodom had its sun, and Gomorrah had its dew. Oh friend, the great grace of God surpasses my understanding and your understanding, and I would have you think worthily of it! As high as the heavens are above the earth; so are God’s thoughts high above our thoughts. He can abundantly pardon. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners: forgiveness is for the guilty.

Do not attempt to touch yourself up and make yourself something other than what you really are; but come as you are to Him who justifies the ungodly. Some short time ago a great artist had painted a part of the corporation of the city in which he lived, and he wanted, for historic purposes, to include in his picture certain characters well known in the town. A street-sweeper, unkempt, ragged, filthy, was known to everybody, and there was a suitable place for him in the picture. The artist said to this ragged and rugged individual, “I will pay you well if you will come down to my studio and let me paint your portrait.” He came round in the morning, but he was soon sent immediately out the door and on his way because he had washed his face, and combed his hair, and put on a respectable suit of clothes. He was needed as a beggar, and was not invited in any other capacity. Even so, the gospel will receive you into its halls if you come as a sinner, not otherwise. Don’t wait for reformation, but come at once for salvation. God justifies the ungodly, and that takes you up where you are now: it meets you in your worst condition.

Come in your disorder. I mean, come to your heavenly Father in all your sin and sinfulness. Come to Jesus just as you are, leprous, filthy, naked, neither fit to live nor fit to die. Come, you that are the very rubbish of creation; come, though you hardly dare to hope for anything but death. Come, though despair is sitting on you, pressing upon your chest like a horrible nightmare. Come and ask the Lord to justify another ungodly one. Why shouldn’t He? Come for this great mercy of God is meant for someone just like you. I put it in the language of the text, and I cannot put it more strongly: the Lord God Himself takes to Himself this gracious title, “Him who justifies the ungodly.” He makes those just who are by nature ungodly, and causes them to be treated as just. Isn’t that a wonderful word for you? Reader, do not delay until you have considered this matter well.

[Charles Haddon Spurgeon's classic, All of Grace, has been edited in Modern English by Jon Cardwell. A chapter or two will be posted each Friday.]

ALL OF GRACE 1 & 2

1. TO YOU

The one who spoke and wrote this message will be very disappointed if it doesn’t lead many people to the Lord Jesus. It’s sent forth in childlike dependence upon the power of God the Holy Spirit, to use it in the conversion of millions, if it pleases Him to do so. No doubt many poor men and women will read this little book, and the Lord will visit them with grace. For that reason, the simplest language has been chosen, and many common expressions have been used. But if those of wealth and status should glance at this book, the Holy Spirit can impress them also; since the things that can be understood by those with less education is also attractive to the educated. I really hope that some might read it and become great soul winners!

Who knows how many will find their way to peace by what they’ve read here? A more important question to you, dear reader, is this: Will you be one of them?

A certain man set up a water fountain by the roadside, and he hung a cup up near it using a little chain. After awhile, someone told him that a great art-critic found many problems with the fountain’s design. “But,” the fountain owner asked, “Do many thirsty people drink from the fountain?” They told him that thousands of poor people, men, women, and children, had quenched their thirst at this fountain. He smiled and said that he wasn’t bothered by the critic’s observation. He only hoped that on some hot summer’s day the critic himself might fill the cup, and once he’s been refreshed, would praise the name of the Lord.

Here is my fountain, and here is my cup: find fault if you wish; but do take a drink of the water of life. This is my one concern. I would rather bless the soul of the poorest street sweeper, or rag-gatherer, than please a prince of royal blood, and fail to convert him to God.

Reader, do you mean business in reading these pages? If so, we are agreed from the beginning; but nothing short of your finding Christ and Heaven is the aim of our business here. I really hope that we may seek this together! I do so by dedicating this little book with prayer. Will you join me by looking up to God, and asking Him to bless you while you read? Providence has put these pages in front of you. You don’t have much time in which to read them, and you feel willing to give your attention to them. These are good signs. Who knows whether or not the set time of blessing has come for you? At any rate, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’” (Hebrews 3:7).


2. WHAT ARE WE DOING?

I remember hearing a story. I think it came from the North Country. A minister called upon a poor woman, intending to help her because he knew that she was very poor. With his money in his hand, he knocked on the door; but she didn’t answer. He figured that she wasn’t home, and went away. A little later he met her at the church and told her that he had remembered her need: “I went to your house and knocked several times; and I supposed that you weren’t home because there wasn’t an answer.”

“When did you come, sir?”

“It was about noon.”

“Oh, dear,” she said, “I heard you, sir, and I’m so sorry I didn’t answer; but I thought it was the landlord looking for the rent.”

Many poor women know what this means. Now, it’s my desire to be heard, and therefore I want to say that I’m not coming for the rent. Certainly, it isn’t the purpose of this book to ask for anything from you, but to tell you that salvation is all of grace, which means, free, gratis, for nothing.

Often, when we’re anxious to have attention paid to us, our hearer thinks, “Ah! now I’m going to be told my duty. It’s the man coming to collect what is owed to God, and I’m sure I have nothing to pay with. I just won’t answer the door.” No, this book doesn’t come to make a demand upon you, but to bring you something. We’re not going to talk about law, and duty, and punishment, but about love, and goodness, and forgiveness, and mercy, and eternal life. Therefore, don’t act as if you were not home: don’t turn a deaf ear, or a careless heart. I’m asking nothing of you in the name of God or man. It’s not my intent to make any requirement of you; but I come in God’s name, to bring you a free gift, which shall be for your joy now, and also your joy for eternity, if you receive it. Open the door, and let my pleadings enter.

“Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). The Lord Himself invites you to a conference concerning your immediate and endless happiness, and He would not have done this if He did not mean to do you well. Do not refuse the Lord Jesus who knocks at your door; for He knocks with a hand that was nailed to the Cross for someone just like you. Since His sole purpose is for your good, open your ear and come to Him. Listen carefully, and let the good Word sink into your soul. It may be that the time has come in which you shall enter that new life which is the beginning of heaven. Faith comes by hearing, and reading is a sort of hearing: faith may come to you while you are reading this book. Why not? O blessed Spirit of all grace, make it so!

[Charles Haddon Spurgeon's classic, All of Grace, has been edited in Modern English by Jon Cardwell. A chapter or two will be posted each Friday.]

Reformation Month Sale!

Beginning today, October 1st, until the anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing the 95 Theses on Wittenberg’s door at the end of the month (October 31st), our printed publications will be significantly discounted. Our paperbacks are print-on-demand through CreateSpace.com and we want to make them available at the lowest price possible. We currently have 5 books available.

Please copy the discount code (copy the 8-digit code only) and follow the link to the book. When checking out, paste the discount code into the box where the discount applies.

Book #1:
Essential Spurgeon for Today’s Reformed Pastor
Link to Essential Spurgeon https://www.createspace.com/3400329
Discount Code: JZVULWCQ
The Discount Code above provides a discount of $3 off the $12.95 regular purchase price.

Book #2
A Puritan Family Devotional
Link to Puritan Devotional https://www.createspace.com/3398770
Discount Code: CBYQHZ4Y
The Discount Code above provides a discount of $2.22 off the $7.77 regular purchase price.

Book #3
Fullness of the Time
Link to Fullness of the Time https://www.createspace.com/3400470
Discount Code: M87JLJEV
The Discount Code above provides a discount of $3 off the $12.95 regular purchase price.

Book #4
Lord, Teach Us to Pray
Link to Lord, Teach Us to Pray https://www.createspace.com/34027829
Discount Code: Y5PLTNTK
The Discount Code above provides a discount of $2.22 off the $7.77 regular purchase price.

Book #5
John Bunyan’s Classic: Christian Behavior
Link to Christian Behavior https://www.createspace.com/3401841
Discount Code: HYLE47GY
The Discount Code above provides a discount of $2.22 off the $7.77 regular purchase price.

Christian Behavior (in Print)

John Bunyan's classic, Christian Behavior, has been updated in modern English and, though it will remain available as a free e-Book, is now available as a printed publication… a traditional paperback book. This 98-page book is available for only $7.77 through CreateSpace.com, a division of Amazon.com. Click on the book cover to the left or CLICK HERE to order the book... or you can check it out on the Christian Behavior weblog by CLICKING HERE.

Teach Us to Pray (in Print)

Lord, Teach Us to Pray is now available as a printed publication… a traditional paperback book. This 96-page book is available for only $7.77 through CreateSpace.com, a division of Amazon.com. Click on the book cover to the left or CLICK HERE to order the book... or you can check it out on the Lord, Teach Us to Pray weblog by CLICKING HERE.