Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Greatest Motive to Repentance (Zechariah 12:10) | Charles Spurgeon

Transcript

The Greatest Motive to Repentance (Zechariah 12:10) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to Reform Thinking everyone, and a special welcome
• 0:03
  to this session of the Deep Dive.
• 0:04
  Good to be here. We have something really special
• 0:07
  lined up for you today, something that takes us right
• 0:10
  back to one of the greats, Charles Spurgeon.
• 0:13
  Spurgeon always powerful. Indeed, we're diving deep into a
• 0:17
  classic sermon of his. This one's called The Greatest
• 0:21
  Motive to Repentance. Based on Zechariah 12.10 if I
• 0:25
  remember correctly. That's the one they shall look
• 0:28
  upon me whom they have pierced. A really potent text.
• 0:31
  Absolutely. And you know, this isn't just
• 0:33
  about studying an old sermon for history's sake.
• 0:36
  Not at all. No, it's about getting to grips
• 0:38
  with something vital right at the heart of Christian faith.
• 0:41
  Exactly. Our mission today really is to
• 0:44
  pull out the core insights from what Spurgeon is saying here.
• 0:48
  We want to help you grasp what evangelical repentance really
• 0:51
  means. Why it's so?
• 0:52
  And crucially, how it actually happens in a person's heart.
• 0:55
  According to Spurgeon anyway. And.
• 0:57
  He starts with quite a claim, doesn't he?
• 0:58
  He really does. Here's the hook to get us
• 1:01
  started. Spurgeon basically argues that
• 1:03
  genuine sorrow for sin, the kind that leads to real change, isn't
• 1:07
  something we can just drum up ourselves.
• 1:09
  Right. It's not a matter of willpower
• 1:10
  or just feeling bad. No, it's, well, it's something
• 1:13
  else entirely. OK, let's unpack this.
• 1:14
  Let's do it. So we kick off with this pretty
• 1:19
  arresting idea, True repentance, that deep sorrow and turning
• 1:23
  from sin. It doesn't originate with us.
• 1:27
  It's not self generated. Have you ever experienced that?
• 1:29
  Maybe you've done something wrong and you know you should
• 1:31
  have feel sorry. You try to feel sorry, but.
• 1:33
  The feeling just isn't there. The heart feels cold or hard.
• 1:37
  Exactly. It stays unmoved, almost
• 1:39
  resistant. I think that's a fairly common
• 1:41
  human experience, actually. I'd agree.
• 1:43
  We've all been there. And Spurgeon addresses this
• 1:45
  directly. He says quite plainly, the holy
• 1:48
  tenderness that makes men mourn for sin arises out of a divine
• 1:52
  operation. A divine operation.
• 1:55
  That phrase itself sets the tone.
• 1:57
  Doesn't. It, it really does, it shifts
• 1:58
  the whole focus immediately away from us and our efforts.
• 2:02
  And on to God's action, his initiative.
• 2:05
  Yeah, it's his. This whole process starts with
• 2:07
  him. And that's.
• 2:08
  Such a critical starting point because it immediately grounds
• 2:11
  our understanding of repentance and God's activity, not our own
• 2:14
  ability. Right, it's not step one, try
• 2:16
  harder. Step one is God acts.
• 2:18
  Precisely. And what I find compelling is
• 2:21
  how Spurgeon then describes the natural state of the human heart
• 2:24
  before this divine operation takes place.
• 2:26
  OK. How does he put it?
• 2:28
  He uses some really vivid analogies, powerful images to
• 2:31
  show our inherent spiritual condition.
• 2:33
  He says the human heart, in its fallen state, is naturally hard.
• 2:37
  Hard. Like how hard?
• 2:39
  He likens it to adamant or granite.
• 2:41
  Wow, adamant. That's like diamond heart, isn't
• 2:44
  it? The most unyielding thing
• 2:45
  imaginable in the ancient world. Exactly.
• 2:48
  And granite? Well, we all know granite.
• 2:50
  Dense, tough, almost unbreakable by normal means.
• 2:54
  So he's not just saying we're a bit stubborn.
• 2:56
  Not at all. He's pointing to a deep seated
• 2:58
  spiritual insensitivity, A fundamental resistance to God's
• 3:01
  influence, A hardness at the very core of our fallen nature.
• 3:05
  Our nature tends to push back against God trying to soften us.
• 3:09
  That's the picture he paints. It's our default setting, so to
• 3:12
  speak. OK, so if the heart is like
• 3:15
  adamant or granite? Then he asks this rhetorical
• 3:18
  question, and it really cuts to the chase.
• 3:20
  Can the adamant turn itself to wax, or the granite soften
• 3:24
  itself to clay? And the answer is.
• 3:26
  Obviously a resounding no it cannot impossible.
• 3:29
  The logic seems simple enough. A stone can't just decide to
• 3:33
  become soft. Precisely.
• 3:35
  And just like that, stone can't change its own fundamental
• 3:37
  nature, Spurgeon argues. Fallen humanity, left to itself,
• 3:41
  cannot soften its own heart. We can't just will ourselves
• 3:45
  into feeling genuine, godly sorrow for sin.
• 3:47
  So it's not just unwillingness, it's inability.
• 3:49
  That's what he's saying. Our spiritual condition involves
• 3:52
  a deep seated spiritual incapacity.
• 3:54
  We're stuck in a way without external help.
• 3:57
  Which really underlines that phrase divine operation if we
• 4:00
  can't do it. Then where does that ability,
• 4:02
  that softening come from? Spurgeon is absolutely clear on
• 4:05
  this. No ambiguity.
• 4:06
  Where does he point? He says the capacity to make the
• 4:09
  rock of our nature flow with rivers of repentance.
• 4:13
  Lovely phrase that rests solely with the omnipotent Spirit of
• 4:16
  God. Omnipotent.
• 4:18
  All powerful. Yes, that word is key.
• 4:21
  This isn't just a gentle nudge. It's a work requiring divine,
• 4:25
  limitless power. The source of this profound
• 4:28
  interchange, this holy tenderness, is entirely
• 4:32
  supernatural. Not a self help technique then.
• 4:34
  Definitely not. Not psychology, not just trying
• 4:37
  harder. It's a sovereign work of God's
• 4:39
  Spirit, a kind of spiritual rebirth, really initiated and
• 4:43
  completed by God himself. How does the Spirit do this
• 4:46
  according to Spurgeon? He says the Spirit works through
• 4:49
  secret and mysterious operations.
• 4:50
  Secret and mysterious, serious, so not something we can fully
• 4:53
  track or control. Exactly.
• 4:55
  It's often below the surface, not always dramatic.
• 4:57
  It might be an inward conviction, a growing awareness,
• 5:00
  a new sensitivity to spiritual things that wasn't there before.
• 5:04
  It happens in the hidden places of the heart and.
• 5:06
  Mind that the result is clear. Oh yes, the result is
• 5:09
  unmistakable. The spirit fills the mind with
• 5:13
  new life, perception and emotion.
• 5:16
  Think about that new life, seeing things differently,
• 5:18
  feeling things differently. By getting new spiritual senses.
• 5:21
  In a way, yes. New clarity about sin, a new
• 5:25
  appreciation for God's goodness, new feelings about our own
• 5:28
  failings. And Spurgeon connects this to
• 5:30
  Scripture, to Job's words. God maketh my heart soft.
• 5:34
  So this isn't just Spurgeon's idea, it's rooted in the Bible.
• 5:37
  Absolutely. It shows this divine work is a
• 5:39
  consistent theme and through this work the Holy Spirit makes
• 5:43
  us like wax. Wax.
• 5:44
  Wax. Because wax is soft, pliable,
• 5:47
  receptive, you can take an impression, he says.
• 5:49
  It makes us impressible to God's sacred seal.
• 5:53
  So God softens the heart so he can imprint His truth, His
• 5:56
  character, onto it. Precisely.
• 5:58
  He softens us so we can receive his mark, his seal of ownership.
• 6:01
  His transforming presence is purposeful softening.
• 6:04
  This whole idea, it really changes how you think about your
• 6:07
  own spiritual state, doesn't. It it really does.
• 6:10
  And This is why it matters so much for you, the listener.
• 6:12
  If true, repentance isn't something you could just
• 6:14
  generate yourself. Then you're entirely dependent
• 6:17
  on God for it. Exactly your ability to
• 6:20
  genuinely mourn for sin, to truly turn from it, relies
• 6:23
  completely on God's initiative and His work within you.
• 6:27
  It takes the pressure off trying to manufacture feelings maybe.
• 6:30
  It should. It shifts the focus from our
• 6:32
  striving to God's grace. It encourages humility,
• 6:35
  dependence. Instead of despairing over a
• 6:38
  hard heart, you look to the one who promises to give a new heart
• 6:42
  a soft heart. OK, so we've established that
• 6:44
  true repentance is a gift, a divine operation of the Spirit.
• 6:48
  But how? I mean, what's the actual
• 6:50
  mechanism? What does the Spirit use to
• 6:52
  bring about this softening the sorrow?
• 6:55
  Right. That's the next crucial step in
• 6:56
  Spurgeon's argument. And this is where, as you said
• 6:58
  earlier, it gets really interesting.
• 7:00
  What does he identify as the key?
• 7:02
  He makes a very direct, very central assertion.
• 7:04
  He says tenderness of heart and mourning for sin is actually
• 7:08
  wrought by a faith. Look at the pierced Son of God.
• 7:11
  A faith. Look at the pierced Son of God.
• 7:13
  That's specific. Very specific.
• 7:16
  That's the absolute core of His message on this.
• 7:18
  The method the Spirit uses involves directing our gaze to
• 7:21
  Christ, specifically Christ pierced.
• 7:24
  So it all comes back to Jesus. Absolutely.
• 7:27
  Spurgeon is incredibly Christ entered here.
• 7:29
  He states it unequivocally. There is no true mourning for
• 7:33
  sin until the eye has seen Christ.
• 7:36
  Wow, no true mourning without seeing Christ.
• 7:39
  That's a strong statement. It is foundational.
• 7:41
  He drives it home. Further, there is no saving
• 7:44
  repentance except with inside of the cross.
• 7:46
  With inside of the cross. So the cross isn't just a
• 7:48
  historical fact we nod to. No, it's the necessary focal
• 7:52
  point. It's the place we need to be
• 7:54
  looking, spiritually speaking, to experience that genuine
• 7:57
  sorrow for sin without fixing our gaze on the crucified
• 8:01
  Savior. Any repentance we feel is likely
• 8:03
  superficial, maybe just regret or worldly sorrow.
• 8:06
  It's seeing him there that makes the difference.
• 8:08
  Exactly. It's that vision of the
• 8:10
  suffering Savior that truly unlocks the heart's capacity for
• 8:14
  godly grief. And what happens emotionally
• 8:16
  when we have this faith? Look.
• 8:17
  Spurgeon describes it vividly. When one looks to him who was
• 8:21
  pierced, he says, the eye begins to weep for that for which all
• 8:25
  eyes should weep, The sin that slew thy Savior.
• 8:28
  My sin, our sin, the sin that put him there.
• 8:32
  Yes, it becomes deeply personal. Not just sorrow about sin in
• 8:35
  general, but sorrow for your specific sin because you
• 8:38
  suddenly grasp its connection to the suffering and death of
• 8:41
  Jesus. Seeing his suffering as a
• 8:42
  consequence of my rebellion, that would hit differently.
• 8:46
  It ignites unique kind of sorrow.
• 8:48
  It moves beyond just feeling guilty to a genuine grief, a
• 8:51
  heartbreak for having offended such a loving God, such a
• 8:54
  compassionate Savior. And this specific kind of
• 8:57
  repentance born from looking at the pierced Christ.
• 9:00
  What does Spurgeon call it? He calls this evangelical
• 9:02
  repentance, and he says this is the acceptable repentance, the
• 9:05
  kind and God desires and responds to with grace.
• 9:08
  Evangelical repentance and its essence is.
• 9:11
  Its essence is that it looks to Him whom it pierced by its sin.
• 9:15
  It's an active looking, a deliberate turning of the
• 9:17
  hardened mind towards Christ on the cross, recognizing our
• 9:20
  personal part and why He's there.
• 9:22
  So it's not passive, it's an engagement with the truth of the
• 9:25
  cross. Right.
• 9:26
  It's not just sorrow for sin and isolation.
• 9:30
  It's sorrow arising from seeing sins effect on Christ while
• 9:33
  simultaneously looking to Christ for forgiveness.
• 9:36
  It's a sorrow mixed with hope focused on Him.
• 9:40
  OK. And how does this connect back
• 9:41
  to the Holy Spirit's work we talked about earlier?
• 9:43
  Does the Spirit just point us there and leave us to it?
• 9:47
  No, Spurgeon is careful to link them tightly.
• 9:50
  The Spirit doesn't operate independently of Christ, he
• 9:53
  says. Wherever the Holy Spirit
• 9:54
  genuinely comes for salvation, He always leads the soul to look
• 9:58
  to Christ and mourn for sin. So the Spirit's role is to guide
• 10:02
  our eyes to the cross. Exactly.
• 10:04
  To illuminate Christ, to make Him real to us, to show us why
• 10:08
  He is the necessary object of our faith and the reason for our
• 10:11
  repentance. The Spirit directs our focus.
• 10:14
  But there's still a human response involved.
• 10:16
  Yes, he acknowledges that individuals won't actually look
• 10:19
  until the Spirit of God inclines them so to do, and importantly,
• 10:23
  they yield to his influences. Inclines them and they yield, so
• 10:27
  it's God enabling the look and us responding.
• 10:30
  Beautifully put. It's that divine grace enabling
• 10:33
  the response and human responsibility.
• 10:35
  In yielding to that grace, the Spirit doesn't drag us kicking
• 10:38
  and screaming. He persuades.
• 10:40
  He enables. He makes the heart willing.
• 10:42
  That makes sense. It preserves both God's
• 10:45
  sovereignty and our response. It does, and another crucial
• 10:48
  point Spurgeon makes here is about the relationship between
• 10:51
  faith and repentance. Are they separate steps?
• 10:54
  Like first you believe, then you repent, or the other way around?
• 10:58
  He argues strongly against separating them like that.
• 11:00
  He sees them as inseparable companions, like twins born in
• 11:03
  the same moment. Twins.
• 11:05
  How so? He says faith and repentance are
• 11:08
  born together, live together and thrive together.
• 11:11
  You can't have one without the other in any genuine saving
• 11:14
  sense. So you can't truly believe
• 11:15
  without repenting. Or truly repent without
• 11:18
  believing. He puts it plainly.
• 11:19
  No man can repent a sin without believing in Jesus, nor believe
• 11:22
  in Jesus without repenting of sin.
• 11:25
  Two sides of the same coin, then.
• 11:26
  Exactly. Trusting in Jesus inherently
• 11:29
  involves turning away from the sin that nailed him there.
• 11:32
  And turning away from sin is only truly possible, truly
• 11:36
  motivated, when you're trusting in the Savior who deals with
• 11:39
  that then? And the outcome of this looking,
• 11:41
  this believing and repenting. He says that in that lovingly
• 11:45
  look to him that bled upon the cross for thee, you find a dual
• 11:48
  blessing, you shall find pardon and receive softening.
• 11:52
  Forgiveness and a tender heart both come from looking to
• 11:54
  Christ. Simultaneously, they're
• 11:56
  interwoven in the single act of looking to Christ in faith.
• 12:00
  It's not repent first then believe, or believe first then
• 12:03
  repent. It's a turning to Christ which
• 12:05
  is a turning from sin. That's a really vital connection
• 12:08
  for us to grasp, isn't it? For you listening.
• 12:10
  Absolutely. It shows that looking to Christ
• 12:12
  and experiencing genuine repentance aren't separate items
• 12:15
  on a spiritual To Do List. They're deeply connected,
• 12:18
  brought about by God's Spirit working through the gospel.
• 12:20
  So if you're seeking true repentance, the path is clear.
• 12:24
  Look to Christ. Fix your gaze on the crucified
• 12:26
  Christ. Trust that the Spirit will
• 12:29
  enable that look. Illuminate the truth, and bring
• 12:32
  forth that godly sorrow, that evangelical repentance.
• 12:35
  It really directs our spiritual energy towards Christ Himself as
• 12:39
  the source and the object. OK, so the mechanism is this
• 12:43
  faith. Look at the pierced Son of God.
• 12:46
  That phrase, the pierced one, it's so vivid, so visceral.
• 12:50
  It really is. It stops you short.
• 12:52
  It makes you ask, OK, who exactly was this pierced 1 and
• 12:55
  what is that single word pierced really encompass?
• 12:58
  It sounds like more than just a physical wound.
• 13:00
  Much more and Spurgeon dives right into this, exploring both
• 13:03
  the identity of the one pierced and the depth of the suffering
• 13:06
  involved in that piercing. And he makes a distinction,
• 13:09
  doesn't he? It's not just about
• 13:10
  acknowledging Jesus is God. Right.
• 13:12
  That's the glorious truth, absolutely essential.
• 13:14
  But Spurgeon says it's specifically looking to the same
• 13:18
  Lord and God as crucified for us that truly impacts the heart and
• 13:22
  produces that sorrow for sin. The crucifixion is key.
• 13:25
  So let's unpack that. Who does Spurgeon say this
• 13:27
  Pierced 1 was? He leaves no doubt the one who
• 13:30
  received the spear thrust of the Roman soldier was astonishingly
• 13:34
  he who by nature is God over all.
• 13:37
  God over all, the Creator. Yes, our maker, our benefactor,
• 13:41
  our best friend. Spurgeon is emphatic.
• 13:44
  The one on the cross was fully divine, the sovereign Lord of
• 13:48
  the universe. That just elevates the whole
• 13:50
  event infinitely, doesn't it? This wasn't just a Goodman's
• 13:52
  suffering. No, this is God himself in human
• 13:55
  flesh, submitting to the cruelty of his own creation, the One who
• 13:59
  will hold the universe by the word of his power pierced.
• 14:03
  It makes the ACT of piercing cosmically horrifying.
• 14:07
  It does, and he elaborates on the incarnation, how this divine
• 14:10
  being took upon himself our nature and became a man like
• 14:14
  ourselves. But with a crucial difference.
• 14:16
  Say that he was without taint of sin, that sinlessness is vital.
• 14:20
  It means his humanity was perfect, unstained.
• 14:23
  He wasn't suffering for his own faults.
• 14:24
  He was the perfect sacrifice. And his death wasn't just
• 14:27
  something that happened to him. No, Spurgeon points to
• 14:29
  Philippians 2 being found in fashion as a man.
• 14:33
  He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
• 14:36
  It was an act of profound, willing obedience to the
• 14:39
  Father's plan. Obedient even to that horrific
• 14:42
  form of death. Yes, and Spurgeon even brings in
• 14:45
  the Roman centurion, the outsider at the foot of the
• 14:48
  cross, who witnessed it all and exclaimed truly, this was the
• 14:51
  Son of God. Even a Pagan soldier recognized
• 14:54
  something extraordinary divine. Exactly.
• 14:56
  It underscores the unique identity of the sufferer.
• 14:59
  Spurgeon then calls the crucifixion an unparalleled
• 15:02
  tragedy and even murder. Why?
• 15:05
  Because, as he puts it, Infinite goodness was hanged upon a tree.
• 15:09
  Boundless Bounty was pierced with a spear.
• 15:11
  The sheer incongruity of it, the source of all goods subjected to
• 15:14
  the worst evil. That's the staggering reality he
• 15:17
  wants us to feel. And the word cursed Spurgeon
• 15:20
  says it covers more than just the spear.
• 15:21
  Oh, far more. He describes it as encompassing
• 15:24
  an untellable suffering. It starts with his whole life, a
• 15:27
  life of poverty and persecution. From the Manger onwards, really.
• 15:31
  Yes, misunderstood, opposed, having nowhere to lay his head.
• 15:36
  A life of constant self giving and rejection.
• 15:38
  Then there's Gethsemane. Yes, the griefs of Gethsemane
• 15:42
  and the bloody sweat, this one just fear of pain.
• 15:44
  It was a deep spiritual agony, the weight of bearing the
• 15:47
  world's sin, the prospect of divine wrath, the separation
• 15:50
  from his Father. It was immense.
• 15:52
  The bloody sweat itself sounds horrific.
• 15:54
  It indicates an almost unimaginable level of stress and
• 15:57
  anguish, pushing his physical body to the limit.
• 16:00
  Even before the beatings began, he was already tasting the cup.
• 16:03
  And the betrayal, The desertion. Yes, the griefs of his
• 16:07
  desertion, denial and betrayal. Imagine the pain.
• 16:11
  Abandoned by his closest friends in his hour of need, Denied
• 16:14
  vehemently by Peter, sold by Judas.
• 16:16
  These were deep personal wounds. On top of everything else than
• 16:19
  the trial. A mockery.
• 16:21
  The grease of Pilots Hall discouraging the spitting in the
• 16:23
  mockery, the brutal Roman flogging designed to shred flesh
• 16:27
  and induced shock, being spat upon, blindfolded, beaten,
• 16:30
  crowned with thorns. It was utter humiliation.
• 16:33
  And assault on his very being. Yes, contempt poured out on the
• 16:36
  Son of God, and then finally. The cross itself.
• 16:39
  The grease of the cross with its dishonor and agony.
• 16:42
  The physical torment was extreme.
• 16:44
  Nails, suffocation, exposure, slow death.
• 16:48
  Designed for maximum pain and public shame.
• 16:50
  But Spurgeon emphasizes something deeper even than the
• 16:53
  physical pain. He does.
• 16:54
  He points to the spiritual core. Our Lord was made a curse for
• 16:58
  us. He bore the penalty for sin or
• 17:00
  that which was equivalent thereto.
• 17:02
  He quotes scripture. His own self bear our sins in
• 17:06
  his own body on the tree. He took our place under God's
• 17:09
  judgement. That's the heart of
• 17:10
  substitutionary atonement. He endured the wrath against sin
• 17:13
  that we deserved, satisfying God's justice, and the result
• 17:17
  chastisement of our peace was upon Him.
• 17:19
  And with His stripes we are healed.
• 17:21
  He suffered. So we could have peace with God.
• 17:24
  His wounds bring our healing. That's the incredible.
• 17:27
  Exchange at the heart of the Gospel.
• 17:28
  So after. Laying all this out, the divine
• 17:31
  identity, the immense suffering, physical and spiritual, what
• 17:35
  response does Spurgeon expect this faith look to produce in
• 17:38
  us? He states it quite.
• 17:39
  Plainly, the sufferings of Jesus ought to melt our hearts.
• 17:43
  It's presented almost as an inevitable consequence of truly
• 17:46
  seeing it should breakthrough our.
• 17:48
  Hardness. Yes, he.
• 17:49
  Argues that if you steadfastly consider Jesus pierced for our
• 17:53
  sins and all that is meant thereby, your hearts must
• 17:56
  relent. The sheer weight of it, the love
• 17:59
  behind it, should overcome our resistance.
• 18:02
  And this is where. The Spirit works again exactly.
• 18:05
  When the Holy Spirit puts the cross into the heart, the heart
• 18:08
  is dissolved in tenderness. The hardness of the heart dies.
• 18:11
  When we see Jesus die and woe, so great.
• 18:14
  The Spirit takes the objective truth and makes it subjectively
• 18:17
  powerful within us. Wow.
• 18:20
  That's incredibly moving. It is and this.
• 18:22
  Matters for you, the listener, because it makes that face look
• 18:24
  so much more concrete and powerful.
• 18:26
  It's not just a glance. It's seen the God man in agony
• 18:29
  for you. It helps you grasp the true cost
• 18:32
  of sin and the measure of His love and understanding that.
• 18:35
  Depth of suffering naturally leads to the next question,
• 18:37
  doesn't it? If he suffered so much and he
• 18:39
  was innocent. Why?
• 18:42
  Who? Is responsible precisely.
• 18:44
  You remember the prophecy from Zechariah?
• 18:46
  They shall look on me whom they have pierced.
• 18:49
  Who are they? Who does Spurgeon say?
• 18:51
  Pierced him, the Roman soldiers, the Jewish leaders, He brings it
• 18:55
  much. Closer to home, his answer is
• 18:57
  stark, direct and personal. We slew the Savior, even we who
• 19:02
  look to Him. And live we did.
• 19:04
  Us, those who believe in him, now that's his.
• 19:06
  Challenging assertion, He doesn't let us off the hook by
• 19:09
  blaming historical figures alone.
• 19:11
  How does he argue? That first he.
• 19:12
  Reiterates Christ's absolute innocence.
• 19:15
  He knew no sin, neither was guile found in his lips.
• 19:18
  Pilate, I find no fault in this man.
• 19:20
  This makes it crystal clear his suffering wasn't deserved by
• 19:22
  him. OK, he was blameless.
• 19:24
  Therefore. His suffering must have been for
• 19:26
  someone else. It was substitutionary, as
• 19:28
  Daniel prophesied. The Messiah was cut off, but not
• 19:31
  for himself. Not for himself.
• 19:33
  But for us, yes, Spurgeon. Says it directly.
• 19:36
  Our sins slew the Savior, full stop.
• 19:39
  He suffered because there was no other way of vindicating the
• 19:41
  justice of God and allowing us to escape.
• 19:44
  So our sins. Demanded justice and he stepped
• 19:47
  in to take the punishment. That's the core.
• 19:49
  Of it he uses that image from Zechariah again.
• 19:52
  The sword which else had smitten us was awakened against the Lord
• 19:56
  shepherd, against the man that was Jehovah's fellow.
• 19:58
  Christ stood between US and the sword.
• 20:00
  Our sin called down the judgment.
• 20:02
  He absorbed it. That makes our sin.
• 20:04
  Incredibly serious. If it required the death of
• 20:07
  God's Son, it does, yeah. And a Spurgeon doesn't shy away
• 20:10
  from the implications. He says this fact that it was
• 20:12
  God who was pierced through his Son.
• 20:14
  Invest the piercing of our Lord with such intensity of sin.
• 20:17
  It meant the piercing of God piercing God.
• 20:20
  And then he makes this. Really shocking statement about
• 20:22
  human nature, he says. Man is at heart a deicide,
• 20:26
  Deicide God. Killer.
• 20:27
  That's incredibly strong language.
• 20:29
  It is stark. Intentional.
• 20:31
  He means that deep down in our fallen, rebellious core,
• 20:34
  humanity harbors this desire for ultimate autonomy, this wish
• 20:38
  that there were no God holding us accountable.
• 20:40
  He would be glad if there were no God and the crucifixion.
• 20:43
  Showed this, Spurgeon argues. That in crucifying Christ,
• 20:46
  humanity showed what he would do with the Eternal Himself if he
• 20:49
  could come at him. It was the ultimate act of
• 20:51
  rejection hostility towards God made visible.
• 20:54
  It revealed the depth of our rebellion.
• 20:57
  Wow. That's a heavy truth to sit
• 20:59
  with. Our sin isn't just mistakes,
• 21:00
  it's fundamentally anti God at its root.
• 21:03
  That's the challenging. Perspective, Spurgeon presents.
• 21:06
  It makes the cross not just a tragedy but a revelation of our
• 21:09
  deepest problem. But.
• 21:11
  There's another side to this, isn't there?
• 21:13
  Why did Christ allow this? What was his motive in enduring
• 21:17
  this hostility, this deicidal act?
• 21:20
  And here's. The breathtaking contrast, the
• 21:23
  counterpoint to human malice. Spurgeon quotes that wonderful
• 21:26
  line from Favors hymn. Christ was essentially found
• 21:29
  guilty of excess of love, guilty of loving.
• 21:31
  Too much. That was his crime.
• 21:32
  It was love, mighty love, nothing else but love, that led
• 21:35
  him to the cross. His resolve was absolute.
• 21:38
  He deliberately put himself in the way of piercing because he
• 21:40
  was resolved to save us. So he.
• 21:43
  Willingly stepped into the path of our sin and hatred out of
• 21:46
  love for us, Yes. Despite our hostility, despite
• 21:50
  our deicidal hearts, his love compelled him to pursue our
• 21:54
  salvation. It wasn't reluctant.
• 21:56
  It was determined, loving initiative.
• 21:59
  That's the Amazing Grace, understanding that.
• 22:01
  Connection. Our sin causing his death, His
• 22:04
  love meeting that sin. It really personalizes the
• 22:07
  gospel, doesn't it? It?
• 22:08
  Absolutely. Does.
• 22:09
  And this is crucial for you, the listener.
• 22:11
  It means the cross wasn't just some distant historical event.
• 22:15
  It was a direct consequence of our thin yours and mine, met by
• 22:19
  Christ's immeasurable, redeeming love for us.
• 22:22
  It should provoke some. Deep reflection, seeing our part
• 22:24
  in his suffering and his incredible mercy and response.
• 22:27
  Exactly. It moves the gospel from
• 22:29
  abstract doctrine to a personal encounter with both our profound
• 22:32
  guilt and God's even more profound grace.
• 22:34
  So we've journeyed. Through quite a bit repentance
• 22:37
  as a divine gift, the faith. Look at the pierced God, man,
• 22:39
  the depth of his suffering, our responsibility for it, and his
• 22:42
  overwhelming love. Where does this leave us?
• 22:45
  What does Spurgeon say we should do with all this truth, right?
• 22:48
  He doesn't leave us just contemplating the theology as a
• 22:52
  pastor. He brings it down to practical
• 22:54
  living, to how we respond day by day.
• 22:56
  How do we live in? Light of these realities, his
• 22:59
  core advice? Is a call to continuous
• 23:01
  contemplation, he says. The more you look at Jesus
• 23:05
  crucified, the more you will mourn for sin.
• 23:09
  It's not a one off glance, it's an ongoing.
• 23:11
  Focus. Yes.
• 23:12
  Growing thought will bring growing tenderness.
• 23:16
  The more we meditate on the cross, the softer our hearts
• 23:19
  will become towards sin and towards God.
• 23:21
  He uses that phrase. Live at Calvary he does.
• 23:24
  Live at Calvary beloved, for there you will live at your
• 23:26
  best. It sounds maybe a bit intense,
• 23:29
  but he doesn't mean morbidly dwelling on suffering.
• 23:31
  What does he mean there? He means making.
• 23:33
  The cross, the reality of Christ sacrifice, the central reference
• 23:36
  point, the spiritual home base for our thoughts, affections and
• 23:39
  actions. Consciously orienting our lives
• 23:42
  around what happened there so it shapes how.
• 23:43
  We see everything else exactly. Live at Calvary and love at
• 23:47
  Calvary until live and love become the same thing.
• 23:51
  He also mentions practical aids, books that set forth the passion
• 23:54
  of our Lord, and hymns that sing of His cross.
• 23:57
  Things that help keep. Our focus there, yes, he.
• 24:00
  Says these things have ever been most dear to saintly minds
• 24:03
  because of their holy influence upon the heart and conscience.
• 24:07
  So reading, singing, meditating on Christ's suffering, these are
• 24:10
  ways to cultivate that Calvary centered mindset.
• 24:13
  Keeping the cross. As a present reality, not just a
• 24:16
  past event. Precisely.
• 24:18
  And this looking, this contemplation isn't meant to be
• 24:20
  passive or detached. What's the goal of?
• 24:22
  Looking Spurgeon challenges. US look to the pierced one until
• 24:26
  your own heart is pierced, until our heart.
• 24:28
  Is pierced. What does that mean?
• 24:29
  It means aiming. For a deep empathetic
• 24:32
  connection, letting the reality of his suffering for our sin
• 24:35
  penetrate our own hearts, creating that godly sorrow, that
• 24:39
  tenderness we talked about. It's moving beyond just knowing
• 24:42
  about it to feeling its weight and significance, he says.
• 24:45
  Look. At the cross, until all that is
• 24:47
  on the cross is in your heart, yes.
• 24:49
  Internalizing its truth, His sacrifice, our sin, His love,
• 24:53
  God's justice met, letting it become part of our inner
• 24:56
  landscape, shaping who we are and He connects this to.
• 24:59
  Peter's experience? He does he.
• 25:01
  Draws a parallel look at Jesus until he looks at you.
• 25:04
  See Jesus, until you see yourself.
• 25:06
  Mourn for him until you mourn for your sin, just as Peter wept
• 25:11
  bitterly when Jesus looked at him after the denial, Our steady
• 25:14
  gaze on the suffering Christ should lead us to see ourselves,
• 25:17
  our own sin, in that light and mourn for it appropriately.
• 25:21
  That's the ultimate. Aim genuine sorrow for our sin
• 25:24
  born from seeing Him, a sorrow that leads.
• 25:26
  Away from sin and towards him. And Spurgeon ties his all back
• 25:30
  once again to the core message. We must never forget the essence
• 25:33
  of the. Gospel.
• 25:33
  Yes, he. Reiterates he suffered in the
• 25:35
  room plays instead of guilty men.
• 25:37
  This is the gospel that substitutionary atonement is non
• 25:40
  negotiable. It has to be front and.
• 25:42
  Center always. We preach Christ crucified.
• 25:45
  The cross must be ever bare. No forefront.
• 25:47
  He calls the substitution of Christ for the Sinner the
• 25:50
  essence of the gospel. And it's this.
• 25:52
  Message proclaimed and contemplated.
• 25:55
  That brings repentance. Exactly.
• 25:57
  This proclamation of the Pierced 1 is what under the Spirit's
• 26:01
  power shall lead to evangelical repentance when the Spirit of
• 26:05
  grace is poured out, It's the Spirit using the message of the
• 26:09
  cross to soften hearts. So this.
• 26:11
  Isn't just abstract theology, it's intensely practical for our
• 26:14
  spiritual lives. Absolutely.
• 26:17
  This section gives you, the listener, concrete ways to
• 26:20
  respond. It's not enough just to agree
• 26:22
  intellectually. Spurgeon calls for a sustained,
• 26:25
  ongoing, spirit empowered engagement with Christ's
• 26:28
  sacrifice living at Calvary. Looking until our hearts are
• 26:32
  pierced, yes. Practices that guide you toward
• 26:35
  that continuous godly sorrow for sin and foster a deeper, more
• 26:39
  vibrant appreciation for Christ's incredible, saving
• 26:41
  love. It's about centering your whole
• 26:43
  Christian walk on the cross. Well, we've certainly.
• 26:46
  Covered a lot of ground in this deep dive we've seen Spurgeon
• 26:48
  layout this powerful case how true repentance isn't our work,
• 26:52
  but God's a work of the. Omnipotent spirit, right?
• 26:55
  And how? That spirit works specifically
• 26:57
  through enabling a faith look at the pierced Son of God a look
• 27:00
  that. Reveals so much.
• 27:03
  His divine identity, His unimaginable.
• 27:05
  Suffering or own part? In causing that suffering and
• 27:08
  yet. His overwhelming, boundless love
• 27:11
  that met our sin head on at the cross.
• 27:13
  It's a profound. Picture he paints truly is.
• 27:16
  And perhaps as we. Wrap up.
• 27:17
  Here's a thought to carry away. Consider this How might our
• 27:21
  daily lives, our moment by moment choices, actually change
• 27:26
  if we truly took Spurgeon's advice to heart?
• 27:29
  If we consistently tried to live at Calvary.
• 27:33
  What difference would that make? What sins?
• 27:35
  Might lose their appeal. What fears might fade, and
• 27:38
  conversely, what depths of Christ love, what joys of
• 27:41
  forgiveness and communion with Him might truly start to
• 27:44
  penetrate our hearts and shape how we interact with the world
• 27:47
  each day? That's a searching.
• 27:49
  Question to reflect on living with the cross constantly in
• 27:52
  view. How would that transform us?
• 27:55
  Something to ponder. Indeed.
• 27:56
  Well, thank you for joining us for this deep dive into
• 27:58
  Spurgeon's The Greatest Motive to Repentance.
• 28:01
  It's certainly given me a lot to think about.
• 28:03
  Me too, it's always good to. Revisit these foundational
• 28:05
  truths we really encourage. You to continue learning and
• 28:08
  reflecting on these timeless realities of the gospel.
• 28:11
  Until next time. May these truths shape your
• 28:14
  thinking.