A very proper thing, indeed , but the person who left it never gave a farthing to a beggar in his life! And he would not have given it now, only he could not take it with him, and so he has left it as an atonement for sin!
Sometimes persons think that the doing of some outrageous religious act will take them to Heaven; frequenting Church prayers twice a day, fasting during Lent, decorating the altar with needlework, putting stained glass in the window, giving a new organ or such like. At the suggestion of their priest they do many such things, and thus they go on working like blind asses at a mill, from morning to night, and make as much real progress. Do I address any such persons here?
I do not find fault with you for what you do, but I do find fault with you for why you are doing it! If you dream that you are saving yourselves, remember that your acts are selfish acts, and that there is nothing good in them. They may be good things in themselves, but as they are done not unto God, but evidently with a view to your own welfare, they are done to yourselves, and He will not, therefore, accept them.
Let there be never such splendid deeds of alms- giving, never such marvelous mortifications of the flesh, never such devout attendance at daily prayer—they avail nothing before God—when they proceed from a self-righteous heart. Away with them! Away with them all! They are dross and dung before the Most High, if you bring them to Him with a view of purchasing salvation. No, you must have done with these, and trust in Jesus only.
When a man can say, “I am saved. Christ is mine”—then he can serve God acceptably, and his deeds shall be received through Christ Jesus.
- Charles Spurgeon. “God or Self – Which?” Volume 8, no. 438, 1862.
No comments:
Post a Comment