Spurgeon on "proper substitution of Christ."

Charles Spurgeon says:

“And, brethren, there will be no uncertain sound from us as to the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot leave the blood out of our ministry, or the life of it will be gone; for we may say of the gospel, ‘The blood is the life thereof.’ The proper substitution of Christ, the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, on the behalf of His people, that they might live through Him,–this we must publish till we die” (C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students).

No uncertain sound as to the EFFICACIOUS ATONEMENT of Jesus Christ? Well, since Spurgeon believed that Arminians such as John Wesley were saved, then we know (in no uncertain terms) that the efficacious blood of Jesus Christ IS left completely out of Spurgeon’s ministry of masquerade.

“For such ones [are] false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And did not Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light? [It is] not a great thing, then, if also his ministers transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

What then does this marvelously magnetic minister of Satan MEAN by “proper substitution,” “vicarious sacrifice,” “on the behalf of,” and “might live through Him”?  It obviously cannot have anything to do with the efficacy of the blood; so take EFFICACIOUS BLOOD right out of Spurgeon’s ministry equation since there is absolutely no life-giving effect in this blood.

Spurgeon’s widely-known vulgar display of spiritual fornication with John Wesley reveals that the doctrine of the EFFECT of the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ is NOT essential. It matters not to Spurgeon whether some people for whom Christ died go to hell. The proof is in the porneia.

Now what of Spurgeon’s supposed living “THROUGH HIM” statement? If Christ’s cross-work and resurrection does NOT demand and ensure the salvation of ALL whom Christ represented, then HOW can it be truthfully said that Jesus Christ is the “firstfruit” (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23)? Or that “in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22)?

Since God-haters Spurgeon and Wesley believed that Jesus Christ died for those who go to heaven as well as those who go to hell [1], then according to their scheme, those who are said “to live” are clearly NOT living through Him, but through their own self-righteous efforts (Romans 3:24-31).

So, in this self-righteous scheme there is NOT efficacious healing for ALL whom Christ suffered on the tree (1 Peter 2:21-24). There is NO “by His wound you were healed” to be found (cf. 1 Peter 2:24). What IS found in the so-called “atonement” of Spurgeon and Wesley is a kind of tyranny of therapy whereby the beast is somehow healed (in the minds of many lost religionists) from its own deadly wound at the expense of God’s law and justice (Proverbs 17:15; Isaiah 28:17; Jeremiah 2:22; Romans 3:26; Revelation 13:1-18). Those like-minded with Spurgeon and Wesley know NOTHING of the just God and Savior:

“Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, escaped ones of the nations; the ones who set up the wood of their carved image, and the ones who pray to a god who cannot save; they know nothing. Declare and bring near; yea, let them consult together. Who has revealed this of old; [who] has told it from then? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there [is] no God other than Me; a just God and a Savior; [there is] none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I [am] God, and there [is] no other. I have sworn by Myself, the Word has gone out of My mouth [in]righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. He shall say, Only in Jehovah do I have righteousness and strength; to Him he comes; and they are ashamed, all who are angry with Him. In Jehovah all of the seed of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory” (Isaiah 45:20-25).

[1] Spurgeon preached a sermon on “Particular Redemption” on February 28, 1858. In this sermon he said:

“… you [the Arminians–CD] believe that even after a man has been pardoned, he may yet fall from grace, and perish. Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why, you. You say that Christ did not die so as to infallibly secure the salvation of anybody, we beg your pardon, when you say we limit Christ’s death; we say, ‘No, my dear sir, it is you that do it. We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved, and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved. You are welcome to your atonement; you may keep it. We will never renounce ours for the sake of it.'”

Here Spurgeon expresses an apparent revulsion regarding an “atonement” which allows for an already pardoned man to perish and so fall from grace. It thus appears Spurgeon’s words are against those Arminians who believed that a justified and regenerate person could become unjustified and unregenerate again, and then finally to perish. Certainly Spurgeon is not willing to say that truly regenerate persons can unregenerate themselves. But here’s what he does say, and has said in other contexts (expounding and applying Acts 5:31 to a possible convert):

“Be sure of this, that He who is gone into His glory, raised into all the splendor and majesty of God, has abundant ways of working repentance in those to whom He grants forgiveness. He is even now waiting to give repentance to you. Ask Him for it at once… The Lord can give repentance to the most unlikely, turning lions into lambs, and ravens into doves. Let us look to Him that this great change may be wrought in us. Assuredly the contemplation of the death of Christ is one of the surest and speediest methods of gaining repentance. Do not sit down and try to pump up repentance from the dry well of corrupt nature. It is contrary to the laws of mind to suppose that you can force your soul into that gracious state. Take your heart in prayer to Him who understands it, and say, ‘Lord, cleanse it. Lord, renew it. Lord, work repentance in it.’ The more you try to produce penitent emotions in yourself, the more you will be disappointed; but if you believingly think of Jesus dying for you, repentance will burst forth. Meditate on the Lord’s shedding His heart’s blood out of love to you. Set before your mind’s eye the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and passion; and, as you do this, He who was the bearer of all this grief will look at you, and with that look He will do for you what He did for Peter, so that you also will go out and weep bitterly. He who died for you can, by His gracious Spirit, make you die to sin; and He who has gone into glory on your behalf can draw your soul after Him, away from evil, and toward holiness” (C.H. Spurgeon, All of Grace).

So, here is Spurgeon hawking his false gospel of salvation conditioned on the sinner’s efforts in a similar manner to any God-hating, garden-variety Arminian.