"Now, mark: when you see Christ going up the Mount of Doom, you see man going there: when you see Christ hurled upon his back, upon the wooden cross, you see the whole company of his elect there; and when you see the nails driven through his blessed hands and feet, it is the whole body of his Church who there, in their substitute, are nailed to the tree. And now the soldiers lift the cross, and dash it down into the socket prepared for it. His bones are every one of them dislocated, and his body is thus torn with agonies which cannot be described. ’Tis manhood suffering there; ’tis the Church suffering there, in the substitute. And when Christ dies, you are to look upon the death of Christ, not as his own dying merely, but as the dying of all those for whom he stood as the scapegoat and the substitute."
"It is true, Christ died really himself; it is equally true that he did not die for himself, but died as the substitute, in the room, place, and stead of all believers. When you die you will die for yourselves; when Christ died, he died for you, if you be a believer in him. When you pass through the gates of the grave, you go there solitary and alone; you are not the representative of a body of men, but you pass through the gates of death as an individual; but, remember, when Christ went through the sufferings of death, he was the representative Head of all his people."
"Here is the glory of the matter: it was as a substitute for sin that he did actually and literally suffer punishment for the sin of all his elect."
"I pause once more; for I hear some timid soul say — “But, Sir, I am afraid I am not elect, and if so, Christ did not die for me.” Stop, sir! Are you a sinner? Do you feel it? Has God the Holy Spirit made you feel that you are a lost sinner? Do you want salvation? If you do not want it, it is no hardship that it is not provided for you; but if you really feel that you want it, you are God’s elect. If you have a desire to be saved, a desire given you of the Holy Spirit, that desire is a token for good. If you have begun believingly to pray for salvation, you have therein a sure evidence that you are saved. Christ was punished for you. And if now you can say,“Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling," you may be as sure you are God’s elect as you are sure of your own existence; for this is the infallible proof of election — a sense of need and a thirst after Christ."
C. H. Spurgeon - The Death of Christ: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 4- #173
"It is true, Christ died really himself; it is equally true that he did not die for himself, but died as the substitute, in the room, place, and stead of all believers. When you die you will die for yourselves; when Christ died, he died for you, if you be a believer in him. When you pass through the gates of the grave, you go there solitary and alone; you are not the representative of a body of men, but you pass through the gates of death as an individual; but, remember, when Christ went through the sufferings of death, he was the representative Head of all his people."
"Here is the glory of the matter: it was as a substitute for sin that he did actually and literally suffer punishment for the sin of all his elect."
"I pause once more; for I hear some timid soul say — “But, Sir, I am afraid I am not elect, and if so, Christ did not die for me.” Stop, sir! Are you a sinner? Do you feel it? Has God the Holy Spirit made you feel that you are a lost sinner? Do you want salvation? If you do not want it, it is no hardship that it is not provided for you; but if you really feel that you want it, you are God’s elect. If you have a desire to be saved, a desire given you of the Holy Spirit, that desire is a token for good. If you have begun believingly to pray for salvation, you have therein a sure evidence that you are saved. Christ was punished for you. And if now you can say,“Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling," you may be as sure you are God’s elect as you are sure of your own existence; for this is the infallible proof of election — a sense of need and a thirst after Christ."
C. H. Spurgeon - The Death of Christ: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 4- #173
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