The Spurgeon Series 1859 & 1860. Charles H. Spurgeon

given, came into the world to enter into the battle against sin. For thirty years and upwards he had to struggle and wrestle against temptations more numerous and more terrible than man had ever known before. Adam fell when only a woman tempted him; Eve fell when only a serpent offered fruit to her, but Christ, the second Adam, stood invulnerable against all the shafts of Satan although he was tempted in all points, like as we are. Not one arrow out of the quiver of hell was spared; all of them were shot against him. Every arrow was aimed against him with all the might of Satan’s archers, and that is no little matter! And yet, without sin or taint of sin, he stood more than a conqueror. Foot to foot with Satan, in the solitude of the wilderness; hand to hand with him on the top of the pinnacle of the temple; side by side with him in the midst of a busy crowd — yet always more than a conqueror. He gave him battle wherever the adversary met him, and at last, when Satan gathered up all his might, and seized the Saviour in the garden of Gethsemane, and crushed him until he sweat as it were greet drops of blood, then when the Saviour said, “Nevertheless, not as I will but as you will,” the tempter was repulsed. “Be gone, be gone!” Christ seemed to say; and away the tempter fled, nor dared to return again. Christ, in all his conquests over sin, does seem to me to have established his Godhead. I never heard of any other creature that could endure such temptation as this. Look at the angels in heaven; how temptation entered there I do not know; but this I know, that Satan, the great archangel, sinned, and I know that he became the tempter to the rest of his companions, and drew with him a third part of the stars of heaven. Angels were tempted only a little, some of them were not tempted at all, and yet they fell. And then look at man; how slight was his temptation, yet he fell. It is not in a creature to stand against temptation; he will yield, if the temptation is strong enough. But Christ stood, and it seems to me, that in his standing he proved himself to have the omni-radiant purity, the immaculate holiness of him before whom angels veil their faces, and cry,

      Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts.

      18. But these proofs might appear insufficient, if he did not accomplish more than this. We know also that Christ proved himself to be the “mighty God” from the fact that at last all the sins of all his people were gathered upon his shoulders, and “he bore them in his own body on the tree.” The heart of Christ became like a reservoir in the midst of mountains. All the tributary streams of iniquity, and every drop of the sins of his people, ran down and gathered into one vast lake, deep as hell, and shoreless as eternity. All these met, as it were, in Christ’s heart, and yet he endured them all. With many a sign of human weakness, but with convincing signs of divine omnipotence, he took all our griefs and carried all our sorrows. The divinity within strengthened his manhood, and though wave after wave rolled over his head, until he sank in deep mire where there was no standing, and all God’s waves and his billows had gone over him, yet he lifted up his head, and more than a conqueror, at length, he put the sins of his people to a public execution. They are dead. They have ceased to be; and, if they are sought for, they shall not be found any more for ever. Certainly if this is true, he is “the mighty God” indeed.

      19. But he did more than this, he descended into the grave, and there he slept, fettered firmly with the cold chains of death. But the appointed hour arrives — the sunlight of the third day gave the warning, and he snapped the bands of death as if they were only tow, and came forth to life as “the Lord of life and glory.” His flesh did not see corruption, for he was not able to be held by the bands of death. And who shall be the death of death, the plague of the grave, the destroyer of destruction, but God? Who but immortal life, who but the Self-existent, shall trample out the fires of hell; who, but he whose Being is eternal, without beginning, and without end, shall burst the shackles of the grave? He proved himself then, when he led captivity captive, and crushed death and ground his iron limbs to powder — he proved himself then to be the mighty God.

      20. Oh, my soul, you can say, that he has proven himself in your heart to be a mighty God. He has forgiven you of many sins and relieved your conscience of the keen sense of guilt, he has assuaged innumerable griefs, he has overcome insurmountable temptations; he has implanted virtues once impossible, he has promised grace in its fulness, and he has given it in its measure. My soul bears record that what has been done for me could never have been done by a mere man; and you would rise from your seats, I am sure, if it would be needed, and say, “Yes, he who has loved me, washed me from my sins, and made me what I am, must be God; no one but God could do what he has done, could bear so patiently, could bless so lavishly, forgive so freely, enrich so infinitely. He is, he must be, we will crown him such — ‘The mighty God.’ ”

      21. And, in conclusion, lest I weary you, permit me now to say, I beg and beseech of you all present, as God the Spirit shall help you, come and put your trust in Jesus Christ; he is “the mighty God.” Oh, Christians, believe him more than ever; cast your troubles constantly on him; he is “the mighty God”; go to him in all your dilemmas, when the enemy comes in like a flood, this mighty God shall make a way for your deliverance; take to him your griefs, this mighty God can alleviate them all; tell him your backslidings and sins, this mighty God shall blot them out. And, oh sinners, you who feel your need of a Saviour, come to Christ and trust him for he is “the mighty God.” Go to your homes, and fall on your knees and confess your sins, and then cast your poor, guilty, helpless, naked, defenceless souls before his omnipotence, for he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him, because when he died he was not manhood, without divinity, but he was “the mighty God.” This, I say, we will write on our banners, from this day forth and for ever; this shall be our joy and our song — the child born and the Son given is to us “the mighty God.”

      {a} Fetish: An inanimate object worshipped by primitive peoples on account of its supposed inherent magical powers, or as being animated by a spirit. A fetish differs from an idol in that it is worshipped in its own character, not as the image, symbol, or occasional residence of a deity. OED.