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The sermon presents Christ as both the gracious Savior who welcomes repentant sinners and the righteous King whose wrath will judge those who reject Him. Salvation is not partial: those justified by Christ must also submit to His rule and turn from sin. Spurgeon locates all mercy in Christ and His cross, insisting that every person who trusts Him will be saved. Faith in Christ therefore brings genuine, enduring blessedness, while refusal leaves the sinner exposed to eternal punishment.
Theological center: Christ is the divine King and the sole ground of reconciliation, salvation, and mercy through His death and cross.
Applications: Be reconciled to Christ · Submit to Christ’s rule · Come to Christ despite guilt · Flee the coming judgment
Primary texts: Psalm 2:12 · 2 Corinthians 5:20 · Revelation 22:17
“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Psalm 2:12 IT will not be needful for me this morning to be controversial in my discourse, for but two Sabbaths ago I addressed you from that text, “The mighty God,” and endeavored with the utmost of my ability to prove that Christ must be “very God of very God”—co-equal and co-eternal with His Father. Without then attempting to prove that, let us drive onward towards the practical issue, for after all, practice is the end of preaching, or if you will have it, I will put it into Herbert’s words— “Attend sermons, but prayers most, Praying’s the end of preaching.” And that too is in the text, for what lip can give the kiss of sincerity to the Son of God, save the lip of prayer. We drive onward then, towards the practical conclusion. May God the Holy Spirit assist us. Now it has sometimes been disputed among most earnest and zealous ministers, which is the most likely means of bringing souls to Christ, whether it is the thunder of the threatening, or the still small whisper of the promise. I have heard some ministers who preferred the first, they have constantly dwelt upon the terrors of the law, and they have certainly, many of them, been eminently useful, they have had Scripture for their warrant—“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” With “terrible things in righteousness” declaring the just anger and judgment of God against sin, they have alarmed those who were sitting at ease in a graceless state, and have thus been the means in the hands of God, of inducing them to flee from the wrath to come. Some, on the other hand, have rather decried the threatenings, and they have dwelt almost entirely upon the promises. Like John, their ministry has been full of love, they have constantly preached from such texts as this—“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”—and such like. Now, these also have been eminently useful, and they too have had Scriptural warrant in abundance, for thus spoke Christ’s apostles full often, and thus spoke Jesus Christ Himself, wooing with notes of mercy, and melting with tones of love those whom the law’s terrors would but have hardened in their sins. My text however seems to be a happy combination of the two, and I take it, that the most successful mi…