Skip to content ↓

Rooting around through some old files today I found a great quote by Charles Spurgeon just doing what Spurgeon did so well–exposing the heart. Here is what he had to say about weeping for Jesus as we picture him hanging upon the cross, suffering for our sake.

You need not weep because Christ died one-tenth so much as because your sins rendered it necessary that He should die. You need not weep over the crucifixion, but weep over your transgression, for your sins nailed the Redeemer to the accursed tree. To weep over a dying Saviour is to lament the remedy; it were wiser to bewail the disease. To weep over the dying Saviour is to wet the surgeon’s knife with tears; it were better to bewail the spreading polyps which that knife must cut away. To weep over the Lord Jesus as He goes to the cross is to weep over that which is the subject of the highest joy that ever heaven and earth have known; your tears are scarcely needed there; they are unnatural, but a deeper wisdom will make you brush them all away and chant with joy His victory over death and the grave. If we must continue our sad emotions, let us lament that we should have broken the law which He thus painfully vindicated; let us mourn that we should have incurred the penalty which He even to the death was made to endure … O brethren and sisters, this is the reason why we souls weep: because we have broken the divine law and rendered it impossible that we should be saved except Jesus Christ should die.


  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (December 2)

    A La Carte: Lab rats for gender drug tests / How your church can serve the poor / Cross-cultural ministry / Cross-cultural marriage / The gift of nothing to do / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Self Loathing

    Don’t Think Lower Thoughts of Yourself than God Does

    I can be prone to self-loathing. Sometimes this takes the form of thinking about things I’ve done or recounting words I’ve said and detesting myself for them. Sometimes it takes the form of thinking about who I am and hating who God has made me to be, or thinking about the way God has gifted…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (December 1)

    A La Carte: Should I stay or go? / Dust / Worshiping God at the ends of the earth / Why many reject penal substitutionary atonement / We have not arrived yet / Every human an image bearer / and more.

  • Sing

    Singing Is Not Filler Time

    While it may be rare to find a church that dedicates a substantial portion of the service to prayers and Scripture reading, it would be rare to find a church that fails to dedicate a substantial portion of the service to singing. Christians love to sing, and we have always regarded it as an essential…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (November 29)

    A La Carte: What’s the point of longevity? / The 12-hour rule / Thank the Lord for the hard stuff / People aren’t homogenous blocs / Before you say no to childcare / Kindle deals / and more.