Have you ever felt discouraged about your progress in the Christian life? Have thoughts like, “I’ll never be as godly as I ought to be,” obscured your outlook? Maybe you aren’t seeing success in your struggle with sin or making headway toward holiness. In this 1861 sermon, Charles Spurgeon encourages the church to hold on to the truth that, despite discouraging setbacks, all believers will be transformed into the image of Christ.
Why is such a transformation necessary in the first place? Although we were created in the image of God, the events of Eden disfigured that image. Only Jesus can restore what was lost. “[Christ] re-makes us,” Spurgeon reminds. “[He] takes away the sinful, rebellious visage which [Adam] bore when he was expelled from the garden, re-stamps God’s own face on us, and makes us in the image of the Most High again.”
But is it really possible to be conformed to Christ’s image? Many of us have felt suffocated by our own slow progress. On the road to sanctification, we face daunting hindrances. Our own stubborn hearts, the broken world around us, and the sheer loftiness of the goal can make it seem unattainable. But, as Spurgeon encourages us, conformity to Christ is possible. How? Because it is God’s work and not ours. “[W]hen God decrees a thing,” says Spurgeon, “what is to stand in his way?”
Excerpt:
[…] if you as believers will look much at Christ, you will grow like him; you shall be transformed from glory to glory as by the image of the Lord. I look at you, I do not grow like you; you look at me, and grow not like me. You look at Christ – Christ looks at you – he is photographed on you by his own power of light [….] Go again and look at Christ. Go and weep because you are not like him. Go and bow before him with adoration. Go and strain upwards to that great height. In doing so your very failures are successes; your fears are proofs that you are beginning to be like him.
Read the rest of the sermon here.