Christ Crucified, the Preacher’s Theme – Charles Spurgeon

DO not tell me that we ought mainly to preach Christ exalted. I will preach my Lord upon the throne and delight therein, but the great remedy for ruined manhood is not Christ in glory, but Christ in shame and death. We know some who select Christ’s Second Advent as their one great theme, and we would not silence them; yet do they err. The second coming is a glorious hope for saints, but there is no cure in it for sinners; to them the coming of the Lord is darkness and not light; but Christ smitten for our sins, there is the star which breaks the sinner’s midnight. I know if I preached Christ on the throne many proud hearts would have him; but, oh, sirs, you must have Christ on the cross before you can know him on the throne. You must bow before the Crucified, you must trust a dying Savior, or else if you pretend to honor him by the glories which are to come, you do but belie him, and you know him not. To the Cross, to the Cross, to the Cross! write that upon the sign posts of the road to the city of refuge! Fly there, you guilty ones, as to the only sanctuary for the sinful, for “with his stripes we are healed.” There is joy in this.