Cross, The—Arresting Passion – Charles Spurgeon

THE stripes of Jesus, when well considered, arrest spiritual disorder. The man is brought to view his Lord as suffering for him, and a voice says to his rising lusts, “Hitherto shall you come, but no further. Here at Calvary shall your proud waves be stayed.” My feet had almost gone, my steps had well-near slipped, had not my Master’s cross stood before me, as a most effectual barrier to stay me in my fall. Many a man has gone post haste onward unchecked by any power, until a vision of the Man, the crucified Man, has appeared before his eyes, and he has been brought to a blessed halt. Read the memorable life of Colonel Gardiner, for what happened to him literally has happened to tens of thousands spiritually—they have been enlisted to sin, and sold to Satan, but a sight of the Savior slain for sinners has made them pause, and henceforth they have no longer dared to offend. Now, it is a great thing for a physician to find a remedy which will hold the disease within bounds so that it reach not the direst stage of malignity; and this the cross of Christ does, it binds in chains the fury of unhallowed passion. What a miraculous power the griefs of Jesus have upon the believer! Though his corruption is still within him, yet it cannot have dominion over him, because he is not under the law, but under grace.