Peace, None with Sin – Charles Spurgeon

OH! those blessed tempests! Do not give me calm weather when the air is still and heavy, and when lethargy is creeping over one’s spirit. Lord, send a hurricane, give us a little stormy weather: when the lightning flashes and the thunder rolls, then God’s servants know that the Lord is abroad, and that his right hand is no longer in his bosom, that the moral atmosphere will get clear, that God’s kingdom will come, and his will be done on earth, even as it is in Heaven. Peace, peace, peace,” that is the flap of the dragon’s wings; the stern voice which proclaims perpetual war is the voice of the Captain of our salvation. You say, how is this? Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Peace, physical, Christ does make; there is to be no strife with the fist, no blow with the sword, but peace moral, and peace spiritual can never be in this world where Jesus Christ is, so long as error is there. But you know, beloved, that you cannot do any good thing but what the devil will be sure to hinder you. What then? up and at him! coward looks and faint counsels are not for warriors of the cross. Expect fightings, and you will not be disappointed. Whitfield used to say that some divines would go from the first of January to the end of December with a perfectly whole skin; the devil never thought them worth while attacking; but, said he, let us begin to preach with all our might, and soul, and strength, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and men will soon put a fool’s cap on our heads, and begin laughing at us, and ridiculing us; but if so, so much the better. We are not alarmed because Satan hinders us.