All of Grace (For Teens)

It’s nearly the opposite. Spurgeon opens by saying he is “not calling for the rent”: the book doesn’t make demands, it brings a free gift. Its whole message is that God saves people who can’t save themselves.

It means being counted right — not guilty — before God. Spurgeon explains that God can do this justly because Jesus took the penalty in our place, and once the highest Judge has acquitted you, no one can condemn you.

Because, as the Bible says, there is “none righteous, no, not one.” A doctor is for the sick and pardon is for the guilty, so Spurgeon says being a sinner isn’t what keeps you out — it’s the very reason the good news is for you.

No. Spurgeon tells of a ragged street-sweeper who was sent away from an artist’s studio because he turned up washed and in a borrowed suit — he was wanted as he was. God’s grace meets you in your worst state.

Very much. Spurgeon insists that God gives a new heart along with forgiveness, that repentance and forgiveness always come together, and that faith which refuses to obey Jesus is only a pretence. Grace doesn’t leave you the same — it changes the direction of your life.

Faith is trusting Christ, not having a certain feeling. Spurgeon admits he once wept because he couldn’t weep, and he compares mature faith to a sailor who steers by compass and stars without seeing land — trusting God’s word rather than his own feelings.

Spurgeon says people turn back when they trust Jesus for the start and themselves for the finish. The answer is that “God is faithful”: he finishes what he begins, and since believers are joined to Christ, “unless Jesus sinks, the believer will never drown.”