Jesus is near

It is a commonplace thought, and yet it tastes like nectar to the weary heart—Jesus was tempted as I am.  You have heard that truth many times; have you grasped it?  He was tempted to the very same sins into which we fall.

Do not dissociate Jesus from our common manhood.  It is a dark room which you are going through, but Jesus went through it before.  It is a sharp fight which you are waging, but Jesus has stood foot to foot with the same enemy.  Let us be of good cheer, Christ has borne the load before us, and the blood-stained footsteps of the King of glory may be seen along the road which we traverse at this hour.  Fears are needless, for Christ is with us, armed for our defense.

Perhaps we are tempted just now in order to drive us nearer to Him.  Blessed be any wind that blows us into the port of our Saviour’s love!  Ye tempted ones, come to your tempted Saviour, for He can be touched with a feeling of your infirmities, and will succor every tried and tempted one.

-       Spurgeon[1]

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[1] The most widely popular of English preachers in the nineteenth century was without question, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England in 1834. Both his father and grandfather being pastors, young Spurgeon was raised in the knowledge and understanding of the Christian gospel, but it was not until a stormy January night in 1850 that he was converted. In August of the same year, Spurgeon preached his first sermon to a small gathering of farmers.

A year later he was called to pastor a village church; in 1854, in his nineteenth year, he was installed as shepherd over the flock of the New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, London, later to become the Metropolitan Tabernacle. In 1855 Spurgeon published his first sermon; his last was not published until 1916, 24 years after his death. During his pastorate at London, Spurgeon ministered to a congregation of almost 6,000 people each Sunday, published his sermons weekly, wrote a monthly magazine, and founded a college for pastors, two orphanages, an old-folks home, a colportage society, and several mission stations.

His body wracked by pain in the later years, and his ministry attacked by his opponents, Spurgeon continued to preach the gospel until his death in 1892. (Source: C. H. Spurgeon: an audio archive – mountzion.org)