I have been reading some of Spurgeon’s sermons. For those of you who are familiar with his writings (1834-1892), you will know they are not light-weight bedtime reading. He was passionate about his faith.

As a 16-year-old, he had a powerful conversion when the Holy Spirit of God came upon him, causing the young man to invite the renewing power of God to enter his heart, to cleanse him and give him a new resurrection life; he was full of life.

He became a Baptist pastor one year later. Imagine that.

His passion was for what the Bible said, rather than what he merely thought. He frequently admonished himself if his words or actions did not align with the Word as in the Bible. A sentence I read recently made me sit up straight. It came in the midst of an explanation about why Christians love to worship God, as King David wrote in Psalm 34:

“I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Spurgeon wrote: “Persons of merely formal religion cannot understand how we can rejoice that all our sins are forgiven. Good works, prayers and ceremonies give them very poor comfort; and well may they be uneasy, for they are neglecting the one great salvation…”

The “one great salvation” is, of course, a reference to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, when he took the punishment and bled for the world’s sin. For the Christian, that is where our faith pivots. His resurrection, when the power of God raised Jesus from the grave, is the other pivot.

These two Easter events are what have changed millions of lives throughout the centuries. Jesus died that our sins might be forgiven, and he rose to show that the power of death was ended for those who believe.

Someone once wrote that if Jesus did not die to free us from sin, and if he did not rise from the grave, then Christians the world over are to be pitied more than any. But those of us who have experienced the life-changing power of forgiveness and new life know they are not mistaken.

As for me, I will say that I am unashamedly a worshipper. When I was just 21, more than 50 years ago, I had a very powerful conversion experience. Quite suddenly, I knew that Jesus was still alive and he had forgiven me and given me new life. Why would I not want to continually worship a God like that?

I wonder what the Easter story means to you? Perhaps for you, as for me, it represents Spurgeon’s “one great salvation”.