Sermons on Gospel Themes
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Charles Finney’s Sermons on Gospel Themes includes twenty-four sermons preached by Finney at Oberlin College between 1845 and 1861. These sermons integrate spiritual life with experience and emotions and emphasize a profound commitment to moral living as an evidence of faith—the hallmarks of Finney’s theology. This volume also includes sermons on conversion, Christian experience, the atonement, sin and salvation, and prayer.
Top Highlights
“SIN is the most expensive thing in the universe. Nothing else can cost so much.” (Page 1)
“the violated law must be honored by the execution of its penalty,” (Page 2)
“It began with the Infinite Father. He made the first great donation. He gave His only begotten Son—this to begin with—and having given Him first, He freely gives all else that the exigencies of the case can require. First, He gave His Son to make the atonement due to law; then gave and sent His Holy Spirit to take charge of this work. The Son on His part consented to stand as the representative of sinners, that He might honor the law, by suffering in their stead.” (Pages 2–3)
“You charge that God is unreasonable. The truth is, God is the most reasonable of all beings. He asks only that we should use each moment for Him, in labor, or in rest, whichever is most for His glory. He only requires that with the time, talents, and strength which He has given us, we should do all we can to serve Him.” (Pages 76–77)
“Pardoned, the cost falls chiefly on the great atoning Substitute; unpardoned, it must fall on the head of the guilty sinner.” (Page 1)
- Title: Sermons on Gospel Themes
- Author: Charles Grandison Finney
- Publisher: E. J. Goodrich
- Publication Date: 1876
- Pages: 417
Charles Grandison Finney was born on August 29, 1792 in Litchfield, Connecticut. He studied law, but his plans were altered when he underwent a dramatic conversion experience at the age of 29. Finney later wrote of his conversation experience: “I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love” (from Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney, included in this collection).
Finney became pastor of the Free Presbyterian Chatham Street Chapel and later the Broadway Tabernacle. He spoke as a refined and expert orator and became a widely popular evangelist, organizing and preaching at numerous revivals and meetings throughout New England. He also traveled to England. As many as one million people heard Finney preach throughout his career, and many of them underwent conversion experiences. Finney also spoke at length about social issues, and became an ardent abolitionist. In 1835, Finney was appointed as a professor of theology at Oberlin College, and became its president in 1851, where he remained until 1866.
Charles Finney died on August 17, 1875.