Tagged: C.H. Spurgeon

May 4, 2013

Question of Questions

“Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? —John 9:35

Numbers of moral, amiable, generous, and even religious people have not believed on the Son of God. Excuse me, I cannot let you slip through in the crowd, I must lay hold upon you with a holy vehemence, that even forgets courtesy for the moment, and I must say to the best of you, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”

Though this man had been scrupulously obedient, yet our Lord asked the question. It may be, I speak to some who say, “I have been at all times obedient to the duties of religion. Whatever I have found to be commanded of God in his Word, I have carefully carried out.” Was it not so with this man born blind? The Saviour put clay upon his eyes, and told him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash off the clay, and the man did exactly as he was told. He did not go to another pool, but to the pool of Siloam; and he did not attempt to get the clay from his eyes by any other process than that of washing. He was very obedient to Christ; yet the Lord said to him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” No outward observances, however carefully carried out, will obviate the need of the enquiry, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” I am afraid some of you have not been very careful in fulfilling outward ordinances, and for this you are blameworthy; but if you had been scrupulously exact, yet no outward observances, however carefully followed out, can exempt you from the question, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Delivered Sunday, April 4, 1890
at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 36, Sermon No. 2141
“The Question of Questions”

May 3, 2013

The Lord Chiding His People

“He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.” —Psalm 103:9

God chastens and chides his children, next, because if he did not so, others of the family would follow their ill example. If I knew a man who lived in sin, and yet enjoyed the light of God’s countenance, should I not naturally conclude that I also may live as he does, and yet walk in the light as God is in the light? If we had heard of David’s sin with Bathsheba, and had never read of his horror of soul, his broken bones and bleeding heart, should we not have inferred that we also might fall into the like filthiness, and find it a very small matter to return into the way of righteousness again? Every father among you knows that he has often to deal with his child’s ill doing, not only for its own sake but for the sake of his younger children; for if the fault were overlooked they might come to do the same. Sometimes a frown which might have been spared the individual, considered by himself, must be put upon the parent’s face for the sake of brothers and sisters, lest they should fall into like fault. Remember that the Lord has a large family, and like a wise father he considers the interests of all, consequently he does not allow sin to go unchidden, lest it breed folly in others.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Delivered Sunday Morning, May 3, 1874
at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 20, Sermon No. 1171
“The Lord Chiding His People”

May 1, 2013

May Day Mayday Gospel Word

“What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” —Romans 9:30-33

Notice that these people made a mistake at the very beginning; it may not seem a great one, but it was so in reality. Israel did not follow after righteousness, but after “the law of righteousness.” They missed the spirit, which is righteousness, and followed after the mere letter of the law. To be really righteous was not their aim, but to do righteousness was their utmost notion. They looked at “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” and so forth; but to love God with all their heart was not thought of, and yet this is the essence of righteousness. They looked at the letter of the law, and were careful to pay tithe upon mint and anise, and to attend to all sorts of small points and niceties; but to cleanse the heart and purify the motive did not occur to them. They thought of what a man does, but they forgot the importance of what a man is. Love to God, and likeness to God, were forgotten in a servile attempt to observe the letter of the law. So we see everywhere, people nowadays consider what kind of dress a clergyman ought to wear on a certain day, and which position he should occupy at the communion, and what should be the decoration of the place of worship, and what should be the proper music for the hymn, and so forth; but to what purpose is all this? To be right in heart with God, to trust in his dear Son, and to be renewed in his image, is better than all ritual. Among ourselves there are certain people who are nothing if they are not orthodox: they make a man an offender for a word, and are never so happy as when they are up to their necks in controversy. In each case the external and the letter are preferred to the inward and the spiritual. O my dear hearers, escape from this error; be not so eager for the shell as to lose the kernel, so zealous for the form of godliness as to deny the power thereof!

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Delivered Sunday Morning, May 1, 1887
at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 33, Sermon No. 1961
“S.S.: or The Sinner Saved”

April 30, 2013

God’s Will on Earth

“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” —Matthew 6:10

If the prayer of our text had not been dictated by the Lord Jesus himself, we might think it too bold. Can it ever be that this earth, a mere drop of a bucket, should touch the great sea of life and light above and not be lost in it? Can it remain earth and yet be made like to heaven? Will it not lose its individuality in the process? This earth is subject to vanity, dimmed with ignorance, defiled with sin, furrowed with sorrow; can holiness dwell in it as in heaven? Our Divine Instructor would not teach us to pray for impossibilities; he puts such petitions into our mouths as can be heard and answered. Yet certainly this is a great prayer; it has the hue of the infinite about it. Can earth be tuned to the harmonies of heaven? Has not this poor planet drifted too far away to be reduced to order and made to keep rank with heaven? Is it not swathed in mist too dense to be removed? Can its grave-clothes be loosed? Can thy will, O God, be done in earth as it is in heaven? It can be, and it must be; for a prayer wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit is ever the shadow of a coming blessing, and he that taught us to pray after this manner did not mock us with vain words. It is a brave prayer, which only a heaven-born faith can utter; yet it is not the offspring of presumption, for presumption never longs for the will of the Lord to be perfectly performed.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Delivered Wednesday Morning, April 30, 1884
at Exeter Hall, Being the Annual Meeting of the Baptist Missionary Society
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 30, Sermon No. 1778
“A Heavenly Pattern for Our Earthly Life”

April 29, 2013

How Wonderful is Grace!

“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” —Hebrews 6:18

How wonderful is the system of grace! Here it is: that as in Adam we die through Adam’s sin, so if we be in Christ we live through Christ’s righteousness. The way of escape for the sinner lies not in himself but in another. He must come under another headship, and then he is saved. Under the first natural headship we became sinners, and under the second gracious headship we become righteous. How consoling it is to perceive that the second Adam in whom we become righteous through believing has the power to save us, because the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, and he has made atonement to the full. Instead of dealing personally with every man in Christ, and asking from him the penalty due for sin, God in his mercy has taken the whole sin of those in Christ in the bulk and asked payment for the whole mass at the hand of their great covenant Head. The Lord has gone, in fact, to the second Adam, to Christ Jesus, and presented to him the dread account of all the sin of his redeemed, and said to him, “Wilt thou discharge all this?” and he has answered. “Ay,” and has carried up to the cross all the gigantic load of sin, and made an end of it there. He shouted the victory, saying, “It is finished,” for the whole debt of his people was for ever blotted out. Their sins were buried in his sepulcher, never to rise again; but he himself has risen, having discharged himself personally of all the liabilities which he took upon himself on our behalf, and so we also are discharged, for he died for our offenses, but he rose again for our justification.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Delivered Sunday Evening, April 29, 1877
at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 23, Sermon No. 1352
“Strong Consolation for the Lord’s Refugees”

April 28, 2013

Christian Life is Spirit Dependence

“And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.” —2 Kings 3:16-18

So dependent is the Christian church upon the Holy Ghost, that there never was an acceptable sigh heaved by a penitent apart from him; never did holy song mount to heaven except he gave it wings; never was there true prayer or faithful ministry except through the power and might of the Holy Ghost. Sinners are never saved apart from the Spirit of God. No moral suasion, no force of example, no potence of logic, no might of rhetoric, ever changed the heart. The living Spirit alone can put life into dead souls. And when those souls are quickened, we are still as dependent as ever upon the Spirit of God.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Delivered Sunday Morning, April 28, 1867
at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 13, Sermon No. 747
“Make This Valley Full of Ditches”