Sunday, December 30, 2007

Spurgeon meets Facebook!



I suppose someone will inevitably ask me if Spurgeon would have used Facebook.

I can't answer that, but if you use Facebook (and tens of millions now do) you can now add The Daily Spurgeon to yours. Just visit this application link and you'll be off and running. You will have to log in, of course. If you'd like to help us go "viral," be sure to share the Spurgeon app with your Facebook friends and pass the inspiration along. Thanks!

Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas from The Daily Spurgeon

Have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed 2008! We will resume publishing on January 2.

Christmas Carol



Once more the angels said, “Peace to men:” let us labor if we can to make peace next Christmas day. Now, old gentleman, you won’t take your son in: he has offended you. Fetch him at Christmas. “Peace on earth;” you know: that is a Christmas Carol. Make peace in your family. Now, brother, you have made a vow that you will never speak to your brother again. Go after him and say, “Oh, my dear fellow, let not this day’s sun go down upon our wrath.” Fetch him in, and give him your hand. Now, Mr. Tradesman, you have an opponent in trade, and you have said some very hard words about him lately. If you do not make the matter up today, or tomorrow, or as soon as you can, yet do it on that day. That is the way to keep Christmas peace on earth and glory to God. And oh, if thou hast anything on thy conscience, anything that prevents thy having peace of mind, keep thy Christmas in thy chamber, praying to God to give thee peace; for it is peace on earth, mind, peace in thyself, peace with thyself, peace with thy fellow men, peace with thy God. And do not think thou hast well celebrated that day till thou canst say, “O God, ‘With the world, myself, and thee I ere I sleep at peace will be.’"

And when the Lord Jesus has become your peace, remember, there is another thing, good will towards men. Do not try to keep Christmas without keeping good will towards men.

From a sermon entitled "The First Christmas Carol." Flickr photo by shirl; some rights reserved.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Conquerors in Christ



Satan came against Christ; he had in his hand a sharp sword called the Law, dipped in the poison of sin, so that every wound which the law inflicted was deadly. Christ dashed this sword out of Satan's hand, and there stood the prince of darkness unarmed. His helmet was cleft in twain, and his head was crushed as with a rod of iron. Death rose against Christ. The Savior snatched his quiver from him, emptied out all his darts, cut them in two, gave Death back the feather end, but kept the poisoned barbs from him, that he might never destroy the ransomed. Sin came against Christ, but sin was utterly cut in pieces. It had been Satan's armor bearer, but its shield was cast away, and it lay dead upon the plain.

Is it not a noble picture to behold all the enemies of Christ? — nay, my brethren, all your enemies, and mine, totally disarmed? Satan has nothing left him, now wherewith he may attack us. He may attempt to injure us, but wound us he never can, among the Romans, after the enemy has been overcome, it was the custom to take away all their weapons and ammunition; afterwards they were stripped of their armor and their garments, their hands were tied behind their backs, and they were made to pass under the yoke. Now, even so hath Christ done with sin, death, and hell; he hath taken their armor, spoiled them of all their weapons, and made them all to pass under the yoke; so that now they are our slaves, and we in Christ are conquerors of them who were mightier than we.

From a sermon entitled "Christ Triumphant," delivered September 4, 1859. Flickr photo by Angelo Juan Ramos; some rights reserved.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Bought with a price



If you would be saved you must not be your own. Salvation is through being bought with a price; and if you be bought with a price, and thus saved, remember, from that day forward you will not be your own. Today, as an ungodly sinner, you are your own master, free to follow the lusts of the flesh; or, rather Satan is your great tyrant, and you are under bondage to him. If you would be saved you must by the aid of the Holy Spirit now renounce the bondage of Satan and come to Christ, saying, “Lord I am willing to give up all sin, it is not in my power to be perfect but I wish it were, make me perfect. There is not a sin I wish to keep; take all away; I present myself before thee. Wash me, make me clean. Do what thou wilt in me. I make no reserve, I make a full surrender of all to thee.”

And then you must give up to Christ all you are, and all you have by solemn indenture, signed and sealed by your own heart. You must say in the words of the sweet Moravian hymn —

“Take thou my soul and all my powers;
O take my memory, mind, and will,
Take all my goods, and all my hours,
Take all I know and all I feel;
Take all I think and speak, and do;
O take my heart, but make it new.”

Accept the sacrifice, — I am worthless, but receive me through thy own merits. Take and keep me, I am, I hope I ever shall be thine.

From a sermon entitled "Faith Illustrated," delivered August 21, 1859. Flickr photo by Kip Guenther; some rights reserved.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Empty vessels



We can learn nothing, even of Christ himself, while we hold our heads up with pride, or exalt ourselves with self-confidence. We must be meek and lowly in heart, otherwise we are totally unfit to be taught by Christ. Empty vessels may be filled; but vessels that are full already can receive no more. The man who knows his own emptiness can receive abundance of knowledge, and wisdom, and grace, from Christ; but he who glories in himself is not in a fit condition to receive anything from God.

From a sermon entitled "The Meek And Lowly One," delivered July 31, 1859. Flickr photo by Peter Morgan; some rights reserved.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Employed in the enemy's camp



You must be either doing good or evil. There is no borderland between truth and sin; a men must be either on land or in the water; and you are either serving God or serving Satan; each day you are increasing your Master’s kingdom, or else diminishing it. I cannot bear the thought that any of you should be employed in Satan’s camp. Suppose there ever should be an invasion of this country by France. The tocsin rings from every church steeple, the drum is sounding in every street, and men are gathering at every market-cross. Peaceful men spring up to soldiers in an instant; and multitudes are marching away to the coast. When we come near it we behold a troop of soldiers who have climbed our white cliffs, and with bayonets fixed they are marching against us. We, with a tremendous cheer, rush on against them, to drive them back into the sea which girds our beloved country. Suddenly, as we rush forward, we detect scores of Englishmen marching in the same ranks with our foes, and seeking to ravage their own country. What should we say? Seize these traitors; let not one of them escape; put them all to death. Can Englishmen take the side of England’s enemies? Can they march against our hearths and homes, betray their fatherland, and take the side of the tyrant Emperor? Can this be? Then let them die the death!”

And yet this day I behold a more mournful spectacle yet. There is King Jesus marching at the head of his troops; and can it be that some of you, who profess to be his followers, are on the other side; that professing to be Christ’s you are lighting in the ranks of the enemy — carrying the baggage of Satan and wearing the uniform of hell, when you profess to be soldiers of Christ? I know there are such here: God forgive them! God spare them; and may the deserters yet come back, even though they come back in the chains of conviction! May they come back and be saved! O brethren and sisters, there are enough to destroy souls without us — enough to extend the kingdom of Satan without our helping him. “Come out from among them; touch not the unclean thing; be ye separate.” Church of God! awake, awake, awake to the salvation of men! Sleep no longer, begin to pray, to wrestle, to travail in birth; be more holy, more consistent, more strict, more solemn in thy deportment! Begin, O soldiers of Christ, to be more true to your colors, and as surely as the time shall come when the church shall thus be reformed and revived, so surely shall the King come into our midst, and we shall march on to certain victory, trampling down our enemies, and getting to our King many crowns, through many victories achieved.

From a sermon entitled "How Saints May Help The Devil;" delivered July 24, 1859 . Flickr photo by Edward Corpuz; some rights reserved.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

God's Mighty Acts



Whenever God has done a mighty work it has been by some very insignificant instrument. When he slew Goliath it was by little David, who was but a ruddy youth. Lay not up the sword of Goliath — I always thought that a mistake of David — lay up, not Goliath’s sword, but lay up the stone, and treasure up the sling in God’s armory for ever. When God would slay Sisera, it was a woman that must do it with a hammer and a nail. God has done his mightiest works by the meanest instruments: that is a fact most true of all God’s works — Peter the fisherman at Pentecost, Luther the humble monk at the Reformation, Whitefield the potboy of the Old Bell Inn at Gloucester in the time of the last century’s revival; and so it must be to the end. God works not by Pharaoh’s horses or chariot, but he works by Moses’ rod; he doth not his wonders with the whirlwind and the storm; he doth them by the still small voice, that the glory may be his and the honor all his own. Doth not this open a field of encouragement to you and to me? Why may not we be employed in doing some mighty work for God here? Moreover, we have noticed in all these stories of God’s mighty works in the olden time, that wherever he has done any great thing it has been by someone who has had very great faith. I do verily believe at this moment that, if God willed it, every soul in this hall would be converted now. If God chose to put forth the operations of his own mighty Spirit, not the most obdurate heart would be able to stand against it. “He will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy.” He will do as he pleases; none can stay his hand. “Well,” says one, “but I do not expect to see any great things.” Then, my dear friend, you will not be disappointed, for you will not see them; but those that expect them shall see them.

From a sermon entitled "The Story of God's Mighty Acts," delivered July 17, 1859. Flickr photo by Matt McGee; some rights reserved.

Monday, December 17, 2007

The invented gods of man



Our God is a spirit, and his hands made the heavens and the earth: well may we worship him, and we need not be disturbed at the sneering question of those who are so insane as to refuse to adore the living God, and yet bow their knees before images of their own carving. We may make an application of all this to the times in which we are now living. The god of modern thought is the creation of the thinker himself, evolved out of his own consciousness, or fashioned according to his own notion of what a god should be. Now, it is evident that such a being is no God. It is impossible that there should be a God at all except the God of revelation. A god who can be fashioned by our own thoughts is no more a God than the image manufactured or produced by our own hands. The true God must of necessity be his own revealer. It is clearly impossible that a being who can be excogitated and comprehended by the reason of man should be the infinite and incomprehensible God. Their idols are blinded reason and diseased thought, the product of men's muddled brains, and they will come to nought.

From "The Treasury of David," exposition of Psalm 115:4; Flickr photo by KellyB.; some rights reserved.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

No compromise



The tendency of the present age is to temporize; we are asked continually to qualify our testimony; to cut off some portion of the truth we preach; to smooth down and polish our words. God forbid; we will not do so. Whatever we believe to be true, to the last jot and tittle we will speak it out. I hope so long as I live there will always be a straight road from my heart to my mouth, and that I shall be able to preach whatever I believe in my soul, and to keep nothing reserved. Do you the same. Though you should forsake all, and should be by all forsaken, for the truth’s sake, with Abraham’s trial and Abraham’s faith, you shall have Abraham’s honor and Abraham’s reward.

From a sermon entitled "The Call of Abraham," delivered July 10, 1859; Flickr photo by b k ; some rights reserved.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Come and drink!



Every soul in the world that feels its need of a Savior, and that longs to be saved, may come to Christ. If God hath convinced thee of sin, and brought thee to know thy need come, come away; come, come away! Come now; trust now in Christ, and thou shalt now find that blessed are all they that trust in him. The door of mercy does not stand on the jar, it is wide open. The gates of
heaven are not merely hanging on the latch, but they are wide open both night and day. Come, let us go together to that blessed house of mercy, and drive our wants away.

The grace of Christ is like our street drinking fountains, open to every thirsty wanderer There is the cup, the cup of faith. Come and hold it here while the water freely flows and drink. There is no one can come up and say it is not made for you; for you can say, “Oh, yes it is, I am a thirsty soul; it is meant for me.” “Nay,” says the devil, “you are too wicked.” No, but this is a free-drinking fountain. It does not say over the top of the fountain, “No thieves to drink here.” All that is wanted at the drinking fountain, is simply that you should be willing to drink, that you should be thirsty and desire.

From a sermon entitled "An Earnest Invitation," delivered July 3, 1859; Flickr photo by Christian Abend; some rights reserved.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

He is able to save to the uttermost



Standing at the foot of the cross, and beholding the Redeemer in his expiring agony, the Christian may indeed gather courage. When I think of my sin, it seems impossible that any atonement should ever be adequate; but when I think of Christ’s death it seems impossible, that any sin should ever be great enough to need such an atonement as that. There is in the death of Christ enough and more than enough. There is not only a sea in which to drown our sins, but the very tops of the mountains of our guilt are covered. Forty cubits upwards hath this red sea prevailed. There is not only enough to put our sins to death, but enough to bury them and hide them out of sight. I say it boldly and without a figure, — the eternal arm of God now nerved with strength, now released from the bondage in which justice held it, is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Christ.

From a sermon entitled "The Believer's Challenge," delivered June 5, 1859; Flickr photo by Garry Knight; some rights reserved.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Christ has satisfied the justice of God



...when Jesus Christ the Son of God suffered on the tree, he did not suffer for himself: He had no sin, either natural or actual. He had done nothing whatever that could bring him under the ban of heaven, or subject his holy soul and his perfect body to grief and pain. When he suffered it has as a substitute. He died — "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." Had his sorrows been personally deserved they would have had no efficacy in them. But inasmuch as for sins not his own he died to atone; inasmuch as he was punished, not for any guilt that he had done or could do, but for the guilt incurred by others, there was a merit and an efficacy in all that he suffered, by which the law was satisfied, and God is able to forgive.

From a sermon entitled "Justice Satisfied," delivered May 29, 1859 ; Flickr photo by Helger Magnusson; some rights reserved.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Our testimony



Every Christian is to be a testifier. Everything that God has made speaks of him. One speaks of his power, another of his majesty. The rolling sea, and the bespangled sky, both tell of his power and of his strength. Others tell of his wisdom; some of his goodness. But the saint has a peculiar testimony. He is to be a witness with heart and lips. All the other creatures speak not with words. They may sing as they shine, but they cannot sing vocally. It is the believer’s part in the great eternal chorus to lift up voice and heart at once, and as an intelligent, living, loving, learning witness, to testify to God. Now I think I can say, or rather, I will speak for the thousands of Israel gathered here this morning, — we can say our testimony to a believing world, and to poor despairing sinners, is just this, — “we know and have believed the love that God hath towards us.” This is our testimony, and we desire to tell it everywhere as long as we live; and, dying, we hope we shall be enabled to repeat it with our last laboring breath. We will say, when life is finished, and eternity begins, “We have known and have believed the love that God hath towards us.”

From a sermon entitled "A Psalm of Remembrance," delivered May 22, 1859; Flickr photo by Tobias Leeger; some rights reserved.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Let God fight for you!



Oh, my brethren and sisters in Christ, it is not your business to fight your own battles, not even in defense of your own character. If you be maligned and slandered, let the slanderer alone. His malignity will but be increased by any attempt that you shall make to defend yourself. As a soldier of Christ you are to fight for your Master, not for yourself. You are not to carry on a private warfare for your own honor, but all your time and all your power is to be given to his defense and his war. You are not to have a word to speak for yourselves.

Full often, when we get into little tempers, and our blood is roused, we are apt to think that we are fighting the cause of truth, when we are really maintaining our own pride. We imagine that we are defending our Master, but we are defending our own little selves. Too often the anger rises against an adversary not because his words reflect dishonor upon the glorious Christ, but because they dishonor us. Oh! let us not be so little as to fight our own battles! Depend upon it, the noblest means of conquest for a Christian in the matter of calumny and falsehood, is to stand still and see the salvation of God. Sheathe thine own sword, put away all thine own weapons, when thou comest to fight thine own battle, and let God fight for thee, and thou shalt be more than conqueror.

From a sermon entitled "War! War! War!," delivered May 1, 1859. Flickr photo by mike138; some rights reserved.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Christ the Way to God



When Adam was perfect in the garden of Eden, God walked with him in the cool of the day. God and man held the most intimate and affectionate intercourse with one another. Man was a happy creature, God was a condescending Creator, and the two met together and held sweet converse and communion. But from the moment when Adam touched the forbidden fruit, the way from God to man became blocked up, the bridge was broken down, a great gulf was fixed, so that if it had not been for the divine plan of grace, we could not have ascended to God, neither could God in justice come down to us. Happily, however, the everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure, had provided for this great catastrophe. Christ Jesus the Mediator had in old eternity been ordained to become the medium of access between man and God.

If you want a figure of him, remember the memorable dream of Jacob. He laid him down in a solitary place, and he dreamed a dream, which had in it something more substantial than anything he had seen with his eyes wide open. He saw a ladder, the foot whereof rested upon earth, and the top thereof reached to heaven itself. Upon this ladder he saw angels ascending and descending. Now this ladder was Christ. Christ in his humanity rested upon the earth, he is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. In his divinity he reaches to the highest heaven, for he is very God of very God. When our prayers ascend on high they must tread the staves of this ladder, and when God’s blessings descend to us, the rounds of this marvellous ladder must be the means of their descent. Never has a prayer ascended to God save through Jesus Christ. Never has a blessing come down to man save through the same Divine Mediator. There is now a highway, a way of holiness wherein the redeemed can walk to God, and God can come to us. The king’s highway, —

“The way the holy prophets went —
The road that leads from banishment.”

Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life.

From a sermon entitled "The Way to God," delivered May 27, 1859. Flickr photo by Muha...; some rights reserved.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Servants of Christ



The way to heaven is, through faith in Christ; but after we have believed in Christ the legitimate tendency of faith is active service. Although the Christian shall go to heaven through the blood of Christ, yet as a pilgrim he must walk there, and although he overcomes through the blood of the Lamb, yet as a warrior he must fight if he would reign. Active service is expected of every Christian. Christ does not put his children on a bed, and then carry them to heaven along a lazy road; but he gives them life and bids that life develop itself; he gives them strength, and commands them to use the strength in working out their own salvation. While he works in them, they are passive, but he then bids them be active and work out what he has beforehand wrought in.

He is no Christian who does not seek to serve his God. The very motto of the Christian should be “I serve.” Christ’s people are Christ’s servants and as the angels in heaven delight to fly at God’s behests, so do the children of God delight to run in the way of his commands. Hence, then, if the knees be weak and the hands be weak, it is little that we can do. We cannot run with the weak knee; we cannot labor with the weak hand. How can we, the servants of Christ, how can ye lift the heavy burdens which ye have to carry, if your hands be weak and your knees totter? How can ye pull down the walls of your enemies if your hands tremble? How can ye smite your
foemen with the sword of faith if your arm be weak? Look well, then, to this, for herein ye suffer exceeding loss; if in active service ye lose power and strength.

From a sermon entitled, "Weak Knees and Feeble Hands," delivered March 20, 1859; Flickr photo by Lida Rose; some rights reserved.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Loving Him unto the death



If tomorrow the stake could be set in Smithfield, Christian people are prepared to be fuel for the flame. If once more the block were fixed on Tower hill, and the axe were brought forth from its hiding place, the heads of Christ’s people would be cheerfully given, if they might but crown the head of Jesus and vindicate his cause.

Those who declare that the ancient valor of the church is departed, know not what they say. The professing church may have lost its masculine vigor; the professors of this day may be but effeminate dwarfs, the offspring of glorious fathers, but the true church, the elect out of the professing church, the remnant whom God hath chosen, are as much in love with Jesus as his saints of yore, and are as ready to suffer and to die. We challenge hell and its incarnate representative, old Rome herself; let her build her dungeons, let her revive her inquisitions, let her once more get power in the state to cut, and mangle, and burn; we are still able to possess our souls in patience.

We sometimes feel it were a good thing if persecuting days should come again, to try the church once more, and drive away her chaff, and make her like a goodly heap of wheat, all pure and clean. The rotten branches of the forest may tremble at the hurricane, for they shall be swept away, but those that have sap within them tremble not. Our roots are intertwisted with the Rock of Ages, and the sap of Christ flows within us and we are branches of the living vine, and nothing shall sever us from him. We know that not persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword, shall divide us from the love of Christ for in all these things we shall be as the church has been, more than conquerors through him that loved us.

From a sermon entitled "Christ Precious To Believers," delivered March 13, 1859 ; Flickr photo by "dro!d;" some rights reserved.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

He endured the shame



The cross! the cross! When you hear that word it wakens in your hearts no thoughts of shame. There are other forms of capital punishment in the present day far more disgraceful than the cross. Connected with the guillotine there is much with the block as much, with the gallows, most of all. But, remember, that although to speak of the gallows is to utter a word of ignominy, yet there is nothing of shame in the term “gallows,” compared with the shame of the cross, as it was understood in the days of Christ. We are told that crucifixion was a punishment to which none could be put but a slave, and, even then, the crime must have been of the most frightful character — such as the betrayal of a master, the plotting his death, or murdering him — only such offenses would have brought crucifixion, even, upon a slave. It was looked upon as the most terrible and frightful of all punishments. All the deaths in the world are preferable to this; they have all some slight alleviating circumstance, either their rapidity or their glory. But this is the death of a villain, of a murderer, of an assassin, — a death painfully protracted, one which cannot be equalled in all inventions of human cruelty, for suffering and ignominy. Christ himself endured this.

The cross, I say, is in this day no theme of shame. It has been the crest of many a monarch, the banner of many a conqueror. To some it is an object of adoration. The finest engravings, the most wonderful paintings, have been dedicated to this subject. And now, the cross engraven on many a gem has become a right, royal, and noble thing. And we are unable at this day, I believe, fully to understand the shame of the cross; but the Jew knew it, the Roman knew it, and Christ knew what a frightful thing, what a shameful thing its was to be put to the death of crucifixion.

From a sermon entitled "The Shameful Sufferer," delivered January 30, 1859. Flickr photo by "*Susie*;" some rights reserved.

Monday, December 3, 2007

The sufferings of Jesus



I am conscious that all I can say concerning the sufferings of Jesus, this morning, will be but as a drop of the bucket. None of us know the half of the agony which he endured; none of us have ever fully comprehended the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Philosophers have probed the earth to its very center, threaded the spheres, measured the skies, weighed the hills — nay, weighed the world itself; but this is one of those vast, boundless things, which to measure does surpass all but the Infinite itself. As the swallow but skims the water, and dives not into its depths, so all the descriptions of the preacher but skim the surface, while depths immeasurable must lie far beneath our observation. Well might a poet say,

“O love, thou fathomless abyss!”

for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless.

From a sermon entitled "The Shameful Sufferer," delivered January 30, 1859. Flickr photo by Zarko Drincic; some rights reserved.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Except a man be born again



Many men have a religion which is their own work, there is nothing supernatural about it; human nature began it, human nature has carried it on, and as far they have any hope they trust that human nature will complete it. Remember there is no spring on earth that has force enough in it to spout a fountain into paradise, and there is no strength in human nature that shall ever suffice to raise a soul to heaven. You may practice morality, and I beseech you do so; you may attend to ceremonies and you have a right to do so, and must do so; you may endeavor to do all righteousness, but since you are a sinner condemned in the sight of God, you can never be pardoned apart from the blood of Christ; and you can never be purified apart from the purifying operations of the Holy Ghost. That man’s religion which is born on earth, and born of the will of the flesh or of blood, is a vain religion.

Oh! Beloved, except a man be born again, or from above, as the original has it, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and cannot enter heaven; only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and is, therefore, capable of inheriting a spiritual inheritance, which God reserves for spiritual men.

From a sermon entitled "Faith In Perfection," delivered January 2, 1859. Flickr photo by "Just-Us-3," some rights reserved.