Daily reflection and inspiration from the "Prince of Preachers," Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The root of faith
Some of you may have the notion that you are advanced in knowledge, that you have much skill in interpreting the word of God, and that you understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It is highly possible that your notion is correct. Well! You go out into the world, and you meet with people who do not know quite so much as you do, and who have not yet learned all the doctrines of grace, as they are threaded together in the divine plan of salvation. May I persuade you not to get into controversy, not to be continually fighting and quarrelling with people who do not hold just your sentiments. If you discover the root of the matter in any man, say at once — “Why should I persecute you? Why should we fall to quarrelling with each other, seeing that the root of the matter is in us both?” Save your swords for Christ’s real enemies. The way to make men learn the truth is not to abuse them. We shall never make a brother see a doctrine by smiting him in the eye. Hold your lantern up and let him see.
From a sermon entitled "The Root Of the Matter," delivered April 12, 1863. Flickr photo by dro!d ; some rights reserved.
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
We're having a Spurgeon summer!
In younger days
I'm not sure what a Spurgeon summer is, but I know it would be inspiring as well as doctrinally sound.
It's been a while so I just wanted to check in and say hello to our readers. I'm happy to let you know that we now have over 1000 users on Facebook as well as close to 300 RSS subscribers! Thanks for all your support.
There are lots of ways to share what we're doing here:
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Our site is a busy place as other people use it to look for Spurgeon books and Christian books.
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Truthfully, we don't earn much from doing this. If it comes to $100 a year I'd be surprised, but every bit helps.
Thanks again for all your support and for passing TDS along to friends!
Nick
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The body shall rise again
We have heard of miracles, but what a miracle is the resurrection! All the miracles of Scripture, yea even those wrought by Christ, are small compared with this. The philosopher says, “How is it possible that God shall hunt out every particle of the human frame?” He can do it: he has but to speak the word, and every single atom, though it may have traveled thousands of leagues, though it may have been blown as dust across the desert, and anon have fallen upon the bosom of the sea, and then have descended into the depths thereof to be cast up on a desolate shore, sucked up by plants, fed on again by beasts, or passed into the fabric of another man, — I say that individual atom shall find its fellows, and the whole company of particles at the trump of the archangel shall travel to their appointed place, and the body, the very body which was laid in the ground, shall rise again.
From a sermon entitled "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth," delivered April 12, 1863. Flickr photo by docentjoyce; some rights reserved.
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Yesterday, Today and Forever
The apostles never traveled far from the simple facts of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and second advent. These things, of which they were the witnesses, constituted the staple of all their discourses. Newton has very properly said that the two pillars of our religion are, the work of Christ for us, and his work in us by the Holy Spirit. If you want to find the apostles, you will surely discover them standing between these two pillars; they are either discoursing upon the effect of the passion in our justification, or its equally delightful consequence in our death to the world and our newness of life.
What a rebuke this should be to those in modern times who are ever straining after novelties. There may be much of the Athenian spirit among congregations, but that should be no excuse for its being tolerated among ministers; we, of all men, should be the last to spend our time in seeking something new. Our business, my brethren, is the old labor of apostolic tongues, to declare that Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today and for ever.
From a sermon entitled "Death And Life In Christ," delivered April 5, 1863. Flickr photo by Stuart Seeger; some rights reserved.
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Monday, July 28, 2008
God the King
He that made heaven and earth has a right to rule his creatures as he wills. The potter hath power over the clay to fashion it according to his own good pleasure, and the creatures being made are bound to be obedient to their Lord. He has a right to issue commands, he has done so — they are holy, and just, and wise; men are bound to obey, but, alas, they continually revolt against his sovereignty, and will not obey him; nay, there be men who deny altogether that he is lying of kings, and others who take counsel together saying, “Let us break his bands in sunder, and cast away his cords from us.” He that sitteth in the heavens is moved to jealousy by these sins, and will defend the rights of his crown again.
From a sermon entitled "A Jealous God," delivered March 29, 1863. Flickr photo by Angelo Juan Ramos; some rights reserved.
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Saturday, July 26, 2008
God's grace is greater
Mention any sin you like, and I will assure you upon divine authority that men have committed such sins and have yet been saved. Talk of a deed that has blackened the man’s character for ever, that deed of foul adultery and murder; yet that did not stop God’s love from flowing to David; and even if you have gone that length, and I suppose there is no person here who has gone farther, even that cannot prevent divine love from lighting upon you. As God does not love because there is excellence, so he does not refuse to love because there is sin. Let me select the case of Manasseh; he shed innocent blood very much; he bowed before idols; what was worse, he made his children to pass through the fire to the son of Hinnom, put his own child to death as a sacrifice to the false god, and yet for all that God’s love laid hold upon him, and Manasseh became a bright star in heaven, though once as vile as the lost in hell.
If there be anything in you, then, that makes you think God cannot love you, I reply, Impossible, for surely your sins do not exceed those of the chief of sinners. Paul says he was the chief of sinners, and he meant it; he spoke by inspiration, and there is no doubt he was. Now if the biggest of sinners has passed through the strait gate, there must be room for the next biggest; if the greatest sinner in the world has been saved, then there is a possibility for you and for me, for we cannot be such great sinners as the very chief of sinners. But I will dare to say that even if we were, even if we could exceed Paul, yet even that could be no barrier; for man’s sin, to say the most of it, is but the act of a finite creature, but God’s grace is the act of infinite goodness. God forbid that I should depreciate your offenses, they are loathsome, they are hellish in themselves; still they are only a creature’s deeds, the deeds of a worm that to-day is and to-morrow is crushed; but the grace, the love, and the pity of God, oh! these are infinite, eternal, everlasting, boundless, matchless, quenchless, unconquerable, and therefore the grace of God can overcome and prove itself mightier than your guilt and sin.
From a sermon entitled "Grace Abounding," delivered March 22, 1863. Flickr photo by Keven Law; some rights reserved.
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Friday, July 25, 2008
All through the Lamb
Brethren, if we have done anything for Christ, if we have achieved any victories, if in this house any souls have been converted, any hearts sanctified, any drooping spirits comforted, bear witness that it has been all through the Lamb. When we have pictured Christ slaughtered, have described the agonies which he endured upon the cross, when we have tried to preach fully though feebly the great doctrine of his substitutionary sacrifice, have set him forth as the propitiation for sins, then it is that the victories have begun. And when we have preached Christ
ascending up on high, leading captivity captive, and when we have glorified in the fact that he ever liveth to make intercession for us, and that he shall come to judge the quick and dead, if any good has been accomplished it has been through the Lamb — the Lamb slain, or else the Lamb exalted.
From a sermon entitled "Ebenezer!," delivered March 15, 1863. Flickr photo by Tom Godber; some rights reserved.
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
Unselfish devotion
The spirit of this world is often selfish; it is always a spirit that forgets God, that ignores the existence of a Creator in his own world, the land which he makes fat by his own bounty. Men with God’s breath in their nostrils forget him who makes them live. Now, your spirit should be one of unselfish devotion, a spirit always conscious of his presence, bowed down with the weight, or raised up with the cheer of Hagar’s exclamation — “Thou God seest me;” a spirit which watches humbly before God, and seeks to know his will and to do it through the grace of God given to you. Such a spirit as this, without the drab of one sect, or the phylacteries of another, will soon make you quite as distinct from your fellow men as ever meats and drinks could make the Jews a separate people.
From a sermon entitled "The Clean and the Unclean." Flickr photo by K B; some rights reserved.
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Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Oil of gladness
To Christ the shouts of his people are better than the cheers of the most enthusiastic populace, and to him the lowly offerings of his saints are more acceptable than thousands of gold and silver. Forgive your enemy, and you make Christ glad; distribute of your substance to the poor, and he rejoices; be the means of saving souls, and you give him to see of the travail of his soul; preach his gospel, and you are a sweet savor unto him; go among the ignorant and among the hopeless, and try to lift them up, and you have given him satisfaction. I tell you, brother, it is in your power this very day to break the alabaster box and pour the precious ointment on his head, as did the woman of old, whose memorial is to this day set forth. You can anoint him above all his fellows with the oil of gladness.
From a sermon entitled "The Gladness of the Man of Sorrows," delivered March 8, 1863. Flickr photo by James Jordan; some rights reserved.
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Outside the camp
There have been times, and the days may come again, when faithfulness to Christ has entailed exclusion from what is called “society.” Even now to a large extent the true Christian is like a Pariah, lower than the lowest caste, in the judgment of some. The world has in former days counted it God’s service to kill the saints. We are to reckon upon all this, and should the worst befall us, it is to be no strange thing to us. These are silken days, and religion fights not so stern a battle. I will not say it is because we are unfaithful to our Master that the world is more kind to us, but I half suspect it is, and it is very possible that if we were more thoroughly Christians the world would more heartily detest us, and if we would cleave more closely to Christ we might expect to receive more slander, more abuse, less tolerance, and less favor from men. You young believers, who have lately followed Christ, should father and mother forsake you, remember you were bidden to reckon upon it; should brothers and sisters deride, you must put this down as part of the cost of being a Christian. Godly workingmen, should your employers or your fellowworkers frown upon you; wives, should your husbands threaten to cast you out, remember, without the camp was Jesus’ place, and without the camp is yours.
Oh! ye Christian men, who dream of trimming your sails to the wind, who seek to win the world’s favor, I do beseech you cease from a course so perilous. We are in the world, but we must never be of it; we are not to be secluded like monks in the cloister, but we are to be separated like Jews among Gentiles; men, but not of men; helping, aiding, befriending, teaching, comforting, instructing, but not sinning either to escape a frown or to win a smile. The more manifestly there shall be a great gulf between the Church and the world, the better shall it be for both; the better for the world, for it shall be thereby warned; the better for the Church, for it shall be thereby preserved. Go ye, then, like the Master, expecting to be abused, to wear an ill-name, and to earn reproach; go ye, like him, without the camp.
From a sermon entitled "The Procession Of Sorrow," delivered March 1, 1863. Flickr photo by James Jordan; some rights reserved.
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Monday, July 21, 2008
The Defender of the Poor
“For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor.”
God will not be absent when his people are on their trial; he will hold a brief for them and stand in court as their advocate, prepared to plead on their behalf. How different is this from the doom of the ungodly who has Satan at his right hand (Psa. 109:6).
“To save him from those that condemn his soul.”
The court only met as a matter of form, the malicious had made up their minds to the verdict, they judged him guilty, for their hate condemned him, yea, they pronounced sentence of damnation upon the very soul of their victim: but what mattered it? The great King was in court, and their sentence was turned against themselves. Nothing can more sweetly sustain the heart of a slandered believer than the firm conviction that God is near to all who are wronged, and is sure to work out their salvation.
O Lord, save us from the severe trial of slander: deal in thy righteousness with all those who spitefully assail the characters of holy men, and cause all who are smarting under calumny and reproach to come forth unsullied from the affliction, even as did thine only-begotten Son. Amen.
From The Treasury of David, exposition of Psalm 109:31. Flickr photo by James Jordan; some rights reserved.
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Saturday, July 19, 2008
Establish the work of our hands...
“And establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”
Let what we do be done in truth, and last when we are In the grave; may the work of the present generation minister permanently to the building up of the nation. Good men are anxious not to work in vain. They know that without the Lord they can do nothing, and therefore they cry to him for help in the work, for acceptance of their efforts, and for the establishment of their designs. The church as a whole earnestly desires that the hand of the Lord may so work with the hand of his people, that a substantial, yea, an eternal edifice to the praise and glory of God may be the result. We come and go, but the Lord's work abides. We are content to die, so long as Jesus lives and his kingdom grows. Since the Lord abides for ever the same, we trust our work in his hands, and feel that since it is far more his work than ours he will secure it immortality. When we have withered like grass, our holy service, like gold, silver, and precious stones, will survive the fire.
From The Treasury of David, exposition of Psalm 90:17. Flickr photo by rachel_thecat; some rights reserved.
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Friday, July 18, 2008
Sowing for our posterity
“Let thy work appear unto thy servants.”
See how he dwells upon that word servants. It is as far as the law can go, and Moses goes to the full length permitted him, henceforth Jesus calls us not servants but friends, and if we are wise we shall make full use of our wider liberty. Moses asks for displays of divine power and providence conspicuously wrought, that all the people might be cheered thereby. They could find no solace in their own faulty works, but in the work of God they would find comfort.
“And thy glory unto their children.”
While their sons were growing up around them, they desired to see some outshinings of the promised glory gleaming upon them. Their sons were to inherit the land which had been given them by covenant, and therefore they sought on their behalf some tokens of the coming good, some morning dawnings of the approaching noonday. How eagerly do good men plead for their children. They can bear very much personal affliction if they may but be sure that their children will know the glory of God, and thereby be led to serve him. We are content with the work if our children may but see the glory which will result from it: we sow joyfully if they may reap.
From The Treasury of David, exposition of Psalm 90:16. Flickr photo by Paata Vardanashvili; some rights reserved.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
He shall throw down every foe
The dragon’s head shall be so completely broken, that he can do nothing but bite his iron bonds and growl out his confession that God is stronger than he. The hosts of hell shall have been so utterly routed, that the deep groans of dismay and shrieks of terror shall be the confession that Omnipotence rules their terrible doom. As for Death, when he shall see his captives all loosed before his eyes; as for the grave, when the key shall be rent from her grip, and all her treasures plucked from her grasp — death and the grave shall both acknowledge that their victory is gone for ever; Christ has been the conqueror, the Son of God who in our nature has already taken away the sting.
There may be to-day some who write their names down as Atheists; there may be others who openly avow that they are the adversaries of God; and throughout the universe there are never wanting those who are hopeful that the issue will turn out as they wish — they are hopeful that wrong will master right; that evil shall drive out good, and darkness extinguish light. But there shall not be one such being left on that great day of victory; it shall be acknowledged even by the lip of despair that the Lord God, “with his own right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.” Blazoned across the sky in lightnings such as the eye of terror has never beheld before; thundered out with trumpet louder than even that which startled the sleeping dead, every tongue in earth and hell shall confess, because every ear hath heard, that the Lord reigneth, and is king for ever and ever.
From a sermon entitled "The New Song," delivered December 28, 1862. Flickr photo by Tom Woodward; some rights reserved.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Marvel of His Plan
That Deity should willingly submit to be spit upon to redeem those whose mouths vented the spittle! In what book do you read such a wonder as this? We have pictures drawn from imagination; we have been enchanted along romantic pages, and we have marvelled at the creative flights of human genius; but where did you ever read such a thought as this? “God was made flesh and dwelt among us” — he was despised, scourged, mocked, treated as though he were the offscouring of all things, brutally treated, worse than a dog, and all out of pure love to his enemies. Why, the thought is such a great one, so God-like, the compassion in it is so divine, that it must be true. None but God could have thought of such a thing as this stoop from the highest throne in glory to the cross of deepest shame and woe.
And do you think that if the doctrine of the cross were not true, such effects would follow from it? Would those South Sea Islands, once red with the blood of cannibalism, be now the abode of sacred song and peace? Would this island, once itself the place of naked savages, be what it is, through the influence of the benign gospel of God, if that gospel were a lie?
From a sermon entitled "The Greatest Trial On Record," delivered February 22, 1863. Flickr photo by Kappa Wayfarer; some rights reserved.
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Covetousness
Brethren, I do solemnly believe, that of all hypocrites, those are the persons of whom there is the least hope whose God is their money. You may reclaim a drunkard; thank God, we have seen many instances of that; and even a fallen Christian, who has given way to vice, may loathe his lust, and return from it; but I fear me that the cases in which a man who is cankered with covetousness has ever been saved, are so few, that they might be written on your fingernail. This is a sin which the world does not rebuke; the most faithful minister can scarce smite its forehead. God knoweth what thunders I have launched out against men who are all for this world, and yet pretend to be Christ’s followers; but yet they always say, “It is not for me.” What I should call stark naked covetousness, they call prudence, discretion, economy, and so on; and actions which I would scorn to spit upon, they will do, and think their hands quite clean after they have done them, and still sit as God’s people sit, and hear as God’s people hear, and think that after they have sold Christ for paltry gain, they will go to heaven.
O souls, souls, souls, beware, beware, beware, most of all of greed! It is not money, nor the lack of money, but the love of money which is the root of all evil. It is not getting it; it is not even keeping it; it is loving it; it is making it your god; it is looking at that as the main chance, and not considering the cause of Christ, nor the truth of Christ, nor the holy life of Christ, but being ready to sacrifice everything for gains’ sake. Oh! such men make giants in sin; they shall be set up for ever as butts for infernal laughter; their damnation shall be sure and just.
From a sermon entitled "The Betrayal," delivered February 15, 1863. Flickr photo by Wolfgang Staudt; some rights reserved.
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Monday, July 14, 2008
The Weapon of Prayer
Dear friends, when we are tempted and desire to overcome, the best weapon is prayer. When you cannot use the sword and the shield, take to yourself the famous weapon of All-prayer. So your Savior did. Let us notice his prayer. It was lonely prayer. He withdrew even from his three best friends about a stone’s cast. Believer, especially in temptation, be much in solitary prayer. As private prayer is the key to open heaven, so is it the key to shut the gates of hell. As it is a shield to prevent, so is it the sword with which to fight against temptation. Family prayer, social prayer, prayer in the Church, will not suffice, these are very precious, but the best beaten spice will smoke in your censer in your private devotions, where no ear hears but God. Betake yourselves to solitude if you would overcome.
From a sermon entitled "Gethsemane," delivered February 8, 1863. Flickr photo by mike138 ; some rights reserved.
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Saturday, July 12, 2008
We must be converted to Christ
Remember, first of all, that Jesus Christ has revealed to you your need. He has told you in express words that you need regeneration. “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Enlarging upon the doctrine, he adds — “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” He has laid the new birth before you as an imperative necessity. You admit that this is true; your admission that this Book came from God is clearly an assent to this teaching. Why, then, is it that you who have never passed from death unto life, remain contented without that divine change, and are satisfied with moral reformation or outward respectability, while the Book assures you that these will never avail? The Great Master assures you that you must be converted. Hear his express words — “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
From a sermon entitled "Nominal Christians - Real Infidels," delivered February 1, 1863. Flickr photo by Jason Hunter; some rights reserved.
Friday, July 11, 2008
The Lord is my portion
The character of God is the refuge of the Christian, in opposition to other refuges which godless men have chosen. Solomon suggestively puts the following words in the next verse — “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.” The rich man feels that his wealth may afford him comfort. Should he be attacked in law, his wealth can procure him an advocate; should he be insulted in the streets, the dignity of a full purse will avenge him; should he be sick, he can see the best physicians; should he need ministers to his pleasures, or helpers of his infirmities, they will be at his call; should famine stalk through the land, it will avoid his door; should war itself break forth he can purchase an escape from the sword, for his wealth is his strong tower.
In contradistinction to this, the righteous man finds in his God all that the wealthy man finds in his substance, and a vast deal more. “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I trust in him.” God is our treasure; he is to us better than the fullest purse, or the most magnificent income; broad acres yield not such peace as a well attested interest in the love and faithfulness of our heavenly Father. Provinces under our sway could not bring to us greater revenues than we possess in him who makes us heirs of all things by Christ Jesus.
From a sermon entitled "Our Stronghold," delivered October 26, 1862. Flickr photo by Louise Docker; some rights reserved.
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Thursday, July 10, 2008
Without me ye can do nothing
It is a doctrine acknowledged by all orthodox Christians and confessed in some form or other by all believers, that without the Spirit of God we are unable to do anything aright, but, nevertheless, I question if any of us have given our full consent to the doctrine of human inability in its fullest bearings. “Without me ye can do nothing,” is a text upon which our life is the sermon; but until its very close it is probable we shall not fully fathom the depth of our own weakness. Brethren, when a ship is in sailing order and in good condition yet she cannot speed on her journey of herself; even though the sails be spread, there is no hope of her making port unless the wind shall blow; if that be so, how much more is it true that if that ship leak, if the worm hath begun to eat her timbers, or if by grazing upon a rock she has done serious damage to her bottom, it is impossible that she should repair her own damage! If her sails be tattered how shall she mend them? If her masts be strained, if any injury whatever be done to her tackling, how shall she be able to recover of herself?
Brethren, you can see the analogy. If the child of God, even when in a healthy state, needs to cry for the divine Spirit, how much more when he has fallen under spiritual decays, or has grievously backslidden does he need the divine hand of the Mighty Carpenter to set him right!
From a sermon entitled "Gracious Renewal," delivered January 25, 1863. Flickr photo by Nevena ; some rights reserved.
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
A house of prayer and praise
Beloved, the day shall never come when the Church shall cease to be the temple of prayer. The fire upon this altar shall never be quenched day nor night.
"To Him shall constant prayer be made,
And princes throng to crown his head;
His name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning’s sacrifice."
There shall never lack a man in our Israel to hold up holy hands, like Moses upon the mountain, that the hosts of God may prevail in the plain below. Elijahs may be taken away, but Elishas shall follow. Apostles may cease their perpetual supplications, but a train of intercessors shall follow in their footsteps. While earth brings forth her harvests, the Church shall yield her sheaves of prayer.
Nor shall praise ever cease; the hallowed hymn, the psalm of victory, the hallelujah of triumphant joy, these shall never be suspended. In the worst days of the Church, even when she assembled in the catacombs and gathered her sons for worship in the caves of the earth, even then she had her hymn of praise, even then they sang of Christ ascended and about to come. The roaring of the sea may cease, the thunders may be hushed, and the spheres may end their song, but the redeemed of the Lord must praise the name of Jehovah world without end.
From a sermon entitled "Broad Rivers And Streams," delivered January 18, 1863. Flickr photo by b k ; some rights reserved.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
This world is not our home
Lay not fast hold upon the things of earth. He who is but a lodger in an inn must not live as though he were at home. Keep thy tent ready for striking. Be thou ever prepared to draw up thine anchor, and to sail across the sea and find the better port, for while Jesus beckons, here we have no continuing city. No true wife hath rest save in the house of her husband. Where her consort is, there is her home — a home which draws her soul towards it every day. Jesus, I say, invites us to the skies. He cannot be completely content until he brings his body, the Church, into the glory of its Head, and conducts his elect spouse to the marriage feast of her Lord.
Besides the desires of the Father and the Son; all those who have gone before, seem to be leaning over the battlements of heaven to-night, and calling, “Courage, brothers! Courage, brothers! Eternal glory awaits you. Fight your way, stem the current, breast the wave, and come up hither. We without you cannot be made perfect: there is no perfect Church in heaven till all the chosen saints be there; therefore come up hither.” They stretch out their hands of fellowship; they look with glistening eyes of strong affection upon us, and still again they say, “Come up hither.” Warriors who wear your laurels, ye call us to the brow of the hill where the like triumphs await us. The angels do the same tonight. How they must wonder to see us so careless, so worldly, so hardened! They also beckon us away, and cry from their starry seats, “Beloved, ye over whom we rejoiced when you were brought as prodigals to your Father’s house, ‘Come up hither,’ for we long to see you; your story of grace will be a strange and wondrous one — one which angels love to hear.
From a sermon entitled "The Voice from Heaven," delivered November 23, 1862. Flickr photo by Michael ; some rights reserved.
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Thursday, July 3, 2008
Summer break
Hello friends! Thanks for your continued support of The Daily Spurgeon. We're now pushing 300 subscribers as well as some 900 users on Facebook. God has increased us greatly in just one short year.
We'll be taking a few days off for the holiday break in the U.S. See you again next week!
We'll be taking a few days off for the holiday break in the U.S. See you again next week!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Christ, our Companion in suffering
If we had to walk through the darkness alone we should know the very extremity of misery, but having a companion we have comfort; having such a companion, we have joy. It is all black about me, and the path is miry, and I sink in it and can find no standing; but I plunge onwards, desperately set on reaching my journey’s end. It frets me that I am alone, but I hear a voice; (I can see nothing) but I hear a voice which says, “Yea, though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.” I cry out, “Who goes there?” and an answer comes back to me — “I, the faithful and true witness, the Alpha and the Omega, the sufferer who was despised and rejected of men, I lead the way;” and at once I feel that it is light about me, and there is a rock beneath my feet, for if Christ my Lord hath been here, then the way must be safe, and must conduct to the desired end. The very fact that he has suffered, then, consoles his people.
From a sermon entitled "A Tempted Savior - Our Best Succor," delivered January 4, 1863. Flickr photo by Jay Miller; some rights reserved.
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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
God will not cast off His people
“For the Lord will not cast off his people.”
He may cast them down, but he never can cast them off. During fierce persecutions the saints have been apt to think that the Lord had left his own sheep, and given them over to the wolf; but it has never been so, nor shall it ever be, for the Lord will not withdraw his love, “neither will he forsake his inheritance.” For a time he may leave his own with the design of benefiting them thereby, yet never can he utterly desert them.
“He may chasten and correct,
But he never can neglect;
May in faithfulness reprove,
But he ne'er can cease to love.”
From the "Treasury of David," exposition of Psalm 94:14. Flickr photo by Pascal Blachier; some rights reserved.
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