This Was True Love

Herein is love indeed, that the infinitely pure should suffer for the sinful, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Love did never climb to so sublime a height as when it brought Jesus to the bloody tree to bear the dread sentence of inexorable law. Think of this love, beloved, till you feel its constraining influence. It was love eternal, for long before the earth was fashioned the eternal Word had set his eye upon his people, and their names were graven on his heart. It was love unselfish, for he had nothing to gain from his redeemed; there were harps enough in heaven and songs enough in the celestial city without their music. It was love most free and spontaneous, for no man sought it or so much as dreamed thereof. It was love most persevering, for when man was born into the world and sinned, and rejected Christ, and he came to his own and his own received him not, he loved them still, loved them even to the end.

It was love - what shall I say of it? If I were to multiply words I might rather sink your thoughts than raise them: it was love infinite, immeasurable, inconceivable! It passeth the love of women, though the love of mothers is strong as death, and jealousy is cruel as the grave. It passes the love of martyrs, though that love has triumphed over the fury of the flame. All other lights of love pale their ineffectual brightness before this blazing sun of love, whose warmth a man may feel but upon whose utmost light no eye can gaze. He loved us like a God. It was nothing less than God’s own love which burned within that breast, which was bared to the spear that it might redeem us from going down into the pit.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Under Constraint," delivered. April 28, 1878  Image by Mike McCune on Flickr under Creative Commons License, unaltered.

His Name Shall Be Exalted

At the present time you will say the name of Christ is not honored; but wait awhile, and he shall be very high. His name is even now more honored than in former days, when it was the jest of the nations. The prudent plans which the Lord has adopted are surely working out the growth of his kingdom, and will certainly result in bringing to the front his name, and person, and teaching. Perhaps you think that certain doctrines are hindrances to the success of the gospel: you know not what you say. In the end it shall be seen that every part of his teachings, and procedure, and every act of his life, and all his government in providence were so wisely ordered, that as a whole they secured in the best and speediest manner the exalting and extolling of his holy name.

The star of Jesus rises higher every hour; the twilight of Calvary brightens towards millennial day. He was despised and rejected of men, but now tens of thousands adore him; and, according to the omnipotent promise of the Father, to him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. The Spirit of God is at work glorifying Jesus, and providence is bending all its forces to the same end. In heaven Jesus is exalted and extolled; in his church he is very high; and even in the world itself his name is a word of power already, and destined to be supreme in ages to come.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Sure Triumph Of The Crucified One," delivered April 25, 1875. Image by Alosh Bennett on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Remember what He was

His royal face was marred with “wounds which could not cease to bleed, trickling faint and slow,” yet that "noblest brow and dearest” had once been fairer than the children of men, and was even then the countenance of Immanuel, God with us. Remember these things, and you will gaze upon him with enlightened eyes and tender hearts, and you will be able the more fully to enter into fellowship with him in his griefs. Remember whence he came, and it will the more astound you that he should have stooped so low. Remember what he was, and it will be the more marvellous that he should become our substitute.


From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Crown of Thorns," delivered April 13, 1874. Image by Will Hale on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Hope for troubled spirits

Let it never be forgotten that the subject of the sorrows of the Savior has proved to be more efficacious for comfort to mourners than any other theme in the compass of revelation, or out of it. Even the glories of Christ afford no such consolation to afflicted spirits as the sufferings of Christ. Christ is in all attitudes the consolation of Israel, but he is most so as a man of sorrows.

Troubled spirits turn not so much to Bethlehem as to Calvary, they prefer Gethsemane to Nazareth. The afflicted do not so much look for comfort to Christ as he will come a second time in splendor of state, as to Christ as he came the first time, a weary man and full of woes. The passion-flower yields us the best perfume, the tree of the cross bleeds the most healing balm. Like in this case cures like, for there is no remedy for sorrow beneath the sun like the sorrows of Immanuel. As Aaron’s rod swallowed up all the other rods, so the griefs of Jesus make our griefs disappear.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Man Of Sorrows," delivered March 2, 1873. Image by -Chiotas- on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Remember Christ Crucified

Whatever we do not know, my brethren, let us know the cross; whatever subject may have a second place in our estimation, always let the ransomprice paid on Calvary be first and foremost. I would have you study much the four records of the evangelists. Dwell upon them.

Christians ought to be familiar with every little incident of their Savior’s death: there is teaching in every nail; the sponge, the vinegar, and the hyssop all have a meaning in them, and the spear that pierced his side is full of instruction. We ought to study them - study them again, and again, and again. Here is the very essence of our confidence; this is the pillar upon which our souls lean. If there be any hope for sinners; if there be any consolation for sufferers; if there be any cleansing for the guilty; if there be any life for the dead, it is here.... O, dwell at the cross, then. Whatever your minds may forget to consider, let them never lose the savor of this, or leave the meditation of Christ crucified.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Holy Celebration." Image by nosha on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

And now we are one with Him

Who shall doubt that ye are blessed of the Lord that made heaven and earth, since for you the Son of God laid aside his royalties to become the Son of Man? Union with you in your nature was clear evidence that the heart of Christ was with you. Gethsemane and Calvary speak volumes concerning the reality of the blessings which God has given to his chosen, for there they were loved to the death and redeemed by blood. An incarnate God, a Mediator covered with bloody sweat, a Redeemer wounded and slain, — What say you to this? “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift,” said the apostle; and even so say we.

Nor was the gift of Jesus Christ’s dying, all; for Jesus’ living is still ours; his resurrection teems with the blessings of life and immortality. We are one with him, and he is for ever our Head; and in him, by virtue of his ascension, we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, and will dwell in us for ever.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Lord Blessing His Saints," delivered September 26, 1872. Image by Zach Dischner on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Draw Courage from His Love

A Christian is never strong for service when he does not know whether Christ loves him or not. If that be a question, you have put out the fire by which alone the force can be generated which must work the machinery of your spirit. You must know beyond question that Jesus loved you and gave himself for you, you must feel that he is loving you now, that his heart is looking out through those dear eyes which once wept over Jerusalem, and that the meaning of his loving glance is, “Soul, I love thee, I loved thee so that I gave myself for thee, and I have not repented of the gift. I love thee still as much as I loved thee upon Calvary’s bloody tree.” It is strength to feel that still “his desire is toward me.” Oh, when you feel, “Jesus loves me, Jesus desires me to show my love to him, Jesus at this moment thinks of me and takes a delight in me,” this will make you strong as a giant in the cause of your beloved.

Between the very jaws of death a man would venture who felt that the love of Christ was set upon him. Love to Jesus is the fountain of courage, the mother of self-denial, and the nurse of constancy. Strive then for a well assured sense of the Savior’s love. Be not content till you possess it, for it will be health to your spirit and marrow to your bones: it will be a girdle of strength to your loins and a chain of honor about your neck.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Call For Revival," delivered August 18, 1872. Image by OakleyOriginals under Creative Commons License.