The God Who Acknowledged You

Oh, wondrous grace of God, that he owns* his son when that son is still an Egyptian slave. Moreover, God owned his people when they did not own him, for his name “Jehovah” was scarcely known to them. Although Moses presented himself to them with evident credentials, they were ready enough to reject him. They had gone aside unto false gods, we are informed in other parts of the Scripture. During their sojourn in Egypt the Israelites fell into the prevailing superstition of the country, and they forsook the Lord. Some little light still lingered among them. Some traditions were treasured and transmitted from sire to son in solemn trust. Doubtless there was a remnant of pious souls, faithful to the God of Abraham. The bones of Joseph, preserved in Goshen as a memorial of the oath that he took of their tribes, subsequently carried through all their devious wanderings in the wilderness, and ultimately buried in Shechem, as you read in the last chapter of the book of Joshua, vouch for a fidelity we cannot wantonly forget.

But the bulk of the people had fallen into the snares which surrounded them, and conformed to the fashions of those among whom their fortunes were cast, whose gods many and lords many were superstitiously served in secret. They were not a people who could have scraped together so much as a molehill of merit, if they had tried. They were a vain and vicious people, prone to supplant, yet utterly supplanted; specially sinful, because their marked proclivities which might have developed on the side of virtue were perverted into stains and stigmas on their reputation.

Yet Jehovah says, “Israel is my son, even my firstborn.”

* "Owns" in the old sense of acknowledging someone or admitting to something - Ed.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Great Emancipator." Image by Kamil Porembiński on Flickr under Creative Commons License, without alteration.

There has always been a remnant

There has always been a remnant according to the election of grace. When the church moaned and said, “God hath forsaken me, my God hath forgotten me. The fathers, where are they?”

God has not forsaken her, he has kept for himself his thousands who have not bowed the knee to Baal, and there has arisen a leader just in the nick of time to seize the banner and to rally the wavering host: for as God lives, and the Spirit still abides in the church, and Jesus is with us alway, even to the world’s end, the succession of grace shall never cease. Glory be to the name of the Most High.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Unbroken Line Of True Nobles," delivered October 17, 1875. Image by nosha on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Faith that saves will change your heart

I am afraid that some imagine that they have only to believe something or other, and they will go to heaven when they die, and that they have only to feel a certain singular emotion, and it is all right within them. Now, if any of you have fallen into that error, may God in his mercy lead you out of it, for it is not every faith that saves, but only the faith of God’s elect. It is not any sort of emotion that changes the heart, but the work of the Holy Ghost. It is a small matter to go into an inquiry-room and say, “I believe”; such an avowal as that proves nothing at all, it may even be false. It will be proved by this, — if you have rightly believed in Jesus Christ you will become from that time forward a different man from what you were. There will be a change in your heart and soul, in your conduct and your conversation; and, seeing you thus changed, those who have been honest objectors will right speedily leave off their objections, for they will be in the condition of those who saw the man that was healed standing with Peter and John; and therefore they could say nothing against them.

The world demands facts, and these we must supply. It is of no use to cry up our medicine by words, we must point to cures. Your change of life will be the grandest argument for the gospel, if that life shall show the meaning of my text, "They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Vindication Of The Doctrine Of Justification By Faith." Image by Steve-h on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Harvest Men Wanted!

Ministers who do not aim to cut deep are not worth their salt. God never sent the man who never troubles men’s consciences. Such a man may be an ass treading down the corn, but a reaper he certainly is not. We want faithful ministers; pray God to send them. Ask him to give us men who will preach the whole truth, who will not be afraid of certain humbling doctrines, but will bring out, for instance, the doctrine of election, and not be ashamed of it, who will tell men that salvation is of the Lord, and will not go about to please them by letting them have a finger in salvation, as though they were to share in the glory of it. Oh for laborers who can use sharp cutting sickles upon ungodly hearts!

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Harvest Men Wanted," delivered August 17, 1873. Image by George Lu on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

The Thought of Eternal Love

How ravishing is the thought of eternal love! Try to drink it in: if you are a believer in Christ you were loved before time began its cycles; in that old eternity, or o’er the earth was born, you were beloved of the Lord. You were dear to Jehovah’s heart when this great world, the sun, the moon, the stars, slept in the mind of God like unborn forests in an acorn-cup. He loved you with an everlasting and infinite love. Rejoice in this and let your souls be glad. Never forget that election is the source of every favor, for the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.


From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Song Concerning Lovingkindnesses," delivered August 10, 1873. Image by George Lu on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

The one who trusts Christ is secure

God must be false to all his promises, belie his oath, degrade his Son, before he can suffer a soul that seeth the Son and believeth on him to perish. Ye are all safe enough if you are resting there. Do not let a doubt disturb you. Go your way full of peace and consolation, and the Lord be with you! But, oh, if you have never believed in Jesus, may your spirits never know any rest till you do! May you never be content till you flee to him, and rest on him! The Lord grant it, for his dear name’s sake. Amen.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Father's Will. Image by Steve-h on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Every blessing through that channel

We are not justified before God by works in any measure or in any degree, but by faith alone; and the apostle tells us “it is of faith, that it might be by grace.” We see a golden thread of grace running through the whole of the Christian’s history, from his election before all worlds, even to his admission to the heaven of rest. Grace, all along, “reigns through righteousness unto eternal life,” and “where sin aboundeth, grace doth much more abound.”

There is no point in the history of a saved soul upon which you can put your finger and say, “In this instance he is saved by his own deservings.” Every single blessing which we receive from God, comes to us by the channel of free favor, revealed to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Boasting is excluded, because deservings are excluded. Merit is an unknown word in the Christian church; it is banished once for all; and our only shoutings over foundation or topstone are, “Grace, grace unto it!”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Salvation All Of Grace," delivered August 4, 1872. Image by Victor Bezrukov under Creative Commons License.

Safe in His hand!

The very air is full of tempters who would if they could pluck us away from Christ. We have, therefore, cause for great watchfulness, deep humility, but also for much thankfulness that we are placed where the tempters cannot reach us, for the promise assures us that none is able to pluck us out of Christ’s hand. There is not power enough in legions of fallen spirits, if they were marshalled in battle array against one poor weak Christian, to snatch him away from Christ yea, should they besiege him without intermission, like a vast herd of lions seeking to devour one lamb, the defense were so much stronger than the invasion that they could not pluck even that one out of Christ’s hand. The destroyer has never yet celebrated a triumph over the Redeemer.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Perseverance Without Presumption," delivered March 7, 1872. Image by OliBac under Creative Commons License.

Grace from first to last

Many nowadays appear to leap into peace without any convictions of sin — they do not seem to have known what the guilt of sin means; but they scramble into peace before the burden of sin has been felt. It is not for me to judge, but I must confess I have my fears of those who have never felt the terrors of the Lord, and I look upon conviction of sin as a good groundwork for a well-instructed Christian. I observe as a rule that when a man has been put in the prison of the law, and made to wear the heavy chains of conviction, and at last obtains his liberty through the precious blood, he is pretty sure to cry up the grace of God, and magnify divine mercy. He feels that in his case salvation must be of grace from first to last, and he naturally favors that system of theology which magnifies most the grace of God. Those who have not felt this, whose conversion has been of the more easy kind, produced rather by excitement than by depth of thought, seem to me to choose a flimsy divinity, in which man is more prominent, and God is less regarded.

I am sure of this one thing, that I personally desire to ascribe conversion in my own case entirely to the grace of God, and to give God the glory of it; and I dread that conversion which could in any degree deprive God of being in his everlasting decrees the cause of it, by his effectual Spirit the direct agent of it, by his continued working through the Holy Ghost the perfecter of it. Give God the praise, my brethren. You must do so, if you have thoroughly experienced what God’s anger means, and what the turning away of it means.

From a sermon entitled "A New Song For New Hearts," delivered May 1, 1870. Image by Jean-Raphaël Guillaumin under Creative Commons License.

He will sustain

This is what we are looking forward to, that God who taught us to repent, will sanctify us wholly; that he who made the briny tear to flow, will wipe every tear from that selfsame eye; that he who made us gird ourselves with the sackcloth and the ashes of penitence, will yet gird us with the fair white linen which is the righteousness of the saints; he who brought us to the cross will bring us to the crown; he who made us look upon him whom we pierced and mourn because of him, will cause us to see the King in his beauty, and the land that is very far off. The same dear hand that smote and afterwards healed, will in the latter days caress us; he who looked upon us when we were dead in sin, and called us into spiritual life, will continue to regard us with favor till our life shall be consummated in the land where there is no more death, neither sorrow nor sighing.

From a sermon entitled "The Perseverance of The Saints," delivered May 23, 1869. Image by Forest Wander under Creative Commons License.

Called and separated

For Christ’s sake the Christian man is henceforth obliged to be separated in many respects from such of his family and kindred as remain in their sins. They are living according to the flesh, they are seeking this world; their pleasure is here, their comfort below the skies. The man who is called by grace lives in the same house, but lives not under the influence of the same motives, nor is he ruled by the same desires. He is so different from others that very soon they find him out; and, as Ishmael mocked Isaac, so the sons of the world mock at the children of the resurrection. The call of grace, the more it is heard the more it completes the separation.

At first, with some believers, they only go part of the way in nonconformity to the world; they are only partly conformed to Jesus Christ’s image, and partly led out of worldly influences. Indeed, this is the case with most of us; but as we ripen in the things of God, our decision for God becomes more complete, our obedience to the law of Christ becomes more perfect, and there is a greater division set between us and the world. Oh! I wish that all Christians would believe this great truth, and carry it out, that “ye are not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world.” To try to be a worldly Christian or a Christian worldling, is to attempt an impossible thing.

From a sermon entitled "Effectual Calling Illustrated By The Call Of Abram," delivered November 29, 1868. Image by James Jordan under Creative Commons License.

"Who will go for us?"

God’s great remedy for man’s ruin of man is the sacrifice of his dear Son. He proclaims to the sons of men that only by the atonement of Jesus can they be reconciled unto himself. In order that this remedy should be of any avail to any man he must receive it by faith, for without faith men perish even under the Gospel dispensation. There is at the present moment great lack of men to tell out the story of the cross of Jesus Christ, and many considerations press that lack upon our hearts. Think how many voices all mingle into this one - ”Who will go for us?” Listen to the wounds of Jesus, as they plaintively cry, “How shall we be rewarded? How shall the precious drops of blood be made available to redeem the souls of men, unless loving lips shall go for us to claim by right those who have been redeemed by
blood?”

The blood of Jesus cries like Abel’s blood from the ground, “Whom shall I send?” and his wounds repeat the question, “who will go for us?” Does not the purpose of the Eternal Father also join with solemn voice in this demand? The Lord has decreed a multitude unto eternal life. He has purposed, with a purpose which cannot be changed or frustrated, that a multitude whom no man can number shall be the reward of the Savior’s travail; but how can these decrees be fulfilled except by the sending forth of the Gospel, for it is through the Gospel, and through the Gospel alone, that salvation can come to the sons of men. Methinks I hear the awful voice of the purpose mingling with the piercing cry of the cross, appealing to us to declare the word of life. I see the handwriting of old Eternity bound in one volume with the crimson writing of Calvary, and both together write out most legibly the pressing question, who shall go for us to bring home the elect and redeemed ones?

From a sermon entitled "Messengers Wanted," delivered April 22, 1866. Image by Prabhu under Creative Commons License.

His gentleness has made us great

To be descended from that thievish crew who came over to England at the Norman Conquest is thought to be a high honor; but how much more is it to be descended from the King of kings! The blood imperial of heaven is in the veins of every regenerated man and woman. No matter though your garb be fustian, and your home be the abode of poverty, you are a prince of the blood royal the moment that you are born again and made a child of God, and adopted into the family of the Most High.

These are the princes of the living God; these are they who shall be crowned with immortal honor in the day of the Lord’s appearing. Though here they may live unknown and despised, yet angelic eyes detect them, and the whole world shall see them. “When he shall appear they shall appear with him in glory.”

Men court much the greatness, which comes by election. There are presidents of republics who become great by the national vote: it is no mean greatness to be dignified with imperial rank, not by the accident of birth, but by the well-earned respect of honest men. This is something that men may covet. Well, we have this very greatness put upon us by the election of God. Every one who believes in Christ Jesus was chosen in him from before the foundation of the world. What are the votes of men, what the applause of the many after all? The choice of God is most to be desired; because he hath set his love upon me my soul shall sing and rejoice. Election makes all the objects of it great. Now, as you think of your birth and your election in Christ Jesus, you can say, “thy gentleness hath made me great.”

From a sermon entitled "Divine Gentleness Acknowledged," delivered April 1, 1866. Image by bk86a under Creative Commons License.

Despised - but chosen by God!

The rejected of men are often the beloved of the Lord. It is more painful to notice that David’s father should have had no idea of David’s excellence. A father has naturally more love to his child than a brother to his brother, and frequently the youngest child is the darling; but David does not seem to have been the tender one of his father. Jesse calls him the least, and if I understand the word which he uses in the original, there is something more implied than his being the youngest; he was the least in the estimation of the ill-judging parent. It is strange that he should have been left out when the rest were summoned to the feast, and I cannot acquit Jesse of fault in having omitted to call his son, when that feast was a special religious service. At a sacrifice all should be present; when the prophet comes none should be away, and yet it was not thought worthwhile to call David, although one would think a servant might have kept the sheep, and so the whole family might have met on so hallowed an occasion; yet no son was left in the field but David, all the others were assembled.

It sometimes happens (but O how wrongly!) that one in the family is overlooked, even by his parent, in his hopes and prayers. The father seems to think, “God may be pleased to convert William; he may call Mary; I trust in his providence we shall see John grow up to be a credit to us; but as for Richard or Sarah, I do not know what will ever become of them.” How often will parents have to confess that they have misjudged, and that the one upon whom they have set the black mark, has been after all the joy and comfort of their lives, and has given them more satisfaction than all the rest put together. Art thou such an one, young man? Art thou painfully conscious that thou hast a narrow share in thy parent’s heart? Be not downcast, distressed, or broken-hearted about this. Thou farest as David did before thee, and if he the favored servant of God, the man after God’s own heart, could put up with his position, be not thou too proud to abide in it, for if thy father and thy mother forsake thee, if the Lord take thee up, he will be better to thee than the best of parents.

From a sermon entitled "Who Are Elected?," delivered July 9, 1865. Image by Lida Rose under Creative Commons License.

God hath not cast away his people

If our view of prophecy be the correct one, it seems to be in perfect harmony with all the doctrines of the gospel. God certainly did elect his people the Jews; he made a covenant with his servant Abraham, and albeit you will remind us that this was only a temporal covenant, I would remind you that it was the type of the spiritual one, and it would be an unhappy reflection for us if the typical covenant should prove to be only temporary as well as temporal; if that came to an end, and if God cast away, in any sense, the people whom he did foreknow, it might augur to us the ill foreboding that mayhap he might cast away his spiritual seed also, and that those who were chosen as the spiritual seed of Abraham, might yet be cut off from the olive into which they had been grafted. If the natural branches are cast away for ever, why not the grafted branches too?

But here is our joy, the God who swore unto his servant Abraham that to him and to his seed would he give the land for ever, hath not gone back from his word; they shall possess the land; their feet shall joyously tread its fruitful acres yet again; they shall sit every man under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; and so the spiritual seed to whom the spiritual heritage is given as by a covenant of salt, they also shall possess their heritage for ever, and of their rightful portion no robber shall despoil them.

From a sermon entitled "The Man With The Measuring Line," delivered December 11, 1864. Image by David King under Creative Commons License.

Let us avoid false confidence

We have heard dying men singing themselves into the bottomless pit with this lullaby, “Yes, sir, I am a sinner, but God is merciful; God is good.” Ah! dear friends, let such remember that God is just as well as good, and that he will by no means spare the guilty, except through the great atonement of his Son Jesus Christ. The doctrine of election, in a most blessedly honest manner does come in, and breaks the neck, once for all, of all this false and groundless confidence in the uncovenanted mercy of God. Sinner, you have no right to trust to the goodness of God out of Christ. There is no word in the whole Book of Inspiration, which gives the shadow of a hope to the man who will not believe in Jesus Christ. It says of him, “He that believeth not shall be damned.” It declares of you, who are resting upon such a poor confidence as the unpromised favor of heaven, “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

From a sermon entitled "Election No Discouragement To Seeking Souls," delivered February 7, 1864. Flickr photo by hiroko***; some rights reserved.