The Man For All Men

To millions upon millions of people the name of Jesus is as yet an unknown sound; yet they shall be gathered out of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, and shall unite in one great family. The gospel of Jesus is cosmopolitan. It suits so well with our own latitude that one would think that our Lord was born an Englishman: but the same is true in reference to every land. His name was fitly mentioned by the Jordan, but it loses none of its music by the Thames, the Ganges, or the Orinoco. Jesus belongeth to all lands, whether they are scorched by tropical suns or frozen by the long winters of the poles.

Jesus is a man, and a man is a noble name, nobler than Jew, or Briton, or Roman. He is “the man,” the man of men, man’s man, the man for men. Let all men worship him, for he is the hope of our race, the restorer of our ruin, the gatherer of the new people, and he shall gather others beside those that have been gathered unto him. “God hath made of one blood all nations of men that dwell upon the face of the earth,” and that one blood also has at the back of it another blood more precious still, by which one blood he hath redeemed from among men a multitude which no man can number.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Others To Be Gathered," delivered October 6, 1878. Image by well lucio on Flickr under Creative Commons License, without alteration.

Let Us All Do Our Parts

If this country were invaded, which may God grant it never may be, we could not confine the defense to our professional soldiers. No, every man would grasp such weapon as he could reach, and use it vigorously to drive the intruder over our white cliffs; I might even venture to say every woman would do the same, and matrons would become Amazons. Dear are our hearths and homes, and none of us would ask to be excused the defense of our beloved isle.

Even so in the work of the salvation of souls, every saved one longs to have a share. Can we let sinners perish? Can we permit our own kinsmen to go down into the pit? No, not if our prayers, and tears, and earnest teachings can rescue them. Jesus Christ in mighty love has died to save sinners, and he must be honored for his glorious deed of grace – can we suffer his name to be trailed in the mire? Shall he still be despised and rejected by human hearts? Shall even the members of our own family refuse his gentle sway? No, not if our testimony may help to honor him; nor if our earnest pleadings may gain him a throne in some one human heart.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Message From The Lord's Mouth," delivered September 1, 1878. Image by phinworld on Flickr under Creative Commons License, without alteration.

Rich Comfort For Lowly Hearts

Our Lord was not merely a child, but a poor child; so poor that his mother when she had to redeem him could not bring a lamb, which was the sacrifice for all who could afford it, but she presented the poorer offering, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, and so she came as a poor woman, and he was presented to the Lord as a poor woman’s child. Herein also lies rich comfort for lowly hearts, and as they think of it each one may say, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”

When I think of the Prince of glory and the Lord of angels stooping so low as this, that a poor woman bears him in her arms and calls him her babe, surely there must be salvation for the lowest, the poorest, and the most sunken. When the all glorious Lord, in order to be incarnate, is born a babe, born of a poor woman, and publicly acknowledged as a poor woman’s child, we feel sure that he will receive the poorest and most despised when they seek his face.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Thy Salvation," delivered June 2, 1878. Image by Kasia on Flickr under Creative Commons License, without alteration.

He Came To Lift Us Up

The Fall was so grievous that he must come right down into the place of our ruin; he must come to the dunghill that he might lift us out of it. God sat in heaven and said, “Let there be light,” and the darkness fled before him, but he could not sit in heaven and save sinners: he must needs come into the world to do so; down into this polluted creation the eternal Creator must himself descend. Lo, there in Bethlehem’s manger he sleeps, and on a woman’s breast he hangs! He cannot save sinners, so great is their ruin, unless he becomes incarnate and takes upon himself our nature.

And being here, think how dreadful must be the ruin when we see that he cannot return, saying, “It is finished,” until first of all he dies. That sacred head must be crowned with thorns, those eyes must be closed in the darkness of the tomb, that body must be pierced even to its heart, and then must lie a chill, cold corpse in the grave, ere man can be redeemed; and all that shame, and suffering, and death were but the outer shell of what the Savior suffered, for he passed under divine wrath and bare a load such as would have crushed the whole race of men had they been left to bear it.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Faithful Saying," delivered May 26, 1878. Image by Anita Ritenour on Flickr under Creative Commons License, without alteration.

Grace To The Undeserving

When the sunlight comes upon a wicked man’s field and the rain descends upon the farm of a blaspheming atheist, the man has done nothing to deserve either shower or sun, but yet they favor him. And, blessed be God, he gives his grace to those who have done nothing to deserve it. If all your life long you cannot think of one good action you have ever performed, nevertheless the grace of God is free to you if you will have it. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” is preached to you; for deservings and merits are out of the question. God gives freely even to the evil and the unjust.

Showers from heaven and sunlight come to those who have not sought them at the Lord’s hands. That churl there never prayed for the sunlight. He does not believe in praying - not he. And that oppressor over yonder, that we spoke of, never asked God to send the rain: he said it was a matter of chance, and he did not see the good of praying about it. Yet it came. And oh, what a wonder it is that God is often found of them that sought him not! Persons have come into this Tabernacle, and the last thing they thought of was that they would be saved that night, and yet they have been. God’s infinite mercy sometimes comes to those who do not ask for it: according to the text, “I am found of them that sought me not.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "No Difference," delivered May 12, 1878. Image by Liz West on Flickr under Creative Commons License, without alteration.

Bow Before His Majesty

A man is not saved until he bows before the supreme majesty of God. He may say, “I believe in Jesus,” but if he goes on to follow out his own desires, and to gratify his own passions, he is a mere pretender, a wolf in the clothing of a sheep. Dead faith will save no man; it is not even as good as the faith of devils, for they “believe and tremble,” and these men believe in a fashion which makes them brazen in their iniquity. No, salvation means being saved from the domination of self and sin; salvation means being made to long after likeness to God, being helped by divine grace to reach to that likeness, and living after the mind and will of the Most High.

Submission to God is the salvation which we preach, not a mere deliverance from eternal burnings, but deliverance from present rebellion, deliverance from the sin which is the fuel of those flames unquenchable. There must be conformity to the eternal laws of the universe, and according to these God must be first and man must bow to him: nothing can be right till this is done.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Reason Why Many Cannot Find Peace," delivered April 7, 1878. Image by Doug Aghassi on Flickr under Creative Commons License, without alteration.

Father, Glorify Thy Name!

Why is Christ resolved to die? Is it to save men? Yes, but not as the chief reason. His first prayer is not, “Father, save my people,” but “Father, glorify thy name.” The glory of God was the chief end and object of our Savior’s life and death. It is that the Father’s name may be illustrious that Jesus would have souls redeemed. His passion had for its main intent the exhibition of the attributes of God. And, brethren, how completely he has glorified Jehovah’s name! Upon the cross we see the divine justice in the streaming wounds of the great Substitute: for the Son of God must needs die when sin is laid upon him. There also you behold infinite wisdom, for what but infallible wisdom could have devised the way whereby God might be just and yet the justifier of him that believeth. There, too, is love, rich, free, boundless love - never so conspicuous as in the death of man’s Redeemer.

Till this day it still remains a question concerning the atonement which of the letters best is writ, the justice, the wisdom, or the love. In the atonement the divine attributes are all so perfectly glorified that no one crowds out the other: each one has its full display without in the least degree diminishing the glory of any other. Our blessed Lord, that the Father might be glorified, pushed on to the end which he had set before him. Whatever conflict might be within his spirit, his heart was fixed upon bearing to the death our load, and suffering to the end our penalty.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Golden Prayer," delivered December 30, 1877. Image by jd.echendar on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

There Is Something Real In It

There is something real in faith in Jesus. There is a peace which passeth all understanding obtained through pardoned sin. There is a new birth, for we have felt it; there is a new life, for we enjoy it. There is a joy that overleaps earth’s narrow bounds: there is a rest of heart akin to the rest of the blessed in heaven, and it can be enjoyed here and now; thousands of us bear witness that it is so. Do not be discouraged then, for we tell you no old wives’ fables, but the very truth which we have ourselves tasted and handled. You that are seeking after eternal life need not be baffled by sceptics; we are true men, and tell you what we have proved for ourselves. You will yet find it to be as God declares.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Gospel Sermon To Outsiders," delivered August 19, 1877. Image by Ian Sane on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Believe in Him and be saved!

It is not every contact with Christ that saves men; it is the arousing of yourself to come near to him, the determinate, the personal, resolute, believing touch of Jesus Christ which saves. We must believe for ourselves. The Spirit helps us, but we ourselves believe. Some of you sit still and hope that the Lord will visit you, and you wait by the pool till an angel comes and stirs the water, and all that kind of thing; but that is not according to the tenor of the gospel command. The gospel does not come to you and say, “Whosoever waits for impressions shall be saved;” but it says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; for he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Exercise the personal, voluntary, intentional act of faith and you shall be saved.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Touch," delivered November 4, 1877. Image by jd.echenard on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Who is fit to live on earth?

Heaven at any price is well secured. A good hope through grace is worth a thousand worlds. But it is a mistake to suppose that melancholy attends upon fitness to die. Why should it? To be unprepared for death, and to know that it may come at any moment, is a fair reason for sadness, but to have that great matter secure must surely be a source of joy. To be prepared to die is to be prepared to live; to be ready for eternity is in the best sense to be ready for time. Who so fit to live on earth as the man who is fit to live in heaven? Who hath brightness of the eye? Is it not the man who has looked within the gate of pearl, and seen his place prepared among the blessed? Who hath lightness of heart? Is it not the man who is unloaded of his sin, and has found mercy through the blood of Christ?

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Our Last Journey," delivered September 9, 1877. Image by Jeff Pang on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Let Us Not Forget The Substitute

Sin with many streams had been flowing down the hills of time and forming by their dread accumulation one vast and fathomless lake. Into this the sinner’s substitute must be plunged. He had a baptism to be baptized with and He must endure it, or all His chosen must perish forever. That was a day of vengeance when all the waves and billows of divine wrath went over His innocent head.

Came at length the dreadful night; 
Vengeance with its iron rod 
Stood, and with collected might 
Bruised the harmless Lamb of God. 
See, my soul, thy Savior see, 
Prostrate in Gethsemane!

From His blessed person there distilled a bloody sweat, for His soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. All through the night with scourgings and buffetings and spittings of cruel men, He was tortured and abused; He was rejected, despised, maltreated, and pierced in His inmost soul by man’s scorn and cruelty. Then in the morning He was taken out to be crucified, for nothing could suffice short of His death. The outward sorrows of crucifixion ye know, but the inward griefs ye do not know, for what our Lord endured was beyond what any mortal man could have borne. The infinity of the Godhead aided the manhood, and I doubt not Hart was right in saying that He

Bore all Incarnate God could bear 
With strength enough but none to spare. 

 It was an awful “day of vengeance of our God,” for the voice cried aloud, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.” The doctrine that justice was executed upon our great Substitute is the most important that was ever propounded in the hearing of men; it is the sum and substance of the whole gospel, and I fear that the church which rejects it is no longer a church of Christ.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Proclamation Of Acceptance And Vengeance," delivered August 12, 1877. Image by mindfulness on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Without Thought Of Fear

God dwelt among men in human flesh, you know it to be true that so it was; Jesus, the Son of God, abode upon the earth throughout a lowly life amidst poverty and shame, and (wonder of wonders), at last he poured out his heart’s blood for our redemption; and can we entertain a doubt of his ability to save? Do we see those blood drops from his hand and heart, sealing the everlasting covenant, and can we doubt?

Abraham had strong confidence when he saw the smoking furnace and the burning lamp passing between the pieces of the slain victims, and what ought our confidence to be when we behold the Lord Jesus Christ himself ratifying the eternal covenant by his own death? Surely if the patriarch could find rest in the sight of the type only, we ought to rest without thought of fear.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Strong Faith." Image by Jenny Downing on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

He Came Through Compassion

The Samaritan came to the wounded one because in the course of business he was led there, and, being there, he helped the man; but Jesus came to earth on no business but that of saving us, and he was found in our flesh that he might have sympathy with us. In the very existence of the man Christ Jesus you see the noblest form of pity manifested. And being here, where we had fallen among robbers, he did not merely run risks of being attacked by thieves himself, but he was attacked by them; he was wounded, he was stripped, and not half dead was he, but altogether dead, for he was laid in the grave. He was slain for our sakes, for it was not possible for him to deliver us from the mischief which the thieves of sin had wrought upon us excepting by suffering that mischief in his own person; and he did suffer it that he might deliver us.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Good Samaritan," delivered June 17, 1877. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/3620029062/ Image by Alan Cleaver on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

What Is Your Answer To That Question?

No event in history is so well authenticated as the resurrection of Christ, he was seen by individuals alone, and by twos and twenties, and by above five hundred brethren at once. After having lived here a little while he ascended up into heaven in the presence of his disciples, a cloud receiving him out of their sight. At this moment he is sitting at the right hand of God in human flesh: that selfsame man who died upon the tree is now enthroned in the highest heavens Lord of all, and every angel delights to do him homage. The one question which he asks of you to-night, through these poor lips is this, “Believest thou that I am able to save thee-that I, the Christ of God now dwelling in heaven, am able to save thee?” Everything depends upon your answer to that question.

I know what your answer ought to be. Surely, if he be God, nothing is impossible or even difficult to him. If he has laid down his life to make atonement, and God has accepted that atonement, by permitting him to rise from the dead, then there must be efficacy in his blood to cleanse me, even me. The answer ought to be, “Yea, Lord Jesus, I believe that thou art able to do this.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Our Lord's Question To The Blind Men," delivered May 13, 1877. Image by Paul Bica on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Here Am I, Send Me!

Brethren, the heathen are perishing, and there is but one way of salvation for them, for there is but one name given under heaven among men whereby they must be saved. God in the glorious unity of his divine nature is calling for messengers who shall proclaim to men the way of life. Out of the thick darkness my ear can hear that sound mysterious and divine, “Whom shall I send?” If ye will but listen with the ear of faith ye may hear it in this house to-day- “Whom shall I send?” While the world lieth under the curse of sin the living God, who willeth not that any should perish but that they should come to repentance, is seeking for heralds to proclaim his mercy; he is asking even in pleading terms for some who will go forth to the dying millions and tell the wondrous story of his love- “Whom shall I send?”

As if to make the voice more powerful by a threefold utterance we hear the sacred Trinity enquire, “Who will go for us?” The Father asks, “Who will go for me and invite my far-off children to return?” The Son enquires, “Who will seek for me my redeemed but wandering sheep?” The Holy Spirit demands, “In whom shall I dwell, and through whom shall I speak that I may convey life to the perishing multitudes?” God in the unity of his nature crieth, “Whom shall I send?” and in the trinity of his persons he asketh, “Who will go for us?” Happy shall we be to-day if earnest responses shall be heard in this house- “Here am I, send me.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Divine Call For Missionaries," delivered April 22, 1877. Image by Paul Bica on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

We Shall Be Without Spot Or Wrinkle

We believe according to God’s promise that we shall one day be “without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.” I do believe that this head shall wear a crown of glory, and that this hand shall wave a palm branch. I am fully assured that he will one day sweetly say to me

“Close thine eyes that thou mays’t see 
What I have in store for thee. 
Lay thine arms of warfare down, 
Fall that thou mays’t win a crown.”

We, all, who are believers in Jesus, shall one day be without fault before the throne of God; but how is this to be? Surely our confidence is that he who has promised it is able to perform it. This is the faith which finds its way to glory - the faith which expects to enter into the Redeemer’s joy, because of the Redeemer’s love and life. Brethren, in this matter we see the difficulties, but we do not consider them: we count them as less than nothing since omnipotence has come into the field. “Thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We know that our Redeemer liveth, and that because he lives we shall also live, and be with him where he is.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "How Is Salvation Received?," delivered April 1, 1877. Image by Paul Bica on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

A Great Transformation

I sometimes meet with persons who claim to be Christians and believers and all that, but they have never experienced any change that they can remember from their babyhood. Well, dear friend, there must have been such a change if you are a Christian. I will not say that you ought to know the day and the hour, but, depend upon it, if you are now what you were when you were born, you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. If there has not been a turning you are going the wrong way; every man must be turned from the way in which father Adam set his face, for our face is towards sin and destruction, and we must be turned right round so as to have our faces towards holiness and everlasting life. Where there is not such a turning there is the most solemn cause for heart-searching and humiliation and for the seeking of salvation.

Have you undergone a great transformation?

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Idols Abolished." Image by on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

The Best Way To Come To Christ

The best way to come to Christ is to come meaning to get everything, and to obtain all the plenitude of grace, which he has laid up in store, and promised freely to give. Some poor souls who come to Jesus Christ seem as if they wanted a little relief from fear, a hope that they may just get saved, and a fair chance of going to heaven when they die. Pray do not come in that way, my dear friend. Come intending to obtain the fullness of love, the uttermost of grace.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Coming - Always Coming," delivered. Image by on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

You Are A New Creation

A man in Christ is not the old man purified, nor the old man improved, nor the old man in a better humor, nor the old man with additions and subtractions, nor the old man dressed in gorgeous robes. No, he is a new creature altogether. As for the old man, what is to be done with him? Can he not be sobered, reformed, and made to do us useful service? No, he is crucified with Christ, and bound to die by a lingering but certain death. The capital sentence is passed upon him, for he cannot be mended and therefore must be ended. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

You cannot change the old nature, it is immutably bad, and the sooner it is put away as a filthy and unclean thing the better for us. The believer, so far as he is in Christ, is a new creation: not the old stuff put into a new fashion, and the old material worked up into an improved form, but absolutely a new creation.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Christ The Maker Of All Things New," delivered December 10, 1876. Image by nosha on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

The Way To Be Saved

The way to be saved is to come to Christ. Christ is a person, a living person, full of power to save. He has not placed his salvation in sacraments, or books, or priests, but he has kept it in himself; and if you want to have it you must come to him. He is still the one source and fountain of eternal mercy. There is no getting it by going round about him, or only going near to him: you must come to him, actually to him, and there must be a personal contact established between the Lord Jesus and your spirit. Of course it cannot be a natural contact, for his body is in the heavens and we are here; but it must be a spiritual contact, by which your mind, heart, thought, shall come to Christ, and faith, like a hand, shall touch him spiritually, grasp him by believing upon him, and receive life and grace from his divine power.

Just as when the woman of old touched his garment’s hem, the virtue went out of him to her, and she was healed; so now, though he be yonder, faith’s long hand can touch his divine and human person, by confiding, trusting, and resting in him, and so virtue will flow from him into our soul, and our mind shall be healed of whatsoever disease it hath.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Unwillingness To Come To Christ," delivered November 2, 1876. Image by Adam Sparks on Flickr under Creative Commons License.