Friday, October 29, 2010

Receiving the Great Gift of Salvation



A gift is not of merit but of grace; wages and reward are for those who earn, but a gift is a matter of charity.

O you who feel your unworthiness this morning, who have been seeking salvation earnestly, and suffering the weight of sin, Jesus will freely give to you what you cannot earn or purchase, he will give it as an act of his own free, rich, sovereign mercy; and he is prepared, if you come to him, to give it to you now, for so has he promised, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Rest, Rest," delivered January 8, 1871. Image by David DeHetre under Creative Commons License.

Monday, October 25, 2010

We still see Him



This world saw our Lord Jesus for a very little time, but now it seeth him no more. It only saw him with the outward eye and after a carnal sort, so that when the clouds received him and concealed him from bodily vision, this spiritually blind world lost sight of him altogether. Here and there, however, among the crowds of the sightless there were a few chosen men who had received spiritual sight; Christ had been light to them, he had opened their blind eyes, and they had seen him as the world had not seen him. In a high and full sense they could say, “We have seen the Lord,” for they had in some degree perceived his Godhead, discerned his mission, and learned his spiritual character. Since spiritual sight does not depend upon the bodily presence of its object, those persons who had seen Jesus spiritually, saw him after he had gone out of the world unto the Father.

We who have the same sight still see him. Read carefully the words of the verse before us: “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me.” It is a distinguishing mark of a true follower of Jesus that he sees his Lord and Master when he is not to be seen by the bodily eye; he sees him intelligently and spiritually; he knows his Lord, discerns his character, apprehends him by faith, gazes upon him with admiration, and looks to him for all he needs.... Faith is still the medium by which life comes to us from the lifegiving Lord. It is not only upon the first day of the Christian’s life that he must needs look to Jesus only, but every day of that life, even until the last, his motto must be, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Life In Christ," delivered January 1, 1871. Image by Donika Sadiku under Creative Commons License.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Those rich men who serve the Lord



My dear brethren, the trials of faith are usually those of poverty, and right gloriously does faith behave herself when she trusts in the Lord, and does good, and is fed even in the land of famine; but it is possible the ordeal of prosperity is far more severe, and it is hence a greater triumph of faith, when the rich man sets not his heart upon uncertain riches, and does not suffer the thick clay of this world to encumber his pilgrimage to heaven.

It is hard to carry a full cup with a steady hand, some spilling will usually occur; but where grace makes rich men, and men in high position of power and authority to act becomingly and graciously, then grace is greatly glorified. You who are rich should see your danger; but let the case of Joseph be your encouragement. God will help you, seek you his merciful aid. There is no need that you should be worldly, there is no need that you should sink the Israelite in the Egyptian. God can keep you, even as he kept Job, so that you shall be perfect and upright, and yet be exceeding great in possessions. Like Joseph you may be at once richer and better than your brethren. It will be very hard, and you will need very, very much grace, but the Lord your God will help you, and you shall learn, like Paul, how to abound; and, like Joseph of Arimathea, you shall be both a rich man and a devout disciple.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Joseph's Bones," delivered December 18, 1870. Image by Fang Guo under Creative Commons License.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A High Standard



Compare yourself with Paul, with John, with Brainerd or Rutherford, and even that is ill advice, for what were the best disciples compared with their Master? There must be no lower standard for us than the perfection of Christ. No attainment must ever satisfy us until we are conformed to his image who is the firstborn among many brethren. You will tell me I am holding up a high standard. I am; but then you have a great helper, and I will show you in a moment how you may be of good cheer concerning this business.

To purge out the old leaven many sweepings of the house will be wanted; one certainly will not suffice. You must search, and search, and search on, until you get to heaven. The motto of your life must be, “Watch, watch, watch.” For, mark you, you are sure to leave some leaven, and if you leave a little it will work and spread. Sin has evermore a swelling tendency, and until the Holy Spirit has cut up the last root of sin, evil will grow up again in the heart, at the scent of water it will bud and put forth once again its shoots. Here is work for all time, enough to keep us busy till we land in eternity.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Purging Out The Leaven," delivered December 11, 1870. Image by Sean McGrath under Creative Commons License.

Monday, October 18, 2010

What does he think of Christ?



Is yonder person a condemned or uncondemned man? Ask him what he thinks of Christ. If he replies honestly, he says, “I do not accept God’s testimony about Jesus Christ; I do not receive Jesus as my Savior.” Either he claims that he does not need a Savior or else he does not feel that Jesus is the Savior he needs. He rejects the testimony of God concerning Christ. Is not that enough to condemn a man?

If a man in the very presence of the judge committed theft or murder, he would condemn himself; but is it not a still higher offense than this, in the very presence of God to do despite to his Son, by practically declaring his work and blood to have been unnecessary? Is it not the height of daring that a soul should stand in the presence of the God of mercy and hear him say in his word, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” and that the soul should reply, “I have nothing to do with the Lamb of God”? What further witness do we want with regard to your enmity to God? He that will not believe in Christ would murder God if he could. His not believing in Christ is virtually to make God a liar.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Essence Of The Gospel," delivered December 4, 1870. Image by Luis Argerich under Creative Commons License.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Praise Until The End



Let the book of Psalms stand as an image of the Christian’s life. If we began with the blessing of the man who delights in the law of the Lord; if we proceeded to obtain the blessing of the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered; if our soul learned to pant for her God as the hart for the waterbrooks; and if we went onwards till we sang, “he crowneth me with lovingkindness and tender mercies,” let us not pause now, but advance to the hallelujahs of the closing pages of our book of life-psalms.

He who ends this life with praising God will begin the next life with the same delightful employment. As our latter days are nearer the land of light, let them be fuller of song. Let us begin below the music which shall be prolonged through eternity. Like the birds, let us welcome the break of day, which faith in the close of life gladly perceives to be very near.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Our King Our Joy," delivered November 27, 1870. Image by Jeff under Creative Commons License.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Repentance and Faith



Repentance is always the companion of faith. They go hand in hand. Let no man speak evil of repentance. I have been grieved within my heart when I have heard some revivalists, by innuendo at the least, speak against repentance. You will never enter heaven without repentance; and if your faith do not lead you to hate sin, and do a great deal more than merely change your mind, as these modern fanatics say, you will find it is a faith which will never estrange you from the corruptions of the flesh, enamour you of the holiness of the Spirit, and conduct you to the heaven of God’s presence. You must hate sin; you must perceive the evil of it, and you must turn from it and live, according to the instincts of the divine life communicated, as well as according to the ordinances of the divine rule made known unto you, or else you are no child of God.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Personal Application," delivered January 16, 1870. Image by joiseyshowaa under Creative Commons License.

Friday, October 8, 2010

The Determination of Christ



With what ardor did the Savior burn! Would God that selfsame fire dropped into my soul, and utterly consumed me as a living sacrifice. This would produce in each of us an abiding pertinacity. Defeated in one place we should try in another. It would be with us a determination never to be overcome in doing good. Like Jesus who sought the souls of men, not in a languid search, but over hill and dale till he went down into death’s cold shade, and traversed the sepulcher that he might deliver them, so we also in honor and dishonor, in evil report and good report, in poverty and wealth, in life and death, should still be seeking the glory of God, and the salvation of the sons of men.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Saint One With His Savior," delivered November 20, 1870. Image by under Creative Commons License.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

The simplicity of the Gospel



The great wonders of apostolic times were mainly wrought by men who were illiterate in the world’s judgment; they had been taught of Christ and so had received the noblest education, but in classical studies and in philosophical speculations they were but little versed, with the exception of the apostle Paul, and he came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. Yet the apostles and their followers preached with such power, that the world soon felt their presence. On the slabs of stone which mark the burial places of the early Christians in the catacombs of Rome, the inscriptions are nearly all ill spelt, many of them have here a letter in Greek and there a letter in Latin, grammar is forgotten, and orthography is violated, a proof that the early Christians who thus commemorated the martyred dead were many of them uneducated persons: but for all that they crushed the wisdom of the sages and smote the gods of classic lands. They smote Jupiter and Saturn, until they were broken in pieces, and Venus and Diana fell from their seats of power....

Even thus at this hour the culture so much vaunted in certain places is opposed to the simplicity of the gospel. Therefore I say we do not despise true learning, but we dare not depend upon it. We believe that God can bless and does bless thousands by very simple and humble testimonies; we are none of us to hold our tongues for Christ, because we cannot speak as the learned; we are none of us to refuse the Lord’s message to ourselves because it is spoken by an unlettered messenger. We are not to select our pastors simply because of their talents and acquirements; we must regard their unction, we must look at their call, and see whether the Spirit of God is with them; if not, we shall make learning to be our brazen serpent, and it will need to be broken in pieces.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Iconoclast," delivered November 13, 1870. Image by José Luis Mieza under Creative Commons License.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Seek the Spirit



Beloved, the Holy Spirit sometimes is represented as the wind, the life-giving breath. He blows upon the valleys thickly strewn with slain, and they are quickened to life. You and I, though we are made to live, often feel that life to be flagging, and almost dying. The Spirit of God can quicken us, revive in us the spark of divine life, and strengthen in our hearts the life of God. Pray for this quickening breath, and, my brother, God will give it you. As surely as you sincerely pray you shall have and feel the revival of the life within.

The Spirit of God is sometimes compared to water. It is he who applies the blood of Jesus and sanctifies us. He cleanses us, fertilises us. Well, he will come to us in that capacity. Do we feel that our sin has much power over us? O Spirit of God, destroy thou sin within us and work in us purity. Thou hast already given us the new birth by water and the Spirit, go on and complete thy work till our whole nature shall be fashioned in the image of the Great Firstborn. You shall have it if you seek it; God will give you this Spirit if this you seek for.

The Holy Ghost is revealed to us under the image of light; he illuminates the mind, he makes our natural darkness flee. Wait upon him, O child of God, that you may be led into all truth. He can make that which now perplexes you to become plain; he can uplift you into truths which are now too high for your attainment. Wait upon him! As a child of God, long to be taught of God. I do not know how to express to you the sense I feel just now of the deep condescension of God in promising to give us the Holy Spirit. He has given us his Son, and now he promises his Spirit. Here are two gifts, unspeakable in preciousness. Will God, in very deed dwell with man upon the earth? Will God dwell in man? Can it be that the infinite Spirit, God over all, blessed for ever, will dwell in my poor heart, and make my body to be his temple? It is certainly so; for as sure as it is that God will give good things to those that ask good things, he will surest of all give the Holy Spirit to them that ask for the Holy Spirit. Sit not in the dark then when the light of God will break upon you if you seek it.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Right Replies to Right Requests," delivered November 6, 1870. Image by Ragnar Jensen under Creative Commons License.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Mercy nailed Him to the tree



Can any man see the Son of God expiring upon Calvary, bearing the sin of man, and say that those for whom he died were worthy that Christ should die for them? It is downright blasphemy to connect any idea of merit with a gift so vast and free as the gift of Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins. Why, sirs, had we every one of us been perfect, and had we kept God’s laws without omission, even as seraphs do in heaven, we should still have only done what was our
duty to have done; and there could have been no merit about our service which could deserve that Christ should die for us. Should the Eternal God ever be thought to be such a debtor to his creatures that he must needs veil his splendor in human form, and be despised and rejected and spat upon?

Shall it be said that the Son of God owes to man that he should bleed and die for him? I shudder while I raise the question or suggest the thought. It must be pure, spontaneous, disinterested mercy that nailed the Savior to the tree. Nothing could have brought him from the throne of glory to the cross of woe but grace, unalloyed, unbounded grace.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Dei Gratia," delivered October 30, 1870. Image by George Lu under Creative Commons License.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Cancelled guilt



We lament for sin, and we do well. I hope we shall till we reach the gates of heaven. Sin can never be too much lamented or repented of; but at the same time we are not so to mourn over sin as to forget that Jesus died, and thereby cancelled all our guilt. No, with every note of lamentation lift up the joyful strain of triumph, for iniquity is gone, Christ has finished transgression, made an end of sin, and he that believeth in him is not condemned, neither can he be, world without end.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Jesus No Phantom," delivered October 2, 1870. Image by Indy Kethdy under Creative Commons License.

Friday, October 1, 2010

The Lovingkindness of the Lord



The lovingkindness of the Lord is a topic that can be reached by the babe in grace, and yet will not be superfluous to the most advanced. There are topics in Scripture so profound and surrounded with such metaphysical difficulties, and rendered so much more perplexing by the wisdom, or the unwisdom, of divines, that one might almost say to the Christian thinker, “You may pass those by, for you will never get much out of them; the quartz is too hard; there is too little gold to pay for breaking up.” But when you come to this subject the unskilled convert may sit down and meditate on the lovingkindness of God, and be edified; while at the same time the most proficient Scholar in the school of Christ shall find something fresh and new every time he meditates thereon.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Think Well and Do Well," delivered October 23, 1870. Image by Mike Baird, flickr.bairdphotos.com, under Creative Commons License.