Adopted Daughters And Sons

Believing brings forgiveness and justification through our Lord Jesus; it also brings adoption, for it is written, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Faith brings us into the realization of our adoption in the next place by setting us free from the bondage of the law. “After that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” When we groaned under a sense of sin, and were shut up by it as in a prison, we feared that the law would punish us for our iniquity, and our life was made bitter with fear.

Moreover, we strove in our own blind self-sufficient manner to keep that law, and this brought us into yet another bondage, which became harder and harder as failure succeeded to failure: we sinned and stumbled more and more to our soul’s confusion. But now that faith has come we see the law fulfilled in Christ, and ourselves justified and accepted in him: this changes the slave into a child, and duty into choice. Now we delight in the law, and by the power of the Spirit we walk in holiness to the glory of God.

Thus it is that by believing in Christ Jesus we escape from Moses, the taskmaster, and come to Jesus, the Savior; we cease to regard God as an angry Judge and view him as our loving Father. The system of merit and command, and punishment and fear, has given way to the rule of grace, gratitude, and love, and this new principle of government is one of the grand privileges of the children of God.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Adoption – The Spirit And The Cry," delivered September 22, 1878. Image by Sander van der Wel 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.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

I am afraid that badly as some behave under temptation, others of us might have done worse if we had been there. I like, if I can, to form a kind judgment of the erring; and it helps me to do so when I imagine myself to have been subject to their trials, and to have looked at things from their point of view, and to have been in their circumstances, and to have nothing of the grace of God to help me: should I not have fallen as badly as they have done, or even gone beyond them in evil? May not the day come to you who show no mercy in which you may have to ask mercy for yourselves?...

Now, whenever you see the drunkard reel through the streets do not glory over him, but say, “Lead us not into temptation.” When you take down the papers and read that men of position have betrayed their trust for gold, condemn their conduct if you will, but do not exult in your own steadfastness, rather cry in all humility, “Lead us not into temptation.” When the poor girl seduced from the paths of virtue comes across your way, look not on her with the scorn that would give her up to destruction, but say, “Lead us not into temptation.”

It would teach us milder and gentler ways with sinful men and women if this prayer were as often in our hearts as it is upon our lips.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Lead Us Not Into Temptation." Image by Moyan_Brenn on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

His Ways Are Higher Than Ours

Could man have dreamed that he was the object of eternal love, and that God would assume his nature? Could we have imagined that the Almighty would give his only-begotten Son to die for guilty man? The atonement was a thought which never would have crossed man’s mind if it had not first of all been revealed to him by the great Father. The divine way of lifting up the poor from the dust and the needy from the dunghill, by his rich, free, omnipotent grace, is not of man nor by man. 

The Lord’s thought of choosing the base things of this world, and things that are not to bring to nought the things that are, his thoughts of sovereignty and thoughts of grace, all consistent with his thoughts of justice, are far above human invention, and out of man’s range of thought. Even when the Lord explains his thoughts and ways to us, and brings them down to our comprehension as far as they can be, yet we cannot fail to wonder at their elevation and grandeur...

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "God's Thought And Ways far Above Ours," delivered December 2, 1877. Image by Peggy2012CREATIVELENZ on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

You Need Only Be Willing

Willingness to come is everything. A readiness to believe in Jesus, a willingness to cast the soul on him, a preparedness to accept him just as he is, because you feel that he is just the Savior that you need - that is all: there was no other readiness, there could have been none, in the case of those who were poor and blind, and halt, and maimed, yet came to the feast.

The text does not say, “You are ready, therefore come,” that is a legal way of putting the gospel; but it says, “All things are ready, the gospel is ready, therefore you are to come.” As for your readiness, all the readiness that is possibly wanted is a readiness which the Spirit gives us, namely, willingness to come to Jesus.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "All Things Are Ready. Come." Sermon delivered May 13, 1877. Image by Paulo Brandao on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Boasting Of Merit, Doubting His Grace

...our nature runs so cross to the whole system of divine grace that we need much assuring before we can believe it. We are always for working, deserving, and earning. Phariseeism is the religion of nature. We boast of our merit and yet we are as meritless as Satan himself. The idea of working and deserving appears to be ingrained in our nature; and as certain as the blood is red, so sure is the heart self-righteous. We cannot divest ourselves of the idea of salvation as payment for work done: that it is a gift, a free gift of grace, it is hard to make us believe. Even after conversion the old tendency betrays itself; we steal away from Jesus to Moses as often as we get opportunity, and then begin to doubt free grace. Therefore the Lord has fettered and bound us down to believing with golden chains of promise and oath. “It must be so,” saith he, “the grace that I have revealed is indeed true, for I have sworn by myself.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Strong Consolation For The Lord's Refugees," delivered April 29, 1877. Image by Matteo Paciotti on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Stay Free!

Those who had been of the sect of the Pharisees brought a good share of Pharisaic tendencies with them into the church, and these were dangerous to the young kingdom of Christ. I scarcely know whether legal principles were not able to do more mischief inside the church by perverting pure doctrine than they could do outside the church by exciting persecution. One can hardly imagine how the gospel could have escaped being overlaid and smothered by Judaism, like a babe by its mother, had it not been for the preserving grace of God, and the indwelling Spirit within the church of God.

Ye know, brethren, how we mourn at this day that certain who claim to be Christians are laboring most zealously to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. They invent pompous ceremonies, observe days and months, and are bound by rubrics and regulations, all of which are an idle and needless servitude to outward forms. Certain others would bind us with creeds and ordinances not plainly taught in the word of God, nor agreeable thereto, of which Peter and John knew nothing whatever, having no force but that which comes of human authority. The old Pharisaic spirit is a great forger of bonds and builder of prisons, it would subject us to ordinances of “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” and fetter us with rules of many sorts: for it cannot understand the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. It teacheth this and it teacheth that, whereof the apostles would have said, “We gave no such commandment.” We must contend against this spirit as much now as ever. Still must we refuse to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Christ is all. We are complete in him, and we will not permit a single letter to be added to his perfect law of liberty.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Faith Purifying The Heart," delivered April 15, 1877. Image by Steve Dunleavy on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Mercy came although He knew us

Man while living in rebellion against God is as much under his Maker’s eye as the bees in a glass hive are under your eye when you stand and watch all their movements. The eye of Jehovah never sleeps; it is never taken off from a single creature he has made. He sees man — sees him everywhere — sees him through and through, so that he not only hears his words but knows his thoughts, — does not merely behold his actions but weighs his motives, and knows what is in the man as well as that which comes out of the man. One is often led to cry, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain unto it.” That God should know all, even all the little things about man’s sin is a dreadful thing for unpardoned souls to think of.

I was reading the other day a very pretty observation upon one of our Savior’s sayings, and I cannot help telling it to you. You remember he says two sparrows are sold for a farthing, and yet one of them does not light on the ground without your Father. But in another passage he says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? And not one of them is forgotten of God.” Do you notice that? Two for a farthing — five for two farthings; so there is an odd one thrown in for taking a double quantity. Only a sparrow! Nobody cares about that odd sparrow, but not one of them is forgotten of your heavenly Father — not the odd sparrow even. And so no stray thought of yours, no imagination, no trifle which you have quite forgotten, which indeed you never took any heed of, has escaped your heavenly Father’s notice. The text is true to the fullest possible extent “I have seen his ways.”

God has seen your ways at home, your ways abroad, your ways in the shop, your ways in the bedchamber, your ways within as well as your ways without, — the ways of your judgment, the ways of your hope, the ways of your desire, the ways of your evil lustings, the ways of your murmurings, the ways of your pride. He has seen them all, and seen them perfectly and completely; and the wonder is that, after seeing all, he has not cut us down, but instead of it has proclaimed this amazing word of mercy, “I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I have seen all that he has done, and yet for all that I will not cast him from my presence, but I will put my mercy and my wisdom to work with divine skill to heal this sinner of the wickedness of his soul.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Amazing Grace." Image by Zach Dischner on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

He deals out His grace to the unworthy

Many a man relieves an unknown person in distress whom he would not think of helping if he knew his character. Some generous hearts are perpetually victimized this way: they deal out their money to those who are altogether unworthy, but if they knew of this unworthiness they would not be so free with their gifts. Now, the Lord is aware of the unworthiness of those to whom he deals out his grace, and it is the glory of that grace that he pours it upon the utterly undeserving. He knows exactly what men are, and yet he is kind to the evil and to the unthankful. He gives his grace to those who, like Manasseh, and Saul of Tarsus, and the dying thief, have nothing but sin about them, and deserve his hot displeasure rather than his gracious love.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Amazing Grace." Image by Sean McGrath on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

By grace, from first to last

If salvation were by works, and we could fight our own way to heaven by our own merits, I for one, when I got up there, would throw up my cap and say, “Well done! I have deserved something, and I have got it;” but since salvation is by grace from first to last, and not of man, neither by man, nor of the will of the flesh, nor by blood or birth — since the Lord begins and carries on and ends — let us give him all the glory. And if ever he gives us, as he will give us, a crown of life that fadeth not away, we will go and cast it at his feet, and say, “Not unto us, not unto us; but unto thy name be praise for ever and ever.”

Let us live in this spirit, dear friends. The man who believes in the doctrines of grace, and yet thinks much of himself, is highly inconsistent. A man who believes salvation to be all of grace, and yet does not glorify God continually, acts contrary to his own convictions. “Oh, magnify the Lord with me: let us exalt his name together.” He took us up out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay; and he set our feet upon a rock and established our goings. He put a new song into our mouths, even praise for evermore. Praise be unto him, for he hath done it, and he shall be extolled.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The New Fashion." Image by Linda Cronin on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

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.

The more grace a man has...

I hope that from our youth we have known the necessity of dependence upon God, but I am certain that dependence is a growing feeling. Growing Christians think themselves nothing; full-grown Christians think  themselves less than nothing. Good men are like ships, the fuller they are the lower they sink in the stream. The more grace a man has the more he complains of his want of grace. Grace is not a kind of food which creates a sense of fullness, but as I have heard of some meats that you can eat them till you are hungry, so it is with grace, the more you receive the more you long for.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Old Man's Sermon," delivered September 26, 1875. Image by Diego Torres Silvestre on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

The Gift of Living Water

“Whosoever drinketh of water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” It is clear from this that true religion must come to us as a gift. The water that I shall give him, says Christ. There is no suggestion as to digging deep with much learning into the bowels of mysterious truth to find the water for ourselves; this priceless draught is freely handed out to us by our Redeemer, without our bringing either bucket or line. There is no hint in the text that we are to purchase the lifegiving water; it is presented to us without money and without price. There is no allusion to a certain measure of fitness to qualify us for the draught, it is purely a gift to be received by us here and now.

Our Lord Jesus told the woman that had she known the gift of God she would have asked and he would have given. Sinner as she was, she had only to ask and have. There is no other way of obtaining eternal life but as the free gift of sovereign grace. The divine life is not in us by nature, it cannot be produced in us by culture, nor infused into us by ceremonies, nor propagated in us by natural descent, it must come as a boon of infinite charity from heaven, unpurchased, undeserved. Wisdom cannot impart it, power cannot fashion it, money cannot buy it, merit cannot procure it, grace alone can give it.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Holy Water," delivered November 8, 1874. Image by 29cm on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Confirmed By Blood

In olden times when men made covenants the one with the other, they generally used some ceremony to bind the bargain, as it were. Now, under the old dispensation covenants with God were always confirmed with blood. As soon as ever blood was shed, and the victim died, the agreement made was established. Now, when our heavenly Father made a covenant with Jesus Christ on our behalf, that covenant was true and firm, “according to the sure mercies of David,” but to make it stand fast there must be blood. Now, the blood ordained to seal the covenant was not the blood of bulls or of goats, but the blood of the Son of God himself; and this has made the covenant so binding that sooner may heaven and earth pass away than one tittle of it fail.

God must keep his own promises. He is a free God, but he binds himself; by two immutable things wherein it is impossible for him to lie, he has bound himself to bestow covenant blessings upon the flock which the great Shepherd represented. Brethren, you and I, as honest men, are bound by our word. If we took an oath, which I trust we would not, we should certainly feel doubly bound by it; and if we had lived in the old times, and blood had been sprinkled on an agreement which we had made, we should regard the solemn sign and never dream of running back from it.

Think, for a moment, how impossible it is that the Lord should ever break that covenant of grace, which he spontaneously made with his own Son, and with us in him, now that it has been sprinkled with blood from the veins of his own well-beloved Son. No; the covenant is everlasting. It stands fast for ever, because it is confirmed by blood which is none other than the blood of the Son of God.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Blood of the Covenant," delivered August 2, 1874. Image by Zach Dischner on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Seeing His blessing everywhere

I must confess my Lord’s special favor towards me, the very stones in the street would cry out against me if I did not; he has indeed blessed all the work of my hands. Brethren, you have had a share in the blessing, have a share also in the praising. Sometimes the work of our hands has appeared to crumble to pieces, but then it has been rebuilt ere long in a better style; enemies have arisen, and they have been exceedingly violent, only to fulfill some special purpose of God, and increase our blessing against their wills; sickness has come only to yield discipline, we have been made weak that we might be strong, and brought to death’s door that we might know more of the divine life.

Glory be to God, our life has been all blessing from beginning to end, there has been no exceptional event all along; ever since we knew him he has dealt out blessing and blessing and blessing, and never a syllable of cursing. He has fulfilled to us the word, “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.”


From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Forty Years," delivered June 14, 1874. Image by Kevin Dooley on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Sure method of salvation

Now, the greatest matter of concern for any one of us is the eternal salvation of our soul. We need to be saved, and, according to the Scriptures of truth, there is but one way of salvation; but that way does not happen to be in favor among the sons of men. The great popular principle, popular all over the world, no matter whether the people happen to be Protestant or Catholic, Parsee or Mahomedan, Brahminist or Buddhist, is self-salvation — they would reach eternal life by merit. There are differences about what is to be done, but the great universal principle of unregenerate man is that he is, somehow or other, to save himself. This is his principle, and the further he goes in it the less likely is he to be saved.

My object this morning is to bring before you the much despised principle which God has revealed as the only true one, namely, salvation by the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, by simple faith in him. We preach, at God’s command, the way of salvation by mercy, not by merit; by faith, not by works; by grace, not by the efforts of men. May God help us so to set forth that principle, that many may accept it. I do not care one snap of my finger about preaching so that the style shall please the ear, but I long to reach your hearts. I want you to receive the only sure method of salvation, and I pray the Holy Ghost to baptise my words in his own mighty fire, and make them to burn their way into your hearts, and subdue you to the obedience of faith.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Great Jail And How To Get Out Of It," delivered November 30, 1873. Image by visualpanic 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.

Do not reject His righteousness

Men think that they are to be saved by keeping God’s commandments. They are to do their best, and they conceive that their sincere endeavors will be accepted, and they will thus save themselves. This self-righteous idea is diametrically opposed to the whole spirit of the gospel. The gospel is not for you who can save yourselves, but for those who are lost. If you can save yourselves, go and do it, and do not mock the Savior with your hypocritical prayers. Go and stumble among the tombs of ancient Israel, and perish as they did in the wilderness, for into rest Moses and the law can never lead you.

The gospel is for sinners who cannot keep the law for themselves, who have broken it, and incurred its penalty, who know that they have done so, and confess it. For such, a living Savior has come that he may blot out their transgressions. Seek not salvation by the works of the law, for by them shall no flesh living be justified. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and nothing more, but righteousness, peace, life, salvation, come by faith in the living Lord Jesus Christ, and by no other means. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;” but if thou goest about to establish thine own righteousness, thou shalt surely perish, because thou hast rejected the righteousness of Christ.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Lord Is Risen Indeed," delivered April 13, 1873. Image by paul (dex) on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Our only place of safety

Oh, that we may have grace every one of us to flee to Christ! There is our only safety. Simple faith in Jesus is the basis for the character which will evidence at last that you are chosen of God. A simple belief in the merit of the Lord Jesus, wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, is the rocky foundation upon which shall be built up, by the same divine hands, the character which shall evidence that the kingdom was prepared for us from before the foundations of the world. God work in us such a character, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Great Assize," delivered August 25, 1872. Image by shioshvili on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

Humble Duties

Attention to humble duties is a better sign of grace than an ambition for lofty and elevated works. There is probably far more grace in the loving service of a mother towards Christ in bringing up her children in the fear of God, than there might be if she were well known as taking a leading part in great public movements; there may be more service for Christ done by a workman in discharging his duties as such, and trying to do good to his fellow workmen, than if he aspired to become a great leader of the minds and thoughts of others.

Of course there are exceptions for glorious was Deborah and great shall be her name in Israel, and those who are sent of God to lead his church shall not be without their reward, but even then when they have to look for personal evidences of grace they never dare say, “We know that we are passed from death unto life because we preach the gospel” for they remember that Judas did the same; they never say, “We are confident of salvation because God has wrought wonders by us,” for they remember that the son of perdition had the same distinction; but they fail back upon the same evidences which prove the truth of the religion of humbler people, they rejoice in testimonies common to all the elect. “We know that we have passed from death unto life

because we love the brethren.”

The humbler graces and duties are the best tests. Hypocrites mimic all public duties, but the private and concealed life of true godliness they cannot counterfeit...

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Ministry of Gratitude," delivered September 15, 1872. Image by Keven Law under Creative Commons License.