Tag Archives: Charles Spurgeon

“Supreme love to Christ is the most important qualification of a pastor” by Archibald Alexander

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“Feed My sheep.” (John 21:16)

“Another prominent truth, in these words, is, that love to Christ – supreme love to Christ – is the most important qualification of a pastor of Christ’s flock.

The question is thrice put, ‘Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?’ (John 21:16) And in each case, after receiving an affirmative answer, the Lord Jesus commands him to feed His sheep, or to feed His lambs.

Is not this as much as to say, ‘None are qualified to feed My sheep, who have no love to Me?’

And the thing is sufficiently evident to reason; for he who has no love to the owner, will have no real regard for the safety and health of the flock.

Among men of the world, it sometimes happens, that one passion becomes so strong, that it nearly swallows up all others.

Thus, avarice in the miser, is found potent enough to counteract the strongest propensities of nature.

Ambition, also, in others, carries all before it. Everything subserves the one pursuit, or yields to it.

Now, such should be the case with the minister of the gospel. The love of Christ ought so to predominate, so to possess his mind, and to bear him along, that every interfering, or opposing principle, should be neutralized or extinguished.

This should suggest all his plans, guide all his operations, give energy to all his efforts, and afford him comfort under all his trials.

Constrained by the love of Christ, he should cheerfully forego all the comforts of ease, affluence, and worldly honour to serve his Master in places far remote; or far removed from public observation.

This holy affection should impel him to undertake the most arduous duties, and encounter the most formidable dangers; this should enkindle the ardour of his eloquence, and supply the pathos of his most tender addresses.

This is the hallowed fire which should be kept bright and burning continually. All other warmth is no better than ‘strange fire.’

Nothing but the love of Christ can make a truly faithful pastor, or evangelist, assiduous in all his services, and indefatigable in the most private and self-denying duties of his office.

Other motives may lead a man to great diligence in preparing for his labours in the pulpit, where splendid eloquence wins as much applause as anywhere else.

Other motives also may stimulate a minister to great public exertion, and give him all the appearance of fervent zeal and devotedness to God, in the eyes of men.

But if supreme love to Christ be wanting, he is, after all, nothing; or, at best, a mere ‘sounding brass or tinkling cymbal’ (1 Corinthians 13:1)?

Genius, learning, eloquence, zeal, public exertion, and, great sacrifices, even if it should be of all our goods, and of our lives themselves, will be accounted of no value, in the eyes of the Lord, if love to Christ be wanting.

The church is now using laudable exertions to increase the number of ministers.

But, we may multiply preachers, and we may educate them well, and they may be acceptable to the people.

But, alas! If they love not the Lord Jesus Christ, Zion will not be built up.

The great harvest will not be gathered.”

–Archibald Alexander, “The Pastoral Office” as quoted in The Pastor: His Call, Character, and Work by Faculty and Friends of Old Princeton (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2020), 93-94. Alexander preached this sermon at Philadelphia before the Association of the Alumni of the Theological Seminary at Princeton on Wednesday Morning, May 21, 1834.

“Beware the fumes of intoxicating success” by Charles Spurgeon

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“When God’s children prosper one way, they are generally tried another, for few of us can bear unmingled prosperity.

There is a constant revolution; many who are in the dust today shall be highly elevated tomorrow; while those who are now aloft shall soon grind the earth.

Prosperity had evidently turned the Psalmist’s head, or he would not have been so self-confident. He stood by grace, and yet forgot himself, and so met with a fall.

Reader, is there not much of the same proud stuff in all our hearts?

Let us beware lest the fumes of intoxicating success get into our brains and make fools of us also.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 27-57, vol. 2 (London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 43, 45. Spurgeon is commenting on Psalm 30.

“You see the ‘therefore'” by Charles Spurgeon

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“‘Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’ (2 Cor. 7:1)

The drift of the argument is this,– if God dwells in us, let us make the house clean for so pure a God.

What! Indwelling Deity and unclean lusts? Indwelling Godhead, and yet a spirit defiled with evil thoughts? God forbid!

Let us cry aloud unto the Most High, that in this thing we may be cleansed, that the temple may be fit for the habitation of the Master.

What! Does God walk in us, and hold communion with us, and shall we let Belial come in? What concord can we have with Christ?

Shall we give ourselves up to be the servants of Mammon, when God has become our Friend, our Companion? It must not be!

Divine indwelling and divine communion both require from us personal holiness. Has the Lord entered into a covenant with us that we shall be His people?

Then does not this involve a call upon us to live like His people, as becometh godliness?

Favoured and privileged above other men to be a peculiar people, separated unto God’s own self, shall there be nothing peculiar about our lives?

Shall we not be zealous for good works?

Divinely adopted into the family of the Most High, and made heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, what need is there of further argument to constrain us to holiness?

You see the ‘therefore.’

It is just this, because we have attained to such choice and special privileges, ‘therefore’—for this reason, ‘let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.’

I remember hearing a man say that he had lived for six years without having sinned in either thought, or word, or deed.

I apprehend that he committed a sin then, if he never had done so before, in uttering such a proud, boastful speech.

No, no; I cannot believe that the flesh can be perfect, nor, consequently, that a man can be perfect in this flesh.

I cannot believe that we shall ever live to see people walking up and down in this world without sin.

But I can believe that it is our duty to be perfect, that the law of God means perfection, and that the law as it is in Christ—for there it is, you know,—is binding on the Christian.

It is not, as in the hands of Moses, armed with power to justify or to condemn him, for he is not under the law, but under grace; but it is binding upon him as it is in the hands of Christ.

The law, as it is in the hands of Christ, is just as glorious, just as perfect, just as complete, as when it was in the hands of Moses; Christ did not come to destroy the law, or to cast it down, but to establish it.

And therefore, notwithstanding every point where I fall short of perfection as a creature, I am complete in Christ Jesus. That which God requires of me is, that I should be perfect.

That I can understand; and the next thing I should know is, that for such perfection I ought to pray.

I should not like to pray for anything short of that. I should not like, at the prayer-meeting, to hear any of you say, “Lord, bring us half-way toward perfection.”

No, no, no; our prayer must be, “Lord, put away all sin; deliver me from it altogether.” And God would not teach you to pray for what He did not mean to give.

Your perfection is God’s design, for He has chosen you to be conformed to the image of His Son; and what is that? Surely the image of His Son is perfection.

There were no faults in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are to be made like Him; and as this is the work and design of grace, then perfection is the centre of the target at which God’s grace is always aiming.

All that He works in us is with this great ultimate end and aim, that He may sanctify us wholly,—spirit, soul, and body; and that He may release us from sin, and make us perfect even as our Father who is in heaven is perfect.

Oh, when will it be? When will it be? Why, the very thought of it makes me feel as if I could sing, “Oh! happy hour, oh! blest abode, I shall be near and like my God.”

What a joy it will be to be just like Him, to have no more corruption of the flesh, and no more incitements to sin to destroy the soul’s delight and pleasure in her God!

May the Lord hasten on the day! ‘Perfecting holiness.'”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “Our Position and Our Purpose,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 57 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1911), 57: 175–177.

“The best argument to bring sinners to believe in Jesus is Jesus” by Charles Spurgeon

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“I am meek and lowly in heart.” —Matthew 11:29

We have preached upon the whole of this passage several times before, therefore we do not intend to speak upon it in its full teaching, or enter upon its general run and connection, but we select for our meditation this one expression, which has greater deeps in it than we shall be able fully to explore;—“I am meek and lowly in heart.”

I have felt very grateful to God for the mercy of the past week, during which the ministers educated in our College have been gathered together as a devout convocation, and have enjoyed a flood-tide of the divine blessing.

Unusually great and special joy has filled my soul; and, therefore, I have asked myself, “What can I do to glorify the Lord my God who has been so gracious to me, and has so prospered the work committed to me and my brethren?”

The answer which my heart gave was this— “Endeavour to bring sinners to Jesus. Nothing is sweeter to Him than that, for He loves the sons of men.”

Then I said to myself, “But how can I bring sinners to Christ? What means will the Holy Spirit be likely to use for that purpose?”

And the answer came, “If you would preach sinners to Christ you must preach Christ to sinners, for nothing so attracts the hearts of men as Jesus himself.”

The best argument to bring sinners to believe in Jesus is Jesus.

Has he not himself said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me?” Then I said, “But what shall I preach concerning Jesus?”

And my soul replied, “Preach the loving heart of Jesus: go to the centre of the subject, and set forth His very soul, His inmost self, and then it may be that the heart of Jesus will draw the hearts of men.”

Now it is very remarkable that the only passage in the whole New Testament in which the heart of Jesus is distinctly mentioned is the one before us.

Of course there are passages in which his heart is intended, as for instance—when the soldier, with a spear, pierced his side; but this passage is unique as to the actual mentioning of the kardia or heart of Jesus by a distinct word.

There are several passages in the Old Testament which refer to our divine Lord, such as—“Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness;” and that notable one, in the twenty-second Psalm, “my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”

But in the New Testament this is the only passage which speaks of the heart of Jesus Christ, and therefore we will weigh it with all the more care.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Heart of Jesus,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 19 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1873), 19: 193–194.

“God with us” by Charles Spurgeon

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“Do you know what ‘God with us’ means? Has it been God with you in your tribulations, by the Holy Ghost’s comforting influence?

Has it been God with you in searching the Scriptures? Has the Holy Spirit shone upon the Word?

Has it been God with you in conviction, bringing you to Sinai? Has it been God with you in comforting you, by bringing you again to Calvary?

Do you know the full meaning of that name Immanuel, ‘God with us’? No; he who knows it best knows little of it.

Alas, he who knows it not at all is ignorant indeed; so ignorant that his ignorance is not bliss, but will be his damnation. Oh! may God teach you the meaning of that name Immanuel, ‘God with us’!

Now let us close. ‘Immanuel.’ It is wisdom’s mystery, ‘God with us.’

Sages look at it, and wonder; angels desire to see it; the plumb-line of reason cannot reach half-way into its depths; the eagle-wing of science cannot fly so high, and the piercing eye of the vulture of research cannot see it.

‘God with us.’ It is hell’s terror. Satan, trembles at the sound of it; his legions fly apace, the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it.

Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, ‘God with us,’ back he falls, confounded and confused. Satan trembles when he hears that name, ‘God with us.’

It is the labourer’s strength; how could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labour if that one word were taken away? ‘God with us.’

’Tis the sufferer’s comfort, ’tis the balm of his woe, ’tis the alleviation of his misery, ’tis the sleep which God giveth to his beloved, ’tis their rest after exertion and toil.

Ah! and to finish, ‘God with us,’—’tis eternity’s sonnet, ’tis heaven’s hallelujah, ’tis the shout of the glorified, ’tis the song of the redeemed, ’tis the chorus of angels, ’tis the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. “God with us.”

“Hail thou Immanuel, all divine,
In thee thy Father’s glories shine,
Thou brightest, sweetest, fairest One,
That eyes have seen or angels known.”

Now, a happy Christmas to you all; and it will be a happy Christmas if you have God with you.

I shall say nothing today against festivities on this great birthday of Christ. I hold that, perhaps, it is not right to have the birthday celebrated, but we will never be amongst those who think it as much a duty to celebrate it the wrong way as others the right.

But we will tomorrow think of Christ’s birthday; we shall be obliged to do it, I am sure, however sturdily we may hold to our rough Puritanism.

And so, “let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Do not feast as if you wished to keep the festival of Bacchus; do not live tomorrow as if you adored some heathen divinity.

Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. Go to the house of feasting tomorrow, celebrate your Saviour’s birth; do not be ashamed to be glad, you have a right to be happy.

Solomon says, “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.”

“Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.”

Recollect that your Master ate butter and honey. Go your way, rejoice tomorrow; but, in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem; let Him have a place in your hearts, give Him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived Him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given.

I finish by again saying,—’A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!'”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Birth of Christ,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 40 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1894), 40: 610–611.

“There is nothing in Him to keep you back” by Charles Spurgeon

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“O sinners, will you not come to Christ? There is nothing in Him to keep you back.

You need not say, like Esther did of old, ‘I will go in unto the king, if I perish I perish.’

Come, and welcome! Come, and welcome! Christ is more ready to receive you than you are to come to Him.

Come to the King! ‘What is thy petition, and what is thy request? It shall be done unto thee.’

If thou stayest away, it is not because He shuts the door, it is because thou wilt not come.

Come, filthy, naked, ragged, poor, lost, ruined, come, just as thou art. Here He stands, like a fountain freely opened for all comers.

‘Whosoever will, let him come and take of the waters of life freely.'”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Meek and Lowly One,” in The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, vol. 5 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1859), 324.

“A Counselor to restore it” by Charles Spurgeon

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“‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor.’—Isaiah 9:6

Last Sabbath morning we considered the first title, ‘His name shall be called Wonderful:’ this morning we take the second word, ‘Counselor.’

I need not repeat the remark, that of course these titles belong only to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we cannot understand the passage except by referring it to Messiah—the Prince.

It was by a Counselor that this world was ruined.

Did not Satan mask himself in the serpent, and counsel the woman with exceeding craftiness, that she should take unto herself of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, in the hope that thereby she should be as God?

Was it not that evil counsel which provoked our mother to rebel against her Maker, and did it not as the effect of sin, bring death into this world with all its train of woe?

Ah! beloved, it was fitting that the world should have a Counselor to restore it, if it had a Counselor to destroy it. It was by counsel that it fell, and certainly, without counsel it never could have arisen.

But mark the difficulties that surrounded such a Counselor. ’Tis easy to counsel mischief; but how hard to counsel wisely! To cast down is easy, but to build up how hard!

To confuse this world, and bring upon it all its train of ills was an easy thing. A woman plucked the fruit and it was done.

But to restore order to this confusion, to sweep away the evils which brooded over this fair earth, this was work indeed, and ‘Wonderful’ was that Christ who came forward to attempt the work, and who in the plentitude of His wisdom hath certainly accomplished it, to His own honour and glory, and to our comfort and safety.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “His Name—The Counsellor,” in The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, vol. 4 (London; Glasgow: Passmore & Alabaster; James Paul; George John Stevenson; George Gallie, 1858), 4: 401.

“The incarnation of the Son of God” by Charles Spurgeon

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“There have been sights matchless and wonderful, at which we might look for years, and yet turn away and say, ‘I cannot understand this; here is a deep into which I dare not dive; my thoughts are drowned; this is a steep without a summit; I cannot climb it; it is high, I cannot attain it!’

But all these things are as nothing, compared with the incarnation of the Son of God. I do believe that the very angels have never wondered but once and that has been incessantly ever since they first beheld it.

They never cease to tell the astonishing story, and to tell it with increasing astonishment too, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, and became a man.

Is He not rightly called Wonderful?

Infinite, and an infant–

eternal, and yet born of a woman–

Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman’s breast–

supporting the universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms–

king of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph–

heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.

Wonderful art Thou, O Jesus, and that shall be Thy name forever.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “His Name—Wonderful!,” in The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, Vol. 4 (London; Glasgow: Passmore & Alabaster; James Paul; George John Stevenson; George Gallie, 1858), 4: 395–396.

“Die every morning before you leave your bedroom” by Charles Spurgeon

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“The future is intended to be a sealed book. The present is all we need to have before us. Do thy day’s work in its day, and leave to-morrow with thy God. If there were ways of reading the future, it would be wise to decline to use them.

The knowledge would create responsibility, arouse fear, and diminish present enjoyment; why seek after it? Famish idle curiosity, and give your strength to believing obedience.

Of this you may be quite sure, that there is nothing in the book of the future which should cause distrust to a believer. Your times are in God’s hand; and this secures them.

The very word ‘times’ supposes change for you; but as there are no changes with God, all is well. Things will happen which you cannot foresee; but your Lord has foreseen all, and provided for all.

Nothing can occur without his divine allowance, and he will not permit that which would be for your real or permanent injury. “I should like to know”, says one, “whether I shall die soon.” Have no desire in that direction: your time will come when it should.

The best way to live above all fear of death is to die every morning before you leave your bedroom. The apostle Paul said, ‘I die daily.’ (1 Cor. 15:31)

When you have got into the holy habit of daily dying, it will come easy to you to die for the last time. It is greatly wise to be familiar with our last hours.

As you take off your garments at night, rehearse the solemn scene when you shall lay aside your robe of flesh.

When you put on your garments in the morning, anticipate the being clothed upon with your house which is from heaven in the day of resurrection.

To be fearful of death is often the height of folly.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “‘My Times Are in Thy Hand,’” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 37 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1891), 37: 285–286.

“Brethren, do something” by Charles Spurgeon

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“Brethren, do something; do something; DO SOMETHING.

While Committees waste their time over resolutions, do something. While Societies and Unions are making constitutions, let us win souls.

Too often we discuss, and discuss, and discuss, while Satan only laughs in his sleeve. It is time we had done planning, and sought something to plan.

I pray you, be men of action all of you. Get to work, and quit yourselves like men.

Old Suwarrow’s idea of war is mine: ‘Forward and strike! No theory! Attack! Form column! Fix bayonets, and charge right into the very centre of the enemy.’

Our one aim is to save sinners, and this we are not merely to talk about, but to effect in the power of God.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, An All-Round Ministry: Addresses to Ministers and Students (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1900/1960), 42-43.