Quotable Quote - C H Spurgeon on Secondary Separation

In a sermon entitled "NO COMPROMISE" preached, 130 years ago, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Lord's day morning 7th October 1888, C. H. Spurgeon stated the following about his own practice of 'secondary separation':

"That I might not stultify my testimony I have cut myself clear of those who err from the faith, and even from those who associate with them." 

Spurgeon's text that morning was the words of Genesis 24:5-8: And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.

C H Spurgeon - The First Resurrection

C. H. Spurgeon preached on the First Resurrection on the Lord's day morning 5th May 1861 at the famous Metropolitan Tabernacle, London.

This is what he said towards the commencement of his sermon on how the reference to the first resurrection in Revelation 20:4-6 should be understood:

Before I proceed to enter into these privileges, I must remark that two  modes of understanding this verse have been proposed, both of which I think are untenable. 

I have been reading carefully through Albert Barnes. He gives it, as his opinion, that the first resurrection here spoken of is a resurrection of principles, — a resurrection of the patience, the undaunted courage, the holy boldness and constancy of the ancient martyrs. He says  these great principles have been forgotten, and, as it were, buried and that during the spiritual reign of Christ which is to come, these great principles  will have a resurrection. 

Quotable Quote - C. H. Spurgeon

We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when Romanism shall be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed shall wane, never again to cast its baleful rays upon the nations; when kings shall bow down before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call their Redeemer blessed. 

Some despair of this… but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that:
“Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run.” 

We are not discouraged by the length of his delays; we are not disheartened by the long period which he allots to the church in which to struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never suffer this world, which has once seen Christ’s blood shed upon it, to be always the devil’s stronghold. 

Quotable Quote

The nearest place to the gate of heaven is the throne of the heavenly grace. C. H. Spurgeon

Quotable Quote

Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right. C. H. Spurgeon

C. H. Spurgeon on 'Compromise'

Charles Haddon Spurgeon contended much against compromise during his ministry. Here is an extract from one of his sermons entitled "No Compromise".

It was based upon the words of Genesis 24:5-8: And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou earnest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that aware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.

This sermon was preached on Lord's day morning 7th October 1888. It is sermon number 2047 and appears in Volume 34 of Spurgeon's sermons. 

This is the suggestion of the present hour: if the world will not come to Jesus, shall Jesus tone down his teachings to the world? In other words, if the world will not rise to the church, shall not the church go down to the world? Instead of bidding men to be converted, and come out from among sinners, and be separate from them, let us join with the ungodly world, enter into union with it, and so pervade it with our influence by allowing it to influence us. Let us have a Christian world.

To this end let us revise our doctrines. Some are old-fashioned, grim, severe, unpopular; let us drop them out. Use the old phrases so as to please the obstinately orthodox, but give them new meanings so as to win philosophical infidels, who are prowling around. Pare off the edges of unpleasant truths, and moderate the dogmatic tone of infallible revelation: say that Abraham and Moses made mistakes, and that the books which have been so long had in reverence are full of errors. Undermine the old faith, and bring in the new doubt; for the times are altered, and the spirit of the age suggests the abandonment of everything that is too severely righteous, and too surely of God.

"Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats"

The article contained in this Blog post has often been attributed to C. H. Spurgeon. However, it does not appear within any of his voluminous works which are in print.

It has also been attributed to Rev Archibald Brown, who was a friend of Spurgeon’s and who briefly occupied the pulpit of the Metropolitan Tabernacle after Spurgeon’s death. There are those who say that it is actually from a sermon Rev Archibald Brown preached entitled, "The Devil's Mission of Amusement."

The usual title under which this article is found is: "Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats". It is a highly appropriate article and very applicable to the Church of Jesus Christ today. Much of what passes for feeding the sheep, in reality, amounts to nothing else but entertaining the goats.

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most short-sighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

C H Spurgeon on the 'Family'

My wife drew my attention to these words about the Family [I am presently preaching a series on the Family in Newtownabbey FPC] which she read in a sermon preached by C. H. Spurgeon, entitled: 'Comfort from the Future'.

The words come from No. 2676 in Volume 46 of his sermons. It was preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Lord's day evening 30th January 1881, upon the text in Job 11:16: Thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away.

The Importance of the Church Prayer Meeting

It has often been said that a Church is as strong and useful for God as its prayer meeting is. Is the prayer meeting well attended? Is there a spirit of believing prayer among the people?

Sadly oftentimes the prayer meeting is the least attended meeting in the church's weekly schedule of meetings and activities. Yet, the prayer meeting is the powerhouse of the Church! The story is told that when visitors would come to C H Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle, in London, he would take them to the prayer-room where people were always on their knees interceding. Spurgeon would then declare: Here is the powerhouse of this church!

C H Spurgeon on The Millennium

In his Morning & Evening devotions today C H Spurgeon has the following to say upon the text in Isaiah 40:5: The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when Romanism shall be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed shall wane, never again to cast its baleful rays upon the nations; when kings shall bow down before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call their Redeemer blessed. 

Quotable Quote!

C H Spurgeon on Imprecatory Psalms

In Psalm 129:5 of his commentary entitled Treasury of David C H Spurgeon said:

How can we wish prosperity to those who would destroy that which is dearest to our hearts? This present age is so flippant that if a man loves the Saviour he is styled a fanatic, and if he hates the powers of evil he is named a bigot. 

As for ourselves, despite all objectors, we join heartily in this commination; and would revive in our heart the old practice of Ebal and Gerizim, where those were blessed who bless God, and those were cursed who make themselves a curse to the righteous. We have heard men desire a thousand times that the gallows might be the reward of the assassins who murdered two inoffensive men in Dublin, and we could never censure the wish; for justice ought to he rendered to the evil as well as to the good. 

Besides, the church of God is so useful, so beautiful, so innocent of harm, so fraught with good, that those who do her wrong are wronging all mankind and deserve to be treated as the enemies of the human race. Study a chapter from the "Book of Martyrs", and see if you do not feel inclined to read an imprecatory Psalm over Bishop Bonner and Bloody Mary. It may be that some wretched nineteenth century sentimentalist will blame you: if so, read another over him.

'Never be bettered' - What C H Spurgeon thought of the Authorised Version

In a sermon on the last words of Christ on the cross preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Lord's day evening 25th June 1882 and found in Volume 45 of his sermons number 1644 C H Spurgeon makes a telling comment about the Authorised Version:
I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean. Ideal anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself. He had studied our Authorized Version, which will never be bettered, as I judge, till Christ shall come; he had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress — that sweetest of all prose poems — without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!”

The quotation can be read in its immediate context below:

What it is to preach Christ

In reading one of C. H. Spurgeon's sermons I came across these words where he defines what it is to preach Christ:

My friends, I do not believe it is preaching Christ and him crucified, to give our people a batch of philosophy every Sunday morning and evening, and neglect the truth of this Holy Book. I do not believe it is preaching Christ and him crucified, to leave out the main cardinal doctrines of the Word of God, and preach a religion which is all a mist and a haze, without any definite truths whatever. 

I take it that man does not preach Christ and him crucified, who can get through a sermon without mentioning Christ’s name once; nor does that man preach Christ and him crucified who leaves out the Holy Spirit’s work, who never says a word about the Holy Ghost, so that indeed the hearers might say, “We do not so much as know whether there be a Holy Ghost.” 

And I have my own private opinion that there is no such a thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism. I have my own ideas, and those I always state boldly. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering, love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen people; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having believed. Such a gospel I abhor. 

The gospel of the Bible is not such a gospel as that. We preach Christ and him crucified in a different fashion, and to all gainsayers we reply, “We have not so learned Christ.”

Thought for the day from C. H. Spurgeon

I came across this quote from C H Spurgeon today:

The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

Thought for the day

Backsliders begin with dusty Bibles and end with filthy garments. ... C. H. Spurgeon

Timely words from C H Spurgeon on hating sin

Taken from Morning & Evening

Morning, 29th May

Thou hatest wickedness. Psalm 45:7

“Be ye angry, and sin not.” There can hardly be goodness in a man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way. How our Lord Jesus hated it when the temptation came! Thrice it assailed him in different forms, but ever he met it with, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” 

He hated it in others; none the less fervently because he showed his hate oftener in tears of pity than in words of rebuke; yet what language could be more stern, more Elijah-like, than the words, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer.” He hated wickedness, so much that he bled to wound it to the heart; he died that it might die; he was buried that he might bury it in his tomb; and he rose that he might forever trample it beneath his feet. 

Christ is in the Gospel, and that Gospel is opposed to wickedness in every shape. Wickedness arrays itself in fair garments, and imitates the language of holiness; but the precepts of Jesus, like his famous scourge of small cords, chase it out of the temple, and will not tolerate it in the Church. So, too, in the heart where Jesus reigns, what war there is between Christ and Belial! 

And when our Redeemer shall come to be our Judge, those thundering words, “Depart, ye cursed” which are, indeed, but a prolongation of his life-teaching concerning sin, shall manifest his abhorrence of iniquity. As warm as is his love to sinners, so hot is his hatred of sin; as perfect as is his righteousness, so complete shall be the destruction of every form of wickedness. O thou glorious champion of right, and destroyer of wrong, for this cause hath God, even thy God, anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

The Millennial Position of C H Spurgeon

A very interesting article specifically setting forth the millennial position of C. H. Spurgeon but also very good on end time matters generally.

Different millennial views are defined and explained in an easy to follow way. Well worth reading!

Click on image below to download pdf [Adobe reader required]