Charles H.Spurgeon that grand and godly minister of Christ

[Learner]

This thread will be given over to only Charles Spurgeon quotes.

"Faith, again, is not the assurance that Jesus died for me.
...I fear me there are thousands of people who believe that
Jesus died for them,who are not born of God,but rather are
hardened in their sin by their groundless hopes of mercy.
There is no particular efficacy in a man's assuming that Christ
has died for him...merely to conclude that Jesus died for us on the notion that he died for everybody is as far as the east is from the west,from being real faith in Jesus Christ...
Whether the Redeemer died in special and particular for me is not,is not the question to be raised in the first place;I find
that he came into the world to save sinners,under that general character I come to him,I find that whosoever trusteth him shall be saved,I therefore trust him,and having
done so,I learn from his word that I am the object of his
special love,and that I am born of God."

From the sermon "Faith and Regeneration"

 

[mjbee]

"Perfect wisdom ordained your circumstances and selected for you the safest and best condition....Had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances."

From [i:1b2b3ee3c1]Morning & Evening[/i:1b2b3ee3c1], November 11 evening.

 

[Learner]

Oh,but some say is it not written that "He giveth to every man a measure of grace to profit withal?"If you are like to repeat that wonderful quotation so often hurled at my head,
you are very welcome,for it is no quotation from Scripture,un-less it be an Arminian edition...For what do you mean by grace,which I put out, to profit?I can understand a man's improvement in the use of grease,but grace improved and
made use of by the power of man I can not understand.Grace is not a thing which I use;grace is something which uses me.

" Divine Sovereignty"May 4,1856

 

[Irishcat922]

On coming upon a drunken man while taking an evening stroll,the drunk man commented to Spurgeon. "Charles Spurgeon I am one your converts", Spurgeon replied "I believe it, but if you were a convert of the Lord Jesus you would not be living like this."

[Edited on 5-27-2004 by Irishcat922]

 

[Learner]

"Since the day of your conversion has the Word ever rebuked you?Has it sometimes cut down your hopes?Do you
sometimes,after hearing a sermon,feel as if it had been like a
great hurricane tearing right through the forest of your thoughts,cleaving its own course,and leaving many a dead thing that you thought alive swept down to the ground?Do you feel,too,when you go home from the sanctuary,as if God
Himself had been there,you did not know what else it could be.It could not have been the speaker nor the words he
uttered,but the very God did come and look into your eyes,and searched the thoughts of your mind,and turned your heart upside down,and then filled it full again with His
love and with His light,with his truth and with His joy,with His peace and with His desire after holiness?Is it so with you?Where the Word is not with power to your souls,you lack the proof of election."

"Election :Its Defenses and Evidences"1862

 

[Learner]

"Herein is wisdom!This is a deep unsearchable truth.Man
walks without a fetter,yet treads in the very steps which God
ordained him to tread in...Man chooses his own seat,selects
his own position,guided by his will he chooses sin,or guided by divine grace he chooses right,and yet in his choice,God sits as sovereign on the throne..."

From "The Infallibility of God's Purpose" 8/25/1861

 

[Learner]

"Alas,the loiterers are many,but the laborers are few."


From "Laboreers Together"

 

[Learner]

From :"Laborers Together"page 215

"Because God acts in a certain way they call his method of action a law,and straightway they speak of these laws as
if they were forces and powers in and of themselves,and
thus God is banished out of his own universe,and his place is taken up in the scientific world by idols called 'natural laws.'...
It is easy to make idols out of second causes,and to forget the God who is everywhere present,causing all things to work together for good."

 

[staythecourse]

Rev. Spurgeon was among some peers and asked for a collection to be made for a children's home that he supported. Rev. Spurgeon had his hat passed around and unfortunately his peers had taken offense at the request. The hat was passed around and came back to Rev. Spurgeon empty whereupon he looked up and prayed "Thank you Lord that they returned my hat."

 

[Learner]

From "Soul -Saving Our One Business(2)

"the Lord has implanted in the hearts of all genuine believers a passion for the salvation of souls:in some this is more lively than in others,but it ought to be a leading feature in the character of every Christian."

"Millions are dying in their sins,the world still lieth in the wicked one,and sloth calls forgetfulness to her aid to ignore the whole matter.Such people do not want to be made uncomfortable,neither do they wish to spend and be spent
for the glory of Christ."

 

[panicbird]

From Iain Murray's Lecture on Spurgeon

After his conversion: "I feel now as if I could do everything and give up everything for Christ. And then I know it would be nothing in comparison with His love for me."

"I could scarcely content myself, even for five minutes, without trying to do something for Christ."

"The littleness of Christians of this age results from the littleness of their consecration to Christ."

"If we could say of ourselves, from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot, there is not a drop of blood that is not wholly God's, all my time, all my talents, everything I have is God's - if we could say that, we should be strong."

"If the church despises preaching, God will despise her."

"Wake up, church of God! Why are you given to slumber? O, for a voice like thunder. What am I, more than half asleep myself, as I read the life of such a man as Joseph Alleine of Taunton or Richard Baxter of Kidderminster or William Grimshaw of Handworth and George Whitefield of everywhere. I blush at my cold heart, especially when perusing the life of our apostle Paul. I blush a thousand times to think how idly I have lived. These men lived. We dare not say we live. All the longsuffering and the tender mercy of God, that He has had compassion on such a church as that of the present day, who are so dull and sluggish in the service of Christ."

 

[Learner]

"The Centurian"

..."Or, An Exhortation To The Virtuous"

"Wherever you may be placed,a noble character may be earned.You may serve God in the most menial capacity;you
may compel your very foes to your own excellence;you may stand so unblamably before men,and you may walk so up-
rightly before God,that those who watch for your halting may
bite their lips with disappointment,while they shall not have a single word to say against you except it be touching the
religion of your God and King.Let no man,wherever he may
be thrown--though he be surrounded by those who tempt
him--despair,especially if the grace of God be in him.Let him pray like Joab that he may have favour in the eyes of His
Master,and expect to win it."

 

[Learner]

"Human Inability" 3/7/1858

"But careless sinner,learn that thy salvation now hangs
in God's hand.Oh,remember thou art entirely in the hand of God.Thou hast sinned against Him,and if He wills to damn thee,damned thou art.Thou canst not resist His will nor thwart His purpose.Thou hast deserved His wrath,and if he choose to pour the full shower of that wrath upon thy head,thou canst do nothing to avert it.
"If,on the other hand,He choose to save thee,He is able to save thee to the uttermost.But thou liest as much in His hand as the summer's moth beneath thine own finger.He is the God whom thou art grieving every day.Doth it not make thee tremble to think that thy eternal destiny now hangs upon the will of Him whom thou hast angered and incensed?Does not this make thy knees knock together,and thy blood to curdle?If it does so,I rejoice,inasmuch as this as this may be the first effect of the Spirit's drawing in thy soul.Oh,tremble to think that the God whom thou hast angered,is the God upon whom thy salvation or condemnation entirely depends.Tremble and 'kiss the Son lest he be angry,and ye perish from the way while his wrath is kindled but a little.'

 

[alwaysreforming]

Sermons, vol 3, page 34

"A man is not saved against his will, but he is made WILLING by the operation of the Holy Ghost; a mighty grace which he does not wish to resist, enters into the man, disarms him, makes a new creature of him, and he IS saved."

 

[Learner]

"Divine Sovereignty"5/4/1856

"And we say to all of you who gnash your teeth at this doctrine,whether you know it or not,you have a vast deal of enmity toward God in your hearts;for until you can be brought to know this doctrine,there is something which you
have not yet discovered,which makes you opposed to the idea of God absolute,God unbounded,God unfettered,God unchanging,and God having a free will,which you are so fond of proving that the creature possesses.I am persuaded that
the Sovereignty of God must be held by us if we would be in a healthy state of mind.'Salvation is of the Lord alone.'Then give all the glory to His holy name,to whom all glory belongs."

 

[Learner]

From the sermon :"Election"9/2/1855

"Methinks,my friends,that this overwhelming mass of Scripture testimony must stagger those who dare to laugh at this doctrine.What shall we say of those who have so often despised it,and denied its divinity,who have railed at its justice and dared to defy God and call Him an almighty tryant,when they have heard of His having elected so many to eternal life?Canst thou O rejector!cast it out of the Bible?Canst thou take the penknife of Jehudi and cut it out of the Word of God?Wouldst thou be like the woman at the feet of Solomon,and have the child rent in halves,that thou mightest have thy half?Is it not here in Scripture?And is it not thy duty to bow before it,and meekly acknowledge what thou understandest not?--to receive it as the truth even though thou couldst not understand its meaning?"

 

[Learner]

"Salvation Altogether By Grace"7/29/1866

"Do you suppose they[persecuted saints of the past]would have come together to hear that poor milk-and-water theology of this age,or to receive the lukewarm milk and water of our modern anti-Calvinists?Not they,my brethren.They needed stronger meat,and more savoury diet to attract them thus.Do you imagine that when it was death to listen to the preacher,men under the shadows of night,and amid the wings of tempest would then listen to philosophical essays,or to mere precepts,or to diluted,adulterated,soul-less,theological suppositions?No,there is no energy in that kind of thing to draw men together under fear of their lives."

 

[Learner]

"The Unbeliever's Unhappy Condition"

"It is beyond all conception,yet the anger rests on you my hearer.Alas,for you,if you are an unbeliever,for this is your state before God.It is no fiction of mine,but the word of inspired truth:'the wrath of God abideth on him.'
"Then notice the next word,it 'abideth,'this is to say,it is upon you now.He is angry with you at this moment,--and always.You go to sleep with an angry God gazing into your face,you wake in the morning,and if your eye were not dim,you would perceive his frowning countenance.He is angry with you,even when you are singing his praises,for you mock him with solemn sounds,upon a thoughtless tongue;angry with you on your knees,for you only pretend to pray,you utter words without heart.As long as you are not a believer,he must be angry with you every moment.'God
is angry with the wicked every day.'
"That the text saith it abideth,and the present tense takes a long sweep,for it always will abide on you...You shall not see life,but you shall feel wrath to the uttermost.It is horror upon horrors,and hell upon hell,that it shall be upon you for ever."

 

[Learner]

Thou art my help and my deliverer.

"Oh,those blessed 'my's,'those potent 'my's.'The sweetness of the Bible lies in the possessive pronouns."

 

[Learner]

"Quiet Musing"1864

"There is much that is light and frothy in our ordinary intercourse;and our communications one with another soon grow frothy and insipid when we have no definite matter in hand.
"We do not muse much in these days of ours.we are too busy.We are hurrying here and there,doing much,and talking much,but thinking very little and spending but very little time indeed in the modesty of retirement."

 

[Learner]

"Death makes great discoveries...Many men are not believers at all until they die;but Death comes,and makes short work with their skepticism."

 

[Learner]

"The Centurion:Or,An Exhortation...

...To The Virtuous"

"Wherever you may be placed,a noble character may be earned.You may serve God in the most menial capacity:you may compel your very foes to own your excellence;you may stand so unblamably before men,and you may walk so uprightly before God,that those who watch for your halting may bite their lips with disappointment,while they shall not have a single word to say against you except it be touching the religion of your God and king.Let no man,wherever he may be thrown--though he be surrounded by those who tempt him--despair,especially if the grace of God be in him.Let him pray like Joab that he may have favour in the eyes of his Master,and expect to win it."

 

[Learner]

"Bought With A Price"

"Because you are God's,you will be looked at more than others,therefore glorify him.You know it is not always the thing itself,but the ownership that causes curiosity...See here,then,such and such a man belongs to God;what manner of person ought he to be?If there be any one in this world who will not be criticised,depend upon it,Christian,it is not the Christian,:sharp eyes will be upon him,and worldly men will find faults in him which they would not see if he were not a professor...I am glad the world observes us.It has a right to do so.If a man says,'I am God's,'he sets himself up for public observation.Ye are lights in the world,and what are lights intended for but to be looked at?A city set on a hill cannot be hid."

 

[Learner]

"Nor do outward circumstances ever furnish a justification to us if we decline in grace:for ,under the worst conditions,believers have grown in grace:deprived of the joys of Christian fellowship,and denied the comforts of the means of grace,believers have nevertheless been known to attain to a high degree of likeness to Jesus Christ:thrown into the midst of wicked companions,and forced to hear,like righteous Lot,the filthy conversation of the ungodly,yet Christian men have shown all the brighter for the surrounding darkness,and have been able to escape from a wicked and perverse generation...There is no lawful position of which we may say,'it compels a man to decline in grace.' "

 

[Learner]

C.H.Spurgeon:"The Full Harvest"

...I wish they would preach more of Christ,and try to preach more plainly.Death to fine preaching!There is no good in it.All the glory of words and the wisdom of men will certainly come to nought;but the simple testimony of the goodwill of God to men,and of His sovereign choice of his own people,will stand the test,not only of the few years during which I have preached it,but of all the ages of this world till Christ shall come."

 

[Learner]

C.H.Spurgeon :"The Full Harvest"

"I think that I have heard preachers who have seemed to me to bring out a doctrine on purpose to fight over it.I have a dog,that has a rug in which he sleeps;and when I go home to-night,he will bring it out,and shake it before me,not that he particularly cares for his rug,but because he knows that I shall say,'I'll have it,'and then he will bark at me,and in his language say,'No,you won't.'There are some people who fetch out the doctrines of grace just in that way.I can see them trotting along with the doctrine of election just in order that some Arminian brother may dispute with them about it,and then they may bark at him.Do not act so,beloved."

Pages 303-304

 

[Learner]

"Oh,that lake!Have you ever read the words,'Shall be cast into the lake of fire,which is the second death'?The lake of fire!and souls cast into it!The imagery is dreadful.'Ah,'says one,'that is a metaphor.'Yes,I know it is,and a metaphor is but a shadow of the reality.Then,if the shadow be a lake of fire,what must the reality be?If we can hardly bear to think of a 'worm that never dieth,'and a 'fire that never shall be quenched,'and of a lake whose seething waves of fire that dash o'er undying and hopeless souls,what must hell be in very deed?The descriptions of Scriptures are,after all,but condescensions to our ignorance,partial revealings of fathomless mysteries;but if these are so dreadful,what must the full reality be?"

 

[Learner]

"Each man has by God a providential position appointed to him,and the position ordained for each Christian is that in which he looks best;it is the best for him and he is the best for that;and if you could change his position,and shift him to another,he would not be half as happy,nor half so much himself...It may be I have got past that foolish discontent which is altogether selfish,but perhaps I repine because I think,if I were in a different position,I could glorify God more.This species of discontent is very insinuating,but let us beware of it.It is foolish to cry,'if I were placed in a different position,I could do so much more for God!'You could not do so much as you can do now...You would not display the grace of God so well anywhere else as you can do where you are."

 

[Learner]

"When I heard of a young man that,after he joined the church,those in his workshop met him at once with loud laughter and reproached him with bitter scorn.I was thankful,because now he could not take up the same position with themselves.He was a marked man:they who knew him discovered that there was such a thing as Christianity,and such a one as an earnest defender of it.It is no evil to the church,depend upon it,to have a great gulf fixed between her and the world.The worst thing that ever could happen for us is,when affinities are made between the sons of God and the children of Belial.This brought on the Deluge;and if it could ever be carried out thoroughly again,it would bring on judgements terrible to think of.It is ill for the worldly,since 'they that are far from God shall perish;'but it is a thousand times worse for the professing when they play foul with their profession,for so it is written,'Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.'Summary vengence is their lot.'Come out from among them,and be ye separate,and touch not the unclen thing;and I will receive you,and will be a Father to unto you,and ye shall be my sons and daughters.'This is a text that needs to be thundered in trumpet tone."

 

[Scot]

"As for a hazy atonement that atones for everybody in general and for nobody in particular - an atonement made equally for Judas and for John - I care nothing for it."