The Daily Spurgeon

Unspeakable Gift

2010-07-28T08:30:00.003-04:00

He is God’s unspeakable gift. Heaven itself is nothing as compared with him, and if a man had to wade breast deep through a thousand hells to come at Christ, it were well worth the venture, if at the last he might but say, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his.”

Jesus is so precious that he cannot be matched. There is none like him. The fairest of the fair are uncomely and deformed when compared with him. As Rutherford would say, “Black sun, black moon, black stars, but, O bright, infinitely bright Lord Jesus.” “He is the express image of his Father’s person, and the brightness of his Father’s glory.” Ye shall find none that can be likened unto him, if ye ransack time and space. Miss him as your Savior, and you have lost the only salvation possible; gain him, and you will want no other, for he is made of God unto you “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption,” and all your souls can want; yea, be himself is all. If heaven find earth were sold, ye could not match Christ in any market if ye gave the price of heaven and earth for his like. If you search eternity, and ransack immensity, there shall ne’er be found one fit to be second to him, he is so precious.

From a sermon entitled "Three Precious Things," delivered May 8, 1870. Image by Ed Siasoco under Creative Commons License.

The source of fear

2010-07-27T10:35:00.003-04:00

Adam never was afraid of his God till he had broken his commands. When the Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of day, and Adam heard the Almighty’s foot-fall, he hastened to commune with God as a dear child talks with a loving father. But the moment he had touched the fruit that was forbidden, he ran away and hid himself, and when God said, “Where art thou, Adam?” Adam came cringing and trembling, for he was afraid of God. It is sin, consciousness of sin, that “makes cowards of us all.” Though he who made us is a consuming fire, and we should always have a holy awe of him, yet the fear that gendereth bondage would never have come into our spirit if we had not first of all transgressed his law. Sin is the mother of the fear which hath torment.

From a sermon entitled "Away With Fear," delivered April 10, 1870. Image by David Hopkins under Creative Commons License.

Let us preach everywhere

2010-07-26T10:00:00.002-04:00

All over England, in our cities, towns, villages, and hamlets, there are tens of thousands who never will hear the gospel while open-air preaching is neglected. I believe that God allows us to preach in churches and chapels, but I do not believe that we have any apostolical precedent for it, certainly none for confining our ministry to such places. I believe that we are allowed, if it promote order and edification, to set apart buildings for our worship; but there is no warrant for calling these places sanctuaries and houses of God, for all places are alike holy where holy men assemble.

It is altogether a mischievous thing that we should confine our preaching within walls. Our Lord, it is true, preached in the synagogues, but he often spake on the mountain’s side, or from a boat, or in the court of a house, or in the public thoroughfares. To him an audience was the only necessity. He was a fisher of souls of the true sort, and not of the modern order, who sit in their houses and expect the fish to come to them to be caught.... The minister who does his duty, goes out into the highways and hedges; he goes into all the world; he preaches whether men will hear or whether they will forbear, and delights to make hills and woods ring with the message of peace.

From a sermon entitled "The Model Home Mission And The Model Home Missionary," delivered April 14, 1870. Image by Richard Outram under Creative Commons License.

Grace from first to last

2010-07-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

Many nowadays appear to leap into peace without any convictions of sin — they do not seem to have known what the guilt of sin means; but they scramble into peace before the burden of sin has been felt. It is not for me to judge, but I must confess I have my fears of those who have never felt the terrors of the Lord, and I look upon conviction of sin as a good groundwork for a well-instructed Christian. I observe as a rule that when a man has been put in the prison of the law, and made to wear the heavy chains of conviction, and at last obtains his liberty through the precious blood, he is pretty sure to cry up the grace of God, and magnify divine mercy. He feels that in his case salvation must be of grace from first to last, and he naturally favors that system of theology which magnifies most the grace of God. Those who have not felt this, whose conversion has been of the more easy kind, produced rather by excitement than by depth of thought, seem to me to choose a flimsy divinity, in which man is more prominent, and God is less regarded.

I am sure of this one thing, that I personally desire to ascribe conversion in my own case entirely to the grace of God, and to give God the glory of it; and I dread that conversion which could in any degree deprive God of being in his everlasting decrees the cause of it, by his effectual Spirit the direct agent of it, by his continued working through the Holy Ghost the perfecter of it. Give God the praise, my brethren. You must do so, if you have thoroughly experienced what God’s anger means, and what the turning away of it means.

From a sermon entitled "A New Song For New Hearts," delivered May 1, 1870. Image by Jean-Raphaël Guillaumin under Creative Commons License.

The balance of our spiritual life

2010-07-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

It is not an easy thing to maintain the balance of our spiritual life. No man can be spiritually healthy who does not meditate and commune; no man, on the other hand, is as he should be unless he is active and diligent in holy service. David sweetly sang, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;” there was the contemplative, “he leadeth me beside the still waters;” there was the active and progressive: the difficulty is to maintain the two, and to keep each in its relative proportion to the other. We must not be so active as to neglect communion, nor so contemplative as to become unpractical.

From a sermon entitled "Martha And Mary," delivered April 24, 1870. Image by Jean-Raphaël Guillaumin under Creative Commons License.

If He does not wash you...

2010-07-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

If a man profess to be a Christian, and is not in his walk and conversation holier than other men, that man’s profession is vain. There are some who seem to think that we are to come to Christ as sinners, and then after having believed in him are to live as we did before. But, my brethren, it is not so. Christ saves his people from their sins. When you hear the complaints of God’s servants concerning their temptations and their indwelling sins, you are not to conclude from that sin has dominion over them, or that they have not overcome sin, or that they are not other men than they once were. Nay, my brethren, I believe the holier a man becomes the more he mourns over the unholiness which remains in him; but he is in very truth a far better man, he is a spiritual and holy man.

If Jesus wash you not, so that you become godly and upright, you may depend upon it you have no part in him. If he do not wash that tongue, and cleanse away those angry, or idle, or filthy words; if he do not wash that hand, and render it impossible for it to perform a dishonest or unchaste act; if he do not wash that foot and render it impossible it should be able to carry you to the haunts of vice and criminal amusement, you have no part in him. It is all worthless for unconverted persons to be baptised and come to his table, for if be has not sanctified you in some measure he has not justified you. If you are not a changed man, neither are you a saved man, and if you do not aspire after holiness, neither need you hope that you shall have a part in the heaven of the blessed. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.”

From a sermon entitled "The Sine Qua Non," delivered April 17, 1870. Image by Eduardo Wickboldt under Creative Commons License.

Remembering all God's attributes

2010-07-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

The effeminate and sentimental talkers of this boastful age represent God as though he had no attribute but that of gentleness, no virtue but that of indifference to evil; but the God of the Bible is glorious in holiness, he will by no means spare the guilty, at his bar every transgression is meted out its just recompense of reward. Even in the New Testament, wherein stands that golden sentence, “God is love,” his other attributes are by no means cast into the shade. Read the burning words of Peter, or James, or Jude, and see how the God of Sabaoth abhorreth evil! As the God who must do right, the Lord cannot shut his eyes to the iniquities of man; he must visit transgression with its punishment. He has done it, has done it terribly, and he will do it; even to all eternity he will show himself the God that hateth iniquity and sin. What, then, is to become of man? “All we like sheep have gone astray;” sin must be punished; what, then, can become of us? Infinite love has devised the expedient of representation and substitution.

From a sermon entitled "Individual Sin Laid On Jesus," delivered April 10, 1870. Image by Steve Jurvetson on flickr under Creative Commons License.

Still with us!

2010-07-19T10:01:00.003-04:00

At this day he is with us, and will be with us even to the end of the world. Christ’s existence is not a fact confined to antiquity or to remote distance. By his Spirit he is actually in his church; we have seen him, though not with eyes; we have heard him, though not with ears; we have grasped him, though not with hands; and we feed upon his flesh, which is meat indeed, and his blood, which is drink indeed. We have with us at this very day Jesus our friend, to whom we make known our secrets, and who beareth all our sorrows. We have Jesus our interpreting instructor, who still reveals his secrets to us, and leads us into the mind and name of God. We have Jesus still with us to supply us with strength, and in his power we still are mighty. We confess his reigning sovereignty in the church, and we receive his all-sufficient succours.

The church is not decapitated, her Head abides in vital union with her; Jesus is no myth to us, whatever he may be to others; he is no departed shade, he is no heroic personification: in very deed there is a Christ, and though others see him not, and even we with these eyes see him not, yet in him believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Oh, I trust it will never be so with us, that as we go about our life work our religion shall melt into fiction and become nothing but mere sentiment, nothing but thought, and dream, and vision; but may our religion be a matter of fact, a walking with the living and abiding Savior. Though Moses may be gone, and Elias may be gone, yet Jesus Christ abideth with us and in us, and we in him, and so shall it be evermore.

From a sermon entitled "Jesus Only," delivered April 3, 1870. Image on flickr by Steve Jurvetson under Creative Commons License.

Let us send for Him!

2010-07-16T20:18:00.004-04:00

We have sinned, great God, and we confess the sin. What preparation, then, can we make? Suppose we sit down and investigate our case. Can we plead extenuations? Can we urge excuses or mitigations, or hope to escape by promises of future improvement? Let us give up the attempt, my brethren. We have gone astray wilfully and wickedly, and we shall do it again, and it is of no use for us to set up any kind of defense that is grounded upon ourselves. How, then, can we be prepared to meet our God? Hearken. There is an Advocate, and it is written, “If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” Let us send for him.

From a sermon entitled "Prepare To Meet Thy God," delivered March 27, 1870. Image by Trey Matula under Creative Commons License.

If He be your intimate friend...

2010-07-14T10:28:00.003-04:00

When you know a man, if he be your intimate friend, you trust him, you love him, you esteem him, you are on speaking terms with him; you not only bow to him in the street, but you go to his house, you sit down with him at his table; at other times, you hold counsel with him, or you ask his assistance; and he comes to your house, and you hold familiar association the one with the other. Such the good understanding there is between you and the man of whom it may be truly said that you know him. On such terms must the soul be with Christ. He must not be merely an historic personage of whom we read in the page of Scripture; but a real person, with whom we can speak in spirit, commune in heart, and be united in the bonds of love. We must know him, his very person, so as to love and to trust him as a real Lord to us. Judge, then, each one yourselves, whether you really and indeed in this sense “know” Christ.

Do distinguish, however, between knowing about Christ and knowing Christ. We may know very much about many of our great men, though we do not know them. Now, it will never save a soul to know about Christ. The only saving knowledge is to know him, his very self, and to trust him, the living Savior, who is now at the right hand of God. To him it is we speak. With him in very deed we commune.

From a sermon entitled "Sincerity And Duplicity," delivered March 6, 1870. Image by Tom Chambers under Creative Commons License.

He saw that tear

2010-07-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

When you let fall a tear because you could not understand the word, Jesus saw that tear; when you groaned because you could not get satisfaction of heart, he heard that groan. Never true heart seeks Christ without Christ’s being well aware of it. Well may he know of it, for every motion of a trembling heart towards himself is caused by his own love. He is drawing you, though you perceive not the hands of a man which encircle you. He is the hidden loadstone by which your heart is moved. I know it is night with you, and you grope like a blind man for the wall; but if your heart says, “O that I could but embrace him! O that he were mine! If I could but find rest in him, I would give all that I have.” Then be assured that Jesus is close to you: your prayers are in his ear, your tears fall upon his heart; he knows all about your difficulties, all about your doubts and fears, and he sympathises in the whole, and in due time he will break your snares, and you shall yet with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation.

From a sermon entitled "Nathanael And The Fig Tree," delivered March 20, 1870. Image by dingbat2005 under Creative Commons License.

Are we still running?

2010-07-09T08:00:00.001-04:00

Think, beloved, each one of you who are Christ’s, how much you may have backslidden of late. Have you not become lax in prayer? You maintain the habit of it, and you could not give that up, but you have not that power in prayer you once had. You still read the word, but mayhap the Scripture is not so sweet to you as it was aforetime. You come now to the communion table, you have not learned to forsake the assembling of yourselves together there; but oh, the face of the King, in his beauty, have you seen that as once you did?

Perhaps you still are doing a little for his cause, but are you doing what you once did or all you might do? Instead of going on unto perfection, is not your growth stunted? Must you not confess that you are not a runner towards heaven so much as a loiterer in the road thither? Do these accusations evoke no confessions? I fear the most of us, if we came to search, would have to say, “I do remember when the love of my espousals was upon me, and my heart was warm with love to Christ; but now, alas! how slow are my passions in moving towards him! O that I could feel once again the glow of my first love, and that my spirit did rejoice in him as on the day of my conversion.”

From a sermon entitled "Backsliding Healed," delivered March 13, 1870. Image by David Baron under Creative Commons License.

Gathered in His Name

2010-07-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Where two or three are gathered together in Christ’s name, there is he in the midst of them; and in the greater assemblies of his people, when the solemn hymn swells up to heaven, and the fervent prayer rises like a cloud of sweet perfume, and the ministry of the gospel is diffused like a sweet smelling savor of Christ unto God — there God is; there the Father is, receiving returning prodigals, accepting his dear children who feel the spirit of adoption; there the Son is, manifesting himself unto them as he doth not unto the world; there the Spirit is, working in them to will and to do of his own good pleasure, and helping their infirmities as a Comforter and an Advocate. Have you not often felt the presence of God, my dear brethren and sisters, in your assemblies as the people of God?

From a sermon entitled "A Generous Proposal." Image by jaci Lopes dos Santos under Creative Commons License.

There is one who is mighty to save

2010-07-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

Ah, soul, here is another part of thy misery, that thou hast destroyed thyself, but thou canst not save thyself; thou hast woven the net, thou hast made it fast and firm, but thou canst not tear it in pieces. But there is One who can, there is One upon whom the Spirit of the Lord descended that he might loose the prisoner. There is a heart that feels for thee in heaven, and there is One mighty to save, who can rescue thee.

Breathe that prayer, “O set me free, thou Liberator of captive souls;” breathe the prayer now, and believe that he can deliver thee, and thou shalt yet, captive as thou art, go free, and this shall be thy ransom price, his precious blood; and this shall be the privilege of thy ransomed life, to love and praise him who hath redeemed thee from going down into the pit.

From a sermon entitled "Sinners Bound With The Cords Of Sin," delivered February 13, 1870. Image by Jean-Raphaël Guillaumin under Creative Commons License.

God has not cast away His ancient people

2010-07-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Gate on top of the fortress of Masada

They were favored with special protections in providence, with special guidances in all their difficulties, special supplies in time of famine; and if they sometimes had special chastisements, yet even these were but tokens of his peculiar regard. Israel was precious in the sight of God, and therefore, though small and inconsiderable, it was honorable among the nations, so that David could truthfully say, “What one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself?”

I need not dwell upon God’s special love to Israel. We believe it continues to this hour, and though the scattered nation be despised, and the precious sons of Zion comparable to fine gold are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter, yet the day shall come when “There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Then Judea’s mountains (thy land, O Immanuel), shall drop down with new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; then the glorious diadem of her former glory shall return to Zion’s brow, and God, even her own God, shall bless her. The covenant of salt shall be remembered, and it shall be seen that the Lord hath not cast away his people whom he did foreknow.

From a sermon entitled "Precious, Honorable, Beloved," delivered February 20, 1870. Image by Matt Mickelson under Creative Commons License.

Built on a Rock

2010-07-01T08:45:00.000-04:00

Beloved hearer, if thou wouldst be built on a rock, see to it that thou hast a true sense of sin. I do not say that a sense of sin is a preparation for Christ, and that we ought to put men back from the gospel till they feel their sin; but I do believe that wherever there is true faith in Jesus there goes with it a deep abhorrence of sin. Faith without contrition is a dead and worthless faith. When I meet with professors who talk lightly of sin, I feel sure that they have built without a foundation. If they had ever felt the Spirit’s wounding and killing sword of conviction, they would flee from sin as from a lion or a bear.

Truly forgiven sinners dread the appearance of evil as burnt children dread the fire. Superficial repentance always leads to careless living. Faith that was never bedewed with repentance never brings forth the flowers of holiness. Pray earnestly for a broken heart. Remember it is the contrite spirit which God is pleased with. Do not believe that you can have ground for rejoicing if you never saw reason for lamenting. The promised comfort is only secured to those who have been mourners. (Matthew 5. 4.)

From a sermon entitled "The Two Builders And Their Houses," delivered February 27, 1870. Image by Irish Typepad under Creative Commons License.

His Garden

2010-06-28T08:30:00.000-04:00

A church that is not Christ’s church shall have none of his presence, and a soul that is not Christ’s has no fellowship with him. If he reveal himself at all, it is unto his own people, his blood-bought people, the people that are his by purchase and by power, and by the surrender of themselves to him. When I think of this church as committed to my care, I am overawed, and well may my fellow-officers be cast down under the weight of our responsibility; but after all we may say, “Master, this garden is not ours; it is thy garden. We have not begotten all this people, neither can we carry them in our bosoms; but thou, great Shepherd of the sheep, thou will guard the fold.” Since the garden is his own, he will not suffer even the least plant to perish.

My brethren who work for Christ, do not be downcast if certain portions of the work should not seem to succeed. He will attend to it. “The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” It is more his work than ours, and souls are more under his responsibility than ours. So let us hope and be confident, for the Master will surely smile upon his “vineyard of red wine.”

From a sermon entitled "The King Feasting In His Garden," delivered March 6, 1870. Image by Randy Robertson under Creative Commons License.

To overcome and subdue

2010-06-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

Not unfrequently the apostle compares our spiritual life to a boxing match, and the terms in the original Greek if they were translated into pure vernacular English, would remind us very much of a boxing ring and of the place where wrestlers strive for the mastery. To wit, in that notable

passage, “I keep under my body,” we are told by scholars that the Greek word alludes to the getting of the antagonist’s head under the arm, and dealing it heavy blows. So the flesh must be mortified. Now the wrestlers in the Greek and Roman games strained every muscle and sinew, there was no part of the body that was not brought into action to overthrow their adversary. For this they agonised till often blood would spurt from the nostrils, and veins would burst. Such in a spiritual sense must be the agony of a Christian if he is to overcome temptation, and subdue the power of sin. Ah brethren! it is no child’s play to win heaven. Saved, as I repeat it, through the power of Christ’s blood and with the energy of his Holy Spirit within us, yet we have no time to loiter, no space in which to trifle; we must labor, striving according to his working who worketh in us mightily.

From a sermon entitled "Work In Us And Work By Us," delivered. Image by Richard Taylor under Creative Commons License.

Holy Joy

2010-06-17T08:00:00.003-04:00

Whenever the assemblies of God’s people meet, there should be much of holy joy. Some people are so afraid of joy, that one might suppose them to labor under the delusion that all who are devout must also be unhappy. If we worshipped Baal, to lance ourselves with knives were most fitting, if

we were worshippers of Juggernaut or Kalee, self-inflicted tortures might be acceptable; if we adored the pope, it might be proper for us to wear a hair shirt and practice flagellation; but as we worship the ever blessed God, whose delight is to make his creatures happy, holy happiness is a part of worship, and joy in the Lord one of the accepted graces of the Holy Spirit. Brethren, let us be happy when we praise God.

From a sermon entitled "Method And Music, Or The Art Of Holy And Happy Living," delivered January 30, 1870. Image by George Lu under Creative Commons License.

Stand in awe of the Spirit

2010-06-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

When a scholar knows that all he has learned has been taught him by his master, he looks up from his master’s feet into his master’s face with respectful reverence and esteem. O reverence the Holy Ghost. Let us in our public ministry and in our private meditations always stand in awe of him. I am afraid we too much forget him, let us reverence him especially by obedience to his faintest monitions. As the leaves of the aspen tremble to the faintest breath of the wind, so may we tremble to the faintest breath of God’s Holy Spirit. Let us prize the word because he wrote it; let us love the ordinances because he puts life and power into them. Let us love his indwelling, and never grieve him lest he hide his face from us. “He that hath wrought us to the selfsame thing is God.” Vex not his Spirit, but anxiously ask that he would continue his work, and complete it in righteousness.

From a sermon entitled "The Glorious Hereafter And Ourselves," delivered January 23, 1870. Image by Tim Green under Creative Commons License.

By the Substitute

2010-06-15T08:00:00.002-04:00

It is that cardinal doctrine of the Christian religion that sin is pardoned through a sacrifice. Substitution is the very pith and marrow of the revelation of God. The Lord Jesus Christ stood in the place of the sinner, and was made a bloody sacrifice for sin; even as the sacrificed lamb poured out its life-blood, so did he give up his life to redeem our lives. Now, dear friends, thou who art seeking peace today, remember that the place where thou wilt find light for thy darkness is where Christ made himself a sacrifice for sin. Thy comfort will not arise from studying his most pure and admirable life, but by considering his painful substitutionary death. He was made sin for you, though he knew no sin, that you might be made the righteousness of God in him. He was made to die a death of pain and ignominy, and anguish, and to pour out his blood that you might not feel the sword of vengeance on account of your sins. Notice that the text tells us what his sacrifice was, it was himself. Sin was not put away by the offering of his living works, nor by the incense of his prayer, nor by the oblation of his tears, nor even by the presentation of his pains and groans before God, but by the sacrifice of himself.

From a sermon entitled "The Putting Away Of Sin," delivered January 16, 1870. Image by Keven Law under Creative Commons License.

The hand that led us to the Cross

2010-06-14T08:00:00.001-04:00

Let me ask you to think for a moment on the third Person of the blessed Godhead, namely, the Holy Ghost. Let us never forget that when we were like filthy rags his hand touched us. When we were like corrupt and rotten carcases in the graves of sin, his breath quickened us. It was his hand that led us to the cross. It was his finger that took the film from the eye. It was his eyesalve that illuminated us that we should look to Jesus and live. Since that hour the blessed Spirit has lived in our heart. Oh, what a dreadful place, I was about to say, for God to dwell in! But the Holy Ghost has never utterly left us. We have grieved him; we have vexed him ofttimes; but still he is here, still resident within the soul, never departing, being himself the very life of the living incorruptible seed that abideth for ever.

My dear friends, how often the Holy Ghost has comforted you! How very frequently in your calm moments has he revealed Christ to you! How often has the blessed truth been laid home to you with a divine savor which it never could have had, if it had not been for him! He is God, and the angels worship him, and yet he has come into the closest possible contact with you. Christ was incarnate, and the flesh in which he was incarnate was pure and perfect. The Holy Ghost was not incarnate, but still he comes to dwell in the bodies of his saints, bodies still impure, still unholy. Oh, what grace and condescension is this! Thou blessed Dove, thou Dear Comforter, thou kind Lover of the fallen sons of men, thy condescension is matchless! We love thee even as we love Christ himself, and this night if we ask the question, “What shall we render unto the Lord the Holy Ghost for all his benefits towards us?” we know not how to answer, but can only say, “Take us, take us, Holy Spirit; use us; fill us with thyself; sanctify us to thy holiest purposes; use us right up; make us living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God, for it is our reasonable service.”

From a sermon entitled "Overwhelming Obligations." Image by Keven Law under Creative Commons License.

The Gospel is growing and spreading

2010-06-11T08:00:00.003-04:00

If at first he was revealed to one, then to more, then to a numerous band, expect, my brethren, the fulfillment of that promise, “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” If the glory of Jesus be today seen by thousands, it shall yet be unveiled to tens of thousands, and in the latter days the voice which spake once and again to our fathers, shall so speak as to shake not only earth but also heaven, and in that day if not before, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The heavenly testimony grows and spreads. Jesus is proclaimed as Lord in many hearts. Look not on the present littleness of his visible kingdom, despise not the day of small things; the witness of Jesus is but a spark of fire, but the conflagration thereof shall yet belt [ed. - encircle] the world with holy flame.

From a sermon entitled "Voices From The Excellent Glory," delivered January 9, 1870. Image by under Creative Commons License.

Reputation

2010-06-07T08:00:00.001-04:00

A Christian minister must expect to lose his repute among men. He must be willing to suffer every reproach for Christ’s sake. But, then, he may rest assured that he will never lose his real honor if it be risked for the truth’s sake and placed in the Redeemer’s hand. The day shall declare the excellence of the upright, for it will reveal all that was hidden, and bring to the light that which was concealed. There will be a resurrection of characters as well as persons. Every reputation that has been obscured by clouds of reproach for Christ’s sake, shall be rendered glorious when the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let the wicked say what they will of me, said the apostle, I commit my character to the Judge of quick and dead.

From a sermon entitled "Assured Security in Christ," delivered January 2, 1870. Image by connor395 under Creative Commons License.

The Word never void

2010-06-04T08:30:00.001-04:00

The gospel is all life and energy, like leaven it heaves and ferments with inward energy, it cannot rest till it leavens all around it. It may be compared to salt which must permeate, penetrate, and season that which is subject to its influence. Paul compares the preaching of Christ to a sweetsmelling savor. Now, you cannot say to a perfume, “Be quiet; do not load the air with sweets; do not affect men’s nostrils.” It cannot do otherwise, the fragrance must fill the chamber. Even so, Christ must be a savor, either of life unto life, or of death unto death; but a savor he must be wherever he comes. It is do more possible for you to restrain the working of the gospel than to forbid the action of fire.

Stand before the fire, it shall warm and comfort you; thrust your hand into it, it shall burn you. Keep that fire in its proper place, it shall yield you abundant service; cast forth the firebrand, it shall consume your house, it shall devour all that comes in contact with it. You cannot say to fire, “Restrain your consuming energy.” It must work because it is fire. And so with yonder sun. Though clouds may hide it from our sight at this moment, yet for ever does it pour forth, as from a furnace mouth, its heat and light. Nor could it cease to burn and shine, unless it ceased to be a sun. As long as it is a sun, it must permeate surrounding space, with its influence and splendor. Do you wonder that the Sun of Righteousness is of yet diviner energy? Do you marvel that whether the blaze of his glory blinds his enemies, or his warmth of love dries the tears of his friends, in every case there is a distinct result, and a manifest effect? Never does the gospel return void, it prospers even in that for which the Lord hath sent it.

From a sermon entitled "Christ - The Fall And Rise Of Many," delivered December 26, 1869. Image by sophie under Creative Commons License.