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Category Archives: Charles H. Spurgeon

Grieve Not the Holy Spirit – November 21st

This was taken from Spurgeon’s morning section of his “Morning and Evening” devotion.

“Grieve not the Holy Spirit.”
Ephesians 4:30

All that the believer has must come from Christ, but it comes solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace. Moreover, as all blessings thus flow to you through the Holy Spirit, so also no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious act, apart from the sanctifying operation of the same Spirit. Even if the good seed be sown in you, yet it lies dormant except he worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Do you desire to speak for Jesus–how can you unless the Holy Ghost touch your tongue? Do you desire to pray? Alas! what dull work it is unless the Spirit maketh intercession for you! Do you desire to subdue sin? Would you be holy? Would you imitate your Master? Do you desire to rise to superlative heights of spirituality? Are you wanting to be made like the angels of God, full of zeal and ardour for the Master’s cause? You cannot without the Spirit–“Without me ye can do nothing.” O branch of the vine, thou canst have no fruit without the sap! O child of God, thou hast no life within thee apart from the life which God gives thee through his Spirit! Then let us not grieve him or provoke him to anger by our sin. Let us not quench him in one of his faintest motions in our soul; let us foster every suggestion, and be ready to obey every prompting. If the Holy Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without him; let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and conclude no transaction, without imploring his blessing. Let us do him the due homage of feeling our entire weakness apart from him, and then depending alone upon him, having this for our prayer, “Open thou my heart and my whole being to thine incoming, and uphold me with thy free Spirit when I shall have received that Spirit in my inward parts.”

Soli Deo Gloria!

False Alarm

01 Feb

On 19 October 1856, as Charles Haddon Spurgeon was preaching at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall for the first time. Someone in the crowd yelled, “Fire!” The ensuing panic and stampede left several dead. Spurgeon was emotionally devastated by the event and it had a sobering influence on his life.

In “C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years, 1834-1859” it is documented by writings of Spurgeon himself that when the yell for “Fire” went up during that tragic moment at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall, Spurgeon tried to proclaim the truth of the matter. But his booming voice could not be heard over the ensuing chaos, and the crowd began to panic. The truth was; suspected thieves and pick pockets had come into the assembly to try and take advantage of the crowded hall.

After reading about this in the above autobiography, my mind reflected on the following biblical passage in 2 Peter.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1 ESV)

As redeemed members of Christ’s church, we need to be on watch for those who would take advantage of a situation or their position in the local church. Although their methods may not be as loud as a thief or pick pocket yelling fire, but as Peter warns in scripture, secretive methods can be just as destructive if not more.

From his vantage point Spurgeon could see the truth that the building was not on fire. In turn we also have a vantage point of the truth. God’s word. The more we read and study God’s word, the more we hone our God given discernment to recognize the falsehoods or the false alarm.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

Be ready Christian. Soli Deo Gloria!

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Posted by barrydean on February 1, 2013 in 2 Peter 2:1, autobiography, bible, Charles H. Spurgeon, false alarm, false teachers, gospel, truth

Infinite and an Infant

16 Dec

I found this eloquent quote from Charles H. Spurgeon related to the birth of Christ.

Infinite, and an infant. Eternal, and yet born of a woman. Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman’s breast. Supporting a 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.

Give Me Five – Unconditional Election

20 Nov

The next point in my brief postings of the Five Points of Calvinism is called “unconditional election.” The doctrine of unconditional election is thoroughly based in scripture. It is a doctrine that in affect claims that before the earth was formed God chose who would come to salvation through His son Jesus Christ. There are many texts in scripture that affirm this doctrine of unconditional election. One of my favorites for God’s sovereignty and election is the whole context of Romans chapter 9. Charles H. Spurgeon states of Romans 9 in his sermon on Unconditional Election, September 2nd, 1855:

So long as that is written there, not the most violent contortions of the passage will ever be able to exterminate the doctrine of election from the Scriptures.

This was a doctrine fully accepted within the protestant church until to the late 19th century and the teachings of Charles Finney. I used to believe and teach this as well. But a few years ago I came to understand, through scripture and the gentle dialog of a dear brother in Christ, that the most illogical theology is one that would teach that God is sovereign in everything else except salvation. They would claim that everything else is under God’s sovereignty except when it comes to something as eternal as the soul of man and his salvation. It isn’t even debated that God chose His people, the Israelites, as stated in the whole of the bible. Why is there an exception for the salvation of men from their sins?

One of the best explanations of God’s unconditional election is provided by Dr. James White in the video below. In the video Dr. White mentions some song lyrics by Steven Curtis Chapman. Those lyrics can be found here.

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Posted by barrydean on November 20, 2008 in Charles H. Spurgeon, Dr. James White, Five Points of Calvinism, Jesus Christ, Romans, Theology, unconditional election

Spurgeon in Wordle

24 Sep

Above is a Wordle I created with the text from Charles H. Spurgeon’s sermon “Secret Sins” Please click on the image to view the larger more detailed version. The word cloud or wordle is designed to make the words larger the more frequent they are used in the text. You will notice an anomaly with one word as it relates to the modern church and it’s use of the word today. That is the use of the word sin. In this word cloud it is one of the largest words in the abstract image. In the contemporary church you would be hard pressed to find more than a handful of churches in a metropolitan area that use the word sin on a regular basis. That needs to change. Believers of Jesus Christ are called to make disciples of Christ by using His gospel. If we don’t use the word sin then how do we fully explain the reason for salvation?

ht: Really Robin for finding the Wordle tool.

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Posted by barrydean on September 24, 2008 in Charles H. Spurgeon, gospel, Jesus Christ, Local church, sin, wordle