Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCharles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - Gems: 4 Spurgeon Gem #100-200 cont'd
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Gems (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 4 Spurgeon Gem #100-200 cont'd
Other Subjects in this Topic:
177 - Love God!
Behold, him whom you cannot behold! Lift up your eyes to the seventh heaven; see where, in dreadful majesty, the brightness of his gown makes the angels veil their faces, lest the light, too strong for even them, should strike them with eternal blindness. See him, who stretched the heavens like a tent to dwell in, and then weaves into their tapestry, with golden needle, stars that glitter in the darkness. Mark him who spread the earth, and created man upon it. And hear you what he is. He is all-sufficient, eternal, self existent, unchangeable, omnipotent, omniscient! Will you not reverence him? He is good, he is loving, he is kind, he is gracious! See the bounties of his providence; behold the plenitude of his grace! Will you not love Jehovah, because he is Jehovah?
178 - True Love
It seems too costly for him who is the Prince of Life and Glory to let his fair limbs be tortured in agony; that the hands which carried mercies should be pierced with accursed nails; that the temples that were always clothed with love should have cruel thorns driven through them. It appears too much. Oh! Weep, Christian, and let our sorrow rise. Is not the price all but too great, that your beloved should for you resign himself?
179 - Wisdom
It is marvelous that the men who most of all speak against faith are remarkable for gullibility. One of the greatest unbelievers in the world, who has called himself a free-thinker from his birth, is to be found now tottering into his tomb, believing the wildest absurdity that a child might make up. Not caring to have God in their hearts, forsaking the living fountain, they have hewn out to themselves cisterns which are broken, and hold no water. Oh! That we may each of us be more wise, that we may not forsake the good old path, nor leave the way that God has prepared for us. What wonder we should travel among thorns and briars, and tear our own flesh, or worse than that, fall among dark mountains, and be lost among the chasms, if we despise the guidance of an unerring Father.
180 - Our Cunning Enemy
A cunning enemy we have to deal with; he knows our weak points; he has been dealing with men for these last six thousand years; he knows all about them. He is possessed of a gigantic intellect: though he be a fallen spirit; and he is easily able to discover where our sore places are, and there it is he immediately attacks us. If we are like Achilles, and cannot be wounded anywhere but in our heel, then at the heel he will send his dart, and nowhere else.
181 - The Song of Death
There are some that are like what is fabled of the swan. The ancients said the swan never sang in his life-time, but always sang just when he died. Now, there are many of God's desponding children, who seem to go all their life under a cloud; but they get a swan's song before they die. The river of their life comes running down, perhaps black and miry with troubles, and when it begins to touch the white foam of the sea there comes a little glistening in its waters. So, beloved, though we may have been very much discouraged because of the burden of the way, when we get to the end we shall have sweet songs. Are you afraid of dying? Oh! Never be afraid of that; be afraid of living. Living is the only thing which can do an mischief; dying never can hurt a Christian. Afraid of the grave? It is like the bath of Esther, in which she lay for a time, to purify herself with spices, that she might be fit for her Lord. The grave fits the body for heaven. There it lies: and corruption, earth, and worms, only refine and purify our flesh. Do not be afraid of dying; it does not take any time at all. All that death is, is emancipation, deliverance, heaven's bliss to a child of God. Never fear it; it will be a singing time. You are afraid of dying, you say, because of the pains of death. No, they are pains of life-of life struggling to continue. Death has no pain; death itself is only one gentle sigh--the chain is broken, and the spirit is set free. The best moment of a Christian's life is his last one because it is the one that is nearest heaven; and then it is that he begins to strike the keynote of the song which he shall sing for all eternity.
182 - The Mysterious Spirit of the Living God
It may be, that during a sermon two men are listening to the same truth; one of them hears as attentively as the other and remembers as much of it; the other is melted to tears or moved with solemn thoughts; but the one though equally attentive, sees nothing in the sermon, except, maybe, certain important truths well set forth; as for the other, his heart is broken within him and his soul is melted. Ask me how is it that the same truth has an effect upon the one, and not upon his fellow: I reply, because the mysterious Spirit of the Living God goes with the truth to one heart and not to the other. The one only feels the force of truth, and that may be strong enough to make him tremble, like Felix; but the other feels the Spirit going with the truth, and that renews the man, regenerates him, and causes him to pass into that condition, that gracious condition which is called the state of salvation. This change takes place instantaneously. It is as miraculous a change as any miracle of which we read in Scripture. It is supremely supernatural. It may be mimicked, but no imitation of it can be true and real. Men may pretend to be regenerated without the Spirit, but regenerated they cannot be. It is change so marvelous that the highest attempts of man can never reach it. We may reason as long as we please, but we cannot reason ourselves into regeneration; we may meditate till our hairs are gray with study; but we cannot meditate ourselves into the new birth. That is worked in us by the sovereign will of God alone.
183 - No man can serve two masters.
Mark Anthony yoked two lions to his chariot; but there are two lions no man has ever yoked together--the lion of the tribe of Judah, and the lion of the pit. These can never go together. Two opinions you may hold in politics, perhaps, but then you will be despised by everyone, unless you are of one opinion or the other, and act as an independent man. But two opinions in the matter of soul-religion you cannot hold. If God be God, serve him, and do it thoroughly; but if this world is God, serve it, and make no profession of religion. If you are a worldling, and think the things of the world are the best, serve them; devote yourself to them, do not be kept back by conscience; ignore your conscience, and run into sin. But remember, if the Lord is your God, you cannot have Baal too; you must have one thing or the other. "No man can serve two masters." If God is served, he will be a master; and if the devil be served, he will not be long before he will be a master; and "you cannot serve two masters." Oh! Be wise, and do not think that the two can be mingled together.
184 - If God is God
If God is really worthy of our worship, and you really think so, I demand that you either follow him, or else deny that he is God at all. Now, professor of Christianity, if you say that Christ's gospel is the gospel, if you believe in the divinity of the gospel, and put your trust in Christ, I demand that you follow the gospel, not merely because it will be to your advantage, but because the gospel is divine. If you make a profession of being a child of God, if you are a believer, and think and believe religion is the best, the service of God the most desirable, then I do not come to plead with you because of any advantage you would get by being holy; it is on this ground that I put it, that the Lord is God; and if he is God, it is your business to serve him. If his gospel is true, and you believe it to be true, it is your duty to carry it out. If you say, Christ is not the Son of God, carry out your Jewish or your infidel convictions, and see whether it will end well. If you do not believe Christ to be the Son of God, if you are a Muslim, be consistent, carry out your Muslim convictions, and see whether it will end well. But, take heed, take heed! If however, you say God is God, and Christ is the Savior, and the gospel is true; I demand of you, only on this account, that you carry it out.
185 - Not Far from Home
O Children of God! Death has lost its sting, because the devil's power over it is destroyed. Then cease being afraid of dying. You know what death is: look him in the face, and tell him you are not afraid of him. Ask grace from God, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of the master's death, you may be strengthened for that dreaded hour. And mark me, if you so live you may be able to think of death with pleasure, and to welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die: to lie upon the breast of Christ, and have one's soul kissed out of one's body by the lips of divine affection. And you that have lost friends, or that may be bereaved, do not sorrow as those that are without hope; for remember the power of the devil is taken away. What a sweet thought the death of Christ brings us concerning those who are departed! They are gone, my brethren; but do you know how far they have gone? The distance between the glorified spirits in heaven and the militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from home.
We scarce can say 'tis gone,
Before the ransomed spirit takes
Its station near the throne."
186 - Be careful of your pleasures
It is said that where the most beautiful cacti grow, there the venomous serpents are to be found at the root of every plant. And it is so with sin. Your fairest pleasures will harbor your grossest sins. Take care; take care of your pleasures. Cleopatra's asp was introduced in a basket of flowers; so are our sins often brought to us in the flowers of our pleasures.
187 - Love your Creator
God, the Almighty, though he might use instruments, was nevertheless the sole creator of man. Though he is pleased to bring us into the world by the agency of our pregenitors, yet is he as much our Creator as he was the Creator of Adam, when he formed him out of clay and made him. Look at this marvelous body of your: see how God put the bones together, so as to be of the greatest service and use to you. See how he has arranged your nerves and blood-vessels: mark the marvelous machinery which he has employed to keep you in life! O thing of an hour! Will you not love him that made you? It is impossible that you can think of him who formed you in his hand, and molded you by his will, and yet you will not love him who has fashioned you?
188 - Think again of the end
You may think you can live fine without Christ, but you cannot afford to die without him. You can stand very securely at present, but death will shake your confidence. Your tree may be fair now, but when the wind comes, if it has no roots in the Rock of Ages, down it must come. You may think your worldly pleasures good, but they will then turn bitter as wormwood in your taste; worse than gall shall be the sweetest of your drinks, when you shall come to the bottom of your poisoned bowl.
189 - The Blood-stained Page
No inferior hand has sketched even so much as the most minute parts of providence. It was all, from its Alpha to its Omega, from its divine preface to its solemn comclusion, marked out, designed, sketched and planned by the mind of the all-wise, all-knowing God. Therefore, not even Christ's death was exempt from it. He that wings an angel and guides a sparrow, he that protects the hairs of our head from falling prematurely to the ground, was not likely, when he took notice of such little things, to omit in his solemn decrees the greatest wonder of earth's miracles, the death of Christ. No; the blood-stained page of that book, the page which makes both past and future glorious with golden words, that blood-stained page, I say, was as much written by Jehovah as any other.
190 - Like the Swift Ships
You may easily conceive how swiftly the mariner flies from a threatening storm, or seeks the port where he will find his home. You have sometimes seen how the ship cuts through the billows, leaving a white furrow behind her, and causing the sea to boil around her. Such is life, says Job, "like the swift ships," when the sails are filled by the wind, and the vessel dashes on, dividing a passage through the crowded water. Swift are the ships, but swifter far is life. The wind of time bears me along. I cannot stop its motion; I may direct it with the rudder of God's Holy Spirit; I may, it is true, take in some small sails of sin, which might hurry my days on faster than otherwise they would go; but nevertheless, like a swift ship, my life must speed on its way until it reaches its haven. Where is that haven to be? Shall it be found in the land of bitterness and barrenness, that dreary region of the lost? Or shall it be that sweet haven of eternal peace, where not a troubling wave can ruffle the quiet glory of my spirit? Wherever the haven is to be, that truth is the same, we are "like the swift ships."
191 - Focus on Christ
There is one great event, which every day attracts more admiration than do the sun, and moon, and stars, when they march in their courses. That event is, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. To it the eyes of all the saints who lived before the Christian era were always directed; and backwards, through the thousand years of history, the eye of modern saints are looking. Upon Christ, the angels in heaven perpetually gaze. "Which things the angels desire to look into," said the apostle. Upon Christ, the myriad eyes of the redeemed are perpetually fixed; and thousands of pilgrims, through this world of tears, have no higher object for their faith, and no better desire for their vision, than to see Christ as he is in heaven, and in communion to behold his person. Beloved, we shall have many with us, while we turn our face to the Mount of Calvary. We shall not be solitary spectators of the fearful tragedy or our Savior's death: we shall but dart our eyes to that place which is the focus of heaven's joy and delight, the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
192 - Means of Grace
Happy is the nation which is blessed with the means of grace. No man was ever saved by the means of grace apart from the Holy Spirit. You may hear the sermons of the man whom God delights to honor; you may select from all your divines the writings of the man whom God did bless with a double portion of his Holy Spirit; you may attend every meeting for prayer; you may turn over the pages of his blessed book; but in all this, there is no life for the soul apart from the breath of the Divine Spirit. Use these means, we exhort you to use them, and use them diligently; but remember that in none of these means is there anything that can benefit you unless God the Holy Spirit shall own and crown them. These are like the conduit pipes of the market place; when the fountain-head flows with the water then they are full, and we do derive a blessing from them; but if the stream is held back, if the fountain head does cease to give forth its current, then these are wells without water, clouds without rain; and you may go to ordinances as an Arab turns to his skin bottle when it is dry, and with your parched lips you may suck the wind and drink the whirlwind, but receive neither comfort, nor blessing, nor instruction, from the means of grace.
193 - The Little Things
If little things have done great things, let us try to do great things also. You do not know, you atoms, but that your destiny is sublime. Try and make it so by faith; and the least of you may be mighty through the strength of God. Oh for grace to trust God, and there is no telling what you can do. Worms, you are nothing, but you have eaten princes; worms, you are nothing, but you have devoured the roots of cedars, and laid them level with the earth; worms, you are nothing, but you have piled rocks in the deep, deep sea, and wrecked mighty navies; worms, you have eaten through the keel of the proudest ship that ever sailed the ocean. If you have done this yourselves, what can't we do? Your strength lies in your mouths; our strength lies in ours too. We will use our mouths in prayer, and in constant adoration, and we shall conquer yet, for God is with us, and victory is sure.
194 - Sin of Presumption
It would be presumption for any man to climb to the top of the spire of a church, and stand upon his head. "Well, but he might come down safe it he were skilled in it." Yes, but it is presumptuous. I would no more think of paying any money to watch a man ascend in a balloon, than I would to watch a poor wretch cut his own throat. I would no more think of standing and gazing at any man who puts his life in a position of peril, than I would of paying a man to blow his brains out. I think such things, if not murders, are murderous. There is suicide in men's risking themselves in that way; and if there is suicide in the risk of the body, how much more in the case of a man who puts his own soul in jeopardy just because he thinks he has strength of mind enough to prevent its being ruined and destroyed. Sir, your sin is a sin of presumption; it is a great and grievous one; it is one of the master pieces of iniquity.
195 - A Penny's Worth of Righteousness
While you have a rag of your own you shall never have Christ; while you have a penny's worth of your own righteousness, you shall never have him; but when you are nothing, Christ is yours; when you have nothing of yourself to trust in, Jesus Christ in the gospel is your complete Savior; he bids me tell you he came to seek and to save people just like you.
196 - The Grace of Election!
There is no difference, by nature, between the elect and others: those who are now glorified in heaven, and who walk the golden streets, dressed in robes of purity, were by nature as unholy and defiled, and as far from original righteousness, as those who, by their own rejection of Christ, and by their love of sin, have brought themselves into the pit of eternal torment, as a punishment for their iniquities. The only reason why there is a difference between those who are in heaven and those who are in hell, rests with divine grace, and with divine grace alone. Those in heaven must inevitably have been cast away, had not everlasting mercy stretched out its hand and redeemed them. They were by nature not one bit superior to others. They would as certainly have rejected Christ, and have trodden under foot the blood of Jesus, as did those who were cast away, if grace--free grace--had not prevented them from committing this sin. The reason why they are Christians is not because they naturally willed to be one, nor because they did by nature desire to know Christ, or to be found of him; but they are now saints simply because God made them so. He gave them the desire to be saved; he put into them the will to seek after him; he helped them in their seekings, and afterward brought them to feel that peace which is the fruit of justification. But by nature they were just the same as others; and if there is any difference, we are obliged to say that the difference does not lie in their favor. In very many cases, we who now "rejoice in hope of the glory of God" were the very worst of men! There are multitudes that now bless God for their redemption who once cursed him; who implored, as frequently as they dare to do, with oaths and swearing, that the curse of God might rest upon their fellowmen and upon themselves. Many of the Lord's anointed were once the very castaways of Satan, the sweepings of society, the refuse of the earth, those whom no man cares for, who were called outcasts, but whom God has now called desired ones, seeing he has loved them.
197 - Trust God
Doubt the Eternal, distrust the Omnipotent? O traitorous fear! Do you think that the arm which created the heavens, and sustains the earth, shall ever be weak? Shall the brow which eternal ages have rolled over without scathing it, will eventually be furrowed by old age? What! Shall the Eternal fail you? God is too wise to error, too good to be unkind; stop doubting him, and begin to trust him, for in so doing, you will put a crown on his head, but in doubting him you trample his crown beneath your feet.
198 - Ringing the Bell in Heaven!
Keep prayer going; don't neglect your prayer meetings. Christmas Evans gives us a good idea about prayer. He says, "Prayer is the rope in the belfry; we pull it, and it rings the bell up in heaven." And so it is. Be sure that you keep that bell going. Pull it well. Come up to prayer meetings. Keep on pulling it; and though the bell is up so high that you cannot hear it ring, depend upon it it can be heard in the tower of heaven, and is ringing before the throne of God, who will give you answers of peace according to your faith. May your faith be large and plentiful, and so will your answers be!
199 - Never say Never
There is enough tinder in the heart of the best men in the world to light a fire that shall burn to the lowest hell, unless God should quench the sparks as they fall. There is enough corruption, depravity, and wickedness in the heart of the most holy man that is now alive to damn his soul to all eternity, if free and sovereign grace does not prevent it. O Christian! You have need to pray this prayer. But I think I hear you saying, "Is your servant a dog that I should do this thing? So said Hazeal, when the prophet told him that he would slay his master; but he went home, and took a wet cloth and spread it over his master's face and choked him, and did the next day the sin which he abhorred before. Do not think it is enough to abhor sin; you may yet fall into it. Do not say, "I never can be drunken, for I have such an abhorrence of drunkenness;" you may fall where you are most secure. Do not say, "I can never blaspheme God, for I have never done so in my life;" take care, you may yet swear most profanely. Job might have said, "I will never curse the day of my birth;" but he lived to do it. He was a patient man; he might have said, "I will never murmur; though he slay me yet will I trust in him;" and yet he lived to wish that the day were darkness wherein he was brought forth. Do not boast then, O Christian! By faith you standest. "Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."
200 - Tiresome Prayer
We never read that Joshua's hand was weary with wielding the sword, but Moses' hand was weary with holding the rod. The more spiritual the duty, the more apt we are to tire of it. We could stand and preach all day; but we could not pray all day. We could go forth to see the sick all day, but we could not be in our closets all day one- half so easily. To spend a night with God in prayer would be far more difficult than to spend a night with man in preaching. Oh! Take care, Church of Christ, that you do not cease your prayers!
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Spurgeon Collection" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: hyperlink and hyperlink
Email: hyperlink
Online since 1986