Question:
"Who was Charles Haddon Spurgeon?"
Although C H Spurgeon
lived for less than 60 years he was
a highly influential Baptist preacher from England in the 1800s. Spurgeon
remains even today a highly influential among Christians of various denominations,
among whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers".
Spurgeon was the son and grandson of Congregational
ministers. He came to faith in 1850 while listening to a Methodist Preacher. Brian has told us that story of how he was
caught in a snowstorm & went into the Methodist church merely to escape the
cold & came out a Convert (that’s Sovereign Grace, guys). On his way
to a scheduled appointment, a snowstorm forced him to cut short his intended
journey and to turn into a Primitive Methodist chapel in Artillery
Street, Colchester
where, he claimed, God opened his heart to the salvation message. The text that
moved him was Isaiah 45:22 – "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." Later that year on 4
April 1850, he was admitted to the church at Newmarket. His baptism followed on
3 May in the river Lark, at Isleham.
Later that same year he moved to Cambridge,
where he became a Sunday school teacher. He preached his first sermon in the
winter of 1850–51 in a cottage at Teversham
while filling in for a friend. From the beginning of his ministry his style and
ability were considered to be far above average. In the same year, he was
installed as pastor of the small Baptist church at Waterbeach,
Cambridgeshire, where he published his first literary work, a Gospel
tract written in 1853. In
1854, before he was even 20 years old, he became the pastor of the New Park
Street Chapel, a Baptist church in London.
Within a few weeks, many conversions resulted from Spurgeon’s preaching, and
the church building could not accommodate the crowds. The congregation also
outgrew several other venues until finally the Metropolitan Tabernacle, which
seated 6,000, was built specifically for this purpose. Spurgeon preached there
from 1861 to 1891, shortly before his death. His sermons were printed in the
London papers weekly. Spurgeon also wrote prolifically (his collected sermons fill 63 volumes, which is the largest set of
books by one author in the history of Christianity). Many of his
sermons were transcribed and were translated into many languages &
scattered all over the world. Spurgeon produced powerful sermons of penetrating
thought and precise exposition. His
books Lectures to My Students and Commenting and Commentaries
were the result of his work with pastoral students and both are still on the
reading lists in many modern seminaries. Spurgeon also published the Sword
and Trowel magazine regularly.
Spurgeon’s sermons were powerful and direct, but also contain elements of
humor. Spurgeon was a pastor, an evangelist, and a careful expositor of
Scripture. His sermons are still popular today and are noted for their
combination of eloquence and down-to-earth applications. His Treasury of
David (an exposition of Psalms) is one of
his most popular works, as is his devotional Morning and Evening. Most
of Spurgeon’s material is still in print and highly recommended.
Immediately
following his fame came criticism. The first attack in the press appeared in
the Earthen Vessel in January 1855. The complaint
was against his preaching, although not revolutionary in substance, it was a plainspoken
and contained a direct appeal to the people, using the Bible to provoke them to
consider the teachings of Jesus Christ. Critical attacks from the media
persisted throughout his life. The congregation quickly outgrew their building,
and moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey
Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences
numbering more than 10,000. At 22, Spurgeon was the most popular preacher of
the day.[6]
Charles Spurgeon was unashamedly both a Calvinist and a Baptist.
He did not shrink from controversy and was outspoken against false teaching and
hypocrisy when it arose. He attacked both hyper-Calvinism
and Arminian theology.
He accused evangelical Anglicans of hypocrisy for continuing to use the
Anglican baptismal service found in the Book of Prayer,
even though they did not believe in baptismal
regeneration. During the “Downgrade Controversy,” (that Brian mentioned last week) Spurgeon accused fellow Baptists of
teaching liberal theology, and he eventually withdrew from the Baptist Union
over this issue.
Spurgeon died in 1892. In his nearly 40 years of pastoring, it’s estimated that
he had preached 3,500 sermons to about 10 million people, and he reached even
more through his written works. Spurgeon has left a continuing legacy of love
for Christ and God’s Word that still influences pastors and laymen today.
On 7 October
1857, he preached to his largest crowd ever – 23,654 people – at The Crystal Palace in London. But Spurgeon noted a
more important event:
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In 1857, a day or two before preaching at the
Crystal Palace, I went to decide where the platform should be fixed; and, in
order to test the acoustic properties of the building, cried in a loud voice,
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
In one of the galleries, a workman, who knew nothing of what was being done,
heard the words, and they came like a message from heaven to his soul. He was
smitten with conviction on account of sin, put down his tools, went home, and
there, after a season of spiritual struggling, found peace and life by
beholding the Lamb of God. Years after, he told this story to one who visited
him on his death-bed.
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Spurgeon is a power example
to us today as a believer, a saint, a preacher & a man of God.
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Any
questions or comments before we move along?
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So what I wanted to do was talk just a bit
about a few points of believe that I feel Spurgeon himself would have stressed to
us from everything I’ve read of the man.
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1st
is Believe like a Christian - 1689 Spurgeon’s
Confession
Spurgeon loved the 1689
Confession of Baptist faith; this would be a great resource to read a section of
in your quiet time daily or before you went to bed & as you drifted off
thinking through all the implications that it teaches on anything from
Christian Liberty to the Sabbath, to Saving Faith to Adoption. I think being
reminded of the old faith is a great way to be encouraged about your faith
today & you’ll probably learn something new, I know I often do when coming
back to it.
Read the 1689 Spurgeon intro & pass it around for them.
**Anyone
ever read the 1689, how bout the BF&M? That is this churches confession of
faith. Anyone ever used a confession for personal study before?
2nd is Confess like a Christian – on Calvinism
In
Dr. Steven Lawson’s small but wonderful book, The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon, Dr. Lawson
argues that not only was Spurgeon a Calvinist, but his fervent commitment to
the doctrines of grace actually “sharpened” his “gospel focus.”
So
I wanted to give you a few of his quotes on this matter so you could see what
he felt about Calvinistic doctrine rather than tell you what I think…J
“It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching;
no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines, that are called
by nickname Calvinism, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of
God as it is in Christ Jesus.”
On free-will Spurgeon says, “If God requires
of the sinner, who is dead in sin, that he should take the first step, then he
requires just that which renders salvation as impossible under
the gospel as it was under the law, since man is as unable to believe as
he is to obey.” Simply put, Spurgeon believed that no human will is entirely
free. It is either a slave of sin or a slave of Christ, but never wholly free.
On
Sovereign Grace Spurgeon said, “Difficulty is not a word to be found in the
dictionary of heaven. Nothing can be impossible with God. The swearing
reprobate, whose mouth is blackened with profanity, whose heart is like a very
hell, and his life like the reeking flames of the bottomless pit—such a man, if
the Lord but looks on him and makes bare His arm of irresistible grace, shall
yet praise God and bless His name and live to His honor.”
On
Perseverance Spurgeon said, “I must confess that the doctrine of the final
preservation of the saints was a bait that my soul could not resist. I thought
it was a sort of life insurance—an insurance of my character, an
insurance of my soul, an insurance of my eternal destiny. I knew that I could
not keep myself, but if Christ promised to keep me, then I should be kept safe
for ever; and I longed and prayed to find Christ, because I knew that, if I
found Him, He would not give me a temporary and trumpery salvation, such
as some preach, but eternal life which could never be lost.”
**Any
thoughts on Spurgeon’s love for Calvinism or Calvinism in general?
The 3rd
point is to Act like a Christian – On Charity, good works & opposition to
slavery –
In addition to pastoring his church,
Spurgeon started a pastor’s college and an orphanage, which are both still in
operation today. In 1867, he also started a charity organization, which is now called Spurgeon's
Children’s Charity and even today works globally.
Also Spurgeon spoke out so strongly against
slavery that American publishers of his sermons began deleting his remarks on
the subject.
Spurgeon
strongly opposed the owning of slaves.[26] He lost support from Southern
Baptists, and sales of his sermons dropped to a few, (Brian even mentioned last week many of his works were burnt in the
South) and he received scores of threatening and insulting letters as a
consequence.[27]
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Not so very long ago our nation tolerated slavery
in our colonies. Philanthropists endeavored to destroy slavery; but when was
it utterly abolished? It was when Wilberforce roused the church of God, and when
the church of God addressed herself to the conflict, then she tore the evil
thing to pieces. I have been amused with what Wilberforce said the day after
they passed the Act of Emancipation. He merrily said to a friend when it was
all done, "Is there not something else we can abolish?" That was
said playfully, but it shows the spirit of the church of God. She lives in
conflict and victory; her mission is to destroy everything that is bad in the
land.
The
Best Warcry,
March 4th, 1883'[26]
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**Anything you wanna add to this section on acting like a Christian &
not merely believing?
Spurgeon is a great example of not mere preaching & teaching but in
acting, giving, caring & fighting for the Truths of Christianity, which
leads us to …..
#4, which is
to Defend Doctrine like a Christian – on the Downgrade Controversy
A
controversy among the Baptists flared in 1887 with Spurgeon's first
"Down-grade" article, published in The Sword & the Trowel.[17] In the ensuing "Downgrade
Controversy," the Metropolitan Tabernacle became disaffiliated from the Baptist
Union, thereby
effecting Spurgeon's congregation as the world's largest Independent church.
Spurgeon framed the controversy in this way:
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Believers in Christ's atonement are now in
declared union with those who make light of it; believers in Holy Scripture
are in confederacy with those who deny plenary (absolute) inspiration; those
who hold evangelical doctrine are in open alliance with those who call the Fall
a fable, who deny the personality of the Holy Ghost, who call justification
by faith immoral, and hold that there is another probation after death (Purgatory)...
It is our solemn conviction that there should be no more pretense of
fellowship. Fellowship with known and vital error is participation in its sin.[18]
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The
Controversy took its name from Spurgeon's use of the term "Downgrade"
to describe certain other Baptists' outlook toward the Bible (i.e., they
had "downgraded" the Bible and their principle of sola
scriptura).[19] Spurgeon alleged that an
incremental creeping of the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis (which doubts the
creditability of Moses’ Genesis record as based off prior oral history), along
with Charles
Darwin's
theory of evolution, and other concepts were
weakening the Baptist Union.[20][21][22] Spurgeon emphatically decried
the doctrine that resulted:
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Assuredly this New Theology can do no good
towards God or man; it, has no adaptation for it. If it were preached for a
thousand years by all the most earnest men of the school, it would never
renew a soul, nor overcome pride in a single human heart.[23]
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The standoff
caused division amongst the Baptists and other non-conformists, and is regarded
by many as an important paradigm.[a][20][24][25]
** Finally
any thoughts about being bold in standing for Christian doctrine?
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Well I hope that in about an hour I’ve given
you enough Spurgeon quotes to get a feeling for the man himself. He was
brilliant, divinely gifted, and devoutly faithful & someone I wish you
& I was more like.
We’ll end with his Closing quote…
“Christ in us the hope of glory.
Christ for us our full redemption. Christ with us our guide, and
our solace; and Christ above us pleading and preparing our place in
heaven. Jesus Christ Himself is our Captain, our armor, our strength and our
victory! We inscribe His name upon our banner, for it is hell’s terror,
heaven’s delight, and earth’s hope. We bear this upon our hearts in the heat of
the conflict, for this is our breastplate and coat of mail” (Charles Spurgeon,
Sermon #1388, preached December 9, 1877). Spurgeon leaves us with all praise,
honor & glory given to NOT to him, but to Christ, a great reminder for us
all.
