C.H. Spurgeon Quotes

True Religion

Posted: 17 Feb 2013 12:00 AM PST

True religion is sanctified common sense. Attention to the things of heaven does not necessitate the neglect of the affairs of earth; on the contrary, he who has learned how to transact business with God ought to be best able to do business with men.
C.H. Spurgeon

Who can fairly represent the horrors of that horrible place?

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(James Smith, "The Way of Salvation Set Forth")

"Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come!" 1 Thessalonians 1:10

Salvation includes deliverance from Hell. Of all dreadful places--Hell is the most dreadful. No one figure can give us an adequate idea of it. It is the prison, where God's enemies are confined. It is a lake of fire and brimstone, where the traitors against the Savior's throne and government are punished. There, all is dark, dreary, agonizing, and horrible! Despair reigns, desperation works, and horror preys upon its victims. The worm of a guilty conscience never dies. The fire of of God's just wrath is never quenched. Prepared for the devil and his angels--Hell is now destined to be the eternal habitation of every impenitent sinner. In Hell, the sufferer is forever shut out from the glorious presence of God--and is shut in with devils and damned souls.

Hell is a prison where there is . . .
no order--but horror,
no voice--but of blasphemers cursing God, themselves, and all around them,
no sounds--but the howling of the tortured and the torturers,
no society--but devils and the damned--who being tormented themselves, forever torment others!

There sinners experience . . .
punishment--without pity;
misery--without mercy;
sorrow--without support;
crying--without comfort;
mischief--without measure;
torment--without ease;
and despair--without hope!

The wrath of God will seize upon body and soul like fire! In that flame, the sufferer is . . .
forever burning--but is never consumed;
forever dying--but never dead;
forever writhing in the pangs of the second death--and never freed from those pangs; nor does he ever know an end of his pains.

Who can fairly represent the horrors of that horrible place, where Divine wrath which has been accumulating for ages--bursts forth without control or cessation! Such is the desert of sin, and such the doom of every unconverted sinner.

But salvation is a deliverance from Hell--complete and eternal deliverance! Oh what a mercy is this! One would think that everyone who heard of it would rejoice, embrace the glad tidings, and escape from the wrath to come!

But this is not the case! There is a Deliverer--but He is despised. There is free deliverance--but it is slighted. Men choose eternal death, rather than eternal life!
What a mercy to be delivered from Hell!

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O the riches of sovereign grace! O the wonders of redeeming love!

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(James Smith, "The Way of Salvation Set Forth")

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

He who is saved from the guilt of sin--is also saved from the POWER of sin. Man by nature is "under sin." "The whole world lies in wickedness." Sin like a tyrant, has usurped authority--and man yields to its imperious demands. Sin reigns in his heart, and over every faculty he possesses. He knows nothing of liberty--but is the slave of corruption. He lives "in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and is by nature a child of wrath even as others!" (Ephesians 2:3) Man by nature is . . .
influenced by corrupt motives,
ruled by evil principles,
led captive by carnal passions,
and lives under the power of sin!
The sinner feels his bondage--as well as his guilt; and struggles for liberty--as well as seeks for pardon.

Salvation is a deliverance from the power of sin, and removes us from under its authority; so that it may be said of every saved person, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Romans 6:14

The Holy Spirit . . .
imparts a principle of spiritual life,
applies the Word of God with power,
and takes up His residence in the soul.

When the gospel of grace is unfolded to the understanding, and applied to the heart by the Spirit--the entire man is changed!
His hard heart is softened,
his stubborn will yields,
his carnal affections rise above earthly things,
his conscience now agrees with God, and
he is "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18

Sin will still struggle--but it cannot reign.
Sin may for a time prevail--but it will be subdued.
The conflict may be severe, and it will last through life--but sin shall not regain the throne, or reduce the Christian to a state of slavery again. The gracious principles implanted within him are immortal, they are holy, they must overcome at length!

Through the Spirit, the believer mortifies the sinful deeds of the body, that he may live. (Romans 8:13) Being Christ's, he crucifies the flesh with its affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24) And while he walks in, or under the influence of the Spirit--he does not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16) Sin has no authority over him, for . . .
he has renounced it,
he daily mourns over it,
he confesses it before God,
he strives against it, and
he longs for Heaven, because there he shall be entirely free from sin!

He who is saved from the guilt and power of sin--is also delivered from the LOVE of sin. Sin is no longer his element, his business, his pleasure. He did love sin once--as does everyone in a state of nature. The unbeliever may not love every species of sin--but
some favorite sin,
his darling sin,
his idol, which he worships, which he wishes to have spared.

But salvation delivers from the love of every sin, and sets the heart on striving for universal holiness. True, it is possible for a regenerate person for a time, to find his affections running out after a forbidden object, or what is grossly evil; but it will soon be detected, confessed before God, and mourned over in secret. The renewed heart cannot habitually love sin--but must hate it. Sin is hated . . .
because God hates it,
because it is opposed to our best interests,
because it crucified the Son of God,
because it grieves the Holy Spirit, and
because it is contrary to the new nature of the Christian.

As soon may the bird love to be confined under water, or the fish prefer the the barren wilderness to its native element--as for a true believer habitually to love sin. No, he hates it--he hates it naturally, constantly, and with an unconquerable hatred! His views are changed--and he thinks of sin in some degree as God thinks of it! His desires are changed--and he desires to cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 7:1) His hopes are changed, so that though he once hoped for worldly wealth, honor and pleasure--he now hopes to be forever delivered from sin, and be exactly like, and eternally with his precious Savior!
He fears sin--and nothing so much as sin!
He finds pleasure in holiness--and no such pleasure in anything else!
He is pained at sin--and nothing causes him so much grief and sorrow!

This is indeed salvation, to be delivered . . .
from guilt of sin, with its attendant horrors and punishments;
from the power of sin, with its consequent degradation; and
from the love of sin, which is the principal feature in the image of Satan!

He who is thus saved--is delivered also from all the penal consequences of sin.
To him there is no curse--for Christ was made a curse for him.
To him there is no wrath--for God is at peace with him, and loves him with an everlasting love.
To him there is no future punishment--for he is justified from every charge, and entitled to everlasting life!

He deserved Hell for his sins--but he is saved from it, by his Redeemer's sacrifice and death!

O the riches of sovereign grace! O the wonders of redeeming love!
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C.H. Spurgeon Quotes

He Does As He Wills

Posted: 16 Feb 2013 12:00 AM PST

Infinite wisdom dictates what absolute sovereignty decrees. God is never arbitrary, or tyrannical. He does as he wills, but he always wills to do that which is not only most for his own glory, but also most for our real good. How dare we question anything God does?
C.H. Spurgeon

Believing Without Effect

From the Pastor: Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” (I Cor. 15:1-2)

Apostle Paul preached the Gospel, which is the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day, “by which also ye are saved.” Salvation does not exist outside of the boundaries of this fact, plus nothing and minus nothing. If this simple fact is tainted by adding anything or removing anything it become perverted and is no Gospel at all. One is only able to be saved by believing into this truth of the Gospel of Jesus as preached by the Apostles. This comes not by believing about but by believing into. It is being plunged into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This is the effect of the Gospel of Jesus.

The words “if ye keep in memory” from the language carries the thought of “having in one’s possession.” It is not just agreeing with the pronouncement of the Gospel; rather, it is possessing the Gospel which has been embedded by the Holy Spirit unto the birth of a new creature born out of God, saved unto the uttermost. We are saved IF we have truthfully in our custody the fact that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose by the power of God in a bodily resurrection.

“Unless” means “if not”; that is, if one is not in possession of the Gospel by the sovereign power and grace of Almighty God plunging him into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, then all of his believing about and all of his religious activities has been for nothing. “Believed in vain” means “believed without effect.” That is to say, if one possesses in his spirit the Gospel a change will take place inwardly and outwardly conforming him to the righteousness of Christ Jesus. One saying he believes with no conversion unto righteousness is still in his sins, because his believing has had no effect. He possesses not the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.