True Prayer—True Power!

True Prayer—True Power!

Spurgeon identifies four essential qualities of prevailing prayer found in the text — definite objects (naming specific things and specific people rather than vague, rambling requests), earnest desire (praying with real urgency rather than cold, half-hearted words that ask for a denial), firm faith (believing prayer is an actual force in the universe, not merely a comforting habit), and a realizing expectation that counts the answer as already on its way before it visibly arrives. He then turns this lens on the church's actual practices, gently criticizing public prayer meetings for relying on memorized phrases, impressive vocabulary, and stamina rather than genuine, specific petitions spoken in one's own words, and confessing that private prayer closets could tell many stories of hurried, distracted, and doubting prayers that dishonored the God being addressed. He closes with a double appeal — urging believers to weep over their neglect of so mighty a power and then to rejoice that God's ear remains open and his hand ready despite past failures, and inviting any sinner who has never truly prayed to lay aside their sin and simply cry out for mercy through the blood of Christ, since even the groan of an awakened heart is acceptable prayer that God delights to answer. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on August 12th, 1860.

High Doctrine

Spurgeon takes "all things are of God" as a summary of his entire ministry's teaching, arguing systematically that every part of the new spiritual creation — the first desire toward Christ, the new nature, the privileges of pardon and adoption, and even the holy actions and sufferings of believers — comes from God alone in its planning, its purchase through Christ's blood, its application to the individual soul, its ongoing maintenance, and its final completion, with man contributing nothing since a dead sinner can no more raise himself spiritually than a corpse can rise on its own. He defends this doctrine by appealing to Scripture's statement that "every good gift comes from above," to the fact that all glory for salvation belongs to God (which only makes sense if all the work belongs to God too), and to the testimony of every Christian's own experience, which credits grace rather than self for any good within them. He closes by showing this doctrine's practical benefits — it humbles human pride, kills self-sufficiency, gives lasting comfort since a salvation entirely secured by God cannot collapse the way one resting partly on human effort could, and far from discouraging sinners, actually invites them to come exactly as they are, since every quality they lack — a new heart, true repentance, saving faith, the power to persevere — is itself a gift that God freely supplies to those who simply come and receive. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on June 3rd, 1860.

Characteristics of Faith

Using the story of the nobleman whose son was dying, Spurgeon traces three stages of growing faith: seeking faith, which drives a person to earnest, persistent prayer even while making the mistake of trying to dictate exactly how God must answer; relying faith, which takes Christ at his bare word and finds quiet peace even before any evidence confirms it; and full assurance, which comes only after careful observation has confirmed that God indeed did what he promised, and which naturally overflows to bless one's entire household. He also diagnoses three diseases that can derail faith at each stage — abandoning prayer when answers seem slow, demanding visible signs and wonders as a substitute for simply trusting God's word, and failing to actually observe God's hand at work in daily providence — warning that built-in dreams, feelings, or strange experiences are no foundation for real assurance compared to the plain word of Scripture. He closes with three searching questions for anyone who claims to have faith: does it make you pray, does it make you obey in the ordinary honesty of daily business, and does it make you actively seek the salvation of your own household — since faith that produces none of these is, however confidently held, no faith at all. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on May 27th, 1860.

The Teaching of the Holy Spirit

Spurgeon argues that the gift of the Holy Spirit, often undervalued compared to the gift of Christ, is what actually makes Christ's work effective in us — teaching believers how to do everything that pleases God, from the simplest things like crying out to God and learning to speak the language of faith, to the highest acts of preaching, praying, and singing, none of which have any real power apart from the Spirit's working. He traces what the Spirit specifically teaches — the true sinfulness of sin, the total ruin and helplessness of self, the character and attributes of God, the person and love of Christ, and the believer's adoption and coming inheritance — and describes how the Spirit teaches: by awakening interest where there was indifference, by creating a humble willingness to learn even painful lessons, by putting Scripture in clear focus, by opening the understanding itself, by refreshing memory, and by making truth felt rather than merely told, the way tasting honey teaches sweetness better than any description could. He closes by describing this teaching as sovereign (the Spirit teaches whom he wills, by whatever means and degree he chooses), effectual (no true pupil of the Spirit is ever turned away unlearned), infallible (unlike human teachers, the Spirit never teaches error), and continual (he never abandons the work until it is complete) — and ends with a solemn appeal to anyone who has never felt this inward teaching, warning that all human learning and effort are worthless for spiritual things, and urging them to simply believe on Christ now, since obedience to that one command is itself proof that the Spirit has already begun his quickening work in them. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on May 13th, 1860.

Importance of Small Things in Religion

Spurgeon uses the story of the ark of the covenant being moved on a new cart instead of being carried on priests' shoulders, and Uzzah being struck dead for touching it, to argue that small departures from God's clear instructions are never harmless — God's sense of how serious sin is differs vastly from ours, any change to what God has commanded brings real trouble even when the motive seems good, and one small deviation from Scripture has historically led, step by step, to much larger errors, as when the practice of infant baptism gradually grew into the damaging doctrine of baptismal regeneration. He argues this is why the church today lacks the power of the apostolic church — not because the gospel itself has weakened, but because the church has departed from the original purity and simplicity of Scripture in countless small ways, and only a return to "the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible" will restore her former strength. He closes by turning to anyone seeking salvation, warning them just as urgently against touching the ark with their own merit — trying to mix good works or self-effort with Christ's finished work — since salvation comes only by trusting Jesus completely and is offered freely to "whosoever," with the same right to come as the witness called by name in court, simply because Christ himself has commanded it. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on April 8th, 1860.