Mr. Evil-Questioning Tried and Executed

Mr. Evil-Questioning Tried and Executed

Spurgeon takes Naaman's question about the rivers of Damascus as the emblem of what he calls "Evil-Questioning" — the habit of raising intellectual objections to the gospel not from honest intellectual difficulty but as a convenient cover for continuing in sin — and he tracks this enemy through his disguises (calling himself "Honest Enquiry"), his speeches (turning Calvinist doctrine into an excuse for passivity, Arminian mercy into a license for delay, the imperfection of Christians into a reason to reject Christianity), and his distinguishing marks (applying to spiritual matters a logic he would never use in business, measuring the Infinite God by finite standards, drawing arguments from exceptions, and always reaching conclusions that happen to conveniently favor the sinner's continued rebellion). He then arraigns Evil-Questioning as a traitor to the King, a liar whose conclusions the questioner knows to be false, a murderer of souls, and an enemy who deserves immediate execution — and describes his large family of equally dangerous children that John Bunyan named: Doubt, Unbelief, Wrong Thoughts of Christ, Clip Promise, Legal Life, Live by Feeling, Carnal Sense, and Self Love, with brief counsel on how to deal with each. He closes with a dual application: to believers, urging them to refuse every suggestion that clips the promise, judges by feeling, or measures God by circumstances; and to the unconverted, urging them to stop their endless questioning, bring all their questions to the cross, look to Christ in simple trust, and discover that he will receive even the blackest sinner who dares to throw himself upon him. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on February 5th, 1860.

The King’s Highway Opened and Cleaned

Using the image of Israel's cities of refuge — where magistrates annually cleared the roads of every obstacle so that the fleeing manslayer could arrive safely — Spurgeon surveys the road of faith and systematically removes six common stumbling blocks that prevent anxious sinners from trusting Christ: the enormity of past sin (answered by the boundless sufficiency of Christ's blood, which abounds where sin abounds), the hardness and lack of feeling in the heart (answered by the fact that the command to believe requires no preparation, and that a sight of Christ will melt what terrors cannot), the weakness of one's faith (answered by the truth that it is the object of faith, not its strength, that saves — the fringe of the garment is enough), the presence of doubts and fears mixed with faith (answered by Christ's own word to "little faith" and the testimony of the greatest saints who lived with doubt), the fear of death (answered by the principle that dying grace is given for dying moments, not before), and the consciousness of ongoing sin and failure to be holy (answered by the reminder that perfection is not the condition of salvation, and that the very grief over sin is evidence of new life). He closes by pressing the one great barrier that underlies all others — human pride that finds the simplicity of "trust Christ" too humbling — and urges every hearer to cast themselves wholly on Christ with nothing to commend them but the divine command itself, staking his own soul on the certainty that no soul that has ever genuinely trusted the blood of Christ has ever been cast away. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on January 8th, 1860.

Woman’s Memorial

In this sermon, Spurgeon tells the story of a woman who showed great love for Jesus by breaking a very expensive jar of perfume and pouring it on His head. Other people complained that she wasted money, but Jesus said her act would be remembered forever. Spurgeon explains that what made her action special was that she did it from her heart, without worrying about what others thought, and she did it only for Jesus, not for attention or praise. He encourages people to serve Jesus with the same kind of love — doing good things not because they “have to,” but because they truly want to, even if others don’t understand. The woman’s gift shows that real love for Jesus is willing to give its best, even when it seems unusual or costly. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on November 27th, 1859.

Man’s Ruin and God’s Remedy

Spurgeon presents the sinner's ruin under four heads — the sheer number and aggravation of sins, including the special guilt of those who have sinned against light and a praying mother's example; the legal sentence of condemnation already passed, so that the sinner stands not as someone awaiting trial but as someone already convicted with the rope around their neck; utter helplessness to do anything toward their own rescue; and the final, most devastating charge, that even if they could save themselves they would not, because their nature is so corrupted that they love darkness, hate their own mercy, and would remain unwilling unless grace overcame them. He then turns to the remedy through the brazen serpent principle — like cures like — showing how Christ as Substitute answers each point of the indictment precisely: he bore sin as the sin-offering and suffered in enough abundance to cover every form and degree of wickedness anyone might urge as a reason to despair; he was himself condemned and executed so that condemned sinners need never face execution; he laid aside his omnipotence on the cross so that helpless sinners find strength in his very weakness; and he comes down to the unwilling sinner rather than waiting for the sinner to come, since it is Christ's own presence and the sight of his wounds that overcomes depravity and creates the very faith and willingness he requires. He closes by putting words in the mouth of the crucified Christ himself — who asks what wrong he has ever done, and points to a face marred by suffering for those who hated him — and invites every hearer to simply come and try him, since he has never yet rejected a trusting soul and never will. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on November 20th, 1859.

One Antidote for Many Ills

Spurgeon takes the repeated refrain of Psalm 80 — "Turn us again, O Lord, cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved" — as the church's one all-sufficient prayer for every ill, arguing that because all problems trace to one source (the withdrawal of God's favor) they can all be cured by one remedy (his return), and he identifies the genuine benefits of revival as the salvation of sinners, the healing of church quarrels and divisions that flourish in idleness, the silencing of enemies by holy living, and above all the glory of God which only a spiritually alive church can render. He then turns the two-part prayer into a searching personal application — "turn us again" is addressed in turn to the minister (who must preach with fearless fidelity), to workers (who must serve with deeper dependence on the Spirit), to intercessors (who must pray with greater agonizing earnestness), and to every member (whose daily business, family life, speech, and habits must be brought into full honesty and godliness) — and "cause your face to shine" is identified as the indispensable divine element without which all human effort and increased numbers amount to nothing. He closes by urging every believer to turn present resolutions immediately into prayers rather than letting them dissolve, and with a tender appeal to unconverted hearers to recognize how much God's people groan over their souls and how precious those souls are in heaven's reckoning, before turning with a final corporate prayer that God would do what no human effort can — pour out revival upon his church and bring many reluctant hearts to himself. Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on November 9th, 1859.