Spurgeons Sermons Volume 52: 1906

---

You may come with boldness to Him, though you never sought His face before! We are not at all afraid to tell our needs to one who has been so near to us as Christ was to His mother. Christ, the Divine Savior, was no nearer to Mary than He is to us. Christ was merely the Man Christ that was conceived in her womb, or that sucked at her breasts and, therefore, in His Divine Person, He towers as much above her as He does above us! And then, though He was born of the substance of His mother, yet was He of our substance, too, for He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh—a Man, such as we are.

If He were an angel, being of a different kind, we might be afraid to come to Him, but He is a Man, He has a man's emotions, a man's heart, a man's compassion, a man's love and we need not be afraid to come to Him! What though He was not born of us, yet is He of us. Though we are not His mother, yet, we are His brothers and sisters. So let us come boldly to Him. Sinner, you have as much right to come as Mary had.

She had none except what Divine Grace gave her—you have the same. Did Christ ever cast away one sinner who came to Him? Did He ever reject one that was ever brought to Him? There was a woman taken in adultery and she did not come willingly, but they brought her to Him, thinking, "Surely, Christ will condemn her. After driving all her adversaries away, He said to her, "Go, and sin no more," And so will He say to you if your doubts and trembling and fears should bring you to Him.

When He casts one soul away, then let other souls be afraid to come to Him, but while my blessed Master stands with open arms and takes the foulest, and vilest, and poorest to minister unto His love, I pray you stand not back through shame or fear! As much as if you were His mother and He your Child, come to Him, for He invites you to come, saying, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Perhaps, if you will think this over, you will see much more that is beautiful. I am sure there is no topic more. Now you hear it. Do you hear it with your inside ears—with the ears of your heart? And when you hear it, do you keep it in your memory? Do you keep it in your faith? Do you try to keep it in your obedience? And are you daily testifying to its truth? If so, all these blessings are yours and let me say to any trembling, awakened, convicted sinner— all these blessings may be yours if you hear the Word of God and keep it tonight! Here are one or two words of God that I want you to keep—"Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: You have heard the Word, I pray you to keep it, that is, to obeyit.

Here is another message from the Word of God—"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Believe that although you are a sinner, He came to save you. Rest in it, trust in it. Here is one more, and I pray you, as you hear it, keep it—"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. To believe is to trust. I pray God to constrain you to do it before you pass those doors. Fall flat on your face upon Christ's promise!

As for your own righteousness, away with it to the dogs! No prayer, no tears, no vows, no sighs of yours can do anything in the matter! Trust Jesus Christ wholly, now!

And then if you have heard that Word and shall thus keep it, go your way, and let Satan say what he will and let the flesh make what noise it pleases—Christ has blessed you and you are blessed! He has said to you, sinners as you are, "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. May we glory there and sing as loud a song as even Mary did when she said, "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden"—for all generations may call that one blessed who has sought and found the Savior!

O Beloved, even in Heaven, that song of Mary shall make a sweet song for us all! May we begin to sing it here and Christ shall have the praise! And He was casting out a devil, and it was dumb.

And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spoke and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casts out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. One would hardly have thought that they could have gone to such a length as that—but when men hate Christ, there is nothing they will not say against Him. It is no subject of surprise when great heresies arise, for they are the natural outcome of human enmity against Christ and His Truth. People in such a state of heart will say anything. They will give utterance to thoughts that you could not have imagined would have entered any human brain—it is the enmity of the heart to Christ that produces this blasphemy of the tongue!

And others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from Heaven. But He, knowing their thought, said unto them, Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. That was a very good and sufficient answer to these cavilers.

It is a comfort to us to know that any error is very vulnerable—there is always a weak point about it. In this case, Christ permitted it to turn its sting upon itself. AndifI, by Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges.

For some of these men had sons who either did really cast out devils, being disciples of Christ, or else professed to do so, being exorcists, pretending to a power they did not possess. In either case, the argument was good as against the objectors. But if I, with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you.

When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace: This is how Christ drives out the devil by sheer force of arms—He overcomes him and drives him out. He does not cajole him, invite him, or persuade him to go, but He fights with him, puts forth His Omnipotent Power against him, overthrows him, takes away his armor and divides the spoil. Were you ever conscious of such a fight as that?

If not, be afraid of your so-called reformation, for there is no true reformation and no true conversion in which there is no conflict between Christ and Satan! He that is not with Me is against Me: When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man. This is the kind of "conversion" which is not genuine—"when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man"—"gone out" on his own accord—and he may do that.

He may leave a man, for a while, with the evil purpose of getting him more completely into his power afterwards. He walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, I will return unto my house from where I came out. It was his house all the while! He left it voluntarily—he was not driven out by force—he simply left it for a time in order that he might return to it and retain it the more completely. Now he goes back to it. And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished.

There has been a reformation of a sort—the man has given up drunkenness, left off swearing and become, in certain respects, a better man. The house is swept and garnished, but there is no new tenant of Mansoul—there is no Christ come to take possession of Heart Castle. Then he goes, and takes to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in, and dwell there: It often happens that when men make a profession of reformation and then relapse into their former state, they become far worse than they were before.

The Complete Spurgeon Sermon Collection (63 vols.) - Logos Bible Software

The so-called "reformation" is all of their own doing—or rather, the greater part of it is the devil's doing. The demon within the man voluntarily went away and now that he is back, he brings with him "seven other spirits more wicked than himself. And it came to pass, as He spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You. But He said, more than that, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it The enthusiastic woman was so carried away with admiration for Christ that she thought His mother was a highly-favored woman and she called her, "blessed.

And when the people were gathered thick together, He began to say, This is an evil generation: Look back to the 16th verse—"Others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from Heaven. And there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the Prophet For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. Jonah rose, as it were, from the dead, for he was buried in the deep, in the belly of the whale!

And Christ was buried in Joseph's tomb, yet He came back from the grave on the third day. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: The Resurrection would make Christ the most conspicuous sign of God's Presence among the people!

No man, when he has lighted a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they that come in may see the light The light of the body is the eye: Take heed therefore that the light which is in you is not darkness. If your religion is irreligion, if your hope is a false one, if your highest aspirations are untrue, what is your position in the sight of God? May your whole body therefore be full oflight, having no part dark, the whole shall be full oflight, as when the bright shining of a candle does give you light And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee besought Him to dine with him: It was often a matter of marvel to the onlookers that Christ went among publicans and sinners—but is it not a greater wonder that He went among Pharisees?

If they asked Him to their houses, it was usually because they hoped to entangle Him in His talk, yet the condescension of our Master is so great that again and again, "He went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that He had not just washed before dinner. Not because Christ's hands needed washing, but because it was the custom of the Pharisees to wash before eating, and our Lord broke through the customs as He was known to do, for He cared nothing for their inventions!

And the Lord said unto Him, Now do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. You fool, did not He who made the outside make the inside, also? You are so careful of your hands—will you not be more careful of your hearts? But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.

Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 52: 1906

But woe unto you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God; these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. How many, in these days, are very particular about very little things, but very careless about great things? They would not violate the law of their sect or party for the world, but the Law of God is of small account to them. Woe unto you, Pharisees! For you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. They loved to be called Rabbi, Learned Doctors of the Law.

Any title that made them appear great was very sweet to them. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Nobody but Christ knew how base they were. They were fair to look upon, but He knew that they were villainously hypocritical and He, therefore, denounced them. Ah, dear Friends, the great matter is to have Grace in the heart—to have the Divine Light within in the soul—but if we have not this, vain is a fair profession, vain is everything that comes from man! If we are to be saved, we must have the Grace that comes from God alone.

Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto Him, Master, thus saying you reproach us also. There was no great difference between the scribes and Pharisees and the lawyers, as this man evidently perceived, and as our Lord also soon confirmed by pronouncing upon them the same kind of, "Woe," that He had pronounced upon the other false teachers!

And He said, Woe unto you also, you lawyers! For you load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Their regulations as to moral and ceremonial observances were like huge bundles of firewood or crushing burdens bound together and made into a weight intolerable for any man to carry!

Many of these rules, by themselves, were grievous enough—but all together they formed a yoke that neither the people nor their fathers could bear. The scribes, Pharisees and lawyers piled the great load upon them—but none helped them to sustain it, nor offered to relieve them of any portion of it. For you build the sepulchers of the Prophets and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers: They pretended to have such regard for the holy men of the past that, being unable to honor them in person, they would set up monuments to their memory and adorn their resting places with tokens of respect.

Out of their own mouths our Lord condemned these hypocrites—"Truly you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers. That admission carries with it far more than you imagine. You are their sons, not only by birth, but also by resemblance—you are veritable children of those who killed the Prophets. If you had lived in their day, you would have committed the crimes you pretend to condemn.

Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them Prophets and Apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute, that the blood of all the Prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation. From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah, which perished between the altar and the Temple: The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God.

No, I trust you have already risen in Him into newness of life. I hope you are panting more and more after the resurrection life, that you may no longer regard the dead things of this world, but live for eternal things, as those whose "life is hid with Christ in God. Forget not, Beloved, that our Redeemer has ascended, and in that ascension every saint has his share.

I do not say that you all enjoy your share yet, but, in proportion as you do so, you will reckon Christ to be precious, for He "has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places. Just in proportion as you enter into your royal heritage and live in it, and believe in it—in this proportion Jesus Christ will be precious to you. Beloved, let me tell you a secret. To many of you there is as much in Christ undiscovered as you have already enjoyed.

Your faith has only yet grasped Christ as saving you from going down to the Pit—Christ is precious to you so far—but if your faith could even now comprehend the fact that you are one with Christ, members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones—that you are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, ah, then, how doubly precious would Jesus be! As surely as your faith grasps more, becomes more capacious and appropriating, Christ will grow in preciousness to you! I am persuaded that there is a meaning in these words which none of God's saints have yet been able to discover, a deep mysterious preciousness of Jesus only to be known by a close and intimate acquaintance with Him such as falls to the lot of few.

Ask, then, for more faith, that Jesus may be more precious to you! And God grant it to you, for His name's sake! Thus much on that point. Now a few words on another. The preciousness of Christ is, as it were, the leverage of Christ in lifting up His saints to holiness and righteousness! Let me show you this. Hence our valuing Christ helps us to abide steadfast in times of temptation.

The world says to a Christian, "Follow me and I will enrich you. I have Christ and I am rich enough. I will give you the delights of the flesh. Jesus Christ is my pleasure and to love Him and to do His will is my joy. Although the devil may tempt you with this and that, yet Jesus Christ, being more precious than all else, you say, "Get you behind me, Satan.

You cannot tempt me while Christ is dear to my spirit. Notice further this valuing of Christ helps the Believer to make sacrifices. Sacrifice-making contributes a large part of any high character. He who never makes a sacrifice in his religion may shrewdly suspect that it is not worth more than his own practical valuation of it.

When a man has a very important document about him, on which depends his title to his estates, if a thief should try to take it from him, he will allow the thief to tear away his garments, to rob him of anything he has except his treasure! That he takes care to hold fast as long as he can.

Indian messengers, men entrusted with jewels, have been known to swallow them to preserve them from robbers—and to allow themselves to be stripped naked of every rag they wore—but they would not lose the jewel with which their prince had entrusted them. So the Christian will say to the world, "Take away my fortune. Take away my livelihood. But, despite all, I will retain my Savior, for He is precious!

See, then, that believing in Jesus makes Him precious and His being precious helps us to make sacrifices most cheerfully for His dear sake. Moreover, Brothers and Sisters, this valuing of Christ makes us jealous against sin. What, I say, does Jesus Christ deign to live under my roof? Then, while He lives in my heart, I will give no roosting place to any foul bird of sin that might begin hooting in His ear!

No, you enemies of Christ, begone, begone, begone! My Beloved shall have the best chamber of my spirit undefiled by your filthy feet. We are afraid lest we should do anything to grieve the heavenly Lover of our souls. This makes us keep our garments white and pick our steps through this miry world. Hence, a right valuing of Christ promotes directly the highest degree of sanctification. He who loves the Redeemer best, purifies himself most, even as His Lord is pure. Besides, Beloved, high valuing of Christ helps the Christian in the selection of his associates in life. You will not find a man of refined habits and cultured spirit happy among the lowest and most illiterate.

Lovers of Christ rejoice in lovers of Christ and they delight to meet together, for they can talk to each other of things in which they are agreed. I would recommend you to choose the church of which you would be a member and the pastor whom you would hear by this one thing—by how much of Christ there is in that church and how much of the savor of Christ there is in that ministry! It is an evil thing for a child of God to be enchanted by mere rhetoric.

As well might you choose a table to feast at merely on account of the knives and forks, or the polish of its mahogany! You require food for the soul and there is nothing that will long feed a true heart but Jesus Christ who is the meat and the drink of His people. Love to Christ soon makes a Christian discontented with mere oratory.

He cannot be satisfied even with the best doctrine apart from Jesus. Thus, a lofty estimate of Christ will be seen, if I had time to track it, to operate through the entire history of a Christian! Little need is there more fully to particularize, but we must not fail to remark that a sense of the Redeemer's preciousness makes the Christian useful, for that which is much on the heart will soon creep up to the tongue—and the testimony of the heart is a notable method of spreading the Gospel.

If you love Christ much, you will speak about Him. Your restrained speech will almost choke you. Your soul will be hot within you while you are silent, till, at last, like a fire in your bones which cannot be concealed any longer, it will break out and you will say to others, "My Beloved is the fairest and noblest of all beloveds! Oh, that you all knew Him and loved Him as I do! If you see Him, His face is brighter than the sun in its strength!

If you hear Him, His voice is sweeter than the chorus of Heaven! If you draw near to Him, His garments smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia! And if you trust Him, you will find Him to be faithfulness and truth itself. Thus, proclaiming with a burning heart the things which he has made touching the King, others will hear the good news and they will ask, "Who is this Precious One? So the Christian valuing Christ will come to be useful to the souls of men! Indeed, as I have said before, it will exercise an operating power on the entire Christian and render it holiness unto the Lord!

I shall not prolong this humble talk, but shall, in conclusion, put a question to you. Beloved Brother or Sister, you know very well that I would be the last person in the world to speak lightly of the value of sound doctrine. I wish we were all far more acquainted with the Scriptures than we are and that the Doctrines of Grace were more clear to our understandings and more imprinted upon our hearts.

But there are some people who love a certain set of doctrines so much, that if you differ a hair's breadth, they will denounce you as rotten to the core! They will not associate with any who do say, "Shibboleth," and sound the "sh" very harshly, too! They will cut off and condemn all God's people who do not precisely agree with them.

Now, mark you, it is not written, "Unto you that believe a code of doctrines will be precious. The text is, "Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious. It is not loving a creed, but it is loving Jesus that proves you a Christian! You may become such a bigot that it may be only the laws of the land which keep you from burning those who differ from you, and yet you may have none of the Grace of God in your heart! I love Protestantism, but if there is anything in this world that I have a horror of, it is that politicalProtestantism which does nothing but sneer and snarl at its fellow citizens—but which is as ignorant as a cow about what Protestantism truly is.

The great truths of Protestantism—not merely Protestant ascendancy—and the great secret power of those truths, far more than the mere letter of them, is the thing to be prized. You may get it into your head that you are a member of the one only true church. You may wrap yourself about with any quantity of self-conceit, but that does not at all prove you to be a possessor of Grace.

It is love to Christ that is the root of the matter. I am very sorry, my dear Brother, if you should hold unsound views on some points, but I love you with all my heart if Jesus is precious to you! I cannot give up Believers' Baptism. It is no invention of mine and, therefore, I cannot give up my Master's ordinance. I am sure that it is Scriptural. I cannot give up the Doctrine of Election—it seems to me so plainly taught in the Word. But over the head of all doctrines and ordinances, and over everything, my Brother and Sister, I embrace you in my heart if you believe in Jesus and if He is precious to you, for that is the vital point!

These are the matters of heart-work that mark a Christian— nothing else is so true a test. If you cannot say, "Jesus is precious to me," I do not care to what church you belong, or what creed you are ready to die for, you do not know the Truth of God unless the Person of Christ is dear to you! This may serve as a test for each one here.

No Account?

Do you rely alone on Him who, on the Cross, poured out His heart's blood to redeem sinners? Do you depend on Him who now stands with His priestly garments on before the Throne of the Infinite Majesty, pleading for the unjust that they may live through Him? If you do, then answer this question—Do you love Jesus now? Do you love Him with your heart and soul?

Would you serve Him? Do you serve Him? Will you serve Him? Will you subscribe your hand to be His servant from this day forth? Do you declare now, if not with lips, yet honestly with your soul, "He is precious to me, and I would give up all else sooner than give up Him"? Then it is well with you! Be happy and rejoice! Come to His Table and feast with Him at the banquet of love!

If not, you have not built on the Rock. If you are not loving Christ, I pray you examine yourself and see where you are, for there is but a step between you and Hell. May God convert you and give you now to put your confidence in Jesus and now to be saved, that He may be glorified in you, for hitherto He has had no glory from you! Unto you that do not believe, Christ is not precious, and you will go your way and despise Him. Oh, that you were made wise by the Holy Spirit and taught to consider things rightly!

Then Christ would, indeed, be precious to you. He is the only way for your escape from the wrath to come. He is the only hope for you of ever entering the gates of Heaven. He must be your only Shelter when the world will be all ablaze, as soon it shall—when the stars shall fall, like withered leaves from the trees, when all creation shall rock and reel—and His voice shall resound in earth, and Heaven, and Hell, "Awake, you dead, and come to judgment!

Oh, seek Him now while He may be found! Call upon Him now while He is near! Turn not your heels away Him now, lest you turn once and for all to Hell! Come to Him now!

Jacob's Model Prayer

Believe in Him now! And He shall have the glory! Therefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies and envies, and all evil speaking. Putting these evil things right away from you, having nothing further to do with any of them. Notice the repetition of the word "all. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby.

Be glad to get simple Truths of God—the "milk of the Word. Do not crave milk and water, but, "desire the unadulterated milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. And especially while you are babes in Grace, your great desire should be that you may grow. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. You begin with tasting that the Lord is gracious. You go on to desire the unadulterated milk of the Word and so you grow more and more in Grace.

Coming to Him, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. No one figure is sufficient to set forth Christ as He really is. A stone is a Scriptural simile and symbol of Christ, but we have to make the metaphor somewhat incongruous by comparing Him to "a living stone. You also, as living stones. It is not "lively" stones. It is the same word in the original, in both cases—"a living stone" and, "living stones.

Plowing Rock

Are built up a spiritual house. A house that is a living structure from the foundation to the topstone. An holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. He is a living stone, and you, as living stones, are built upon Him—and He and you together make up a living spiritual house. And in order that the house may have suitable tenants and be properly furnished, you also become priests and, as priests, you "offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Therefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious: Thus the Apostle quotes from the Prophet Isaiah the ancient prophecy concerning Christ. Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious: What reverence these Inspired men had for the Inspired Book! The Spirit of God could have spoken fresh words if He had pleased, but, as if He meant to honor above everything else the Book which He had, Himself, Inspired, He "moved" Peter to quote the ancient Prophet and Psalmist in confirmation of what He was writing.

And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: These are terrible words, but they are true. I cannot fully explain them. As Archbishop Leighton says, "It is easier to get into a depth over this awful Truth of God than it is to get out again. If we do, Christ will not move because we kick at Him, or fall over. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.

These are wonderful epithets that are here heaped upon Believers. May we have the Grace to be able to appropriate them and to expound them in our lives! That you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light See where you once were, and also see to what you have been called by God's Grace—"out of darkness into light. Even thatis not all—"into His marvelous light.

• 5 Steps towards Managing Aches and Pains
• The Ice Queen Cumeth (Corvus Sordida Book 1)
• Craft Lessons 2nd Edition
• The Awakening (Book 1) (Jenicks)
• The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology)
• SHORT STORIES FOR GROWN UP KIDS