The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

“I trust the Lord will keep you humble,” when they themselves were not only as proud as they were high, but a few inches more. They have been most sincere in prayer that I should be humble, unwittingly nursing their own pride by their own imaginary reputation for humility. I have long since given up entreating people to be humble, because it naturally tends to make them proud. A man is apt to say, “Dear me, these people are afraid I shall be proud; I must have something to be proud of.” Then we say to ourselves, “I will not let them see it”; and we try to keep our pride down, but after all, are as proud as Lucifer within. I find that the proudest and most self-righteous people are those who do nothing at all, and have no shadow of pretence for any opinion of their own goodness. The old truth in the book of Job is true now. You know in the beginning of the book of Job it is said, “The oxen were ploughing, and the asses were feeding beside them.” That is generally the way in this world. The oxen are ploughing in the church — we have some who are labouring hard for Christ — and the asses are feeding beside them, on the finest livings and the fattest of the land. These are the people who have so much to say about self-righteousness. What do they do? They do not do enough to earn a living, and yet they think they are going to earn heaven. They sit down and fold their hands, and yet they are so reverently righteous, because truly they sometimes dole out a little in charity. They do nothing, and yet boast of self-righteousness. And with Christian people it is the same. If God makes you laborious, and keeps you constantly engaged in his service, you are less likely to be proud of our self-righteousness than you are if you do nothing. But at all times there is a natural tendency to it. Therefore, God has written the law, that when we read it we may see our faults; that when we look into it, as into a mirror, we may see the impurities in our flesh, and have reason to abhor ourselves in sackcloth and ashes, and still cry to Jesus for mercy. Use the law in this fashion, and in no other.

      10. And now, one says, “Sir, are there any here that you have been preaching at?” Yes; I like to preach at people. I do not believe it is of any avail to preach to people; preach right into them and right at them. I find in every circle a class, who say, in plain English, “Well, I am as good a father as is to be found in the parish; I am a good tradesman; I pay twenty shillings to the pound; I am no Sir John Dean Paul; {a} I go to church, or I go to chapel, and that is more than everyone else does; I pay my subscriptions — I subscribe to the infirmary; I say my prayers; therefore, I believe I stand as good a chance of heaven as anyone else in the world.” I do believe that three out of four of the people of London think something of that sort. Now, if that is the ground of your trust, you have a rotten hope; you have a plank to stand upon that will not bear your weight in the day of God’s account. As the Lord my God lives, before whom I stand, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” And if you think the best performance of your hands can save you, know this, that “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.” Those who did not seek after it have attained it. Why? Because the one has sought it by faith, the other has sought it by the deeds of the law, where justification never was to be found. Hear, now, the gospel, men and women; down with that boasting form of your righteousness; away with your hopes, with all your trusts that spring from this —

      Could your tears for ever flow,

      Could your zeal no respite know,

      All for sin could not atone;

      Christ must save, and save alone.

      11. If you wish to know how we must be saved, hear this — you must come with nothing of your own to Christ. Christ has kept the law. You are to have his righteousness to be your righteousness. Christ has suffered in the place of all who repent. His punishment is to stand instead of your being punished. And through faith in the sanctification and atonement of Christ, you are to be saved. Come, then, you weary and heavy laden, bruised and mangled by the Fall; come then, you sinners; come, then, you moralists; come, then, all you who have broken God’s law and feel it; leave your own trusts and come to Jesus, he will take you in; give you a spotless robe of righteousness, and make you his for ever. “But how can I come?” one says; “Must I go home and pray?” No, sir, no. Where you are standing now, you may come to the cross. Oh, if you know yourself to be a sinner, now — I beseech you, before your foot shall leave the floor on which you stand — now, say this —

      Myself into your arms I cast:

      Lord, save my guilty soul at last.

      Now, down with you, away with your self-righteousness. Look to me — look, now; do not say, “Must I mount to heaven and bring Christ down?” “The word is near you, on your mouth and in your heart; if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe with your heart, you shall be saved.” Yes, you — you — you. Oh! I bless God, we have heard of hundreds who have in this place believed on Christ. Some of the blackest of the human race have come to me only recently, and told me what God has done for them. Oh, that you, too, would now come to Jesus. Remember, he who believes shall be saved, even though his sins ever so many; and he who does not believe, must perish, even though his sins ever so few. Oh, that the Holy Spirit would lead you to believe; so that you should escape the wrath to come, and have a place in paradise among the redeemed!

      {a} Paul, Sir John Dean: second baronet (1802-1868), banker and fraudster. See Explorer “http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101021602/”

      David’s Dying Prayer

      No. 129-3:177. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, April 26, 1857, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

      Let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. {Psalms 72:19}

      1. There was a time when this prayer would have been unnecessary; a period, in fact, when it could not have been offered, seeing the thing to be asked for was already existed. There was a time when the word rebellion had not been uttered against the great magistracy of heaven; there was a day, when the slime of sin had never been left by the trail of the serpent, for no serpent existed then, and no evil spirit. There was an hour, never to be forgotten, when the seraph might have flapped his wing for ever, and never have found anything of discord, or anything of rebellion or of anarchy throughout God’s universe; when the mighty angels assembled in the halls of the Most High, and without exception did reverence to their liege Lord, and paid him due homage; when the vast creation revolved around its centre, the great metropolis, the throne of God, and paid its daily and hourly homage to him; when the harmonies of creation always came to one spot and found their focus near the throne of God. There was a time when every star was bright; when all space was filled with loveliness; when holiness, purity, and happiness, were like a robe which mantled the entire creation. This world itself was once fair and lovely — so fair and lovely that we who live in these erring times can scarcely imagine its beauty. It was the house of song, and the dwelling place of praise. If it had no preeminence among its sister spheres, certainly it was not inferior to any of them, surrounded with beauty, girt with gladness, and having in it holy and heavenly inhabitants. It was a house to which the angels themselves loved to resort, where the holy spirits, the morning stars, delighted to sing together over this beautiful and fair earth of ours. But now how is it changed! how very different! Now it is our duty devoutly to bend our knees and pray that the whole earth may yet be filled with his glory.

      2. In one sense this prayer is still unnecessary, for in a certain sense the whole earth is filled with God’s glory. “All your works praise you, oh God,” is as true now as it was in paradise. The stars still sing their Maker’s praise; no sin has stopped their voice, no discord has made a jarring note among the harmonies of the spheres. The earth itself still praises its Maker; the exhalations, as they arise with the morning, are still a pure offering, acceptable to their Maker. The lowing of the cattle, the singing of the birds, the leaping of the fishes, and the delights of animal creation, are still acceptable as consecrated offerings to the Most High. The mountains still bring righteousness; on their hoary summits God’s holy feet might tread, for they are yet pure and spotless. Still do the green valleys, laughing with their verdure,