Charles Spurgeon Prince of Law Preaching
Charles Spurgeon in many places preached outward conformity before
grace could be applied, as well as law preaching. View this exerpt from
his sermon, The Need And Nature of Conversion. The link to the complete
sermon is http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons48.ii.html:
" Is your way the way of the drunkard? Now, no drunkard can ever inherit the kingdom of God as long as he continues a drunkard, so you cannot be saved if you remain in that condition. Are you a thief? Do you privately cheat in business? All that kind of thing must be given up. It is no use for you to say, "I will do it, and yet go to heaven." You will be damned unless that sin, as well as others, be given up. Or have you been a blasphemer? Do you talk profanely or filthily? You must wash all that foulness out of your mouth if you would be saved: "Let the wicked forsake his way." Am I addressing any who have practised vice in unmentionable forms? Oh, how many there are who do that, and yet are not ashamed! You must forsake all that, young man, or old man either; it is no use mincing matters with you....
"That is pretty strong language," says someone. Do you think so? I shall have to use still stronger expressions presently, for the next point concerning the nature of this repentance is that it deals with the man's thoughts: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." "But thoughts are free," says some unthinking person; "I shall never be hanged for my thoughts." No, perhaps not; but have you never heard that old saying, "A man may not be hanged for his thoughts, but he may be damned for his thoughts;" for, in thought, is often the very essence of sin. A deed might in itself be colourless; but the motive for doing it—the thought at the back of it—puts the venom, and virus, and guilt into the deed...
The link to the entire article can be found at: http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0003.htm
" Is your way the way of the drunkard? Now, no drunkard can ever inherit the kingdom of God as long as he continues a drunkard, so you cannot be saved if you remain in that condition. Are you a thief? Do you privately cheat in business? All that kind of thing must be given up. It is no use for you to say, "I will do it, and yet go to heaven." You will be damned unless that sin, as well as others, be given up. Or have you been a blasphemer? Do you talk profanely or filthily? You must wash all that foulness out of your mouth if you would be saved: "Let the wicked forsake his way." Am I addressing any who have practised vice in unmentionable forms? Oh, how many there are who do that, and yet are not ashamed! You must forsake all that, young man, or old man either; it is no use mincing matters with you....
"That is pretty strong language," says someone. Do you think so? I shall have to use still stronger expressions presently, for the next point concerning the nature of this repentance is that it deals with the man's thoughts: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." "But thoughts are free," says some unthinking person; "I shall never be hanged for my thoughts." No, perhaps not; but have you never heard that old saying, "A man may not be hanged for his thoughts, but he may be damned for his thoughts;" for, in thought, is often the very essence of sin. A deed might in itself be colourless; but the motive for doing it—the thought at the back of it—puts the venom, and virus, and guilt into the deed...
Do you ask, "What other
thoughts shall we have to forsake?" I reply,—A whole set of thoughts in
which many people indulge. To the ungodly man, it is often quite a treat
to sit down, and think of what he calls the jolly days of his youth
when he sowed his wild oats. He wishes that he had a handful or two of
them left. Ah, sir! You will have to give up all thoughts of that sort;
but you will have to think of those past days with bitter tears of
sorrow over the sins that you then committed. The ungodly man often
pictures to himself scenes of carnal delight; and if he cannot have a
share in such scenes, he often wishes that he could...
The
garment spotted by the flesh must be flung away from us, and the very
thought of evil must be banished from our minds as far as it is possible
for us to do so...Oh, what a wretched state your heart must be in if it
feels like that! It will have to be greatly altered if you are ever to
be saved...
So, first, you must begin
to think of God; and then, thinking of him, you must yield to him, give
up your will to his will; and, doing that, you must pray to him, cry to
him for mercy; and then you must trust him. Especially, you must accept
his way of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ; and when you do that,
then you will be sure to love him. When you get as far as that, you will
be a new creature altogether. Then, God will delight in you; then, it
will be misery to you to be out of his presence, and it will be the
highest joy of your life to have constant communion with him.III. Now I
finish with the third part of our subject, that is, THE GOSPEL OF THIS
CONVERSION.Possibly, somebody says, "You have been preaching to us the
law, sir." No, I have not."
Liar Spurgeon!
If this is not a false use of the law then the world is flat. It is
interesting to note that Spurgeon is implying that if you are a drunkard
and give up your drinking you will then put yourself in the way of
grace. This putting oneself in the way of grace is a Puritan doctrine
that smacks of works and free will. Another similar sermon is found in
the book "Soul Winner" published by Associated Authors and Publishers of
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49315. On page 40 Spurgeon makes the following
amazing comments: "There are some men who are guilty of dishonest
transactions in business; you will not see them saved all the while they
continue to act so. If they will not give up that trickery, they cannot
be saved. There are others who are drinking to excess. People who
drink, you know, are often very easily affected under our preaching:
they have a watery eye, their drinking has made them sore headed...but
as long as a man clings to 'the cup of devils' he will not be likely to
come to Christ. With others it is some secret sin, or some hidden lust
that is the great difficulty."
Of course, the cup
of devils spoken of in 1 Corinthians 10:21 refers to demon worship
rather than to the sin of drunkenness. Spurgeon, as Protestants have
historically done, substituted pettiness for the serious evil which is
the worship of demons. Spurgeon's concerns, as first said, were petty
indeed compared to the concern of the preachers in the book of Acts.
(See Acts 2:22-39, Acts 3:12-19, Acts 5:42, Acts 7:52, Acts 8:5, Acts
9:5, Acts 10:34-43, Acts 17:23-34.)
The power of
the gospel does not bog down in a seeking of secret sins on the part of
the Apostles other than unbelief itself. Nor is a repudiation of
drunkenness or adultery, or false business practice a prerequisite for
the power of the gospel. I am not proud about it, but as a young man of
21 I was saved and the gospel came upon me when I was not looking for it
when I was living with a woman who had been divorced 3 times! If this
gospel that comes to sinners, not reformed sinners, makes you
uncomfortable then may God have mercy on you. If Jesus' hanging around
prostitutes and tax collectors makes you uncomfortable, then again, may
God have mercy on you.
After the elect are born
from above, after repentance and faith had become a reality in their
hearts, I have no doubt that virtue was added to their faith. Certainly,
adultery, murder, hatred, false business practices, and drunkenness are
wicked works, which Christians cannot pursue. But Spurgeon puts the
cart before the horse, the outward reformation before the gospel itself,
and the law before the gospel in power!
Finally, a passage from Spurgeons sermons concerning the sin of unbelief:
"2. But secondly; unbelief not only begets, but fosters sin.
How is it that men can keep their sin under the thunders of the Sinai
preacher? How is it that, when Boanerges stands in the pulpit, and, by
the grace of God, cries aloud, "Cursed is every man that keepeth not all
the commands of the law,"—how is it that when the sinner hears the
tremendous threatenings of God's justice, still he is hardened, and
walks on in his evil ways? I will tell you; it is because unbelief of
that threatening prevents it from having any effect upon him. When our
sappers and miners go to work around Sebastopol, they could not work in
front of the walls, if they had not something to keep off the shots; so
they raise earthworks, behind which they can do what they please. So
with the ungodly man. The devil gives him unbelief; he thus puts up an
earthwork, and finds refuge behind it. Ah! sinners, when once the Holy
Ghost knocks down your unbelief—when once he brings home the truth in
demonstration and in power, how the law will work upon your soul.
Gary here: unbelief overcome leads to gospel and is the essence of gospel. It does not lead to law. Spurgeon gospel is is about law and therefore is a false gospel. Flee Spurgeon and the Protestants!
Gary here: unbelief overcome leads to gospel and is the essence of gospel. It does not lead to law. Spurgeon gospel is is about law and therefore is a false gospel. Flee Spurgeon and the Protestants!
Of
course Spurgeon, in the above sermon, totally misuses the concept of
unbelief. Instead of understanding how the GOSPEL will work upon your
soul we see Spurgeon saying that once your unbelief is cured you will
then see how the LAW works upon your soul. I cannot say this in more
forceful terms: This interpretation by Spurgeon is Satan himself
talking. It is evil, it is wrong, and alas, if Spurgeon believed this
(and I see no reason to see where he didn't go to his grave with this)
then he is not resting in the arms of the Savior, but instead is reaping
the fruit of his evil and gospel dishonoring doctrine for all eternity.
I repeat: Spurgeon says here that if you have
faith, the law will convict you in a saving way. This is double talk.
Here he is putting faith before law conviction. Whatever works is his
method of gaining converts who have no true faith. In truth faith comes
by gospel conviction, and there is no law conviction, only natural
conscience that all men have, which cannot cut like gospel conviction,
and cannot save.
Many of you view these men of
Covenant Theology as being heroes, but you are accepting a gospel that
you did not receive if indeed you are truly saved. You are accepting a
different spirit than you received, if indeed you were saved. (2 Cor
11:4) Therefore, you must reject this Neo Circumcision as Paul commanded
the Corinthians to reject the original circumcision party.
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