PART I, SKETCH VI: THE SIN OF UNBELIEF

“And that lord answered the man of God…behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof” (2 Kings 7. 19.)

Introduction. One wise man may deliver a whole city. There was one righteous man in the city of Samaria—Elisha, the servant of the Lord. Piety was extinct in the court. The king was a sinner of the blackest dye. The people of Samaria had gone astray from Jehovah. A prophecy of cannibalism was fulfilled in the streets (Deuteronomy 28.56-58.) For Elisha’s sake, the Lord sent the promise of food. But the lord on whom the king leaned did not believe the promise. Whereupon God pronounced his doom. And Providence fulfilled the pronouncement. He saw but did not enjoy.

(1) The Sin. Either the man questioned God’s truthfulness or doubted his power. Unbelief has more phases than the moon and more colors than the chameleon. Unbelief will lead the sinner to distrust the ability of Christ to save him, or to doubt the willingness of Jesus to accept him. But infidelity, deism, and atheism are the most terrific eruptions of the volcano of unbelief. Some professing Christians do not even believe unbelief is a sin. Oh! sirs, believe me, could you roll all sins into one mass, they would not equal the sin of unbelief. The damning sin of sinners is that they do not believe on Christ. The word declares unbelief to be a sin. “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he believeth not on the Son of God.” This is the monarch sin, the masterpiece of Satan, the chief work of the devil. Unbelief is the parent of all iniquity. The fall of man is very much owing to it. “Yea, hath God said?”—this insinuated the doubt. Curiosity and the other sins followed. Unbelief has sharpened the knife of suicide. It has mixed many a cup of poison. Unbelief became a deicide, and murdered Jesus. It is the egg of all crime, the seed of every offence. Everything that is evil and vile is couched in unbelief. Unbelief in the Christian, though pardoned, is especially heinous. I would always fulfill the precept if I always believed the promise. Unbelief fosters sin. Is it nothing to you that Jesus died? Then there is unbelief between you and the cross. Only when the Holy Spirit strikes at unbelief will sinners come to trust in Jesus. Unbelief disables a man. Morality is a good thing. But your own goodness will never get you to heaven. Virtues without faith are whitewashed sins. Peter once walked on waves. Faith was his lifejacket; it kept him up; but unbelief sent him down. Faith fosters every virtue; unbelief murders every one. Thousands of prayers have been strangled in infancy by unbelief. Many a man would have been a missionary; but he had unbelief. Make a giant unbelieving, and he becomes a dwarf. Unbelief has been severely punished. By faith Noah escaped the flood. By unbelief the rest were drowned. Unbelief caused the Jews to murder Christ. It aims a blow at divinity. Unbelief is the damning sin. There is one sin for which Christ never died: the sin against the Holy Ghost. There is no mercy for anyone dying in unbelief.

(2) The Punishment. “Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” That is the doom of unbelievers. As for Christians who turn their heads from the dish prepared for them, they will have some affliction; they will be made to eat by means of bitters in their mouths. They will be put in prison until their appetite returns. The majority of our congregations come just to see. A great work is going on in this chapel, but some of you do not know anything about it. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Unbelief makes you sit here in times of revival, and of the outpourings of God’s grace, unmoved, uncalled, unsaved…Oh, the hell of hells will be to see our friends in heaven and ourselves lost…If you are lost, it will be because you believed not on Christ.” 

PART I, SKETCH V: ELECTION

“…God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation….” (2 Thessalonians 2.13, 14.)

Introduction. This text all by itself is enough to prove that God has made an ancient choice. In many pulpits it is regarded as a great sin to preach on election. But God has revealed this truth for a purpose. I ask that you lay aside any intolerance you might have, and hear what the Scripture says. Do not be ashamed to learn, and to give up old views. And if, after you have heard my sermon, and after you have prayed about it, you still can’t see this doctrine in the Bible, then you may reject it.

(1) Where the Doctrine is Found. Any Anglican will find it in the Articles of his church. It says there that God has, from eternity, decided to deliver from curse and damnation, those whom he has chosen. The Waldensian Creed teaches the same, and that God’s choice depends not on foreseen virtues. This is no new doctrine. This is not just Calvinism. History points to confessor after confessor of this teaching. The contrary teaching has been more rare. Our own Baptist Confession teaches election. But the important thing is, that election is in the Bible. If the Bible calls people elect, then there must be an election. Just look into Mark 13 and Luke 18. And the words appointed and my sheep teach election too. Election is taught in Colossians and Titus, and by Peter and John. The doctrine was loved in those days. And we love it especially when it is hated. Jesus himself says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John 15.16.) Look at Acts 13, and into Romans 9 and you will see it for sure. Shall we cut it out of the Bible if we do not like it? If it is in the Bible, we must bow down and accept it. 

(2) Election is Absolute. What I mean is, election is absolutely independent of us. If men cannot be justified by deeds, then neither can election depend on them. And if faith is God’s gift, it is nonsense to say that our faith caused God to elect. “He will have mercy on whom he will.” 

(3) Election is Eternal. We could never travel back to the beginning of eternity. Yet from then, before comets wandered and angels flew, God chose his people. Just run over these thoughts.

(4) Election is Personal. Some say that God has chosen nations, not persons. But if election were a crime, choosing nations would be more criminal than choosing persons, because nations are made up of multitudes of persons. If you argue that God has chosen the Jews, I argue back that God has chosen that Jew, and that Jew, and that Jew. God chooses persons. Election is personal. 

(5) Election Produces Good Results. God chooses persons to holiness and faith. O beloved! never think that you are elect unless you are holy. And never think that you are chosen unless you believe in Christ. God’s Election does not free you from Responsibility. Don’t imagine that because you are elect you may believe and live as you please. If you are destroyed, it will be your own fault.

(6) Election’s Tendencies. It tends to humble us. How can we be proud if God loved us before we existed? He who is proud of his election is not elect. It tends to make us fearless and bold. So what if the whole world is against you, as long as you are chosen by the Almighty? It tends to make us holy. Shall I sin, an elect person says, after God has chosen me? Sin after such love? 

Selection from Conclusion. “What though there is an allotted number, yet it is true that all who seek belong to that number. Go thou and seek…come as a guilty sinner to Jesus.” 

PART I, SKETCH IV: HEALING FOR THE WOUNDED: A SERMON FOR THE CRIMEAN SOLDIERS

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (Psalm 147.3.)

Introduction. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” The Psalmist here declares that the same mighty hand which rolls the stars along, heals the broken heart. Oh, if we were as aware of spiritual injuries as we are of bodily diseases, we would cry out to ‘the Beloved Physician.’ We are injured by the sin of our first parent, and disabled by our own.

(1) The Great Ill. This great ill, this broken heart, what is it? There are hearts broken by desertion. A husband neglects the wife that he used to lavish with love. A friend deserts you. Your fellows betray you. Children are ungrateful. Many have gone to their graves by wounds like these. There are hearts broken by bereavement. Tender wives have laid their husbands in the grave. Parents have lost beloved kids. To such as them the world becomes cheerless and miserable. But divine grace can uphold them. And what about our soldiers in the war? There is more grief sometimes in one of their hurried funerals than in one of ours at home. Oh, you mourners! Open your hearts before God. He will heal them. There are also hearts broken by poverty. Hang on, and hope on! The Feeder of sparrows cares for you! And there are spirits crushed by disappointment and defeat. All these natural breakings Jehovah pays attention to. He can heal all wounds. But it is the heart that is broken on account of its own sin that God specially delights to heal. Bunyan says that a heart like this is ‘considerably tumbled up and down.’ This wounded spirit is grieved by things like amusements and dirty songs and drinking, and requires a healing from beyond this world. Even its religious duties bring no comfort. Nothing cheers it. What a blessing to be broken like that! God is changing it! This heart is truly repenting! There is pardon for sinners through Jesus Christ! Are you anxious to be carried to God’s Hospital of Mercy? Just lie down at Jesus’ feet. 

(2) The Great Mercy. Man can cheer the afflicted and harassed. But only God can heal the broken heart. The preacher may break it by a fiery sermon. But only God does the healing. Be careful not to just get your wound rubbed over by a bad physician who recommends pleasures or duties for your broken-ness. Your heart needs to be washed in the blood of Jesus. Seek no other physician than God, and he will do it. Plentiful in mercy, God rushes to his repenting child, and bows over his mangled heart. He washes every wound with sacred water from the side of Jesus. The queen may visit and comfort a soldier with royal words. But only God visits to close the open wounds of the spirit. He is gentler than any army surgeon, and he heals forever. He who is forgiven cannot be punished. He who is born again can never perish. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Do you know that there is a hell of eternal flame appointed for the wicked?…Canst thou endure the terrors of the Almighty?…It may be my words are now sounding in the ear of one of my weary wounded fellow-countrymen…You are now feeling the guilt of your life, and are lamenting the sins of your conduct. You fear there is no hope of pardon…Hear, then, the word of God. Thy pains for sins are God’s work in thy soul…He would not have showed thee thy sin if he did not intend to pardon…Believe, O troubled one, that he is able to save thee unto the uttermost, and thou shalt not believe in vain…See…yonder crucified Man on Calvary, and mark thee that those drops of blood are falling for thee, those nailed hands are pierced for thee, and that opened side contains a heart within it, full of love to thee.”

PART I, SKETCH III: TEACHING CHILDREN

“Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psalm 34.11.)

Introduction. It is worth noticing that good men often discover their duty by being placed in humiliating circumstances. This happened to David. Once, he pretended to be crazy to fool a king, and the children in the street laughed at him. By the remembrance of that event, maybe, he sets out to do something better than make children laugh. He will teach them the fear of the Lord. 

(1) One Doctrine. Here it is: Children are able to understand religious topics, contrary to popular opinion that says they can’t. Children often understand these things better than geniuses do. A child capable of being damned is capable of being saved. If teachers can’t make children understand, it is because the teachers do not understand themselves. Anyway, God can work upon little hearts as he pleases. Be careful not to dismiss one of these tiny buds of grace. If a child declares love to Jesus, treat that little one as a real member of God’s church!

(2) Two Encouragements. First, David’s example. “I will teach you the fear of the Lord,” says David. You are not too proud to follow in the steps of David the giant killer, are you? And follow the Son of David, Jesus, who says, “Suffer little children to come unto me.” Second, David’s success. “I will teach you,” he says—not perhaps. Many volumes could be written on the success of Sabbath-schools in teaching children. It is a noble work. Go on in it! More shall yet be done!

(3) Three Cautions. First, remember who you are teaching. Children have little option of going somewhere else. And they believe and retain error as easily as truth. Second, recall that you are teaching for God. This should make you tremble and make sure that you are teaching truth. Third, remember that a child needs teaching. He was born in sin. He has an evil seed in his heart. It is your job to sow a good seed there, or he will be forever lost. Be very anxious when you teach.

(4) Four Instructions. “Come, ye children.” This means go and invite them. Do not bribe them. That is a mean abuse. Just coax them to come along. Then fill the school by teaching interestingly: tell lots of stories. Next, get the children to love you. Otherwise they will not learn. Wear a sour look while you tell a boy about Jesus, and will the boy not think that Jesus is as sour as you? Then, keep the children’s attention by the use of many stories and pictures. Finally, stick to the lesson. 

(5) Five Sunday-School Lessons. Here they are: morality (what’s right and wrong) to make them know their sins; godliness (one-on-one prayers and love to God) to make them conscious of God’s tender care and all seeing eye; the evil of sin to convince them of needing a Saviour; the need of a broken heart of repentance through God’s mercy; and the blessedness of being a child of God. Oh! Emphasize this last point. Show them how to be happy in spite of all your troubles. And be sure not to leave out the three R’s: Ruin, Regeneration, and Redemption. 

Selection from Conclusion. “You are a sword; God may with you slay the child’s sin, but you can not slay it yourself. Be you therefore mindful of this, that you must be first taught of God yourself, and then you must ask God to teach, for unless a higher teacher than you instruct the child, that child must perish. It is not all your instruction can save a soul: it is the blessing of God resting on it. May God bless your labors! He will do it if you are instant in prayer, constant in supplication; for never yet did the earnest preacher or teacher, labor in vain.”

PART I, SKETCH II: THE BIBLE

“I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing” (Hosea 8.12.)

Introduction. This is God’s complaint against Ephraim. It is a great proof of God’s goodness that he stoops to rebuke his erring creatures. If he pleased, he might be as indifferent to us as the heathens supposed their Jove was. Our God notices every one of us. We are beneath his smile or his frown. How merciful that God does not smite man out of existence! Instead, he pleads with him. I come here as God’s ambassador to plead with you and to charge many of you with the sin of this text. 

(1) Who is the Author? The text says that it is God. John tells of love; Peter speaks of fire devouring God’s enemies; but everywhere I find God speaking. I could show you that God wrote the Bible. But I stand here as a preacher of things I know and feel, not as a controversialist. A thought or two now on this Word of God. First, admire its authority. It is not the sayings of the sages of Greece. It is dated from the hills of heaven. The chapters are big with meaning and mysteries unknown. Written by God? Then I will bow before thee. Reason, your place is to stand and find out what this volume means, not to tell it what it should say. Then, mark its truthfulness. This is the Word of God, a sun without a blot, the judge that ends the strife. I have heard men in prayer say, “Make your calling and salvation sure” instead of, “Make your calling and election sure.” Pity they were not born long enough ago to teach God how to write! God wrote what they do not like—the truth. Stop and consider the mercy of God in writing us a Bible. He might have left us in the dark with only the star of reason as our guide. The light of creation is bright. God’s glory may be discovered in the ocean waves. But his glory is more clearly revealed in the Bible. What will become of you who neglect your Bibles? There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write ‘damnation’ with your fingers. Be Bible-readers; be Bible-searchers. 

(2) The Subjects in the Bible. There is nothing unimportant in the Bible. I believe a man may be saved in any denomination. But not all churches are equally truthful. One teaches that we are saved by free grace, while another says it is by free will. They cannot both be right. Never say that what you believe doesn’t matter. Search and see. But while all things in God’s word are important, they are not equally so. Certain vital truths must be believed, or no man would be saved. What are the three R’s? Ruin, redemption, and regeneration. There is an even better epitome of the gospel in the five points of Calvinism. Do you think the great things of God’s law are not worth your attention? Reflect a moment, man. If you die without Christ, there is no hope for you. As heaven is desirable and hell is terrible, you ought to listen to God’s great things. 

(3) How the Bible is Treated in the World. It is accounted a strange thing. First, because some never read it. A full-grown person once heard me reading the story of David and Goliath, and then remarked, “Dear me! what an interesting story; what book is that in?” Others who read the Bible say it is so horribly dry. If it is dry to you, you lack the greatest evidence of your Christianity, and you will be dry at last in hell. Blind men need the Spirit to put eye-salves on. Then there are some who hate the Bible. Do not quarrel with your only refuge from hell! Hope in the Saviour’s veins. Hope in the Father’s mercy. Hope in the Holy Spirit’s omnipotent agency. 

Selection from Conclusion. “Let no one turn away from the Bible because it is not a book of learning and wisdom. It is. Would you know astronomy? It is here: it tells you of the Sun of Righteousness and the Star of Bethlehem…Whate’er your science is, come and bend o’er this book.” 

PART I, SKETCH I: SOVEREIGNTY AND SALVATION

“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God” (Isaiah 45.22.)

Introduction. Six years ago today I was saved from misery and sin as the minister read this text, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” How marvelous it is to now address these words for the good of some other poor sinner! There was a time when mighty God dwelled in solemn silence alone. How outrageous that his creatures would for a moment compare themselves with him! Yet Satan tried to take his throne! Then man imitated Satan. Since then God has been teaching the world this great lesson from our text. 

(1) God has been Teaching this Lesson to Mankind. He has been teaching it to false gods. Where are the gods of Persia? Where is Persia’s fire-worshipper? Where are the gods of Greece, like Jupiter and Saturn? Who bows before them now? Where are the gods of Rome? Of China and Polynesia? Buddha, Brahman, and Vishnu shall yet be tramped in the mire. So much for idols. God has been teaching this lesson that there is no God but him, to Empires. Go and see the ruins of Babylon. Go seat yourselves in the temples of Greece. Walk through the deserted theatres of Rome. Hear the voice in the wild wind, “I am God, and there is none else.” God has taught this great truth to monarchs. Take Nebuchadnezzar, who was so proud of his Babylon. He was driven into the field to eat grass like an ox. Remember Herod, who imagined he was divine. The worms ate him up that same day. Modern history is full of examples of kings humbled by God. Wise men of this world have learned our lesson too. The wisdom of Socrates, the writings of Aristotle and Bacon, are all but forgotten now. Philosophies and systems quickly pass away to be replaced by others. God’s Bible is the rock that shall crush all of them into powder. Even the Church of God forgets our lesson: that God has no equal or rival. How did Israel forget when she worshiped strange gods! And Christians in prosperity and pride have been taught the hard lesson by various trials. Great preachers too have had to learn it.

(2) The Special Way God Teaches this Lesson. He teaches us that he alone is God by directing us to look unto him alone for salvation. “Look unto me,” he says, not at the priest, not at yourself. Don’t even look at your repentance and faith. Look to Jesus, or you’ll be damned. Sin qualifies you to come to Jesus, not your righteousness. The sick have need of a physician. And so the preacher says, “Look unto Christ, and ye shall be saved.” See the thorny crown cause drops of blood to trickle down his cheeks. If you want mercy, look at all his wounds. Observe next, that it is “look unto me.” That is the simple way to be saved: Look—four letters, and two of them alike! Man wants a complicated way, with candles and ceremonies, etc. To take down your pride God orders you to do a simple thing, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” A look takes less than a moment. Salvation is as fast. It is not seeing Christ so much as looking for him. Jesus in the dark is as good as Jesus in the light. The will for Christ, the wish for him, that is what is wanted. This method of salvation is the same for everyone, for the gentleman, the prostitute, the Gentile, and the Jew. It is for anyone. This is why the text says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Are you a filthy sinner? So filthy that you dare not look? But God will condemn you unless you look. If you fear, look anyway, and your sin will be removed. 

Selection from Conclusion. “In all thine agony, poor soul, in all thy repentance for thy guilt, look unto Christ, and find pardon…Now believe on him; now cast thy guilty soul upon his righteousness; now plunge thy black soul into the bath of his blood…Now ‘Look!’”

PART I, SKETCHING SPURGEON: INTRODUCTION

Spurgeon’s sermons are among the finest that have ever been preached or composed. They are, among other excellent things, a condensation of Puritan divinity. The Puritans were the preeminent expositors of their age, and, in fact, of any age. So one day many years ago I decided to condense some of Spurgeon’s sermons in order to learn the grand doctrines of the Bible. Eventually I moved on to other projects, but not before completing over eighty sketches. 

These sketches are not abridgments of sermons. Each sketch is a snapshot of a whole sermon. For each sketch, I have stuck precisely to the format of each title being summed up. When there were three points, I put in the same three points; when there were six, I squeezed all six of them in. Each sketch begins with a summary of the sermon introduction. Each sketch closes with an excerpt from the sermon conclusion, word for word. I have tried my best to include some of Spurgeon’s illustrations. I have fit in as much historical information, and as many anecdotes and analogies as I could. Because I planned to hand these sketches out on the street, Spurgeon’s English has been modernized. The reason why the sketches are harmonized for length is because my object was to fit each one on a single page.

The sermons of Spurgeon are saturated with the great life-changing doctrines; they are Christ-centered; they are calculated to bring sinners to repentance; they are warm yet hard-hitting; and they are all well-structured, smart and interesting, artistic and arresting, and as persuasive as any sermons that have ever been delivered or written down. Spurgeon’s doctrine has proven good enough for the Spirit to set his seal to. And my sketches are nothing else than an accurate, clear condensation of what he preached. His pulpit power may be felt, even in snapshots of his work.  

It would have been easy to make it appear as though Spurgeon believed something other than he actually believed. By a selective summary, a person could make it appear as though he believed that Jesus died for every sinner, for example. I was not tempted to commit that sin, for I believe as Spurgeon did, and I hate misrepresentations in any case. I think Spurgeon is wrong on lizards being killed before Adam was created. I made sure to make room for parts like this for no other reason than because I disagree. I have been very careful to convey Spurgeon’s doctrine, no matter what I found it to be. Spurgeon chose to preach from texts that contain the grandest themes. It is not possible to find a sermon of his that treats of minor matters. So it is not possible to cherry-pick little hobby horses when featuring his work. I did choose to sketch a sermon of his on Christmas, even though I do not believe that a sermon on Christmas is ever appropriate. When a sermon on Christmas is by C. H. Spurgeon, though, you can count on it being about Christ, not the manger or Magi.