Charles Spurgeon - Documentário

[Music] [Music] so [Music] my life seems to me like a fairy dream i'm often both amazed and dazed with his mercies and its love oh how good god has been to me [Music] god truly was good to charles spurgeon one of the greatest preachers who ever Lived during his lifetime spurgeon preached to vast crowds he faithfully made known the great truths of the gospel to millions of men and women in his ministry and he continues to do so today more than a century after his death i'm one of them my name is jeremy walker and

i'm a pastor and preacher at maydenbauer baptist church Growing up i heard the name of spurgeon fairly regularly but my first real personal exposure to him came when i was reading in my room at university it was this particular volume that i had a modern reprint of the new park street pulpit by charles spurgeon the first sermon in this volume is on the immutability Of god and as i began to read i was gripped spurgeon begins by talking about the unchangeable essence of god his unchangeable attributes his unchangeable plans and his unchangeable promises but the

first words that really gripped my mind had to do with god's unchanging threatenings spurgeon writes you must believe or be damned seth the Bible and mark that threat of god is as unchangeable as god himself and when a thousand years of hell's torments shall have passed away you shall look on high and see written in burning letters of fire he that believeth not shall be damned but lord i am damned nevertheless it says shall be still and when a million ages have Rolled away and you are exhausted by your pains and agonies you shall turn

up your eye and still read shall be damned unchanged unaltered he goes on to explain that god is unchanging in the objects of his love but what gripped me was spurgeon's sense of spiritual reality and i thought this is a man who's Speaking to my experience and my heart i moved on from this to other volumes like the saint and his savior a book full of sweetness concerning the relationship of a saved sinner with the lord jesus christ and from these onto his autobiography wanting to know more about the man who preached in that way

and that's really where we are because spurgeon sermons live on in the minds and hearts of Countless people throughout the world but how many of us who esteem this man so highly really know very much about him and that's the purpose of this film to introduce us to this man who became known as the prince of preachers and to trace some of the influences on his life down through the years [Music] We're going on a journey to see where and how spurgeon lived to follow in his footsteps and to learn from and to embrace the

legacy that he has left us [Music] won't you join us as we look at the world through the eyes of spurgeon [Music] [Applause] [Music] In his biography of charles spurgeon wy fullerton wrote with its great hemisphere of sky essex like nazareth of the olden days lies near the stream of the world's traffic but is shut off from it and spurgeon in his touch with the life of his time his aloofness from it and his open vision of the wide heavens resembles his native country essex is where the story of charles Spurgeon begins here in the

small village of calvardon in the house behind me john and elijah spurgeon welcomed their firstborn son charles into the world on the 19th of june 1834. he was the first of 17 children although only eight of them survived infancy spurgeon's early life in kelvin was brief within 10 months of his birth his family moved to colchester And four months later 16 month old charles came to live with his grandparents james and sarah in stanborn why would john and eliza send their little boy to live with his grandparents the truth is we just don't know but

one thing we can say with certainty is that while it might seem strange to us it was exactly what god planned for spurgeon For it was here that god would begin to draw charles to himself the elder spurgeon james ministered to stanborn's meetinghouse which was home to a surprisingly large congregation since 1810 the meeting house was one of the last burning embers of puritanism a form of christianity known for its christ exalting doctrine and intense commitment to personal holiness The elder spurgeon held a strong grasp of the scriptures and of the puritans writings in fact

one of james hearers once said i could mount on wings as eagles after being fed such heavenly food there can be no doubt the lord knew exactly what he was doing sending young charles here james and sarah's youngest daughter 17 year old anne Was delighted to have charles in their home he quickly became the beneficiary of her love and care in many ways she was a second mother to him caring for him as she would her own child and teaching him how to crawl walk and talk she was also a passionate christian and sought to

promote his spiritual welfare through her life and daily example In stanborn stood the child's rocking horse this was the only horse i ever enjoyed riding living animals are too eccentric in their movements and the law of gravity usually draws me from my seat upon them to a lower level therefore i am not an inveterate lover of horseback i can however testify of my standboard steed that it was a horse on which even a Member of parliament might have retained his seat in 1696 the government had imposed attacks for each window on a house and this

led to many windows being bricked up for young charles this added to the thrill of going upstairs he had no idea the adventures awaiting him as he opened a door into a dark room here was a treasure trove A vast pastoral library stood before him and almost immediately he stumbled upon a book that would remain close to his heart until the end of his days a book he would read more than 100 times john bunyan's the pilgrim's progress out of that darkened room i faced those old authors when i was yet a youth and never

was i happier than when in their company charles would spend hours in this room Devouring the works of saints from days past many of whom were the great puritans reading was a source of great joy to charles but he didn't spend all his time with his books aunt ann remembers a family conversation about a church member who was causing his grandfather a great deal of distress okay so when i was 16 in school we had to write i'm not sure what it was called a study About somebody in history so i decided to write about

my great great grandfather so that's when i started looking up the um the stories and the books about him and so this was a story one of the stories i read um about road so guy would be doing a lot of drinking he was causing terrible grief to the pastor so they're going to kill that guy rhodes and they're so that's a bit strong so he Went off down to the pub and he said um he came back and he said i've killed him what has he done what's he done to this roads so this

guy rhodes arrived back and uh he apologized for you know his drinking and that he wasn't really following the lord properly and um apparently he'd been sitting in the post smoking his pipe and drinking a pint of beer when the boy ch had stepped in and pointing and said What does that hear elijah sitting with the ungodly and you a member of the church and breaking your pastor's heart i'm ashamed of you i would not break my pastor's heart furious at charles behavior rhodes marched over to the mance on the way though his anger subsiding

he started thinking seriously about his own actions when he arrived at the spurgeon home It was with a repentant heart the difficulties were resolved and a good relationship restored spurgeon loved his time at stanborn and especially his grandfather i recollect when first i left my grandfather with whom i've been brought up as a little child how grieved i was to part from him it was the great sorrow of my little life grandfather seemed Very sorry too and we had a cry together he did not quite know what to say to me but he said now

child tonight when the moon shines and you look at it don't forget that it is the same moon your grandfather will be looking at and for years as a child i used to love the moon because i thought my grandfather's eyes and my own somehow Met there on the moon we're standing at the bottom of hive hill in colchester where charles came to live with his parents when he returned to them it was the first time that he'd been among his brothers and sisters and as the oldest he was their natural leader whether it was

playing in their games or preaching to them from a haystack pulpit but little did charles know that it wouldn't be long before he was Preaching the gospel from a real pulpit to tens of thousands of people [Music] charles was 10 years old when he was reunited with his parents and siblings but stanborn would continue to play a very important part in the young child's life it was here on a visit to his grandparents that he met richard nill who'd been a missionary in india and Russia with the london missionary society at that time nil was

ministering to a number of congregations across england while traveling from town to town as an itinerant minister nil arrived in stanborn in 1844. visiting with the elder spurgeons neil met young charles he was impressed with the boy's command over his speech and unparalleled eloquence Something call it intuition or an internal prompting from the holy spirit told him that this boy was special and over several days nil spent many hours praying with and ministering to the young boy we went into the right-handed arbor and there in the sweetest way he told me of the love of

jesus and of the blessedness of trusting in him and loving him in our childhood with many a story he preached christ to me And told me how good god had been to him and then he prayed that i might know the lord and serve him he knelt down in that arbor and prayed for me with his arms about my neck he did not seem content until i kept with him in the interval between the services he heard my childish talk with patient love and repaid it with gracious instruction on three successive days he taught me

And prayed with me before neil had to leave the family gathered to morning prayer and during this time of prayer something unexpected occurred mr nill took me on his knee and said this child will one day preach the gospel and he will preach it to great multitudes i am persuaded that he will preach in the chapel of roland hill where i am now the minister he spoke Very solemnly and called upon all present to witness what he said what prompted richard nill to speak in this way we're not entirely sure but his words did come

to pass spurgeon would go on to preach to multitudes and he would preach in roland hills chapel and when he did preach there he remembered the promise that he had made to richard nill A promise to sing that hymn god moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform it was clear from charles earliest days that he was an exceptionally bright boy he preferred academic pursuits to sports primarily because as he himself admitted he could handle a book better than a ball or bat at the age of 14 charles was sent to central augustine's college

maidstone although he would only spend One year at this church of england school before moving on to new market academy spurgeon would consider his time there one of the most important years of his life among the people he would come to know at the college was a clergyman a good man as spurgeon called him who would convince him of the necessity of believers baptism he said you were never properly baptized Oh yes sir i was my grandfather baptized me in the little parlor and he is a minister so i know he did it right ah

but you had neither faith nor repentance and therefore ought not to have received baptism why sir that has nothing to do with it all infants ought to be baptized how do you know that does not the prayer book say that faith and repentance are necessary before Baptism and this is so scriptural a doctrine that no one ought to deny it now charles i shall give you till next week to find out whether the bible does not declare faith and repentance to be necessary qualifications before baptism spurgeon felt sure of his victory at that point but

as he searched his memory and his bible he found that he was beaten his mind was made up i resolved from That moment that if ever divine grace should work a change in me i would be baptized since as i afterwards told my friend the clergyman i never ought to be blamed for improper baptism as i had nothing to do with it the error if any rested with my parents and grandparents years later spurgeon would return to the college While there he said he could not help praising god for not long after i left that

school he led me to faith in christ and to rest in him and find eternal life and i could not but thank god that i went to that school for 12 months after a year at central augustine's spurgeon arrived at new market academy he was a very gifted student and at the age of 15 became what is called an article Pupil or usher but it wasn't his intellectual and academic achievements or even his employment that's most significant about this period it was during this time that the lord used a number of people to have a

profound spiritual impact upon the young charles and one of the most significant was a very unlikely mentor a cook by the name of mary king She was a good old soul and used to read the gospel standard she liked something very sweet indeed good strong calvinistic doctrine but she lived strongly as well as fed strongly many a time we have gone over the covenant of grace together and talked of the personal election of the saints the union to christ their final perseverance and what vital godliness meant And i do believe that i learned more from

her than i should have learned from any six doctors of divinity of the sort we have nowadays there are some christian people who taste and see and enjoy religion in their own souls and who get a deeper knowledge of it than books can ever give them though they should search all their days the cook at newmarket was a godly experienced woman from whom I learned far more than i did from the minister of the chapel we attended mary king's instruction had a profound impact upon the young spurgeon not just immediately but on his whole theology

as it matured over the years he wasn't actually converted at this time even though he'd begun to be involved in the life of a local church but as he was instructed the conviction of sin began To press down upon him with that grief and that sorrow on his soul spurgeon realized that sin was something that had to be paid for [Music] spurgeon was the son of a preacher and the grandson of a preacher what many would call a pastor's kid he grew up with the good news all around him surrounded by the theology of the

Puritans and yet in his heart the gospel still eluded him i had heard of the plan of salvation by the sacrifice of jesus from my youth up but i did not know any more about it in my innermost soul than i had been born and bred a hot and taut the light was there but i was blind it was of necessity that the lord himself should make the matter Plain to me the lord in his mercy did make the mata plain to spurgeon not through some grand event but through a simple sermon charles walked into

this building a troubled boy but he walked out a new man in christ and it was all of grace [Music] a very thin looking man came into the pulpit and opened his bible and read These words look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth just set his eyes upon me as if he knew me all by heart he said young man you are in trouble well i was sure enough then he said you will never get out of it unless you look to christ and then lifting up his hands he cried

out as only i think a primitive methodist Could do look look look it is only look said he i once saw the way of salvation oh how i did leap for joy at that moment that day spurgeon returned home and his parents immediately saw the difference in him his face had changed he had a smile a cheerful happy and contented look no longer was he the melancholy boy But bright and cheerful that same night the newly born again charles attended ells lane baptist church with his mother worshiping together as mother and son but also brother

and sister in christ for the first time later he would be baptized at iceland ferry on the river lark when i look back upon it i can see one reason why the word was blessed to me as i heard it preached in that primitive Methodist chapel at colchester i had been upbeat times crying to god for the blessing as a lad when i was seeking the savior i used to rise with the sun as i might get time to read gracious books and to seek the lord i can recall the kind of please i used

when i took my arguments and came before the throne of grace lord save me he will glorify thy grace To save such a sinner as i am lord save me else i am lost to all eternity do not let me perish lord save me o lord for jesus died by his agony and bloody sweat by his cross and passion save me i often proved that the early morning was the best part of the day i like those prayers of which the psalmist said in the morning Shall my prayer prevent thee it can be a difficult

thing to enter into pastoral ministry especially if you've never really had good examples and mentors the first time you make a hospital visit the first time you sit by the bed of a dying person the first funeral perhaps the the sermons that you preach and the people that you have to deal with Spurgeon himself didn't begin in this place his ministry didn't begin with a great public fanfare he didn't start out in a mega church and he didn't begin with having his sermons read by thousands of people across the world spurgeon began in much the

same way as most of us begin by learning from other people spurgeon really cut his teeth on Ministry through distributing tracts there was a a desire for the gospel that welled up within him and he distributed tracts on the streets and to children and to adults in the community seeking to spread the gospel charles moved to cambridge in the summer to work as mr leading's assistant and while there he was really tricked into preaching his first sermon leading told charles to accompany Another young man who was going to preach and was uncomfortable preaching and that

charles might be of encouragement to him he had actually told the other young man the very same thing they show up there together someone has to preach charles undertakes the task of preaching the sermons it's a tiny little church a couple of dozen people there primarily older And doubtlessly they had heard many young preachers before but they were struck by this sermon that spurgeon had preached my take should be unto you therefore which believe he is precious and i would trust the lord to open my mouth in honor of his dear son he seemed a

great risk and serious trial but depending upon the power of the holy ghost i would at least tell out the story of the cross and not Allow the people to go home without a word we entered the low pitched room of the thatched cottage we sang and prayed and read the scriptures and then came my first sermon how long or how short it was i cannot now remember it was not half such a task as i had feared it would be but i was glad to see my way to a fair Conclusion and to the

giving out of the last hymn to my own delight i had not broken down nor stopped short in the middle nor been destitute of ideas and the desired haven was in view i made a finish and took up the hymnbook but to my astonishment an aged voice cried out bless your dear heart how old are you my very solemn reply was You must wait till the service is over before making any such enquiries let us now sing we did sing the young preacher pronounced the benediction and then they began a dialogue which enlarged into a

warm friendly talk in which everybody appeared to take part how old are you was the leading question i am under 60 was the reply yes and under 16 was the old lady's rejoinder never mind my age think of the lord Jesus and his preciousness was all that i could say as a 17 year old boy he became pastor of a village church at water beach he resigned his work at the school and undertook preaching at the age of 17. he came to be known as the boy preacher of the finns and immediately this tiny little

struggling congregation sprung to life and word began to spread of this young Phenom who was exhibiting a a gifting well beyond his years and a capacity to deliver the word of god with with power and with creativity that combined awakened this this church water beach was a watershed season for spurgeon this small church went from about 40 to about 450. and in many ways it was a season of Self-discovery for him where his calling became confirmed and he began to realize in a personal way perhaps the magnitude of what god was positioning him to do

it also was a time for decision as it relates to whether or not he would pursue formal education as a non-conformist he could not enter cambridge and he he had a botched interview with joseph Angus the principal of stepney college where uh spurgeon is in one room angus is in the other the the receptionist there did not connect the two they both think the other is running late they both leave frustrated and it and it detours spurgeon from pursuing formal education he then is reflecting upon this whether or not he should study And he believes

the lord speaks to him through the verse of jeremiah 45 5 seekest thou great things for thyself seekest them not and for spurgeon coming to grips with not pursuing formal education in many ways was a step of humility not to seek the approbation of man that would play into not pursuing formal ordination not submitting himself to formal ordination because not seeing that in the scriptures It would play into a lifetime of declining honorary doctorates and formal degrees and formal accolades of man it's amazing how something as simple as a letter can change your life maybe

a letter from that man or that woman maybe a letter offering you your first real job in late 1851 charles received just such a letter he was invited to come and Preach at the new park street chapel in this part of london the chapel had been founded 200 years earlier by puritan era baptists and had seen stalwarts of the faith such as benjamin keach john gill and john rippen in its pulpit despite its past glory by 1853 the new park street chapel was in decline in november of 1853 spurgeon spoke at a cambridge sunday school

union There was a man in attendance named george gould and mr gould perceived spurgeon's unique gifting he was impressed by his his power in the pulpit and he reached out to a gentleman named william olnea a deacon at the new park street chapel he knew they were in need of a preacher and it was a church of great reputation they had had men like benjamin keach and john gill is their pastor John ripon for 63 years before the current vacancy it was a church with a great history but though it would seat about 1200 the

congregation then numbered only about 200. they extended invitation for spurgeon to come and preach spurgeon being so young he literally thought there was some confusion the invitation was intended for another man by the name of spurgeon Nonetheless after clarifying that he went to to the church to preach to the chapel to preach new park street chapel was situated on the south side of the river thames an industrial part of town nonetheless the church perceived they had potential perhaps every church in one of a pastor has told a candidate they have potential but they perceive that

potential they invite us purge and fill the pulpit he preached one sunday they invite him Back for several other occasions throughout the month of january of 1854 and by the time he had finished his final formal preaching obligation new park street were already devising plans to formalize spurgeon and an offering commitment from him they perceived i suppose that before them was a michael jordan a once-in-a-generation preacher a man of Unique giftedness that regardless of his age of being only 19 they should seize upon him and that through him god would do great things and indeed

through him god did do great things at that church as clive anderson describes it many were double squeezed into the varnished pews others were peering in at the doors or through the windows without a thought for health and safety The isles were crowded some sat on the pulpit stairs and others were perched like starlings on the windowsills the crystal palace was really the brainchild of prince albert husband of queen victoria and it was sort of like a rich man's folly in some ways a massive cathedral that could seat over twenty thousand on october 7 1857

spurgeon preached to 23 654 people the largest crowd he would ever speak to without modern amplification or pa systems and that sermon there in the uh and what became a part of the mystique and the legend of spurgeon given the size of the crowd and the ability for those assembled to hear this man preach in 1857 a day or two before preaching at the crystal palace i went to decide where the platform Should be fixed and in order to test the acoustic properties of the building cried out in a loud voice behold the lamb of

god which taketh away the sin of the world in one of the galleries a workman who knew nothing of what was being done heard the words and they came like a message from heaven to his soul he was smitten with conviction on account of sin Put down his tools went home and there after a season of spiritual struggling found peace and life by beholding the lamb of god as the lord worked through spurgeon's ministry the congregation at the new park street chapel began to feel the pinch packed sunday services meant that they needed to look

elsewhere for rented facilities Including at the surrey gardens music hall but there too thousands thronged to hear spurgeon's bold and clear proclamation of the truth as it is in jesus but something had to change and so in march of 1861 the congregation moved into the metropolitan tabernacle seating 5000 with standing room for 1 000 more it was the largest church building Of its day spurgeon's swelling crowds necessitated a building committee and a building campaign and the construction of the metropolitan tabernacle was one of his signature achievements and became in and of itself a a great

subtext to his ministry he wrote broadly soliciting funds for it and received funds broadly even well beyond his own congregation because folks perceived the importance Of what was taking place he chose the name tabernacle on the design of the building very intentionally the word tabernacle choosing that to to speak to all of life and ministry ought to have a sense of the the temporary meeting that our ultimate dwelling place for his church of himself would be in heaven and so picking up on the notion of this being a temporary place for them but also choosing

very clearly a uh A a grecian design spurgeon would say that there were two languages that were ultimately blessed the hebrew and the greek language he denounced the mongrel roman tong he did not want a gothic building but he wanted a grecian building and so he designed the tabernacle both in the name and the design itself to come with heavy spiritual religious meaning in 1887 John d rockefeller and augustus strong went to the tabernacle to hear spurgeon preach and one of the things that both the men came away with is this idea that spurgeon's success

depended on his piety his faith and his prayer life those three things you know spurgeon never sought the spotlight he never sought fame or popularity in fact the opposite was True when you read some of the prayers and the early sermons that spurgeon preached you get the sense that he's utterly dependent on the holy spirit and completely unworthy of the call that the lord is calling him to he resisted this denomination that almost started around him called spurgeonism it's it's amazing that you and i don't walk down the street and see first spurgeon baptist church

Second spurgeon baptist church like we do wesleyan churches spurgeon was asked once what is the secret to your success and he said my people pray for me and so here you have an ordinary man committed to extraordinary prayer that god used to change the world throughout the remainder of spurgeon's public life and pastoral ministry the metropolitan tabernacle would be his Home here under his care the church became a thriving gospel organism humming with christian life and vigor and activity and it was here as his health permitted that he would preach the gospel from week to

week until his final address on the 7th of june 1891 there never was his like amongst the choicest of princess he's Always to be found in the thickest part of the battle when the wind blows cold he always takes the bleak side of the hill the heaviest end of the cross lies ever on his shoulders if he bids us carry a burden he carries it also if there is anything that is gracious generous kind and tender yey lavish and super Abundant in love you always find it in him these forty years and more have i

served him blessed be his name and i have had nothing for love from him i will be glad to continue yet another 40 years in the same dear service here below if so it pleased him his service is life peace joy oh that you would enter on it at once god help you to enlist under the banner of jesus even this day Some say that for better or for worse technology has made every local ministry into a global ministry right now i could listen to sermons from a man like john mcarthur on my phone while

following the tweets of kevin d young or reading a book by rc sprole i could do those all at once if i chose to but imagine a man having that kind of influence A man who had that spread of the gospel in his heart and in his hands that was charles spurgeon spurgeon was primarily committed to the local church his attachment to the metropolitan tabernacle was exemplary but his influence from that place through his preaching through the men that he trained through the books that he wrote spread far beyond it went through the Whole city

it went through the whole country it went through the continent of europe and it reached as far as places like america and australia one of spurgeon's earliest books was smooth stones taken from ancient brooks and ancient brooks this is actually a play on the name of the puritan thomas brooks And it's a collection of stories uh spurgeon was married in 1856 to susannah thompson and while he was still engaged to her he actually asked susie to help him edit this so this is one of the earliest there was another early one by the name of

the saint and his savior and this this was conceived in 1854 so that actually predates smooth stones taken from ancient brooks But it wasn't actually published until 1857 when he met joseph passmore who was a deacon at the new park street chapel in london the two men became great friends and he would be his publisher for the rest of his life and also his partner james alabaster the first sermon spurgeon published with these two new partners was the immutability of god on january The 7th 1855 and spurgeon sermons were published by passmore and alabaster all

the way up until 1917 when a shortage of paper in world war one prevented them from doing so anymore and so someone might ask why was spurgeon's ministry so important and one answer to that is that in the 19th century you didn't have the internet what you had was publishing and spurgeon Was not a systematic theologian in the sense that john calvin or carl bart was he never sat down to write out his theology systematically but there was an implicit systematic in his theology and this this was delivered organically this was found organically in his

sermons and so publishing allowed spurgeon's theology to disseminate throughout the world perhaps my favorite Book is the last one he ever wrote at the end of his life the last two years of his life he started a commentary on matthew called the gospel of the kingdom he never finished it in fact susanna in 1893 had to finish it for him and published it one year after his death but he wrote this book mainly in mentone and it's interesting because during this Time in his life spurgeon is assaulted not only with the downgrade controversy and the

effects of that but also personally he was suffering from gout he was suffering from breit's disease which basically is kidney inflammation and so here is spurgeon at the very end of his life surrounded by controversy and disease and illness and loss And if you read the gospel of the kingdom you get the sense that spurgeon has an optimism and a joy that permeates even the most difficult circumstances so even at the end spurgeon's joy can be seen in this commentary uh that's that's one that i've always liked when you think about spurgeon's legacy that goes

beyond the metropolitan tabernacle and his pulpit ministry The first and most important ministry spurgeon had behind the local beyond his church and pulpit ministry was the pastor's college the apostrophe went after the s it was a college for pastors and it was not so much a college for theologians or for academicians but for those who had given themselves to serving the local church and that really reflects on spurgeon's heart for the ministry and heart for the Local church and what he understood a preacher is to be is to be a pastor as well spurgeon was

clear charles spurgeon cannot make a minister the pastor's college could not make a minister only god can make a minister at the same time though he understood that a minister is something of a of a raw tool to be shaped and molded and refined And so spurgeon was eminently qualified to take those called to ministry to invest himself in them to give them a rigor of study to polish them and have them come out the backside of their time at this college more equipped more refined more able to preach and teach the word of god

and minister to the flock of god of the college spurgeon would say our our main Business is to study the scriptures three primary requirements first that a person must be truly born again secondly that they must demonstrate the call of god in their lives and believe they have truly experienced it and thirdly that they have been preaching for at least two years so that they already had some experience but also that their call was being and had been verified to some Degree he would ask applicants how often have you won souls to christ have you

won souls today he would phrase it tuition room and board recovered just to come and study and have their lives affected by spurgeon himself spurgeon took great interest in the men studying there he not only taught them but he also permitted them To be in proximity to him to where they in essence caught what ministry was to be about as well of all i would wish to say this is the sun my brethren preach christ always and ever more he is the whole gospel his person offices and work must be our one great all-comprehending theme

the world needs to be told of its savior and of the way to reach him Justification by faith should be far more than it is the daily testimony of protestant pulpits and if with this master truth there should be more generally associated the other great doctrines of grace the better for our church and our age if with the zeal of methodists we can preach the doctrine of puritans a great future is before us the fire of wesley And the fuel of whitfield will cause a burning we shall set the forest of error on fire and

warm the very soul of this cold earth we are not called to proclaim philosophy and metaphysics but the simple gospel man's fall his need of a new birth forgiveness through an atonement and salvation as a result of faith these are our Battles and weapons of war we have enough to do to learn and teach these great truths and a curse be that learning we shall divert us from our mission or that willful ignorance we shall us in its pursuit by the time of his death in 1892 the college had trained some 863 men 627 of

them were serving in baptist denominations as pastors Over half of the new churches founded in his nomination from 1865 to 1877 or pastored by men trained by spurgeon at the college we look towards the legacy of the college coming into the 20th century continue to have its effect owen owen was trained at the college he was an influential figure in the welch revivals graham scroggy was trained at the college who was a famous leader in the keswick movement he was also the mentor To the great british preacher stephen ulford when you come into the second

half of the 20th century perhaps the leading figure associated with the college was george beasley murray he led the college for 15 years before moving back across the pond to serve as professor of new testament at southern baptist theological seminary in louisville kentucky Throughout the 20th century though as time passed and the school in some ways moved on from spurgeon we still see the effects of spurgeon's legacy through the school including those trained and serving at the college throughout the 20th century james tells us that faith without works is dead and spurgeon was above all

a man of faith he was faithful in his preaching Of the gospel from the pulpit faithful in publishing the truth in books and tracks faithful too in training up future pastors and preachers and leaders for the church but spurgeon was faithful not just in word but also indeed and he took seriously the bible's call to care for widows orphans and those in distress one of the ways that worked itself out Was when in 1866 the lord birthed plans for the stockwell orphanage and apparently when he was trying to start the orphanage she was looking for

money and they prayed about it and they got this donation of twenty thousand pounds uh of this this uh this lady and he thought it was a mistake that she hadn't really meant to give you know 20 000 pounds so they organized to have an interview with her He went to talk to her and he said i'm here to talk to you about thank you very much for the the kind donation of 200 pounds and she said 200 pounds i thought i'd put 20 000 pounds so no no you did but i didn't want to

make a mistake and assume that you actually met twenty thousand so i thought you might have two you know put a few extra north in there by accident So she really had meant to get twenty thousand pounds and that was the money they used to found the orphanage it is laid very heavily on our heart to stir up our friends to rescue some of the scholastic influence of our adversaries out of their hands we have too much given up our children to the enemy and if the clergy had possessed the skill to hold them The

mischief might have been terrible as it is our sabbath schools have neutralized the evil to a large extent but it ought not to be suffered to exist any longer a great effort should be made to multiply our day schools and to render them distinctly religious by teaching the gospel in them and by laboring to bring the children as children to the lord jesus the silly Cry of non-sectarian is duping many into the establishment of schools in which the most important part of wisdom namely the fear of the lord is altogether ignored we trust this folly

will soon be given up and that we shall see schools in which all that we believe and hold dear shall be taught to the children of our poorer adherents when mrs hilliard read these words along With the plea to establish religious schools of a higher order she realized she may have found the way to fulfill a deeply held desire she had felt a special sympathy towards fatherless boys so she wrote to spurgeon telling him of her desire and asking his assistants in carrying it into effect what she didn't know was that the lord had prepared

spurgeon for such a proposal Through a remarkable experience at the previous monday evening prayer meeting at the tabernacle where spurgeon said dear friends we're a huge church i should be doing more for the lord in this great city i want us tonight to ask him to send us some new work and if we need money to carry it on let us pray that the means may also be sent the lord was indeed about to send them that New work as they prayed william olney a member of the church and a mighty man of prayer went

up to pastor c welton who was then a student at the college and he said to him it's all right welton you pray for the conversion of sinners will you a few days later a widow by the name of mrs hilliard wrote to the dear pastor offering him the sum of twenty thousand pounds for the purpose of establishing an orphanage for fatherless boys their New work had been given together with the money to begin it and so the stockwell orphanage was born and as welton was persuaded it was born of prayer in 1866 spurgeon opened

the orphanage at stockwell really two factors moved him to do that the first was the the obvious and apparent need in the 1860s in london there were homeless children on the street Poverty was rampant there obviously were no child labor laws and so there was a pressing almost inescapable need secondly it was a trip he took two years prior to visit george mueller's orphanage in bristol in 1854. spurgeon said of bristol he was a heavenly man he said i have never heard such a sermon in my life as i saw there and inspired spurgeon to

Do something for the orphans in his neighborhood but he didn't want just a a warehouse or what would amount to a a prison complex to keep children he devised a much more paternalistic and we might even say maternalistic setting he had house mothers to oversee them it was more of a family setting a home structure to not only seeking to meet their physical needs but their spiritual needs As well stockwell orphanage remained open until london was bombed during the second world war afterward it was renamed spurgeon's child care and today it's known simply as spurgeons

offering protection care and support to thousands of vulnerable children across the uk but the orphanage was not the only charitable work in which spurgeon was involved Indeed it's been said that a few other men have been involved in so many such causes during their own lifetime by the time of spurgeon's death he had been personally involved in 66 separate charitable organizations not just the orphanages we've said but even such things as the surrey street mission the sunday schools the cold porters society distributing tracts and gospels Across the country but spurgeon's work could not be confined

to one city or even to one country it rippled out across the united kingdom and onto the continent wherever there were sinners who needed to hear about the one savior so spurgeon had a large impact not only on the city of london but also around the world his ministry permeated to every corner Of the world but in london you have to understand the context that was happening in london before spurgeon got there in london there was a huge cultural shift of population from the country into the city this had a remarkable impression on spurgeon and

it also influenced the contours of his ministry there For instance in 1859 one half of the population who was above 20 years old had not been born in london one half of the population in the 1845 famine in ireland produced an enormous surge of irish immigrants who came to london and so this enormous surge in population toward the city mixed with this industrial revolution That in spurgeon's day was in full steam it produced a london that was prime for spurgeon spurgeon threw himself into ministerial opportunities and there were many to be found the 1845 cholera

outbreak produced enormous sickness in the area of london where spurgeon was a minister spurgeon would go from door to door house to house Ministering to the sick and dying it's amazing he himself did not contract cholera during that outbreak this was a time when the living conditions in london were deplorable mothers would throw their babies into the thames river because they were unable to feed them this was a time when london could not take care of the living or the dead at enin street baptist church for Instance you could go in the front door and

actually see the dead bodies piling up beneath the floor of the sanctuary in between the planks and so in a lot of ways london was primed for a spurgeon who himself came in from the country into the city when he was 19 years old and spoke in a language that the common person could understand if you wanted to go hear a philosophical Educated sermon that the preacher would just read from a manuscript very stoically you could go to lydden's church if you wanted to hear oratory that was embellished and sophisticated you could go hear pushnan

but if you wanted to go here spurgeon if you wanted to go where the people were where the masses were you'd have to go as they said across the river to charlie's and it was there that Spurgeon's ministry unfolded vincent van gogh before he became an impressionistic artist was so mesmerized by spurgeon's preaching that he himself tried to be a preacher long before he ever became an artist and if you read the letters he wrote to his brother you get the impact that spurgeon had on this young artist and so because victorian london became a

hub and a hot Spot in a global destination not only did spurgeon's mission field come to london to hear him preach but they also took spurgeon's ministry around the world spurgeon's sermons were sold in his lifetime to about 56 million copies before 1892. they were found in the hands of preachers in tennessee coffee farmers in sri lanka christians in china Fishermen on the mediterranean a prisoner awaiting execution in south america was last seen reading one of spurgeon's sermons before he was lynched to death and so spurgeon was not just a london phenomenon spurgeon was a

global phenomenon and his ministry went viral in only a short number of years [Music] at spurgeon's jubilee celebration in June of 1884 american evangelist d.l moody addressed those in attendance at the metropolitan tabernacle he said 25 years ago soon after i was converted i began to read of a young man preaching in london with great power and a desire seized me to hear him everything i could get hold of in print that referred to him i read with deepest interest in 1867 I made my way across the sea when i arrived in london the first

place to which i made my way was this building when i returned to america i was asked if i had seen the different cathedrals here i told the people i had not for my time was spent in hearing spurgeon [Music] so mr moody and charles spurgeon had a uh a wonderful relationship of course Moody was reading spurgeon before he ever met spurgeon moody was invited to come actually preach in spurgeon's tabernacle later in his ministry but he visited london several occasions 1867 1872 1884 all of these were opportunities for spurgeon and moody to get to

know one another spurgeon said that moody was the only man he's ever met who could pronounce the word mesopotamia In two syllables mesopotamia and uh about uh spurgeon moody said you know mr spurgeon i know you love me but i assure you i love you a thousand times more and so they had a playful relationship they had a healthy relationship in 1884 at the jubilee testimonial service spurgeon invited moody to give some comments and remarks At his at the tabernacle which he did and spur and moody quoted a native american poem and he said the

first line goes like this go on the second line goes like this go on the third line goes like this go on and then moody said go on mr spurgeon go on dear brother god bless you your you shall live Forever and so he's basically saying go on brother god bless you you will never die and it's interesting that moody saw spurgeon in this way and you might even say rather prophetically because of course he was speaking eschatologically in the sense that spurgeon would never die but he's also speaking perhaps to the Idea that spurgeon's

words have taken on a life of their own carl f h henry once said that spurgeon is evangelical christianity's immortal the lord used his servant spurgeon to call thousands across the world out of darkness into his marvelous light spurgeon was used to train up pastors and preachers for the church of jesus christ in his own generation and for generations to follow and through his obedience to the lord's Command hundreds of thousands of children and young people found hope and help that they could find nowhere else it's the kind of impact and influence that most people

can only dream of and yet it's an impact and influence that god gave to one man his servant charles haddon spurgeon what amazing grace I'm not sure i want to know what was going through my wife's mind when she first saw me standing in the stairwell of a church building in america but when susannah thompson first saw charles spurgeon clive anderson says she couldn't believe her eyes the rumors about this uncouth country bumpkin seemed to tell only half the truth there He stood large as life bold as brass and as arrogant as could be as

far as she was concerned his clothes looked like they'd been made by some second-rate village tailor certainly not up to the standard of the other smart gentleman of her acquaintance around his neck there was a piece of black satin that had seen better days and worst of all as he spoke He pulled from his pocket a ghastly blue handkerchief covered with white spots that he would wave in the air as he was speaking if it hadn't been so serious susanna would have burst out laughing indeed if anybody had told her then that this was the

man that she was going to marry she would have thought that they were mad and yet marry him she did Susanna was born on the 15th of january 1832. the father and mother attended new park street chapel from time to time while james smith served as its pastor and susanna would accompany them as a girl she became aware of her need for a saviour but whether she was truly regenerate or not at that point only the lord knows regardless When she found herself once more at new park street chapel it was more to please her

friends than herself and she did not expect that she would find her heart warmed once again to the gospel but it was not long before spurgeon's earnest pleadings aroused her and she realized that her life of indifference and non-service was far from being what it should have been Gradually i became alarmed at my backsliding state and then by a great effort i sought spiritual help and guidance from mr william olney who was an active worker in the sunday school at new park street and a true mr great heart and comforter of young pilgrims he may

have told the new pastor about me i cannot say but one day i was greatly surprised to receive from mr spurgeon An illustrated copy of the pilgrim's progress in which he had written the inscription miss thompson with desires for her progress in the blessed pilgrimage from c.h spurgeon april 20 1854 [Music] whether spurgeon had any thoughts at that stage of susanna as anything more than a struggling soul on her way to the Celestial city we're not sure but before very long that casual acquaintance deepened into genuine friendship and then moved further into deep love one

for another and so on the 2nd of august 1854 in susanna's grandfather's garden they became engaged pledging their hearts to one another fullerton described susanna with her adoring heart and sweet face framed in The curls that fell each side of it and he with his clear eye swift brain high collar white tie and protruding tooth their courtship lasted more than a year with susanna being baptized by charles at new park street on the 1st of february 1855 the couple then married on the 8th of january 1856 with 2 000 people crowded into the Chapel and

the adjoining streets thronged dr alexander fletcher of finsbury chapel performed the ceremony and then bride and bridegroom left for a brief visit to paris twelve days later the preacher was back in his pulpit and subsequently mr and mrs spurgeon were publicly welcomed by the congregation nine months later on the 20th of September they welcomed home their twin sons charles the eldest named after his father and thomas named for the apostle known as the twin spurgeon was an exceptionally busy man but his ministry never became his mistress his heart always belonged entirely to susanna she was

his steadfast companion in life and Service to the end of their days together they were a team in marriage and they were a team in ministry also susanna suffered from a botched surgery that left her an invalid for up to something up to 15 years and during that time charles did his best to take care of her and vice versa susanna took care of charles when he became sick with gout and kidney disease and a museum of other Illnesses a licensed psychiatrist by the name of neil den actually diagnosed spurgeon symptoms as being bipolar he

said a spurgeon were alive today he'd be treated with therapy and that's that's probably the case but you know spurgeon would cry sometimes without knowing the cause sometimes susanna walked in on spurgeon uh and he was prostrate on his face in his study he Had not only external problems but endogenous problems inside him he was clinically depressed and the two of them they were they were a team in ministry and in marriage i love the episode when susannah was sleeping and she heard spurgeon saying something in his sleep and instead of putting a pillow over

her head Or maybe putting a pillow over his head she decided to get a pen and a paper and take notes on what he was saying this was saturday night spurgeon had not prepared a sermon for the next day he usually did late saturday night and so the next morning spurgeon wakes up and susie hands him a copy of the notes that she had taken at night turns out these were this was a sermon he was preaching and he preached that Very message in the pulpit that day so they so they were compliments to one

another in 1875 charles spurgeon published his very famous lectures to my students and it was then that susanna took a look at the book and said wouldn't it be great if we could offer a copy of this to every minister in england what if we could put into the hands of every minister in england A theological library that they couldn't afford and spurgeon said let's do it and so all of a sudden you have this new ministry founded there were 66 ministries at the tabernacle this was one of them the book fund ministry and so

by 27 years after the book fund ministry started there were 199 315 theological volumes that susanna was able to put into the Hands of ministers around england to increase their theological understanding and also their their biblical scholarship susanna and charles had the kind of love that we should all aspire to it was a love that carried them through times of trial illness and tragedy it was a love that was rooted not just in their enjoyment of one another but fundamentally In their union with the lord jesus christ as susannah herself would say as it's recorded

in charles autobiography theirs was a love that would never fade ah my husband the blessed earthly ties which we welcomed so rapturously are dissolved now and death has hidden thee from my mortal eyes but not even death can divide thee from me or sever the love which united our Hearts so closely i feel it living and growing still and i believe it will find its full and spiritual development only when we shall meet in the glory land and worship together before the throne i wouldn't be the first preacher to say that all my rest is

a change of labor on top of responsibilities as a husband or father son and friend there are the duties of Pastoring and preaching that never seem to end and often seem to increase when you're under the most pressure even finding a day off each week can be a battle and spurgeon certainly knew that battle he had very little time for hobbies apart from tending his garden susanna did say that he enjoyed spending long days in the countryside that was one of his great delights But by 1860 spurgeon had been involved in several years of particularly

intense ministry and he was thoroughly worn out he'd had no real rest for years and so the time came for him to take a proper break and in the summer of 1860 june and july he left for a tour of the continent traveling through belgium germany and switzerland The entire tour brought spurgeon much joy but the great delight was geneva during its later years geneva was the heart of the reformation the home of french theologian john calvin spurgeon himself a committed calvinist was delighted among all those who have been born of women there has not

risen a greater than john calvin no age before him ever produced his Equal and no age afterwards has seen his rival in theology he stands alone shining like a bright fixed star while other leaders and teachers can only circle around him at a great distance as comets go streaming through space with nothing like his glory or his permanence calvin's fame is eternal because of the truth he proclaimed And even in heaven although we shall lose the name of the system of doctrine which he taught it shall be that truth which shall make us strike our

golden harps and sing unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto god and his father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever for the essence of Calvinism is that we are born again not a blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of god i preached in the cathedral at geneva and i thought it's a great honor to be allowed to stand in the pulpit of john calvin i do not think half

the people understood me but they were very glad to see and join in heart With a worship in which they could not join with the understanding after the service in the cathedral it was arranged for me to meet the ministers we spent a very delightful evening together talking about our common lord and of the progress of his work in england and on the continent and when they paid me goodbye every one of those ministers 150 or Perhaps 200 of them kissed me on both cheeks it was a peculiar pleasure to me to have the opportunity

of visiting the great center of earnest protestantism and of meeting so many of the godly and faithful men would help to keep the lamp of truth burning brightly to my dying day i shall remember those servants of jesus christ who greeted me in my master's name and Loved me for my master's sake hospitality unbounded love unalloyed and communion and disturbed are precious pens with which the brethren in geneva wrote their names upon my heart at last we got away from geneva and went off to chamonix then we came at last to what was to be

the great treat of our journey the passage of the simplon i cannot reproduce to you The thoughts that then pass through my mind i cannot describe the storms we saw below us when we were on the top of the hill i cannot tell you about the locusts that came in clouds and devoured everything before them time would utterly fail me to speak of all the wonders of god which we saw in nature and in providence if you cannot travel remember that our lord jesus christ is more glorious than All else that you could ever see

get a view of christ and you have seen more than mountains and cascades and valleys and seas can ever show you thunders may bring their sublimest uproar and lightnings their awful glory earth may give its beauty and stars their brightness but all these put together can never rival him of whom dr watts so well sang Now to the lord a noble son awake my soul awake my tongue hosanna to the eternal name and all his boundless love proclaim see where it shines in jesus face the brightest image of his grace god in the person of

his son has all his mightiest works out done the space of earth and spreading flood proclaimed the wise and powerful god and thy rich glories from afar sparkle In every rolling star but in his looks a glory stands the noblest labor of thine hands the pleasing luster of his eyes outshines the wonders of the skies grace it is a sweet a charming theme my thoughts rejoice at jesus name the angels dwell upon the sound the heavens reflect it to the ground controversy is never a very happy element For the child of god he would far

rather be in communion with his lord than be engaged in defending the faith or an attacking error but the soldier of christ knows no choice in his master's commands he may feel it to be better for him to lie upon the bed of rest than to stand covered with the sweat and dust of battle but as a soldier he has learned to obey and the rule of his obedience is not his Personal comfort but his lord's absolute command the servant of god must endeavor to maintain all the truth which his master has revealed to him

because as a christian soldier this is part of his duty but while he does so he accords to others the liberty which he himself enjoys spurgeon was beloved by the common man for his provocative preaching But his plain speech and sharp wit put him at odds with many others in victorian london sometimes that opposition had tragic results for example on the 19th of october 1856 10 000 people were crammed into the surrey gardens music hall to hear spurgeon preach and there were about 10 000 more waiting outside not long after the services began Someone shouted

fire in the packed hall a panic ensued people rushed for the exits and seven people were trampled to death in the crush as a result spurgeon fell into a deep depression other controversies were less spectacular but no less heartbreaking as spurgeon faced for example opposition within the baptist union Because of his stand against theological liberalism so charles spurgeon never sought controversy but somehow controversy always sought out charles spurgeon and he was involved in several major controversies during his life and also several minor controversies i hit a few of them one of the first controversies that

spurgeon underwent was the media Controversy of 1854-1857 so you can imagine here is a young man from the country not used to city life not formally educated he's not gaining his status through conventional ordinary avenues and he comes into london and the press annihilate him they crucify him they accuse him of being Vulgar they accuse him of blasphemy they accuse him of one one newspaper reporter accused him of being on the most intimate terms with satan himself and so this took a toll on spurgeon sometimes susannah spurgeon had to hide her husband's newspaper in the

morning so he wouldn't read it eventually after 1857 the attacks in the press started to decrease they started to attenuate But early on it was a smear campaign in full force another controversy in 1855 was the hyper calvinism controversy now it must be said that spurgeon was not a hyper calvinist hyper calvinism is a determinative ideology that basically says because god has foreign everything in stone there's no need for us to participate in the great commission and save souls Well of course virgin uh didn't believe in this you would be hard pressed to find someone

who saved more souls in the 19th century but he was accused of this accusation he had to defend himself of it spurgeon believed he was once asked how do you reconcile god's freedom with man's freedom to which he responded i never reconcile friends and so spurgeon did see himself In the particular baptist tradition those like john gill john rippon he was a particular baptist he did hold to doctrines of grace but he also believed that god was big enough to work through our freedom through our desires to accomplish his will and so that was really

the second controversy that defined his early ministry in london the third controversy perhaps one of the more Famous controversies was over the subject of baptismal regeneration so on june 5th 1864 spurgeon preached a sermon from mark chapter 16 verses 15 through 16 and his sermon attacked two points that the established church held very close to them anglicans believed in baptismal uh regeneration for infants and so spurgeon attacked this idea in his sermon That infants could not be regenerated spiritually because of the practice of baptism that was really the first issue the other issue was this

idea of the use of the book of common prayer spurgeon combated very publicly in his sermon these two issues after the sermon spurgeon made a passing comment to joseph passmore basically saying that This controversy would is equivalent to publishing suicide of course spurgeon could not have been more inaccurate he could not have been more wrong there were 200 000 copies of the sermon immediately demanded by the end of the year there were 350 000 copies of the sermon sold by the end of the century there were almost half a million copies Of the sermon sold

so really this sermon put spurgeon on england's radar from coast to coast and made him popular in areas that he may not have been without the controversy of course it cost him dearly it cost him his friendship with earl shaftesbury it cost him his reputation among the anglicans he pulled out of the evangelical Alliance he later did rejoin that but it controversy always put spurgeon in an embattled posture and it took a tremendous toll not only on him personally but also professionally [Music] when spurgeon did face off against his opponents it was rarely over trivial

matters for example in the controversy over baptismal regeneration The very truth of the gospel was at stake and yet believe it or not today one of the things that is accounted most controversial about charles spurgeon is the fact that he smoked cigars spurgeon did love smoking cigars this was also very controversial in his own life he did spurgeon once said i cultivate my flowers but i burn my weeds And so uh the reaction of course to this habit that spurgeon had was multifarious some people supported spurgeon some people criticized spurgeon a man by the name

of james clark criticized spurgeon he was actually a friend of spurgeons also w hutchings wrote a scathing personal letter to spurgeon claiming that this was a dirty habit and smoking cigars would lead to other terrible sins And so people had different opinions about that on september the 20th in 1874 spurgeon invited one of his friends from boston a man by the name of george f pentecost to say a few words after his own sermon in his church and spurgeon actually cut his sermon short for brother pentecost to say a few words well george pentecos used

that time to rail against the evils of smoking tobacco And after he got through with his rant spurgeon took to the platform and basically said notwithstanding brother pentecost's comments notwithstanding what brother of pentecost said i am going to go home tonight and smoke a cigar for the glory of god before i go to bed well dear friends you know that some men can do to the glory of god what to other men would be sin and I intend to smoke a good cigar to the glory of god before i go to bed tonight and then

he said if anyone can show me in the scriptures where thou shalt not smoke is i will faithfully keep that keep that law and so for spurgeon smoking tobacco was not a sin he could not find it prohibited in scripture according to first corinthians 8 uh 13 uh he he did say that it could be a Stumbling block for others and and in that sense it could be a sin but thou shalt not smoke was never in scripture and so spurgeon allowed this issue to be a test of christian freedom not a test of fellowship

the expression spoken to the glory of god standing alone has an ill sound and i do not justify it but in the sense in which i employed it i still stand To it no christian should do anything in which he cannot glorify god and this may be done according to scripture in eating and drinking and the common actions of life when i have found intense pain relieved a weary brain soothed and calm refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar i have felt grateful to god and have blessed his name This is what i meant and by

no means did i use sacred words triflingly i am most sorry that prominence has been given to what seems to me so small a matter the last thing in my thoughts would have been the mention of it from the pulpit but i was placed in such a position that i must either by my silence plea guilty to living in Sin or else bring down upon my unfortunate self the fierce rebukes of the anti-tobacco advocates by speaking out honestly i chose the latter and although i am now the target for these worthy brethren i would sooner

endure their severe senses than sneakingly do what i could not Justify and earn immunity from their criticism by table submitting to be charged with sin in an action which my conscience allows so the question is how did spurgeon handle controversy it was very interesting that in world war ii when the germans were bombing london one of those bombs found its way to norwood cemetery and actually blew The bible off of spurgeon's tombstone onto the ground there's a picture that shows the bible onto the ground in front of the tombstone charles spurgeon and this is such

a good picture of what the germans had done not only in spurgeon's death but in his life to the sacredness of the scriptures and the veritability of the scriptures and so it was issues like these that in That launched spurgeon into these controversies spurgeon believed that there were some issues in the christian faith that should be a test of fellowship and should not be a test of fellowship and some of these issues that should be a test of fellowship at least for spurgeon was the deity of christ the hypostatic union the integrity of the trinity

uh the Importance of sin these kinds these kinds of things were worth going into controversy for for charles spurgeon and on these issues he would not budge even an inch and so spurgeon saw himself as standing in a long line of theologians and defenders of the faith dating all the way back to paul and athanasius and luther and calvin and knox and the puritans And so to really understand spurgeon's stance toward controversy you have to understand that he's he's participating in a tradition that was older than he was that was bigger than he was he

would often refer to the phrase athanasius contra mundum and in many ways it could be said about spurgeon spurgeon against the world this came to define Many parts of his ministry controversy had a polemic effect on the presentation of spurgeon's gospel it put him in an embattled position and so he's forced to maintain his his integrity which he did in my opinion he did very well the downgrade controversy particularly between his correspondence with samuel booth and others but he didn't want to abandon His convictions he was willing to let go of his friends and his

reputation and even his sermon sales in order to uh in order to maintain his his biblical integrity and so in some ways spurgeon was seen as a man who was behind his times he was seen as a fossil from a previous era who just would not progress into the future but it also must be said that spurgeon Was seen and and should be seen as a man before his time you know at the height of the downgrade controversy um spurgeon issues this prophecy one of the great prophetic utterances of spurgeon he said for the next

50 years i am quite willing to be eaten by dogs but the more distant future shall vindicate me so spurgeon could anticipate a time When evangelicals would return to a more biblical stance in a more theologically consistent stance the time has come for christians to stir the house is being robbed these very walls are being digged down but the good people who are in the bed are too fond of the warmth and too much afraid of getting broken heads to go downstairs and meet the burglars inspiration and speculation cannot long abide in peace Compromise there

can be none we cannot hold the inspiration of the word and yet reject it we cannot believe in the atonement and deny it we cannot talk of the doctrine of the fall and yet talk of the evolution of spiritual life from human nature one way or another we must go decision is the virtue of the hour in his life as we have already seen Spurgeon was no stranger to opposition and even to battle but there was nothing really to compare with what we know today as the downgrade controversy in the midst of this combat against

theological liberalism spurgeon said goodbye to one of his students and said he would not see his face again because this fight was killing him it was indeed as one of his biographers Would say the fight which cost him his life the downgrade controversy erupted like a volcano in 1887 and it came somewhat out of nowhere and it moved along in advance at a rapid pace from the time that spurgeon wrote his article of indictment in august of 1887 in the sword and trial to october of 1887 when he had already resigned and withdrew from the

baptist Union uh really two factors primarily led to it in spurgeon's opinion first was higher critical methodology coming out of germany which undermined the scriptures in general and then darwinism which was now on the scene questioning the creation account stemming from those two primary tributaries was a whole host of issues undermining the atonement Undermining a general conviction about the belief and inspiration of the scriptures and for spurgeon at first it was more perceived a perceived need to perceive concern he wrote in the sword and trial documenting and bringing this to bear and was met with

a furor of outrage folks questioning his integrity saying he should produce Evidence which led to another sub-controversy with with mr booth where spurgeon sent booth documentation of names and specific concerns booth never made that available uh led to schism with his own brother james created a major fissure from the with those who had studied at spurgeon's college and catapulted spurgeon himself into Great depression so much so that susannah perceived that that led him to his his early grave i trust i may be made stronger for the stern task which awaits me but i try not

even to think of that but just to abandon myself to a bath of rest this i trust is the wisest course and yet i keep on longing to be doing some good or bearing some fruit unto the lord Little occasions for this do occur and i am eager to use them a right now i shall need wisdom the lord will prepare me for all that is to happen i i don't think spurgeon could have prevented the downgrade controversy the issues were too pronounced uh they thought the theological concerns were too urgent i think really the

question is that that history begs us to ask Is should spurgeon have resigned so abruptly could he have affected the union positively if he stayed in it and sought to agitate from the inside or was it was the union best served in the church best serve for him to remove himself and agitate externally this was not secondary separation sometimes folks look back on the downgrade controversy and use it As a reference point for other degrees of separation these were urgent issues these were first tier issues and and the union had no doctrinal statement that was

agreed upon by all the constituents because not because they didn't care about doctrine but because doctrine was basically presupposed they were presupposing evangelical convictions and so i i see no way that the Controversy could have been avoided at least not by way of spurgeons handling it i might not have had such an intense loathing of the new theology if i had not seen so much of his evil effects i could tell you of a preacher of unbelief whom i have seen in my own vestry utterly broken down driven almost to despair and having no rest

For the soul of his foot until he came back to simple trust in the atoning sacrifice if he was speaking to you he would say cling to your faith brethren if you once throw away your shield you will lay yourself open to imminent dangers and countless wounds for nothing can protect you but the shield of faith the bible tells Us that as much as it depends upon us we ought to live at peace with all men that's especially true in the church of jesus christ where we are to be known by our love for one

another and yet unpleasant as it may be there are times when we do need to divide for the sake of the gospel for the honor and glory of god in christ spurgeon remains for us a fine example Of courage and clarity he said himself that he was willing to be eaten by dogs in his own generation but that more distant days would vindicate him and that's the kind of example that we still need of a man who was prepared to walk the path of faithfulness even when it was a lonely road i have chosen thee

in the furnace of affliction This has long been the motto fixed before our eye upon the wall of our bedchamber and in many ways it has also been written on our heart it is no mean thing to be chosen of god god's choice makes chosen men choice men we are chosen not in the palace but in the furnace in the furnace beauty is marred fashion is destroyed strength is melted glory is consumed Yet here eternal love reveals its secrets and declares its choice so has it been in our case therefore if today the furnace he

heated seven times hotter we will not dread it for the glorious son of god will walk with us amid the glowing coals charles spurgeon was a lion in the pulpit of this there can be no doubt his Powerful preaching shook his hearers to the very foundations of their souls and yet this man so powerful in the pulpit out of it was beset by illness and depression in october 1858 he had his first episode of incapacitating illness since coming to london he was absent from his pulpit for three sundays When he returned he preached on first

peter chapter one and verse six i was lying upon my couch and my spirits were sunken so low that i could weep by the hour like a child and yet i knew not what i wept for but a very slight thing will move me to tears just now and a kind friend was telling me of some poor old soul living near who was suffering very great pain And yet she was full of joy and rejoicing i was so distressed by the hearing of that story i felt so ashamed of myself that i did not know

what to do wondering why i should be in such a state as this while this poor woman who had a terrible cancer and was in the most frightful agony could nevertheless rejoice with joy and Speakable and full of glory and in a moment this text flashed upon my mind with its real meaning i'm sure it is its real meaning that there is an absolute needs be that sometimes the christian should not enjoy sufferings with a gallant and joyous heart there is a knees be that sometimes his spirit should sink within him and that he should

become even as a Little child smitten beneath the hand of god there were times when his depression was so severe that spurgeon felt he could no longer continue to preach he was dreadfully unsure of his calling to the ministry and even of his relationship to jesus christ but as martin lloyd jones shared in his lecture series on preaching and preachers God would not let go of the prince of preachers then there is another very good story i think i say this for the comfort of a man in me the men in desperation are a lay

preacher particularly it's another story about spurgeon who was given to fits of depression he suffered from gout and that always is accompanied by an element of depression and he was under the clouds and felt that he couldn't preach and Indeed that he wasn't fit to preach and he refused to preach the following sunday and went after the country to his old home in essex and on sunday morning he slipped in at the back in the little chapel where he'd been brought up and there was a lay preacher preaching that morning and the poorly preacher proceeded

to preach one of mr spurgeon's sermons the moment the men had finished virgin Rushed onto him with tears screaming down his face thanking him profusely and the poor man said mr spurgeon he said i don't know how to face you i've just been preaching one of your sermons he said i don't care whose sermon it is he said your preaching this morning has convinced me that i am a child of god that i am saved by grace that i'm called to the Ministry and i'm ready to go back to preach again spurgeon's depression was a

result of his many illnesses perhaps because of the psychological toll that they took but in the case of his gout it may have been physiological as well he would go on to describe his depression or despondency as his worst feature he asserted that despondency is not a Virtue i believe it is a vice i am heartily ashamed of myself for falling into it but i am sure there is no remedy for it like a holy faith in god nevertheless his depression would allow him to minister more effectively as he himself would acknowledge i would go

into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit it is good for me to have been afflicted That i might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary during his final years of ministry spurgeon's gout and bouts of depression often incapacitated him resulting in him being frequently absent from the pulpit yet even in these times spurgeon experienced periods of extraordinary productivity finally after 38 years of ministry Spurgeon stepped down as the metropolitan tabernacle's pastor on the 7th of june 1891 as his illnesses progressed he retired to mentone in

france in earlier years spurgeon would often visit here for rest and recuperation particularly during seasons of depression even as he convalesced he found it to be a fertile field for fruitful ministry it was here that he would spend his Final months in the body even in those days his heart was still with his congregation on the 9th of august a letter written by spurgeon himself was read to the people the lord's name be praised for first giving and then hearing the loving prayers of his people through these prayers my life is prolonged i feel greatly

humbled and very grateful And being the subject of so greater love and so wonderful an outburst of prayer [Music] i have not strength to say more let the name of the lord be glorified yours most heartily ch spurgeon [Music] spurgeon entered into the lord's rest on the 31st of january 1892. his wife susanna Sent a simple but comforting message to her son tom father in heaven mother resigned in the memorial issue of the sword and trowel following spurgeon's death they described his funeral in this way while we gathered around the grave a little patch of

blue sky appeared just over our heads as if to remind us of the glory land above and while mr brown was speaking a dove flew from the direction of the Tabernacle towards the tomb and wheeling in its flight over the crowd almost seemed to pause in ancient days it would have been an augury to us it spoke only peace as the service proceeded a little robin poured forth its liquid note all the while from a neighboring tombstone the red breast made appropriate music fabled as it was to have had its crimson Coat ever since it

picked a thorn from the savior's bleeding brow well we do not believe that but we believe what we sang at the grave the truth that mr spurgeon lived to preach and died to defend dear dying lamb thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of god be saved to sin no more many remarked that the whole of the memorial services Unique as they were were characterized by a simplicity and heartiness completely in harmony with the entire life of the beloved pastor and it was most significant that when the olive casket

was lowered into the vault not even the glorified preacher's name was visible it was just as he would have wished it there was nothing to be seen but the Text at the foot of the coffin and the open bible of course the bible was not buried it is not dead it liveth and abideth forever and who knows whether it may not prove more than ever the means of quickening the dead now that he who loved it dearer than his life can no longer proclaim its blessed truths with the living voice god grant it [Music] though

spurgeon has finished running his race and is now standing in the presence of his great god and savior there's a very real sense in which his ministry is not over as has been said by others from the tomb he continues to proclaim the very same gospel that he proclaimed in his life here upon earth a gospel of god's redeeming love a Gospel of jesus christ the lamb of god who was slain for sinners the gospel that he spoke from the pulpit is the gospel that still sounds from the pages of his books and echoes from

the story of his life how we long that those who never had the opportunity to hear him preach that gospel from the pulpit word as it were Hear those truths from the grave and from the glory and come to know the christ that spurgeon so faithfully and fearlessly proclaimed [Music] as a christian as a husband and father and as a pastor it's not wrong to ask what kind of legacy will i leave what character will i leave behind what effect will i have had on my wife and on my children What about the saints to

whom i've ministered and the other people to whom i've preached we need to ask those questions too about charles spurgeon as a man what imprint did he leave on the world around him as a husband and a father what did he pass on to those who followed and what of the church where he so faithfully ministered what is the legacy of spurgeon One year after spurgeon's death charles son thomas succeeded his father as pastor of the metropolitan tabernacle where he himself served faithfully for 15 years and was succeeded by a number of godly ministers even

down to this day the other son charles was also a preacher and he was faithful in his turn ministering the gospel wherever the lord Sent him so when it comes to spurgeon's legacy one thing that has always impressed me is this tension this bifurcated tension in spurgeon even from the beginning of his ministry between doing and being most people are familiar with the story of spurgeon's conversion in colchester spurgeon is trying to go to church he's involved in a snowstorm he loses his way He stumbles into a primitive methodist church on artillery street and it

was there that even the pastor of this primitive methodist church was snowed in and so a shoemaker or a tailor or whatever he was takes to the pulpit completely uneducated and to the best of his ability he preaches from isaiah 45 22 look unto me and be saved all ye the ends of the earth Spurgeon later recounts that he looked as though he could have looked his eyes away and so this emphasis in spurgeon on doing looking followed him all the way through his ministry even after his conversion experience he threw himself into ministerial activities

he started distributing tracts he just had to do something for christ he would later say when our lives are to be written at last God grant that they may record not only our sayings but also our sayings and our doings so spurgeon did a lot he was a college president he was a pastor he was a a an abolitionist he was a social advocate he was an author and so spurgeon did a lot in his life but what is less known is where spurgeon went to church that evening and particularly what he heard on January

the 6th 1850 in the night that evening he went to eld lane baptist church and heard robert lankford preach a sermon on ephesians 1 verse 6 about how god has made us accepted in the beloved and so it's this idea of being in god not just doing for god but being in god and this tension is very interesting to follow this tension in spurgeon's life between doing and being Spurgeon's ministry oscillates between isaiah and ephesians and in many ways this is one legacy that he leaves the church he not only gives us a challenge to

do something for jesus christ but he also gives us an assurance that jesus christ has done something for us and so this is a great legacy that he left the church and a great challenge for us another legacy that he left is the idea Of vocation in the reformation the two popular doctrines were justification the idea of being made right with god through christ sanctification the concept in which we're made holy uh through the holy spirit's work of conviction in our lives spurgeon recovered the third and forgotten doctrine of the reformation that is the doctrine

of vocatio Vocation the idea that god calls each and every one of us not just preachers not just evangelists not just missionaries but factory workers and those who are working in business in trade and film he calls each of us to be ministers and this is one way that spurgeon appealed to the common working class in london and really equipped them to take the gospel into their own avenues of ministry Spurgeon's legacy unquestionably is multifaceted multi-dimensional but i think you have to understand that all of it flows from his pulpit before he was a writer

before he founded an orphanage before he founded a college uh even while he was an apologist for the faith all that flowed from his pulpit ministry the man in his dna in his heart of hearts was a gospel Preacher so his legacy first and foremost is a pulpit legacy even the proliferation of his ministries of publication the sermons the books the letters so much of that flow directly from his pulpit so i think spurgeon's legacy is quite simply this i believe charles spurgeon and george whitfield whom spurgeon admired greatly and referred to as the chief

of Preachers i believe those two men are the two greatest preachers of the english language without question one answer to the question why should we read spurgeon today is that spurgeon still has something to say to us spurgeon still has something to say about how god can take nobodies and make them into Somebodies who make his glory known throughout all the ends of the earth and so we need spurgeon because we need to read spurgeon because spurgeon's struggles are our struggles spurgeon's prayers are our prayers spurgeon's christ is our christ he once said that he

did not consider himself to be an alp like martin luther or calvin or knox he considered himself to be a smooth Stone in a valley so that weary pilgrims can come and find rest there for the for their souls there's a romance dispersion and it's more than his context in victorian england it's more than his brilliance it's more than his imagination that made his sermons and his writings so colorful i think there's a passion at the heart of the man that is absolutely captivating it's as Though he never lived a boring day in his life

every day was marked by gospel adventure by marked by rigor of ministerial service there was an intrepidness about his life that should inspire us all why do we look back as ministers as layman on charles spurgeon because we had better look back because we learned lessons of defending the gospel Of preaching boldly of standing strong for evangelical convictions and for giving our lives for the cause of christ when i look at the ministry of a john mcarthur or john piper or an adrian rogers or w.a criswell different people throughout the spectrum of baptist life you

look at these men who've ministered in the 20th and 21st century and it's impossible to really conceptualize their Ministries now without the ministry of charles spurgeon you see his fingerprints his influence on so many of the titanic figures of the faith in the 21st century that's a legacy worth leaving it's one thing to preach the gospel before thousands even tens of thousands of people on a regular basis it's one thing to write books that are Read by thousands even millions in various times and places to great delight and profit those things are wonderful testimonies to

the grace of god but spurgeon is even more than that he's not one thing in public and another thing in private he's the same man in his own home as he is in the pulpit before the crowds the same man is preaching the same Gospel serving the same christ and showing the same godly character the same zeal for the glory of his lord and savior is that the legacy that we shall leave the legacy of a christ-like man or woman doing the work that our savior has given us to do on earth until we come

into his presence and worship and serve and praise him forever Spurgeon once said i shall not die but live to proclaim the works of the lord and in that case helmut tilika buttresses this idea when he said that old bush from london still burns and shows no sign of being consumed and perhaps god is raising up another spurgeon another spurgeon who will proclaim his glory in the 21st century maybe it's you [Music] i used to think that i should sing among the saints above as loudly as any for i owe so much to the grace

of god [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] You