Great Christian Biographies with John Piper: Charles Spurgeon 2

So here's what he says to illustrate the importance of truth Some excellent brethren seem to think more of the life than the truth

Life over truth for when I warned them that the enemy has poisoned the children's bread

They answer dear brother. We are sorry to hear it and to counteract the evil.

We will open the window and Give the children fresh air Yes Open the window and give them fresh air by all means but at the same time this ought you to have done and not left the other undone arrest the poisoners and open the windows to While men go on preaching false doctrine you may talk as much as you will about deepening their spiritual life

But you will fail in it So one of the things

I love about RTS is that Hear them getting this life doctrine

Interplay and how crucial they both are. I will testify. I just finished my ministry at Bethlehem on Easter so 33 years pastor in the same church preached my last sermon on Easter Sunday evening and I can testify now after say that just just take the last two months of this transition

Process My successor is now in place. I went online to listen to him preach last

Saturday night Loving what God is doing at Bethlehem My experience in the last just two months is to testify

That the most common expression of gratitude coming my way from my people who have come up to me

We have this big Service coming this Sunday night to say bye -bye John But up until now the most common expression of thankfulness has been from people who say that the storms of suffering in their lives

Have not overturned the boat of their faith Because of the ballast of God -centered truth in their boat owing to God -centered preach

So you hear here's why I'm Deeply gratified by those testimonies because what they're saying is

You're a God besotted preacher You elevate

God's majesty a lot. It's weighty It's heavy and it has landed in our boats like ballast and We have been hit by so many things in life

The death of a child the death of a spouse the loss of a job the presence of breast cancer and on and on and On we've been hit and our boat

Has not been turned over Because there's there's a weight of God Thank you, thank you, so do you hear the connection between God saturated preaching and Practicality of survival in life

This is very very true Spurgeon says it I'm testifying to it.

I'm sure most of you have discovered it To know the truth as it should be known.

This is his definition again of preaching to know the truth as it should be known To love it as it should be loved to proclaim it in the right spirit

And in its proper proportions They give you a

Bible verse to support what he's saying 2nd Thessalonians 2 10

Paul speaks of those who quote are perishing Because they refused to love the truth and so to be saved

People are perishing not just because they don't know the truth. They don't love it

No, if you believe as a pastor that your people can perish everlasting for not loving the truth

What would you do? well, one of the things you would do is

Tell them the truth and Love it in front of them so that they absorb what it is to love the truth

It doesn't do anybody any good to say here's the truth. Love that love that What doesn't emotions don't work that way

Can't tell your kid like to clean your room like it but if you come alongside them and whistle in the first 10 or 20 times and Turn it into a game and help the kid

Grow into his affections for good things He might wind up finding a way to like cleaning his room and I know that people find a way to love

God by watching a pastor love God So it's not a small thing when he defines preaching as to know the truth as it should be known and Love it as it should be known as it should be loved and then and then proclaim it in these proportions

That are under biblical Now it doesn't go without saying so I'll say it that the source of all this truth for Spurgeon Was that God breathed?

inerrant Christian Bible He held up his

Bible and said this these words are God's Thou book of vast authority

Thou art a proclamation from the Emperor of heaven Far be it from me to exercise my reason in contradicting thee

This is the book untainted by any error But it is pure unalloyed perfect truth why because God wrote it a

Spurgeon's talk about oh those of you preparing for ministry

Labor to free yourself from all doubt In God's inerrant word

If you labor a lifelong with this niggling doubt That I don't know if I can preach on that text.

I Don't know if there might be some mythological leftovers here that You're gonna be lamed

And you're gonna be weak You're gonna come to the end of your days feeling like you've poured 75 % of yourself out

Because you've just been constantly holding back The Bible is worthy of your trust and a people want their pastor to labor to know it delivering with confidence

He wasn't just a Bible based preacher though He was a Bible saturated preacher.

I used that phrase earlier And that's my passion for young pastors. I did a seminar here.

I Would hammer on the head of every young Aspiring preacher not to preach merely

Bible based sermons Why not I Don't think it

Maximizes your impact your authority your effectiveness to hover just above the text

Never sinking down So that people can see where this is coming from I'm gonna hammer over and over and over again.

Would you get that would you get that would you get that show them show them? It's the second half of verse 1 where that came from.

Do they see that you're saying it like you think they can see it They can't see it say it point them make their heads go down Don't go on until their heads go down into their iPad or whatever

It's a new day When I came to Bethlehem, I said my favorite sound will be the swish of every page when

I announced the text. It's gone No swishes anymore few

Codgers with their Bibles and the rest reading their telephones. Why? It's alright

God's Word in a telephone Don't hover in your preaching a lot of pastors here

I'm pleading with you. Don't hover just above the text saying true things about the text point them to the text our

Authority lies in the text the people need to make the connection

There's a lot of successful preachers. You don't preach this way I could name lots of them huge churches.

I Just want to say they could multiply their power and their long -term deepening effectiveness for the sake of their people 20 years after they're gone if they were showing the people where they got their points and how they got their points as they preach

Bible saturated and Not just Bible base.

So here's a long quote from Spurgeon. It's very famous. I love it. You've heard it Maybe it's very good.

Oh that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God and get that word into ourselves as I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf and consume it

So ought we to do with the Word of the Lord not crawl over its surface

But eat right into it till we have taken it into our inmost parts

It is idle merely to let the eye glance over the word But it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the

Bible until at last you come to talk in scriptural language and your very style is

Fashioned upon scripture models and what is better still your spirit is flavored with the words of the

Lord I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean read anything of his and you will see that it is almost like Reading the

Bible itself. He had studied our authorized version till his whole being was saturated with scripture

And though his writings are charmingly full of poetry yet He cannot give us his pilgrim progress.

That's sweetest of all poem prose poems without Continually making us feel why the man is a living

Bible prick him anywhere and you will find his blood is biblene

That's the famous quote prick him anywhere prick Bunyan anywhere and you will find that his blood is biblene

Spurgeon made up a lot of words He did I collect them as I read and it's great.

You should make up words to Prick him anywhere and you will find his blood is biblene

The very essence of the Bible flows from him. So all that just to illustrate

Bible Saturation not just Bible basis while you become creative up here and and tell stories and read blogs and quote

Newspapers and and try to entertain your people what you think will interest them when they're sitting there

Say would you tell us what God said and show it in the book? I pray that RTS and the

Nicole Institute of Baptist Studies will be lovingly known as Reformed Bible saturated theological seminary and the

Nicole Institute of Bible saturated Baptist Studies Spurgeon is a great example of loving the whole of Biblical truth and exalting over it in the pulpit.

So that's the end of point number one one more two Spurgeon loved people and Labored to win them and build them.

So first one he loved truth and he exalted over it in the pulpit and the second one now is he loved people and Labored and we'll underline that word labor

To win them and Build them

It appears that during his mature ministry say the last 20 years

There was not a week That went by that souls were not saved

Through his preached and published sermons This is one of the reasons by the way princess many people have embraced

Charles Spurgeon as a soul winner and Not embraced his theology

You can buy a 12 volume set of the Spurgeon works where Calvinism has been totally removed every hint of it

Because there are groups who love Soul -winning and they know he is the best and they can't explain how

Calvinist can be like that well Calvinist sure ought to be like that We are totally out of sync with our

God our Christ our Bible if we're not like that He was always on the watch for souls

He said one brother in our church has earned for himself the title of my hunting dog

For he is always ready to pick up the wounded birds That was serious his deacons were trained when he was doing to spot the people under conviction and bring him to a room

Spurgeon let us see his heart for people and their eternal good in this amazing statement.

I remember When I have preached at different times in the country and sometimes here that my whole soul has agonized over men

Every nerve of my body has been strained and I could have wept my very being out of my eyes and carried my whole frame away in a flood of tears if I Could but win souls

Makes me feel many regrets So set your face young preachers

To love people and their eternal souls He was consumed with the glory of God and he was consumed with the salvation of people he embodies

I think 2nd Corinthians 12 15 I Will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls

Can you say that pastor are you young men ready to say that I will most gladly spend and be

Spent he died at 57 and he said I'm gonna burn out here He knew what he was doing

He said he would rather die young and do what he's doing then to live long and not do what he's doing.

I would rather Spend and be spent for your souls or 1st

Corinthians 9 22 I have become all things to all people that by all means

I might save some he knew God saves Paul did

Spurgeon did But we are instruments and we are essential instruments because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the

Word of God He was driven Never to be satisfied with past pursuits

But he pressed forward like Paul in Philippians 3. I Strain forgetting those things which lie behind I strained forward

So he lived his life This this quote that I'm gonna read you now just short has been the most significant for me and getting ready for this

Satisfaction with results Will be the death knell of progress

No man is good Who thinks that he cannot be better?

He has no holiness who thinks that he is holy enough

Let me read it again. That's real real convicting Satisfaction with results, so I'm looking back on 33 years.

All right. All right. How should I feel about them? Satisfaction with results will be the death knell of progress

No man is good Who thinks that he cannot be better? He has no holiness

Who thinks that he is holy? enough So I was being interviewed by Colin Hansen day before yesterday

Online I mean to record make a recording and he said any regrets 33 years any regrets

I said everything and Here's what I meant. I mean,

I just read this I quoted it. I think in fact on the video I said all

I mean by that is I could have done everything better I could

I can't think of any committee. I led any sermon I preached any counseling situation and if you know any wedding that I couldn't have done better The year he turned 40

It's a dangerous year guys Forty one point five Jim Conway says you're gonna have a midlife crisis and buy a motorcycle and sailboat and leave your wife and Millions do so if you're pushing 40

Sink your roots down deep into Jesus because it's gonna be some tough sledding for the next five years called menopause sort of So That's only half a joke

I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. I just think it's real I think it's probably got physiological stuff going on So he's 40 years old and he delivered a message to his pastors conference with a one -word title

Forward Here's what he said in every ministers life. There should be traces of stern labor

Brethren do something Do something all caps do something

While committees waste their time over resolutions do something while societies and unions are making

Constitutions let us win souls Too often we discuss and discuss and discuss while Satan only laughs in his sleeve get to work quit yourselves like men

That's a good idea at age 40 It's a good idea at any age do something

Let me relate that to regret You not trusting Jesus If you say what

I said about regretting all things meaning you could do them better If you let that paralyze you for tomorrow's ministry

If you draw the inference I could have never seen better I'm just a Average, you know

C minus pastor Well, what inference you're gonna draw from that work?

Get up get going do something do something do something. You're not called to be an a pastor.

You call to be you Right, and God will hold you accountable Not at all for being a

Charles Spurgeon. No way He will he will judge you by whether you got out of bed in the morning

When you didn't feel like getting out of bed Whether you did what you had to do until the fire fell and you loved it again

So he was 40 and he said forward part of his motive for this indefatigable pursuit of souls and the glory of God was his concern about eternal punishment

He believed in hell, I hope this seminary believes in hell until Jesus comes

Here's what he said Meditate with deep solemnity upon the fate of the lost sinner shun all views of future punishment, which would make it appear less terrible and so take off the edge of your anxiety to Save immortals from the quenchless flame

Think much also of the bliss of the sinner saved and like holy

Baxter derive rich arguments from the Saints Everlasting rest there will be no fear of your being lethargic if you are continually familiar with the eternal realities

There's just so much trifling today

Twitter is a dangerous tool Blogs are dangerous

Humor is dangerous Being clever is dangerous Being an effective communicator is dangerous

Because it can all just hover up here in a kind of communicative fun and People go out saying loved it fun a fun time at church today.

Nobody said that 50 years ago Nobody talked that way now everybody talks that way or a fun time ministry at fun times

Conference had a fun time in church. They have fun time. What? What is how

How does the word fun connect with the realities the weight of the realities of hell and heaven and cross and Death to self and joy in God.

How does fun relate to that? So I'm I'm really smacking some of you around Because you use that adjective which is a noun

It became an adjective about 30 years ago. I can date it almost That was not a good move

That's another talk when

Spurgeon's love for God -centered Bible saturated Christ exalting truth fed the zeal of Wanting to save perishing sinners an avalanche of energy and ministry was created

I'm almost done One page but you got to feel the wonder of this man, so you don't feel like you should imitate an

Avalanche of energy an avalanche of ministry happened when zeal for the glory of God Fed zeal to rescue perishing perishing sinners

Here's what he said. No one living knows the toil and care

I have to bear He's writing in his autobiography I Have to look after the orphanage

I Have charge of a church with 4 ,000 members

Sometimes there are marriages and burials to be undertaken there is the weekly sermon to be revised the sword and trowel to be edited and besides all that a weekly average of 500 letters to be answered

This however is only half my duty For there are innumerable churches established by friends with the affairs of which

I am closely connected To say nothing of the cases of difficulty which are constantly being referred to me on his 50th birthday so seven years before he burns out on his 50th birthday a list of 66

Organizations was read that he founded and conducted Lord Shaftesbury was there and he said this list of associations instituted by his genius and Superintended by his care were more than enough to occupy the minds and hearts of 50 ordinary men the missionary

David Livingston Asked Spurgeon one time. How do you manage to do?

two men's work in a single day and Spurgeon replied

You have forgotten There are two of us. I Think he meant

Colossians 129 goes like this I labor I labor

I Spurgeon labor striving according to his power

Which he mightily works within So there's

Spurgeon and Jesus. I Love that verse. I want that verse in the next chapter of my life

Striving not with 67 year old energy But striving with his power

Which he mightily works within me. Oh that every pastor and every burgeoning younger dreaming pastor would hear trains here learn the secret of striving in the power of another

Otherwise you're gonna burn out and be a legalist He mean -spirited be frustrated angry

Tired all the time blaming other people But if you learn this secret and I think it is what

Paul meant when he said I have learned the secret the secret of another's power leaned on moment by moment hour by hour so that it becomes an avalanche of energy for the cause of glorifying

God and rescuing sinners Spurgeon stands as a witness

To what happens when love for God -centered Christ exalting Bible saturated truth

Feeds the flame of love for people people who will perish without the gospel without God without Christ an explosion of zeal and energy and creativity

For the church All of it aiming to glorify God and bring sinners to himself so Concluding longing may

God make Reformed Theological Seminary and the Nicole Institute of Baptist Studies a breeding ground a nursery a seminary for such love of truth and such love for people and Such energy for the ministry.

Let's pray Father I thank you for these friends who have spent their evening listening about Spurgeon.

Thank you for Spurgeon. Thank you for your grace in his life that he was two men at least

And I thank you for his legacy and I pray that all the good things about it would be

Kept and imitated and anything that's defective we would neglect and move on to greater