August 31, 2016 Show with Ray Rhodes, Jr. on “The Marriage of Charles & Susannah Spurgeon: Lessons to be Learned from a Godly Couple”

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania it's iron sharpens iron a radio

platform on which pastors Christian scholars and theologians Address the burning issues

facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us Iron sharpens iron so one

man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage quote we are cautioned to take heed whom we

converse with and Directed to have in view in conversation to make one another

wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour.

And we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions.

Now here's our host Chris Arnton.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

And the rest of humanity who are living on the planet Earth.

Listening via live -streaming.

This is Chris Arntz and your host of iron sharpens iron wishing you all a happy Wednesday on

this 31st day of August 2016.

I'm very delighted to have back on the program after a long absence.

Ray Rhodes jr.

Who was a guest on the old iron sharpens iron program before we Relocated and relaunched

here in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Ray Rhodes jr. Is an elder at Grace Community Church of Dawsonville, Georgia.

He's the founder of nourished in the word ministries and books that nourish.

He's a blogger at the Dancing Puritan and author of the family worship for the

Reformation season family worship for the Thanksgiving season family worship for the Christmas season and

Also the marriage bed and the visionary marriage today.

We're going to be addressing the theme the marriage of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon Lessons to be learned from a

godly couple and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to iron sharpens iron after a very long

time.

Ray Rhodes jr.

Thank you.

Chris is great to be on your show.

Get a bit reconnected.

Well before we go into the Topic at hand if you could let our listeners know

something about Grace Community Church of Dawsonville, Georgia.

Yes, Grace Community Church is about 11 years old formally constituted started over

the years.

We seek to be faithful expository preaching.

We're just going through books of the Bible.

God -centered worship.

Sweet community of and North Georgia is a growing place

where the northern most metro county of Atlanta.

An hour due north of Atlanta, so we have great opportunity great outreach here in our area.

Praise God, and it's a pleasure to have a member of your congregation a

Co -elder there is going to be for the next year here in Carlisle Kevin

Gerard and He is in the military.

Why don't you tell us something about Kevin who I hope to have as a guest very soon.

Yes, Kevin Gerard and his family came on board our church pretty soon after its founding.

Actually where it was there when we constituted Kevin and his wife Kelly.

They have four lovely children.

Godly man.

Lieutenant -colonel u .s. Marines Serving there and Carlisle for the next year.

Faithful a Bible expositor himself well known around

the country and speaks in various situations.

But just a godly man.

I'd say a leader among leaders.

A great great man.

Great family.

We miss them and we're thankful the Lord has provided them a great place up there in Carlisle.

Yeah, amen, and I'm hoping to get him get getting to know him better and God willing

he is scheduled to be my co -host a week from this Friday

When my guest will be Staff Sergeant David Carnes Who was a primary

character In the based on truth movie World

Trade Center starring Nicolas Cage and the character of of

Staff Sergeant David Carnes based on the the actual events.

He rescued a number of Transit police officers, New

York City Transit police officers who were trapped beneath tons of rubble after the

World Trade Center attack on September 11th 2001 and

Sergeant Carnes happened to on his own initiative

began roaming through the areas of the the ruins of the

World Trade Center that had already been given up on where the other search parties had

basically left those areas believing there were no survivors and

something perhaps just the moving of the Lord led sergeant Carnes to those areas

and he heard somebody banging on metal and praise be to God that was the

trapped police officers were Hitting a metal pipe with a brick or a piece of the

rubble In order to be heard and and sergeant Carnes did hear them and rescued them

and he is a Very strong Bible believing Christian and I'm looking forward to interviewing him

again.

This will be probably my third or fourth interview with Sergeant Carnes and this is going to be

Because of the fact that sergeant Carnes will be in town in Carlisle speaking at a 9 -11 memorial

at the War College where Kevin Gerard lieutenant Kevin Gerard is

currently working and so I'm looking forward to introducing those two, but

going back to our Discussion the theme of our discussion Just to let

our listeners know one of the reasons why our guest has some experience

and on the theme of marriage is because he is Been married to his wife Laurie for 29 years

and she is a blogger.

They have six daughters and three grandchildren.

I just found out something that I did not know before Ray's son -in -law is a

producer for Richard wretched TV hosted by Todd Friel and Todd Friel Happens to

have been a guest on iron sharpens iron a number of times and he has become one of my favorite guests

I know I am Definitely in store for not only a good belly laugh

But also to discuss serious issues, and so he's one of those rare people that can do both things.

Yep, and I will be announcing later on during the program The g3

conference where I will be God willing at an exhibitors booth thanks

be to one of my sponsors Linbrook Baptist Church on Long Island and also a

Pastor Josh Bice who's running the g3 conference pastor Josh Bice of praise meal Baptist Church

there in Georgia and they have Given me the opportunity to

promote iron sharpens iron at this conference and Todd Friel is one of the speakers.

So I just thank thank God that he Apart from my initiating anything he

Directed several people who wanted me to be there because they wanted my program to be

Promoted and so on and at a very large event like this Through God's leading they

contacted me and said that they would like me to be there.

So I'm very happy happy and grateful that My way has been provided there.

And.

Yeah, and let me give our email address to our listeners If you would like

to join us on the air with a question about the marriage of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon.

Our email address is Chris Arnzen at gmail .com.

Chris Arnzen at gmail .com.

Chris ar n z n gmail .com.

Please give us your first name your city and state in your country of residence if you live outside of the USA.

And I understand that some of you may wish to remain anonymous.

Perhaps you're asking a question about Marriage that is very sensitive.

Perhaps you're having conflict or trials in your own marriage and you'd rather not identify yourself.

I understand that you may remain anonymous if it makes you feel more comfortable.

It's Chris Arnzen at gmail .com.

Well before we even go into the marriage of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon What

led you to have a an interest and a fascination in the life of the

Prince of Preachers as he is known and How did you develop such a knowledge of

his life as well as his marriage?

Right.

Well, I've had an interest in Spurgeon as many pastors have for a number of years.

Number probably 15 years ago read a pretty substantial biography

at that time and That whet my appetite for more and over the years

Anytime I'd have the opportunity I'd pick up a Spurgeon biography and and read well three years ago in

God's providence I was able to go back to seminary.

I graduated the first time in 1988 from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with MDiv and

I've had a desire for a long time to do doctoral studies at seminary.

I wanted to go to Southern Seminary where Dr. Moller is the president.

Yes.

He's been a guest here as well.

Excuse me.

He's been a guest on Iron Sharpens Iron as well.

Oh great.

Great.

Well, that had to be a great program.

I need to look that up on the archive.

Yeah, it's up there.

He's a great guest a great great president of the school and while I was there I'm studying a study

biblical spirituality.

Dr. Donald Whitney was my doctoral supervisor.

Dr. Whitney's written a number of books on spiritual discipline biblical spirituality sort of books and He

was my supervisor and I was trying to find a way to connect the program that

I was studying under with Spurgeon and As I started digging I discovered no one had

really written anything on Spurgeon's marriage.

And so being a having to write a doctoral thesis Had to narrow that down a bit from a larger picture of their

marriage to something more specific.

And I was able to write on the role of Bible intake in prayer the marriage of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon.

And so for the last a couple of years three years in seminary total last couple of years more

specifically directed to Spurgeon.

I've been reading Spurgeon reading biographies about Spurgeon and as you know, there are a lot

of there's mountains of Material both written by

Spurgeon to him of the garment.

Maybe.

And.

I'm sure this god -willing is going to become a published work.

I'm assuming.

Well, I'm working on that.

Working on a book on the marriage of Spurgeon and I can't say a lot about that right now, but I hope to hear

soon that indeed this will be accepted as a book proposal and Hopefully in the

next couple of years will be on.

Yeah, I very providentially just.

A few days ago had on my program the founder of particular Baptist

Press and Gary long and his editor Terry

Wollover who worked discussing a book they brought back into print by Susanna Spurgeon

called a cluster of camphor which is another term for the medicinal

plant henna and.

And she basically was in this little book which is a excellent little book for

people to bring on hospital visitations or when women can carry it around in their their pocketbooks

and what -have -you to.

It's a it's a Very compact size an excellent book to reach out to the

wounded souls people who are suffering.

That's right.

Susanna wrote several books herself, including Maybe two or

three and then two books Giving an account of her book funds that she was a part of

but

she was quite a prolific author as well.

Yeah, and in fact our listeners if they want to later on they can look up the

interview on Susanna Spurgeon on our archive, but but how.

Tell us something about when their eyes first met that you know of when they first

Looked upon one another and began to pursue a relationship with one another.

Right.

Well Spurgeon preached in London for the first December December

the 18th of 1853 and The church it

was the most prominent had been the most prominent Baptist Church in London and probably most of England.

But what had fallen to hard times?

So they heard about this young preacher up in Water Beach near Cambridge Brought him

down to preach and not many people there that morning.

But the folks were taken with them so that evening they brought a lot more folks to church including

Susanna Thompson.

Now Susanna Thompson with her parents had attended the New Park Strive for and

for some time.

Her parents had become less and less involved as the church had declined.

But Susanna was often there with Friends of the family.

Well, she heard Charles that evening and she was unimpressed.

She was unimpressed with his country -fied manner.

His the way he combed his words

together.

She was she did not understand why this country

preacher now Susanna had been raised as a city girl

and All of that then meeting with them was

unimpressive.

Now later she would look back on that and Write about how foolish she was.

Little did she know as she was listening to him that

through him.

So that's that's how that begun now the church and Spurgeon worked out an agreement where he could come on a

trial basis for a while.

He was actually.

Formally, he formally became the pastor in April of 1854.

During that time he Discovered through mutual friends that this young lady in the church Susanna Thompson was

struggling spiritually.

She had only been converted about a year prior to Spurgeon coming to London a special

search into the

Gospels.

She came to know Christ, but almost immediately fell actually fall into a backslidden situation.

Spurgeon heard about that and simply and he sent her

a copy of the pilgrims progress.

This would be April of 1854.

He inscribed it, you know praying for her blessed progress and faith and

He got to know her a bit through that experience and she began opening up with him more and more.

He helped her preaching but by

June.

Obviously in Spurgeon's heart developed

into more romantic and didn't know that a

few months later.

So we got late April.

He's giving her pilgrims progress hoping her and then by

June Spurgeon is his

heart to her and this was June the 10th 1854.

The reopening of the palace was something like a World's Fair, but

it's a massive structure.

Originally built in 1851 had been moved and reopened in 1854 in South London.

And so Charles Spurgeon Susanna Thompson were seated together there at the grand reopening of the Crystal Palace.

The crowd was awaiting anticipating the opening ceremony.

Charles handed Susanna a copy of Martin Tupper's volume proverbial philosophy.

He opened it to a section entitled of marriage and Tupper wrote in that

section that a man should prayerfully seek a wife from God.

Spurgeon pointed to Tupper's words whispered to Susanna these words.

Do you pray for him who is to be your husband?

The light came on in Susanna's life.

She understood what Spurgeon was saying and She wrote.

I do not remember that the question received any vocal answer.

But my fast beating heart which sent a telltale flush to my cheeks.

And my downcast eyes which feared to reveal the light which at once dawned in them.

May have spoken a language with love understood from that moment a very quiet and subdued little maiden

sat by the young pastor's side.

While the brilliant procession passed and she talks about the new awakened

emotions in in her heart now I'm struck by the timeline.

So in December, she's hearing him preach unimpressed April he's learned of her spiritual condition giving her

pilgrims progress.

June.

He's revealing his love to her August.

They're going to be engaged.

So things once they take off they they move rather.

I.

Guess a lesson to be learned.

First of all is that we should not let our very first impressions guide our decisions.

My wife and our church graciously sent us to London a

little

burned in

and

those

are

really.

Some of these were

classified as dinosaurs.

Moving experience to walk with my wife down to the lake outside of the area of the Crystal Palace and look at those dinosaur

models where Susanna said during that walk on that memorable day in June.

And I believe God himself United us to each other forever from that time.

Our friendship grew apace and quickly ripened into deepest love.

Wow, praise God.

This would be a good time.

I think to take a listener Question because he's asking.

This particular listener is asking about something that Would be pertinent to the very

period that you are discussing in the Spurgeon's lives.

We have Tyler in Mastic Beach, Long Island, New York who asks how long had Charles been

preaching before?

He married Susanna.

Yes, a great great question.

Well, he had been preaching about two and a half years prior to coming to London.

He was at Waterbeach.

So at age 16 Spurgeon is preaching at the Waterbeach Chapel

and at 19 He is the pastor of the Deep Park

and in June he turns 20 20 years old.

So Spurgeon's born in June of 1834.

Susanna's a little bit older than him.

She was born in January of 1832 and so Spurgeon had been preaching just about three

and a half years.

This love is blossoming and.

We also have a listener in Hilltop Lakes, Texas Linda.

Who asks?

Can you tell me about Charles and Susanna's education and that of their children and

She has a follow -up question.

Tell about what their sons did as they grew up.

Education many of the The schools will be run by individual tutors.

In that period of time.

He did not receive formal Seminary type training was a non -conformist.

He would not have been allowed into the Church of England schools.

And then they were the only ones that really had schools back then.

Well, there was some other opportunities for him and in fact, there's a story now I can't fully

recounted at the moment, but where's Spurgeon was.

Meeting with the principal of a particular school for more formal theological education.

There's a breakdown of communication.

The meeting never happened.

Spurgeon saw that as a sign from God that he was not to seek such great things for himself

and Spurgeon was not opposed to theological education.

In fact, he started a pastor's college Pastors College himself for the training of pastors, but

he did not receive a formal seminary type Theological education.

I don't know as much about Susanna.

She would have received education the traditional schools there in London area.

Growing up again much more formally educated in some ways outshining

Spurgeon in certain areas.

Charles if you can imagine that mm -hmm, and I don't know as much about their children's

it's it's interesting.

I wonder how.

How did the predecessor.

Many years prior to Charles John Gill.

He was obviously known as a great brilliant mind of Christendom.

Where how was he?

Formally educated if he was also a non -conformist.

That's a great question, I don't.

I don't think I know the answer that okay.

Alrighty, and so these two fall in love and they get married.

And were the families on both sides equally

Happy and enthusiastic about this marriage.

Because from what you said about Susanna's initial reaction.

For in regard to Charles being basically from the other side of the tracks as we

use that term here in America I don't know if they did in England back in the 19th century, but

I could imagine that there might may have been some apprehension on the part of her parents if she had that kind of

reaction initially.

Right.

I believe us Susanna's father was a little slower to warm up to Charles and

Charles's parents who welcomed her.

She didn't.

It was quite a while after they were engaged.

They were engaged in 1854 they're married in January of 1856 and I

believe it was maybe the summer of 1855 when Susanna.

Met.

Charles's parents for the first time and so I think she was warmly received.

Spurgeon had a little bit cooler welcome, but eventually in fact, it was Susanna's mother.

During their engagement that encouraged the patient with Charles.

You may know the familiar stories Spurgeon was preaching somewhere.

Got to the building became so focused on his duties that he simply forgot

Susanna.

And went his way and she had her feelings deeply hurt.

She goes back home to her mother.

They're engaged during this time and after the service.

Spurgeon at Dalvin and where's Susanna?

I.

Think I think men in general.

This could have happened at Yankee Stadium If you could have been anywhere.

Susanna that she was ordinary man.

Preaching ministry is that being said.

I mean it's needed to hear that and you can watch Christian

leaders.

And they would like put the

even even with though I have good marriage.

But you know not the sort of marriage that the Spurgeons had or Jonathan sir

ministry almost everything in marriage a distant second.

Though Spurgeon was faithfully devoted to his ministry.

He did not neglect Susanna.

The story of their marriage is one of us, but no praise God,

but her mother.

He was apologetic and

later in life is she talked about how they would often laugh about the occasion.

Those humorous to them him running back from

the

and obviously.

Susanna's mother as you just said in your description of the events that

She knew that he was no ordinary man.

She must have had a great appreciation for his preaching or at least developed that great appreciation for it.

Right by that time.

I mean Spurgeon.

Spurgeon's popularity is growing relatively soon after he gets to London and

that's.

That's good and challenging.

He's being ridiculed by the press.

He's under You know tremendous assault in many ways, what would the press be ridiculing him

about.

Well, they his style is his doctrine even.

I mean Spurgeon Puritan.

He embraced Puritan theology and Puritan theology was not Appreciated as

much by the town.

Spurgeons in London.

Spurgeons preaching the old -fashioned gospel the doctrines of God's grace and and.

So some of the same things that his mannerisms and whatnot the way he would say things.

So really things haven't changed in over a hundred years then because that's exactly

the treatment that modern evangelicalism very often gives to Thoroughly reformed

men who reflect the Puritans in their theology and teaching.

That's right.

I don't think we can understand Spurgeon without Spurgeon.

When he was born he about 18 months.

Oh, he was meant to live with his grandparents not because of a lack of love by his his father and

mother.

But it seems it's just a practical necessity.

They needed help.

Spurgeon was the oldest of 17 children.

Only eight survived and this is a home that faced a lot of challenges grief.

They were not financially well off.

And so 18 months old Spurgeon went to live with his grandfather and his grandmother, which was very providential.

Spurgeon his grandfather's knee.

Oh, you had down the floor beside his grandfather's grandfather would study.

His grandfather took him to meet with other pastors they they had folks in their home.

Family worship was a staple and Also a great library.

Now Spurgeon just a baby.

He's growing up.

He's there five or six years but he's often coming back there even after he moves back in with his parents and

His grandfather is a wonderful Puritan library.

Spurgeon has full access to that at six years old.

He's reading the puritans progress for the first time.

He's going to read that.

Estimated about a hundred times in his life.

But he read it the first time at six.

He's reading the Puritans at a very young age when Spurgeon died about 12 ,000

volumes in his library.

7 ,000 of those were either by the Puritans or about the Puritans.

So we think of the area of the world in which Spurgeon lived.

Outside of London and towards that whatnot just

rich in non -conformity rich in puritan theology and Spurgeon's

grandfather would it said even look like a Puritan way dressed.

His mannerism.

His diet was pure when he came to London that was in his bloodstream.

That was the theology that he loved and this was a

great evangelist and sometimes

Spurgeon's unorthodox methods.

Willing to run out

of music hall to have services

and yet he had no music in his worship services.

Well, should I say no musical instruments?

He had music.

Right and we have to go to a break right now.

And if you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own for Ray Rhodes on the marriage of

Charles and Susanna Spurgeon obviously it can be on a broader topic of Charles

Spurgeon the theology he embraced and I apologize to those of you

Who are perhaps either new Christians or you're not? Theologically reformed or

Calvinistic and you don't even know who we're talking about.

I know that I raced right into the subject of the marriage of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon

assuming that the vast majority of my listeners know who Charles Spurgeon was.

But for those who may be listening who don't he was one of the greatest preachers who've ever lived a

very prolific writer and Thanks be to God his his

sermons many if not most were Were transcribed and are available in

print and he is known as the prince of preachers.

He's a man who stood against the popular trends of the day in

defense of biblical orthodoxy and He also battled hyper Calvinists on the other

side.

He was a thoroughgoing five -point Calvinist and embraced the 1689 London Baptist Confession but there

were hyper Calvinists who disapproved of him so he is basically a

Legendary figure that is also someone that every Christian needs

to know about today that every Christian I believe could benefit enormously from

reading anything that Charles Edmund Spurgeon has written not that he's perfect or.

Inerrant.

I'm sure that I disagree with some of the things that Charles Spurgeon believed and I'm sure my guest does too,

but he is just a very safe and Very rich

resource of godly wisdom that you can Revisit

time and time again because there's so many things things by him.

Available today and you can also if you want to find out more about Charles Spurgeon You could go to the iron sharpens iron

radio archive at iron sharpens iron radio .com and look up interviews.

I did have done with Tom Nettles And Phil Johnson of

grace to you ministries who also runs the Spurgeon archive and You can find out more about the

man Charles Spurgeon.

But we're going to a break right now and we would love to hear from you If you have a question for Ray Rhodes right after these

messages, so don't go away.

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Welcome back.

This is Chris Arnzen of iron sharpens iron.

If you just tune this in our guest today for the full two hours is Ray Rhodes jr

Elder at Grace Community Church in Dawsonville, Georgia author of a number of books and we're

discussing today the marriage of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon.

Lessons to be learned from a godly couple and Ray Rhodes actually wrote a doctor his

doctoral dissertation on this issue and God willing it will be in print shortly.

And if you'd like to join us on the air with a question for Ray.

Our email address is Chris Arnzen at gmail .com.

Chris Arnzen at gmail .com.

I actually have a listener who works for wretched radio who has

Written in a question Al Yerkes.

He says I just love my friend and brother Ray Rhodes.

His marriage to Laurie mirrors Charles and Susanna's.

What advice would pastor Ray give to married couples to grow in grace and intimacy?

God bless you Chris, and please tell Al from New York.

Says tell him.

Al from New York says hello.

Very gracious.

He's a godly man looking forward to him moving down to Georgia.

One of the things I think's important is to recognize that the best of

marriages struggle and I want to this is a great time to point this out about Charles and Susanna

Spurgeon.

I can't prove that Spurgeon is talking about his marriage and his Particular situation,

but I think he is.

I left his devotional checkbook of the bank of fate.

That's very very popular along with morning and evening and his other devotional writings and.

So the There must have been some real testing

in the lives of the Spurgeons and their marriage when not only

did Deep depression begin to inflict Charles, especially after the

fire scare that you could you could mention that actually subsequently

Resulted in the deaths of people who were trampled by those running out of

the theater where Spurgeon was was speaking and Who unfortunately lost their

lives because of some? Pranksters Playing practical

jokes by yelling fire into the building and that resulted in Charles suffering from very

deep depression, but that must have been a real Test of their marriage and on top of that

Charles developing serious health problems if you could touch on that.

Yes.

They have twins in.

September of.

1856 and.

The music all disaster that you're speaking of happens in October.

This is a busy time of Spurgeon and Susanna.

Susanna is unable to go with him to the music hall.

This is the first Service they've held there on a Sunday evening they're in the process

of the Metropolitan Tabernacle will come as they

Initially expand a new Park Street later.

They'd go up the tabernacle, but there's not a building that will hold all the folks that are coming here.

Spurgeon.

And so this October evening Sunday evening Spurgeon comes up to this hall where 10 ,000

people or so are packed inside.

There's probably that many people on the outside.

He begins to preach.

As you said mischief makers start crying out fire fire panic.

Seven people are trampled to death others are hospitalized.

Spurgeon collapses.

Many people think that Spurgeon has died that evening.

Spurgeon himself said he almost did from a heart attack or Under

the pressure of the knowledge.

It was a heart attack.

Just the overwhelming sense of the panic the excitement and All the rest was going.

Susanna is at home praying for

Spurgeon goes

to a

time of deep suffering and The Lord uses the script

courage him and as well, but that's a

that's an early Challenge that they are facing together the

loss of large and separate from depression prior to that.

But after that the struggle with depression.

By the way, brother.

What you whatever you're doing right now keep doing it as far as the way you're speaking because for some reason You were

starting to get muffled there.

I don't know if you were moving in a different direction or anything like that.

But right now you sound perfect at least just a few seconds ago.

He's very sorry.

That's okay.

Let me make sure I'm close in here.

Well while Spurgeon is at this Deacons home. He writes a letter to his

mother.

And I was able to view this letter.

I don't think the letter has ever been published.

It's about to be published through the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London now.

But I was allowed to see this letter at the Tabernacle.

He writes a letter to his mother that gives some I think some indication of how deeply his heart

is Broken, but also his confidence in Christ.

One of the things that struck me about this letter Spurgeon had beautiful penmanship and so all the

letters I examined prior to this letter.

Penmanship was beautiful, but not this letter.

Spurgeon is all over the page is is writing is You can reveal for

disoriented Mindset in a way hmm, and there you know this is speculation

there.

They're water drops on the letter.

Spurgeon known to sweeping as you wrote this letter

to his mother.

But if you've got a second, I'll read a portion of that too.

Oh, yeah, you can read as much of it as you want because this is a two -hour show, so.

I.

Was really moved by this he's a good mother.

I could not write till

now for my poor brain

was hot.

The group should I fear I?

Shall not.

I am not dismayed for God shall help me.

Dear Susie cannot write.

She is so ill.

She's she's suffering as well.

The doctor has been today.

She's very very ill and then says but not seriously.

Do not mention the accident in the gardens to me at present.

It's from the accident the gardens to me at present the pray for me.

I am not almost restored to spirits.

But I shall never forget this burning furnace the devil yet

for God.

The Lord moved me that evening and no unaided man in the universe could have been as brave as

calm as fearless as I by God's grace.

Another this is no small honor to be maligned for Jesus.

Trouble not.

I do not in God's name.

I say to timid friends and boisterous foes my word

of his

mother.

He and Susanna.

Disaster at the music hall yes is that out walking together?

Meditating on Paul's letter in their walk to

Susanna.

Oh wifey that was sort of his nickname for Susanna wifey I See it all now.

Praise the Lord with me.

And what he saw was Christ Exalted Christ reigning from the

Philippians 2 and if he pondered the exaltation of Christ following his crucifixion and

resurrection.

Hope came to Spurgeon's heart and so he went from almost resigning from the ministry and by

the way Let me insert Christian George Who's the curator of the Spurgeon library at Midwestern Baptist

seminaries with a great article on the broadman at Holman academic website Spurgeon blog there

on.

Spurgeon almost quit went from almost resigning from the ministry

to being revived for and it was.

We're at the deacons home, but he and Susanna dedicated their twins to the Lord and prayer and praise.

He returned to his congregation two weeks later at the new Park Street Chapel.

That's on November the 2nd after seven people died twenty -something

others are.

And as he comes to the pulpit He describes his feelings of joy and sorrow that he felt he

cried out in prayer to God.

That thanking him that he had brought him to the fiery furnace Sermon

back where I almost regret this morning that I ventured to occupy this pulpit.

Because I feel I'm utterly unable to preach to you for your prophet.

Spurgeon was very honest with his church.

He told them about his depression of his ministry the dark nights of his soul and

the struggles that he faced.

He asked me to pray for him.

And he's describing that here.

He said he says I feel somewhat of those same painful emotions, which well my prostrated me

before.

He asked the congregation to excuse him if he made no allusion to that solemn event or scarcely any and

He encouraged them with his intent to return to the music hall again to preach and he did that on

November the 6th so about a month after the disaster he

is in again.

Wow.

Commendation so it's an amazing story,

but you're right that event Created a depth of

emotional struggle and the heart of Spurgeon that he faced for the rest of his life some of his

that was one of the main causes for his early death.

The music hall and the effect of that disaster developed

kidney disease he was out he was overweight

probably an understatement.

Susanna's health is diminishing and so probably 12 years.

I think after their marriage.

She's having Surgery from the father of modern gynecology and

surmised that some sort of female surgery.

They never had any more children.

Seems to see them a lot of pain prior to that surgery and after the surgery.

She was basically homebound after 10 years for the rest of Spurgeon's ministry.

So we've got physical issues both of them emotional stresses attacks from the press.

All these

things that would spread this

cup art they they came close to one another now.

I mentioned that you wrote this I believe.

Some of your listeners may correct me.

I believe he wrote this during the downgrade controversy in the late 1880s.

So he's writing this book and on August the 30th Spurgeon is commenting on 2nd

Samuel 23 5.

And he said these are the last words of David, but they may be mine today.

Please

make the church I

don't

Spurgeon somehow.

I miss this gem of a quote.

Wow.

Our Christian heroes sometimes we imagine that they're they're men and women of still that

Spurgeon the prolific writer.

63 volumes the Metropolitan Tabernacle New Park Street 135 additional

books editing a monthly magazine.

Great popularity all over the world now certainly Spurgeon is Doing well

or dig into his life.

We see the sufferings that he encountered and this quote tells me.

Because he said this is the words of David may be mine today.

Things are not with me in mind as I wish trials tears and sins.

I don't know about you Chris.

I can relate to that.

Oh, yeah.

I've been married 29 years to a godly beautiful Woman, we are children a

wonderful family by the grace of God.

There's and sins are and I think Charles and

Susanna had the best of marriage.

You know that their marriage was among the best and yet trials.

Tears and sins.

So that the downgrade is going on

and Spurgeon has friends that are departing from him.

He's basically censured by the Baptist Union.

He's very isolated one of a major donor to his ministry and

Susanna.

He is in Mentone France where he has to go for his health.

Probably the early 1870s to his death

winners of one Susanna a lot.

That's something that we can all learn from when we are at our darkest point and

It's a bit so sad when you hear about marriages breaking up when?

The couple is faced with horrific trials like it seems.

There is a very high percentage of Marriages that End

in divorce after the death of a child now.

I know that the Spurgeons didn't experience that but.

The.

Any kind of a Horrific trial like that can often end a marriage and it's good to see that their

marriage was strengthened through the trials that they want.

There, you know, did you know if the press or anyone else for that matter, maybe even the surviving

families of Those who were killed during that Trampling in

his church or in the musical.

Did anyone blame Spurgeon for this himself?

I don't have quotes in front of me here, but I know the press did.

You know the press and SS, you know, he's the crowds are following after this guy's preaching at the

music hall.

And they criticized him.

A Spurgeon was unable to discern exactly what was going on in the music hall while this was happening.

So he was initially trying to continue the service.

He could serve something of a ruckus in the back, right?

And so he was soundly criticized for that the Spurgeon was unaware of exactly what was happening.

He was trying to keep calm and sort of keep as best he could before he realized

exactly what was happening.

So yes, he.

That now how did the press treat?

Susanna there's not a lot of information that I'm aware of of

the press and Writing about Susanna referred probably that culture that would have been

Sort of off -limits we think I'll talk about that in our culture, you know, leave a politician wife

or family out of The politics and maybe maybe that was part and parcel of Victorian era.

I'm not sure about that.

Okay, because up until you said that it seemed like the press was very similar to what we have today.

Yes, that's exactly right.

She kept a Scrapbooks

Spurgeon both the positives and the negatives and I think some of those still against college

now.

What do you know about Susanna's perhaps?

Activity in society, I mean, I'm not so sure how things would have differed in

Victorian England in regard to a pastor's wife's Freedom or

the how rare it was for a woman to be getting involved in in.

Some kind of an outreach to the community, but what can you tell us about that?

Right.

Well the first ten years of her marriage.

She's able to attend church with Charles.

She believes she ministers it helps with the baptismal candidates and and is

involved in the ministry of the church's.

Other ladies would have been after ten years again, she is basically homebound and

For up when Spurgeon's first volume of lectures to my students was released.

She read it wanted to put a copy of that in every pastor's hand and in England Spurgeon

challenged her to do just that to make the initial donation and so she went in essence to her egg jar we

would cut we would say and and used her money to help start this book fund that was

Raised money to give books to poor pastors throughout the British Isles.

And so she was even though she was homebound.

She was heavily involved in Spurgeon's minister and ministry of the gospel through the book

fund and also through Praying for a husband being an encouragement and she she wrote

pretty regular reports for the sword and trowel Spurgeon's monthly magazine Hmm giving an accounting of

the book fund.

One of the fascinating books I read in my Doctoral studies was her second

book on the book fund.

It's a lot of money

came in this number of books was sent out

Insights

Wow.

Now when you say she was homebound you this is where you were referring to earlier about the gynecological

problem that she.

Right.

I believe that she was actually Pretty severely afflicted prior to that and was homebound

prior to the surgery after the surgery.

She almost never left the home now.

A great story.

And I thought this is a good time to tell it in fact.

In fact, you could pick up with the great story as soon as we come back from the station break.

Okay, great, and don't forget about that great story.

Okay, and we'll be right back after these messages so don't go away.

Paul wrote to the church at Galatia for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God or am I trying

to please man?

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Hi.

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We are in Norfolk, Massachusetts.

We strive to reflect Paul's mindset to be much more concerned with how God views what we say and what we do

Than how men view these things.

That's not the best recipe for popularity.

But since that wasn't the Apostles priority, it must not be ours either.

We believe by God's grace that we are called to demonstrate love and compassion to our fellow man and To be

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Welcome back.

This is Chris Arnz.

And if you just tuned us in our guest today for the full two hours is Ray Rhoads jr

pastor of Grace Community Church in Dawsonville, Georgia author of a number of books

and we are speaking today about the marriage of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon

Lessons to be learned from a godly couple and this actually happens to be the theme of Dr.

Ray Rhoads doctoral dissertation that hopefully will soon be in print and

If you'd like to join us, our email address is Chris Arnzen at gmail .com.

Chris Arnzen at gmail .com.

We have several people already waiting to have their questions asked and answered by you, but I wanted you To

tell us this remarkable story before that we brought up before the break.

One of the things that excites me Chris about this is when I read Spurgeon, not

about Spurgeon, when I read Spurgeon he is all about Christ and

I'm excited to be a small part of perhaps leaving something behind for the next generation

and the generations to come that Spurgeon will still be loved because of the Christ that he exalted.

We have a four -year -old daughter and she spends a lot of time in my study with me and

She often sees me reading and reading out loud Spurgeon from time to time.

We have a Spurgeon bobblehead.

We also have a Dr. Moeller bobblehead.

Sometimes those two can communicate.

She knows more about Charles Spurgeon than any four -year -old in America.

That's my Abigail.

So I've been working on a sermon, doing exegesis, whatever I'm doing.

She'll say, Daddy are you writing about Spurgeon?

Are you studying about Spurgeon?

So our home is a Spurgeon home and seeing Abigail at four years old learning about Spurgeon

is exciting to me.

Not just because Spurgeon was a great man and all of that, but Spurgeon exalts Christ.

I challenge anyone to read Spurgeon and you don't have to read very far along.

A few paragraphs and you're learning about the gospel.

You're hearing about Christ.

Anyway, I'll digress there.

A couple of things about Spurgeon's marriage, a couple of stories and what I encourage out of others is

Spurgeon and Susanna didn't neglect their marriage.

How is that possible?

Spurgeon is gone sometimes a thousand miles away from home or maybe further.

Susanna's homebound.

Spurgeon's sick.

How are they able to be together?

Maybe we'll talk a little later about their love letters.

But that was essential to their marriage, the way they

wrote romantic expressions.

And after Susanna's from

that, he is in a new home.

So this is 1869.

They're getting ready to move to a new home.

Susanna's affliction is so severe that she can't really contribute anything to the plans for

that move.

And we might imagine Spurgeon spending all of his time pouring over books, preparing for sermons, writing

books, leading the 60 plus ministries that he led that was connected to the Metropolitan Tabernacle,

writing one of the 500 letters per week that he would write.

We see him in that vein.

Sometimes we miss the other side of Spurgeon.

It was at the heart of his character.

So Spurgeon is very busy with his ministry, but he doesn't fail to display the most tender of affections for

Susanna.

And he found ways to show her in practical ways how much he loved her.

So think about this for a moment, Chris.

I have a difficult time relating to this a bit.

It would make it more enjoyable

and accessible.

He sends her a letter,

uncovers his attention to detail, his love for his wife as he prepares for their new home.

And so he says, I've been quite a long round to be

long.

He said, I like that to my wife.

And every night of her

garments are put

in place.

He bought a barometer, he says, for my very

own.

On the road, I obtained a press burger.

Those

Englishmen to

Spurgeon

married, and I

believe, while lying down.

I could not resist the pleasure of making this little gift to my poor, suffering wifey.

I pay for everything as yet with the earnings of my pen, graciously

sent me in time of need.

Leave nothing for you to be anxious about.

I shall find the money for the curtains, etc.

And you will amuse yourself.

That's not bad.

Wow, I mean, he sounds like a regular Cyrano de Bergerac.

It reminded me on quite the opposite end of the spectrum.

I'm sure that now that my parents are in heaven, they won't mind me telling this

brief story.

But I can still remember, burned into my memory as a little kid, sitting in the living room.

And waiting for my parents to come home from a shopping spree that they were on.

And my mother coming in the house first, running up the stairs, crying her

eyes out.

And my father following her, yelling at her for having mousy

taste.

Whatever mousy taste means, I'm not really sure.

And then seeing the moving men carrying a very

large, bright red and orange plaid couch.

That my father had insisted they buy with Revolutionary War

battleships on it.

So that was quite a different experience in my household than it seems that the Spurgeon's had.

Now we have two questions that are kind of related to what you were just discussing.

And I will give them both at the same time, because they're very connected.

First question is from someone that you know very well.

That's Lieutenant Kevin Gerard, who is temporarily here in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

He says, married couples, including the Gerards, often cite poor communication as the

number one source of marital conflict.

What can we learn about communication from the Spurgeons?

And the other question is from Murray in Kenross, Scotland.

Who is listening and writes, how did a man, meaning Charles Spurgeon, with such a large

library, have enough time to care for his wife?

So they think that they kind of went hand in hand, that's why I asked them both at the same time there.

Right, right.

Well, good question.

By the way, the remainder of Spurgeon's library is in Kansas City at

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

And that is well worth your time to go to their website, look around, but also make a trip up there.

Midwestern acquired the library from William Jewell College a few years ago,

paid a fortune for that.

William Jewell paid just a little bit for it when it was sold, I think in 1903, around that time after

Susanna died.

Spurgeon's library was her most precious possession.

In fact, after he died, she spent a lot of time at that library writing.

In fact, this second 10 years book on the book fund, she wrote much of that from Spurgeon's library.

But after he died, the state did not have a lot of money, as I understand it.

The Sons sold around 6 ,000 of the volumes.

The little college in Missouri, William Jewell, bought those, stayed there for a number of years until a few years

ago when Midwestern bought those.

And the remainder of that, 6 ,000 volumes out of at least 12 ,000, is at Midwestern, a

beautiful, beautiful place.

Again, Christian George is the curator of the Spurgeon library.

You have to get me his contact information, because I definitely want to get him on the program.

Yeah, you definitely do.

He is a world -renowned Spurgeon scholar.

He also did his Ph .D. work on Spurgeon at St. Andrews, I believe.

But anyway, that's a great place, that's a great resource.

I had the opportunity to spend a week there, or several days there about a year ago, and I can't commend that

enough.

By the way, and I'm coming to your question, but it's just leading me to think of other things, Altman and Holtman

Academic is releasing a multi -volume set of the Lost

Sermons of Spurgeon, which no one's ever seen except a few scholars,

Christian George primarily.

These are the sermons and outlines from the time Spurgeon was, I believe, 16 to 19 years.

Spurgeon himself had planned to publish those.

He said that in 1857, I believe.

He was unable to do so, and so January of 2017, the first volume of that is

coming out.

And it has, as described, full color facsimiles, transcriptions,

contextual material, biographical introductions, editorial annotations,

critical commentaries.

The third edition of Spurgeon's work, I

forget, maybe 10 or 12 volumes of new Spurgeon material hitting the

bookshelves in January.

So I'm very excited about that, and really opening the door to Spurgeon scholarship for it.

And you might be also ending some marriages, as all these men who are listening buy these volumes.

Right, it's already up.

How

do we communicate better?

I think a few things that we can learn from the Spurgeons.

One is, in fact,

Susanna would come home on a

Sunday night just exhausted, and they would sit by the fireplace that

he may have been in or whatever

he may have needed at the moment.

She would read to him, in

fact, and he writes, my husband

said, and so I read.

And then she read on that occasion as well.

So they read together, they had family worship together when Spurgeon was there.

But I think the real key to their communication, especially because they were separate,

they wrote, and that means mostly for Spurgeon with a dip

pen, 100 letters a

week.

That is almost unbelievable.

I believe Dr. Whitney at Southern Seminary did a calculation that that would be about an 80.

Wow.

That's if you're having very brief letters, if all of them are relatively brief.

But 500 letters a week, and yet he's writing to Susanna from the time they

meet near his death.

And so just a couple of examples, 1855, this is prior to their marriage.

He tells Susanna, he says in this letter, I've had daydreams of you while driving along.

This is Charles Spurgeon we're talking about.

That's a preacher's.

Writing to his wife, I've had daydreams of you while driving along.

I thought you were very near me.

It is not long, dearest, before I shall again enjoy your sweet society, if the providence of God permits.

I knew I loved you very much before, but now I feel how necessary you

are to me, and you will not lose much by my absence if you find me on my return more

attentive to your feelings, as well as equally affectionate.

He's in close communication with Susanna via letter.

He's giving detailed descriptions of his love for her.

He's cultivating a vision for

home and what he expects and what he hopes will be the case, their

closeness.

Susanna, he wrote so often to her that she felt that maybe she was,

and he said, he wrote her back

and said, don't think that.

He said, it is my delight to please you, and so was an absence which must

be even more dreary to you than to me.

One thing that's striking in these letters, he puts her first.

He's thinking of her needs.

My absence is more difficult to you than it is to me.

Since traveling and preaching lead me to forget.

That they shall keep open till I've invoked the blessings from above.

Mercy to rest on the head of one whose name is switched

beloved.

To each other that she may

be reading out

loud to him.

But one night he hands her some of the works of Thomas Brooks.

He asks her to

write statements and to

write those down, and she does that.

And the end result is a book that we know, that you know about, that doesn't have Susanna's name on it,

but it's called Smooth Stones Taken from Ancient Brooks.

Yeah.

And Susanna says, you know, writes about that as well, that few people know that Pender loves the

story that's happening between the lines of this book, as she's working at her beloved's

side.

So they're engaged in projects together, they're writing together, they're reading together,

they're thinking of one another, praying for one another, but I think these letters were key in their particular

relationship.

And in my opinion, much better that if Spurgeon could have tweeted and emailed and texted and all the

other things that folks do, I'm sure he would have taken advantage of that, but the

thoughtfulness that goes into a handwritten letter is so valuable, I think.

Amen.

By the way, when you mentioned Thomas Brooks, I immediately just thought of a wonderful book that he wrote in

the 17th century, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.

That's right.

And I believe Banner of Truth has that in print.

And by the way, you can get a lot of these books that we are discussing today through solid -ground

-books .com, which is not only a sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron, but they

have a wealth of, a treasure trove of books from the past and the present,

not only ones that they publish themselves, but also from other publishers, and also

Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, who send out all of our free books

that our listeners win when they submit questions.

Today we don't have any books to give away, but whenever you hear about us giving away free books,

you can do so free of charge by Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, another one of our sponsors, and their website is

cvbbs .com, cvbbs .com, and you can

probably get any, not even probably, you can certainly get any book that we are addressing

today that is in print still by cvbbs

.com, and so keep that in mind when you're listening to the program.

And this is a side of Spurgeon that I'm sure a

lot of people know nothing about, and certainly is something that I'm

learning more about than I've ever heard of before.

It really endears him more to my heart, as I know how

precious he was to his wife, and a man who was so serious about

doctrine, and so steeped into the word of God, seemed to be

at times also even childlike in his romantic

behavior with her, and I don't mean childish, I mean childlike in a good way, that

is very refreshing to hear about.

That's right.

One of his biographies, that Mr.

Spurgeon of a New England novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne might have written it.

Wow.

A lady who did her doctoral dissertation on Spurgeon, Patricia Krepa, I don't know if she's alive,

the book is not in print, and it's not completely, in my view, it's not completely accurate

in some points, in her conclusions, but she examined their relationship,

and it's not a book on their marriage, it's on Spurgeon's ministry in general, but she says of Charles

and Susanna, to the end of their lives, they were lovers, and what could be more touching than

these two old invalids?

She had grown plump and looking slightly absurd, wearing the girlishly

tired and aged, yet writing each other love poems as though they were still 20 and

courting under the dome of the Crystal Palace.

Wow.

That's something to really seek to imitate there, and I'm hoping that

many of our listeners who are not only married, who can perhaps

begin to reflect on how their marriage needs to be improved, but

also those seeking marriage, the younger folks, or perhaps even older

folks who are seeking marriage, and as we said earlier, a reminder

for those who immediately will dismiss someone as a

romantic interest because of a first impression, they should not really solely rely

on the first impression, because those love at first sight experiences are very,

very rare in this life, and this is an example of one that certainly was

not a love at first sight story.

It became a lifelong romance.

Now, what can you tell us to follow up on Linda from Hilltop, Texas?

She wrote in earlier about the children.

I know that there was Thomas and Charles.

I don't think that there were any others, were there?

That's right.

Just the twin boys.

So tell us something about what became of them.

I know Thomas succeeded Charles as a pastor at Metropolitan Tabernacle, correct?

Yes, he was there at the Metropolitan for a while before he retired or resigned,

and he wrote as well some works.

Charles Jr. was also involved in the ministries of Spurgeon.

I forget exactly one, but the Metropolitan Tabernacle had 60,

65 ministries that were attached to that church that had been

developed basically mostly under Spurgeon's ministry and leadership, and so the

sons were both engaged in ministry.

Spurgeon had a vision that both of them would join him, in essence, using our lingo,

on staff at some point during his lifetime.

That didn't happen.

Thomas was ministering miles away, and Charles as well.

The sons were in pastoral ministry and other kinds of ministry as well.

Neither Charles nor Susanna directly led them to Christ, but both of

them point to the influence of Charles and Susanna, but Susanna more than Charles even.

The influence of their mother, just essential to their coming to know Christ as

their own Lord and Savior.

Do you know anything about their own reflections about their parents?

I do.

Let me think on that for a moment, or see if I can pull something up.

In fact, what we could do is we could go to our final station break right now, and while we're doing that, you could pull

up whatever you need to, and we'll pick up the conversation where we left off.

Great, that sounds good.

Alrighty, we're going to be going to a break now, and if you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email

address is chrisarnsen at gmail dot com.

C -H -R -I -S -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail dot com.

Don't go away, we'll be right back with Ray Rhodes.

Linbrook Baptist Church on 225 Earl Avenue in Linbrook, Long Island, is teaching God's timeless truths in

the 21st century.

Our church is far more than a Sunday worship service.

It's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant.

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We're a diverse family of all ages.

Enthusiastically serving our Lord Jesus Christ.

In fellowship, play, and together.

Hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman, and I invite you to come and join us here at Linbrook Baptist Church and see all that a church can

be.

Call Linbrook Baptist at 516 -599 -9402.

That's 516 -599 -9402.

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Again, 717 -254 -6433.

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generosity.

That's the Thriving Story.

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,.

Give yourself unto reading.

The man who never reads will never be read.

He who never quotes will never be quoted.

He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

You need to read.

Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the Prince of Preachers to heart.

The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and

future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered, Christ -exalting

books for all ages.

We invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com.

That's solid -ground -books .com, and see what priceless literary gems from the past to

present you can unearth from Solid Ground.

Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Welcome back, this is Chris Arnzen, if you just tuned us in.

This is the last half hour of our two -hour program with Ray Rhodes Jr., a

pastor at Grace Community Church of Dawsonville, Georgia, author of a number of books,

and who he also is the founder of Nourished in the Word Ministries.

We are discussing the marriage of Charles and Susanna Spurgeon, which was actually the theme of his doctoral

dissertation.

And if you'd like to join us on the air, our email address is chrisarnzen at gmail .com,

chrisarnzen at gmail .com.

And before I return to our discussion, I have to give you that announcement that I

hinted at earlier in the interview from one of my sponsors in regard to the

G3 Conference.

The G3 Conference is being held January 19th through the 21st in Atlanta,

Georgia to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

And yours truly, God willing, will be there with an exhibitor's booth.

Thanks to Josh Bice, who is running this event, and also thanks to our friends at Lindbrook Baptist

Church who help pay for other expenses.

And just am thankful that I will be there because I did really eagerly want to go

and did not think I was going to be able to make it.

But thanks to the generosity of several forces that converged together,

totally unknowing of one another, just showing the hand of God in this.

I will be there at the G3 Conference.

Unless God has other plans, I don't know about yet.

And I will have an exhibitor's booth right next to the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

So please look me up if you are attending.

The lineup is absolutely phenomenal.

It's one of the longest, in fact, the longest lineup of speakers I've ever seen at a conference.

And it's not only a long list of speakers, but it's a very impressive

list of speakers that includes Paul Washer, Stephen J. Lawson, D .A. Carson, Voti Baucom,

James R. White, Tim Challies, Conrad M. Bayway, who is probably the most powerful preacher

alive on the planet Earth.

A friend of mine since 1995 who has spoken at the church where I was formerly a member on a number of

occasions.

Phil Johnson, who we discussed earlier today, who is the Executive Director of

Grace to You Ministry and who maintains the Spurgeon Archive.

And Rosaria Butterfield, a former leftist lesbian tenured professor at Syracuse

University who is a born -again believer and wife of a pastor and now a prolific writer.

And also Todd Friel, who we mentioned before.

And Todd Friel actually is host of the Wretched TV and radio program

and our guest's son -in -law, our guest today, Ron Rose's son -in -law, is the

producer of that TV show, Wretched, hosted by Todd Friel.

He will be there.

And that's just about half of the speakers at the G3 conference.

So go to their website, g3conference .com, g3conference .com.

So, Ron, before the break you were digging something up to share with our listeners.

Right, we were talking about their sons.

And Charles and Thomas, they were born in 1856, September 20, 1856.

Charles would live to 1926, Thomas to 1917.

Spurgeon considered them, he, quoting Spurgeon,

as the best delivered verse.

And the one writer, one author, a gentleman by the name of Burley,

A. Cunningham Burley, wrote a book called Spurgeon and was good

friends with.

And Burley had suggested that Charles write a biography of his father.

And Charles responded to Burley, he said, The power of hero worship was too strong in

him to do justice to the many -sided character of his father.

So, there's Charles, Jr., in essence, saying, You know, I can't write this story because

he's my hero.

And the challenges that the boy faced,

young Charles, Charles the Younger, says that in their early years, they didn't experience as much personal

time with their father as they would have enjoyed.

But that the loving friendship was there, the happy relationship, the relationships were there.

And they were tender and loving and trained them in family worship and otherwise.

But Susanna was really the most, as many of our wives are, most on the

scene, hands -on parent.

And Charles Reddy, who's written the only biography of Susanna Spurgeon, a small biography, a

Banner of Truth publication as well now, a modern publication, he says

that Mrs. Spurgeon was a faithful trainer of her twin sons in the Christian doctrine.

She had the joy of seeing both of them brought to the Lord at an early age.

I trace my early conversion, Pastor Thomas Spurgeon has written, directly to her earnest pleading

and bright example.

And so she ministered the Word of God to their family.

He said, my dear brother was brought to Christ through the pointed word of a missionary, but he too gladly owns that

mother's influence and teaching were essential to his own salvation.

Spurgeon baptized his sons in 1874, which, you know, they came

to know Christ much earlier.

The baptism was delayed, as probably was the custom in Spurgeon's church, so they were older,

so 1874, born in 1856, baptized 1874.

They were 18 years old, and they were baptized and received formally into church membership.

Well, one of the sons, it was Charles, I believe, who wrote

that he was head and ears in love with his father.

He said, I do not know whether even mother loves him more than I do.

So that gives you just a glimpse into the relationship between Charles and Susanna and their parents.

The sons loved them.

It was said of Thomas by one biographer, never once did I hear him refer to Spurgeon without

moistened eyes and deepest emotion.

And Spurgeon wrote letters to his sons, just as he did to Susanna and

lots of other folks as well.

And he was always concerned that his sons remember Susanna, remember their mother in various ways.

A great relationship.

Spurgeon's got a lot.

Again, a lot of the load is falling to Susanna.

And to care for them, she's faithful to do so while he is away.

And I know that Solid Ground Christian Books actually has a book that they brought back into print by Thomas

Spurgeon.

So if you'd like to go to solid -ground -books .com, you can look for that book.

Just type in Thomas Spurgeon in the search engine.

We have a listener.

It's a bit off topic, but it does address Charles Spurgeon anyway.

And since he's a first -time listener, I would like to allow him

to ask his question.

Can it be narrowed down what eschatological view Spurgeon had?

That's beyond my pay grade and expertise.

From what I could gather, Spurgeon was probably a historic premillennialist.

That's what I've heard from everybody that knows anything about Spurgeon.

Right, but I can't say that with absolute certainty.

Yeah, well, if he had another view, I've never heard it before, because every single person that I know that has

written on Spurgeon and studied him intensely has told me that he

was a historic premillennialist.

We would say he was correct on his eschatology then, is that right?

Well, actually, I happen to be amillennial, but I don't hold that against anybody.

Not a matter of fellowship at all, and Spurgeon would not have seen it as such either.

And of course, I know that there are postmillennialists who say that at times

Spurgeon wrote as if he was postmillennial, and his ministry was

really prior to catching on with

any kind of dispensational movement with pre -tribulationalism.

That didn't even really exist, I don't think, in the life of Spurgeon, did it?

I mean, it was just about towards the tail end of Spurgeon's life, perhaps, that dispensationalism

started to catch on in America, right?

That sounds right, yeah, that sounds right.

But anyway, by the way, Charles, since you're a first -time listener, you are getting a free New

American Standard Bible, a really beautiful edition of this, with an embossed cross on the cover.

It's really a gorgeous Bible.

So give us your full address there in Fortville, Indiana.

And just also got to quickly let you know that there is a

Bible conference that I hope you can attend if you live near Pittsburgh,

Indiana.

I don't know how close Fortville is.

But the Pittsburgh Baptist Church is having a conference

next week, next weekend.

Let's see here, it's going to be September 9th and 10th, that's Friday

and Saturday.

And one of my dearest friends, who almost became my pastor, and God had mercy on

him, and I moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, so he was spared having me as a congregation member,

but Pastor Josh Fryman of Community Baptist Church in Riverhead, New York, is one of the speakers, as is

Reverend Isaac Evans of Glastonbury Baptist Church in Glastonbury, Connecticut,

and Pastor John Peoples of Grace Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Dr.

Russell Fuller, who is the main plenary speaker, he

is a professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Southern

Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, or Al Mohler, who we discussed a little bit

earlier, where Al Mohler is the president.

And if you want more details about this conference, it's pittsburghbaptistchurch .com, P -I -T

-T -S -B -O -R -O, Baptist Church.

I'm sorry, there's no church in the website.

Pittsburghbaptist .com, P -I -T -T -S -B -O -R -O, Baptist .com.

So Charles, I hope that you can attend that.

I can't imagine it would be that far away from you in Indiana, so let us know if you attend and what your thoughts were

at the conference.

So we have reached the point where Thomas and Charles have already grown up and

so on.

What else from the marriage of Charles Haddon Spurgeon and Susannah can our

married listeners gain from this, this really, as it turns out, was a very precious and

beautiful and intimate marriage?

Well, if we have a few minutes, I would like to take us to the end of his life and

an amazing providence.

I mean, just one of the striking things about their marriage happens near the end of their

journey.

And so Spurgeon is back in Mentone in 1890.

Again, he's there to recover, planning to come back home.

He writes to Susannah from Mentone.

He tells her what a blessing she is to him.

A beautiful line in one of his letters, My love to you grows, and yet I do not know how at any

time it could have been greater.

Susannah had never been able to travel.

The thousand miles from London to Mentone, France, with Charles.

He so desperately wanted her there with him, but he knew that her physical condition would not

allow it.

So Spurgeon goes back home.

1891 is the last time he preaches at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

He goes to visit Stambourg, his grandfather's land, soon after that, but poor health sends him back home again

to London.

It's determined he needs to make another trip to Mentone to seek recovery.

And so here's the great story.

On Monday, October the 26th, 1891, Charles left for Mentone with

Susannah.

But of all of these years, there are 36 years of marriage, he had been going to Mentone at

least since the 70s, she's never able to go with him, and now she's able, the Lord has

given her sufficient strength to make this journey.

So Charles leaves for Mentone with Susannah, his secretary Joseph Harold, his brother J .A.

Spurgeon, and his wife.

They get there on October the 29th, 1891, and they enjoyed what she

described as three months of perfect happiness before the, quote, sorrowful

separation.

And Spurgeon was like a schoolboy.

He was so excited about having Susannah there that he would take her around the area, point out his

favorite spots and sites.

He was her tour guide.

She said those were glorious days.

Never should I cease to bless God for his mercy in permitting me to be there with my beloved, to

minister to his happiness and comfort.

She said that he was full of fun and childlike pleasure.

He looked for ways to surprise her, to laugh with her.

At mealtimes, he was delighted with a party, with a smile and a kind word for everyone around the table.

And then she writes, she said, I can never describe the pride and joy with which he introduced me to his favorite

places and the eagerness which he showed me each lovely glimpse of mountains and

landscape.

He was hungry for my loving appreciation, and I satisfied him to the full.

We took long daily drives.

Every place we visited was a triumphal entry for him.

His enjoyment was intense.

His delight exuberant.

He looked in perfect health and rejoiced in the broadest of spirits.

Not a care burdened him.

Not a grief weighed upon his heart.

Not a desire remained unfulfilled.

Not a wish unsatisfied.

He was permitted to enjoy an earthly Eden before his translation to paradise.

During one of those daily trips, he pointed to a lovely scene.

He pointed at Susanna and said, Very wifey.

Isn't that wolf coming all the way to see?

And after he died, she wrote, Yes, truly.

And if there had been nothing else to see than his happiness and my long desired presence with him,

this would have well repaid any effort of love on my part.

And so Spurgeon's dream of Susanna B.

They're having a delightful time.

He mostly completes his final work, The Gospel of the Kingdom, which is an exposition of Matthew's gospel.

Susanna writes the introduction to that book called His Last Precious Legacy.

They're right home.

They're communicating.

And

then 1891, 1892, he gives two addresses to small groups that are gathered there.

He does again on January the 10th and the 17th.

He gives out the hymn on the 17th.

A hymn that we're familiar with, the same old Rutherford song, The sands of time are sinking, The dawn of heaven

breaks, The seven men I've sighed for, The fair sweet morn awakes, Darker than the midnight, The day spring as

at hand, And glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.

What an appropriate hymn.

And Wednesday the 20th, Spurgeon goes to bed.

His health is declining.

He's in his bed until he dies.

Towards the end of the week, he musters up enough strength to tell his secretary, My work is done.

By the 26th, he's in and out of consciousness, and yet he rallies a bit.

He writes a letter to the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

And on January the 31st, 1892, just after 11 o 'clock, Spurgeon died with

Susanna at his side.

And the autobiography says this,.

Then all was over.

Mr. Harold offered prayer, and Mrs. Spurgeon thanked the luscious treasure

so long lent to her, and sought at the throne of grace strength and guidance

for the future.

And yet she felt the pain of loss.

She said, Oh, my husband, my husband, every moment of my desolate life, I wonder how I

can live without thee.

The heart that for so many years has been filled and satisfied with thy love must needs be

very empty without thee.

And she had other things to say as well.

They had a service there in Mentone for Spurgeon.

Susanna did not make the trip back to London at that time.

So she was not there for the week -long services that were held for Spurgeon in London.

Later, she would go back and had some wonderful things to say after the fact as well.

But they were in love in June of 1856.

At 1854, at the Crystal Palace, when Spurgeon revealed

they were in love at his deathbed.

And she thanked God for the precious treasure so long lent to her.

And she loved him throughout the rest of her life.

She died in 1903, died with a hymn on her lips, in essence, and singing God's praises,

thanking God for the life that he had given her.

That's a portion.

Yeah, well I hope that some financially blessed

individual involved with the production of documentaries and

films and movies and that kind of thing will someday fall in love with this

story and create a film of this love story.

This is just, it could be easily a movie, I believe.

Right, right.

And how long...

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

There is a Spurgeon, I think it's called A People's Preacher, perhaps, it does have

a little bit of a story, it does show them their death, Spurgeon's death, and this

scene that I'm describing,.

I believe,.

But nothing on a major.

Military on this earth.

Susanna lived so that

her health,

again, to me that's just an amazing providence that she's able to go with him after being so afflicted

so long and she remains in the area for a while, but she dies

in 1901 and again, towards the end of her life,

she's quitting Job, though he slay me, yet I will trust in him.

I think he'll leave me at last in trouble to sink, which is the verse for him,

and she has those in the room with her, complete the verse, she lives a few more weeks after that, and at the very end of her

life, she testifies, blessed Jesus, I can see the King in his glory.

She died on Thursday, October the 22nd, 1903, buried alongside her beloved husband and

dying within Christ.

I mentioned earlier that she would

retreat to his study, and I think this is beautiful.

It'll take just a minute.

She said, I'm writing in my husband's study where he thought and prayed and wrote, every inch

of the place is sacred ground.

Everything remains precisely as he left it.

His books, now my most precious possessions, stand in shining rows upon the

shelves in exactly the order in which he placed them,

ready and waiting for its master.

But oh, that empty chair, that great portrait, the strange

solemn silence which pervades the place now but he is no longer on earth.

I kneel sometimes beside his chair and laying my head on the cushioned arms which so long

supported his dear form, I pour out my grief before the Lord and tell him again that

though I am left alone, yet I know that he has done all things well.

I sit in his room.

Looking with tear -damped eyes at the home treasures my dear one loved and admired, almost expecting

to hear the sound of his footsteps behind me and the sweet tones of his tender voice and loving greeting.

I have alas to realize afresh how true were King David's words when he said in his sorrow, I

shall go to him but he shall not return.

Wow, that's powerful.

That is powerful.

I'm going to give your websites.

GraceChurchDawsonville .org is the church website.

GraceChurchDawsonville .org which is D -A -W -S -O -N -V -I -L -L -E .org

for Grace Community Church in Dawsonville, Georgia.

We also have NourishedInTheWord .org the ministry founded by our guest Ron

Rhodes Jr.

NourishedInTheWord .org.

He also has BooksThatNourish .com

BooksThatNourish .com and last but not least his blog is The Dancing

Puritan I love that name.

DancingPuritan .com.

DancingPuritan .com is the blog of Ray Rhodes Jr.

Do you have any other contact information that you'd like to give because I do want you to

spend the final minutes of the program really unburdening your heart with what

you most want etched in their hearts and minds.

I would just send your readers also to the bhacademicblog .com.

That's how it's.

Bhacademicblog .com look at the Spurgeon link.

There's a number of articles there including a number that I've had the opportunity to write that's the B

&H academic blog.

But the Bible says that marriage is about Christ and the church and that is why

marriage is so important.

It's been so set apart by God to display the love that Jesus has

for his people.

When did he love the church?

When she was lost.

When she was sinful.

When she was his enemy he died for her.

And the scripture says a husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church.

And we can't atone for the sins of our lives.

We can certainly sacrifice and love them with a view towards their sanctification.

We can certainly love them in a very specific way the way Christ loves the church so that we

only have eyes and a heart for the woman who is our wife we can

certainly love like that.

And the wife responding with regard, respect and honor to

her husband as unto the Lord.

So when a husband and wife

are not bigger things that are happening other than saying well that was a wonderful happy marriage.

The gospel is being proclaimed.

And that's what Spurgeon was all about.

And that's what we are to be all about.

The gospel of Christ that Jesus Christ bore in his own body.

The wrath of God that we deserve for our own sins he lived righteously died on the cross.

For sinners

believing, trusting in Christ and be forgiven of their sins counted righteous in

Christ and know the joy of walking with Christ through good times and bad.

Amen.

Well thank you so much Ray Rhodes for being a part of our program today and I look forward to having you back.

And I want to remind our listeners that with not only the

anniversary of the Protestant Reformation coming up in October but also Thanksgiving

and Christmas we have these books that have been written by Ray Rhodes that you can

purchase as gifts the Family Worship for the Reformation season the Family Worship for the Thanksgiving

season and Family Worship for the Christmas season.

Go to cvbbs .com cvbbs .com cv for

Cumberland Valley bbs for Bible Book Service dot com and contact them and ask them about

the books available by Ray Rhodes Jr.

And of course you can always go to books that nourish dot com books that nourish dot

com.

I want to thank everybody who listened today especially those who took the time to write in and

perhaps even more especially our first time listener there in Fortsville, Indiana and I want

you all to always remember for the rest of your lives Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior.

And we look forward to hearing from you and your questions for our guests next time on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.