Note: This is the only 'jolly' picture of Spurgeon to be found. Does this look like the face of a man who dished out hellfire and brimstone? The resemblance to Tim Allen in The Santa Clause is quite remarkable, really.
My husband and I have been doing some theological digging these last few months. Hence, I've been working on reading through, The Sermons of Charles H. Spurgeon: Vol. VII and VIII. He is definitely not for the faint of heart!
Here are some quotes from his sermon, The Blood of the Covenant, preached in Surrey Music Hall, October 2, 1859.
Good old Spurgeon, he cuts right to the quick:
"The covenant - to come at once straight to the matter, however offensive the doctrine may be - the covenant has relationship to the elect and none besides. Does this offend you? Be ye offended even more. What said Christ? "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which though hast given me: for they are thine."
"As many as shall believe, as many as shall trust in Christ, as many as shall persevere unto the end, as many as shall enter into the eternal rest, so many and no more are interested in the covenant of grace."
"But why were certain men the objects of it, and why others not? I answer, sovereign grace guided the pen. It was not the merit of man, it was nothing which God foresaw in us, that made him choose many, and leave others to go on in their sins. It was nothing in them, it was sovereignty and grace combined that made the divine choice."
"No, let God be God, and let man shrink into his native nothingness; and if God exalt him, let him not boast as though God found a reason for the deed in man."
"It runs thus - "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Dost thou believe that? And is thy hope-something like this: "I am a sinner. I trust Christ has died for me; I put my trust in the merit of his blood, and, sink or swim, I have no other hope but this. "Thou hast heard it; has thou received it in thy heart, and laid old on it? Then thou art one of those in the covenant. And why should election frighten thee? If thou hast chosen Christ, depend upon it he has chosen thee."
And on that note...there's gotta be a chocolate bar around here somewhere!!
