Your weekly dose of Spurgeon
posted by Phil Johnson
The PyroManiacs devote some space each weekend to highlights from The Spurgeon Archive. The following excerpt is from Spurgeon's book An All-Round Ministry, and this chapter is drawn from a lecture delivered to ministers.
et us get clearer views of what we believe. . . . Many are spiritual gipsies. They camp behind any hedge, but they abide nowhere, their theology consists of a few sticks and bits of canvas. It is easily upset, but then it is as easily set up. Well may they sing,—
"We've no abiding city here"!.They prefer the chase after truth to truth itself; it is clear that such a chase has not much of reality in it, for the man is pleased that his prey should perpetually escape him. In olden times, the prophet was a
seer; but, nowadays, a prophet is one who is too cultured to see anything. A man who protests that he has too much light to be sure that he sees anything is the favourite of certain intellectual hearers. David said, "I believed, therefore have I spoken;" but he was peculiar: our "thoughtful men" now speak because they doubt, and not because they believe.
15 comments:
"In olden times, the prophet was a seer; but, nowadays, a prophet is one who is too cultured to see anything."
Brilliant! Spurgeon never fails to amaze me with his wisdom.
They prefer the chase after truth to truth itself.
Certainly does sound familiar.
Excellent Spurgeon snippet this week.
My goodness. You sure he didn't write this yesterday?
There is nothing new under the sun.
With each generation we continue to rehash old ground.
"now speak because they doubt, and not because they believe"
This way sems more loving and understanding. Yet these same teachers can be quite proud and carnal.
Truth is vividly clear within the Holy Writ.
And we need never apologize for the all sufficient, and final, authority we have in the Bible.
I wish I could speak like Spurgeon just once.
He is unique and still a powerful preacher of God's truth.
Thanks for posting these short and sweet treasures of his scriptural wisdom.
So, could it be that the "new kind of Christians" are really just regurgitated old kinds of non-Christians?
The "spiritual gipsies" statement reminds me of a young man I know who loves to aks questions and says he wants to be challenged to learn and grow. He is a truth chaser, so to speak. But his position on any given doctrine seems to aling with whoever he happens to be listening to at the moment. He has been back and forth from the Arminian to the Reformed camp at least twice, but with no depth of conviction at any time. I love what my pastor told him: "Don't worry about being an Arminian or a Calvinist. First be a Biblicist, then settle your convictions on that basis."
What truth and insight Spurgeon understood. In saying they prefer the chase after truth to truth itself, it is so indicative of this new crossless gospel message that many today seem to be embracing. It is hard to understand how men and women are being so deceived. I was meditating earlier on this very thought that Spurgeon makes clear here:
"our "thoughtful men" now speak because they doubt, and not because they believe."
Spurgeon never ceases to amaze me with how full of the Holy Spirit he was and how direct and to the core he was and how he being dead(yet alive with the Lord now) still speaketh as Elijahs bones did.
Grace upon grace,
Brian
Only Look: A crossless Gospel. Yes.
Matt: Right on the money.
If the incarnation, suffering, atoning death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are not front and centre, then is it even Christianity?
It certainly does sound familiar. Excellent quote today, thank you.
Find if you can, beloved, one occasion in which Jesus inculcated doubt, or bade men dwell in uncertainty. The apostles of unbelief are everywhere to day, and they imagine that they are doing God service by spreading what they call “honest doubt.” This is death to all joy! Poison to all peace! The Savior did not so. He would have them take extraordinary measures to get rid of their doubt.
C.H. Spurgeon
sermon #1958
So true.
What's worse are those who chase after culture as if it's truth. The fact that so many Christians try so hard to be culturally relevant when the culture is always moving the goal post to be as far from God as possible.
I'm happy to be Culturally Irrelevant Christian and I even created a blog to make the case.
Oh my goodnes ... slice and dice, Mr. Spurgeon, slice and dice. And to think emergents fancy themselves fresh, bold, visionary ... BWAHAHAHAHA! Spurgeon nailed it 150 years ago ... spot on, baby, spot on!
Ben,
So true.
There is nothing new under the sun, and often old failed rebellions against God get resold and repacked as something 'NEW!' for each generation to consume.
This time the current generation has fallen into such a deep 'culturally-induced' coma that obvious heresy from the 'Emergent Church' is able to infiltrate many churches through the backdoor (or in other words, youth-group leaders).
Being dead yet speaketh
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