16 May 2010

Confident Believers vs. the Chameleons

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 "Hold Fast Your Shield," a sermon published in 1875.


ome persons appear to think that a state of doubt is the very best which we can possibly reach. They are very wise and highly cultured individuals, and they imagine that by their advanced judgments nothing in the world can be regarded as assuredly true.

Some of the broad church school would seem to believe that no doctrine in the Bible is worth dying for, or worth anybody's losing over and above a halfpenny for. They do not feel sure of any doctrine: it may be true, and there is a good deal to be said for it, but then a good deal may be said on the other side, and you must hold your mind "receptive," and be ready to accept "new truth."

Some Robinson or other said something about new truth, as if there ever could be such a thing, and, under cover of his probably misinterpreted speech, like chameleons, they are always taking their clue from the particular light that falls upon them. They have no light in themselves and no truth which they hold to be vital.

Such people cannot understand this confidence, but the veriest babes in the family of faith know what it means. Here are certain things which God has taught me; I believe them and am sure about them.

"Dogmatical," says one.

Exactly so; call it what you like, but we are bold to confess that there remains no doubt to us after God has spoken. The question is solved by God's word; the doubt is laid to sleep for ever by the witness of the Holy Spirit.

Oh, to know the grand truths of the gospel, and to know them infallibly. For instance, the grand doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Son of God—to know it and hold it and say, "Let others question and quibble, but I must believe it; it is my only hope, it is all my salvation. I stake my soul upon it: if that be not true then am I lost." And so with regard to all the other grand truths of revelation, the thing is to know them and grasp them firmly. There must be leverage if we would move men, and to have a leverage you must have a fixed point.

There must be certain undoubted truths about which you can sing, "O God, my heart is fixed; my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise "—things which you perceive to be plainly taught in the Scriptures—things brought home by the power of the Holy Spirit.

C. H. Spurgeon


9 comments:

Christopher said...

Either the sermons you choose from Spurgeon or what, but it seems he has much to say to our current state in the Western church. This is not to say, of course, that EVERY CHURCH is like this, but the churches we are told to look up to have such things in common unfortunately.

anonymous said...

"...the grand doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Son of God...Let others question and quibble, but I must believe it; it is my only hope, it is all my salvation. I stake my soul upon it: if that be not true then am I lost."

EXACTLY!!

How deep the Father's love for us...This is an unbelievable gift!!...Amen and Amen

FX Turk said...

How Phil posted this given that his back has been essentially torn our by a "Predator" alien is entirely beyond me.

Matthew said...

Love it!

Can never get enough of Spurgeon & I love your consistent posts of his excerpts...

Matt said...

Great Post! Amazing how the timeless truths of preachers past rings relevant today.

Thanks
Matt

Nash Equilibrium said...

WHAT?
NO MORE WAFFLING?!

I AM GOING TO HAVE TO START CALLING YOUSE GUYS MYROPAINIACS!

GAAAHHH!

Chris said...

Once again, Spurgeon speaks volumes into our spiritually and doctrinally bankrupt churches today! An even more accurate application of this description should apply to the masses of heretical "Christian" colleges out there, stock full of so many chameleons among their faculty that they ought to install branches for them in their offices and classrooms!

Stefan Ewing said...

What "love God..." said.

Without the Cross, we ain't got sweet nothing, except for our unatoned sins.

Why equivocate on the only thing that is a guarantee of anything?

Shenton Research said...

The one truth we should be willing to die for is that there is but One God and Jesus Christ is His son. His only begotten son who has always existed in the bosom of the Father and that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son.

And then I suppose you could go onto the creeds and then the arguments start as to which creed is best, and the difference between the Lutheran, Congregational, Baptist, Presbyterian, Darbyites, Helvetical, Belgic and so on ad infinitum.

But the Bible says that the three greatest gifts are Faith, Hope and love and the greatest is love. Love of God and then love of fellow man.

If we remember to love as Christ loved us we won't go far wrong.

regards

Ploughed