Please Read Spurgeon!

“He loved to proclaim the “glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.” Christ was the “glorious all-absorbing topic of Spurgeon’s ministry, that Name turned his pulpit labours into a “bathe in the waters of Paradise”

(Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a Baptist preacher in the 19^th century and at times preached regularly to congregations of 10,000 people. He didn’t appear to care much for popularity and popularity didn’t care much for him, and the papers frequently attacked and mocked him.

He preached the Bible each week lifting up Christ to all who would listen. Although he was a strong believer in the doctrines of grace he didn’t preach naked doctrine but preached Biblical doctrines clothed in God as all Biblical truth is.

I can think of 5 good reasons why you should read him before you read anything else that might fall under the term “Christian literature”:

• He isn’t modern and he isn’t that popular today. You won’t find much if anything by him in Wesley Owen. This is no bad thing as “truth is usually in the minority in this evil world” (Spurgeon)

• He is profoundly Biblical. Iain Murray writes of him: “What Spurgeon wrote of Bunyan is equally applicable to himself: “Read anything of his and you will see it is almost like reading the Bible itself…He had read the Bible till his whole being was saturated with Scripture… Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his soul is full of the word of God. “ (Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon)

• He cared deeply for his people and the solemn task that every preacher has of proclaiming the “whole counsel of God”. Thus Spurgeon writes “It were better for me that I had never been born that that I preach to these people carelessly, or keep back any part of my Master’s truth”

• He will draw you to the Puritans.

• Together with the Puritans He has a a clearer sight of Jesus Christ than many of our modern writers. For the next book you read ditch Piper, Packer, Sproul, Keller, Pilavachi, Mahaney, Mclaren, Bell, and even Osteen (actually ditch him for good!) and buy something of Spurgeon.

Also there is an online Spurgeon archive with lots of free sermons and so on to read.

If you want another starting point Amazon sells 12 sermons of his on the cross which are brilliant.