The exercise of anger, although not necessarily sinful, is for us exceedingly difficult and dangerous. It is like fire in the hands of children; although it is possible for them in certain cases to handle it safely and usefully, we know that in point of fact they more frequently do harm with it than good.

Accordingly we are accustomed, as a prudential measure, to forbid absolutely its use among the children. If anger in the moral department is like fire in the physical, we, even the best of us, are like little children.

Unless we have attained the wisdom and stature of “perfect men in Christ,” we cannot take this fire into our bosom without burning thereby ourselves and our neighbours.

William Arnot
Anger (Proverbs 19:19)

If our sorrow only gushes forth when we are musing upon the doom of the wicked, and the wrath of God, we then have reason to suspect its evan­gelical character; but if contemplations of Jesus, of his cross, of heaven, of eternal love, of cove­nant grace, of pardoning blood and full redemp­tion bring tears to our eyes, we may then rejoice that we sorrow after a godly sort. The sinner awakened by the Holy Spirit will find the source of his stream of sorrow not on the thorn‑clad sides of Sinai, but on the grassy mound of Calvary. His cry will be, ‘O sin, I hate you, for you murdered my Lord’…

You who love the Lord, give your approval to this our declaration, that love melted you more than wrath, that the wooing voice had more affect on you than the condemning sentence, and that hope impelled you more than fear. It was when viewing our Lord as crucified, dead, and buried that we most wept. He with his looks made us weep bitterly, while the stern face of Moses caused us to tremble, but never laid us prostrate confessing our transgression. We sorrow because our offence is against Him, against his love, his blood, his grace, his heart of affection. Jesus is the name which subdues the stubborn heart, if it is truly brought into subjection to the Gospel. He is the rod which brings waters out of the rock, he is the hammer which breaks the rock into pieces.

Charles Spurgeon
Faithful Wounds

Pious Mr. Booth writes, ‘I pay more attention to people’s lives than to their deaths. In all the visits I have paid to the sick during the course of a long ministry, I never met with one, who was not previously serious, that ever recovered from what he supposed the brink of death, who after­wards performed his vows and became religious, notwithstanding the very great appearance there was in their favour when they thought they could not recover.’

We also find, at our fingertips, in a valuable work, (Arvines’s Cyclopaedia of Anecdotes) the following facts, which are but specimens of a mass which might be given:—me ‘A certain American physician, whose piety led him to attend, not only to people’s bodies, but to their souls, stated that he had known a hundred or more instances in his practice, of persons who, in prospect of death, had been apparently converted, but had subse­quently been restored to health. Out of them all he did not know of more than three who devoted themselves to the service of Christ after their recovery, or gave any evidence of genuine conversion.

If, therefore, they had died, as they expected, have we not reason to believe that their hopes of heaven would have proved terrible delusions? A pious English physician once stated that he had known some three hundred sick persons who, soon expecting to die, had been led, as they supposed, to repentance of their sins, and saving faith in Christ, but had eventually been restored to health again. Only ten of all this number, so far as he knew, gave any evidence of being really regenerated. Soon after their recovery they plunged, as a general thing, into the follies and vices of the world. Who would trust, then, in such conversions?

Charles Spurgeon
Faithful Wounds

We are accustomed to say that if a child takes a cupful from the sea it is just as full as before, but that is not literally true—there must be just so much the less of water in the ocean. But it is literally true of Christ, that when we have not only taken out cups full—for our needs are too great to be satisfied with such small quantities—when we have taken out oceans full of Divine Grace—and we need as much as that to carry us to Heaven—there is actually as much left!

Although we each have drawn upon the treasury of His love to an extent so boundless that we cannot understand it, yet there is as much mercy and Divine Grace left in Christ as there was before. And it is a “fullness,” still, after all the saints have received of it.

Charles Spurgeon
The Fullness of Jesus the Treasury of Saints

What a lump of pride we are—fussy, stuck-up, wanting to have respect paid to us! If somebody comes between the wind and our nobility, how angry we are! If somebody abuses us, what a state we are in! And oh, if anybody calls us bad names, how harshly we consider ourselves treated! If we thought less of ourselves we would not be quite so sensitive. Where should dust go but on the dunghill? And where should they put the man who knows himself to be vile but in the worst place?

Yes, let them put us there, they will not give us worse than we deserve if we come to know ourselves in the sight of God! Yes, we may say of the slanderer, “Man, you have not hit it, you have not found out my fault; if you knew me better you could hit me harder.” Yes, we might sometimes say to some cruel enemy, “You have made some mistake there, for I am innocent of that before God; but if you had read my heart and known how false I have been to my Lord, and how unbelieving, you might have exposed me, and hit me in a sore place, and smitten me under the fifth rib.”

I think we ought always to say, “Well, we do not deserve it for that, but we deserve it for something else, so we will take it patiently, and be willing that men should wipe their shoes on us if it will but glorify Christ.” Yes, let them call us devils if we may but help to do angel’s work in redeeming men; let them scout us, hiss at us and say, “Yah! there goes a hypocrite!” or anything else they like, if we may but magnify Christ while living, and enjoy Him when we shall come to die! Be humble, Christian, for what have you that you have not received?

Charles Spurgeon
The Fullness of Christ – Received

You recollect the old story we told, years ago, of Jack the huckster who used to sing, —“I’m a poor sinner, and nothing at all,
But Jesus Christ is my all in all.”

Those who knew him were astonished at his constant composure. They had a world of doubts and fears, and so they asked him why he never doubted. “Well,” said he, “I can’t doubt but what I am a poor sinner, and nothing at all, for I know that, and feel it every day. And why should I doubt that Jesus Christ is my all in all? for He says He is.” “Oh!” said his questioner, “I have my ups and downs.” “I don’t,” says Jack;” I can never go up, for I am a poor sinner, and nothing at all; and I cannot go down, for Jesus Christ is my all in all.”

Charles Spurgeon
Under the Apple Tree

Brothers and Sisters, what fullness this must be, when you think that a multitude which no man can number, a company beyond all human count have all received Him!

Fullness, indeed, must there be in Him when all these streams have been continually flowing, and yet He is not dry; when all these mouths have been filled, and yet the granary is not empty; when all these thirsty ones have had their drink, and yet the well springs up as free, as rich, as full as ever!

Charles Spurgeon
The fullness of Christ – Received!

One who is really worthy to be called “a man” is a rare creature. There are great numbers of human beings, who come under the generic name “men”, who do not possess those noble, manly characteristics which would entitle us truly to speak of any one of them as “a man.” When God gives “a man” to any nation, it is a grand gift. There are many names in history which remind us how much blessing may be conferred upon a race, and upon an age, by the raising up of one man.

Charles Spurgeon
Our Hiding Place

My sister-in-law and her husband, a pastor, recently purchased an old home in an urban neighborhood where they are planting a church. Their house is old but their children are young. It is important for their health and their parents’ sanity) that the kids get all the sleep they need. For this reason the early-rising young pastor has learned where all the squeaky boards are in their creaky hallway. Recently we got a kick out of hearing (and watching) his wife describe how he walks down the hallway every morning. Contorting his body like a skilled oriental dancer, he snakes a path down the hall to keep from stepping on any board that would squawk and disturb his children. Of course, he has a right to walk anywhere he wants in the hallway, but he adjusts his steps according to the needs of those who are in his care.

True leaders in Christ’s church similarly adjust their steps, though they have full liberty to walk wherever they want within the bounds of Scripture, for the sake of those who are in their spiritual care.
Bryan Chapell
To Guard the deposit

When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for his time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award–yet receives such a gift anyway–that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favor. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.

G.W. Knight

How could Paul do it? What was the source of this radical obedience? The answer is given in 1 Corinthians 15:20: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” In other words, Christ was raised, and I will be raised with him. Therefore, nothing suffered for Jesus is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The hope of the resurrection radically changed the way Paul lived. It freed him from materialism and consumerism. It gave him the power to go without things that many people feel they must have in this life. For example, though he had the right to marry (1 Corinthians 9:5), he renounced that pleasure because he was called to bear so much suffering. This he did because of the resurrection.

This is a radical call for us to look hard at out present lives to see if they are shaped by the hope of the resurrection. Do we make decisions on the basis of gain in this world or gain in the next? Do we take risks for love’s sake that can only be explained as wise if there is a resurrection?

John Piper
“Radical Effects of the Resurrection”

And do you see, my Hearers, a glorious parallel? They had to sprinkle the blood and also to eat the lamb. Ah, my Soul, have you ever had the blood sprinkled on you? Can you say that Jesus Christ is yours? It is not enough to say, “He loved the world and gave His Son,” you must say, “He loved me and gave Himself for me.” There is another hour coming, dear Friends, when we shall all stand before God’s bar. And then God will say, “Angel of Death, you once did smite Egypt’s first-born. You know your prey. Unsheathe your sword.” I behold the great gathering. You and I are standing among them. It is a solemn moment. All men stand in suspense. There is neither hum nor murmur. The very stars cease to shine lest the light should disturb the air by its motion! All is still. God says, “Have you sealed those that are Mine?” “I have,” says Gabriel, “they are sealed by blood, every one of them.” Then He next says, “Sweep with your sword of slaughter! Sweep the Earth! And send the unclothed, the unpurchased, the unwashed ones to the pit of Hell.” Oh, how shall we feel, Beloved, when for a moment we see that angel flap his wings? He is just about to fly. “But,” will the doubt cross our minds, “perhaps he will come to me”? Oh, no! We shall stand and look the angel full in his face—

“Bold shall I stand in that great day!
For who anything to my charge shall lay?
While through Your blood absolved
I am From sin’s tremendous curse and shame.”

If we have the blood on us, we shall see the angel coming and we shall smile at him. We shall dare to come even to God’s face and say—

“Great God! I’m clean! Through Jesus’ blood, I’m clean!”

Charles Spurgeon
“Christ Our Passover”

Does the eternal God covenant with creatures that shall live only to threescore years and 10 and then shall go out like a candle-snuff? How can He be a God to them? I understand how He can be a helper and a friend to men of brief existence, but I see not how He can be a God. Must they not partake in His eternity if it is truly said, “I will be your God”? How can the Lord be an eternal blessing to an ending being? He has power and He will give me sufficient strength; He has wisdom and He will give me as much of His wisdom as I am capable of receiving. Must He not, also, cause me to partake of His immortality? How is He a God to me if He suffers me to be blotted out of existence?
Charles Spurgeon
Departed Saints, Yet Living

Jesus held that God’s describing himself to Moses as Abraham’s God, Jacob’s God, and Isaac’s God referred not merely to a part relationship which no longer existed. By his very nature God is the God not of the dead but of the living. In calling these patriarchs into covenant with Himself, He had established a relationship with them that was not terminated with physical death…’Death is a change of relation to the world and to men, it does not change our relation to God.’
D. Edmond Hiebert
Commenting on Mark 12:26-27

We shall do well to remember, that of all questions which have perplexed Christians, none have ever proved so intricate and puzzling, as the class of questions which the Pharisees and Herodians here propounded. What are the dues of Caesar, and what are the dues of God–where the rights of the church end, and where the rights of the state begin–what are lawful civil claims and what are lawful spiritual claims–all these are hard knots and deep problems which Christians have often found it difficult to untie, and almost impossible to solve. Let us pray to be delivered from them. Never does the cause of Christ suffer so much as when the devil succeeds in bringing churches into collisions and law-suits with the civil power. In such collisions precious time is wasted–energies are misapplied–ministers are drawn off from their proper work–the souls of people suffer, and a church’s victory often proves only one degree better than a defeat. “Give peace in our time, O Lord,” is a prayer of wide meaning, and one that should often be on a Christian’s lips.
J. C. Ryle
Commenting on Mark 12

Such is He who pleads with you! So majestic and so compassionate, so great and yet so good—will you refuse Him? If I plead with you, I am but as you are—flesh of your flesh. But if Jesus speaks to you, I beseech you by the Glory of His Godhead, as well as by the tenderness of His Manhood, do not refuse Him! Because of His Godhead you must not dare to harden your hearts. He is God’s Well-Beloved and if you are wise, He will be yours. Do not turn your back on Him whom all the angels worship! Beware, lest you reject One whom God loves so well, for He will take it as an insult to Himself—

He that despises the Anointed of God has blasphemed God Himself! You put your finger into the very eye of God
when you slight His Son! In grieving the Christ you vex the very heart of God—therefore do not do it. I beseech you,
then, by the love which God bears to His Son, to listen to this matchless Messenger of mercy who would persuade you to repent.

Charles Spurgeon
“The Pleading of the Last Messenger”

We can always see the spiritual blindness of our forefathers, but never our own, by the very perversity that is the irony of human nature.

R. Alan Cole
“Mark”

It is disobedience, and not obedience which prompts us to select from the commands of Christ which ones we care to obey. If you say, “I will do what Christ bids me as far as I choose,” you have, in fact, said, “I will not do what Christ bids me, but I will do what I please to do.” That obedience is not true which is not universal! Imagine a soldier in the army who, instead of obeying every command of his captain, omits this and that, and says that he cannot help it, or that he even means to omit certain things. Beloved, take heed of throwing any precept of your Lord upon the dunghill! Every Word that He has spoken to you is more precious than a diamond! Prize it! Store it up. Wear it. Let it be your ornament and your beauty. “Whatever He says unto you, do it,” whether it relates to the Church of God and its ordinances, or to your walk out of doors among your fellow men, or to your relationship in the family, or to your own private service for the Lord. “Whatever.” See, there are to be no trimmings, here, no cutting off of certain things—“Whatever He says unto you, do it.” Breathe this prayer at the present moment, “Lord, help me to do whatever You have said! May I have no choice! May I never let my own will come in to interfere, but if You have told me do anything, enable me to do it, whatever it may be!”
Charles Spurgeon
“Obeying Christ’s Orders”

Do not think that this is an excuse for anybody who is not doing much, you Issachar-like people, like “a strong ass between two burdens,” too lazy to lift either! I am not giving you a word of comfort. You are not growing, for you are doing nothing—and those who are doing something must not boast of their growth. It has more to do with private devotion than with public exercise. It has more to do with meditation than with explanation. It has more to do with contemplation and adoration than with public service. We must look more to the state of the internal matters, keeping up private prayer and attending to the reading of the Scriptures. If we do not, however much we may seem to progress utwardly, we are not any richer—we are only beating out the little gold we had into a thinner plate, and spreading it over a wider surface.
Charles Spurgeon
“Growth in Grace”

“the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men instructing us, for the purpose that, having rejected wickedness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly and righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12)

What have we to deny? First, we have to deny ungodliness. That is a lesson which many of you have great need to learn. Listen to working [people]. “Oh,” they say, “we have to work hard. We cannot think about God or religion.” This is ungodliness! The Grace of God teaches us to deny this—we come to loathe such atheism. Others are prospering in the world and they cry, “If you had as much business to look after as I have, you would have no time to think about your soul or another world. Trying to battle with the competition of the times leaves me no opportunity for prayer or Bible reading! I have enough to do with my day-book and ledger.” This also is ungodliness! The Grace of God leads us to deny this—we abhor such forgetfulness of God!
Charles Spurgeon
“The Two Appearings and the Discipline of Grace” 

He could not have dwelt among such provoking ones if He had not been full of Grace! … I invite you, therefore, to come boldly to Him who is full of forgiving love. I beg you to come and receive of His fullness, for Grace is truly Grace when it is communicated—Grace which is not distributed is Grace in name only… Do we not try to persuade the sinner that there is life in a look? Shall I need to persuade saints that Grace is equally free to them?

Charles Spurgeon
“The True Tabernacle & The Glory of Its Grace”

This is the mystery of the Kingdom: Before the day of harvest, before the end of the age, God has entered into history in the person of Christ to work among men, to bring to them the life and blessings of His Kingdom. It comes humbly, unobtrusively. It comes to men as a Galilean carpenter went throughout the cities of Palestine preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, delivering men from their bondage to the Devil. It comes to men as his disciples went throughout Galilean villages with the same message. It come to men today as disciples of Jesus still take the Gospel of the Kingdom into all the world. It comes quietly, humbly, without fire form heaven, without a blaze of glory, without a rending of the mountains or a cleaving of the skies. It comes like a seed sown in the earth. It can be rejected by hard hearts, it can be choked out, its life may sometimes seem to wither and die. But it is the Kingdom of God.

George Eldon Ladd
“The Gospel of the Kingdom”

Brothers and Sisters, instead of preaching, let me bear my testimony; my testimony of what I have seen; what my own ears have heard, and my own heart has tasted—that Christ is the Only-Begotten of the Father. He is Divine to me, if He is only human to all the world besides! He has done that for me which none but a God could do. He has turned my stubborn will, melted a heart of stone, broken a chain of steel, opened the gates of brass, and snapped the bars of iron. He has turned my mourning into laughter, and my desolation into joy! He has led my captivity captive, made my heart rejoice with unspeakable joy and full of glory. Let others think as they will of Him, to me He must be the Only-Begotten of the Father—blessed be His name!

Charles Spurgeon
“The Glory of Christ – Beheld!“

In general we must hold that whenever any religious controversy arises, which either a council or ecclesiastical tribunal behoves to decide; whenever a minister is to be chosen; whenever, in short any matter of difficulty and great importance is under consideration: on the other hand, when manifestations of the divine anger appear, as pestilence, war, and famine, the sacred and salutary custom of all ages has been for pastors to exhort the people to public fasting and extraordinary prayer.

John Calvin
Institutes, IV, 12, 14.

Look above, Christian Brothers and Sisters, and let us weep. Oh God, You have given us a mighty weapon, and we have permitted it to rust! You have given us that which is mighty as Yourself, and we have let that power lie dormant! Would it not be a vile crime if a man had an eye given him which he would not open, or a hand that he would not lift up, or a foot that grew stiff because he would not use it? And what must we say of ourselves when God has given us power in prayer, matchless power, full of blessedness to ourselves and of unnumbered mercies to others, and yet that power lies still?
Charles Spurgeon
“True Prayer – True Power“

Doctrine, my Brethren, is to be prized above all price! Woe to the Church of God when error shall be thought a trifle,
or Truth is lightly esteemed. When the Truth of God is gone, what is left? But, at the same time, we are grossly mistaken
if we think that orthodoxy or creed will save us. I am sick of those cries of, “the Truth, the Truth, the Truth,” from men of rotten lives and unholy tempers! There is an orthodox as well as a heterodox road to Hell and the devil knows how to handle Calvinists quite as well as Arminians. No Church can insure salvation! No form of doctrine can guarantee to us eternal life. “You must be born again.” You must bring forth fruits meet for repentance. “Every tree which brings not forth fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.”
Charles Spurgeon
“Nothing But Leaves” (Mk 11:13)

You see, the more you can prove that the sinner’s case is hopeless and bad, you have only proved that the sinner has the more reason for prayer. If I am the furthest from hope, why, then, he who wants to be heard and is a very long way off, must call loudly! He that is further still, must call more loudly still! And he that is furthest off must be the loudest of all—so if I am the furthest off from God and hope—I will only pray with the greater importunity till I do prevail. “Yes, but,” said another of them, “you make such a noise. Be still! You disturb the whole neighborhood.” “Ah,” says he, “I am thankful for that, for now He will hear me.”
Charles Spurgeon
The Blind Man’s Earnest Cries

..Because Jesus directed his service to this one central point where the source of all evil and misery lies—the guilt-relation of man to God—therefore in remedying this fundamental evil, he ministered unto mankind on the largest and thoroughgoing and most comprehensive scale—the ransom of the one became the liberty of the countless many. There is a lesson in this for us. We in our own way also should see to it that we do not foolishly squander our efforts at serving men in a thousand various directions when they will touch only the periphery of the evil of this world and can hardly expect to make a transitory ripple on the great sea of its sorrow. Rather let us concentrate our energies where alone they can permanently tell for the true betterment of things not for time merely but for eternity. Let us work for the salvation of souls from the judgment of God…
Geerhardus Vos
From a Sermon on Mk 10:45

“But I have no merit,” said one, “I have no preparation.” Neither has a child. I never find children troubled about being prepared for Christ. I never hear of such a thing as a child worried about qualifications for Grace! A child is a sinner and knows it.

That is the way to come to Christ. Come as a sinner, knowing that you are such! Say, “Jesus calls me, and I come; Jesus died for me and I trust Him.” That is the true way
to come to Jesus.

O Friends, instead of thinking yourselves more fit for Christ by growing bigger, grow smaller! Instead of getting greater, get less! Instead of being more wise, be more completely bereft of all wisdom and come to Jesus for wisdom, righteousness and all things!

Charles Spurgeon

“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. Brethren, what is true of ministers is true of all our people. You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and expositions of the Bible. We are quite persuaded that the best way for you to be spending you leisure, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master’s service. Paul cries, ‘bring the books’ (2 Timothy 4:13) — join in the cry.”
Charles Spurgeon