Shepherding with Spurgeon

Weekly Newsletter for Pastors from SpurgeonBooks

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29(

The true messenger calls upon men to see Jesus. He calls them away from seeing other things, and bids them look to “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” God-sent servants do not say, “Look to the priest; look to the altar; look to the sacraments; look to yourself; come and confess your sins, and I will give you absolution.” No, no, no, no; forever and forever no! They do nothing of that sort. The priests of Antichrist do that, but the servants of Christ cry, “Behold the Lamb of God.”

Our great difficulty is to get people’s eyes off themselves, off their works, off their forms and ceremonies, off mere creed-religion, and to get them to look at the living Christ who is still among us bearing the sin of all who truly seek his face. My fellow pastors, I know that I am, in this respect, a faithful witness, wherever else I fail in my testimony, for my soul’s labor and work, even unto anguish, is to get people away from depending even in the slightest degree upon anything else but what Christ has done. I would not wish you to have the shadow of a shade of a ghost of a pretense of a confidence anywhere other than Christ. Jesus only is the one hope of sinners; let him be A to you, and Z, and all the letters between, the beginning and the end, and the middle, and everything else. Take your eyes off all ministers, and all books, and all feelings, and even all believings; do not even fix your gaze on your own faith.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION FROM SPURGEON

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe pride that masquerades as humility.

Do not stand at the swine’s trough saying, “I will not arise and go to my Father, for I am not fit to go until I have suffered a great deal more;” but hear the voice which calls you say, “I will arise and go unto my Father, and what I have to say I will say unto him, and if I have to weep I will weep with my head in his bosom, while I receive the kisses of his love.” Come, poor sinner, do not set up your proud humility in the teeth of God; but, since he bids you to look and live, give up your prayers, and even your tears, and your repentings, and your convictions—have done with them all as grounds of confidence, and look to Jesus Christ, and to Jesus Christ alone.

RESOURCE FOR PASTORS

Celebrate Christmas with Spurgeon's best sermons.

Reading Spurgeon's classic Christmas and Christmas Eve sermons has become one of my favorite family Christmas traditions. These sermons are so rich and help us all remember the wonderful gift of God's Son that came down at Christmas.

If you want to read Spurgeon's Christmas sermons, please buy a copy of my new book, Spurgeon on Christmas. This book is a compilation of 14 classic Spurgeon sermons on Christmas, the incarnation, and the birth of our Lord. There's still time to order and read this book before Christmas!

Buy Spurgeon on Christmas today on Amazon.

ONE MORE REMINDER: PREACH JESUS THIS WEEKEND

“If a man can preach one sermon without mentioning Christ's name, it ought to be his last.” — Charles Spurgeon