I'm going through old notes that I've written on Facebook, way back when I used to write about God so often. Here's one about one of my favorite preachers:
by Tony Chuang on Friday, April 6, 2007 at 5:09pm
Charles!!! You in my head!
Charles Spurgeon is an amazing person in terms of his perspective on things. He sees this world as it actually is and knows what is needed of Christians. He says things better than I can so I shall just quote him to show what I believe.
"Listen for one moment to the ticking of that clock! It is the beating on the pulse of eternity. It is the footstep of death pursuing you! Each time the clock ticks, death's footsteps are falling on the ground close behind you!" "Heaven and hell are not far away. You may be in heaven before the clock ticks again it is so near. Oh, that we, instead of trifling about such things because they seem so far away, would solemnly realize them, since they are so very near! This very day, before the sun goes down, some hearer now sitting in this place may see the realities of heaven or hell."
"You want to honor Him, you desire to put crowns upon his head, and this you can best do by winning souls for Him. These are the spoils that He covets, these are the trophies for which He fights, these are the jewels that shall be His best adornment." "Etiquette nowadays often demands of a Christian that he should not intrude his religion on company. Out on such etiquette! It is the etiquette of hell. True courtesy to my fellow's soul makes me speak to him, if I believe that soul to be in danger." "Having joined the church of God, are any of you satisfied to be silent? Are you content to let those around you sink to hell? What! Never tell of Christ's love? What! Never speak of salvation to your own children? Can this be right? In God's name, wake up! What are you left on this earth for? If there is nothing for you to do, why are you in this sinful world?" “No sort of defense is needed for preaching out-of-doors; but it would need very potent arguments to prove that a man had done his duty who has never preached beyond the walls of his meetinghouse.”
"You cannot stop their dying, but, oh, that God might help you stop their being damed! You cannot stop the breath from going out of their bodies, but, oh, if the Gospel could but stop their souls from going down to destruction!" “Lost! Lost! Lost! Better a whole world on fire than a soul lost! Better every star quenched and the skies a wreck than a single soul to be lost!” "If we had to preach to thousands year after year, and never rescued but one soul, that one soul would be full reward for all our labor, for a soul is of countless price." “I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unravel all the mysteries of the divine Word, for salvation is the one thing we are to live for.” “To be laughed at is no great hardship to me. I can delight in scoffs and jeers. Caricatures, lampoons, and slanders are my glory. But that you should turn from your own mercy, this is my sorrow. Spit on me, but, oh, repent! Laugh at me, but, oh, believe in my Master! Make my body as the dirt of the streets, but damn not your own souls!”
“If then, you will be damned, let me have this one thing as a consolation for your misery… that you are not damned for lack of calling after; you are not lost for the lack of weeping after, and not lost for the lack of praying after.” “If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies.” “And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled with the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for.”
“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that.” "The saving of souls, if a man has once gained love to perishing sinners and his blessed Master, will be an all-absorbing passion to him. It will so carry him away, that he will almost forget himself in the saving of others." "If you never have sleepless hours, if you never have weeping eyes, if your hearts never swell as if they would burst, you need not anticipate that you will be called zealous. You do not know the beginning of true zeal, for the foundation of Christian zeal lies in the heart. The heart must be heavy with grief and yet must beat high with holy ardor. The heart must be vehement in desire, panting continually for God's glory, or else we shall never attain to anything like the zeal which God would have us to know."
Think about this, then act. Evangelize. Let no one see hell if we can help it. Show caring, not indifference; love, not complacency.
