ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)
Let the minister take care that his personal character agrees in all respects with his ministry.
We have all heard the story of the man who preached so well and lived so badly, that when he was in the pulpit everybody said he ought never to come out again, and when he was out of it they all declared he never ought to enter it again. From the imitation of such a Janus may the Lord deliver us.
May we never be priests of God at the altar, and sons of Belial outside the tabernacle door; but on the contrary, may we, as Nazianzen says of Basil, “thunder in our doctrine, and lighten in our conversation.” We do not trust those persons who have two faces, nor will men believe in those whose verbal and practical testimonies are contradictory. As actions, according to the proverb, speak louder than words, so an ill life will effectually drown the voice of the most eloquent ministry. After all, our truest building must be performed with our hands; our characters must be more persuasive than our speech.
SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)
Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe God’s grace in helping us resist temptation.
I have known what it is to escape from a strong temptation without falling into it, and I think that I have felt as grateful to God as a man would be who had seen a shark after him, and had been almost between its jaws, and had just slipped away as he heard the monster close his mouth with a snap.
I remember standing under a building that was being built and seeing a mass of stone fall from a great height just in front of me. What a thud it made! How narrow was my escape! How I started! But what joy filled my heart!
So it is when one is delivered from temptation—from temptation that began to overpower the heart.
THANKS FOR READING
Brothers,
We must remain diligent to watch our life and doctrine closely. Not just so that we can continue to meet the qualifications for our office, but also so that we don’t heap shame upon Christ or doubt upon our message.
“Let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
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Blessings to your ministry,
Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks