ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)
We insist upon it, that there must be abundance of matter in sermons, and next, that this matter must be congruous to the text. The discourse should spring out of the text as a rule, and the more evidently it does so the better; but at all times, to say the least, it should nave a very close relationship thereto. In the matter of spiritualising and accommodation very large latitude is to be allowed; but liberty must not degenerate into license, and there must always be a connection, and something more than a remote connection—a real relationship between the sermon and its text.
SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)
Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the fruitlessness of moralism.
Mere moralists very often forget the heart, and deal exclusively with the lesser powers. Some of them say, “If a man’s life be wrong it is better to alter the principles upon which his conduct is modeled: we had better adopt another scheme of living; society must be remodeled, so that man may have an opportunity for the display of virtues, and less temptation to indulge in vice.”
It is as if, when the reservoir was filled with poisonous or polluted fluid, some sage counsellor should propose that all the piping had better be taken up, and fresh pipes laid down, so that the water might run through fresh channels; but who does not perceive that it would be all in vain, if the fountain-head were polluted, however good the channels.
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Blessings to your ministry,
Doug H.
Creator of SpurgeonBooks
Preaching Pastor of Pillar Church of Washington DC