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Spurgeon: a bee-line to Christ?

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C.H. Spurgeon is often quoted as saying: “I take my text and make a beeline to the cross.”

Indeed, for Albert Mohler, this expression summarises Spurgeon’s entire preaching method.

For the record, I can find no evidence that Spurgeon ever said it (see here for corroboration).

But is it the sort of thing that the great preacher might have said?  Well, kind of.

Perhaps the nearest thing we can find comes in a story told (with obvious approval) by the 24-year-old Spurgeon:

A Welsh minister who was preaching last Sabbath at the chapel of my dear brother, Jonathan George, was saying, that Christ was the sum and substance of the gospel, and he broke out into this story:—

A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he went to the old minister, and said, “What do you think of my sermon?”

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1 Corinthians 15:29 – ‘Baptized for the dead’

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What will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them?

As Thiselton (Shorter Commentary) says, Paul’s main point is clear enough:

“baptism for the dead” (whatever this means in detail) would be pointless and senseless if there were no resurrection. But since, evidently, they have themselves baptized for the sake of the dead, either some people tacitly assume the truth of the resurrection or else their action is self-contradictory.

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Acts 5:1-11 – Ananias and Sapphira

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5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property. 5:2 He kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet. 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land? 5:4 Before it was sold, did it not belong to you?…

Jonah – history or fiction?

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Is the book of Jonah historical narrative or fictional narrative?  Are we really expected to believe that a man was swallowed by a large fish, survived for three days, and was then spewed out alive?

Does it matter?

For some, the historicity of Jonah is closely tied in to the doctrine of inspiration.  Allen quotes F.A. Maloney:

If the book of Jonah is history, it is part of the evidence for the most important truth imaginable, namely that the Almighty God seeks to bring men to repentance and will pardon those who truly repent.  

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Did the Gospels become increasingly anti-Semitic?

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Bart Ehrman (Jesus, Interrupted, p44) argues that the gospels become progressively anti-Jewish and pro-Roman from Mark through to John.  This, of course, assumes, with mainstream scholarship, that Mark was the first, and John the last, of the Gospels to be written.

Ehrman writes,

‘It is significant that in John’s Gospel, on three occasions Pilate expressly declares that Jesus is innocent, does not deserve to be punished, and ought to be released (Jn 18:38; 19:6; and by implication in Jn 19:12).

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Christ-centred preaching – some pitfalls

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Edmund Clowney, Sidney Greidanus, Graeme Goldsworthy, Bryan Chappell, Christopher Wright, David Murray, Christopher Ash and others have done the church a great service by their advocacy, in various ways, of a Christ-centred approach to preaching from the Old Testament.

What’s not to like?

Amid all the enthusiasm, Daniel Block sounds a note or two of caution.

Block agrees that Christ-centred preaching

  1. ‘has a long history, beginning with the apostles, the church fathers, the reformers (especially Luther), and extending to more a recent revival [of] Christ-centered preaching in some circles.
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Mind the gap

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In The Hermeneutical Spiral, Grant Osborne discusses the issue of ‘distanciation’ (the cultural gap that exists between biblical times and today.  Preachers have devised a number of erroneous approaches, including:

  1. Literalistic preaching assumes God automatically bridges the gap and preaches the text as if it were written for today. Normally this is accompanied by a lack of serious effort to understand the text, resulting in shallow, subjective sermons.
  2. Allegorizing…assumes that beneath the literal, surface meaning lies the “real” meaning, such as the Song of Songs as a picture of Christ and the church.
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Seven types of false teacher

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Chameleon-like, false teachers are able to adapt their colours to reflect the prevailing attitudes of their own day.

What particular types can be found in our churches today?

  1. The heretic.  This is the person who blatantly contradicts one or more essential truths of the gospel.  See 2 Pet 2:1.
  2. The charlatan.  This is the person who exploits the gospel for personal gain.  See Acts 9:9-24; 1 Tim 6:3-5.
  3. The false prophet.  This is the person who claims to have a fresh and authoritative revelation from God. 
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Mt 15:21-28/Mk 7:24-30 – Jesus and the Canaanite woman

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Mt 15:21-28 Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!” But he did not answer her a word. Then his disciples came and begged him, “Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us.” So he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”…

Psalm 19 – I hear voices (sermon notes)

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So many voices seem to clamour for our attention these days:

  • TV, radio, mobile phone.
  • Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
  • Youtube, Google, Alexa.
  • Educators, politicians, influencers.
  • Parents, friends, colleagues

But there are three voices that must not be drowned out by all this noise.  These voices are ancient, and yet timeless.  They speak to us eloquently, instructively, harmoniously.

Together, they witness to the most important thing in the world: the knowledge of God.

Each of them can be heard in this, perhaps the most wonderful of all the psalms.…