Charles Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 - January 31, 1892)

Today is the 173rd birthday of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. His is a household name among evangelical Christianity. He was born to John and Eliza on June 19, 1834 in a little cottage at Kelvedon, Essex.

By the age of 22, Charles Spurgeon became one of England's most popular preachers. In his biography, Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers, Lewis Drummond notes that Spurgeon was an avid reader and that he had a personal library of some 30,000 volumes. Not only was he a reader, but he was a writer leaving us some 3,500 published sermons.

I have here a copy of The Saint and His Saviour: The Progress of the Soul in the Knowledge of Jesus, by C. H. Surgeon, reprinted by Pilgrim Publications (1970). The sixth sermon in this collection is entitled "Complete in Christ" and is based upon Colossians 2:10, "Ye are complete in Him." Here is an excerpt from this sermon...

4. We are complete without human merit, our own works being regarded as filthy rags. …Brethren, let us see to it that we are resting alone in the righteousness of Jesus, that He is all in all to us. Let us never forget that if we are perfect in Him, we are perfect only in Him. While we would diligently cultivate works of holiness, let us be careful lest we seek to add to the perfect work of Jesus. The robe of righteousness that nature spins and weaves is too frail a fabric to endure the breath of the Almighty; we must, therefore, cast it all away -- creature doings must not be united with, or regarded as auxiliary to, Divine satisfaction.

We would be holy, even as God is, but we are still confident that this will not be supplementing the great righteousness which is ours by imputation. No; though compassed with sin and surrounded by our depravity, we know that we are so complete in Jesus that we could not be more so, even were we free from all these things, and glorified as the spirits of just men made perfect.

Blessed completely through the God-Man, let our unbelief be ashamed, and let our admiration be fastened upon this interesting and delightful state of privilege. Arise, believer! and behold thyself "perfect in Christ Jesus." Let not thy sins shake thy faith in the all-sufficiency of Jesus. Thou art, with all thy depravity, still in Him, and therefore complete. Thou hast need of nothing beyond what there is in Him. In Him thou art at this moment just, in Him entirely clean, in Him an object of Divine approval and eternal love. Now, as thou art, and where thou art, thou art still complete. Feeble, forgetful, frail, fearful, and fickle in thyself, yet in Him thou art all that can be desired. Thine unrighteousness is covered, thy righteousness is accepted, thy strength is perfected, thy safety secured, and thy heaven certain. Rejoice, then, that thou art "complete in Him." Look on thine own nothingness and be humble, but look at Jesus, thy great Representative, and be glad. Be not so intent upon thine own corruptions as to forget His immaculate purity, which He has given to thee. Be not so mindful of thine original poverty as to forget the infinite riches which He has conferred on thee. It will save thee many pangs if thou wilt learn to think of thyself as being in Him, and as being by His glorious grace accepted in Him, and perfect in Christ Jesus. (pp. 172-174)

Charles Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 - January 31, 1892)