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Pastor Ed Romine. First time 
I've met him in person. We've had a phone call, and we 
have a bit of interaction on a chat group that we're a part 
of. He currently ministers in Provo, Utah. When you hear him 
speak, you'll say, I didn't think people from Utah sounded that 
way. He's originally from Texas. So that explains the bit of a 
twang in his voice. But it's a great privilege to 
have you with us, brother. For anybody that's attending 
here this morning that's not a part of our church, Pastor 
Romain will be preaching morning and evening tomorrow as well. 
So our services are at 11 o'clock and then 5 p.m. 5 p.m. He's going 
to be preaching from Ephesians 2 in the morning and Ephesians 
1 in the evening. All right. Well, it's a joy and honored to be with you all 
this morning. And it'll be a joy and honor 
to be with the saints that call themselves Free Grace Baptist 
Church tomorrow morning and tomorrow evening. I bring you greetings 
from the First Baptist Church of Provo, Utah. And it is just 
an absolute joy to be in my third foreign country, and this one's 
given me less of a culture shock. My first two were Qatar and Sri 
Lanka, so there's a lot more commonality. here than there. So with that said, it's just 
a joy to be here. It is a joy to be with y'all 
and I pray that this is profitable. And although I'm not preaching 
the scriptures, I'm gonna let Spurgeon do most of the preaching. There's a lot of principles that 
we can gain from church history. And one of my old church history 
professors at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 
Dr. Robert Caldwell, used to always 
open up his church history lectures by reading from the scriptures. 
So I want us to do that this morning. And if you would, if 
you're able, please stand and we'll read from Hebrews 13. And I want us to begin in Hebrews 
13 verse 7. And we'll read down to verse 
16. God's Word says to us and for 
us through the Apostle Paul, remember those who rule over 
you who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, 
consider the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the 
same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with 
various and strange doctrines, for it is good that the heart 
be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited 
those who have been occupied with them. For we have an altar 
from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals 
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest 
for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also that 
he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside 
the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to 
him outside the camp bearing his reproach. For here we have 
no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore, by 
him, Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, 
that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But 
do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices, 
God is well pleased. This is the word of the Lord, 
we pray together. Father, we thank you for this 
passage of scripture. We thank you for the one that 
was read out of the Corinthian letters as well. We thank you 
for the ability to sing to you, to praise you, to worship you. And most importantly, we thank 
you that you have given us your son, that he went outside the 
gate for us. bearing the reproach of our sin 
upon himself. And as we look and remember your 
servant, our brother Spurgeon this morning, may we remember 
him well. And may we come away from this 
time together more conformed to the image of your son, who 
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's in his name 
we pray. Amen. You may be seated. So just to show of hands, who 
here has heard of Spurgeon? Raise your hand. just about everybody 
in here I know. I'm in a good, reformed Baptist 
church. And if you didn't raise your 
hand, one of my goals is after this lecture you'll be able to 
now and forever raise your hand when somebody asks you that question. And in certain parts of Christendom 
that really and rightly value theology. Sometimes church history 
can be looked down upon. They think, why study church 
history? We only need the scriptures. 
And while that sentiment is well-intentioned, it's not well-informed. It's 
not wise. Because if they study these scriptures, 
the scriptures ironically tell us, in the passage that I just 
read, to remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the 
word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome 
of their conduct. And for those who know how to 
read and interpret the scripture, you may say, well, wait a second, 
that's talking about your pastors. And I would say, yes, you're 
absolutely right. So for those of you that are 
covenant members of Free Grace Baptist Church, it's instructing 
you to remember and follow the examples of Pastor Porter and 
Pastor Butler. But I do not think it's an abuse 
of this text because it says, whose faith follow considering 
the outcome of their conduct to reach back and look at what 
the Holy Spirit's done and said through other faithful members 
of God's church. Spurgeon actually said, One time 
that those who will not listen to what the Holy Spirit said 
through others. have no brains. I'm paraphrasing 
him there, but he says, if you don't wanna learn from Christians 
of the past, you're really quite foolish. So in a very real way, 
I want us to not be fools this morning by drinking deeply for 
my brother Spurgeon and being honest with him. So if you do 
not know Spurgeon, maybe you just know of him from internet 
blurbs or from just a cursory remark you may hear in Sunday 
school or a sermon. I want to delve into his life 
just a little bit to give anybody who may not have raised their 
hand some understanding of who he was And then I want us, after 
that, to look at the topic of my dissertation. And even that, 
I hope, will be profitable. Many times when a PhD gets up 
and says he wants to talk about his dissertation, people automatically 
take that as an invitation to nap. Do not do that. I promise, or at least I'm hopeful, 
that this will be a good use of our time as we seek to obey 
Hebrews 13. So Spurgeon was born in the 19th 
century or the 1800s. He was born June 19th, 1834, 
and he died January 31st of 1892. I'm not good at math, but I have 
done the math on this, that would 
have put him at 57 years old. And his father, John Spurgeon, 
outlived him by another 10 years. So that put his death in the 
year 1902. So that means, guess what, if If you are 34, 35, or excuse 
me, whatever 1999 is, if you were born in 1999, and then you 
actually share a century of life with Charles Spurgeon's father, Barely, but you still do, because 
he made it over the threshold of the 20th century before passing 
away. Why do I bring that up? We're 
all tempted to think Spurgeon lived a long time ago. No, he 
really didn't. If the Lord had allowed him to 
live into his 80s, I think if he had taken better care of himself, 
he would have lived close to the mid-1930s or 40s, which would 
have put him 10 years shy or closer to when my grandmother 
was born. So we're really not that far 
removed from Spurgeon as a matter of fact. So don't think of Spurgeon 
as some antiquated dinosaur. He wasn't. He shared a lot in 
common with us. And when I say he shared a lot 
in common with us, the 19th century was quite the time to be alive. Spurgeon, during his lifetime, 
got to see the economic boom of Victorian England. Spurgeon 
used the first public toilet, and he thought that was fascinating. 
Spurgeon used the predecessor to the telephone, and he said, 
I'm lost in the mystery. And it makes me just wonder what 
he would think of our smartphones. Spurgeon got to see the introduction 
of the railroad system. When he was a young boy, it was 
horse and buggy. And then by the time he died, 
there was the beginning of trains and cars being introduced in 
society. And there was even the advent 
of recording coming into play. There's old 19th century recordings 
of like the U.S. Marine Corps Band, the president's 
own band. But nobody ever thought to record 
any of Charles Spurgeon's sermons. It's just a tragedy that we can't 
hear his voice. However, his son Thomas, we do 
have a recording of his voice, and I don't know if it's distortion 
or whatnot, but it's very high-pitched. And I just think to myself, I 
hope that's not Spurgeon's voice because I named my dissertation 
the booming baritone bell of England. And so, you know, I'd 
have to change the title and a hopeful second edition to the 
whiny nasally bell of England. But anyway, that being said, 
Spurgeon is known for his preaching. He was saved at the young tender 
age of 14 in a primitive Methodist chapel. He was caught in a snowstorm 
that day on his way to church. And he was saved through the 
preaching, and this is not my words, this is Spurgeon's, of 
a very stupid man. Because the preacher that was 
scheduled to preach couldn't make it because of the snowstorm. I'm sure you all know about snowstorms 
up here. Just imagine both of your pastors 
at Free Grace Baptist Church not being able to make it. And then the congregation calls 
upon somebody that doesn't really preach to preach. and they get up there and all 
they could think of is to go over as best they can what they 
read in devotionals that morning. Well, that's what happened to 
that lay preacher. He preached from Isaiah 45, 22, 
look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be saved. And all he 
could think to do was repeat over and over the command of 
the text. Look to Christ and be saved. Look to Christ and be saved. There wasn't much in the way 
of form or content to a sermon. And then Spurgeon had walked 
into this chapel and there wasn't a lot of people there. It was 
probably primarily old people on top of that. And then this 
layman preacher looks out and sees this boy and he says, young 
man, you look miserable and you will be miserable unless you 
obey my text. And at that moment, the scales, 
Spurgeon says, fell from his eyes and he looked as if he had 
never looked before. And why do I bring this conversion 
up first? He said that as if he had never 
heard the gospel before. He had seen Christ as beautiful 
and glorious. Well, here's what you gotta know 
about Spurgeon. Spurgeon's father, James, or 
sorry, John, was a Congregationalist minister. His grandfather was 
also a Congregationalist minister. And he had grown up with both 
his parents at the beginning, then his grandparents for a few 
years, probably because of financial hardship, hearing the good gospel. The Congregationalists back then, 
even though they baptized infants, they believed the true biblical 
gospel. weren't hyper-Calvinist, they 
believed in calling people to repentance and faith. Spurgeon 
grew up around that, so it's not as though he was in some 
sort of hyper-Calvinist context where people didn't believe in 
the call, the personal call to people to repent and believe 
the gospel. Spurgeon heard many times from 
learned ministers. Repent. Believe in Jesus. Trust in Jesus alone. His father 
and grandfather both were very respected preachers. God used 
the stupid man, that stupid preacher, to save the Prince of Preachers. People say, oh, I'm not an evangelist, 
okay? You're still called to proclaim 
the gospel. You're still called in a sense, 
to tell of his excellencies. You may say, I'm not that good 
with articulating doctrine. I can't tell you about the works 
of the Trinity ad intra and ad extra. Say, okay, that's fine, 
but you still have a testimony of God has saved my soul. So you can share that with folks 
and you can leave the results up to God as you call men and 
women and boys and girls to trust in Jesus. That would be one of 
my applications is you may not be that theologically astute, 
but you can proclaim his excellencies. So I don't want you to hear that 
as me beating you over the head with a stick and making you feel 
guilty about not evangelizing. But rather, dear saint, although 
you're called to grow in your knowledge and love with the Lord 
Jesus, you can start with what you know. God will use it. And then if you're a member of 
Free Grace Baptist Church, I know you've got officers in your church 
that will love you, that will shepherd you, and will come along 
beside you and help you grow. So with that said, that's one 
of my applications. be willing to be used by God, 
and he'll use you just like that lay preacher that Spurgeon called 
stupid later on. So Spurgeon had a way with the 
words. He oftentimes would tell you 
what he thought, and that'll come across later on in the material. But Spurgeon is known, dear friends, 
as a preacher. Spurgeon, by the time he got 
to his second ministry duty at the New Park Street pulpit, he 
was 19 years old at the time. And by 1855, Spurgeon had gotten 
some popularity. They called him the Boy Preacher 
of the Fens because of where he was born in Cleveland, England. And Spurgeon just rose supernaturally 
in popularity. People just wanted to hear this 
preacher that was non-conformist, meaning that he wasn't a part 
of the Church of England, the established church, and Spurgeon 
would preach and people would just flock to hear him. That 
New Park Street pulpit that had a long line godly men before 
Spurgeon that pastored it, had really dwindled down in attendance. And within months, perhaps a 
year of him being there, it got very, very popular. And what 
would happen by 1855 is that there would be these stenographers 
within the congregation, about four or five. And these stenographers 
would each write down to the best of their ability what Spurgeon 
said in his sermons. And then on Monday morning, Spurgeon 
would take the morning and the evening sermons edit them for 
the newspapers coming up. And then he would give the cleanest 
version. They didn't always get edited, 
but most of the time they did. So that's how we ended up getting, 
they would call these sermons, the penny pulpits in the newspapers. And then at the end of the year, 
they would be compiled into volumes. And that's how we ended up getting 
the 63 volume set of Spurgeon's sermons. The first six volumes 
are called the New Park Street Pulpit. And then in the seventh 
volume, it actually switches after the first 20 or so sermons, 
100 pages, you'll actually see it switch from New Park Street 
to the Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit. The reason why is because 
in the early 1860s Spurgeon's popularity had grown so much 
by that time that they actually fundraised, built a new building, 
put it on Elephant and Castle, and it's been there ever since. It's been through bombings with 
the world wars and whatnot, but it's still a faithful gospel 
preaching church to this day under Dr. Peter Masters. But 
Spurgeon would have, at the end of every year, these sermons 
compiled into a book. And there's 63 of these suckers. They're very big and very small 
print. I think I lost eyesight reading 
the first six volumes from my own studies. But if I could encourage 
you with one thing, If you go away, although I would love it 
if you bought my book and read it, I would much rather you read 
Spurgeon's sermons for yourself. That's the best way to get into 
Spurgeon. Read his sermons. And within 
these sermons, There are three known sermons preached in the 
open air. And if you don't know what open 
air preaching is, it's what it sounds like. It is the preaching 
of the gospel outside the four walls of a church building. And that can happen on a street. Sometimes you'll hear it called 
street preaching. happen on college campuses. It 
can happen in any open air venue, broadly speaking. And I had gotten 
involved in my early seminary studies in the street evangelism 
through the influence of a dear friend who is presently pastoring 
up in upstate New York. He was going to the undergrad 
program. I was getting my MDiv there in 
Fort Worth. And he got me into open air preaching 
and at first I was scared to death, who wouldn't be? And as 
I got more used to open air preaching, just doing it regularly, I came 
across the fact that Spurgeon was an open air preacher. And 
when I looked at the research, I realized that nobody had done 
an academic study upon Spurgeon's open air preaching, just examining 
it. And in fact, in the wider world, 
when I talked to people that you would think would know about 
Spurgeon's open air preaching, they did not. or if they did 
it was just very surface level knowledge. So I decided during 
the second year of my Master of Divinity that if the Lord 
would open the doors I would like to study Spurgeon's open 
air preaching. And that gave birth to four years 
of study at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas 
City, Missouri and the finished product, oh there went my bookmarker, 
the finished product is this book which is called, if you've 
got bad eyesight like I do, The Booming Baritone Bell of England. and the subtitle is The Pedagogy 
and Practice of Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Open Air Preaching. So this book covers the pedagogy, 
which is a fancy $5 word for the art of how to teach. So it 
covers his teaching and his practice. of open air preaching. Practice, 
of course, being just how one does it, and Spurgeon's own doing 
of it, of open air preaching. So as I read through the new 
Park Street Pulpit, I found three sermons in the open air. So a 
good portion of my book is given to analyzing those sermons. So if you've never looked at 
a PhD dissertation, the outline's very simple. Chapter 1 deals 
with the review of the literature, which basically shows that I've 
got a familiarity with all of the literature and I can show 
why my dissertation topic is needed. If you're doing a PhD 
in any field, it doesn't matter what it is, you've got to give 
a real academic contributions. So chapter one's establishing 
that this is that, and nobody else had done it, and I'm the 
pioneer in it. And chapter two deals with the 
background of Victorian England, of which I've already talked 
about a little bit. Victorian England was a time 
when technology was booming, But it was also a time when there 
was a lot of religious confusion as well. You had the established 
church, the Church of England, and then you had non-conformist 
churches. like Methodists, Congregationalists, 
Presbyterians, and of course Baptists. And what's so astounding 
about Spurgeon is he had the largest non-conformist church 
in the 19th century while he passed with it. And Spurgeon, 
dear friends, never let it go to his head, I don't think, for 
the most part. I mean, we can't judge anybody's 
heart, but he always seemed to be humble about his ministry. So Spurgeon's rhetoric in his 
pulpit preaching would oftentimes go like this. This is how Spurgeon 
would talk. This is him speaking of the horror 
of hell. Listen to Spurgeon here. Oh, 
the wrath to come, the wrath to come, the wrath to come. Who is he that can preach of 
it? Horrors strike the guilty soul, 
and the spirit looketh down and seeth all the fiends of everlasting 
punishment. Back it recoileth, but die it 
must. It would barter all it hath to 
coin an hour, but no, the fiend is got its grip, and down it 
must plunge. And who can tell the hideous 
shriek of a lost soul? It cannot reach heaven, but if 
it could, it might well be dreamed that it would suspend the melodies 
of angels, might make even God's redeemed weep if they could hear 
the wailings of a damned soul. He is trying. to tell people, 
hell is not a place you want to go. You do not want to be 
under the wrath of almighty God. And when I looked at that, and 
then I also saw other passages and like this here, I've got 
to turn to it because I lost my bookmark. So give me one second 
here. This is in the first sermon given 
to us in New Park Street Pulpit Volume 1. He says, I will tell you of a decree. 
He that believeth not shall be damned. That is a decree and 
a statute that can never change. Be as good as you please. Be 
as moral as you can. Be as honest as you will. Walk 
as uprightly as you may. There stands the unchangeable 
threatening. He that believeth not shall be 
damned. What sayeth thou to that moralist? O thou wishest thou couldst alter 
it and say, He that does not live a holy life shall be damned. That will be true, but it does 
not say so. It says, he that believeth not, 
here is the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense, but 
you cannot alter it. You believe or be damned, saith 
the Bible. and mark that threat of God is 
as unchangeable as God himself. This sermon, by the way, is speaking 
of the immutability of God, the changelessness of God. And he 
is talking here about how God's threatenings are unchanging, 
even in eternity. Spurgeon goes on to say here, He says, here's the stone of 
stumbling and the rock of offense, but you cannot alter it. You 
believe or be damned, saith the Bible, and mark that threat of 
God is unchangeable as God himself. Here we go. And when a thousand 
years of hell's torment shall have passed away, you shall look 
on high and see written in burning letters of fire, He that believeth 
not shall be damned. But Lord, I am damned. Nevertheless, it says, shall 
be still. Turn up your eye and still read, 
shall be damned, unchanged, unaltered. And when a million acres have 
rolled away and you're exhausted by your pains and agonies, you 
shall thought that eternity must have spun out its last thread. That every particle of that which 
we call eternity must have run out. You shall still see. it 
written up there shall be damned. Now Spurgeon in his young years 
took a lot of theatrical liberty, shall we say, in his preaching. He would oftentimes role play 
as a mother, as a father, even as a slave master, and even as 
a slave. in order to try to get people 
to believe in Christ. And I don't necessarily recommend 
doing that, but that's vintage Spurgeon. That's what he did. And oftentimes it would get theatrical 
and saying illustrations like this. I don't think there's actually 
going to be burning letters in hell. I don't think Spurgeon 
actually thought that either, but he was trying to make the 
point of the immutability of God's justice and that you're 
never going to exhaust God's justice if you exit this life 
without Christ Jesus, the one who took all of the triune God's 
just punishment upon the cross for your sinful selves. That's 
what he's trying to get across to you, dear friends, is because 
of God's immutability because of his unchangelessness. Hell must be eternal. Have you ever connected the eternality 
of hell with the immutability of God? Spurgeon most certainly 
did. And when I read passages like 
those that and that we're calling sinners to repent in this pulpit 
preaching. I thought to myself, did Spurgeon's 
open air preaching influence his strong calls for sinners 
to repent of their sin? So my book argues that very thing. And in the book, I'd go over 
three sermons of his practice. And those sermons are numbers 
39 and 40. It was a double issued sermon 
called Heaven and Hell. And that's the one I'm going 
to talk about today. And then there's also two more 
that were that I go over that was preached on the grandstand 
at Epsom over in the UK. That's a big horse race. He just 
got up on the podium and started preaching. And those are fascinating 
sermons as well. And Spurgeon, because of who 
he was, he would just naturally gain an audience, people. thought 
oh there's Spurgeon's open air preaching and within moments 
he would have a congregation that would be triple the size 
of y'all before me right now. But Spurgeon preached my favorite 
sermon numbers 39 and 40 called heaven and hell and i lost my 
bookmark so it'll take me just a moment to get there oh here 
we are god is kind so this sermon was preached september 4th 1855 
and i think i did my math to write my dissertation if i didn't 
that'll be embarrassing I say here he was 21 years old. And 
listen to what he says in his autobiography about this time that he preached. He 
says, many years ago, I preached to enormous assemblies in King 
Edward's Road, Hackney, which was then open fields. On those 
occasions, the rush was perilous to life and limb, and there seemed 
to be no limit to the thrones. half the number would have been 
safer. That open space has vanished, and it is since the same with 
fields at Brixton, where in years gone by, it was delightful to 
see the assembled crowds listening to the word. burdened with the 
rare trouble of drawing too many together. I have been compelled 
to abstain from these exercises in London, but not from any lessened 
sense of their importance. So old Spurgeon saying, I don't 
do it anymore because it would literally cause trouble in the 
streets. But he says, not because I don't 
believe in it. When the tabernacle With the 
tabernacle always full, I have as large a congregation as I 
desire at home, and therefore do not preach outside except 
in the country. But for those ministers whose 
area under cover is but small and whose congregations are thin, 
the open air is the remedy, whether in London or in the provinces. 
Spurgeon records again talking about this event. There were 
two evenings, June 22nd and September 4th, 1855, when I preached in 
the open air in a field in Kings Edwards Road, Hackney. On the 
first occasion, I had the largest congregation I had ever addressed 
up to that time, but at the next service, the crowd was still 
greater By careful calculation, it was estimated that from 12 
to 14,000 persons were present. That's a lot of people, isn't 
it? Spurgeon says, I think I shall never forget the impression I 
received when before we separated, that vast multitude joined in 
singing, praise God from whom all blessings flow. That night, 
I could understand better than ever before while the apostle 
John in the revelation compared the new song in heaven to the 
voice of many waters. And that glorious hallelujah, 
the mighty waves of praise seemed to roll up towards the sky in 
majestic grandeur, even as the billows of old ocean break up 
upon the beach. So Spurgeon remembers that night 
quite fondly. and the reason why he was able 
to preach that night is because the field was private property 
so he had full reign and it seems as though that they had actually 
advertised this one because it seemed to be more of a service 
But when you look at Spurgeon's pedagogy of open air preaching 
to his students, he actually assumed that they would be preaching 
more to passersby rather than always holding services. So think 
of it more like a Ray Comfort or something like that, where 
they're just preaching to those who pass by and maybe a smaller 
crowd. So what is the content of that 
second sermon well it was from Matthew chapter 8 verses 11 and 
12 which says and I say unto you that many shall come from 
the east and the west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac 
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the children of the kingdom 
shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth. And you can see where he gets 
his sermon title from, Heaven and Hell. The heaven portion 
comes from the children that will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob. And they'll be great feasting, 
great celebration. And then you can see where the 
hell portion comes from because those who are outside that glorious 
celebration where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, on this sermon. One of the reasons why it's my 
favorite is because Spurgeon's 21. He doesn't have all of his 
theology worked out quite yet. The Prince of Preachers was just 
that. He was just a young prince. And I want to read this to you 
because I think you'll find this very interesting. Spurgeon sounds 
post-millennium, and I disagree with his logic, but this is Spurgeon 
here. How often do I hear people say, 
ah, straight is the gate, narrow is the way, and few that find 
it. There will be very few in heaven, 
there will be most lost. My friend, I differ from you. 
Do you think that Christ won't let the devil beat him? That 
he won't let the devil have more in hell than there will be in 
heaven? No, it is impossible. For then Satan would laugh at 
Christ. There will be more in heaven 
than there are among the lost. Now, where does this logic go 
wrong? Well, I would submit to you that 
that kind of assumes the medieval and perhaps even a Victorian 
understanding of the devil's status in hell. He is not ruling 
over hell, the demons are not torturing people in hell, but 
the scriptures say in the final destination, in the final state, 
that the devil will be in as much pain as any lost sinner. He'll be under God's wrath too. There won't be any laughing. 
In fact, they'll probably all be angry at one another, gnashing 
their teeth at one another, cursing one another. There wouldn't be 
no celebration whatsoever in hell. He goes on to say, There will 
be many in heaven who were drunkards on earth. There will be many 
harlots. Some of the most abandoned will 
be found there. Shall anybody ever check us from 
preaching to the lowest of the low? I've been accused of getting 
all the rabble of London around me. God bless the rabble. I love that. If God saved the 
rabble, then I say, but suppose they are the rabble, who need 
the gospel more than they do? Who require to have Christ preach 
to them more than they do? We have lots of those who preach 
to ladies and gentlemen. Think Victorian here. It's a 
class system. We have many who preach to ladies 
and gentlemen, and we want someone to preach to the rabble. in these 
degenerate days. I haven't been around Chilliwack 
long, but I've been told that there's a lot of homelessness, 
a lot of drug use. Who's gonna preach to the lowest 
of the low in Chilliwack? Might it be somebody from Free 
Grace Baptist Church? Spurgeon says this, listen to 
how he encourages people to come to Christ in this sermon. There is one person here tonight 
who thinks himself the worst soul that ever lived. There is 
one who says to himself, I do not deserve to be called to Christ, 
I am sure. Now look at how he talks to this 
person. He says, so I call thee, thou 
lost, most wretched outcast, this night by authority given 
me of God, I call thee to come to my Savior. Some time ago, 
when I went into the country court to see what they were doing, 
I heard a man's name called out and immediately the man said, 
make way, make way, they call me. And up he came. Now, I call the chief of sinners 
tonight and let him say, make way, make way, doubts, make way. fears, make way sins, Christ 
calls me. And if Christ calls me, that 
is enough. Go and try my Savior. Go and 
try my Savior. If he cast you away after you 
have sought him, tell it in the pit that Christ would not hear 
you, but that you shall never be allowed to do. It would dishonor 
the mercy of the covenant for God to cast away one penitent 
sinner, and it shall be while it is written. Many shall come 
from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham. 
and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. I know I'm in a theologically 
minded town, so I'm gonna ask this question this way. Are you 
too much of a five-point Calvinist to say amen to what Spurgeon 
just said? Is your doctrine of God's sovereignty 
so high that you can't call men to repent of their sin and believe 
in Christ? To preach to the lowest of the 
low? Now I'm not calling everybody in here to be an open air preacher. But everybody in here is called 
to proclaim the excellencies of our Savior. So in that sense, 
everyone's a preacher. When's the last time you've called 
a family member or friend to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? That think of the Lord Jesus 
Christ as precious. I just read to you a few sections 
from the heaven portion. I want to read to you something 
that when I first read it, The hairs on my arms stood up. Remember I told you Spurgeon 
was a very theatrical preacher. He never quit being theatrical. Spurgeon was Spurgeon. God blessed 
him with a talent. I tell my preaching students, 
Midwestern, don't do this because you'll fall on your face. But 
Spurgeon can do this. He tells of a mother who had 
a dream. And Tom Nettles, the great Baptist 
historian who's written a lot on Spurgeon himself, actually 
says that he's probably talking about his own mother, or at least 
thinking about his own mother. So keep that in mind. He's talking 
about hell. And just like the wrath to come, 
the wrath to come, the wrath to come, he's calling people 
to flee. There's a sense in which people 
ought to be scared of the wrath of God. They ought to fear and 
tremble before him. Listen to this. There was a dreadful dream which 
a pious mother once had. and told to her children. She thought the judgment day 
was come. The great books were opened. 
They all stood before God. And Jesus Christ said, separate 
the chaff from the wheat. Put the goats on the left hand 
and the sheep on the right. The mother dreamed. that she 
and her children were standing just in the middle of the great 
assembly. And the angel came and said, 
I must take the mother. She is a sheep. She must go to 
the right hand. The children are goats. They 
must go on the left. She thought as she went, her 
children clutched her and said, mother, can we part? Must we 
be separated? She then put her arms around 
them and seemed to say, My children, I would, if possible, take you 
with me. But in a moment, the angel touched 
her. Her cheeks were dry, and now 
overcoming natural affection, being rendered supernatural and 
sublime, resigned to God's will, she said, My children, I taught 
you well, I trained you up, and you forsook the ways of God. And now all I have to say is 
amen to your condemnation. Thereupon they were snatched 
away, and she saw them in perpetual torment while she was in heaven. Young man, What will you think 
when the last day comes? Notice he's preaching to children 
and probably teenagers in the audience. Young man, what will 
you think when the last day comes? To hear Christ say, depart ye 
cursed. And there will be a voice just 
behind him saying, Amen. And as you inquire whence came 
the voice, you will find it was your mother. or a young woman, 
when thou are cast away into outer darkness, what will you 
think to hear a voice saying, amen? And you look, there sits 
your father, his lips still moving with the solemn curse. He goes on to say that for children 
that die without Christ, the very fact that they heard the 
gospel from pious parents, and their parents admonished them 
to believe that will be the children's hell. So, I know that there's 
children here today, maybe you're an older adult child, and you 
know in your heart of hearts you've never believed in Christ. 
If you continue in that state, One day, this in some way, shape, 
form or fashion could be true of you. Don't go down into the 
pit of God's wrath with that nightmare hanging over your head. 
Having the blessing of a believing parent, but spinning on that 
blessing. I wanna end with one more quotation 
from Spurgeon. Can y'all tell I could talk about 
this all day long? It was probably more of a problem 
for me than anything else. I just absolutely love church 
history and I'm particularly partial to our brother Spurgeon. This sermon was titled, the statute 
of David for the sharing of the spoils. This is a pulpit sermon. The last sermon he ever preached 
on June 7th, 1891. And if you want to write it down, 
the passage is abnormally long for Spurgeon. Oftentimes, even 
in the Old Testament, even in narrative passages preached like 
one verse or part of a verse. This one is, let's see, 1 Samuel 
30 verses 21 to 26. He hardly ever preached a pericope, 
a passage of scripture, this long, but he did this time. It's 
the very final paragraph that we have that he ever preached Spurgeon says, what I have to 
say lastly is this, how greatly I desire that you who are not 
yet enlisted in my Lord's band would come to him because you 
see what a kind and gracious Lord he is. Young men, if you 
could see our captain, you would down on your knees and beg him 
to let you enter the ranks of those who follow him. It is heaven 
to serve Jesus. I am a recruiting sergeant, and 
I would fain find a few recruits at this moment. Every man must 
serve somebody. We have no choice as to that 
fact. Those who have no master are 
slaves to themselves. Depend upon it, you will either 
serve Satan or Christ, either self or the Savior. You will 
find sin, self, Satan, and the world to be hard masters. But 
if you wear the livery of Christ, livery is another way to say 
armor of Christ, Spurgeon says, you will find him so meek and 
lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls. He is the most magnanimous of 
captains. There never was his like among 
the choices of princes. He is always to be found in the 
thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold, he 
always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of 
the cross lies ever on His shoulders. If He bids us carry a burden, 
He carries it also. If there's anything that is gracious, 
generous, kind and tender, yea, lavish and superabundant in love, 
you always find it in Him. These 40 years and more have 
I served Him. Blessed be His name. And I have 
had nothing but love from Him. I would be glad to continue yet 
another 40 years in the same dear service here below, if it 
so pleased him. His service is life, peace, joy. Oh, that you would enter on it 
at once. God help you to enlist under 
the banner of Jesus, even this day. Amen. Pray for your pastors that they 
finish strong and that they can say something to that effect. But they're not gonna be Spurgeonic. 
They're gonna be Jim Butler. They're gonna be Cameron Porter. 
And if any of you are part of any other church, pray for your 
pastors that they would finish strong like that, that they would 
be known as men of the Word who preach the Word, as Paul told 
Timothy. And may we all be known as people 
who preach the Word, not in the pastoral sense, but in the sense 
that we're all called to do in proclaiming His excellences. 
Would you bow with me in prayer? Father, we thank you for our 
brother Spurgeon. We thank you for every faithful 
man, woman, boy, and girl throughout church history that loved you 
and served you. May we be found faithful to join 
that chorus and stand before you in your triune perfection 
as Father, Son and Spirit clothed in the perfect righteousness 
of our Savior. And we look forward to that day. 
We long for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to 
persevere. And may we have a wonderful Sunday 
tomorrow, worshiping you, glorying in who you are. Be with every 
preacher in this room. May that man of God be filled 
with the goodness of your spirit as they preach with boldness, 
as they preach with clarity, unction, and above the word that 
you've given us to preach. And for the congregants, I pray 
that they would listen to their respective preachers well tomorrow 
morning. And you'd use tomorrow to conform 
us to the image of your son. We pray all these things in the 
name of him. Amen. Thank you, my brother. Well, does anyone have a question? We have a few minutes. If no 
one does, I have one. So yes, Leslie Lawson. Can everybody still hear me? 
Is my mic on? Yeah. All right. So the downgrade 
controversy, I just know, I just hit some very brief points in 
this slide. I wanted to talk more about his 
open air preaching. The downgrade controversy was 
the section of his ministry, a portion of his life that a 
lot of scholars give unto itself, where Spurgeon fault the very 
association that he was a part of because they were going into 
very liberal thinking. They were denying the infallibility 
and the inerrancy of the scriptures. they were denying the miracles 
in the scriptures, and Spurgeon stood up against that, and he 
said, no, we are going to believe and trust the Bible. And what 
that was, it was the very beginnings of German hierocritical thought 
seeping into 19th century culture. And by the turn of the century, 
you had full on German hierocriticism going on. And Spurgeon was ahead 
of his times fighting that. So it's really, think about in 
the USA at the Southern Baptist Convention, the battle for the 
Bible, it was the same type of thing. denying the supernaturality 
of the book. And really, we still have vestiges 
of that left. I might get myself in trouble 
for saying this, but I don't care. We still have vestiges 
of that left in the 21st century. If you've ever heard somebody 
say, oh, well, you know, I believe the Bible, I believe God wrote 
it and it's inspired, but in order to interpret it, you have 
to read it like any other book. Well, that type of mindset came 
from the very seeds of the downgrade controversy. They robbed the 
Bible of its supernaturality and they say, oh, you got to 
treat it like any other book. Thankfully, schools that say 
that don't carry it out to its logical ends. Most of them, that 
would be evangelical, especially in the states. But I really think 
that we need to get back to not only believing in the miracles 
of the Bible that it just contains supernatural events, but the 
very words of the Bible were supernatural. It's not like any 
other book. It is God's book, and we need 
to own that and in a sense take pride in that. We've got the 
only book We've got the only holy book in the world that, 
by the preaching of it, can change hearts and minds. And Spurgeon 
knew that. I've got a whole section. Y'all 
really ought to buy the book and read it, because there's 
so much that I didn't talk about. I talk about Spurgeon's hermeneutic, 
which he was at times inconsistent, But he really had, I'm going 
to use a big fancy $5 word here, a pre-critical hermeneutic where 
he essentially sought to see Christ in all of scripture. And 
that's what I think we ought to be doing as preachers of the 
Bible and really as the way layman ought to be reading the scriptures 
is approaching it like a supernatural book and saying, what can I learn 
of Christ? How can I see my savior throughout 
these texts? Does that make sense? Yes sir, when? He did both, but the ones that 
we have recorded are more full service because there were stenographers 
in the audience, but he talks in his autobiography about how 
he used to do tracting and street preaching, so it's very assumed 
that he did street preaching in the very... the cord's bothering 
me. in the sense of just people passing 
by even before he got famous. When he was converted, he was 
really zealous. He started out almost immediately 
tracking and I think if I had been Spurgeon's pastor, I still 
would have told him to slow down, and I think he got into the pastorate 
way too early in his first church in Water Beach. He was 17, and 
I don't think that's good, even for the Prince of Preachers. 
I think if he had slowed down and been treated normally, I 
think he could have been For lack of a better word, the king 
of preachers. I think it could have been even better. I think 
that's a good emphasis. People say, well, what about 
Spurgeon? You're not Spurgeon. And Spurgeon still shouldn't 
have done it the way he did it. Exactly. Yeah, I think that's 
a good reminder, Ed. Thank you. A question I have 
is one of Spurgeon's influences was George Whitefield. Yes. And 
he certainly would have imbibed that same ethic from George Whitefield. Can you tell us what he thought 
of Whitefield? So Spurgeon is called the Prince 
of Preachers. That moniker for him was popularized 
by a big biography of Spurgeon that I don't like by Louis Drummond. And the biography is titled the 
Prince of Preachers. It's a big fat thing. Either 
one of you guys have it? Yeah, it's out of print, it's 
not worth the money, because... For a lot cheaper, yeah. But 
if you're going to do Spurgeon stage, you've got to, you know, 
have some passing familiarity with drumming. But that's where 
the name came from, the Prince of Preachers for Spurgeon. Spurgeon 
referred to George Whitefield as the Prince of Preachers, and Whitefield did almost exclusively 
open air preaching because he got ejected. He lived during 
the time where the Church of England didn't take the too kindly 
for the people doing outside of their very prescribed liturgy. And he really, really, really 
looked to Whitefield as the model example. And I'm writing a book 
now on Whitefield. It'll be done hopefully before 
I die. And y'all laugh at that. I type 
with one finger, so it's, see, now y'all feel bad, and that 
wasn't my intention. But, you know, Whitefield had 
his issues as well in that he was not a member of a local church, 
I mean, per Baptist convictions. We would say that that's a big 
issue. He was out open there preaching 
so much, but Lord willing, I'd like to have a second contribution 
out there on Spurgeon's Hero and so on and so forth. So hopefully 
that'll be done. Don't ask me anything. I'm still 
learning. So go ahead. Thank you. Any other questions? At what 
point in his life, so are you thinking of a time period? Yeah, by the time the downgrade 
controversy was full on steam, it was not very good. He was 
considered an outcast and it caused so much trouble for him 
that a lot of scholars think that it led to him dying at the, 
even in the 19th century, the relatively early age of 57. you 
know, people, they took good care of themselves. They can 
live up to their 80s back then. With Spurgeon though, when you 
look at the early years in particular, Everybody loved him. He had other 
non-conformist ministers that preached when the Metropolitan 
Tabernacle was established. He had other non-conformist ministers 
come preach and bless the physical building. He actually had a Presbyterian 
man be the principal or superintendent of his pastor's college, which 
was the first parachurch ministry that he ever started. So that's 
pretty interesting. Spurgeon was really ecumenical 
too. You didn't ask for this, but 
I'm going to give it to y'all anyway. I actually talk about 
how Spurgeon in chapter two changed his mind towards the Roman Catholic 
Church. So let me just turn there and 
this is fascinating because in Spurgeon's early years he was 
very, very anti-Rome and still was. He didn't recommend anybody 
go into Rome because it was idolatrous. But at the same time, he widened 
enough to even possibly let them in. So let me get to it. I'm almost there. Okay, here 
we are. So this is on a sermon given 
Thursday evening in 1859. He says this. So relatively early on in his 
ministry too, I've been struck lately in reading works by some 
writers who belong to the Romanist church with the marvelous love 
which they have towards the Lord Jesus Christ. I did think at 
one time that it could not be possible for any to be saved 
in that church. But often, after I've risen from 
reading the books of those holy men and have felt myself to be 
quite a dwarf by their side, I've said, yes, despite their 
errors, These men must have been taught of the Holy Spirit. Notwithstanding 
all the evils of which they have drunk so deeply, I'm quite certain 
that they must have had fellowship with Jesus, or else they could 
not have written as they did. Spurgeon was willing to be ecumenical 
if he really thought somebody truly loved the Lord Jesus Christ. 
There's another incident in his life where he would oftentimes 
vacation to Mentone, France. Mentone is where he ended up 
dying. He needed to get away from the 
smoke and fog of England. And there was one time he attended 
a Roman Catholic mass, and he said, the Roman Catholic priest 
preached the gospel better than ministers of the Church of England 
that he had heard. And I thought, well, that's nice. But he, you know, we don't have 
a record of that, so we just have to take Spurge's word for 
it. That being said, he was very 
willing to be ecumenical, even with Rome if it felt like they 
were truly exalting the Lord. But even with that said, he still 
would say, you know, don't go for the potpourri. In another 
sermon, here's what he says, ease some of your consciences 
that might be exploding right now. When you hear of crowds 
going over to potpourri, do not wonder at it. Potpourri is the 
religion of depraved human nature put into shape by the devil, 
and therefore it is no marvel that the nations are fascinated 
by it. For what they love and what the 
God of this world sweetens to their tooth must go down with 
them. Potpourri and other forms of 
sacramentarianism are a soft bed for idle limbs, and as surely 
as a lazy man lies down, so surely does a superstitious man take 
to these systems. Give a superstitious man the 
information contained in the Bible and a pair of scissors 
to cut his coat according to his shape, and potpourri in some 
shape or other will be the religion which he will cut out for himself. He still didn't like Roman Catholicism 
and neither should we. At best, it hides the gospel, 
it makes it not clear. At worst, it completely tears 
down the gospel and its ecclesiology and the study of the church and 
its sacramentology, which its views on the Lord's Supper and 
baptism. So don't go that way. If you're 
that way and you live here, I know a great church you can visit 
tomorrow. Free Grace Baptist Church. Get to know the pastors. They'll help you out of it. All 
right, one more question. Actually, Wim, we'll get one 
more from Laura. It's the book that he authored. 
It's called The Booming Baritone Bell of England. And I'm glad 
it's not the nasally, whiny, Me too, me too. And can you tell 
I'm a Baptist? I literated the title. Yeah, 
we can tell that. That's good. Very good. OK, Wim, last one. We'll sing 
the doxology after Wim's question and Ed's answer. Remember, he's 
here tomorrow all day. We've got both services. We've 
got a luncheon. So if you have more questions, 
I'm sure Ed won't send you away. That's right. Yes. That Spurgeon was going 
back and forth? Right. So, oh, I see what you're 
saying. Yeah, Spurgeon was not a hyper-Calvinist. He detested it, as he should, 
as we all should. And I know where I'm at in still 
saying that. Spurgeon did not believe that 
John Gill was a hyper-Calvinist, even though John Gill had some 
hyper-Calvinistic tendencies. So that's where... Right, yeah. High Calvinism, that's the word, 
yeah. So with that said, I personally 
enjoy reading John Gill. There's a very nice cloth-bound 
set coming out. What's the name of the publisher? 
Particular Baptist something? Yep, that's it, that's it. And 
so, you know, they're nice, cost down books, heavy set, you know, 
if Fido gets a hold of them, it might survive, you know, those 
types of books. And I would recommend reading 
John Gill with discernment, but read everybody with discernment. 
One of the areas I highly disagree with Spurgeon on, Spurgeon held 
a Roman Catholic view of suicide, meaning that he believed if you 
did the deed, it was an automatic ticket to the fires of hell, 
and there are no exceptions unless They were truly a 19th century 
idiot. So what we would say is nowadays 
is if they were truly mentally retarded, he would give exception 
for them. But if somebody was in their 
senses, as far as he could tell, and they blew their brains out 
or something else, he would say they went to hell. And I'm preaching 
through the Psalms right now, and I just can't. bring myself 
to agree to that position. There's a lot of hurt and heartache 
in the Psalms. So, yeah, that's an area of which 
I highly disagree with Spurgeon, very much so. There's more, but 
I want y'all to read Spurgeon, not say you. That's right. Well, no, no, no, no, read Spurgeon. And then, you know, when you 
need to go to sleep at night, you can read my book. Well, brother, 
on behalf of the congregation, thank you so much. Thank you, 
dear brother. Very, very edifying. Yeah, I 
appreciate it. Yes, sir. Thank you so much. 
All right, let's stand and we'll sing the doxology.