Page 10 - Spurgeon

faithfulness and power of God to save. At times these old sins will rush in
upon the believer’s mind with a terrific force. Gathering dreadful strength
from the justice of God, our eyes are tormented with the vision of an angry
God, with His sword drawn, ready to smite us for our offences. Glorious is
that faith which can fling itself into the arms of God, even when the sword
is in His hand, and will not believe that God can strike the sinner who relies
upon the blood of Jesus.
“Brethren, be great believers. Little faith will bring your souls to heaven,
but great faith will bring heaven to your souls.”
Spurgeon believed in the Personality of the Holy Spirit, and in His gracious
working in the believer’s heart and life. The activity of the Spirit of God was
to him a vital reality, which he felt mightily in his own labours in the bonds
of the Gospel, and which gave vitality to all ministry, doctrine and Christian
experience. He affirmed that His divine work was absolutely essential in
regeneration, sanctification, understanding the Word of God, and in the
production of fruit in the graces of Christian character and service. He
warned against grieving the Holy Spirit by sin, disobedience, unbelief and
backsliding.
Spurgeon constantly urged that the children of a Holy God must themselves
be holy, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, and by maintaining a close and
obedient walk with God. Sanctification to him was a threefold work of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which began in regeneration and went on as a
continuing and ever deepening process throughout life, making a believer
more godly and Christlike until his entrance into heaven. He stood for a
practical holiness which transformed and uplifted character, home life, business
affairs, social duties, conversation, recreation and all that made up the life
of man. This, of course, was a primary principle of the Puritans.
“Holiness is the architectural plan on which God builds up His living
temple. God has set apart His people from before the foundation of the
world to be His chosen and peculiar inheritance. We are sanctified in Christ
Jesus by the Holy Spirit when He subdues our sinful nature, imparts to us
grace, and leads us onward in the divine walk and life of faith. Christian men
are not to be used for anything but God. They are a set-apart people; they

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