The Present Truth

A Collection of Sermons Preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Charles H. Spurgeon

• Publisher: Aneko Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781622457618
• eBook ISBN: 9781622457625
• Topic: Theology & Religion

Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3: 13-14).Oh, Christians, never be satisfied with being merely saved. Move up! Move on! Go onward to the high mountains, to the clearer light, to the brighter joy! If you are saved and are brought like the shipwrecked mariner to shore, is that enough? Yes, for the moment it is enough to justify the purest satisfaction and the warmest congratulations, but the mariner must seek a livelihood as long as he lives. He must put forth his energy. He must vigorously seek whatever job opportunities open up before him. Let it be the same with you. Saved from the depths of sin that threatened to swallow you up, rejoice that you are preserved from death, but be determined that the life granted to you will be active, earnest, vigorous, and fruitful in every good work. Be as diligent as the industrious workers are. Notice that they wake up early in the morning. This man rushes to one place, and that man to another. How direct they speak! How quickly they move about! They will go about their business, and they spare no effort to increase it. Oh, that Christians were half as diligent in the service of God!

Chapter 15

A Mournful Defection

You do not want to leave also, do you? (John 6:67)

No trouble that ever takes place among our Christian communities is more lamentable than that which comes from the desertion of the members. The heaviest sorrow that can wring a pastor’s heart is that which comes from the betrayal of his closest friend. The most awful hardship the church can fear is not that which will arise from the assault of enemies outside, but from false brethren and traitors within the camp.

My eminent predecessor, Benjamin Keach (1640-1704), although arrested, brought before the judges, imprisoned, placed in the stocks, and otherwise made to suffer by the government of the times for the gospel doctrines that he preached and published, found it easier to endure the rough treatment of open enemies than to bear the griefs of wounded love or sustain the shock of misplaced trust.

I do not think that his experience was very unusual. Other saints would have preferred the rotten eggs of the villagers to the entrenched malice of slanderers. Troy could not be taken by the assaults of the Greeks outside her walls. Only when, by deceit, the enemy had been admitted within the citadel was that brave city forced to surrender.

The devil himself is not such a subtle foe to the church as Judas, when, after the bread, Satan entered into him (John 13:26-27). Judas was a friend of Jesus. Jesus addressed him as such. Judas said, “Hail, Master,” and kissed Him (Matthew 26:49-50), but it was Judas who betrayed Him. That is a picture that may well appall you. That is a danger that may well warn you.

In all our churches, among the many who enlist, there are some who desert. They continue awhile, and then they go back to the world. The fundamental reason why they withdraw is an obvious inconsistency: They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us (1 John 2:19). The unconverted adherents to our fellowship are no loss to the church when they depart. They are not a real deficit, any more than scattering the chaff from the threshing floor is a detriment to the wheat.

Christ always keeps the winnowing fan going. His own preaching constantly sifted His hearers. Some were blown away because they were chaff. They did not really believe. By the ministry of the gospel, by the order of Providence, and by all the arrangements of divine government, the precious are separated from the wicked and the dross is purged from the silver so that the good seed and the pure metal will remain and be preserved. The process is always painful. It causes great searching of heart among those who abide faithful, and it causes deep anxiety to gentle spirits who are tender and sensitive.

I hope, dear friends, that you will not think I have any harsh suspicions of your faithfulness because my text contains so pointed and so personal an appeal to your conscience. There is more of sadness than of passion in the question as our Lord put it: You do not want to leave also, do you? He addressed the favored twelve. I address it to myself. I ask it of those who are the leaders of the church. I ask it of every member without exception: You do not want to leave also, do you? However, if the question specifically applies to someone here, I do not desire to shy away from asking the question most directly to that person: “What! Are you going? Do you intend to turn back? Do you intend to go away?”

I. You do not want to leave also, do you? Let us approach the question indirectly. Also means “as well as other people.” Why do others go?

If they have any good reason, maybe we will see a reason to follow their example. Look closely, then, at the various causes or excuses for desertion. Why do they renounce the Christian profession they once accepted? The fundamental reason is lack of grace, lack of true faith, and absence of vital godliness. However, I am anxious to deal with the outward reasons that expose the inward apostasy of the heart from Christ.

There are some in these days, as there were in our Lord’s own day, who depart from Christ because they cannot bear His doctrine. Our Lord had just more clearly than on any previous occasion declared the necessity of the soul’s feeding upon Him. They probably misunderstood His language, but they certainly were not pleased with His statement. Therefore, there were those who said, This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it? (John 6:60). As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him (John 6:66).

There are many points and details in which the gospel is offensive to human nature and is revolting to the pride of the creature. It was not intended to please us. How can we attribute such a purpose to God? Why should He put together a gospel that suits the desires of our weak, fallen human nature? He intended to save men, but he never intended to gratify their depraved tastes.

Instead, He lays the axe to the root of the tree and cuts down human pride. When God’s servants are led to declare some humbling doctrine, there are those who say, “I will not agree to that.” They resist any truth that clashes with their own ideas.

What do you say, brethren, to the claims of the gospel on your allegiance? If you would discover that God’s Word rebukes your favorite entertainment or contradicts your cherished convictions, will you abruptly take offense and go away? No, but if your hearts are right with Christ, you will be prepared to welcome all His teaching and yield obedience to all His precepts. The upright follower of Christ is ready to receive and follow any teaching if he knows it is from Jesus Christ. He will gladly accept that which the words of Scripture clearly say, for as he says, To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because they have no dawn (Isaiah 8:20). As for that which is merely implied and suggested from the general meaning of Scripture, the true heart will not be quick to reject, but will be patient to investigate, like the Bereans, who were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so (Acts 17:11).

Oh, that the word of Christ may dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16)! God forbid that any of us should ever turn aside, being offended because of Him, His blessed person, His holy example, or His sacred teaching! May we be always ready to believe what He says, and quick to do what He commands!

Remember, brethren, that the gospel commission has three parts to which the minister has to attend. We are to go and preach the gospel first. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. The second thing is baptizing them. The third thing is teaching them to follow all that I commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20). As willing disciples of Jesus, let us press forward, listening to His voice, following in His footsteps, and accepting His revealed will as our supreme law. Far be it from us to go back, to complain, or to desert Him, then, because we are offended at His doctrines.

There are others who desert the Savior for the sake of gain. Many have been entangled in that snare. Mr. By-ends originally went on pilgrimage because he thought it would pay.26 There was a silver mine on the road, and he intended to survey the mine and see if silver could be obtained there, as well as at the golden city beyond. He came, if I remember correctly, from a family that got its living by the waterman’s business. A waterman would row his boat across the water, looking one way and rowing another. Mr. By-ends was apparently striving for religion, although he had his eye on the world the entire time. He was for staying with the rabbit and running with the hounds. So when he came to a point where he had to part with one or the other, he considered which one would be most profitable to him, and he gave up that which appeared to involve loss and self-sacrifice, keeping to that which would, as he called it, help him in the “main chance” and assist him to get ahead in the present life.

I sincerely hope there is no one among us who does not despise Mr. By-ends and all who are like him. There does not have to be anything sinful in trying to make money, if it is made honestly, but never pursue riches under the pretense of Christianity. Sell your products and find a market for your merchandise, but do not sell Christ nor trade a heavenly birthright for a worthless bribe. Put what merchandise you want into your shop window, but do not put a self-righteous, hypocritical expression on your face, or try to appear holy with the hope of turning godliness into gain. May God save us from that shameless evil! May it never have a footing in our midst!

Neither man nor angel can discern

Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks

Invisible, except to God alone.27

Does anyone join a church for the sake of the respectability it implies, for the standing it may give him, or for the credit he may get? He will soon find that it does not answer his purpose, and away he will go. The more serious probability is that he will be thrust out with shame.

Some leave Christ and go away terrified by persecution. Nowadays it might seem that there is no such thing, but that is not true. Although martyrs are not burned at Smithfield, and the Lollards’ Tower is a place for show (a memorial of times long ago), yet the harassment, the cruelty, and the oppression are far from gone. Godless husbands play the part of petty tyrants and will not permit their wives the enjoyment of Christianity, but make their lives miserable with bitter bondage. Employers very often show hostility toward those whose piety toward God is their only cause of offense.

Worse still, there are working people who consider themselves intelligent, who cannot allow their fellow workers liberty to follow Jesus without sneers and ridicule and cruel mocking. In many cases, the laughter of the workshop is never louder than when it is turned against a believer in Christ. They consider it much fun to pursue someone who cares for the salvation of his soul. They call themselves “Englishmen,” but certainly they are no credit to their country. Look at the meanspirited, inferior cowards. Over there is an atheist; he is ranting about his rights because the judge will not believe him on his oath. He claims that liberty of conscience permits him to be a heathen, but he denies his acquaintance’s right to be a Christian.

Look at that little party of workmen. They belong to the Sabbath Desecration Society. They are petitioning Parliament to open museums and theatres on Sundays, and at the same time they are hounding to death a poor fellow who prefers to go to church. They express their own self-respect by the oaths they utter, while they betray their inferiority by the scorn they unleash on those who dare to sing a hymn. They hail the drunkard as a friend, yet mock the sober man as a fiend.

I am astonished that there is not a more honorable feeling, more good faith, and truer fellowship among our skilled workers than to allow one person to be made the laughingstock of a whole communit...

Table of contents

• Contents
• A Many-Sided Motto
• A Distinct Message
• A Divine Mission
• A Double Challenge
• A Timely Challenge
• A Special Invitation
• A Merciful Embassy
• A Cheerful Prospect
• A Pitiful Chastisement
• A Serious Contrast
• A Sad Confession
• A Present Pardon
• A Precious Abundance
• A Magnetic Force
• A Mournful Defection
• A Solemn Resolution
• A Clear Understanding
• Preparation for Heaven
• Charles H. Spurgeon – A Brief Biography
• Similar Titles