Charles Spurgeon Speaks Against Lordship Salvation

1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

There is considerable debate in religious circles over whether Pastor Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) was a true born-again Christian. Much of the criticisms hurled against Pastor Spurgeon regard sermon statements he made as a 20 year old youth. At just 19 years of age Charles Spurgeon became the pastor of the New Park Street Chapel (later renamed to the Metropolitan Tabernacle). Spurgeon preached in that tabernacle for the next 38 years!!!

Now, I concede that Pastor Spurgeon in his youth DID preach the Calvinist heresy of “Lordship” salvation at times. But I have also noticed that most critics just cherry-pick Spurgeon's sermons, only taking enough to slander him. 

From the research I have done, it seems that Pastor Spurgeon honed his theology over the decades and had a clearer view of a free grace Gospel, than he did in his ignorant youth. I mean, how theologically perfect can a 20 year old be? I think we need to have wisdom as believers to discern between the ignorant statements made by a young naïve preacher, versus from his teachings 30 years later. Most of Spurgeon's heresies were preached in his early twenties.

The following sermon excerpt is from Charles Spurgeon's sermon titled: “A Sermon For The Worst Man On Earth” (based on Luke 18:13). [Sermon #1949]

Looking to Christ and Not to Self

Then, dear Friends, remember, if we begin to preach to sinners that they must have a certain sense of sin and a certain measure of conviction, such teaching would turn the sinner away from God in Christ to himself. The man begins at once to say, “Have I a broken heart? Do I feel the burden of sin?” This is only another form of looking to self. Man must not look to himself to find reasons for God’s Grace. 

The remedy does not lie in the seat of the disease—it lies in the Physician’s hands. A sense of sin is not a claim, but a gift of that blessed Savior who is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins. Beware of any teaching which makes you look to yourself for help! You must, rather, cling to that doctrine which makes you look only to Christ! Whether you know it or not, you are a lost, ruined sinner, only fit to be cast into the flames of Hell forever. Confess this, but do not ask to be driven mad by a sense of it. Come to Jesus just as you are and do not wait for a preparation made out of your own miseries. Look to Jesus and to Him alone.

If we fall into the notion that a certain sense of sin has a claim upon God, we shall be putting salvation upon other grounds than that of faith—and that would be false ground. Now, the ground of salvation is—“God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” A simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the way of salvation! But to say, “I shall be saved because I am horribly convicted of sin and driven to desperation,” is not to speak like the Gospel, but to rave out of the pride of an unbelieving heart. The Gospel is that you believe in Christ Jesus; that you get right out of yourself and depend alone on Him! Do you say, “I feel so guilty”?

You are certainly guilty, whether you feel it or not! And you are far more guilty than you have any idea of. Come to Christ because you are guilty, not because you have been prepared to come by looking at your guilt! Trust nothing of your own, not even your sense of need. A man may have a sense of disease a long time before he will get healing out of it. The looking-glass of conviction reveals the spots on our face, but it cannot wash them away.

You cannot fill your hands by putting them into your empty pocket and feeling how empty it is! It would be far wiser to hold them out and receive the gold which your friend so freely gives you. “God be merciful to me a sinner” is the right way to put it, but not, “God be merciful to me because I sufficiently feel my sinnership, and most fittingly bewail it.” 

The preceding wonderful words from Pastor Spurgeon were preached when he was 52 years old. This is 33 years later than all of the teachings he is brought into question for by the free grace Gospel crowd. I have criticized Charles Spurgeon for preaching heresy, and we should! But at the same time I am not going to write him off as an unsaved infidel on the basis of statements he made in his youth. It is clear to me (because I have done it oftentimes myself), that Spurgeon improved his theology and preaching over the decades. I heard Pastor Jack Hyles admit to us in preacher's class one evening that he was guilty of preaching heresy at times in his youth. That proves my point. Preachers aren't perfect! Behind every pulpit is a human being. I am not justifying Spurgeon's heresies from his youth. We should refute any heresy when we find it (Titus 1:10-13). But at the same time, we should be fair. I am convinced that Charles Spurgeon is in Heaven today. I think he just learned as the years passed.

The personal testimony of Spurgeon is in complete agreement with most of his teaching elsewhere. I also encourage you dear friend to read Spurgeon's great work titled: 'ALL OF GRACE.' Specifically, please read chapter three titled: 'GOD JUSTIFIETH THE UNGODLY.' I am not fully endorsing Spurgeon's preaching. He was a Calvinist to some limited degree. Spurgeon believed in the Calvinist false teaching of Limited Atonement (that Christ only died for the redeemed, not everyone). So I am leery of being a big supporter of Spurgeon's preaching. Albeit, I do from time to time use some of Mr. Spurgeon's awesome quotes, like this one:

“Repentance will not make you see Christ; but to see Christ will give you repentance. You may not make a Christ out of your repentance, but you must look for repentance to Christ. The Holy Ghost, by turning us to Christ, turns us from sin. Look away, then, from the effect to the cause, from your own repenting to the Lord Jesus, who is exalted on high to give repentance.” [emphasis added] —Pastor Charles Spurgeon; “All Of Grace,” Chapter 11 - “Alas! I Can Do Nothing”

What a great quote! That quote is helpful, because it explains the Holy Spirit's work in turning a believer away from sin, and not turning from sin as a requirement to be saved, which is false. That doesn't mean that a believer who chooses to continue living in sin is not saved, God forbid. It just means that once a person is in Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit begins His work of sanctifying each child of God through the Word of God (John 17:17). God saves us and then the Holy Spirit changes us.

This is what it means in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Some Bible students error in interpreting this Scripture, thinking it to mean that a Christian will turn from sin, follow Christ and live a changed life. That is WRONG! Getting saved doesn't guarantee that one's life will improve, overcome addictions or turn away from sinful behavior. 

All the Bible is saying in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 is that when you get saved, a whole new world is opened to you. When I got saved at age 13, the Holy Spirit immediately came to live inside my body and soul (1st Corinthians 3:16-17; Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24). I had a new found hunger to read and study the Holy Bible, that I never had before. I was like a hungry baby for the milk of God's Word (1st Peter 2:2). For the first time in my life I felt the Holy Spirit convicting me about the sins in my life. That was something new.

I remember sassing my mother, as I often did, and the Holy Spirit's voice silently saying in my soul: “David, I don't want you talking to your mother that way any more.” I did change. That had nothing to do with being saved, it was a fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25). I remember one evening that my mother said to me: “You've changed!” In hindsight, my mother's words mean a lot to me. These were signs of my salvation, but not proof that I was saved. The only proof that I am saved is my faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30-31). Charles Spurgeon is absolutely right, it is the Spirit of Christ within that sanctifies a believer, and not the man Christ without Who justified us by faith alone.