Hello, Pastor Patrick Hines here. I wanted to do a pulpit supplemental. I haven't done one of these in a while. I've been listening to Lectures to My Students by Charles Spurgeon on Audible, and I've had this book for a while, the hardback version of it that's published by Banner of Truth, and On the Audible version, chapter 16 is the one that I've been just so taken in by how encouraging and how funny and how convicting it is. But this section is actually point number three. And the way they've got it divided in the hardback is a little bit different. They've got it in terms of like series. So the second series of lectures to his students The need of decision for truth. This chapter 16 in the Audible version. Pardon me. The need of decision for the truth. Now, the thing to bear in mind here, as I was listening to this on Audible, I just kept like laughing and backing it up and listening to it again. And I wrote up here on the top here, remember, published 1875. So we're coming up on, what, two years shy of this being 150 years ago. 150 years ago, he knew the character of false teachers and people that are not really speaking to the truth in terms of pastors, ministers, and things like that. not speaking to the truth from a place of conviction, from a place where they really are decided for the truth, really decided for the truth, the need of decision for the truth. Now, when I first saw that title, I thought, does he mean like getting decisions for truth? That doesn't sound like something that Spurgeon would say because he was such a strong believer in the sovereignty of God and such a biblical And that's not what he's talking about at all. The need of decision for truth, meaning we need ministers who are willing to preach and teach the truth as if it's actually true. Not that it's just their views of things. Not just that it's, well, here's what, here's, you know, here's kind of where I'm at. Here's where I'm at today. And it could be different tomorrow. You know, it could be different tomorrow or in a week or a year. It might be a real different position or something. But listen to what Spurgeon says here. I'm gonna make some comments along the way here, but I started underlining so much stuff in this that I just wrote at the top of the chapter here. Just underlined the whole chapter. Let me back the seat up here a little bit. Okay, some things are true and some things are false. I regard that as an axiom, but there are many persons who evidently do not believe it. The current principle of the present age, okay, now just remember, the present age meaning 1875, the current principle of the present age seems to be some things are either true or false according to the point of view from which you look at them. Black is white and white is black according to circumstances, and it does not particularly matter which you call it. Truth, of course, is true, but it would be rude to say the opposite is a lie. Okay, just breaking from the quotation here. You get this very often in churches today where you have ministers who will say, look, we don't want to be defined. We don't want to be known by what we're against. We just want to be known by what we're for. In other words, we don't want to touch the hot button issues with a 10-foot pole because we don't want to have to deal with backlash from that. So that's what Spurgeon is quoting, you know, the spirit of the age. Here's what the spirit of the age says. Truth, of course, is true, but it would be rude to say the opposite is a lie. We must not be bigoted, but remember the motto, so many men, so many minds, end quote. Now back to Spurgeon, he says, our forefathers were particular about maintaining landmarks. I love that illustration. Remember what the Proverbs says? Don't remove the ancient landmark. And here he's speaking about landmarks of doctrine, landmarks of theology. Our forefathers were particular about maintaining landmarks. They had strong notions about fixed points of revealed doctrine, and were very tenacious of what they believed to be scriptural. Their fields were protected by hedges and ditches, but their sons have grubbed up the hedges, filled up the ditches, laid all level, and played at leapfrog with the boundary stones." Man, in 1875, he's saying that. What would he say today? The school of modern thought laughs at the ridiculous positiveness of reformers and puritans. It is advancing in glorious liberality and before long will publish a grand alliance between heaven and hell. Think about that. The school of modern thought. Okay, this is in the 19th century. This is 150 years ago. The school of modern thought laughs at the ridiculous positiveness of reformers and Puritans. It is advancing in glorious liberality and before long will publish a grand alliance between heaven and hell or rather an amalgamation of the two establishments upon terms of mutual concession. allowing falsehood and truth to lie side by side, like the lion with the lamb. Still, for all that, my firm old-fashioned belief is that some doctrines are true, and that statements which are diametrically opposite to them are not true. That when no is the fact, yes is out of court. And that when yes can be justified, no must be abandoned. I believe that the gentleman who has for so long a time perplexed our courts is either Sir Roger Tichborne or somebody else." And I had to look at the footnote here. The affair of the Tichborne claimant was the celebrated 19th century legal case in the United Kingdom of Arthur Orton, an imposter who claimed to be the missing heir, Sir Roger Tichborne. So Spurgeon's saying, look, He either is or he isn't who he claims to be. But surely, if this fellow really is the claimant, the heir of Sir Roger Tichborn, then that's who he is. And to deny it would be wrong. It's not just a matter of, well, you have your perspective and good reasons for it, and we have our perspective and good reasons for it. He either is or he isn't. Listen. I am not yet able to conceive of his being the true heir and an imposter at the same time. Yet, in religious matters, the fashionable standpoint is somewhere in that latitude. Man. And that's true today, too. People don't care today. Yeah, sure, Chesterton and Tolkien. Yeah, they were papists, and they believed in the papacy, the priesthood, purgatory, indulgences, justification by infused righteousness, and meritum decongro by sacramental grace infused into your soul to create new habits, and thus you're saved or justified by your good works made possible with the help of grace. But they were very clever in the way they wrote, and so they were saved. That's the way people think today, and that's dead wrong. No matter how many people think like that, it's still wrong. It's still wrong. We have a fixed faith to preach, my brethren, and we are set forth with a definite message from God. I'll tell you what, Christians of 150, 200 years ago, they wrote stirring words, didn't they? Listen to that. We have a fixed faith to preach, my brethren, and we are sent forth with a definite message from God. We are not left to fabricate the message as we go along. We are not sent forth by our master with a general commission arraigned on this fashion. As you shall think in your heart and invent in your head, so preach. Keep abreast of the times. Whatever the people want to hear, tell them that and they shall be saved. Verily we read, not so. There is something definite in the Bible. It is not quite a lump of wax to be shaved at our will, or a roll of cloth to be cut according to the prevailing fashion. Your great thinkers evidently look upon the scriptures as a box of letters for them to play with and make of what they like, or a wizard's bottle out of which they may pour anything they choose, from atheism up to spiritualism. I am too old-fashioned to fall down and worship this theory. There is something told me in the Bible, told me for certain, not put before me with a but and a perhaps and an if and a maybe and 50,000 suspicions behind it so that really the long and the short of it is that it may not be so at all. but revealed to me as an infallible fact which must be believed, the opposite of which is deadly error and comes from the father of lies." That was so good. That's right on the money. He's right on the money. The Bible is not a box of letters for us to make up new words with. We are heralds of the truth. You know, I taught a class on preaching over at Graham Bible College. It's been a few years ago. And they wanted me to do some lectures on preaching, on the need for preaching and a biblical approach to preaching. And I did some studying, got out my old seminary notes, and looked at some of those key terms. The term keruso, keruso, to preach or proclaim. That term really means you're a herald of someone else's message. You're sent as a herald of someone else. You're not representing yourself, you are a herald of someone else. That's what keruso refers to. Euangelizami, I preach good news. Didasco, to teach. And then there's a couple other key terms that are used, verbs that are used to describe preaching. But the point being, it's not our message. It's not our message, it's God's message, and it's something He has spoken. Now listen to Spurgeon here. Believing therefore that there is such a thing as truth, and such a thing as falsehood, that there are truths in the Bible, and that the gospel consists in something definite which is to be believed by men, it becomes us to be decided as to what we teach, and to teach it in a decided manner. We have to deal with men who will be either lost or saved and they certainly will not be saved by erroneous doctrine. Well, I can't, I can't help but, but remember, you know, um, listening to just, it's just awful video. where Doug Wilson's being interviewed about, what about GK Chesterton and JRR Tolkien, both Roman Catholics? You know, Chesterton, a Roman Catholic apologist for that false religion. Can they be saved? And his response was, well, we're saved because they can be saved while they still believe all that stuff because we're not saved by works. We're not saved by our doctrinal works. Contrast that with what our forefathers said, like Spurgeon, we cannot be saved by erroneous doctrine. Paul the Apostle would have scoffed at the idea, would have laughed at the idea, it's condemned in scripture. The idea that our theology is a form of works and therefore we can have a false gospel and still be saved, that is absolutely absurd. No one has ever been saved by a false gospel, ever, not one time. We have to deal with God, whose servants we are, and he will not be honored by our delivering falsehoods. Neither will he give us a reward and say, I love this, well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast mangled the gospel as judiciously as any man that ever lived before thee. We stand in a very solemn position, and ours should be the spirit of old Micaiah, who said, as the Lord my God liveth, before whom I stand, whatsoever the Lord saith unto me, that I will speak. neither less nor more than God's word, or we call it the state. But that word we are bound to declare in a spirit which convinces the sons of men that whatever they may think of it, we believe God and are not to be shaken in our confidence in Him. Brethren, in what ought we to be positive? Okay, in other words, not have a positive attitude, but in what ought we to be absolutely certain is true. Listen to this. Well, there are gentlemen alive who imagine that there are no fixed principles to go upon. Perhaps a few doctrines, said one to me, perhaps a few doctrines may be considered as established. It is perhaps ascertained that there is a God, but why not not to dogmatize upon his personality? A great deal may be said for pantheism, end quote. Such men creep into the ministry, but they are generally cunning enough to conceal the breadth of their minds beneath Christian phraseology, thus acting in consistency with their principles for their fundamental rule is that truth is of no consequence. See that, listen to that again. Men who are heretics, false teachers, they know how to use Christian phrases. They know how to sound. How how they're supposed to sound to be accepted where they want to be accepted listen such men creep into the ministry But they are generally cunning enough to conceal the breadth of their minds beneath Christian phraseology thus acting in consistency with their principles for their fundamental rule is that truth is of no consequence. In other words, they don't care about contradicting themselves in various contexts. They don't care because they're liars by nature. They don't stand for any one thing regarding the truth. So what difference does it make if they conceal their real agenda behind Christian phraseology? Okay, now listen to Spurgeon. As for us, as for me at any rate, I am certain that there is a God, and I mean to preach it as a man does who is absolutely sure. He is the maker of heaven and earth, the master of providence, and the Lord of grace. Let his name be blessed forever and ever. We will have no questions and debates as to him. We are equally certain that the book which is called the Bible is His Word and is inspired. Not inspired in the sense in which Shakespeare and Milton and Dryden may be inspired, but in an infinitely higher sense, so that provided we have the exact text, we regard the words themselves as infallible. We believe that everything stated in the book that comes to us from God is to be accepted by us as His sure testimony and nothing less than that. God forbid we should be ensnared by those various interpretations of the modus of inspiration which amounts a little more than frittering it away. The book is a divine production. It is perfect and is the last court of appeal, the judge which ends the strife. I would as soon dream of blaspheming my maker as of questioning the infallibility of his word. That's good stuff. He goes on. We are also sure concerning the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. We cannot explain how the Father, Son, and Spirit can each be one distinct and perfect in Himself, and yet that these three are one, so that there is but one God. Yet we do verily believe it and mean to preach it, notwithstanding Unitarian, Socinian, Sibelian, or any other error. We shall hold fast evermore the doctrine of the Trinity in unity." And then he moves on. And brethren, there will be no uncertain sound from us as to the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot leave the blood out of our ministry, or the life of it will be gone. For we may say of the gospel, the blood is the life thereof, the proper substitution of Christ, the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, on the behalf of his people, that they might live through him. This we must publish till we die. Neither can we waver in our mind for a moment concerning the great and glorious Spirit of God, the fact of His existence, His personality, the power of His working, the necessity of His influences, the certainty that no man is regenerated except by Him, that we are born again by the Spirit of God and that the Spirit dwells in believers and is the author of all good in them, their sanctifier and preserver, without whom they can do no good thing whatsoever. We shall not at all hesitate as to preaching these truths. The absolute necessity of the new birth is also a certainty. We come down with demonstration when we touch on that point. We shall never poison our people with the notion that a moral reformation will suffice, but we will over and over again say to them, you must be born again. We have not got into the condition of the Scotch minister who, when old John MacDonald preached to his congregation a sermon, the sinners remarked, well, Mr. MacDonald, that was a very good sermon which you have preached, but it is very much out of place, for I do not know one single unregenerate person in my congregation. Poor soul. He was in all probability unregenerated himself. No, we dare not flatter our hearers, but we must continue to tell them that they are born sinners and must be born saints, or they will never see the face of God with acceptance. The tremendous evil of sin, we shall not hesitate about that. We shall speak on that matter both sorrowfully and positively. And though some very wise men raise difficult questions about hell, we shall not fail to declare the terrors of the Lord. and the fact that the Lord has said, these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Neither will we ever give an uncertain sound as to the glorious truth that salvation is all of grace. If ever we ourselves are saved, we know that sovereign grace alone has done it, and we feel it must be the same with others. We will publish grace, grace, grace with all our might, living and dying. We shall be very decided also as to justification by faith, for salvation is not of works, lest any man should boast. And I would just add, it's not of obedience either. And it's not of deeds of righteousness either. It's not of anything wrought in us or done by us at all. And obedience is not part of saving faith either. Life in a look at the crucified one will be our message. Trust in the Redeemer will be that saving grace, which we will pray the Lord to implant in all our hearers' hearts, and everything else which we believe to be true in the Scriptures, we shall preach with decision. If there be questions which may be regarded as moot or comparatively unimportant, we shall speak with such a measure of decision about them as may be comely, but points which cannot be moot, which are essential and fundamental, will be declared by us without any stammering, without any inquiring of the people. What would you wish us to say? Yes, and without the apology, those are my views, but other people's views may be correct. I read an article, I remember reading an article in defense of John Viper, where someone made a statement like that. You know, this is what I think about, Jessica. These are my views, and I think that we should just be tolerant of this, that, and the other thing. I mean, this is 150 years ago, Spurgeon saying, there are those who say, those are my views, but other people's views may be correct. we ought to preach the gospel not as our views at all, but as the mind of God, the testimony of Jehovah concerning his son, and in reference to salvation for lost men. If we had been entrusted with the making of the gospel, we might have altered it to suit the taste of this modest century, but never having been employed to originate the good news, but merely to repeat it, we dare not stir beyond the record. Man, that's good. God didn't say, hey, Patrick, or hey, whoever. You originate the good news. You come up with your own unique views on the subject. You are simply called by God to repeat it. Let God do the rest. What we have been taught of God, we teach. If we do not do this, we are not fit for our position. If I have a servant in my house, and I send a message by her to the door, and she amends it on her own authority, she may take away the very soul of the message by doing so, and she will be responsible for what she has done. She will not remain long in my employ, for I need a servant who will repeat what I say as nearly as possible, word for word, and if she does so, I am responsible for the message. She is not. If anyone should be angry with her on account of what she said, they would be very unjust, their quarrel lies with me, and not with the person whom I employ to act as mouth for me. Now listen, he that hath God's word, let him speak it faithfully, and he will have no need to answer gainsayers, except what they thus saith the Lord. This then is the matter concerning which we are decided. I used to have to tell people a lot more often than I do here in Tennessee. I didn't write the Bible. I don't write the mail. I just deliver it. So if you have a problem with what scripture says, you know, take it up with the one who breathed it forth, and that is the triune holy God. We need to be decided in our pluralistic, relativistic, ishy-squishy world of evangelical, and even I think in many ways reformed, Christianity, where even Genesis, you know, Genesis heard a sermon the other day. You know, it doesn't matter what you believe about the days. It doesn't matter what you believe about creation. You know, as long as you understand God made everything, it doesn't matter the manner in which he did it, or how long it took him, or what method he used, or he could have done this and could have done that. It just matters that we all agree that God made stuff. You think there it is? That's it right there. We are to be decided where the scripture is decided. We are to be clear where the scripture is very clear. The gospel, the doctrine of God, the atonement, sanctification, the personal work of the Holy Spirit, the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the Trinity, justification by faith alone, that God justifies and adopts us as divine acts, one-time acts, never to be repeated, they're not grown or increased. Sanctification is an ongoing work, it's a process. Those are the kinds of things we've got to get right, and we've got to get them right with passion and conviction. Because if we don't, as Paul said to Timothy, Timothy, you know, give heed to, watch your life in doctrine. For in doing so, you will save both those, both yourself and those who hear you. I want people to be saved. And if we don't preach with passion, we don't preach with conviction, those essential core truths of the Christian faith, what good are we? What good are we? Yes, we may win the approbation of men, but we do so at the cost of coming under the judgment of God. Let us always fear Him first. Brothers who are ministers and Christians that are representing the Lord and are ambassadors for Christ in all the different places you find yourself and all the different hats that you wear, get the truth right, get it clear, don't express it as your views, but as what is absolutely true. And know, just as Spurgeon was preaching that into a culture where there was so much relativism and all sorts of differing opinions with German higher criticism and all that stuff in the late 19th century, Our age is just the same, if not worse, and we need people that have convictions and who preach them and have a truth decision, as Spurgeon spoke of there. Thank you all for watching or for listening.