Throughout Charles Spurgeon’s long and fruitful ministry, the celebrated preacher never passed up an opportunity to call the unrepentant to Christ and the spiritually asleep to awareness. Scouring his vast volumes for a single sermon without evangelistic fervor is a pointless task. Again and again, he calls for his hearers to believe—or, as Charles put it, to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” for to “believe in Jesus; this is to taste.”
“God, feed us for Jesus Christ’s sake.”
Not surprisingly, the early Spurgeon possessed the same stalwart convictions as the seasoned Spurgeon. He considered it his solemn duty to call sinners to abandon sin and turn to Jesus. A great example of this can be found in Sermon 125, from volume 2 of The Lost Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon. Just a teenager at the time, the young Charles gives the open invitation from Isaiah 25:6-8 to come to “The Best Feast.”
At this feast, God alone provides saving sustenance and lasting nourishment. No outside food or drink is allowed.
“All men must eat his provisions or starve,” confesses the youthful Spurgeon, since “None are allowed to bring their own provisions.” Why settle for any other meal? After all, “the food is the daintiest to be found,” which brings salvation, joy, and rescue from sin and sorrow. God’s spiritual wine carries the sweetest taste, far surpassing false flavors of the “devil’s homebrewed.”
The point of Spurgeon's imagery is to illuminate the appeal of the gospel for both the unbelieving searcher and the apathetic convert. Charles knew that the true feast is the banquet to come, when “another world shall dawn.” Still, there is immense pleasure to be found in the already-not-yet appetizer that can be enjoyed every day by the believer.
Christ has come, and with him, the joys of salvation for all who put their faith in him. The call to the present church is the same as in Spurgeon’s day: “Well, brethren, let us have an antepast of heaven now. Lift up your heads. Get on the mountain. Get a good meal. Rejoice, rejoice.”
Read a selection of the sermon below:
About the Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon
In 1857, Charles Spurgeon–—the most popular preacher in the Victorian world—–promised his readers that he would publish his earliest sermons. For almost 160 years, these sermons have been lost to history. In 2017, B&H Academic began releasing a multi-volume set that includes full-color facsimiles, transcriptions, contextual and biographical introductions, and editorial annotations. Written for scholars, pastors, and students alike, The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon will add approximately 10 percent more material to Spurgeon’s body of literature. Click here for an interview between Jared Wilson and Christian George about the Lost Sermons project.