Spurgeon on the Christian Life: Alive in Christ (Theologians on the Christian Life)
Overview
Charles Spurgeon, widely hailed as the “Prince of Preachers,” is well known for his powerful preaching, gifted mind, and compelling personality. Over the course of nearly four decades at London’s famous New Park Street Chapel and Metropolitan Tabernacle, Spurgeon preached and penned words that continue to resonate with God’s people today.
Organized around the main beliefs that undergirded his ministry—the centrality of Christ, the importance of the new birth, the indwelling of the Spirit, and the necessity of the Bible—this introduction to Spurgeon’s life and thought will challenge readers to live their lives for the glory of God.
- Provides a helpful introduction to the life of Spurgeon
- Explores the major theological themes of Spurgeon’s life and ministry
- Helps readers to understand and learn from the past
Part 1: Charles Spurgeon
- A Man Full of Life
Part 2: Christ the Center
- Christ and the Bible
- Puritanism, Calvinism, and Christ
- Christ and Preaching
Part 3: The New Birth
- New Birth and Baptism
- Human Sin and God’s Grace
- The Cross and New Birth
Part 4: The New Life
- The Holy Spirit and Sanctification
- Prayer
- The Pilgrim Army
- Suffering and Depression
- Final Glory
Top Highlights
“For Spurgeon, healthy theology must involve an earnest and warm affection for the Christ who stands above and before all.46 Christ must be central, but he is truly central only when he is supremely adored.” (Page 63)
“For, he said, ‘it is my solemn conviction that the prayer is one of the most weighty, useful, and honourable parts of the service, and that it ought to be even more considered than the sermon.” (Page 143)
“Spurgeon replied, ‘that is just the reason why you have not had conversions: ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’ ’” (Page 92)
“Spurgeon wrote, ‘You cannot taste the sweetness of any doctrine till you have remembered Christ’s connection with it” (Page 45)
“Rather, prayer is the outpouring of a faithful heart seeking communion with God.” (Page 145)
As an evangelical Baptist who shares Charles Spurgeon’s understanding of salvation, I naturally welcomed this superb study of the celebrated preacher’s theology and how it applies to the Christian life. But I also resonate with Michael Reeves’s deep concern that Spurgeon be read by a much wider audience than his coreligionists. Responsible for a veritable torrent of words, most of which remain in print a dozen decades after his death, he is one of the great Christian authors of the nineteenth century. And it is only right, therefore, that he be known and read by that wide audience of evangelicals who love his Savior. This book is a tremendous place to start: a draft of refreshment from deep Spurgeonic wells—just what is needed in our day.
—Michael A. G. Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Director, Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies
Ask people what first comes to mind when they hear the name Charles Spurgeon, and they will invariably answer with something about preaching. Indeed, Spurgeon is widely considered ‘The Prince of Preachers,’ and deservedly so. But he is so closely identified with powerful preaching that many fail to realize what an eminently godly man he was. Yes, Spurgeon pastored the largest evangelical church in the nineteenth-century world. Yes, his collected sermons extend to more than sixty-three thick volumes, sermons which continue to sell well today. Yes, his fame as a preacher made Spurgeon the most famous name in Christendom during his lifetime. But he should be equally known as a man of deep piety and a vibrant Christian life. Thankfully, Michael Reeves helps rectify Spurgeon’s reputational imbalance with his book Spurgeon on the Christian Life. Superbly researched and winsomely written, it demonstrates how Spurgeon—in sickness and in health, in success and in tragedy, in the public eye and in the home—sought to live a Christ-centered life according to the Bible. Whether this is your introduction to Spurgeon or he has been a hero of yours for decades, you will be encouraged by this book.
—Donald S. Whitney, Associate Dean and Professor of Biblical Spirituality, School of Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
With accurate and careful brushstrokes, Michael Reeves paints for us a three-dimensional portrait of the preacher and leaves us chanting with Helmut Thielicke, ‘Sell all that you have and buy Spurgeon.’
—Christian T. George, Curator, The Spurgeon Library; Assistant Professor of Historical Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
- Title: Spurgeon on the Christian Life: Alive in Christ
- Author: Michael Reeves
- Series: Theologians on the Christian Life
- Publisher: Crossway
- Print Publication Date: 2018
- Logos Release Date: 2018
- Pages: 192
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Spurgeon, C. H. (Charles Haddon), 1834-1892
- ISBNs: 9781433543876, 9781433543906, 9781433543883, 9781433543890, 1433543877, 1433543907, 1433543885, 1433543893
- Resource ID: LLS:SPRGNCHRSTCHRST
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T03:06:01Z
Reviews
0 ratings
Larry Craig
9/16/2018
I was thinking about buying this, but I already have just about everything he wrote. The sample pages were about his life and not this thought so they contributed nothing to the theme of the book, That's alright. I'll stick with what I have.
