Tag Archives: Charles Spurgeon

Chapter 5 : Around the Wicket Gate – Fearing to Believe

~ Around the Wicket Gate ~
Almost Saved, But Altogether Lost


Here in Chapter 5, Spurgeon confronts the fear of believing in Christ, exposing it as pride disguised as humility. He argues that doubting God’s promises dishonors His faithfulness and implores readers to abandon self-reliance. Using vivid illustrations, Spurgeon shows that faith is as simple as letting go and falling into Christ’s arms. He warns against replacing faith with religious practices and urges readers to grip the “Rock of Ages” with even the smallest trust, finding safety and peace in Jesus alone.


The following are select quotes from this chapter.
Please use the comment section below to share your own thoughts regarding this book!

But someone might worry, “What if I come to Christ, and he refuses me?” My answer is, “Try him.” Cast yourself on the Lord Jesus, and see if he refuses you. You will be the first against whom he has shut the door of hope. Friend, do not worry about crossing that bridge until you come to it! If Jesus ever casts you out, you will have time enough to despair—but that time will never come. “This man receives sinners”; he has not so much as begun to cast them out (Luke 15:2).

Give up your hold on everything except Christ, and fall. Fall from all trust in your works, your prayers, or your feelings. Fall at once! Fall now! Soft and safe will be the ground that receives you. Jesus Christ, in his love, in the efficacy of his precious blood, and in his perfect righteousness, will give you immediate rest and peace. Cease from self-confidence. Fall into the arms of Jesus. This is the primary element of faith—giving up every other hold and simply falling upon Christ.

Alas! There are many, many souls who say, “I am told to trust in Jesus, but I will regularly attend to the means of grace instead.” Attend public worship by all means, but not as a substitute for faith, or it will become a vain confidence. The command is, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). Attend to that, whatever else you do. “Well, I will start reading good books; perhaps that will do me some good.” Read the good books by all means, but that is not the gospel: the gospel is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

Charles Haddon Spurgeon


Chapter 3 : Around the Wicket Gate – Faith in the Person of the Lord Jesus

Around the Wicket Gate – Almost Saved, But Altogether Lost
Chapter 3 – Faith in the Person of the Lord Jesus

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In Chapter 3, Spurgeon explores the necessity of personal faith in Jesus for salvation, stressing that it’s not enough to acknowledge Christ’s sufficiency without actively seeking refuge in Him. Through vivid analogies, Spurgeon illustrates how faith involves running to Christ, much like a pursued sinner fleeing to a sanctuary. He urges readers to fully trust in Christ’s ability to save, regardless of the depth of their sinfulness. Spurgeon closes by reinforcing the idea that true faith places the entirety of one’s hope in Christ, who alone can protect and deliver from judgment.

Chapter 2 : Around the Wicket Gate – Jesus Only

~ Around the Wicket Gate ~
Almost Saved, But Altogether Lost


Here in Chapter 2, Spurgeon underscores the centrality of Jesus Christ as the sole means of salvation. He argues against the notion that human efforts or righteousness can contribute to one’s salvation, highlighting that only Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient. Through metaphors and analogies, he illustrates the folly of depending on anything other than Christ, urging readers to trust in him entirely for forgiveness and eternal life. Spurgeon concludes by emphasizing that faith unites believers with God and guarantees salvation, encouraging readers to cling to Christ as their only hope.


The following are select quotes from this chapter.
Please use the comment section below to share your own thoughts regarding this book!

It stands to reason that the darling of heaven would not have died to save us if we could have been rescued at less expense. Infinite grace provided the great sacrifice; infinite love submitted to death for our sake.  How can we dream that there can be another way than the way which God has provided at such cost  and set forth in Holy Scripture so simply and so urgently? Surely it is true that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

When a person believes, there is a point of union between them and God, and that union guarantees blessing. Faith saves us because it makes us cling to Christ Jesus, who is one with God, and thus brings us into connection with God.
I am told that, years ago, above Niagara Falls, a boat was flipped over, and two men were being carried down by the current. People on the shore managed to float a rope out to them, and both men seized the rope. One of them held fast to it and was safely drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a sizeable log floating by, unwisely let go of the rope and clung to the large piece of timber, for it was bigger and apparently better to cling to. Alas! The timber, with the man on it, went right over the vast abyss because there was no union between the wood and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed a connection with the shore to produce safety.
Similarly, when a person trusts in their works, or in their prayers, or almsgivings, or in sacraments, or in anything of that sort, they will not be saved because there is no junction between them and God through Christ Jesus. But faith, though it may seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hand of the great God on the shore side; infinite power pulls in the connecting line, and thus pulls the person from destruction. Oh, the blessedness of faith, because it unites us to God by the Savior, whom he has appointed, even Jesus Christ!  O reader, is there not common sense in this matter? Think it over, and may there soon be a rope of union between you and God through your faith in Christ Jesus!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon


Chapter 1 : Around the Wicket Gate – Awakening

~ Around the Wicket Gate ~
Almost Saved, But Altogether Lost


Here in chapter 1, Spurgeon addresses the widespread apathy toward eternal matters, highlighting the importance of being awakened to one’s spiritual condition. He stresses that such awakening is often the first step toward salvation but warns against the danger of returning to spiritual slumber. Spurgeon emphasizes that true salvation requires moving beyond mere awareness of sin to actively seeking Christ’s redemption. Through various analogies, he illustrates the folly of remaining in a state of conviction without progressing to faith, urging readers to seize the opportunity for salvation immediately.


The following is a select quote from this chapter.
Please use the comment section below to share your own thoughts regarding this book!

Great numbers of people have no concern about eternal things. They care more about their cats and dogs than about their souls. It is a great mercy to be made to think about ourselves and how we stand in relation to God and the eternal world. This is often a sign that salvation is coming to us. By nature, we do not like the anxiety that spiritual concern causes us, and we try, like sluggards, to sleep again. This is great foolishness; for it is at our peril that we trifle when death is so near and judgment is so sure. If the Lord has chosen us to eternal life, he will not let us return to our slumber. If we are sensible, we will pray that our anxiety about our souls may never come to an end until we are really and truly saved.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon


Preface : Around the Wicket Gate

~ Around the Wicket Gate ~
Almost Saved, But Altogether Lost


“Enter by the narrow gate.”—Matthew 7:13

In this preface, Charles Spurgeon addresses those who are close to entering the path of salvation but hesitate at the threshold. Drawing inspiration from John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” Spurgeon uses the metaphor of the “wicket gate” to represent the entrance to the way of life. He highlights the peril of being “almost saved, but altogether lost,” and expresses his earnest hope that this book will guide many to faith in Christ.


The following is a selected quote from this chapter.
Please use the comment section below to share your own thoughts regarding this book!

It will be an awful thing to die just outside the gate of life. Almost saved, but altogether lost! This is the most terrible of positions. A person just outside Noah’s ark would have been drowned; a manslayer close to the wall of the city of refuge, but still outside, would be slain; and the person who is within a yard of Christ, and yet has not trusted in him, will be lost. Therefore, I am deeply earnest to get my hesitating friends over the threshold.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon


560. Christ is Glorious—Let Us Make Him Known — Micah 5:4

Listen as Spurgeon’s love for the Lord and evangelistic zeal burn hot.


“And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.”—Micah 5:4.

Main Points:
1. The perpetual reign of Christ – 4:47
2. The perpetual continuation of his Church – 18:07
3. The greatness of our King – 28:10

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The following are select quotes from this sermon.
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Notice first, that his reign is shepherd-like in its nature. The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, but our Master washed his disciples’ feet. Earthly monarchs are often tyrants; their yoke is heavy, and their language domineering; but it is not so with our King; his yoke is easy, and his burden is light, for he is meek and lowly of heart. He is a shepherd-king. He has supremacy, but it is the superiority of a wise and tender shepherd over his needy and loving flock; he commands and receives obedience, but it is the willing obedience of the well-cared-for sheep, rendered joyfully to their beloved Shepherd, whose voice they know so well. He rules by the force of love and the energy of goodness. His power lies not in imperious threatenings, but in imperial lovingkindness.

His service is perfect freedom; to be his subject is to be a king; to serve him is to reign. 

There is no such wakeful watchman as the Lord Jesus. Is it not written, “I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Those eyes never slumber, and those hands never rest; that heart never ceases to beat with love, and those shoulders are never weary of carrying his people’s burdens. The Church may go through her dark ages, but Christ is with her in the midnight. She may pass through her fiery furnace, but Christ is in the midst of the flame with her. Her whole history through, wherever you find the Church, there shall you find the Church’s Lord. The head is never severed from the body, nor is the watchful care of this gracious husband towards his spouse suspended for an instant.

Oh! it is a joyful truth to consider that he who redeemed us was none other than God himself, he who led our captivity captive was Jehovah-Jesus; he who stands to-day representing the interests of his people is very God of very God, he who has sworn that every one of his people whom he hath redeemed by blood shall be brought safe to his Father’s right hand, is himself essential Deity.

Let your light shine before men; let your good works be such, that when they look upon you, they shall know that you have been with Jesus.


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556. The Sinner’s Friend — Matthew 11:19

[Jesus] will never love you less—he cannot love you more. ~ C.H.S.


“A friend of tax collectors and sinners.”—Matthew 11:19.

Main Points:
1. Jesus was the friend of sinners – 2:40
2. Jesus is the friend of sinners still – 20:36

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The following are select quotes from this sermon.
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As soon as Jesus Christ, being born in the likeness of sinful flesh, has come to years of maturity, and has commenced his real life-work, he at once discloses his friendship for sinners by associating with them. You do not find him standing at a distance, issuing his mandates and his orders to sinners to make themselves better, but you find him coming among them like a good workman who stands over his work; he takes his place where the sin and the iniquity are, and he personally comes to deal with it. He does not write out a prescription and send by another hand his medicines with which to heal the sickness of sin, but he comes right into the lazar-house, touches the wounded, looks at the sick; and there is healing in the touch; there is life in the look. The great Physician took upon himself our sicknesses and bare our infirmities, and so proved himself to be really the sinner’s friend. Some people appear to like to have a philanthropic love towards the fallen, but yet they would not touch them with a pair of tongs. They would lift them up if they could, but it must be by some machinery—some sort of contrivance by which they would not degrade themselves or contaminate their own hands. Not so the Saviour. Up to the very elbow he seems to thrust that gracious arm of his into the mire, to pull up the lost one out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay.

A special providence brings the woman to the well. The conventionalities of society forbid him to talk with her. But he breaks through the narrow bigotry of caste. A Samaritan by birth, he cares not for that; but will that most holy being condescend to have familiar conversation with her—a dishonour to her sex? He will. His disciples may marvel when they come back and find him talking with her, but he will do it. He begins to open up the Word of life to her understanding, and that woman becomes the first Christian missionary we ever hear of, for she ran back to the city, leaving her water-pot, and crying, “Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” And they came and believed; and there was great joy in that city of Samaria.

As for the river of the Saviour’s love to sinners, I have only brought you to its banks. You have but stood on the bank and dipped your feet in the flood; but now prepare to swim. So fond was he of sinners that he made his grave with the wicked. He was numbered with the transgressors. God’s fiery sword was drawn to smite a world of sinners down to hell. It must fall on those sinners. But Christ loves them. His prayers stay the arm of God a little while, but still the sword must fall in due time. What is to be done? By what means can they be rescued? Swifter than the lightning’s flash I see that sword descending. But what is that in vision I behold? It falls—but where? Not on the neck of sinners; it is not their neck which is broken by its cruel edge; it is not their heart which bleeds beneath its awful force. No; the “friend of sinners” has put himself into the sinner’s place! and then, as if he had been the sinner, though in him was no sin, he suffers, bleeds, and dies—no common suffering—no ordinary bleeding—no death such as mortals know. It was a death in which the second death was comprehended; a bleeding in which the very veins of God were emptied. The God-man divinely suffered. I know not how else to express the suffering. It was a more than mortal agony, for the divine strengthened the human, and the man was made vast and mighty to endure through his being a God. Being God and man he endured more than ten thousand millions of men all put together could have suffered. He endured, indeed, the hells of all for whom he died, the torments, or the equivalent for the torments, which all of them ought to have suffered—the eternal wrath of God condensed and put into a cup, too bitter for mortal tongue to know, and then drained to its utmost dregs by the loving lips of Jesus. Beloved, this was love. “Herein is love, that while we were yet sinners, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” This Christ has done, and he is, therefore demonstrated to be the friend of sinners.

… he will never love you less—he cannot love you more.

If you will select me the grossest specimen of humanity, if he be but born of woman, I will have hope of him yet, because the gospel of Christ is come to sinners, and Jesus Christ is come to seek and to save sinners. Electing love has selected some of the worst to be made the best. Redeeming love has bought, specially bought, many of the worst to be the reward of the Saviour’s passion. Effectual grace calls out and compels to come in many of the vilest of the vile; and it is therefore that I have tried tonight to preach my Master’s love to sinners.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

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554. Enduring to the End — Matthew 10:22

Spurgeon’s grandfather, an “example of how honorable it is to endure to the end… fell asleep in Christ but a few hours” before this sermon was delivered.

“…the one who endures to the end will be saved.”—Matthew 10:22.

Main Points:
Perseverance is…
1. …the badge of saints – 16:57
2. …the target of our foes – 32:11
3. …the glory of Christ – 40:24
4. …the care of all believers – 44:27

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The following are select quotes from this sermon.
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So have we seen, that earth’s sun may be eclipsed, earth’s stars may go out, and all human glory melt into shame. No true child of God perishes—hold that fast; this is the badge of a true child of God…

Let your prayer be not against death, but against sin.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon


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486. The Sinner’s End — Psalm 73:17-18

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485. No Room for Christ in the Inn — Luke 2:7

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