Portraits of the Great “I Am”: Charles Spurgeon on Christ’S Seven “I Am” Sayings

Copyright © 2017 Ernest LeVos.

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iUniverse rev. date: 03/13/2017

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I The Word Of Truth: The Great I Am

A. Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth

B. The Word As A Sword

Part II The Seven Great ‘I Am’ Sayings

A. I Am The Bread Of Life

Soul-Satisfying Bread

B. I Am The Light Of The World

The Light of the World

C. I Am The Door

The Door

D. I Am The Good Shepherd

Whose Goodness Never Fails

E. I Am The Resurrection And The Life

Though He Were Dead

F. I Am The Way, The Truth, And The Life

The Way

G. I Am The True Vine

Without Christ-Nothing

Part III The Life Of Faith And The Walk Of Faith In Christ

A. The Secret Power Of Prayer

B. The Lamb Of God

C. The Winnowing Fan

Conclusion

Appendix A: List of Sermons with Original Titles and Related Sermons on the Seven I AM Sayings Available Online from http://spurgeongems.org

I AM WHO I AM.

That is His name—the Infinite, Eternal and Unchangeable God.

"Let us meditate upon the Lord’s holy name, that we may trust Him the better and rejoice the more readily. He is in character holy, just, true, gracious, faithful and unchanging … He is all-wise, almighty, and everywhere present …"

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Dedication

This book is for

Olivia Kate Carlson

Ryan Andrew Carlson

Jack Ryan LeVos

Jace Andrew LeVos

The Lord Jesus Christ is your Sufficient Savior

Preface

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892) was an heir of the Puritans and the last of the Puritans. As Ernest Bacon writes, Puritan preaching was Scriptural, evangelical, doctrinal, experimental, practical, and comprehensive.¹ Besides, Puritan preaching made men tremble [‘reverence’] before the Throne of Holiness, and drove them to the Mercy seat. It was Christ-centered from first to last, and drew or drove men to the Savior.² The characteristics of simplicity and purity on the Bible pattern was their aim.³

Spurgeon, a beneficiary of the Puritan tradition of preaching, focused on text, doctrine, and application. He set the high standard for preaching from all books of the Bible by focusing on a specific text for the congregation to understand, by explaining the main words and parts of the text, and by proclaiming persuasively the Gospel message of the text. Spurgeon wholeheartedly believed that whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4 NKJV).⁴

As the preacher who held communion with Christ and his people, Spurgeon subscribed and endorsed in his ministry

the great foundation principles of the Puritans [who] … carried to its logical conclusion the great Protestant Reformation emphasis on the Bible as the only rule of faith and conduct. To the Puritans, the Bible was the very Voice and Message of God to men; it was the infallible and authoritative work of the Holy Spirit. They maintained that it was primary and fundamental for determining doctrine, worship, and church government. The Spirit in the Scriptures spoke to the Puritan not only of man’s sin and salvation provided freely by Christ, and the ordering of His Church and worship, but also the civil and political problems of the day, even concerning daily toil, home life, dress, recreation, and duty. They surveyed the whole gamut of life in the light of God’s Word, and His revealed truth was implicitly trusted and obeyed. [In addition,], the Puritan was deeply concerned to worship God in the beauty of holiness.⁵

Spurgeon treasured the following vital and fundamental doctrines: the divine inspiration and authority of scripture, the sovereignty of God, predestination and election, the deity of Christ, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, justification by faith alone, the work of the Holy Spirit, holiness, the loveliness of Christ, the final perseverance of the saints, and the return of the Lord.⁶ He applied these principles to his preaching—and certainly to the seven great I AM sermons in the Gospel of John delivered mainly between 1870 and 1884. When Spurgeon was asked what his creed was, he answered, It is Jesus Christ.

This present volume is the author’s continued interest in the life and writings of the prince of preachers, in selecting and editing the sermons by Spurgeon, and the current focus is on the seven I AM sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of his beloved disciple, John. The author’s (editor’s) devotional and academic interest in Spurgeon commenced in 1988 and 2008, respectively, and has resulted in the publications of C. H. Spurgeon and the Metropolitan Tabernacle: Addresses and Testimonials, 1854–1879 (2014), a documentary history, and The CROSS before the CROWN: Charles Spurgeon on Christ’s Last Words on the Cross (2016), which is intended to be a devotional resource. Besides the scriptures, the word of truth, a sword, which is to be used with the assistance and ministration of the Holy Spirit, his sermons are a rich source of practical applications that a believer requires for his or her spiritual journey.

Spurgeon "is gone physically, [but] he spiritually survives …" His sermons and his writings speak to a believer who desires pastoral guidance. In his sermon Gratitude for Deliverance from the Grave, intended for reading on January 3, 1892 (Spurgeon passed away January 31, 1892), what he said of some of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation is applicable to Charles Spurgeon:

When [John] Wycliffe died as to his body, the real Wycliffe did not die. Some of his books were carried to Bohemia, and John Huss learned the Gospel from them and began to preach. They burned John Huss and Jerome of Parague, but Huss foretold, as he died, that another would arise after him whom they should not be able to put down. And in due time, he more than lived again in [Martin] Luther. Is Luther dead? Is [John] Calvin dead today? That last man the moderns have tried to bury in a dunghill of misrepresentation, but he lives—and will live—and the truths that he taught all the slanderers that have sought to poison it. Die! Often the death of a man is a kind of new birth to him—when he himself is gone physically, he spiritually survives and from the grave there shoots up a tree of life whose leaves heal nations.⁷

May the sermons Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached on the Great I AM be a source of healing to you, the reader, and in turn may the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified.

Acknowledgements

Thanks: to Emmett O’Donnell for permission to use of the sermons from Spurgeon Gems, accessed February 16, 2016; to Dr. Tom Nettles for the conversations on the sermons of Spurgeon at the 2016 School of Theology, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, UK.; to Mrs. Hannah Wyncoll, (Compiler of Wonders of Grace: Original testimonies of converts during Spurgeon’s early years. London, The Wakeman Trust, 2016), Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, UK., and to the editors of iUniverse for their editorial assistance; to Jamie Carlson for his continued interest and questions in my Spurgeon projects.

Introduction

Insights into the history and work of Charles Haddon Spurgeon can be garnered from manifold sources, both primary and secondary. His sermons are a primary source, sermons that offer insights on the principles he adopted and practiced as a preacher. One will observe some of his practical applications and principles in his sermons he preached on Christ the Great I AM from the Gospel of the apostle John.⁸ Besides, one will obtain, as Spurgeon notes, [the] best apprehensions of the Father through the Son. Jesus said (to Philip): ‘He who has seen Me has seen the Father’ (John 14:9 NKJV).

The sermons by Spurgeon on the seven I AM sayings in the Gospel of John are tied closely to Exodus 3:14–15 (NKJV). In the Old Testament,

God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. And He said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ Moreover, God said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel: "The LORD GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB, HAS SENT ME TO YOU. THIS is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations."

We are reminded that the God (Lord) of the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament. In the Gospel account of Luke 24:6 ff. (NKJV), on the road to Emmaus, Christ, the Great I AM, the Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people who beginning at Moses and all the Prophets … expounded to [the two downcast disciples] in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. [The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful man, and be crucified, and the third day rise again]. The two disciples whose eyes were restrained, so that they did not know [the Great ‘I AM’], who were slow of heart to believe in all that the Prophets have spoken. But the eyes of the two downcast disciples, and the eleven other disciples, were opened after the Great I AM took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they knew [the Great ‘I AM’]; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road [by the way in the KJV], and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’ When this happened, the risen Christ became the antidote to the doubts, fears, and troubles of His downcast disciples. What did their Savior do? He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures (v. 45).

This book of Spurgeon’s sermons consists of three parts. The first part consists of two sermons On Rightly dividing the word of truth and the word as a sword. The sermons are selected to underscore the importance and reverence for the Holy Scriptures. Here is the focus of the two sermons.

First, the word of truth:

The word of God is to be rightly handled. First, he that rightly handles the word of God will never use it to defend men in their sins, but to slay their sins. The Gospel ought never to be used for frightening sinners from Christ. Moreover, if we rightly handle the word of God, we shall not preach it so as to send Christians into a sleepy state. Second, [the] text has another meaning. It has an idea in it which … can only [be] express[ed] by a figure. Rightly dividing or straight cutting. There are furrows to be plowed: free grace, human depravity, faith, repentance, and holiness. Third, there has to be discrimination and dissection. It is a great part of a minister’s duty to be able to dissect the Gospel—to lay one piece there, and another there, and preach with clearness, distinction, and discrimination. Every Gospel minister must divide between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. Fourth. The next interpretation of the apostle’s expression is practically cutting out the word for holy uses. Fifth, the preacher has to … allot to each one hid portion, and sixth, to rightly divide the word of truth [which] means to tell each man what his lot and heritage will be in eternity.⁹

Second, on the word as a sword, Spurgeon asks the question:

By the word of God, are we here to understand [it is] the incarnate word, the Divine Logos, [which] was in the beginning with God? Or does the passage relate to this inspired Book, and to the Gospel, [that] is the kernel of it, as it is set forth in the preaching of the truth in the power of the Holy Spirit? It may be most accurate to interpret this passage as relating both to the word of God Incarnate and the word of God Inspired. The qualities of the word of God are quick and powerful. It has cutting power. Besides, it is discriminating and piercing which divides soul and spirit. The word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Let us reverence the word.

The second part of this book consists of the seven portraits of the great I am of Jesus Christ. John the apostle uses picture language to describe his Master as the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life, and the true vine. The focus of each of the seven sermons is as follows:

1. I am the bread of life—"[The] text [John 6:35] in a very simple way tells us, first, that Jesus Christ is to be received. That reception is here described— ‘I am the bread of life: he that comes to Me shall never hunger and he that believes on Me shall never thirst.’ We are to receive Him personally. The second teaching of the text is that when Jesus Christ is received, he is superlatively satisfying to the soul, which ‘shall never hunger’ and ‘shall never thirst. Christ is satisfying ‘to our highest and deepest needs.’ He meets the hunger of our conscience and hearts. ‘The love of Jesus casts out all hankering for other loves and fills the soul.’"

2. I am the light of the world—"First, Jesus is the light and is to be seen in all parts of His blessed history. Look at Him in His cradle, and on the cross where the light of Christ comes out brightest … Someone called it the lighthouse of this world’s sea. Second, Jesus is the true light in opposition to the smoking flax of tradition and in opposition to the glare of priest craft, with which so many in all ages have been enamored. Third, Jesus is the Universal Light. He is the light of all mankind! There is no clear light in which any man can discern God, or rightly understand himself, perceive the bitterness of sin, or apprehend the destiny and the doom of heaven and hell, but what flows through Jesus Christ! Fourth, Jesus is the guiding light for the soul that pants after God. Fifth, how are we acting toward Him? Do we read the Bible, or search into the history, the prophecy and the promises? Since Christ is our light and He has ordained us to be lights in the world, let us shine to the utmost of our capacity until the Master shall take us to dwell with Him in the light of God forever."

3. I am the door—"First, we will begin by noticing the door. The features of the door are ‘the necessity of it,’ it’s singularity, its personality, and its suitability. We ‘see over that door but His own sprinkled blood.’ Secondly, the users of it. ‘By Me if any man enters in.’ The door gives ‘admission to the house.’ We go in the house and abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. And, thirdly, the privileges of each of these users. ‘He shall be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture.’ We, as right users, have the privileges of salvation, liberty of access and spiritual nourishment."

4. I am the good shepherd—"First, then, let us look at Christ’s claim, ‘I am the good shepherd.’ He means us to understand three things. It is as if He had said, ‘I am a shepherd,’ and then, ‘I am a good shepherd,’ and, last of all, ‘I am the good shepherd’—that good shepherd who is spoken of in the Old Testament. In the second place, about Christ’s proof of His claim, for I have already proved it. ‘I am the good shepherd,’ He says. ‘The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.’ Now [third] let us finish by trying to get some juice out of these things, as I hope that we have done as we have gone along: let us try and get life abundantly; if He is the good shepherd, let us feel like sheep who have a good shepherd; let us be His own; let us try to know more of Him and let us love Him more."

5. I am the resurrection and the life—"First, the text will be viewed as a stream of comfort to Martha and other bereaved persons. Observe, in the beginning, that the Presence of Jesus Christ means life and resurrection. He was the Author, Giver and Maintainer of life, and that life was Himself. ‘Let us look to Jesus, and later, running the heavenly race, let us still be looking unto Jesus till we see in Him our All in All.’ Second, the text will be viewed as a great deep of comfort for all believers. I cannot fathom it any more than I could measure the abyss, but I can invite you to survey it by the help of the Holy Spirit. ‘The Lord Jesus Christ is the life of His people’ and ‘whoever lives and believes in [Christ] shall never die.’"

6. I am the way, the truth, and the life—"We shall consider, in the first place, how Jesus Christ is the Way, and how he comes to be so. Jesus Christ is ‘the way’ to escape from sin, its guilt, its wrath, its fear, its power. Second, what sort of way Christ is, and for what sort of people. It was the way to the Father by Jesus Christ alone for sinners, it is the perfect and free way. Third, we will consider how we make Christ our way, and whether He is our way now. Christ is the Gospel: ‘that God laid sin on [His Son] that He might take sin off from us, and punished Him that He might be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly.’"

7. I am the true vine—"The solemn sentence, ‘Without Me you can do nothing,’ first of all excites in [one] an aspiration of hope. In the second place, there passes through [one’s] heart a shudder of fear. Third, one beholds a vision of total failure. Fourth, there is a voice of wisdom, a still small voice which speaks out of the text and says to us, who are in Christ, let us acknowledge this. And now, lastly, while I was listening to my text, as a child puts a shell to its ear and listens till it hears the deep sea rolling in its windings, I heard within [the] text, a song of contentment. Our text is only another form of the fourth verse— ‘As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me.’"

The third part of this book, focusing on the life of faith and the walk of faith in Christ, contains practical and spiritual insights on the secret power of prayer and on the Lamb of God, the sacrifice of the Father on Calvary’s cross. Besides, in exhorting his congregation in 1870 to live and walk a life of faith, Spurgeon preached a sermon [the Winnowing Fan] on Hebrews 12:14–15, where the writer of the book of Hebrews exhorts Jewish Christian believers to follow peace with all men, and holiness. In the introduction to the sermon on the two things to be followed Spurgeon added in the sermon: I trust that in my ministry I shall never keep back the doctrines of the grace of God, but I am anxious at the same time with equal clearness to declare the doctrine that good works are necessary evidences of grace. In a devotional reading on Galatians 5:25, Spurgeon writes that the two most important things in our holy religion are the life of faith and the walk of faith. He who shall rightly understand these is not far from being a master in experimental theology, for they are vital points to a Christian.¹⁰

The focus of each of the three sermons are as follows:

a. The secret power of prayer—"Our earnest attention is called to [the] text [John 15:7], begging us to consider … three questions. First, what is this special blessing? ‘You shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.’ Secondly, how is this special blessing obtained? ‘If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you.’ Then, thirdly, why is it obtained in this way? There must be a reason for the conditions laid down as necessary to obtaining the promised power in prayer. Oh, that the anointing of the Holy Spirit which abides on us may now make this subject very profitable to us. We abide in Christ and Christ abides in us."

b. The lamb of God—"‘Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.’ We will ask and try to answer three questions. First, what is to be beheld? Secondly, what is to be done? And thirdly, why should we do this? ‘The is life in a look at the Crucified One.’ We should look for this is God’s appointed and ‘only way of salvation.’ In addition, ‘those who obey the command of the text [John 1:29], will obtain immediate salvation, and that being saved, they shall have joy and peace in believing.’"

c. The Winnowing Fan—There are in the text two things to be followed. The fourteenth verse [of Hebrews 12] tells us what they are. ‘Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’ We are to follow peace and holiness. We are to follow peace with our own relatives and friends at home; with our neighbors, even our persecutors. Now, with the Holy Spirit’s help, we will address the two things to be avoided: failure (pride, envy and secret sins) and uprising evil. Christ saves ‘His people from their sins, not in their sins.’ The basis of holiness is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the great I AM, is able to open our minds in thought, feeling, and purpose. He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25 NKJV), and to open our eyes of faith to look to Him and to consider the I AM attentively, as well as His precious sacrifice for us in our hearts (Hebrews 12:1–3).

It is the desire of the author that the reader of this book, which can be used as a devotional for morning and evening personal worships, be blessed by reading, as well as reflecting and meditating upon the seven sermons of the great I AM by Charles Spurgeon, and that the reader will also rejoice that God the Father gave us the inspired scriptures written by His Holy Spirit, allowing us look and consider, by faith, His beloved Son in all the pages of the word of truth.¹¹

PART I

THE WORD OF TRUTH: THE GREAT I AM

A. Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Rightly dividing the word of truth

2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV).

TIMOTHY was to divide rightly the word of God. Every Christian minister must do this if he would make full proof of his ministry and if he would be clear of the blood of his hearers at the last great day. Of the whole twenty years of my printed sermons [1855-1875], I can honestly say that this has been my aim, rightly to divide the word of truth. Wherein I have succeeded; I magnify the name of the Lord. In which I have failed, I lament my faultiness. And now once more, we will try, again, and may God the Holy Spirit, without whose power nothing can be done aright, help us rightly to divide the word of truth.

The expression is a very remarkable one because it bears so many phases of meaning. I do not think that any one of the figures by which I shall illustrate it will be at all strained, for they have been drawn from the text by most eminent expositors, and may be fairly taken as honest comments, even when they might be challenged as correct interpretations of the text. Rightly dividing the word of truth is our authorized version, but we leave it for a little to consider other renderings. Timothy was neither to mutilate, nor twist, nor torture, nor break in pieces the word of God, nor keep on the outside of it, as those do who never touch the soul of a text, but rightly to divide it, as one taught of God to teach others.

1. The Vulgate version translates it, and with a considerable degree of accuracy, Rightly HANDLING the word of truth. What is the right way, then, to handle the word of truth? It is like a sword and it was not meant to be played with. That is not rightly to handle the Gospel. It