UNITY CLASSIC

Spurgeon
on Unity
 Spurgeon on Unity

Spurgeon on Unity
Copyright © 2017 by Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

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embedded in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial
uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN 978-1-944971-08-3

These sermons are based on public domain versions of sermons

preached by C. H. Spurgeon printed in The Metropolitan Tabernacle
Pulpit volumes 11 (1865), 12 (1866), 21 (1875), 26 (1880), 28 (1882),
33 (1887), and 35 (1889). This material has been updated in places
to make it more understandable for modern readers.

Scripture quotations are taken from the

New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America. 12/7/2018

Please visit BeUnitedinChrist.com

for other Bible-based resources.
 Contents
C. H. Spurgeon: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

True Unity Promoted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

The Head and the Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Christ’s “New Commandment” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Five Links in a Golden Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Unity in Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

The Glory, Unity, and Triumph of the Church . . . . . . . 135

The Beloved Pastor’s Plea for Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Saints in Heaven and Earth One Family . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Christ the Cause of Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Bible-Based Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

C. H. SPURGEON:
THE MAN,
HIS MINISTRY,
AND CHRISTIAN
UNITY
An Overview
 A young preacher from a small village emerges from obscurity
and takes the world by storm. He has no formal training, but
intellectuals eagerly attend his teaching. His brilliance is no barrier
for the commoners who crowd to hear him speak. His earnest,
eloquent words are copied, translated, and circulated worldwide.
Prayer and unwavering commitment to God’s Word are hallmarks
of his ministry. He gives away the wealth that comes his way, for
he values souls, not possessions. Preaching is always his priority,
but he also sacrificially serves those in need. His fame is global, yet
he remains humble. He is mocked and persecuted, yet he endures
undaunted. He suffers greatly, yet he serves tirelessly. Countless
lives are changed by his life, and his legacy endures to this day. This
is the story of our Lord Jesus Christ, and also of His faithful disciple
and servant, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Childhood

Charles was the first of seventeen children born to John and

Eliza Spurgeon. He was born June 19, 1834, in Kelvedon, Essex,
a small town located fifty-five miles northeast of London. From
ages fourteen months to six years, Charles lived with his paternal
grandparents in the small farming community of Stambourne where
his grandfather James pastored the local Congregational church. By
age five, Charles was eagerly exploring his grandfather’s extensive
library of Puritan writings, and though he attended school, his
primary education came from reading the Puritans. At nine years
of age he was already absorbing the writings of giants such as John
Owen, Matthew Henry, and Richard Baxter.
His brother James, who later served as his associate pastor,
recalled,

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 Charles never did anything else but study. I kept rabbits, chickens,
and pigs and a horse; he kept to books. While I was busy here and
there, meddling with anything and everything that a boy could
touch, he kept to books and could not be kept away from study.
But though he had nothing to do with other things, he could have
told you about them, because he used to read about everything,
with a memory as gripping as a vise and as full as a barn.1

Charles’ passion for reading endured throughout his life. As an

adult he typically read and annotated six books per week, and his
personal library contained more than twelve thousand volumes.
His remarkable memory allowed him to recall quotes from books
he had read years before.

Conversion

As a young teen Spurgeon was greatly burdened by his sin.

When I was but young in years, I felt with much sorrow the evil
of sin. . . . I hungered for deliverance, for my soul fainted within
me. I feared that the very skies would fall on me and crush my
guilty soul. God’s law had laid hold of me and was showing me
my sins. If I slept at night I dreamed of the bottomless pit, and
when I awoke I seemed to feel the misery I had dreamed. Up to
God’s house I went, but my song was but a sigh. To my chamber
I retired, and there with tears and groans I offered up my prayer
without a hope and without a refuge.2

Charles realized, though, “that misery was sent for this reason,
that I might then be made to cry to Jesus.”3 So he determined to visit
every church in town to learn how to save his soul.
So it was on a snowy January 6th in 1850 that fifteen-year-old
Charles entered a Primitive Methodist chapel. A dozen or so faithful

Spurgeon on Unity | 7
saints awaited their preacher, and when he failed to arrive a layman
stepped into the pulpit and read Isaiah 45:22, “Look to Me, and be
saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
After explaining the verse in a simple, straightforward manner, the
lay preacher looked at Spurgeon and said, “Young man, you look
very miserable, and you always will be miserable—miserable in life,
and miserable in death—if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey
now, this moment, you will be saved.” Then he lifted up his hands
and shouted, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ! Look! Look! Look!
You have nothin’ to do but look and live.”4 Charles Spurgeon did so
and then dedicated his life to urging other sinners to look to Jesus
and live.

Early Ministry

In April, Spurgeon joined the Congregational church but soon

became convinced that infant baptism was unbiblical. When he
informed his parents of his baptism his surprised mother said,
“Ah, Charles! I often prayed to the Lord to make you a Christian,
but I never asked that you might become a Baptist.” To which he
replied, “Ah, Mother! The Lord has answered your prayer with His
usual bounty and given you exceeding abundantly above what you
asked or thought.”5 Spurgeon later lost his opportunity for formal
education when he was directed to the wrong room at Stepney
College and missed his interview. He then moved to Cambridge,
where he became an evangelist and lay preacher associated with St.
Andrew’s Street Baptist Church.

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Waterbeach Chapel

In October of 1851 Charles became pastor of the Waterbeach

Baptist Chapel near Cambridge, and the church quickly grew from
40 to 400 under his passionate preaching. Two years later Spurgeon
attracted the attention of a historic London church that was looking
for a pastor. An early biographer records, “One of the friends had
become impressed with his talents while noting the way in which he
had been somewhat roughly rebuked at a meeting at Cambridge on
account of outspoken adherence to what he judged to be the truth.”6
These two traits, Spurgeon’s remarkable talents and his unyielding
commitment to truth, characterized his ministry from first to last.

The New Park Street Chapel

The New Park Street Chapel had fewer than 100 attendees when
Spurgeon arrived in April of 1854, but soon its 1,200 seats were
filled and the church was remodeling to expand. During construc-
tion, crowds of 5,000 met for services at Exeter Hall, and more than
10,000 people would gather when Spurgeon spoke outdoors. On
October 7, 1857, Spurgeon preached at the Crystal Palace on a day
of national prayer before an audience of 23,654 people who came to
hear him. When the Chapel reopened it was already too small. No
building seemed large enough to accommodate the unprecedented
numbers of people wanting to hear Charles Spurgeon preach God’s
Word, so the church built the largest Protestant church in the world.
The 5,600 seat Metropolitan Tabernacle opened debt-free in March
of 1861. Spurgeon was twenty-six.

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 TRUE UNITY
PROMOTED
Ephesians 4:3

Delivered on Sunday morning

January 1st, 1865

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 607
Note: some pages are omitted from this book preview.
THE HEAD AND
THE BODY
Ephesians 4:15–16

Delivered on the Lord’s Day evening

August 6th, 1882

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 2653
 Background
The Bible uses many images to describe the church—a bride, a
flock, a family—but one of its most vivid is that of a body (Romans
12:3–8; 1 Corinthians 12:12–31; Ephesians 4:7–16). Christ the Head
unites and directs the various members of His body, who each play
a critical but distinct function. Only by being connected with the
Head can the body stay alive, and only by cooperating harmoniously
with the other members can the body stay healthy. Our own bodies
remind us how critical and practical Christian unity in the body of
Christ truly is.
Spurgeon acknowledges that he cannot fully present this tre-
mendous subject in a single sermon. “If I had to preach fully and
accurately on all that is taught in this text, I would certainly need
to deliver a series of five or six sermons at least. There is such a
wonderful depth of meaning in these inspired words that I might
keep on explaining them and all the while be like someone who
takes water out of the sea, always amazed that there is so much more
left than he can possibly draw from it.”
He begins to explore the riches of this passage by highlighting
four key truths:

I. Our unity with Christ the Head

II. Our individuality within the body of Christ
III. Our relationship with other Christians
IV. Our intimate unity in the one church of Jesus Christ

Spurgeon on Unity | 43
 “The head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and
knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the
effective working by which every part does its share, causes
growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
~ Ephesians 4:15–16

If I had to preach fully and accurately on all that is taught in

this text, I would certainly need to deliver a series of five or six
sermons at least. There is such a wonderful depth of meaning in
these inspired words that I might keep on explaining them and all
the while be like someone who takes water out of the sea, always
amazed that there is so much more left than he can possibly draw
from it. One writer says that the meaning of this passage is as closely
knit together as the joints it speaks of. That remark is very true, for
here we have so much thought placed in so little space that it is as
though it has been compressed by hydraulic pressure.
Turning to the text, we find that the apostle was very anxious
that the saints at Ephesus would be knit together like the different
parts of one body. Unity is not an easy thing to attain. Have you
found it so in your own family? In many large families, and even in
small ones, there are sometimes most unfortunate disagreements,
and it is a happy household indeed that is wholly joined together
as one body.
Look at the world in general, at its various organizations,
societies, and associations, and see what disunity and discord are
displayed everywhere. Half the newspapers are filled with reports
of the squabbles going on in Parliament. I suppose we would hardly
be human if we always agreed on everything. Certainly, there is
plenty of division among us. We seem to reflect the scattering of
the nations at the Tower of Babel, for our tongues are still confused,

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and so we misunderstand one another. What is more criminal, we
often intentionally misrepresent one another. We are all too ready
to forget our Lord’s words, “For offenses must come, but woe to that
man by whom the offense comes!” (Matthew 18:7).
Paul was anxious to have the Ephesian church thoroughly knit
together, and the fourth chapter, from which our text is taken,
is all about unity and how to maintain it. With his hands bound
in chains, the prisoner of the Lord pleads with them to be truly
one—to walk worthy of the calling with which they were all called
by the one Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:1). He pleads with them to
bear with one another in love with all lowliness, gentleness, and
longsuffering (v. 2). He most touchingly and tenderly appeals to his
own imprisonment as an argument for them to endeavor “to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (v. 3). He seems to say,
“As you remember my bonds, put yourselves in the blessed bonds
of brotherly love.”
Then he adds, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were
called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism”
(vv. 4–5). Both in the inward creed and the outward confession of
it, they were all one. They were not divided on these points. So Paul
begged them not to be divided in anything, especially since he was
able to assure them that they had “one God and Father of all, who
is above all, and through all, and in you all,” and also one Christ,
the Savior of all (v. 6).
When Paul reminded the Ephesians that He who “ascended on
high” is the same Jesus who “first descended into the lower parts
of the earth” (vv. 8–9), I think he intended to remind them of the
continuity of the work of Christ and that it was the same Christ
who both descended to earth and ascended to Heaven. There was
no change in the Worker, for the one work was accomplished by the

Spurgeon on Unity | 45
one Person, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Why, then, should we
split up and divide and hold a hundred opinions as though Christ
were divided? Paul tells us that when Christ ascended on high, He
gave all sorts of officers who were necessary for His church—apos-
tles, prophets, evangelists, and so on—all for the purpose of “the
equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ, till we all
come to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, to a perfect man, Why, then,
to the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ” (vv.
should we
12–13). split up and
It is this that the apostle divide and
aimed at, that the saints
hold a hundred
would be one in Christ Jesus.
Then, remembering that opinions as
one very frequent cause of though Christ
division is the instability of were divided?
many people’s thinking, he
urged them to “no longer be
children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of
doctrine” (v. 14). He wanted them to know what they believed and
not be driven away from it with every puff of wind. He did not want
them to be duped and deceived by the schemes of men, by cunning
manipulation, or by con artists who carry away the truth, as so
many religious tricksters are continually doing today. They establish
lies and overthrow the truth by their enchanting deception.
When Paul speaks of “the trickery of men” (v. 14), he seems to
be alluding to the casting of dice. I am afraid that there are many

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people whose religion comes to them according to what they call
“luck.” They happened to be born on a certain street, and their par-
ents attended a particular place of worship, so they believed what
was taught there. If the dice had fallen some other way, though,
they might have been Muslims, Mormons, Roman Catholics, or
God knows what else, for they do not have any solid reasons for
believing what they are supposed to believe. They hold their faith,
as it were, by a kind of chance, and they are quite ready to let it go
again if “chance” should so arrange it.
The apostle implores us to guard against this evil and to hold fast
the faith, to be established in it. He wants us to know why we believe
it so that we, “speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things”
(v. 15) into Christ. Christ is the one and only Head of the church
and the one to whom every living member is vitally joined. Every
person who is saved is a part of Christ’s spiritual body. As such he
is to develop in harmony with the growth of the entire body until
he and every other person joined with him in the living structure
will attain to the stature of a perfect man (v. 13). The whole church
with its Head, Christ Jesus, becomes God’s spiritual, “perfect man”
to be glorified forever and ever.
You see, dear friends, that even when I am only trying to
introduce this great subject to you, I am overwhelmed with the
vastness of it. There is a whole mint of meaning in this passage. The
apostle brings us here to tons of precious metals in the heavenly
treasury. It is impossible for me to set forth all the spiritual wealth
that is revealed here, but I will strive to point out four things in the
text: first, our union with Christ the Head; second, our individuality;
third, our relationship to each other; and, last, our intimate unity in
the one church of Jesus Christ.

Spurgeon on Unity | 47
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 CHRIST’S “NEW
COMMANDMENT”
John 13:34–35

Delivered on the Lord’s Day evening

April 4th, 1875

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 2936
Note: some pages are omitted from this book preview.
FIVE LINKS IN A
GOLDEN CHAIN
Titus 1:4

Delivered on the Lord’s Day evening

November 6th, 1887

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 2349
Note: some pages are omitted from this book preview.
UNITY IN CHRIST
John 17:20–21

Delivered on Sunday morning

January 7th, 1866

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 668
 Background
In 1866 Spurgeon preached his New Year’s message on the topic
of Christian unity for the second year in a row. His sermon text
had come, as it had the year before, from a Church of England
clergyman ministering in the suburbs of London. Spurgeon’s friend
and biographer G. Holden Pike recalled, “The discourse was able
and helpful and struck an excellent note at the threshold of a year
that had been anticipated by self-proclaimed prophets as certain
to be a year of supernatural wonders. There were those … who
professed to expect that the Lord Himself would come in 1866.”26
This sermon was preceded by a major unity initiative by
Spurgeon. On November 10, 1865, the Metropolitan Tabernacle
hosted a special meeting for “promoting the union of Baptist min-
isters and churches” by forming the London Association of Baptist
Ministers Holding Evangelical Sentiments, and the Churches under
Their Care.27 Spurgeon concluded this meeting by asking for “a
manifestation that we intend unity.” He asked first the ministers,
then elders and deacons, and then church members to offer an
audible “Amen” to affirm their desire to unite and love one another.
“Unity in Christ” presents Jesus’ classic prayer offered just before
His betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane. On the eve of His execution,
Christ’s final prayer with His disciples was for their unity. Spurgeon
explains:

I. The unity that Jesus desired

II. The work that is necessary
III. The prayer that is offered
IV. The result that is anticipated
V. The question raised by the text

Spurgeon on Unity | 111

 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will
believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as
You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one
in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
~ John 17:20–21

For several years I have thankfully received my sermon text for

the first Sabbath in the year from an honorable clergyman of a par-
ish in the suburbs of our city. Spared by a gracious providence, my
good brother has sent me, along with his Christian greetings, these
two verses in John 17 for my subject this morning. I can only hope
that as we have enjoyed together for several years a true communion
of spirit in the things of God, we may continue to walk together in
holy service, loving each other with a pure heart fervently, until one
or the other of us will be taken
up to dwell above.
The most tender and
touching prayer of the Master
Because unity
contained in this chapter opens lay so very near
up to us His inmost heart. Jesus the Savior’s
was in Gethsemane, and His
heart at such
passion was just beginning. He
stood like a victim at the altar a time of
where the wood was already overwhelming
arranged, and the fire was trial, it must
already kindled to consume
the sacrifice. Lifting up His
have been
eyes to Heaven, with a Son’s priceless to
true love gazing on His Father’s Him.
throne, Jesus rested in humble

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confidence on Heaven’s strength. He looked away for a moment
from the strife and resistance that was going on around Him and
asked for what His heart was most fully set on. He opened His
mouth wide that God might fill it (Psalm 81:10).
This prayer, I take it, was not only the casual expression of the
Savior’s desire at the end but is also a sort of model of the prayer
that is continually going up from Him to the eternal throne. There
is a difference in the manner of its offering. With sighs and tears
He offered up His humble petition on earth below, but now with
authority He pleads enthroned in glory. But the plea is the same—
what He desired while still below is what His soul still longs for now
that He is taken up and is glorified above.
It is significant, beloved, that the Savior in His last moments
would not only desire the salvation of all His people but also plead
for the unity of the saved ones—that being saved they might be
united. It was not enough that each sheep should be taken from the
jaws of the wolf—He would have all the sheep gathered into one
fold under His own care. He was not satisfied that the members
of His body should each one of them be saved as the result of His
death—He must have those members fashioned into a glorious
body.
Because unity lay so very near the Savior’s heart at such a time
of overwhelming trial, it must have been priceless to Him. It is of
this unity that we will speak this morning, and we will speak of it in
this manner. First of all, we will have a little to say about the unity
desired. Then second, we will touch on the work that is necessary,
namely, that the chosen be gathered in. Third, we will comment on
the prayer offered. Fourth, we will speak about the result anticipated.
And fifth, we will discuss a question raised by the text.

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THE GLORY, UNITY,
AND TRIUMPH OF
THE CHURCH
John 17:22–23

Delivered on the Lord’s Day morning

May 4th, 1879

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 1472
Note: some pages are omitted from this book preview.
 THE BELOVED
PASTOR’S PLEA
FOR UNITY
Romans 1:7

Delivered on the Lord’s Day evening

July 7th, 1889

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 2320
Note: some pages are omitted from this book preview.
SAINTS IN HEAVEN
AND EARTH ONE
FAMILY
Ephesians 3:15

Delivered on the Lord’s Day morning

August 8th, 1875

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 1249
Note: some pages are omitted from this book preview.
CHRIST THE CAUSE
OF DIVISION
John 7:43

Delivered on the Lord’s Day evening

March 21st, 1880

by

C. H. SPURGEON

at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Sermon No. 2710
 Background
God is the great divider as well as the great uniter. He divided
light from darkness, seas from skies, and earth from ocean. He sep-
arated Noah from the nations, Abram from the Chaldeans, Isaac
from Ishmael, and Israel from Egypt and Canaan. God divides the
angels from the demons, the righteous from the wicked, and the
children of the covenant from the world. And after He divides, God
unites those He calls to Himself.
Jesus does the same. He separates wheat from chaff, grain from
tares, and sheep from goats. As Christ Himself said: “Do not think
that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace
but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a
daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law’” (Matthew 10:34–35).
After Jesus divides, He also unites. He unites His sheep into one
flock, His disciples into one church, and His redeemed into one
body. Ultimately, Christ perfectly unites those who receive Him in
Heaven and completely separates those who reject Him into Hell.
Christ unites and divides eternally.
It should come as no surprise that the apostle John records that
“there was a division among the people because of Him” (John
7:43). Spurgeon urges us to unite ourselves with Christ and His
people before we are divided from Him and them forever. As he
explains in this sermon, Christ has always been and will always be
a divisive figure.

I. Christ divides unbelievers from each other

II. Christ divides unbelievers from believers
III. Faith in Christ produces unity, both now and forever

Spurgeon on Unity | 207

 “So there was a division among the people because of Him.”
~ John 7:43

It seems that even when Christ was the preacher, there was a
division among the hearers. So we should not be surprised if the
same result follows from our preaching. Undoubtedly, strife has
sometimes been caused by a preacher’s harsh words or foolish
speech. He may have spoken rashly or offensively. But even if he
did not, not everyone would have been pleased, for even when Jesus
spoke—spoke as no one had ever spoken—not all His hearers were
pleased. We truly say, “Many men, many minds,” and therefore even
when Christ spoke “there was a division among the people because
of Him.”
Nor was the division to
be traced to the subject that
Jesus was speaking about
at the time. There are some If there is any
deep, mysterious subjects point on which
that seem intended to stir up
all mankind
controversy. Even Solomon
the wise would create divi- should have
sion if he were to speak on been agreed, it is
them. But in this case the concerning Him
subject was Christ Himself,
with Christ as the speaker! It
who came to
was concerning Him that the save men.
division occurred. There was
a division among the people,
not concerning predestination or free will, not concerning forms
of church government, not concerning the right way to observe the
sacraments, but “because of Him.”

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