Charles H. Spurgeon

And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the
service of the house of the LORD. —2 Chronicles 35:2

I would now have a word,


IV. To workers who are under great difficulties.
I have known the day when perplexities pleased me, dilemmas afforded me delight, and instead of declining a difficult task, I rather liked it. Even now, I enjoy puzzling over a problem and attempting what others decline. Nothing good in this world can be effected without difficulty. The biggest diamonds lie under heavy stones that sluggards cannot turn over. That which is easy to do is hardly worth doing. In the face of difficulty, the man of ardent,²⁷ persevering spirit braces up his nerves, sharpens his wits, and brings all his powers into play to achieve an object that will reward his efforts. Have you great difficulties, dear friend? You are not the first worker for God who has had difficulties to encounter. Let us go back to Moses again. He was to bring Israel out of Egypt, but his path did not appear very plain. He must go before Pharaoh and issue God’s command. Pharaoh looked him through when he said, “Let my people go” (Exo 5:1). The haughty monarch was greatly surprised to hear anybody, especially a Hebrew, talk like that; and so he bade him be gone. But Moses returns with, “Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go” (Exo 8:1); and his courage was not even then crowned with immediate success. There must be plague upon plague, plague upon plague, until at last, proud Pharaoh’s heart was broken, the Israelites were saved from the hand of him that hated them—and Egypt was glad when they departed. This, however, was but the beginning of the mission of Moses. His was a life of difficulty—the meekest man, but the most provoked. Until he got to the top of Pisgah and his gracious Master kissed away his soul, the prophet of Horeb [was] never done with difficulties.

Any good thing, I say, especially any good thing done for God, must be surrounded with difficulties and resisted by adversaries. Look at Nehemiah, Ezra, Zerubbabel, and those that built Jerusalem the second time. These good men wrought zealously, but Sanballat and Tobiah were jeering, jesting, and trying to throw down the wall. If you build a city without difficulty, it is not Jerusalem—be sure of that. As soon as ever you begin working for God, you will find a great power working against you. If you encounter opposition, take it as a good sign. When our young men go to a provincial town to preach, and I want to know how they are getting on, after listening to their story, I ask, “Has somebody slandered you yet? Do the newspapers denounce you as a fool?” If they say no, I conclude that they are not getting on much.

If Christ’s cause is prospering, the world will reproach the soul-winner. If you do damage to the devil’s kingdom, he will roar at you. Should your course be smooth, it is because he says, “There is nothing to disturb me in that man’s monotonous talk. I need not let fly the fiery dart of calumny²⁸ at him. He is a chip in the porridge;²⁹ I will let him alone.” Such a man generally goes through life very comfortably. People say, “He is a quiet, inoffensive sort of man.” We do not want such soldiers in the service of Christ. “What a disagreeable person!” said a king once of an officer whose sword rattled on the floor. “That sword of his is most offensive.” “Sire,” said the officer, “that is exactly what your majesty’s enemies think.” When ungodly persons say that we are troublesome, we are not broken-hearted at being out of their good looks. If the king’s enemies think us troublesome, we reckon it to be high praise. When you, my dear brother, meet with opposition, encounter it with prayer. Exercise more faith. Antagonists ought never to hinder your going forward in the cause of Christ. Diamond must cut diamond. There is nothing so hard in this world but you can cut it with something harder. If you ask God to steel your soul up to the conquering point and to make your resolution like an adamant stone,³⁰ you can cut your way through an alp³¹ of diamond in the service of your Lord and Master.

Let me inspirit³² you in the face of assailants. The forces ranged against you might be stumbling blocks to fools, but they shall only prove a stimulus to men. One day your honor shall be the greater and your reward shall be the higher because of these adverse elements. Therefore, be brave and fear not, but advance in the strength of God.

Fain would I now speak a passing word of comfort to another class of workers,

V. To those that are not appreciated.
I am not going to say much because I have not much sympathy with them. Yet I know that the smallest slight chafes those who are overly sensitive. They murmur, “I do my best, and nobody thanks me.” You think yourself a martyr and complain that you are misrepresented. Be it so, dear friend: That was your Master’s lot, and it is the lot of all His servants. This is a cross we must all carry, or we shall never wear the crown. Do you fancy that this is a new experience? Look at Joseph: his brethren could not bear him. Yet it was he that saved the family and fed them in time of famine. Look at David: his brothers asked why he had left the charge of the sheep to come down to the battle, suspecting that the pride of his heart had brought him among the soldiers and the standards. Yet nobody could bring back Goliath’s head but that young David. Take a lesson from the ruddy³³ hero: take no notice of what your brethren say about you. Go and bring back the giant’s head.

A good adventure³⁴ is the best answer to evil accusations. If you are serving the Master, let their scandal stir you up to more self-consecration. If they cry out against you as too forward, serve the Lord with more vigor; and you will antidote the venom of their tongues. Did you enter into Christ’s work in order to be honored among men? Then retire from it, for you came with a bad motive. But if you enlisted purely to bring honor to Him and to win His smile, what more do you want? What more do you want? Be not, therefore, disheartened because you are not applauded. Be certain of this: to be kept in the rear rank is often necessary to future eminence.³⁵ If you take a man, put him in front, pat him on the back, and say, “What a great man he is!”—he will make a false step before long, and there will be an end of your hero. But when a man is brought forward by God, he is often one whom everybody criticizes, finds fault with, and declaims as an impostor; but the banter³⁶ he is exposed to serves as ballast³⁷ for his mind. When he comes off with success, he will not be spoiled with conceit; the grace of God will make him bow with gratitude. The sword that is meant for a princely hand, to split through skull and backbone in the day of battle, must be annealed³⁸ in the furnace again and again. It cannot be fit for such desperate work until it has passed through the fire full many a time. Do not ask to be appreciated. Never be as mean³⁹ as that. Appreciate yourself in the serenity of conscience, and leave your honor with your God. I must speak now…

VI. To those who are discouraged because they have had so little success…Are there any of you who fear… that you have toiled in vain and spent your strength for nought? I would entreat you, dear friends, not to be satisfied with casting in the seed unless you reap some good results. Yet do not be so fainthearted as to give up because of a little disappointment. Though you cannot be satisfied without fruit, yet do not cease to sow because one season proves a failure. I would not have our friends the farmers abandon agriculture because this year they have a bad crop. If they were to measure their future prospects by the present failure, it would be a great pity. If you have preached, taught, or done work for Christ with little success until now, do not infer that you will always be unsuccessful. Regret the lack of prosperity, but do not relinquish the labor of seeking it. You may reasonably be sorrowful, but you have no right to despair.

Non-success is a trial of faith that has been endured by many a trusty servant who has been triumphant in the issue. Did not the disciples toil all night and catch nothing? Did we not read just now of some who cast the net, and yet took no fish? Did not our Lord say that some seed would fall on stony ground and some among the thorns and that from these there would be no harvest? What good did Jeremiah do? I have no doubt he labored, and God blessed him. But the result of his preaching was that he said, “The bellows are burned in the fire” (Jer 6:29). He had blown [upon] the fire until he had burnt the bellows, but no man’s heart was melted. “Woe is me!” said he. “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears” (Jer 9:1). I do not know what the result of Noah’s ministry was; but I do know that he was a preacher of righteousness for a hundred and twenty years, and yet he never brought a soul into the ark except his own family. Poor preaching, we may count it, judging by the influence it exerted. Yet we know that it was grand preaching, such as God commended. Do not, then, grudge the time or the strength you lay out in the service of our great Lord because you do not see your efforts thrive, for better men than you have wept over failure.

Remember, too, that if you really do serve the Lord thoroughly and heartily, He will accept you and acknowledge your service, even though no good should come of it. It is your business to cast the bread on the waters. If you do not find it after many days, that is not your business. It is your business to scatter the seed. But no farmer says to his servant, “John, you have not served me well, for there is no harvest.” The man would say, “Could I make a harvest, sir? I have ploughed, and I have sowed. What more could I do?” Even so, our good Lord is not austere,⁴⁰ nor does He demand of us more than we can do. If you have ploughed and if you have sowed, although there should be no harvest, you are clear and accepted.

Did it never strike you that you may be now employed in breaking up ground and preparing the soil from which other laborers who come after you will reap very plentifully? Perhaps your Master knows what a capital⁴¹ ploughman you are. He has a large farm, and He never means to let you become a reaper because you do the ploughing so well. Your Master does not intend you to take part in the harvest because you are such a good hand at sowing; and as He has crops that need sowing all the year round, He keeps you at that work. He knows you better than you know yourself. Perchance⁴² if He were once to let you get on the top of a loaded wagon of your own sheaves, you would turn dizzy and make a fall of it—so He says, “You keep to your ploughing and your sowing, and somebody else shall do the reaping.”

Peradventure when your course is run, you will see from heaven—where it will be safe for you to see it—that you did not labor in vain nor spend your strength for nought. “One soweth, and another reapeth” (Joh 4:37). This is the divine economy. I think that every man that loves his Master will say, “So long as there does but come a harvest, I will not stipulate about⁴³ who reaps it. Give me faith enough to be assured that the reaping will come, and I will be content.” Look at William Carey⁴⁴ going to India, his prayer being “India for Christ.” What did Carey live to see? Well, he saw goodspeed45 enough to rejoice his heart; but certainly, he did not see the fulfillment of all his prayer. Successive missionaries have since gone and spent their life on that vast field of enterprise. With what result? A result amply sufficient to justify all their toil, but, as compared with the millions that sit in heathendom, utterly inadequate to the craving of the Church, much less to the crown of Christ. It does not much matter how any one man fares. The mighty empire will revert to the world’s Redeemer, and I can almost trace in the records of the future the writing of: “These be the names of the mighty men whom David had,” as the valiant deeds of His heroes are chronicled by our Lord.

When old St. Paul’s cathedral had to be taken down in order to make room for the present noble edifice, some of the walls were immensely strong and stood like rocks. Sir Christopher Wren46 determined to throw them down by the old Roman battering ram. The battering ram began to work, and the men worked at it for hours and hours, day after day, without apparent effect. Blow after blow came on the wall—tremendous thuds that made the bystanders tremble. The wall continued to stand until they thought it was a useless operation. But the architect knew. He continued working his battering ram until every particle of the wall felt the motion; and, at last, over it went in one tremendous ruin! Did anybody commend those workmen who caused the final crash or ascribe all the success to them? Not a bit of it. It was the whole of them together. Those who had gone away to their meals, those who had begun days before, had as much honor in the matter as those who struck the last blow.

And it is so in the work of Christ. We must keep on battering, battering, battering, and at last, though it may not be for another thousand years, the Lord will triumph! Though Christ cometh quickly, He may not come for another ten thousand years. But in any case, idolatry must die and truth must reign. The accumulated prayers and energies of ages shall do the deed, and God shall be glorified. Only let us persevere in holy effort, and the end is sure. When a certain American general was fighting, they said, “What are you doing?” He said, “I am not doing much, but I keep pegging away.⁴⁷” That is what we must do. We cannot do much at any one time, but we must keep on. We must keep on pegging away at the enemy, and something will come of it by-and-by.

Possibly, dear friends, some of you who think you have had slender success may have had a great deal more than you know of. Others there may be whose want of success should suggest to them to try somewhere else, or else to try some other method. If we cannot do good in one way, we must do it in another. Bring the matter before God in prayer. Cry mightily to Him, for He will help you yet to do it, and His shall be the glory. When He has laid you low, when He has taught you how inefficient you are, when He has driven you in despair to rely implicitly upon Himself, then it may be that He will give you more trophies and triumphs than you ever dreamed of. Anyhow, whether I prosper in life or not is not my question. To bring souls to Christ is my main endeavor, but it is not the ultimate proof of my ministry. My business is to live for God, to lay aside self, and give myself up wholly to Him. If I do that, I shall be accepted whatever else may happen.

I wish we had the spirit of that brave old man who was condemned to the stake. They were going to burn him. He knew that the sentence was to be carried out the next morning, but with a soul full of courage and with a merry heart, he sat the last thing at night talking with his friends—faggots⁴⁸ and fire to face in the morning, recollect—and he said to one of them, “I am an old tree in my Master’s orchard. When I was young, I bore a little fruit by His grace. It was unripe and sour, but He bore with it: and I have grown mellow in my older days and brought forth some fruit for Him by His grace. Now the tree has grown so old that my Master is going to cut it down and burn the old log. Well, it will warm the hearts of some of His family while I am burning.” He even smiled for joy to think that he might be put to so good a purpose.

I want you to have that spirit and to say, “I will live for Christ while I am young. I will die for Him and warm the hearts of my brethren.” You know that the persecutions of those martyr days begat such heroism and gallantry among disciples, as prudent people in peaceful times can scarcely credit.⁴⁹ It is said of the old Baptist church over in the City that the members went to Smithfield⁵⁰ early one morning to see their pastor burnt; when someone asked the young people what they went there for, they said that they went to learn the way. That is splendid! They went to learn the way!

Oh, go to the Master’s Cross to learn the way to live and die! See how He spent Himself for you, and then sally forth⁵¹ and spend yourselves for Him. “Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD” (Isa 49:5). Though you may think that you do not succeed, your whole-hearted consecration shall be your honor in the Day of the Lord. By your hallowed life, and your humble service, you shall bring glory to His name.

O Lord, set us in our charges and encourage us in the service of Thy house! “Let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it” (Psa 90:17). May the blessing of our covenant God rest upon you, my brethren, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

_________________

27. ardent – strong emotion; passionate.
28. calumny – false accusation; malicious misrepresentation.
29. chip in the porridge – an addition that does neither good nor harm; unimportant.
30. adamant stone – a stone once believed to be impenetrable in its hardness.
31. alp – high mountain.
32. inspirit – to give energy or courage.
33. ruddy – a healthy, reddish complexion.
34. adventure – daring feat.
35. eminence – honor.
36. banter – humorous ridicule.
37. ballast – that which tends to steady the mind or feelings
38. annealed – to heat and cool metal gradually in order to toughen it.
39. mean – small-minded; lacking moral dignity.
40. austere – severe or strict in attitude.
41. capital – chief; first in importance.
42. perchance – perhaps.
43. stipulate about – require or insist upon; demand as a condition of agreement.
44. William Carey (1761-1834) – English Baptist, known as “the father of modern missions.”
45. good-speed – success.
46. Christopher Wren (1632-1723) – English architect.
47. pegging away – working on persistently; hammering away.
48. faggots – a bundle of small tree branches used for fuel.
49. credit – believe.
50. Smithfield – an area in the northwest part of London, where religious reformers and heretics were executed.
51. sally forth – rush out suddenly from a place of defense to attack the enemy.

__________________
From a sermon delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892): English Baptist preacher; history’s most widely read preacher, apart from those found in Scripture. Today, there is available more material written by Spurgeon than by any other Christian author, living or dead; born at Kelvedon, Essex, England.

Published with permission by Chapel Library