Living by Revealed Truth, The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon

1050 Pages·2016·6.42 MB·English

by  Tom Nettles

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was the greatest preacher of the nineteenth century in
England and probably the whole world. The pungent and passionate sermons of
the Baptist pastor brought home the gospel message to the hearts of his
numerous hearers and more numerous readers. Tom Nettles has retold
Spurgeon’s life as a warm admirer, but he is careful to rest his judgements on
detailed evidence. In particular The Sword and the Trowel, the magazine
Spurgeon edited as pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, is used as a
quarry for an abundance of fresh material. Consequently this biography casts
new light on Spurgeon’s life, ministry and theology.
David Bebbington,
Professor of History, University of Stirling, Stirling
With the publication of Living by Revealed Truth, Tom Nettles has provided his
readers with the premier interpretive account of Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Evidencing decades of serious engagement with this great Baptist leader of the
nineteenth century, Nettles has given us an immense and monumental portrait of
almost every aspect of the life of "the prince of preachers," including not only
his numerous writings and multi-faceted ministry, but also his leadership
practices and personal challenges. Educational, edifying, and enjoyable to read,
this massive work is a masterful contribution to Baptist history and Christian
biography.
David S. Dockery,
President, Union University, Jackson, Tennessee
Charles Spurgeon is a mountain – a massive figure on the evangelical landscape.
Tom Nettles now helps us to understand Charles Haddon Spurgeon as a man, a
theologian, and one of the most influential pastors in church history. Nettles
takes us into the heart of Charles Spurgeon’s conviction and his pastoral
theology. This is a book that will encourage, educate, and bless its readers.
R. Albert Mohler Jr.,
President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky
Eschewing hagiography and dispelling the synergistic revision of some who are
unhampered by information, Dr. Nettles provides the evangelical community
with another edifying work on the life and ministry of the "Prince of Preachers."
Readers are inspired to holiness of life, faithfulness in Christ's service, and
perseverance in godliness by the moving account of this great Victorian
evangelist who held and maintained through his preaching and pastoral ministry
endeavors the great truths generally known as "the doctrines of grace."
C. Berry Driver, Jr.,
C. Berry Driver, Jr.,
Professor of Systematic Theology, Senior Librarian, and Dean of Libraries, Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.
Fifteen years in the making, this is the first biography of Spurgeon to be written
by a world-class historian who had access to the entirety of the Sword &
Trowel magazine that Spurgeon edited monthly from 1865 to 1892. Because of
the information and insights gleaned by Nettles from so much previously
untapped and under-utilized material, Living by Revealed Truth is a massively
important contribution to Spurgeon studies. Fresh and unique, this book will be
enjoyable to laymen, profitable to pastors, and indispensable for scholars.
Nettles' volume now takes an honored place among the most valuable of all
resources pertaining to the Prince of Preachers.
Don Whitney,
Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality, Senior Associate Dean for the School of Theology, The
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky
A magisterial biography of England’s greatest pastor! Tom Nettles has given the
Church, like no biographer of Charles Haddon Spurgeon before him, a deep look
into the mind of the most influential minister that Baptists have ever produced.
Nettles presents Spurgeon in his own words, examining and ordering his
thoughts as revealed in the massive sermon collection, his extant letters but
especially in his editorials and essays in the pages of The Sword and Trowel, the
monthly journal Spurgeon edited through much of his London ministry. Nettles
gives the reader insights into Spurgeon’s views on theology, the ministry, and
church life that will pay rich dividends to any who will take the time to read this
compelling story. If a minister reads only one biography of the great preacher,
let it be this one!
Jeff Straub,
Professor of Historical Theology, Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Plymouth, Minnesota
Dr. Thomas Nettles is widely regarded as one of the foremost Baptist historians
in our day, and rightfully so. His research is scholarly, his theology is lofty, and
his heart for the church is clear. In his new book, Living by Revealed Truth – The
Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Nettles presents the
ministerial brilliance of the “Prince of Preachers,” whose pastoral labors
transcend generations down to this present hour. Revered by many as the
greatest preacher since the apostle Paul, readers will be encouraged and edified
by this engaging account of Spurgeon’s life and ministry. Whether a pastor or
layman, this narrative of Spurgeon’s transcendent theology and enflamed
passion for biblical truth will, most certainly, energize you in doing God’s work,
God’s way, for God’s glory.
Steven J. Lawson,
Senior Pastor, Christ Fellowship Baptist Church, Mobile, Alabama
Living by Revealed Truth is one of those rare gems of Christian biography: it
places in your hands the life a great man, written by an outstanding historical
theologian. The combination brings Charles Spurgeon's life and thought to life.
Tom Nettles's portrait of Spurgeon is eminently personal, historically vivid and
theologically rich. I recommend it to anyone interested in seeing how theology
and ministry, gospel and life, can unite in a single narrative of a life lived for the
glory of God.
Robert Caldwell,
Assistant Professor of Church History, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Forth Worth, Texas
Pastors and elders, especially those mentoring young men for gospel ministry,
will find Tom Nettles' Living By Revealed Truth to be a treasure of pastoral
theology. Written winsomely and comprehensively, the book presents a
remarkable picture of how C. H. Spurgeon embraced the whole of pastoral
ministry, and how he continues to influence yet another generation of gospel
workers through his legacy. Much more than a biography or a pastor's
manual, Living By Revealed Truth sets forth the details of a gospel-centered
ministry in ways that give contemporary ministers motivation and direction for
every stage of pastoral work.
Phillip Newton,
Senior Pastor, South Woods Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee
Charles Spurgeon was a once-a-century kind of preacher. He was a great gift to
the church and through his writings and printed sermons, remains a great ally in
the cause of Christ. That so many biographies about him have appeared since his
death in 1892 is a testimony to his lasting influence. Like the other great
Christian leaders in church history, Spurgeon was a pastor-theologian. As such,
all of his ministry was shaped by biblical theology with pastoral sensitivity. Tom
Nettles demonstrates how Spurgeon gave himself to the work of the ministry
with this kind of self-conscious commitment to be a theologian of the Word.
That commitment, Nettles shows, caused Spurgeon to preach, teach and minister
with a confessional fidelity. He was not ashamed to embrace the evangelical,
Christ-centered Calvinism of his Baptist and Puritan forebears. In fact, he
regarded that system of truth to be imminently biblical and powerfully practical
for all of his pastoral work. What Nettles makes plain is that for Spurgeon, all
theology is pastoral theology. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It
should be widely distributed by all who love the gospel of God's grace that
Spurgeon preached. Every pastor, ministerial student and those who work to
train men for the ministry should carefully learn from the life and labors of
Charles Haddon Spurgeon as Tom Nettles elucidates them. Nearly everyone who
knows of Spurgeon admires him for his great accomplishments. Nettles helps us
understand the theological underpinnings of those accomplishments. In doing so,
the author, like his subject, has served the church well.
Tom Ascol,
Pastor, Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida
Despite his ongoing popularity, Charles Spurgeon has only recently begun to
attract the serious attention he deserves. Tom Nettles' work now makes a major
contribution to this growing appreciation of the man and his ministry. Mining
neglected but important sources, he has given sharper definition to our picture of
Spurgeon, and produced a highly stimulating and readable account.
Michael Reeves,
Head of Theology, UCCF; author, The Good God and The Unquenchable Flame
Charles Spurgeon was the most influential preacher in the English-speaking
world during the latter half of the nineteenth century. But he was also an
influential Baptist pastor-theologian who saw himself as continuing the best of
the older Puritan theological tradition. While numerous biographies of Spurgeon
have been published over the decades, Spurgeon's thought normally receives
short shrift from his biographers. This is why this new biography is so important.
By focusing on Spurgeon's memoirs and published articles, Tom Nettles has
filled an important gap in scholarship related to Spurgeon with this exhaustive
intellectual biography of the Prince of Preachers. Many pastors and other casual
readers will be encouraged by Spurgeon's commitment to a high view of
Scripture and historic Baptist orthodoxy from a Reformed perspective. Scholars
will be forced to reckon with Spurgeon the theologian as they pursue their own
studies of the famed Victorian pastor. Nettles has spent his entire career
promoting the recovery of a Spurgeonic theological vision among his fellow
Baptists and other evangelicals. This fine biography will almost certainly
contribute to that theological recovery.
Nathan A. Finn,
Associate Professor of Historical Theology and Baptist Studies, The Southeastern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina
It has long been my conviction that, despite the goodly number of Spurgeon
biographies that have been written since the Baptist preacher’s death in 1892,
there really is lacking a definitive study that not only takes account of his
remarkable ministry and the inspiring details of his life, but also adequately
deals with the theology of the man. Finally, in this work by my dear colleague
Tom Nettles, a sort of magnum opus upon which he has labored for many years,
is justice done to not only Spurgeon the man and preacher, but also to Spurgeon
the theologian. Here is an “all-round” study of Spurgeon that provides us with a
fully reliable, substantial examination of an extremely important figure in the life
of Victorian Evangelicalism and the world of that era. In the words of a
command given to Augustine, whom Spurgeon rightly regarded as an ancient
forebear of key aspects of his theology, Tolle lege (“Take it up and read!”)—and
you will be blessed.
Michael A.G. Haykin,
Professor of Church History & Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
Louisville, Kentucky
Tom Nettles writes that his aim in compiling this biography of Charles Haddon
Spurgeon was to probe deeply the great preacher’s pastoral theology. However,
may I may be so bold as to suggest that, as a result of his painstaking years of
exhaustive research, Dr. Nettles has given the church a treasure even greater than
that? This biography chronicles in well-documented detail Spurgeon’s
unwavering commitment to the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, his
passionate exposition of the gospel doctrines of grace, his unquenchable zeal for
the salvation of the lost, his undying desire to relieve the suffering of the poor,
and his amazing perseverance through immense personal suffering of many
kinds. While few figures in church history have enjoyed gracious spiritual gifts
from the Lord in the same abounding measure as Spurgeon, Dr. Nettles reveals
to us a man who nevertheless can be for all Christians – not just pastors – a
marvellous example of Christian faithfulness we all might pray God would
enable us to emulate. May it please the Lord, through the widespread reading of
this biography, to inspire thousands of Christian men and women to seek from
God’s grace the sort of white-hot evangelistic zeal and unshakeable biblical
commitments that were so characteristic of the pastoral ministry of Charles
Haddon Spurgeon!
Stephen E. Farish,
Pastor
LIVING BY REVEALED TRUTH
The Life and Pastoral Theology of
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
TOM NETTLES
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Copyright © Tom Nettles 2013
ISBN 978-1-78191-122-8 book
ISBN 978-1-78191-273-4 ePub
ISBN 978-1-78191-274-4 Mobi
First Published in 2013
in the Mentor Imprint
by Christian Focus Publications,
Geanies House, Fearn,
Ross-shire, IV20 1TW, Scotland, U.K.
www.christianfocus.com
Cover design by Daniel Van Straaten All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic,
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CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
1. Birth to New Birth
2. Made for Gospel Ministry
3. The Metropolitan Tabernacle
4. Preaching the Whole Counsel
5. Theological Method and Content
6. Spurgeon’s Message of Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice
7. The Challenge of Church Life and the Governance of Worship
8. The Gospel is Evangelism
9. Use of Evangelists
10. Theological Foundations for a Benevolent Ministry
11. Personal Theory and Preferences in the Production of Godly Literature
12. Literature about Right, Wrong, and Truth
13. Theology and Controversy
14. Destroyed or be Destroyed
15. The Downgrade Conflict
16. Spurgeon and Baptists in America
17. Sickness, Suffering, Depression
18. Conduct in the Face of Death
SCRIPTURE INDEX
SUBJECT INDEX