Onward! (S1114)

This sermon develops, early on, into a broadside against spiritual self-satisfaction. Spurgeon demolishes—with unusual thoroughness—any sense of spiritual smugness, by taking Paul’s desire for holiness as his proper standard, as well as considering other models of godliness and his broader experience of mankind. He digs deep, asking by what routes men attain to such a sense of contentedness with their present condition, and the root of such self-applause. Having done most of the heavy lifting in the first and bulkiest part of his sermon, considering the present life, he then hits us rapidly with the other three points which form the outline of his sermon: how Paul looks on his past with accuracy, to the future eagerly, all the while engaging fervently. For all his evangelistic fervour, Spurgeon never lets slip the connection between salvation and true godliness, and here he urges us not to become complacent with present attainments in holiness, but rather to press onward—while we rejoice that Christ’s work for us is complete, we must recognise that the Spirit’s work in us is ongoing, and labour accordingly as new men in Christ.

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