Phila delphia > The Heart of the Gospel {For God So Loved the World} by A. T. Pierson

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by A. T. Pierson, DD.

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DELIVERED AT THE

METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,

IN THE AUTUMN OF 1891.

BY

ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.

London:
PASSMORE AND ALABASTER,
PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C.


To the Memory
of
CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON,

THAT VALIANT SOLDIER OF THE CROSS,
WHO FOR FORTY YEARS WIELDED WITH SUCH POWER
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD,
AND BRAVELY BORE THE BANNER OF THE CROSS
UNTIL IT FELL FROM HIS DYING GRASP,
THIS VOLUME OF SERMONS,
WHICH REPRESENTS A HUMBLE EFFORT
TO PERPETUATE HIS TESTIMONY TO THE SAME OLD GOSPEL,
IS MOST LOVINGLY DEDICATED.




"THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL" in 6 html pages-

PREFATORY NOTE AND INTRODUCTION on page 1 (this page)

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Prefatory Note.

"THIS book aspires to no pre-eminence as furnishing homiletic models.

Twelve sermons are here put in print, which were preached in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, in the Autumn of 1891, while Pastor C. H. Spurgeon was seeking recovered health at Mentone. They were never written, even in part, and are reproduced almost verbatim.

If any interest invests them, it is almost wholly circumstantial, owing to the unique conditions under which they were spoken. Many and marked as are their defects, it pleased God, in a remarkable degree, to use them both to convert sinners and confirm saints.

There was a call for their publication, and it was so general that it was thought best not to disregard it, and it is devoutly hoped that He, for Whose sake they were prepared and preached, may have even yet some further errand for them to accomplish. With this prayer, they are sent forth in His name." --Arthur T. Pierson.

METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
LONDON, JUNE, 1892.

SERMON NUMBER TWO

The Heart of the Gospel.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have Everlasting Life"
(John 3:16).

Introduction.

THERE is one text in the New Testament that has been preached from oftener than any other in the Bible. It has been the foundation of great revivals of religion, like that among the Tahitians; or that among the Telugus in India, where 2,222 people were baptized in one day, nearly 5,000 people in thirty days, and 10,000 people within ten months; and where, even during the year drawing to its close, nearly 10,000 more souls have been baptized. It is a wonderful text. Luther called it one of "the little gospels." It is this (John 3:16): "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life."

You will naturally wonder what there is in that old text that is new. I have found something that was very new to me, and which also may be to you. I suppose that I had read that verse tens of thousands of times, and yet, a little while ago, as I was led to preach upon that text, I sought of the Lord a clearer view of it, that I might glorify Him, by bringing forth out of His treasure things new and old. After reading these familiar words over, perhaps a hundred times, prayerfully asking for new light and insight, there suddenly came to me this absolutely new discovery, as though one, looking up into the heavens, should see a cloud swept away from before the stars, and a new constellation revealed. It flashed on my thought that there are ten words in the verse that are quite prominent words, such as "God," "loved," "world," "whosoever," and so on. Then a little more close and careful search showed those words in a hitherto undiscovered mutual relation: the ten words were in five pairs. There is one pair of words that has to do with the two persons of the Godhead-- God the Father, and God the Son. There is a second pair of words that has to do with the expression of the Father's attitude or posture towards this world-- He "loved" and He "gave." Then there is a third pair of words that refers to the objects of the divine love-- "world" and "whosoever." Then there is a fourth pair of words that shows us what the attitude of man ought to be when God's love and gift come to his knowledge-- "believe" and "have." Then the last pair of words points us to the extremes of human destiny: the result of rejection, and the result of acceptance-- "perish" and "life."

Often as I had read this "gospel in a sentence," I had never seen before that singular relation borne by the main words in the sentence; and, so far as I know, nobody else had seen it before; for it is one of the beautiful privileges about the study of the precious Word of God that the humblest believer who asks the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in studying the Holy Scriptures, may make a discovery for himself that nobody has ever made before, or if so, without his knowledge; so that it is still his own discovery.

Let us look at this text in the light of this fresh arrangement of the thoughts which it contains. To my mind, it is one of the most remarkable discoveries that it has ever been permitted me to make in the study and exploration of the hidden treasures of the Word of God.

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PREFATORY NOTE AND INTRODUCTION on page 1 (this page)

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SECTION 2 on page 3 ---New Window

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SECTION 4 on page 5 ---New Window

SECTION 5 on page 6 ---New Window





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