Thoughts on Spurgeon, pt 1

It was crazy to me that C.H. Spurgeon grew up looking at the pictures of Christian from Pilgrim's Progress. He spent his youngest years perusing books of great depth like Pilgrim's Progress and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. He began at an early age to engage in discussions of doctrine with older gentlemen(both his father and grandfather were pastors and young Charles would sit in as they talked with other pastors and leaders). This led to an interesting point in his life when the weight and burden of sin was crushing his soul...

I'm not sure how long this took place but I am sure that it had a profound effect on his outlook on sin and ministry. First, that sin was utterly deplorable but also that sovereign grace should be (and was) preached in every sermon. 

It was incredible to me that he spent time begging God for conversion. He had an awareness of sin but needed to be born from above. I think it is a great idea to teach people to pray for conversion. That they need to have God accomplish a work in them that they cannot achieve by signing a card for baptism or by wandering to the front. This desperation for conversion had a profound effect on him. He took sin absolutely seriously and he resolved to preach with crystal clear clarity that all need to trust in the crucified Jesus for salvation.