Christ Precious to Believers

Spurgeon opens with a personal confession — this was the text of his very first sermon at age sixteen, and Christ is more precious to him now than ever — then proves from church history and present experience that Christ genuinely is precious to true believers, evidenced by the martyrs who died rather than deny him, the silent sufferers in ungodly homes who bear daily mockery, the tireless servants who give their Sabbaths and their savings to his cause, and the simple fact that a sermon without Christ leaves the believer cold while even a poorly-spoken sermon full of Christ moves them to tears. He then answers why Christ is precious to believers: he is precious positively as the source of every spiritual blessing, comparatively as surpassing liberty, life, and every earthly good, and superlatively as preferable even to heaven itself without him — and above all, his preciousness is felt most keenly through the believer's own desperate needs, since just as water is most precious to the dying thirsty man, Christ as shepherd, husband, substitute, advocate, and ransom is most precious to the soul that knows its own poverty, guilt, and helplessness. He closes with a direct personal challenge to every listener: if Christ is precious to you, you are a believer; if he is not, you are condemned already — and he invites anyone who has never said it to come to the cross, trust Christ there, and discover for themselves the love that makes him precious.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on March 13th, 1859.