How Saints May Help the Devil

Spurgeon warns that professing Christians often comfort sinners in their sin by their own inconsistencies, giving the ungodly excuses to remain rebellious against God. He shows how everyday faults—covetousness, worldliness, pride, church quarrels, and especially the public scandals of professing believers—lead the world to say, “You are as bad as we are,” thus dulling the rebuke that holy lives should give. Spurgeon recounts a chilling story of a young minister whose frivolous, coarse conversation after preaching destroyed the spiritual conviction of a listener, who later died declaring, “My blood is on your head.” He also exposes how Christians’ murmuring, joyless attitudes, and cold-hearted indifference make religion appear hollow, causing sinners to feel justified in ignoring the gospel. Spurgeon then presses believers to confess their guilt for strengthening sinners’ hands, quieting their consciences, and even helping to ruin souls. Finally, he turns to the unconverted, smashing their excuse that Christian hypocrisy justifies unbelief, insisting that each person will answer to God for his own sin and must not hide behind the failures of others.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on July 24th, 1859.