Spurgeon on Proverbs - Gordon College Faculty

Spurgeon on Proverbs






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Table of Contents
Page
The Hold Fast Prov. 4:13 4
The Great Reservoir Prov. 4:23 18
Eyes Right Prov. 4:25 30
At the End of Your Life Prov. 5:11 43
Sinners Bound with Cords of Sin Prov. 5:22 57
An Appeal to Children of Godly Parents Prov. 6:20-23 70
The Talking Book Prov. 6:22 80
The Waterer Watered Prov. 11:25 93
Withholding Corn Prov. 11:26 106
The Soul Winner Soul Winning Prov. 11:30 120
How a Man's Conduct Come Home to Him Prov. 14:14 133
Godly Fear and its Goddly Consequence Prov. 14:26 147
God, the All-Seeing One Prov. 15:11 160
The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way Prov. 15:19 172
Unsound Spiritual Trading Prov. 16:2 185
Trust in God-True Wisdom Prov. 16:20 199
The Unrivalled Friend Prov. 17:17 211
Our Stronghold Prov. 18:10 224
Pride and Humility Prov. 18:12 237
The Cause and Cure of a Wounded Spirit Prov. 18:14 249
A Faithful Friend Prov. 18:24 261
The Sluggard's Reproof Prov. 20:4 274
One Lion, Two Lions, No Lions at All Prov. 22:13 286
All the Day Long Prov. 23:17-18 300
Three Important Precepts Prov. 23:19 313
Buying the Truth Prov. 23:23 326
The Heart: A Gift from God Prov. 23:26 337
The Broken Fence: The Sluggard's Farm Prov. 24:30-32 346
God's Glory in Hiding Sin Prov. 25:2 355
Good News Prov. 25:25 366
Tomorrow Cheer for Despondency Prov 27:1 379
Faithful Wounds Prov. 27:6 392
The Wandering Bird Prov. 27:8 419
The Best Friend Prov. 27:10 431
The Way to Honor, The Honored Servant Prov. 27:18 442
Spiritual Appetite Prov. 27:7 455
Two Coverings and Two Consequences Prov. 28:13 468
Page
The Right King of Fear Prov. 28:14 478
Two Ancient Proverbs Prov. 29:25 491
A Homily for Humble Folks Prov. 30:2 501
The Gospel Cordial Prov. 31:6-7 515

Procrastination by Jonathan Edwards Prov. 27:1 524
The Duties of Parent by J. C. Ryle Prov. 22:6 5
42





The Hold Fast



June 9th, 1878


at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington,



by C. H. Spurgeon.



"Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she
is thy life."--Proverbs 4:13.





Faith may be well described as taking hold upon divine instruction. God has
condescended to teach us, and it is ours to hear with attention and receive
his words; and while we are hearing faith comes, even that faith which
saves the soul. To take "fast hold" is an exhortation which concerns the
strength, the reality, the heartiness, and the truthfulness of faith, and
the more of these the better. If to take hold is good, to take fast hold is
better. Even a touch of the hem of Christ's garment causeth healing to come
to us, but if we want the full riches which are treasured up in Christ we
must not only touch but take hold; and if we would know from day to day to
the very uttermost all the fullness of his grace, we must take fast hold,
and so maintain a constant and close connection between our souls and the
eternal fountain of life. It were well to give such a grip as a man gives
to a plank when he seizes hold upon it for his very life- that is a fast
hold indeed.
We are to take fast hold of instruction, and the best of instruction is
that which comes from God; the truest wisdom is the revelation of God in
Christ Jesus: of that therefore we are to take fast hold. The best
understanding is obedience to the will of God and a diligent learning of
those saving truths which God has set before us in his word: so that in
effect we are exhorted to take hold of Christ Jesus our Lord, the incarnate
wisdom in whom dwelleth all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We are
not to let him go but to keep him and hold him, for he is our life. Does
not John in his gospel tell us that the Word is our light for instruction
and at the same time our life? "In him was life, and the life was the light
of men." The more we abide in the Lord Jesus and the more firmly we take
hold upon him, the better will it be for us in a thousand ways. I intend at
this time to speak as the Holy Spirit shall enable me upon this fast-hold;
and I reckon that the subject is one of the most important which can occupy
your attention at this particular crisis in the history of the church. Many
there be around us who believe in Christ, but it is with a very trembling
faith and their hold is unsteady; we need to have among us men of tighter
grip, who really believe what they profess to believe, who know the truth
in its living power, and are persuaded of its certainty, so that they
cannot by any means be moved from their steadfastness. Among the
vacillating crowd we long to see fast-holders who are pillars in the house
of our God, whose grasp of divine truth is not that of babes or boys, but
of men full grown and vigorous.
We shall handle our subject by speaking first upon the method by which we
may take fast hold; then upon the difficulties which will lie in our way in
so doing; thirdly, upon the benefits of such a firm grasp; and lastly upon
the arguments for our fast holding mentioned in the text.
I. First then, the method of taking fast hold upon true religion, upon the
gospel, upon Christ in fact.
At the outset my brethren, much must depend upon the intense decision which
a man feels in his soul with regard to eternal things. If he intends
trifling he will trifle, but if he means taking fast hold he will, by God's
grace, do so. Under God, this, in many cases, depends very much upon a
man's individuality and force of character. Some men are naturally thorough
and whole-hearted in all things upon which they enter, whether of this
world or the next. When they serve the devil they are amongst his life
guards, and they rush to the front in all kinds of iniquity. Among sinners
they become the chief for they have no fear and no hesitancy; they are
daredevils, defying both God and man, sinning greedily with both hands.
Such men, when converted, often become eminent saints, being just as
thorough and resolute in their following after God as they were in the
pursuit of evil; they are determined to vindicate his holy cause and spread
abroad the knowledge of his love. I must confess an earnest longing that
many such may be brought into the church of Christ at this time to brace
her up and inspire her with new energy. Many in our churches appear to have
no depth of earth; with joy they receive the word from the very fact that
they are so shallow, but as soon as the sun ariseth with burning heat it is
discovered that they have no root, for they wither away. Others are truly
religious, and probably will remain so, but they are not zealous; in fact
they are not intense about anything, but are lukewarm, weak, and unstable.
These are mere chips in the porridge, neither souring nor sweetening: they
give forth no flavour, but they take the flavour of that which surrounds
them; they are the creatures of circumstances, not helmsmen who avail
themselves of stream and tide, but mere drift-wood carried along by any and
every current which may take hold on them. They have no fullness of manhood
about them, they are mere children; they resemble the sapling which can be
bent and twisted, and not the oak which defies the storm. There are certain
persons of this sort who in other matters have purpose enough, and strength
of mind enough, but when they touch the things of God they are loose,
flimsy, superficial, half-hearted. You see them earnest enough in hunting
after wealth, but they show no such zeal in the pursuit of godliness. The
force of their character comes out in a political debate, in the making of
a bargain, in the arrangement of a social gathering, but you never see it
in the work of the Lord. The young man comes to the front as a volunteer,
or as a member of a club, or in the house of business, but who ever hears
of him in the Sabbath school, the prayer-meeting, or the home-mission? In
the things of God such persons owe any measure of progress which they make
to the influence of their fellows who bear them along as so much dead
weight, they themselves never throwing enough weight into the matter to add
a s