Charles Spurgeon: Preaching Through Adversity by John Piper

Charles Spurgeon: Preaching Through Adversity by John Piper - Book Review

I really enjoyed reading Piper's book, Charles Spurgeon: Preaching through Adversity . I found this book at just the right time. I am nowhere near facing the adversity that Charles Spurgeon faced (as I found out in this book), but I definitely found that the perspectives on how to preach through adversity were extremely helpful.... and now, here is my review of this book:

Charles Spurgeon: Preaching through Adversity was a fairly short book. I was able to read this book in just a few sittings. It was really well written, and as it is with most of John Piper's books, the shortness of the book didn't equate to a lack of any kind.

I was initially intrigued by this book because of the title. I hadn't realized that Charles Spurgeon faced such adversity. It probably shouldn't have surprised me. I have always admired the sermons of Spurgeon's, that I have had the opportunity to read, but I really didn't know much about his personal life. This book really filled in the realities of his hardships.

Piper does a wonderful job of using relevant quotes and other examples to pull together the reality of Spurgeon's trials, but more importantly, to answer the question, "How did he continue to preach through this adversity?" As I read through this book I felt that I was really entering into Spurgeon's life.

As a Pastor myself, I found great comfort in this book. It kept pointing me back to great realities and infinite truths that, when believed, bring great comfort and encouragement. Most specifically the truths of God's Sovereignty and the doctrines of God's Great Unmerited Grace!

As the book drew to a close, I found myself... not simply admiring Charles Spurgeon... but glorying in my real hero: Jesus. This is precisely what John Piper desires to accomplish, and I can't help but think that Spurgeon would be pleased with this book as well, because the hero of Charles H. Spurgeon's story isn't Charles H. Spurgeon but Christ.

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The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.

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