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The sermon presents despair over God’s absence as a satanic temptation answered by the revealed faithfulness of God. Spurgeon strongly teaches the final perseverance of the saints, grounding assurance in God’s unchanging covenant, Christ’s blood, and the Spirit’s preserving work rather than in human constancy. Biblical witnesses and personal testimonies demonstrate that God sustains His people through suffering, unanswered prayer, sin, and danger. The proper response is to seek God persistently in prayer, take hold of His promises, and continue seeking Christ with confidence that those who seek Him will not be forsaken.
Theological center: God’s covenant faithfulness in Christ guarantees that He will not forsake those who seek Him and will preserve His people to final glory.
Applications: Seek God in trouble · Take hold of God’s promises · Seek Christ · Reject Satan’s accusation
Primary texts: Psalm 9:10 · Ephesians 6:16 · Matthew 7:7
“Thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” Psalm 9:10 THERE are many men who are exceedingly well-read in heathen mythologies, who can tell you the history of any of the heathen gods, but who at the same time know very little of the history of JEHOVAH, and cannot rehearse His mighty acts. In our schools to this day, there are books put into the hands of our youth that are by no means fit for them to read—books which contain all kinds of filth, and if not always filth, yet all kinds of fables and vanities, which are simply put into our hands when we are lads because they happen to be written in Latin and Greek, and therefore, I suppose it is imagined that we shall all the better recollect the wickedness that is contained in them by having the trouble of translating them into our own mother tongue. I would that instead of this, all our youth were made acquainted with the history of the Lord our God. Would that we could give them for classics some books which record what He has done, the victories of His glorious arm, and how He has put to nought the gods of the heathen and cast them down even into the depths. At any rate, the Christian will always find it to be useful to have at hand some history of what God did in the days of yore. The more you know of God’s attributes, the more you understand of His acts, the more you treasure up of His promises and the more you fully dive into the depths of His covenant, the more difficult will it become for Satan to tempt you to despondency and despair. Acquaint yourself with God and be at peace. Meditate on His law both day and night, and you shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, your leaf shall not wither, you shall bring forth fruit in your season, and whatsoever you do shall prosper. Ignorance of God is ignorance of bliss, but knowledge of God is a divine armor, by which we are able to ward off all the blows of the enemy. Know yourself, O man, and that will make you miserable, know your God, O Christian, and that will make you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Now, this morning in addressing you, I shall divide my text into three parts. First, I shall note a certain fiery dart of Satan, secondly, I shall point out to you heaven’s divine buckler, as hinted at in the text—“Thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee,” and then, in the third place, I shall notice man’s precious privilege of seeking God and so of arming himself against Satan. I. First then, I am to dwell for a little time upon A CERTAIN FIERY DART OF SATAN WHICH IS CONSTANTLY SHOT AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF GOD.…