New Park Street Pulpit · Sermon No. 346
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, November 18, 1860, by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, at Exeter Hall, Strand
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13. THE former part of the sentence would be a piece of impudent daring without the latter part to interpret it. There have been some men who, puffed up with vanity, have in their hearts said, “I can do all things.” Their destruction has been sure and near at hand! Nebuchadnezzar walks through the midst of the great city; he sees its stupendous tower threading the clouds; he marks the majestic and colossal size of every building, and he says in his heart, “Behold this great Babylon which I have built. I can do all things.” A few hours, and he can do nothing except that in which the beast excels him; he eats grass like the oxen until his hair has grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws. See, too, the Persian potentate. He leads a million men against Greece; he wields a power which he believes to be omnipotent; he lashes the sea, casts chains upon the waves, and bids it be his slave! Ah, foolish pantomime—“I can do all things!” His hosts melt away, the bravery of Greece is too much for him—he returns to his country in dishonor! Or, if you will take a modern instance of a man who was born to rule and govern, and found his way upwards from the lowest ranks to the highest point of empire, call to mind Napoleon! He stands like a rock in the midst of angry billows; the nations dash against him, and break themselves. He, himself, puts out the sun of Austria, and bids the star of Prussia set. He dares to proclaim war against all the nations of the earth, and believes that he, himself, shall be a very Briarius with a hundred hands attacking a hundred antagonists at once! “I can do all things,” he might have written upon his banners. It was the very note which his eagles screamed amid the battle. He marches to Russia, he defies the elements; he marches across the snow, and sees the palace of an ancient monarch in flames. No doubt, as he looks at the blazing Kremlin, he thinks, “I can do all things.” But you shall come back to your country alone; you shall strew the frozen plains with men; you shall be utterly wasted, and destroyed! Inasmuch as you have said, “I propose and dispose, too,” let Jehovah disposes of you, and take you from your seat, seeing you have arrogated to yourself omnipotence among men! And what shall we say to our Apostle, little in stature, stammering in speech, his personal presence weak, and his speech contemptible—when he comes forward and boasts, “I can do all things”? O impudent presumption! What can you do, Paul? The leader of a hated sect, all of them doomed by an imperial edict to death! You, you, who dare to teach the absurd dogma that a crucified Man is able to save souls; that He is actually King in Heaven, and virtually King on earth! You say, “I can do all things.” What? Has Gamaliel taught you such an art of eloquence, that you can baffle all that oppose you? What? Have your sufferings given you so stern a courage, that you are not to be turned away from the opinions which you have so tenaciously held? Is it in yourself you rely? No! “I can do all things,” he says, “through Christ who strengthens me.” Looking boldly around him, he turns the eyes of his faith humbly towards his God and Savior, Jesus Christ, and dares to say, not impiously, nor arrogantly, yet with devout reverence and dauntless courage, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
My Brothers and Sisters, when Paul said these words, he meant them. Indeed, he had to a great measure already proved the strength of which he now asserts the promise! Have you ever thought how varied were the trials, and how innumerable the achievements of the Apostle Paul? Called by Grace in a sudden and miraculous manner, immediately— not consulting with flesh and blood—he essays to preach the Gospel he has newly received! Then he retires a little while, that he may more fully understand the Word of God. From the desert of Arabia, where he has girded his loins, and strengthened himself by meditation and personal mortification, he comes out. Not taking counsel with the Apostles, nor asking their guidance or their approbation, but at once, with singular courage, proclaiming the name of Jesus, and proclaiming that he, himself, also is an Apostle of Christ! You will remember that after this, he undertook many difficult things—he withstood Peter to his face—no easy task with a man so bold and so excellent as Peter was, but Peter might be a timeserver—Paul never! Paul rebukes Peter, even to his face. And then mark his own achievements, as he describes them himself, “In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure.” “In prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness and painfulness, in marches often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which comes upon me daily, the care of all the Churches.” Ah, bravely spoken, Beloved Paul! Yours was no empty boast. You have, indeed, in your life, preached a sermon upon the text, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”