SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON) to describe that true Christians persevere.

Spurgeon was a master illustrator. In your preaching, you can use this illustration to describe that true Christians persevere.

Not many days ago, I thought I saw the Alps. I have stood on the platform at Berne, Switzerland, and viewed with growing wonder the magnificent range of the snow-clad Alps. The other day within a few miles of this spot, in our own county of Surrey, I saw on the horizon clouds the very facsimile of Switzerland’s glorious mountains. There seemed no perceptible difference; the snowy masses of cloud were the exact counterpart of the Alps. If I had just risen from my sleep, and not known where I was, I should have said, “I am at Berne, looking at the mountains that I saw years ago.” Yet before five minutes had passed, the fair vision had melted away, and there were no peaks of granite there but mere aggregations of vapor.

How often have I seen Christians, as I have thought, and as all others have thought, and I have rejoiced and blessed God over what seemed converted men and women? But before long we have had clear proof that we have been grossly deceived. There was goodness in them—Hosea 6:4 calls it “love”—but it was only such nominal goodness as nature boasts of, and it vanished “like a morning cloud.”