From the Heart of Spurgeon

The Foundation and the Seal: A Sermon for the Times (S1854)

This sermon sounds a note of concern. The Second Letter to Timothy has a consistent awareness of certain threats to the gospel and its ministers, a series of troublesome individuals who assault the truth of Christ and oppose the servants of Christ. Nevertheless, Paul’s “gracious anxiety” does not disturb “the serenity of his faith.” He remains confident that the foundation will stand, because of the seal of God upon his people. With this in mind, Spurgeon first explores the way in which false teachers were overthrowing the faith of some, with warnings for God’s people in every age. He then considers the abiding foundation of God, the purpose, truth, and work of the Almighty, which are not shifted. Finally, he turns to the seal on the foundation stone, the mark which gives us confidence, of divine election with divine sanctification. We are at least as well-stocked today with false teachers as Paul in his day, and Spurgeon in Victorian London. It is therefore appropriate for us to maintain a gracious anxiety for the sake of Christ and his church, but also a serene faith, confident that the purpose of God shall come to pass, the truth of God shall endure, and the work of God shall proceed.

Read the sermon here:

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Before Sermon, at Sermon, and after Sermon (S1847)

A simple sermon, and yet one that hits home. The texts is James 1:21–22, and Spurgeon does little more than run through the text, taking each portion as an instruction as to how we prepare for a sermon, engage with a sermon, and respond to a sermon. But to say that he runs through the text is not to suggest that he just rehearses its words. Rather, the point of hearing is doing, a real heeding of God’s word. Spurgeon therefore asks first what are those filthinesses and wickednesses which unfit our souls for listening to the preacher. Further what does it mean to receive the engrafted word with meekness? How does a creature listen to the holy speech of his Creator so as to profit by it? Finally, what do we do afterward? Does the Scripture simply drift away from us, or do we set out to put it into practice, to the honour of God and to the blessing of others? Too often, the people of God undo all the effort of the preacher of his truth and trample on the very word itself. So, let us be hearers, yes, but doers also, and so honour the God who speaks in the Scriptures, and prove ourselves his true children.

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/before-sermon-at-sermon-and-after-sermon

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

#spurgeon #podcast #fyp #preacher #reformed #Christian #sermon #history #churchhistory #pastor

A Question for a Questioner (S1843)

Sometimes people ask a hard question: “Has God forgotten to be gracious?” It is not hard to answer, in one sense, but it shows a certain hardness in their soul to suggest that the unchanging God of grace has somehow altered in himself or ceased to be himself. So Spurgeon demands that we give that question all its weight, drag it into the light, and interrogate the question. By the end of the sermon, the question has become less a challenge to God and more a rebuke to ourselves. Spurgeon puts the question first of all in the mouth of a child of God who is cast down. Then he suggests that it might be found on the lips of a seeking sinner. Finally, and briefly, he wonders how it would play in the heart of a dispirited gospel worker. In each case, he forces us to follow the logic of our own doubts, often showing a merciful lack of mercy in pressing the case toward its ugly conclusion, before turning the question back upon us to expose our unbelief and present God to us in all his unchanging faithfulness and abundant grace. It is not easy to be dealt with so robustly, but Spurgeon evidently believes that there is some value in his rigorous dealings with souls. If we have been tempted to cover up our wounds of unbelief with the plaster of high-sounding words, Spurgeon is going to rip off the plaster and instead apply some astringent medicine to our souls—painful, perhaps, but profitable indeed.

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/a-question-for-a-questioner

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Elijah’s Plea (S1832)

Elijah’s plea was simple: “Let it be known that I have done all these things at your word.” Spurgeon turns it in two directions. First, to obedient saints it is a firm ground for prayer. He considers the labouring minister, a whole church, an individual Christian, and—departing slightly from his main heading—he asks how it would be used by a seeking sinner. Second, to those who cannot say that they have acted according to God’s word, it is a solemn matter for question, a means of self-examination. As he sometimes does, he puts the question to the same categories as under his first heading from the different angle: to the worker he asks about our preaching and our living; to the church, he asks about our motives and our holiness; to Christian people, he inquires about arrogance and hypocrisy. He gives more time here again to the seeking sinner, with a couple of hints to those who may be converted, urging them to embrace the will of God in those things which lead to peace. Spurgeon shows us here how to preach a sermon on two levels to a mixed congregation, blending both comforts and challenges to various kinds of hearers. The result is a striking call to humble obedience, applied across the board.

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/elijahs-plea

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Exceeding Gladness (S1827)

Our Lord Jesus, insists Spurgeon, was not only a man of sorrows, but a man of joys. He knew joys in his humiliation, and he knows joys in his exaltation. He has distinct gladness as the Mediator. Bubbling over with delight, Spurgeon spreads himself in his introduction, delighting to think of the delight which characterises our Lord in glory. Only then does he turn, with particular concentration, to the substance of his sermon, packing in truth because he has less time than otherwise, condensing his study of the distinctive privilege and character of the saints’ joy, drawn from their entering into Christ’s joy. He holds fast to his text, before expanding upon it in the last few moments of his sermon, as—soaked with Scripture, and with a poetry born of piety—he considers the channels through which the blessings of God flow to us, and then soars into a concluding exhortation to God’s people to enter into the joy which the Lord has secured for us. It is a truly happy sermon, and it breeds the kind of happiness which this world cannot offer, but which is received and enjoyed by all who know Christ Jesus as their God and Saviour, and the Almighty as their Father, through him.

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/exceeding-gladness

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

A Sweet Silver Bell Ringing in Each Believer’s Heart (S1819)

What may seem to be a slightly twee title contains a very sweet truth: “My God will hear me.” With such a brief phrase, Spurgeon simply unpacks it, weaving together doctrine, experience, and practice. Here is a title to relish, “my God,” with all it means. Then there is an argument to grasp, that because he is God and my God, he will hear me. Then there is the favour involved, that all-hearing, sympathetic, wise, and righteous ear which is open to our cry, to enter into our experience. And do not forget, says Spurgeon, the person who is heard. Here he pleads not only with the believer who already enjoys this sweet silver bell ringing in his heart, but also the troubled and distressed soul, sin-sick and sorrowing, who has come to desire God as Saviour. The God of heaven, kind and gracious, will most assuredly hear the one who cries out of the depths. What a joyful thought to take away, and what a great expectation to possess: “My God will hear me!”

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/a-sweet-silver-bell-ringing-in-each-believers-heart

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Commendation for the Steadfast (S1814)

“The Philadelphian church was not great, but it was good; it was not powerful, but it was faithful.” Does that describe the congregation to which you belong? Drawing from Christ’s words to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3, Spurgeon identifies the word of praise which Christ offers, the word of prospect, and the word of promise. As ever, the preacher uses this congregation to hold up a mirror in which we may assess our own reflection. Can we receive such praise for our faithfulness in holding to the Word of God? Have we been faithful with what we have received, and so been granted a prospect of further usefulness? And, with all that, can we therefore rest upon the promise, that having kept God’s word, we shall ourselves be kept from temptation? A typical blend of encouragement and challenge, all soaked in the savour of Christ, gives us an opportunity to examine ourselves, to aspire to greater faithfulness and holiness, and to take comfort in the goodness and mercy of our Redeemer.

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/commendation-for-the-steadfast96g

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

A Summary of Experience and A Body of Divinity (S1806)

There is a splash of sentiment in this selection, because this is another sermon of Spurgeon’s which I remember reading in preparation for preaching. I recall being struck with the preacher’s delight in the Scriptures, with his happy depth of insight, with the experiential substance of the address, with its theological depth and doctrinal precision, and with the practical vigour of the whole. The title of the sermon gives us its two divisions, and—as he often does—Spurgeon walks through the text, drawing out its particular elements, hitting the key notes with brevity and pungency. Instruction, challenge, and encouragement are all readily blended, with the prominent presence of God in Christ the thread which bind things together, the whole evidently preached with a ready dependence on the Holy Spirit. Re-reading this sermon, I found myself wishing that I could come to it with the same freshness as I did the first time I surveyed it, but I trust that I now have a deeper and warmer appreciation for the truths which it contains, and hope that increasing love for the triune God will make that always and increasingly the case.

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/a-summary-of-experience-and-a-body-of-divinity

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Pleading and Encouragement (S1795)

There is a particular trick which our Adversary loves to use both to hinder sinners and to disturb saints, and that is to paint the character of God in the darkest possible shades, to twist and pervert the Almighty and All-Merciful God’s revelation of himself. In this sermon, preached from three texts, Spurgeon sets out, in the best sense, to vindicate the character of God. While still insisting upon the utter holiness of the Most High, Spurgeon nevertheless makes most clear the compassion of the Lord, and his willingness to save, and his pleadings with those who are lost in the misery of sin, and his provision for them in Christ Jesus to find life and joy and peace, through forgiveness. He emphasises God’s delight in salvation, not as a mere idea, but as a sweet reality. As you can imagine, the sermon is peppered with strong reasoning and urgent pleading for sinners who may have the wrong idea of God to understand his gracious heart, as he makes himself known in the Word of God, and to come to him that they might not die, but live.

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/pleading-and-encouragement

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App:  https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Understandest Thou What Thou Readest? (S1792)

Preached at Exeter Hall to a congregation which seems to have consisted largely if not exclusively of young men, an extended introduction about the importance of profitable reading gives way to a punchy series of questions. The first, “What is most essential to be understood in this Book?” gives Spurgeon the opportunity to review the gospel in its essence as contained in Isaiah 53. The second, “What is the test of a man’s understanding the Book?” gives the preacher scope to speak of the receptive reader’s delight in Christ and his truth. Thirdly, the question, “What can be done to obtain such a desirable understanding?” allows our preacher to stir up a spiritual appetite in his hearers, and to urge them to use every proper means to grasp the truth as it is in Jesus. Again, the crafting of the sermon is natural and effective, the three questions providing a platform for the preacher not just to proclaim the gospel but to press it home upon his congregation. The final sentences open a precious window into the preacher’s hopeful heart: “When we meet in heaven we shall praise the Lord for making us understand what we read. God bless you all, for Christ’s sake.” What a sweet and happy prospect for us still!

Read the sermon here: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/understandest-thou-what-thou-readest

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app