From the Heart of Spurgeon

Grey Hairs (S830)

This may not be the sermon that you expect. It is not a sermon about old age. The language of grey hairs is taken to represent decay and decline, and applied to spiritual things in individuals. His concern is with people who are sliding into patterns of spiritual slovenliness and sin but who have no sense of such a departure from the path of real and lively religion. Why are they ignorant of this? Spurgeon offers some suggestions. What are the marks of decay and backsliding for which we should look? Spurgeon identifies some features of spiritual decline. Are there are any remedies? As a good physician of the soul, Spurgeon is ready to make some recommendations. It is not an easy sermon, as the preacher blends explanation and application, speaking plainly to expose our sins, cutting close lest anything should escape the knife, but also making sure that there is some gospel balm at the close for the healing of our wounds. Perhaps, though, we do not mind so much when it is Spurgeon, and we can close the book, or pause the podcast? Let us remember that this is faithful preaching, and our own pastors—if they look us in the eye and deal so straightforwardly with us—are doing the same job to the same end.

Christ the Glory of his People (S826)

Here is our pastor-preacher about his favourite business, the lifting up of the name of Jesus Christ. The construction of the sermon is interesting. Spurgeon first insists on the literal meaning of his text, of Christ as Israel’s glory; then he moves to the new covenant, further showing that Christians today have Christ as their glory because they stand in the same relation to him as Israel did under the old covenant; this asserted, in five points he spells out the glory we receive, and see, and give, and reflect, and expect in and from our Lord Jesus; then, he closes with some practical points. How readily do we, as preachers, turn to this topic? Is it our constant joy, reverently, eagerly, humbly, happily, to dwell upon the person and work of Christ, and to extol his name? How readily do we receive this as hearers and readers, delighted simply to contemplate the glory of the Lord of glory, the benefits we enjoy in and from him, the greatness of our so-great salvation? It is good for us to trace both the central theme and concern of Spurgeon’s sermon, and the manner in which he handles it, showing sensitivity and integrity as an exegete, and so ever-ready to exalt the King of kings and Lord of lords.

The Pleiades and Orion (S818)

As so often, Spurgeon is quite content to shift between the natural and the spiritual. I mean, he begins with the basic sense of the Lord’s question to Job, “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?” (Jb 38:31). Who is able to change, restrain, or overcome the divine government in the natural world? However, Spurgeon elevates the question to the spiritual realm, as illustrative of the operations of the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, his mighty working cannot be prevented. On the other, men in their own strength are able to accomplish no spiritual victories. As well as his customary flashes of practical insight, there are some particular lessons to draw from this. Again and again, we see this inventive and creative but not casual or crass handling of the Scripture. Spurgeon knows well that the question, in itself, belongs naturally to the realm of astronomy, theologically to the doctrine of providence as an expression of divine sovereignty. But experimentally and illustratively, it serves well to remind us of our powerlessness in all spiritual matters, and the gracious operations of the Holy Ghost among the people of God. As such, it teaches us to think carefully not just of what the Bible means, but of how it can be applied. It makes for a lively and striking sermon.

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The Privileged Man (S813)

Spurgeon loves to dwell upon the goodness of God, and it is indeed a worthy theme. He does so in this sermon by taking the Lord’s description of his gracious dealings with Abraham and his descendants, described in rich symbolism in Ezekiel 16, and transposing the whole into a new covenant key. In company with some of the finest preachers God has given his church, Spurgeon delights to do this kind of thing. Some might say that he pushes the parallels too far, but his is an eye that sees through a decidedly Christian lens. He dives down two levels in this sermon: first, he is already working with the symbolism of the text, and then further he takes account of what was typical in God’s dealings with Abraham. It seems little effort for him to see in the symbolic kindnesses and typical favours the Lord bestowed on Abraham and Israel the goodnesses that the Lord has granted to those who are trusting in Jesus under the new covenant. Having set forth these things for us, he quite naturally presses home some practical observations in the light of the good things that the Lord has granted to the privileged man.

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Apostolic Exhortation (S804)

For me, a sermon like this shows Spurgeon at something of his plain best. Its simplicity, its directness, its earnestness, all commend it. Rooted in the text, spoken with expectant faith, personally persuasive, it seems to capture something of the very moment of delivery in its straightforward intensity. You can almost feel the preacher looking into your eyes as he addresses you. His concern for the glory of God intertwines with and carries along his desire for the good of his hearers. It lacks some of the poetry of other sermons, it offers less scope for his imaginative faculties, it contains less verbal flair than some of his offerings, but for plain speaking and plain pleading of gospel truth, I appreciate it. If we are preachers, we may not have a poetic bent; we may not be able to wing our way heavenward in our minds; we may struggle to reach Spurgeon’s heights of oratory; we can still preach Spurgeon’s Christ, still hold out the gospel he proclaimed. If we are 

Special Protracted Prayer (S798)

This sermon reveals a somewhat unusual arrangement. Spurgeon typically sets out the skeleton of his sermon in a series of stated points toward the beginning, typically three, sometimes four or more. More occasionally, Spurgeon’s outline is revealed stage-by-stage as he works through his sermon. This address, while by no means lacking structure, does lack that more overt outline, and takes the form of a series of observations upon the Lord Christ’s practice of protracted or extended seasons of prayer. That consideration of the example of Jesus is then followed by applications to the church which is gathering for its own particular season of prayer, following something of the same approach. The tone of the whole is quite meditative and conversational. It reads differently to other sermons, and one wonders whether or not it would have been heard differently, and what difference it might have made to the preacher’s manner and voice, his expression and gesture. We cannot answer such questions readily, but we can still derive much benefit from the sermon, as we are encouraged to give ourselves, as individuals and churches, to extended periods of prayer in seeking the blessing of the Almighty.

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A Song, A Solace, A Sermon, and a Summons (S787)

Spurgeon closes a year with a sermon taken from the refrain of Psalm 136: “For his mercy endures forever.” In trademark style, and with the meaning of his text lying on the surface and requiring little explanation, as well as picking up hints and ideas from the rest of the psalm, Spurgeon turns the sermons into a developed meditation and application. He takes the phrase as a song of praise; as a solace with regard to the past, the present, and the future; as a sermon with three points; and, briefly, as a summons to come to the Lord for the mercy held out. For preachers, it shows us an inventive way of handling a text—Spurgeon uses the key phrase as a way of harnessing the whole psalm, giving him scope at the end of the year to range over a wide area. For hearers and readers, it covers so much territory, for the minister turns it to various uses, exhorting, rebuking, comforting, instructing, calling. It need not be a year end for us to derive much benefit from Spurgeon’s consideration of God’s enduring mercy, for this is a theme we need at all times.

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Christus et Ego (S781)

One of the more delightful aspects of Spurgeon’s ministry is his present sense of the person of Christ, the immediacy of his relationship to his living Lord, and the manner in which he communicates that to us. It is the very personal dimension of true Christianity which comes to the fore in this sermon, as our preacher picks up the sweetness of Christ living in his people, and our living by faith in him. Having emphasised the personal connection between Christ and the believing soul, he presses home what he describes as “the interweaving of our own proper personality with that of Jesus Christ”—the closeness of the relationship which we sustain to our Redeemer. Then, of course, because he no mere theoretician, but a true pastor-preacher, he considers the life which results from this union between Christ and his people. His text, he says, “rises before my contemplation like a lofty range of mountains, a very Andes for elevation” and his aim is simply to bring us into the sunlit uplands, even if we cannot scale the highest peaks. It is worth climbing as high as we can!

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A Sharp Knife for the Vine-Branches (S774)

The breadth of Spurgeon’s ministry is instructive (bearing in mind that what we have available is only a representative selection, and we are simply sampling that!). His versatility shows itself not just in the way he handles his material, but even also in the material which he handles. So here he deals with self-examination concerning our spiritual fruitfulness, speaking plainly not only concerning the fruit we expect to find in a true saint, but also the reality of pruning in a Christian’s life. Spurgeon is not merely some genial Victorian pulpiteer, dispensing sentimental religious notions. His aim is that we should be true disciples of Jesus Christ, show ourselves and know ourselves to be such disciples, and grow in grace as followers of the Lamb. So here, he does not so much wield the knife as describe how the Lord wields it, teaching us to look carefully at our own souls, and to submit humbly to the heavenly Vinedresser’s dealings with us.

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Serving the Lord with Gladness (S769)

The sermons Spurgeon preached carry us very high and very low, matching some of the heights and depths of his own experience. Here he is encouraging us with the joy of true religion, and the spirit of the service we render to our Lord and Saviour. In somewhat Puritanical structure, Spurgeon first teases out the primary elements of his text: we serve; we serve the Lord; we serve the Lord with gladness. He then zeroes in on this key idea, and more or less interrogates the notion. Where does this joy come from? Where does it show itself? What makes it so difficult? And, why is it so excellent? Here he is able to bring the truth to bear for instruction and exhortation, for encouragement and challenge. His delight in God and his salvation bleeds out especially under the first main heading, although he is attempting a pastoral balance, recognising the challenges we face and trying to provide sweet spiritual motives for the labour we undertake for our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This sermon teaches us to trace the streams of joy back to the fountain of God’s saving love, and there to have our hearts lifted heavenward, and our hands strengthened on earth.

 

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