From the Heart of Spurgeon

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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Grace—The One Way of Salvation (S765)

Spurgeon turns his text in several fascinating directions in this sermon, reminding us that the speed at which he prepared does not mean that he was not meditating upon his subject, though his genius clearly lay along particular lines. Using Peter’s statement that “we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they,” he takes it first as an apostolic statement of faith, reminding us of what it does not contain as well as what it does. Second, and perhaps most strikingly, he emphasises that the statement reminds us not so much that it is a wonder that great sinners are saved, but that even outwardly moral and seemingly good people need just the same gospel as the most wretched and evidently needy. Third, he turns to such sinners and reminds them that this is indeed a gospel for them, and that Christ will save all who come to him. On one level it is very simply, on another, it is most thoughtful. Its careful inventiveness is a good example of how we must think and speak—under God—so as to catch the attention and provoke the heart.

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Work (S756)

This sermon was not preached at the Tabernacle, but at Surrey Chapel. In it, Spurgeon shows something of his versatility and adaptability, without losing anything of his urgency and vitality. He is as fervent in calling Christ’s people to serve as he is in calling needy sinners to Christ. He sticks close to his text, setting forth Christ in his labour and then bringing an appropriate question and exhortation to the disciples of Christ as to whether or not we are truly following in the footsteps of our Master. He closes the sermon with more direct application to saints, a forceful reminder of our mortality, pressing us to consider the shortness of time. That itself gives rise to that same deep concern for the lost: life is short, time is passing, opportunity flies away—we cannot serve God until we have trusted in Christ. I wonder if, should a preacher emphasise such themes today, he might be labelled as legalistic and morbid! No doubt Spurgeon was in his own day. Do we give him a pass ‘because he’s Spurgeon’? Perhaps worse, do we offer a cool applause to the sentiment without a warm response to the exhortation? Let us, like our Saviour, work while it is day; the night comes when no-one can work.

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The Unsearchable Riches of Christ (S745)

In one sense, every true preacher always fails. He knows that he will miss the mark at which he aims, that of properly glorifying God in Christ. The excellence of the preacher consists more in the beautiful target at which he aims and the holy effort with which he strives to reach it; to whatever extent he draws near, it is by the Holy Spirit’s help. That is Spurgeon’s experience in this sermon, one in which he seems particularly conscious of his dependence on the Holy Ghost as he sets forth Christ’s glorious person, the unsearchable riches that belong to Christ, and the divinely gracious intention with which those riches are set forth by Christ’s ministers. The preacher attempts to cover something of the sweep of saving history before bringing the excellences of Christ and the fruits of his work to bear upon the hearts of his hearers. I would rather see and hear a man fail while aiming at such a goal than succeed at anything less—such failure honours the Lord, who uses the weakest of instruments to glorify his own great name!

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Grieve Not the Holy Spirit (S738)

There can be few more fearful prospects for a Christian or a church than that of grieving the Holy Spirit. I wonder how many of us ever contemplate this, searching our own hearts and lives, considering the life of the church, and asking whether or not we are guilty of such a sin? Spurgeon reminds us of this horrible possibility, explaining how and why it may come about. He also explores some of the ugly consequences of grieving the third Person of the Godhead, the damage it does in the life of the church and her members. Finally, he urges a personal argument why the saints should not grieve the Holy Spirit. Of course, the preacher’s aim is not merely to bring us down, still less to keep us down. Rather, the desire is to diagnose and to prescribe, to make us aware of the dangers so that we might either avoid them or address them. While some may be prone to assume that they have grieved the Holy Ghost in some way, too quick to jump to this conclusion, it seems likely today that the opposite problem more prevails—that of failing to consider whether or not one of the reasons for the weakness of the church is that we have distressed the Spirit of God. Here the question is put, here a solution is proposed.

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The Dawn of Revival; or, Prayer Speedily Answered (S734)

Do you expect a blessing when you pray? Do you expect that blessing to come rapidly? It may be that many of us are in the state of waiting for prayer to be answered, of having long prayed and not yet seen the answer to our prayers. While there is nothing unusual in such delays, this sermon encourages us to consider the state of our hearts in seeking a blessing from God, that “if the whole church…shall be brought to set its face, to be conscious of the deep need of sinners, to confess its own sin, to be mindful of God’s mercy, and to be vehemently, passionately in earnest for a blessing,” we can anticipate the command of mercy, based on the happy relationship between a believer and his God. Furthermore, the preacher urges us to consider the kinds of blessings for which we ought to pray—spiritual delights and heavenly realities bound up with everlasting life. Most Christians grieve over their praying; few would claim to be eminent in the work. Many are, perhaps, accustomed to asking little and expecting slow and slim answers. Here is a sermon to lift up our eyes and hearts, to lift up our petitions, to the throne of grace in anticipation of the blessings we truly need.

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A Message from God to His Church and People (S725)

A sermon Spurgeon preached toward the end of one year seems appropriate at any time. He draws on Habakkuk’s declaration of his fear of God and petition for a blessing from the Lord of heaven, that he would in wrath remember mercy. Gripped by divine truth, impressed by recent tragedy, and moved by the Holy Spirit, Spurgeon gives us a straight-down-the-line three-pointer, identifying the alarming voice, outlining an appropriate prayer, and pressing home a potent argument. He seems to have a perpetual appetite for more of God’s grace and glory, and to be able to communicate that appetite in a refreshing and telling way. Perhaps Spurgeon’s urgent exhortations wearied some, but they do our souls good as he insists that we must follow his lead in pleading with God for his blessing on the place where we live and serve.

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Pray for Jesus (S717)

This striking sermon seems to arise from questions raised out of the pulpit, about the propriety of “praying for King Jesus.” Working from Psalm 72:15, Spurgeon wants to show us that not only is it proper to pray for Christ, but that it expands, establishes, enriches, and enlivens our praying. As he works through his topic, the preacher helps us to see how putting Christ at the heart of our prayerful desires prevents selfishness and narrow-mindedness, lifts our petitions and our expectations, and offers particular encouragements in prayer. If your prayers, individually or congregationally, too often feel narrow and shallow, crass and constrained, earthy and heavy, then this sermon will be a blessing to your soul.

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The Church Aroused (S716)

Though it does not lack gentleness, this is not a sermon to please the dull and sullen Christian, and there are too many such. People who are happy sleeping in a warm and comfortable bed are not often appreciative of the blast of the trumpet and the call to arms. Spurgeon is concerned at his own sleepiness, and the sleepiness of others. He does a masterful job of portraying the nature and the cause of Christian drowsiness, spending the bulk of the sermon on this point. The he turns to the call and the promise of Christ to the sleeper, to awake, and to receive the light of Christ. As so often, this is not a comfortable sermon, especially to believers. You might easily resent it, evade it, dismiss it, but we ought instead to humble ourselves under it, not excuse ourselves from it, but hear it and heed it.

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