From the Heart of Spurgeon

Consolation in the Furnace (S662)

Nebuchadnezzar’s exclamation is a Christian’s consolation: “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Dan 3:25). In order to obtain the balm, we need to understand first of all what is the furnace into which the children of God are still cast, what it is that the saints lose in the furnaces into which they are thrown, what the saints do when they are in the furnace, what they cannot lose no matter how high or hot the flames, and the company which they enjoy. The fact that Christ himself draws near when the Christian is so afflicted is the great peace and joy we can genuinely anticipate when we are tried as were Daniel’s three friends: “you must go into the furnace if you would have the nearest and dearest dealings with Christ Jesus.” It is, then, a sweetly comforting sermon, helpfully realistic about the various trials which a Christian might be called to face, and equally realistic about the blessings a faithful believer can enjoy when so tried.

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The Great Itinerant (S655)

This heartening sermon focuses on the brief assertion by the apostle Peter that our Lord went about doing good. What a delight it is to consider the character and activity of our Lord under this short description! Spurgeon spends the main part of the sermon in asking what Christ did, how he did it, and why he did it. It really is as simple as that. Then, in a second point, he makes his application: to what extent are we following in the footsteps of our Saviour? This gives us reason to repent over our past, and to consecrate ourselves for the future, in dependence upon God, to go as he went, marked by the same intent, imbued with the same spirit, and moved by the same desire.

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A Blow for Puseyism (S653)

At this point in his ministry, Spurgeon was engaged in a particular battle against sacramentalism, the idea that the means of grace actually and immediately bestowed grace in and of themselves (an idea technically referred to as ex opere operato). So, for example, and as we have already seen, Spurgeon contended against the idea of baptismal regeneration. In Spurgeon’s day, this thinking was becoming more prominent, not least in the Anglican communion, where men like Edward Pusey (1800–1882) were leading lights in the so-called Oxford Movement, under which a ‘high church’ agenda was pursued and various Roman Catholic doctrines and practices were reintroduced into Anglicanism. In this sermon, Spurgeon hits hard at the underlying flaws of this movement, contrasting the unprofitable flesh of carnal externalities with the life-giving operations of the Holy Spirit. While the fruits of Puseyism are still evident around us, the principles set forth by Spurgeon remain vital for the ongoing commitment of Christ’s church to true spirituality and simplicity of worship, and our confidence in the means which God has provided.

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No Tears in Heaven (S643)

Do you look forward to heaven? Spurgeon urges you to do so, not least because there God will wipe away all the tears of his glorified people. The preacher’s approach to this is inventive and engaging. He first makes it a reminder of the tears that we shall weep until we reach glory, identifying the three bottles of tears that the believer fills up on earth. Then he reminds us of how, even now, the Lord is pleased to wipe tears from the eyes of his people. Thirdly, and extensively, he looks at the ways in which, in the glory to come, God will remove tears, and especially how he himself will accomplish this. Finally, and briefly, he asks simply this: “Will you be in this happy company?” Again, Spurgeon shows his God-given and Spirit-honed skill of turning his text and its applications in multiple directions, to different kinds of hearers, and to a variety of uses, convincing, rebuking, exhorting, and encouraging.

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Zealots (S639)

The surmise with which Spurgeon begins this sermon is that Simon the Zealot earned his surname as an unconverted man, but kept it as a Christian man. And so he considers the ugly zeal of the unconverted person, a misdirected, boastful, ignorant, selective, temporary thing, which makes a man a bully or a persecutor, and has sinister aims. Nevertheless, the fact that he can be zealous for worthless things should make us zealous for the worthwhile, and we should ever hope that a man with that kind of spirit, enlivened by the Spirit of Christ, might find a new and happier channel for his energies. And so we turn to the zeal of a converted person, marked by private and public commitment to the cause of Christ, with grief over its seeming setbacks and lack of progress, and ardent love for the Saviour. It is kept up by an outward look, an inward look, a forwards look, and a Christwards look, stirring the inner man, following the pattern of God himself, of the incarnate Son, of the holy angels, and of the best of men. May God make us all zealous for his glory!

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The Believer Sinking in the Mire (S631)

For a true believer, there are few more distressing conditions than to be ‘sinking in the mire.’ This trouble of soul strikes in various ways: our own unbelief, a lack of assurance, the troubles of the world, our inward corruptions, or devilish temptations. While there may be various reasons for this, God has his purposes, so much so that even his most eminent and favoured people do not escape this experience. We are brought so low—low enough to realise that God alone can deliver us, and to come to him in heartfelt prayer. Spurgeon’s conclusion may seem bland, but in truth it brings us to the very heart of our weakness, the essence of our need, and the beginnings of our relief and recovery: to cast ourselves upon the Lord, now, and without ceasing, until we obtain the blessings we need.

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A Warning Against Hardness of Heart (S620)

The breadth of Spurgeon’s ministry is manifest. If he has a hobby-horse, it is Christ crucified, and there is no criticism for that! However, in seeking to make Christ known, for salvation in every part and to the fullest degree, Spurgeon does not sail a narrow channel, but rather covers vast tracts of the ocean of truth. We do not know all that may have stirred and stimulated him, under God, in selecting his sermon texts, but this one has to do with the danger of God’s people having their hearts hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and the remedies for it. Here Spurgeon shows his spiritual wisdom in giving us a chilling description of such decline, a brief anatomy of sin in its deceitfulness, and a stirring exhortation to use the means available to restore our hearts to tenderness in all our dealings with the Almighty.

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“For Christ’s Sake” (S614)

This is a delightful sermon, demonstrating Spurgeon’s pastoral skill in turning the same text against different targets. Here the text, “For Christ’s sake,” is shown to be both God’s argument for mercy and our reason for service. In the first case it becomes a particular cause for comfort to those who are seeking forgiveness for their sins through Christ. In the second, it becomes a particular call to labour for those who have tasted divine mercy. As so often, Spurgeon pleads the mercies of God as both a reason to trust him and a reason to serve him, drawing us to Christ for life, and sending us out to live for the Christ who has saved us. May this sermon be the means of blessing those who are coming, and those who are going, for the glory of the Saviour!

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True Unity Promoted (S607)

Spurgeon’s new year sermons have a lovely tone to them. Some are more consolatory, others more exhortatory, but all tend to lift up the eyes and fix them on God in Christ, calling the saints to think and speak and act in the light of their covenant mercies in the year that lies before them. This sermon is no different. Spurgeon is well aware that the Adversary will by all means sow the seeds of dissension and division and among the people of God, and so here he reminds us of the unity of the Spirit that we should pursue, that this unity needs to be preserved, guarded, invested in, and that the Spirit’s unity must be kept “in the bond of peace.” All this leads to some practical counsels and encouragements to God’s people—counsels and encouragements which are as significant and valuable today as they were when the preacher first delivered them on the first day of 1865 in London.

 

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The Centurion; Or, An Exhortation to the Virtuous (S600)

Perhaps you know someone—perhaps you are someone—who has wished to be spiritually worse, that they might know when they are savingly better. It is not as rare a case as we might imagine, and Spurgeon shows his sensitivity as a pastor and his versatility as an evangelist in going after people who have a legitimately good reputation among men, but who are conscious of their unworthiness before God. He uses the example of the centurion with strong faith in Christ to assure such that they can and must come to Jesus Christ in order to be delivered from their sins. This is a lovely sermon, beautifully balanced in its sentiments and structure, full of good sense and earnest pleading. There is encouragement for all to trust in God, and not to imagine that our own merits earn anything or that our demerits forfeit mercy and grace—rather they fit us for it. There is particular encouragement for the reputable sinner. God will take all who come to him trusting in Christ.

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