From the Heart of Spurgeon

Vanities and Verities (S1380)

There are vanities and there are verities. There are fancies and there are facts. There are passing things and there are enduring things. There are bursting bubbles and there are lasting beauties. Giving full rein to the force of the apostle’s language, Spurgeon assesses what it means not to look at, to mark, to heed, to consider, the things which can only be seen, which are passing away, whether present joys or sorrows. His language digs in quite fiercely, pressing us to ask how much significance we attach to that which is passing away. Then he turns to the things which cannot now be seen, but which are spiritually substantial, the eternal glories which “gleam afar to nerve our faint endeavour.” Spurgeon says these need to be grasped by faith as we meditate upon them. They must be considered with delight by God’s people, to stir our affections and appetites (though considered with horror by the unconverted, so that they might be turned to Christ before all their delights are ruined forever). They must be dwelt upon with hope, so that we live truly as heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, inheritors together with the saints in light. The striking contrast of the text comes out in the emphatic way in which Spurgeon holds before us the emptiness of a passing world, and the fulness of joy in the world which is to come.

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Lively Reading - Portraits of Christ (Romans 8:29)

We return to an earlier sermon for this lively reading, preached during the heady days at Exeter Hall, when Spurgeon was still something of a shock to the London scene. This is a sermon on conformity to Christ Jesus according to the divine plan and purpose. It asks and answers three very simple questions: In what sense is a believer to be conformed to the image of Christ? Why should we be transformed into the image of the heavenly man? And, is it possible to be so conformed? Having set out what it means to be like Christ in his character, suffering, and glory, and giving us reasons to desire and pursue such conformity, the last section is a beautiful portion in which Spurgeon puts some earnest, even desperate concerns in the mouths of various inquirers, in each case giving warm and comforting answers. To be sure, there are warnings in his conclusions, but the sermon holds out a glorious, and gloriously-assured prospect to all who are in Christ now, in whom the Spirit is working and will work likeness to our Saviour.

The God of Peace and our Sanctification (S1368)

This is a notably textual sermon. Of course, Spurgeon always preaches from a text, and typically draws his structure from that text. However, in this sermon, the exegesis of the text lies on the surface of the sermon and more or less provides its structure, rather than lying in the background. With a little clunkiness at times, though with no lack of clarity, Spurgeon steps through the text, demonstrating why it is so significant that the Lord is here identified as the God of peace, and what he has done in bringing Christ from the dead, and why he has done it, with special reference to the intended holiness of his people, concluding on a note of praise. The lack of sermonic polish does not remove the sermonic power, as the preacher brings the truth to bear upon our souls, turning—with his usual relish—to the finished work of Christ in order to motivate and direct the saints in a path of righteousness, made able to walk it by the gracious Spirit.

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The Final Perseverance of the Saints (S1361)

This sermon has a slightly different structure to Spurgeon’s usual offerings. It has two main headings, one in which he proves the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saint, and one in which he improves it (in the Puritan sense of seeking to obtain profit from it). Spurgeon is typically rooted to his text, but in this more doctrinal sermon he proves his doctrine by turning to various other Scriptures in order to demonstrate and defend the truth of Christian perseverance. He offers us seven arguments in total before hitting us with two simple lessons to learn, one for believers and one for those still outside the kingdom. A convinced Calvinist, Spurgeon is concerned not only to clear the doctrine from the slurs of Arminians but also from the misunderstandings of other Calvinists, seeking to give us a biblically-proportioned grasp on this wonderful truth, “not the licentious idea that a believer may live in sin, but that he cannot and will not do so.”

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Happiness the Privilege and Duty of Christians (S1359)

This delightful sermon is taken from Moses’ dying words. Spurgeon asks why, given the danger of proclaiming the happiness of man (because of his tendency to exalt himself), Moses should be carried along by the Holy Spirit so to speak? He suggests that dwelling upon our happiness in the right way should console us in our trouble and inspire us for future service. With that in mind, he urges us to chide ourselves for our spiritual unhappiness, if we are Christians, for we have so many good reasons for joy. We are saved, and that by the Lord himself! We are both shielded by God and divinely armed for our spiritual warfare! Our victory is secure! With the bulk of his preaching time gone, Spurgeon spends the last minutes of his sermon hammering home the blessings of grasping our blessings in Christ, running through the impact on ourselves of enjoying God in this way, culminating in the effect it has through us on others, as we commend the grace of God in the Saviour to sinners. He closes by urging the lost to taste and see that the Lord is good, to realise that we have—in our highest flights of heavenly eloquence—failed to tell them the half of the joy the happy spiritual Israel, a people saved by the Lord.

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Enlivening and Invigorating (S1350)

In another sermon from Psalm 119, Spurgeon focuses on spiritual quickening—the enlivening and invigorating of his title—by means of the Word of God brought to bear upon our hearts. It is simple and straightforward in its arrangement, as so often with Spurgeon. He first gives us various reasons why we need such quickening. Next, he points out some motives to seek this enlivening and invigorating of the soul. Thirdly, he mentions some ways in which it is worked in our hearts. Finally, he suggests certain pleas for obtaining this blessing, drawn from the psalm itself. It is, of course, a sermon soaked in grace, for Spurgeon is properly persuaded that there is no spiritual life outside of and apart from Jesus Christ himself. It is also a very realistic sermon, for it takes full account of our need of life at every stage of Christian experience. Indeed, the preacher would have us grasp the three needful blessings in three important phases of the reality of spiritual life. First, that sinners might ask the Lord for life (which would itself indicate that life was coming). Second, that, every Christian would be always praying for invigorating grace, stirring the soul. Third, that every child of God would be marked by a lively appetite for ever-increasing measures of his favour, lifting us ever closer to Christ and into nearer fellowship with the triune God.

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The Student’s Prayer (S1344)

Every believer is a student and servant of God, and therefore desires to know God’s word. Here Spurgeon moves from the prayer of such a student—to understand the way of the Lord’s precepts—to the occupation of the scholar—speaking of the Lord’s wondrous ways. Of course, in dealing with these two elements, Spurgeon overflows with gospel delight, taken up with the manner in which God has made himself known in Jesus Christ, and our pleasure in making known God manifest in his Son. But the preacher also wants to drive home that connection between understanding and declaration, between study and service, and so he pleads how the enchantment of divine truth fills our hearts and our mouths with good things. During this season, Spurgeon mentions a couple of times a Tabernacle elder by the name of Mr Verdon, “a mighty soul-hunter before the Lord.” He was one of Spurgeon’s gospel snipers, lovingly picking off the spiritually wounded after a powerful sermon. Spurgeon seems to have mourned him particularly, and this sermon is intended to bring others into the same spirit and employment. Oh, for more Verdons in our churches!

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Work for Jesus (S1338)

In this sermon, Spurgeon—as he sometimes does—takes a verse in its context, and then applies it in a different direction. Interestingly, he takes time at the end of the sermon to return to the text as a whole—the parable of the two sons called to the vineyard in Matthew 21—and to give us a brief exposition of the whole. Conscious of the parallels between Israel as called to work for the Lord, and the exhortation to the church of Christ to labour for their Redeemer, Spurgeon takes the command to “go work” in its most evident and pressing sense. He exhorts the people of God to take note of their character as sons, of the labour to which they are called, of the immediacy of the effort required, and the sphere of that investment—our Father’s vineyard. Spurgeon’s clarion calls to Christian endeavour pepper his output, and constitute one of the most noteworthy elements of his public ministry.

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Christ the Conqueror of Satan (S1326)

Here is another part of a sequence of sermons, one of five preached over successive Lord’s days on Christ as the end of the law, the conqueror of Satan, the overcomer of the world, the maker of all things new, and the destroyer of death. The relationship is thematic, and the substance is both doctrinal and experiential. In the sermon we will consider, on Christ as the conqueror of Satan, Spurgeon shows, first, his insightfulness in handling the text, peppering the whole sermon with biblical-theological insights and comments, noticing and noting occasional gleams of truth; he shows, also, his profound spirituality in connecting the arc of the experience of Christ as champion of mankind with the experience of Christ’s people in their own experience of grace and combat with the Adversary. Taking four facts from Genesis 3:15, Spurgeon reworks those four aspects in three different layers, one more doctrinal, one more experiential, and one more practical. It is, in short, a masterful handling of the text, brilliant not because of its cleverness but because of its closeness to the heart.

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Why May I Rejoice? (S1321)

While Spurgeon is not typically a sequential expositor of Scripture, there are several occasions on which he runs together sermons on a certain theme, or sets them up as counterpoints one to another. This sermon is partner to the previously-published address, “Wherefore Should I Weep?” In that previous sermon, our Lord was seen correcting and illuminating a natural grief. In this, Christ corrects and directs a natural joy into a more elevated course. This, perhaps, is one of the ways in which Spurgeon deliberately maintains balance in his public ministry, aware of its own windings and, it may be, of his own inclinations and predilections. So here he points us toward a joy that needs to be moderated, then identifies a joy which needs to be excited, and then—no surprise if we know Spurgeon!—points us toward Christ as the one who sympathises with us in this highest and purest joy. It is a very sweet sermon, lifting our eyes heavenward and fixing our gaze on the great Giver of the best gifts.

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