Episodes
Friday May 12, 2023
The Fulness of Jesus the Treasury of the Saints (S858)
Friday May 12, 2023
Friday May 12, 2023
This is a homiletical gem, showing a simple, clear and compelling progression through the sermon: one glorious person, two precious doctrines, three experiences, and four duties. Not every sermon can be so neat, but it is a good example of a memorable and striking organisation, upon which hangs much sweet substance. The preacher’s aim is to set before us the Lord Jesus in the whole of his character and work, and so to behold his glory in such a way that, out of it, we may receive out of his personal fulness the superabundant grace upon which we rely and in which we rejoice. It gives Spurgeon the opportunity to cover a vast amount of territory (some of which he does at a fair gallop) to provide a broad vista, pressing home the truth, drawing experimental lessons, and pressing home Christian responsibilities in relation to the Christ in all his glory. It displays something of Spurgeon’s genius for the setting forth of Christ, both for adoration and for obligation, as we consider him in his majesty, the blessings he brings, and the duties we owe.
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Friday May 05, 2023
Fire—The Want of the Times (S854)
Friday May 05, 2023
Friday May 05, 2023
Here is an incandescent sermon in which Spurgeon attempts to show how Christ came to bring fire on the earth. With this image in his mind, he first of all surveys the history of the gospel, beginning with the book of God, then the preacher taken up with the truth, the hearer who feels the heat and light of the good news, and the opposition that is provoked and how the fiery gospel even catches hold in those who oppose. Then he likens the gospel to fire more directly, thinking of how it advances, and comforts, and consumes, and purifies. Finally, he asks what ought to be the effects in us if we have truly caught this flame in our souls? A holy fearlessness, a holy impatience of mere forms and religious proprieties, a holy appetite for prayer, and a holy commitment to Christ’s service. It is the sort of sermon that grieves the reader, for you can only hear the distant rumble of the preacher’s thunder—what must it have been like to hear a man preaching in the power of God’s Spirit, with the storm all full of lightning flashing around you! May the Lord give us something of that same light and heat as we read and hear it still.
Friday Apr 28, 2023
Justification by Faith—Illustrated by Abram’s Righteousness (S844)
Friday Apr 28, 2023
Friday Apr 28, 2023
Spurgeon is known, even renowned, for preaching from individual texts, often very short ones, even phrases. While some sermons or addresses are linked by their time or place of preaching (think of the lectures to his students), and while it is possible to arrange collections of sermons under certain themes (as many have done, both Spurgeon himself and others since) most of the sermons stand alone by design. This sermon, then, is unusual in that it constitutes part of what seems to be one of the closest things Spurgeon preaches to a series of sermons. This sermon on justification is preceded by one on effectual calling, then followed the next Lord’s day by one on consecration, and the theme deliberately picked up again in a sermon the following year on mature faith, each illustrated by an episode in the life of Abram. So this sermon is notable both in terms of its distinctive relation to other sermons, and the way in which Spurgeon interprets and applies the experience of the patriarch to the believers of his own day. He is unashamed to make clear the commonality between Abram’s faith and life, and ours, and so to make Abram a model for every true believer—to hold him up as, indeed, the father of those who believe.
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Friday Apr 21, 2023
Sins of Omission (S838)
Friday Apr 21, 2023
Friday Apr 21, 2023
This interesting sermon approaches the matter of human sin from an atypical angle: that of our sins of omission (sins of commission are things we do which God commands us not to do, while sins of omission are our failure to do those things which we are commanded or obliged to do). Point by point, Spurgeon peels back layer after layer. He begins with how common they are, rooted in our falling short of the requirement to love God with all our hearts and our fellow men as ourselves. Next he digs down to the causes of these things, showing how we evade or excuse ourselves. Then he presses home the sinfulness of these sins, that they are not to be in any way diminished. Finally, he wants us to understand how sins of omission are damning, not only in themselves, but because they involve the neglect of the very remedy for all our sins which God has provided in Christ. When the gap between the church and the world is growing wider and more distinct, and with the risk of self-satisfaction growing in that space, it is good for God’s people to be humbled by the awareness that—even in the proper pursuit of our duties and obediences—there is something lacking in our best efforts which leaves us in constant dependence upon the mercies of God Christ Jesus.
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Friday Apr 14, 2023
Grey Hairs (S830)
Friday Apr 14, 2023
Friday Apr 14, 2023
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.
Friday Apr 07, 2023
Christ the Glory of his People (S826)
Friday Apr 07, 2023
Friday Apr 07, 2023
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.
Friday Mar 31, 2023
The Pleiades and Orion (S818)
Friday Mar 31, 2023
Friday Mar 31, 2023
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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Friday Mar 24, 2023
The Privileged Man (S813)
Friday Mar 24, 2023
Friday Mar 24, 2023
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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Friday Mar 17, 2023
Apostolic Exhortation (S804)
Friday Mar 17, 2023
Friday Mar 17, 2023
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
Friday Mar 10, 2023
Special Protracted Prayer (S798)
Friday Mar 10, 2023
Friday Mar 10, 2023
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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