Spurgeon’s outlines are rarely elaborate, and some are very plain. That is the case here. The fairly developed introduction clears the ground and establishes the scene. Then Spurgeon takes the simple idea of a final separation from his text in Matthew 25, and offers three straightforward thoughts: the division, the divider, and the rule of the division. His language and imagery are lively but not lurid; he does not pull his punches concerning the final judgment, but neither does he ever give...

This sermon is brief enough to make the reader ask about the occasion of its preaching. No explanation is given in the text, though there may be a shade of a hint. Was it some notable occasion? Did the preacher feel particularly weak and afflicted himself? (Spurgeon often tells his congregation if this is the case.) Is he adapting his material for a particular class of hearers who might struggle with more? Whatever the explanation, the result is a little jewel of a sermon, concentrating on...

purgeon is happy to preach on preaching, so that the saints under the sound of his voice might know what to expect, and to what they are entitled. He does that in this sermon. Taking the phrase, “Rightly dividing the word of truth” he studies it by way of a series of figures taken from a variety of expositors, each of which sheds its own light on the duty of expounding and explaining and applying the Scriptures. Integrity, honesty, simplicity, clarity, urgency, all come to the fore as...

The Sword and the Trowel was Spurgeon’s magazine. The January number for 1875 began with an article acknowledging God’s goodness in providing for the publication of sermons for twenty years, and giving some history of the endeavour (this article is included in this week’s printed sermon). This sermon, preached at the end of 1874, is the pulpit testimony to the same. It is marked by humility and gratitude, and by a delight in the gospel which Spurgeon was privileged to preach. There is here...

There is joy in salvation. There is joy in God because of salvation, joy for the repenting sinner because of salvation, and joy for the servants of God who are instruments of blessing because of salvation. Spurgeon sees this figured out for us in the story of the prodigal son returning home. Using careful language, he shows us the joy that is in the father’s heart; he rejoices with the son who is welcomed home by his father; he considers the delight of the servants who are given work to do in...

God is God. Simple as that might sound, it is the profound truth which Spurgeon works out, in measure, in this sermon. Because God is God, and—for believers—especially because he is our God, we are to glorify him in all things. The claims of God are grounded in his being and doing, and then Spurgeon assesses our response to them. So often our attitude is one of disdain or neglect. Where is the honour to which God is entitled from his creatures, his people? And so Spurgeon pleads with us to...

This eminently practical sermon shows something of the value which Spurgeon places on prayer. Having briefly handled his text in its context, he concentrates on three dangers: hindrances from prayer—those things which keep us from prayer altogether; hindrances in prayer—those things which keep us from really praying when we pray; and, hindrances to the speeding of our prayers—those things which keep us from having access to God, and enjoying answers to our prayers. It is eminently practical...

This is a truly sweet and happy sermon. Do not be put off by the text: “The God of my mercy shall prevent me.” As Spurgeon makes clear, the point is that the God of my mercy shall go before me, shall anticipate me, shall come to meet me. And so he explains the particular nature of the relationship, the grasp that David has on God’s mercy, and the various ways and senses in which the God of mercy, the God of my mercy, anticipates every demand arising out of the genuine needs of every child of...

Spurgeon considers Paul a balanced preacher—not a middle-of-the-road preacher, but one who both offers salvation in all its fullness, to be received and enjoyed with assurance, and who warns lest the faith which a sinner professes be something else than the saving faith which clings to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This, then, is a searching sermon, in which the preacher urges us to consider the nature of the true faith which God gives as opposed to the empty faith which some claim. We...

  In appreciating Spurgeon the gospel preacher, we should not imagine that his gospel preaching is somehow shallow or narrow, nor that it lacks anything of the pastoral note. Spurgeon cares for the souls of people. He cares that sinners come into the kingdom; he cares that saints be built up in the kingdom. Again, that latter note does not make him a mere sentimentalist. I am not always persuaded that as many of us would have relished sitting under Spurgeon’s ministry as we might imagine!...

You probably have no need to be told that Spurgeon almost instinctively reverts to the pure presentation of the gospel when given the merest opportunity. Here his emphasis is on the freeness of divine grace. Preaching from Isaiah 55:1, he tells us why this is so surprising to fallen man, why it is a necessity (not just from our need, but from the character of the God who saves), and then the salutary influence of this fact—the happy effect of being saved by free grace. As so often, on one...

Spurgeon delighted in communion with the Lord. He was manifestly a man of prayer, and he regularly exhorts his hearers and his readers to embrace that marvellous privilege. It is worth noting the title and content of the sermon: this is not about Daniel in the lion’s den, but facing it; it is about Daniel’s commitment to prayer in the face of fearful pressures, of his principled obedience in the face of awful threats. The sermon itself, then, is simple and straightforward. Spurgeon considers...

Here Spurgeon weaves together something complementary in the work of parents and pastors with regard to their children, both physical and spiritual. First of all, working within John’s figure, he applies the words of his text to parents, underscoring the delight that a Christian father or mother feels in the salvation of their sons and daughters, one of the greatest of all earthly joys. Then, he turns to the figure itself as John uses it, speaking of a pastor’s delight in the conversion of...

This, says Spurgeon, is a sermon “mainly upon my own behalf, and on the behalf of my brethren in the ministry.” Specifically, and for the sake of the saints, and ultimately for the glory of God, he intends “to excite you to be much in prayer, both for myself and all ministers of Christ Jesus.” Without any kind of self-indulgence, and in a spirit of honesty rather than complaint, Spurgeon builds a compelling case for the saints to plead with God on behalf of ministers of the gospel. He...

Spurgeon knows how to reason with men, how to plead and persuade as a preacher. This sermon is a fine example of that often-neglected element of ministry. With wisdom from the Word of God, illuminated by the Holy Spirit and proven over long and happy experience, Spurgeon steps through a good selection of the reasons why people do not come to Christ, or think they cannot or have not, and seeks to remove the stumbling blocks. Then, having cleared the road of obstacles, he covers it over with...

I should, perhaps, confess that this sermon was particularly attractive to me as a result of my needing to preach on a particular theme at an upcoming conference. Having been considering a related topic, this sermon made my heart sing! Here is Spurgeon the gospeller, Spurgeon the evangelist, Spurgeon as preacher and teacher in sweet harmony. Conscious very much that he is an ambassador of heaven, Spurgeon fulfils that role while, as it were, shedding much light—almost incidentally—upon the...

Are you tempted to think, in some way or other, that Christ does not really care for you? Do your present circumstances lead you to fear that he has no regard for your well-being? Against such doubts and fears Spurgeon turns his guns as he reasons with us as to how we should think and what we should believe lest we fall into this trap, describing the genuine regard that our Lord has for his beloved people under all circumstances, and assuring us that this will become apparent to us in due...

This sermon develops, early on, into a broadside against spiritual self-satisfaction. Spurgeon demolishes—with unusual thoroughness—any sense of spiritual smugness, by taking Paul’s desire for holiness as his proper standard, as well as considering other models of godliness and his broader experience of mankind. He digs deep, asking by what routes men attain to such a sense of contentedness with their present condition, and the root of such self-applause. Having done most of the heavy lifting...

How can you tell when God is among his people in a distinctive way? What are the marks of God’s present favour? What are the indications of reviving among the saints? Using Zechariah 8:21 as his springboard, Spurgeon identifies several of the signs of God’s presence among his people: their great interest in divine worship; their encouragement to one another to use the means of grace; their urgency and immediacy in using these means; their eye particularly on God in these duties; and, their...

There is a danger in appreciating sermons of robust exhortation, a potential spiritual sado-masochism of sorts, in which we pride ourselves on having received a good whipping, without being any the better for having undergone the experience. One antidote to this is to make sure that the exhortation rides on the back of appreciation, and it is this which Spurgeon does here. He wants us to understand how blessed we are as God’s people, how richly favoured and fed from the royal table, and what...

This is Spurgeon at his scripturally-centred best, digging deep into his text to tell us the what, and the when, and the why, and the whom, and the how of true thanksgiving. Wisely and insightfully, he reminds us that this must be the fruit of the reconciled heart, the one that knows its relation to God in Christ, setting out the spiritual prerequisites of a grateful soul. Finally, he records some of the excellent fruits of such a spirit, how it honours God, restrains sin, calms us and cheers...

Like many of his eminent spiritual forefathers, Spurgeon is very much a theologian of the Holy Spirit. His communion with, relish for, and dependence on the Spirit of God is often prominent in his sermons, and that is itself a reflection of his whole life. This sermon is concerned with a full and rich trinitarianism, for he wants to ensure that the Holy Spirit receives his proper prominence and honour as the third Person of the Godhead. Concentrating on his title as Paraclete, the preacher...

Like many of his eminent spiritual forefathers, Spurgeon is very much a theologian of the Holy Spirit. His communion with, relish for, and dependence on the Spirit of God is often prominent in his sermons, and that is itself a reflection of his whole life. This sermon is concerned with a full and rich trinitarianism, for he wants to ensure that the Holy Spirit receives his proper prominence and honour as the third Person of the Godhead. Concentrating on his title as Paraclete, the preacher...

Much of this sermon seems to bubble out of the preacher’s heart, gushing forth with less of structure but more of force. It is not without organisation, but his first point concerning the believer’s frequent need of quickening or enlivening is a swirling catalogue of need, flitting from thought to thought as he considers just how dependent we are on the Lord for his mercies. From human need he turns to divine grant, identifying the God of heaven as the one from whom all these mercies flow,...