From the Heart of Spurgeon

The beginning of Volume XXV has curious numbering, reflecting the fact that Spurgeon is very sick in Mentone while these sermons are being produced and published. There are combinations of letters and mediations from his sickbed with shorter sermons preached on different occasions. Most of them, taken together, are the same length as his regular output, but following the pattern can be a touch confusing. These sermons share a certain approach: taking a physical experience and drawing a spiritual parallel. So you have here a nose and eyes! The nose belongs to the child whom God raised from the dead by Elisha, and that child’s seven sneezes become a parable of the simple, unpleasant, monotonous, and sure indications of spiritual life in a newly-regenerated man or woman. The eyes belong to Hagar, and—just as the Lord opened her eyes in the wilderness to see the water which she needed for the life of her and her son—so we need our eyes opened. Spurgeon wonders at what remarkable things we might see if our spiritual eyes could see the past, the future, the angels, or the coming glory. He thinks of the things that darken our eyes to spiritual reality, and yearns for God to open the eyes of the inwardly blind, before thinking of the things which a believer might see at the communion table: Christ near at hand, our standing in Christ, and our happy prospects. May God open the eyes of us all, to see Christ for salvation, and to know our joy in him!

Read the sermon: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/the-seven-sneezes-and-eyes-opened

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Holiness is precious to believers, and it is precious to Spurgeon—his concern for vital godliness shines through again and again in his ministry: “Complete consecration of every faculty of mind and body unto the Lord is our soul’s deepest wish.” His text for the occasion is one that have used to undermine the believer’s pursuit of principled godliness: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14). First, he carefully expounds what it means not to be under the law, but under grace. Second, he encourages the saints with the special assurance that sin shall not have dominion over them. Finally, he underscores the remarkable reason for this statement, explaining the relationship between the two parts. He lifts us above a mere legal obedience to a heartfelt pursuit of godliness: “not work for salvation, but being saved, work; being already delivered, go forth and prove by your grateful affections and zealous actions what the grace of God has done for you.”

Read the sermon: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/believers-free-from-the-dominion-of-sin

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Spurgeon does not confuse the place or sequence of faith and love in our relationship to Christ, but neither does he allow either to recede from their proper place and sequence. The one who has put faith in Jesus will be one who loves the Lord Jesus above all. Saving faith always works by love. What does that mean in practice? It means, first, that love to Christ is essential, a defining mark of true Christianity. It therefore means, second, that love to Christ is the test of whether or not someone is a child of God. It means, third, that every one of us should ask whether or not we are manifesting love to God, according to a biblical mode and pattern. This is the path down which Spurgeon walks us, plainly and practically, pressing it closely home. Our instinct today, as much as ever, is probably to resist absolutes, and to soften the edges of clear truth, either for ourselves or others. Spurgeon does not allow us to evade or avoid the cutting edge of unequivocal scriptural statements: if we do not love Christ, then we do not belong to him. These, then, are needful truths for us to consider, in order that we might properly assess our standing before God, and respond accordingly.

Read the sermon: www.mediagratiae.org/resources/love-to-jesus-the-great-test

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Spurgeon can be derided as a shallow exegete and a naive theologian, but he is not half so careless or thoughtless as many imagine. Far from being a mere performer, Spurgeon is deeply committed to the truth of God, not least as a true churchman—committed to the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. His concern in this sermon is that we understand what the church is in itself, and what she is in relation to God and to his truth. Spurgeon not only steps through his text, developing his case, but builds layer upon layer of pointed application, focusing all the force of the truth he has considered upon the heart. Beginning with a reminder that this letter was written so that Timothy might know how to conduct himself in the house of God, Spurgeon concludes by telling us that we too ought to know how we should behave when it comes to the church. This is a most penetrating treatment of the topic, and calls into question, for every hearer both then and now, whether or not we really know what the church is and ought to be. We often talk a good game when we speak of Christ’s church, but what do our actions really show about our convictions?

Read the sermon: https://www.mediagratiae.org/resources/what-the-church-should-be-nf27s

Check out the new From the Heart of Spurgeon Book!

British: https://amzn.to/48rV1OR

American: https://amzn.to/48oHjft

Connect with the Reading Spurgeon Community on Twitter! https://twitter.com/ReadingSpurgeon

Sign up to get the weekly readings emailed to you: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts-1/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon.

Check out other Media Gratiae podcasts at www.mediagratiae.org

Download the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Hear the story behind the creation of From the Heart of Spurgeon, what we hope to accomplish with this podcast, and how you can participate, even if reading one sermon a day is intimidating.